After getting acquainted with the village, the next step was to assign jobs.
Several men were assigned to turn over the soil. Since it was their first day of work, the team leader didn't have high expectations. He assigned each of the four men a plot of land, and if they turned over the soil, each of them would receive five work points.
Captain Ren felt that it was good enough that these female comrades didn't cause any trouble, not to mention that there was one who had been instructed to take special care of.
They were taken to the scorekeeper's office, where Hua Xiangyun and the others each received a sickle and went to clear the weeds on the mountain.
Wu Yanxin looked up at the blazing sun and asked, "Are we just going to go like this?"
"Let's go," Xiao Shaoyao said, putting her straw hat on. "Is there anything else we need to prepare?"
The villagers have already started working, and the sun is only going to get stronger, so it's better to finish our work sooner and go back to rest.
Captain Ren assigned a young girl from the village to be their partner for the day.
"Little sister, what's your name?" Hua Xiangyun pulled out a fruit-flavored hard candy, which she had previously put in her storage ring. It seemed that her grandmother had given it to her last time.
“Sister, you can just call me Daya,” Daya took the candy and solemnly put it in her pocket. “Sister, don’t worry, the place where we’re cutting grass today is shady, so it won’t get too hot.”
Seeing that she kept the candy close to her body, Hua Xiangyun kindly suggested, "You should eat the candy. It's too hot in the weather, or you'll get your pants dirty."
Daya hesitated for a moment, "I want to take the candy back for my younger sister and the others to eat."
Hua Xiangyun patted her head, "How old is your sister? Is this candy suitable for her?"
Daya didn't understand, but still answered, "My sister is two years old, and she eats everything."
Hua Xiangyun said, "...She's still too young, and this candy is too big for her. She might choke. You can eat this candy first, and give it to her when you're older and have more candy."
Hua Xiangyun felt she should make things clear; the child was still young, and if he choked, she would be in serious trouble.
Daya hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and said sensibly, "I can turn it into water so that my little sister can eat something sweet."
I know my older sister was worried my younger sister would choke; people in our village have choked on candy before, so she wouldn't give it directly to my younger sister.
Such a sensible child. Hua Xiangyun patted her head and gave her another one. "Eat it. Remember to dissolve the sugar in water and give it to your sister when you get back."
“…Thank you, sister,” Daya licked her lips, still shamelessly accepting the offer. “I’ll cut some more grass for you later. If you’re tired, you can rest over there.”
Having received favors from others, Daya always thought of repaying them in some way.
Hua Xiangyun smiled but didn't say anything. She followed her to the grass-cutting area. "This is a slope. The brigade leader said that the sun doesn't reach here, so it's impossible to grow crops. But the grass here is very tender, and the rabbits we raise in our village love it."
The word "rabbit" made the girls' eyes light up. "They raise rabbits in our village?"
Daya nodded. "We not only raise rabbits, but also pigs and a cow."
Rabbits are easier to take care of. We kids usually manage them.
"Pigs and cows are different; you need to be quick and experienced to do that job."
Hua Xiangyun and the others understood; these were all important assets of the village. However, what intrigued them the most were the rabbits.
"Sister, do many rabbits live in our village? Where are they kept?" Li Mingli had been dejected, thinking that she would become a farmer in the future, and didn't want to say much.
But now, thinking of that fluffy, adorable rabbit, she immediately felt revitalized.
“It’s over there at the drying yard. We’ll pick some tender grass to cut later; the rabbits will definitely like it.” Daya thought for a moment. “But rabbits reproduce so fast; I don’t even know how many there are.”
Even the baskets we brought weren't enough to fill them all.
So we need to hurry, or the rabbits will go hungry.
Li Mingli immediately became enthusiastic and said, "Then we definitely can't let the rabbits go hungry. Little sister, quickly tell me which grasses rabbits like to eat?"
"By the way, can I take them over to feed them myself later?"
Da Ya couldn't understand why her older sisters had changed so much. They used to ignore her, but now that they were cooperating so well, she wanted to finish as soon as possible so she could go back and make tea for her younger sister.
"Of course, but you need to be careful later. Don't take those dead branches and leaves. Some of the rabbits have just eaten grass, so you need to clean them up separately."
Rabbits are easy to raise, but there are some tricks to it.
Wu Yanxin whispered to Xiao Shaoyao and Hua Xiangyun, "Is there rabbit meat we can eat?"
Li Mingli and the others heard it and suddenly turned around to stare at Wu Yanxin.
Wu Yanxin was startled. She realized that Li Mingli really liked rabbits and wondered if she would be annoyed by Wu Yanxin talking about wanting to eat meat.
They had all come down to be educated youth together, and she didn't want to cause any conflict.
"Oh right, how could I forget about that?" Li Mingli's eyes sparkled. "Little sister, what if you want to eat rabbit meat?"
Everyone was speechless. They had acted like they loved rabbits so much before, but now they wanted to eat meat?
On the contrary, Daya's thoughts were the purest. "Of course, you can exchange work points at the end of the year. If you need to add a dish for a happy occasion at home, you can also exchange for it in the village. However, it can only be eaten in the village and cannot be taken out."
Upon hearing that they could eat meat, Li Mingli immediately pursed her lips. "What about us now that we don't have work points? What if we want to eat meat?"
Friends, "..."
Daya shook her head, scratching her head, not knowing what to do. "You have to ask the brigade leader. Normally, people wouldn't go and exchange rabbit meat unless there are special circumstances."
Wu Yanxin couldn't bear to see the little girl in such a predicament. "Alright, what does a child know? Let's find out after we finish work."
"If I could get rabbit meat in return, that would be great. I haven't had meat in ages."
Daya looked at them curiously, "Sisters, you're from the city, how come you don't have meat to eat?"
Wu Yanxin was stunned by her statement. "Who told you there's meat to eat in the city?"
“That’s what everyone in the village says. The pigs and rabbits we raise are all sent to the city. With so many villages sending them together, how could there be a shortage?”
This was a huge misunderstanding. Over the next few days, everyone chatted with her about life in the city while cutting grass.
Daya then realized that life in the city was not as easy as everyone said; everything was rationed and you had to queue.
If that's really the case, then they're not even as good as the rural areas.
Putting everything else aside, if you want to eat some vegetables, even if there aren't any in the fields, you can just dig some up from the mountains and you'll find some wild vegetables.
Speaking of wild vegetables, while they were cutting grass, Daya taught them to identify several kinds of wild vegetables. Although most of them were old, there were still some tender wild celery.
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