Everyone was delighted to see that Li Ping had agreed. Li Aihong smiled smugly.
Since arriving here, no one has gone out to play yet. Although it's evening now, it's not dark yet, and with so many people around, no one is afraid.
Li Ping greeted the leader of the militia and expressed that the children were very interested in rural life and hoped to learn about the lives of the farmers so that they could integrate into the ranks of the farmers.
They must be incredibly bored.
The militia leader thought to himself, "What's so interesting about the lives of farmers? These people haven't experienced hardship yet."
Of course, requests should always be met. Secretary Luo, however, believes that as long as these people work diligently and their requests aren't excessive, they can be appropriately accommodated. Especially the requests of their leader, Rao, must be fulfilled.
With the help of the militia leader, they found the production team leader's house. The old production team leader was having dinner when he saw such a large group of children arrive. He was startled and thought something had happened.
After hearing the purpose of the visit, he finally swallowed the sweet potato pancake in his mouth.
"You need to know this? What do you want to know?"
Li Ping asked, "Captain, what do you eat at home?"
"What to eat... Things are a little better this year, so we're having wild vegetable porridge and sweet potato pancakes for dinner."
The old team leader called out to his grandson to bring out the food for dinner and show it to the children.
"Is this a sweet potato pancake?"
Li Aidang exclaimed in surprise. He had eaten sweet potato cakes before, but these were different.
The old team leader said, "These sweet potato cakes are made from sweet potato peel ground into powder. Don't be fooled by their appearance; they're very filling. Eating two will make you feel about 70% full."
Made of sweet potato peel? The children looked at the pancake in surprise.
Li Ping asked, "Old Captain, are you eating well at home?"
"...Well, actually, under County Magistrate Song's administration, the food is alright. You won't starve. You can eat two meals a day and be about 70% full."
One or two meals, I can only eat until I'm 70% full...
Everyone was deeply moved.
Li Ping then asked the old team leader to take the children on a tour of the team.
The weather has warmed up now, and it's time for work, so everyone is eating with their doors open.
They saw children their own age, all thin and pale, stuffing themselves with dark, unidentifiable food, and eating with apparent relish. They even saw some families practicing rationing based on labor. With large soup ladles in hand, the children received very little.
There are also some children who can't even walk steadily, and when asked, they are already five or six years old, but they look only three or four years old.
Some children, around ten years old, only told everyone after Li Ping's questioning that they had been working in the production team since they were ten. Because the production team distributed grain according to work points, and the harvest was usually not much, if they didn't work, they wouldn't get much grain and wouldn't have enough to eat.
Even so, they could only drink some gruel for each meal. They didn't get any dry rations at all. But everyone was content, since they had something to eat and wouldn't starve.
Seeing these scenes and hearing these stories, the children felt a mix of complex emotions.
For them, it's just about experiencing life; for the children here, it's something they have to do every day.
Moreover, the people here don't even have enough to eat.
After walking around the production team, Li Ping led everyone back to the dormitory. By then, no one was making a fuss anymore.
Li Ping asked, "Are you still planning to go back?"
Li Aihong said, "Why don't we want to go back? These things have nothing to do with us. We can't help with anything anyway."
Li Ping ignored her and looked at the others instead. "We've only been here for three days reclaiming land, and we haven't actually done much work. But the land we've reclaimed will be cultivated by these farmers. They'll be able to harvest more grain and have more food to eat. That's your achievement. We're children of soldiers. Before, you clamored to protect our country and be heroes. But isn't a hero supposed to protect the people? You can't even endure the hardships that ordinary people suffer, so how can you have the face to protect our country in the future? Our parents were all farmers; they started working in their hometowns when they were teenagers. But look at you now, your comfortable lives have made you unable to endure any hardship. What makes you think you can become cadres, do good jobs, live in nice houses, and be respected? Is it just because you were born into wealth? Besides that, what else do you have that you can compare to those farmers? You can't endure hardship, you're lazy, and you're picky eaters. If you have the nerve, take your cornbread to the village and talk to the children. You're working hard, and the food is terrible. See how people will look at you!"
Her tone was urgent, tinged with anger and disappointment.
As everyone listened, their heads drooped lower and lower.
Li Aidang looked at her eldest sister with a mixture of guilt and admiration.
Seeing everyone's reaction, Li Aihong was about to retort but couldn't find the words to refute them. Instead, she received a fierce glare from Li Aidang.
Li Aidang also stood up and said, "Captain, we know we were wrong. We'll work hard from now on, and we'll eat anything!"
He picked up the unfinished cornbread and continued eating.
When the others saw this, they all lowered their heads and began to eat their lunchboxes.
The next morning, everyone got up early, quickly ate breakfast, and went to work.
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