This was the first time in An Moxue's two lives that she had worked on the farm, and she was a little excited, so she got up at four in the morning.
No way? There is a way: practice boxing.
These past few days, An Moxue has felt warm all over her body after each boxing practice, especially in her lower abdomen. She doesn't know if it's just her imagination, but she also feels that her skin is firmer and smoother, and her weight is slowly increasing.
The mountain village is picturesque in the morning.
But when An Moxue returned to the educated youth settlement and sat down at the table to eat breakfast, everything was back to square one. The rice was alright, but the vegetables were hard to swallow—just a few bitter pickled vegetables.
He got up and went back to his room, using the cabinet as cover, but actually went to his spatial storage to get a bottle of mushroom meat sauce.
Back at the table, he scooped out a large piece with a spoon and placed it on the bottle cap, pushing it to the center of the table to indicate it was for everyone. He then scooped out a small spoonful for himself and placed the bottle beside him. Li Weiguo picked up a large piece with his chopsticks, followed by Wang Zhaodi, who took another large piece. Everyone else took a little, but no one got as much as the two of them, and there wasn't much left on the bottle cap. Everyone said it was delicious.
After Li Weiguo finished eating, he kept saying how delicious it was but that he hadn't had enough. An Moxue glanced at him, then took a spoon and scooped out a large piece and put it on the bottle cap.
His chopsticks fell down and he picked up another piece. As Wang Zhaodi picked up more, she said, "An Moxue, everyone loves to eat. You can put the bottle in the middle and everyone can pick it up themselves. It's too much trouble for you to scoop it out spoonful by spoonful."
Some people remained silent, while others said they didn't want any. With so much oil and meat, it was good enough to just taste it; how could they keep eating it?
An Moxue put down her chopsticks: "Wang Zhaodi, I gave you my mushroom and meat sauce because I thought of our friendship as fellow educated youth. Who says that if there's good food, everyone has to share it? In the end, I didn't even get as much as you did. You're so shameless, taking so much at once. You want to eat it all under the guise of doing what's best for everyone. Why don't you share your good stuff with everyone? You only get to eat if I'm willing to share; otherwise, you just have to watch. Meat and oil are so precious these days. Am I your father or your mother? You've spoiled me rotten. From now on, stay away from anything that's mine. You won't get any. Stop taking advantage of me." The breakfast ended unhappily.
The loudspeaker announced the start of work, and the educated youth dressed neatly and went to work.
An Moxue didn't know what kind of work she was going to do, but she was quite well prepared: long clothes, long pants, straw hat, scarf, gloves, and a water bottle.
When they arrived at the drying yard with the others, they learned that each day, work was assigned first, and different tasks would be assigned different tools. The tools would be returned after work in the evening. Work points were calculated based on how much work was done and how well it was done.
It was already the end of August, and the autumn harvest would begin in another month, which was actually the time when there was the least amount of work to do.
From this perspective, An Moxue and the others who went to the countryside together were quite lucky, as they had a process of getting to know each other.
If it's during spring planting or autumn harvest, you'll be exhausted.
The work now consists of cutting hay, herding mules, horses, and cattle; repairing roads, canals, and farm tools, all in preparation for the autumn harvest; and reclaiming wasteland, which is the only job we do year-round.
At this time of year, most of the workers in the village are men, with fewer women.
Because at this time, women mostly stayed at home washing and taking apart cotton-padded clothes and quilts, and after washing them, they also had to make cotton-padded clothes and shoes.
As long as one of the two able-bodied men in each household is working, that's fine. Winters in the North are just too cold; if you're not prepared, you'll freeze to death.
The educated youth were required to work continuously; if there was no farm work, they would reclaim wasteland.
They were different from the villagers. Although the distribution of grain was based on a 70/30 work-to-resource ratio, the educated youth had basic work points. Only by completing these basic work points could they receive basic grain, unlike the villagers.
The educated youth were now doing land reclamation work. The village had set up a separate team for them, and they always worked together. Trying to seduce the village's young men and women for help was impossible. The village wouldn't allow it, and neither would the educated youth, except for those who married villagers.
These past few days, we've been clearing the willow-lined riverbank. Clumps of willows, taller than a person, need to be dug up, roots and all. The soil around the roots needs to be knocked away, and the surrounding thatch needs to be dug up, roots and all. The willows and thatch will be piled up to dry and used as firewood. This area is slated to be converted into paddy fields, so after clearing out the willows and thatch, the soil needs to be dug deeper, broken up, and then the tree and grass roots need to be rakeed together and piled up to make compost.
Finally, a certain area is grouped together into a field, and ridges are built around it to complete the task.
The tree roots were all dug up by men, and An Moxue's job today was to do everything except dig tree roots and thatch.
Men are assigned a task of three-tenths of an acre per day, while women are assigned a task of two-tenths of an acre per day. It doesn't sound like much, but it's very difficult to complete.
The willow trees along the riverbank have particularly well-developed root systems, making them very difficult to dig up.
The men completed eight work points, and the women completed six work points.
The groups were paired up as one man and one woman, but if several people didn't work together to dig out a clump of trees, it would be much more difficult for one person to do it alone. So in practice, the men dug up the trees and grass, while the women did all the other work.
An Moxue was raising and striking the soil around the tree roots with a pickaxe.
It was easy to get the hang of at first, and I had a lot of fun.
After working for a while, my hands went numb, my arms ached, and blisters appeared on my palms. I had to bend over every time I tapped something, and my back and waist would ache after working for a short time.
These new educated youths persevered after a full day of work, which is truly commendable.
Back at the educated youth settlement, I didn't want to move at all. Just thinking about having to eat such terrible food made me want to cry.
The next morning, the five new educated youths were like wooden figures, their limbs stiff, swollen, and aching, unable to straighten their backs, and their movements slowed down. The older educated youths said this was normal and would get better in a few days.
As the days went by, An Moxue adapted to her rural life better and better, except for a few annoying little fleas.
She is now able to get up early to practice boxing while going to work on time every day. After work, she goes for a walk in the nearby mountains to practice finding edible wild vegetables and medicinal herbs. She digs up the herbs and secretly puts them in her space.
We still haven't found the location of the ancestral graves. According to my mother's account, it should be at the foot of Beishan Mountain, and it would take about three hours to walk uphill. Perhaps we haven't gone deep enough.
How many legends and stories lie hidden in these vast mountains of the North, and how many heroes and heroic spirits are buried within them?
My mother said that everyone in her tribe had perished in the war against the invading enemy, leaving only her as a young child. Now, she too has perished.
When I was little, my mother often said that she wanted to come back to pay respects to them, but she never did. This was probably her regret.
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