Du Wenbing divided the more than fifty children into several groups and they began to dig sweet potatoes.
Luo Hao maintained order at the scene and occasionally helped them transport piles of sweet potatoes to Lin Ye's cellar.
The soil in the sweet potato field is very loose; two children working together can lift a sweet potato up along with its root ball.
"These sweet potatoes are huge! Each one weighs more than a pound."
"Mine weighs at least two pounds."
Everyone exclaimed that the sweet potatoes grown by Lin Ye's family seemed different from those grown by their own families.
A batch of sweet potatoes yields a large quantity, and they are big, sweet, and crunchy. Once the work is finished, everyone can take twenty pounds of sweet potatoes home, and everyone is full of energy.
Lin Ye and Lu Wanqing were not idle at home either.
After kneading the dough, Lin Ye set it aside to rest, then started chopping the meat filling, as he was going to make steamed buns soon.
Lu Wanqing cleaned the crabs she had caught the night before and prepared to steam them later.
With so many children, cooking was impractical, so we could only feed them steamed buns and crabs.
The fire in the stove was already lit. Since the crabs cooled down quickly, Lin Ye steamed thirty of the sixty buns he had made first.
The pot is only so big, so we need to steam them in two batches.
An hour later, after both pots of buns were steamed, he put the buns in an enamel basin and cleared out the pots to steam hairy crabs.
Just as Lin Ye was placing the hairy crabs on the steamer, Luo Hao rushed over and pulled Lin Ye towards the riverbank.
"Hurry up, the children are fighting, and even the adults from their families have come over."
Lin Ye put down the crab and prepared to follow Luo Hao, but Lu Wanqing stopped him, "A Ye, let me go instead. I don't know how to cook crabs."
Lin Ye naturally stayed behind, telling her to be careful and asking Luo Hao to help her out.
When they arrived at the sweet potato field on the riverbank, Lu Wanqing saw that Xu Bowen's face and clothes were covered in mud and he was filthy. He Shujuan was holding her grandson and wiping away tears with heartache. On the other side, Zhou Xiaochuan was not in much better shape. In addition to his dirty clothes, there was a bloodstain on his face.
Two children, about six or seven years old, had just finished a fight. Their faces were still flushed with anger, and they looked at each other with dislike.
Lu Wanqing rushed over and first wiped the bloodstains off Zhou Xiaochuan's face. After confirming that he was alright, she gently asked what had happened.
"I just wanted to see the crabs in the rice paddies, but Xu Bowen wouldn't let me and even blocked me, so I pushed him!" Zhou Xiaochuan said, his voice filled with arrogance despite his lack of justification.
Xu Bowen glared at him, then looked at Lu Wanqing, "The principal told us to focus on harvesting sweet potatoes, not to go watch the crabs. If you're not following the rules, I have the right to discipline you!"
Before Lu Wanqing could say anything, He Shujuan spoke up with a dark face, "Our Bowen is the class monitor, it's his duty to maintain discipline, what right does Zhou Xiaochuan have to lay a hand on him? I don't care, I need an explanation today, or I'm not done with this."
After the principal and Du Wenbing arranged for the children to continue their work, they approached He Shujuan and pleaded with a hint of ingratiation: "Grandma Bowen, don't be angry. It's common for children to fight. Bowen even scratched Zhou Xiaochuan's face. Both of them are at fault. Why don't we let the children reconcile?"
He Shujuan didn't have such high awareness; she only felt that her grandson had suffered a great loss by not receiving compensation.
“I don’t care, Lu Wanqing, this is your land. They’re all working for you. You have to come up with a solution.” He Shujuan persisted.
Lu Wanqing was furious. "Aunt He, aren't you being unreasonable? The school organized the children to come here for work-study. My family even prepared big meat buns and hairy crabs for them at noon, and we were going to give each of them 20 jin of sweet potatoes. We didn't intend to mistreat them. They came to help voluntarily. You can't put all the responsibility on me just because it's my land!"
Luo Hao and Du Wenbing stepped forward to argue with her: "Aunt He, what you did was too much! The work-study program was organized by the school. We were just trying to stop them from fighting, but the two kids seemed like enemies and wouldn't listen to either of them."
The two children were not like enemies. He Shujuan and Zhou Changsheng had a long-standing feud because of Zhou Ling.
He Shujuan gained nothing from Zhou Changsheng and ended up with a bad reputation. She was almost killed by Zhou Ling last time. At home, the first thing she did every day when she opened the door was to curse the Zhou family in front of Tuanjiehu Lake.
Having been influenced by what he saw and heard, Xu Bowen naturally shared a common hatred towards the Zhou family.
Back in school, he often made things difficult for Zhou Xiaochuan in his capacity as class monitor.
Zhou Xiaochuan also realized this, but Xu Bowen was rather cunning and did it discreetly, so Zhou Xiaochuan had no leverage against him and therefore no way to confront him.
When Xu Bowen blocked his way in front of everyone during his work-study program, it immediately ignited his inner fighting spirit, and he started wrestling with Xu Bowen.
He Shujuan had naturally heard Xu Bowen mention school matters and even praised him for doing a good job. Every time he made Zhou Xiaochuan suffer, he would get a boiled egg from her.
“Lu Wanqing, it’s not that I’m deliberately making things difficult for you, but Zhou Xiaochuan’s family is hiding and refusing to come out. Someone has to be held responsible, right? Did my grandson get beaten for nothing?” He Shujuan said without batting an eye.
Lu Wanqing almost laughed in anger, "Your eldest grandson is a person, but the other children aren't? Zhou Xiaochuan has bloody marks on his face. What if he gets disfigured? Shouldn't you be responsible for that too?"
"Pah, he deserves it!" He Shujuan's old face twisted in disbelief, quite pleased with her eldest grandson's masterpiece.
Just then, a loud voice came from not far away, "Who deserves it!"
Zhou Changsheng came over with his hands behind his back and a dark expression.
Perhaps someone working nearby tipped him off. Upon hearing He Shujuan's words, his face fell longer than the donkey in the production team.
The Xu family bullied his daughter so badly, and now they're bullying his grandson. Do they really think he's just a useless team leader?
He Shujuan didn't back down when she saw Zhou Changsheng. She confronted him directly, "Captain Zhou, your grandson started the fight. You're not going to cover for him, are you? If you do, I'm going to make a scene at the commune!"
Those who have nothing to lose are not afraid of those who have something to lose. He Shujuan is shameless, and Zhou Changsheng is really wary of her for that. If she really goes to the commune to cause trouble, he, as the team leader, will not be able to withstand the investigation.
"Go ahead and cause trouble if you dare! My grandson's facial injury needs to be assessed! I'll just buy you a new set of clothes, but you'll have to pay my medical bills," Zhou Changsheng said, feigning anger.
Within two minutes, the two were arguing and shouting at each other.
The principal and Du Wenbing tried to persuade him for a long time, but they couldn't get him to leave. A lot of people gathered around.
There were all sorts of opinions, most of them just looking forward to a good show.
Lu Wanqing simply asked Luo Hao to organize the children to wash their hands and faces by the river so they could go home for dinner.
As soon as the children heard that there would be meat buns and hairy crabs to eat, they all followed Luo Hao.
The principal and Du Wenbing were about to leave, but seeing that Lu Wanqing had stayed, they both stood beside her.
Seeing that his friends had all left, Zhou Xiaochuan swallowed hard and said to Zhou Changsheng, "Grandpa, forget it, I'm going to eat hairy crabs." That's what he came here for today.
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