Chapter 92 Unfair
Regardless of which city the young people came from to support the border regions, the person in charge of the registration point told them that they would be assigned housing and jobs as soon as they arrived.
When everyone arrived here, the housing assigned to each company at the grassroots level was either dugouts or mud-brick houses, and the assigned work was to do farm work in the fields.
We ate communal meals, which were barely enough to fill us up three times a day, and the labor was so exhausting that we wanted to run away.
Now things are much better. Although they still have to make do with the food, the improvement in their housing is just around the corner, giving them boundless hope for the future.
The company commander was in high spirits and encouraged everyone: "Work hard, everyone. This year we will clear the wasteland and plant grain next year. As long as we deliver the quota, the rest is ours. We won't need to ask the farm for our share anymore. We will plant vegetables on this cleared land. In just over a month, we will be able to eat vegetables grown by our own company. Next year, we will be able to eat fruits and vegetables."
The company commander himself thought about how wonderful next year would be.
He felt it was difficult to be assigned to this area to reclaim wasteland this year, and these past few months have indeed been difficult. However, a few months later, the farm headquarters decided to build brick houses for their company first, which shows that the leaders above have a clear sense of right and wrong.
Life will get better day by day.
Tonight we had rice, which was made from a small amount of rice and millet with some husks still attached. As for the vegetables, we had boiled cabbage with a swirl of lotus leaves in salt water.
As usual, there was one dish for nearly twenty people, and everyone was eating with gusto.
The construction team has been setting up camp nearby for the past few days. They have simply built a wooden shed on the ground. Because of the limited materials, the shed is not large. It is just a place to cool off and eat. As for sleeping, they have to sleep on reeds under the sun. The conditions look very harsh.
At this time, the engineering team members were also eating, and they were eating the same food as the people of the 25th Company, because the engineering team's meals were also prepared by Lu Shuangshuang and her team.
With dozens more people coming to eat, the female cooks of the 25th Company were overwhelmed. Cooking these past few days had been like a battle. Li Huijun suggested to the company commander, "Company commander, with more people coming to eat, the cooks are short-handed. Even if we come back half an hour earlier than before, we still won't make it in time. We've been so busy that we haven't had a moment's rest. Could you arrange for a few more people to help us?"
After discussing it, the company commander and political instructor said, "We're planning to plant some vegetables on the newly cleared land, so we need to set up a vegetable planting team. How about this, we'll assign twenty female comrades to both the cooking team and the vegetable planting team. The cooks will automatically be assigned to this team, and you, Huijun, will be in charge of choosing the remaining people. From now on, you will be the leader of both the cooking and vegetable planting teams."
Li Huijun was the oldest woman in the 25th Company and also the head of the cooking squad.
She was married, and her husband was also from the 25th Company. He usually led the female comrades in the cooking squad to work in front of the stove. When working in the fields, he was a role model for all the female comrades. She was considered a good elder sister in the 25th Company.
Li Huijun nodded and immediately began selecting people: "We still need eight people. I'll select a few quick and efficient workers..."
After the staff count was completed, none of the eight people were new girls like Song Lubai and her group; they were all young women from the previous batch who had come from Shanghai.
The new female comrades, including Song Lubai, all looked rather unpleasant.
To be honest, Song Lubai was also a little looking forward to it, since planting vegetables and cooking are easier than working in the fields.
I simply can't control my urge to be lazy.
But since she doesn't get a share, she should just work diligently from now on.
She comforted herself, thinking that she would be leaving in a few months anyway.
As she thought this, some of the other girls muttered indignantly, "This is not fair at all. They say they're picking those who are quick and efficient, but does that mean we who weren't selected are inefficient? Aren't they just picking from their own people? It's so obvious that they're excluding us outsiders. And they're just making it sound so high-sounding."
The girls looked at each other, while Li Huijun kept her head down and ate, pretending not to hear and not responding.
A woman from Shanghai said, "You were only supposed to work for a few months before returning to the Commercial Department. Now that you're here, you still want to do easy work. What's the point of coming here to train?"
The girl who had just expressed her dissatisfaction was speechless.
The company commander and political instructor pretended not to hear the girls' conversation. As long as they weren't making a huge fuss, ignoring it was the best course of action.
While washing her lunchbox by the well, Song Lubai overheard several girls muttering in the darkness: "They don't have to suffer in the future anyway, so why do they want to take our opportunities? They're so shameless, they get all the benefits they want."
"That's right, our hard times are going to last a long time, and we still have a long way to go. It's a pity we didn't finish high school, so we never get any good opportunities."
"You know what? Li Jing, who came with us and was assigned to the Third Division, has been sent to teach at the primary school in the division's company. We're still struggling. When will this ever end?"
"My back is so sore I can't straighten up all day, my palms are calloused and tanned so dark, I doubt my parents would recognize me if I stood in front of them now..."
After washing the lunchbox, Song Lubai silently returned to her dugout.
Everyone was still expressing their regret at not being able to get into the vegetable-growing class.
Feng Ying clapped her hands. "Alright, alright, what they said makes sense. We're leaving in a few months. If we do easy work now, we're just taking their jobs away. It's a done deal. What's the point of saying all this?"
The girl, already exhausted from farm work and wanting to run away, retorted: "If our Director Wang were here, we definitely wouldn't be bullied like this. Isn't it because they think we have no one to stand up for us? We're here to get some experience, but we won't enjoy the benefits of the work we do later. Aren't we doing all this to serve the people of the 25th Company? Why can't we do the easier work?"
Song Lubai was convinced by this logic.
There is clearly a gap between the group of young people from Shanghai and this group.
The "older" people were somewhat envious and jealous of where these people would go in the future, so how could they really consider them as one of their own?
After chatting about other things for a while, the girls who lived in other dugouts finally dispersed.
After everyone left, Wu Zhaodi leaned closer to Song Lubai and asked, "Is your head still itchy?"
Song Lubai nodded: "It itches, but not as badly as before. How about you?"
Wu Zhaodi shook her head, "It's not fully healed yet, but it's not as itchy as before."
Even after Song Lubai lay down, Wu Zhaodi was still sitting, as if she still had something to say.
"Is there anything else?"
Wu Zhaodi sat there thinking about how to tell Song Lubai what others were saying about her, but after thinking about it, she decided to keep quiet.
Wu Zhaodi shook her head: "It's nothing, go to sleep."
After several days of hard work, the 25th Company camp welcomed its first group of people getting married here.
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