Chapter 39 Chapter 39

On the day when the autumn harvest began, Shen Moer and Cheng Tao took six students to the city to participate in the preliminary competition. Uncle Liu drove a donkey cart to take them to the bus stop, where they met two teachers and six students from the commune primary school.

Shen Moer found that the teachers leading the commune primary school were the two she saw that day. The taller one was named Wang, and the shorter one was named He.

Of course, the two teachers didn't remember her, a stranger they had only met once, but they knew that she was Shen Shaoyuan's daughter, and they were very polite all the way. They kept saying that without the help of Comrade Shen Shaoyuan, their Liuqiao Commune Primary School would really make a fool of themselves this time.

After getting on the bus, they took the initiative to give up the front row seats to the people from the Yangliu Brigade, and sat in the back with the people from their own school.

In this harmonious and friendly atmosphere, the car drove all the way into the county town, and then they met with teachers and students from other schools in the county at the county town bus station. It was such a large group of people that the county specially arranged two buses to take them to the city.

Six elementary school students who had never been to the county town followed Shen Moer and the others timidly. Even the usually timid classmate Maomao had a frown on his face and his little mouth stopped chattering. Several little girls became even more nervous and huddled around Shen Moer. Zhou Zhaodi even quietly pulled the corner of Shen Moer's clothes.

Cheng Tao was amused by their appearance.

He was not surprised that the children were nervous and uneasy. What surprised him was that Shen Moer did not seem nervous at all. Before he came, he was worried that he would not share six students with others, but seven by himself.

After all, Shen Moer did not dare to talk to people in the village before. Even if she has changed now, Cheng Tao thought that she is not so restrained in the village.

But thinking about how she usually confronted Shen Lingling, Cheng Tao shook his head and laughed. It seems that she is really different.

The bus arranged by the county is very large, and one bus can seat forty or fifty people. Shen Moer and the others lined up to get on the bus and got a relatively back seat.

Teacher He from Liuqiao Commune Primary School sat in the front row and politely gave Shen Moer and Cheng Tao an orange each: "We still have three or four hours to go. Eating some oranges will make you feel better. If you really feel uncomfortable, you can use orange peels to cover your body and it will also relieve some of the discomfort."

Perhaps because he was afraid that Shen Moer and Cheng Tao would be embarrassed to accept it, he added: "I picked it from the orange tree in the yard of my hometown. It's not something expensive."

At this point, it would be bad to refuse it. Shen Moer and Cheng Tao thanked them and took it. The orange was bright yellow and looked very fresh.

Taking children out is always troublesome. The front row of the bus was filled with students from Dongfanghong Primary School and several other commune primary schools. When the bus started, two students suddenly said they wanted to go to the restroom, so the teacher had to lead them off the bus to the public restroom at the bus station.

The whole bus was waiting, and the children in the front row were chattering non-stop. However, the students from Yangliu Brigade Primary School were huddled there like quails, curiously looking out the window, and occasionally whispering.

Shen Moer heard a teacher from a commune primary school sitting diagonally opposite her mutter, "Dongfanghong Primary School is just like that. Students don't even know to go to the restroom before getting on the bus."

It turned out that the two students who got off the bus were from Dongfanghong Primary School.

Soon, the teacher came back with two students. The car drove out slowly. The teachers from other primary schools in the front row started to greet the teacher surnamed Dong. The gist of the matter was that other schools did not even have art classes on weekdays. This time, the focus of the preliminary competition was basically participation. The prize would depend on Dongfanghong Primary School.

Teacher Dong was reserved and polite. As they chatted, someone suddenly said, "I heard that there is also a brigade primary school signing up this time. Isn't this nonsense? It's good enough for the children in the village to go to school, but they are also painting?"

The man sneered, obviously not taking it seriously.

Someone quietly reminded that the people from Liuqiao Commune were behind them. The person curled his lips and said, "Are you not allowed to tell the truth?"

Teacher He stood up and wanted to speak, but Teacher Wang pulled him back to sit down in a calming manner: "Forget it, forget it."

Cheng Tao frowned and looked back at the students soothingly.

Shen Moer turned her head and saw that the children all looked embarrassed. Her face suddenly darkened, and she stood up and said loudly: "I am a teacher from the Yangliu Brigade of Liuqiao Commune. My surname is Shen. The comrade in front who said we were messing around, are you a teacher?"

The carriage suddenly became quiet. The students in the front row turned their heads curiously to look at Shen Moer, and the teachers looked at each other.

The person who spoke before curled his lips and said nonchalantly: "Isn't this nonsense? Which team leader here is not a teacher?"

Shen Moer said with a cold face: "Since you are a teacher, you should have heard of the term 'teaching without distinction'. You should treat students equally and respect every student's right to learn knowledge and participate in competitions, instead of dividing students into different levels and arbitrarily belittling and ridiculing rural children. The country is calling on educated young people to go to the countryside and receive re-education from the poor and middle peasants. Why do you, teacher, look down on the countryside and rural children so much?"

The person stood up nervously at once. She was a woman in her thirties with a Hu Lan haircut and a slightly big face.

She glared at Shen Moer: "Don't accuse me. I just made an objective and fair evaluation. How can it be considered that I look down on the countryside and rural children?"

Shen Moer looked at her calmly: "Your so-called objective and fair evaluation is nothing but your own groundless conjecture. Whether you look down on rural children or not, I believe everyone here has their own evaluation in their hearts."

The man didn't know whether he was angry or embarrassed, and his face turned red immediately. Teacher Dong quickly stood up to smooth things over: "We are all from a brother unit, Teacher Hu, and Comrade Shen, please say less. There are so many children watching, it will have a bad impact."

Shen Moer nodded: "Indeed, as a teacher, you should always pay attention to your words and deeds."

Teacher Dong: "..."

Teacher Hu was obviously not convinced and wanted to say something, but Teacher Dong pulled her, whispered something, and pushed her back to her seat.

Shen Moer also sat back in her seat when she saw this. Teacher He in the front row silently gave her a thumbs up, and Cheng Tao also smiled and followed suit.

The whole car of elementary school students looked at this and that, and their expressions were a little surprised.

It was the first time they saw teachers quarreling in front of them!

The few students brought by Teacher Hu exchanged glances implicitly and felt a little embarrassed.

Their teacher lost the argument.

And most importantly, they also felt that Teacher Hu seemed to look down on rural children. Clearly, a teacher had said before that the students from the brigade were courageous to go to the city to participate in the competition.

The children from Liuqiao Commune Elementary School and Yangliu Brigade Elementary School all covered their mouths and laughed secretly, especially the children from Yangliu Brigade Elementary School, who straightened their chests and raised their heads, no longer nervous or afraid.

It was almost noon when we arrived in the city, and the car drove directly into the city workers' club, the venue borrowed by the Municipal Education Bureau. As soon as we got off the car, we were led by staff to a large indoor venue, where people in white chef uniforms were waiting. After they lined up under the guidance of the staff, they were given meals in turn.

Each person had a large spoonful of rice and two small spoonfuls of vegetables, which were stir-fried shredded pork with carrots and stir-fried eggs with green peppers. Although the proportion of shredded pork and eggs was relatively small, the food was so good that most people were overjoyed.

The six primary school students of Yangliu Brigade held the enamel basin in one hand and the spoon in the other, and looked at each other, their expressions were all of unbelievable surprise.

"Eat quickly, take a break after eating, and prepare for the competition in the afternoon with the best condition." Cheng Tao said happily.

Shen Moer touched Zhou Zhaodi's head and said, "Hurry up and eat."

Several children ate with big mouthfuls, while Shen Moer ate slowly and occasionally looked up to see Zhou Zhaodi quietly wiping the corners of her eyes.

She ate very seriously. Shen Moer was originally worried that she looked so thin and could not finish the food in the large enamel basin, but she finished it quickly, and the enamel basin was as clean as if it had been washed with water.

After finishing the meal, the enamel basin and spoon were taken back by the staff. They rested for a while, then went to the toilet, checked the stationery they brought with them, and then entered the classrooms one by one according to the guidance of the staff.

The leading teacher returned to the place where they had lunch to rest and wait.

During this time, when Shen Moer stood up and walked around, she heard that teacher Hu said to others in a gloomy tone: "It would be nice to get a string of zeros and go to the bottom directly."

This time Shen Moer ignored her.

Three hours later, the competition was over, and the teachers did not have time to ask the students how they performed, and hurriedly took the students to the return bus.

When the car drove out, someone muttered, "The people from Xinxiang Commune changed cars."

Shen Moer didn't pay attention. She didn't know who was from Xinxiang Commune. It was only after Teacher He told her that she found out that the teacher surnamed Hu was from Xinxiang Commune.

Teacher He also revealed a piece of news to Shen Moer. Teacher Hu's lover worked in the Education Bureau of the County Committee. She had connections in the government, so she usually spoke and acted a little flamboyantly.

Shen Moer didn't care too much. The unpleasant person changed to another car by himself, and she was happy to be quiet.

On the way back, the children were far less excited than when they went there. After a day of hard work, they were a little listless. However, the few people from Yangliu Brigade were in good spirits and whispered to each other from time to time.

Shen Moer also heard Zhou Zhaodi whispering to Xiao Yezi that she had eaten a lot today, and had shredded pork and eggs. This was the first time she had eaten meat and eggs since her grandmother passed away.

Listening to the child's excited words, Shen Moer looked out the dark window quietly.

It was almost eight o'clock in the evening when the car arrived at the county town. Fortunately, the commune's car was still waiting for them at the bus station. A group of people changed cars non-stop. When they arrived at the commune's bus stop, both adults and children were tired and hungry. Shen Moer and her friends hurriedly said goodbye to the teachers and students of the commune primary school and got on the donkey car that was waiting there.

Uncle Liu handed Shen Moer four steamed buns made of white flour: "Your father prepared them for you. He was afraid that you would be hungry, so he let you eat first."

Shen Moer thanked him, and after taking them, he broke the buns into pieces and gave half of each bun to everyone. Everyone was very hungry, and even though their mouths were very dry, they still ate half of the bun in small bites.

After eating, several children collapsed directly on the donkey cart and began to snore.

Cheng Tao couldn't help but laugh and sigh: "This day is really like a war."

Shen Moer nodded: "It's really tiring." She

simply imitated Fu Mingze, put her hands on her knees, and then buried her face in her elbows and squinted for a while.

When she finally got home, she didn't even eat. She just drank a big bowl of water, washed up a little, went into the house and fell asleep.

The next day, Shen Moer slept until noon. Fortunately, she only had one class near noon that day. After quickly washing up, she ate a few mouthfuls of warm porridge in the pot, and rushed to school.

When the class was over and school was over, Cheng Tao reminded her: "Don't have classes in the afternoon, join the brigade labor."

Shen Moer's face fell immediately.

During the autumn harvest period, the brigade primary school only had half a day of classes. Teachers and students had to participate in the brigade's labor every afternoon. The children were responsible for picking rice ears or delivering the harvested rice, and the teachers were assigned to the twelve production teams to harvest rice with the educated youth.

After crossing over to this world, Shen Moer only pulled weeds for a few days at the beginning. Later, when there was less work in the fields, she stopped working. When she wanted to work again, she had become a teacher in the brigade's primary school, so this autumn harvest was actually her real and serious work.

Seeing her like this, Cheng Tao laughed out loud: "It's only been a short time since you last worked, and you're not used to it? Don't worry, we're working with the educated youth, and the intensity of the work is definitely not as high as your eighth production team."

This is probably the only good news.

Ever since she went to the county to buy crayons last time, Shen Moer has been busy teaching a few elementary school students. She has used almost all of her spare time for tutoring. So, even though she and Fu Mingze live in the same village, they haven't seen each other for more than ten days. She

took back three pounds of grain coupons from him last time, and thought about giving him some subsidy, but she never found a chance.

Oh, by the way, that day in the county, he paid for the noodles at the state-owned restaurant and the movie tickets afterwards. He was obviously poor, but she didn't know why he had to pretend to be rich. In front of Zheng Jiamin, she couldn't say much.

It just so happened that Shen Shaoyuan brought back a few pounds of rice flour two days ago, so Shen Moer cut some ham and minced it, soaked some dried mushrooms picked up from the back mountain, washed a few radishes, cut them into thin strips, and fried them into a plate of fresh and fragrant stuffing, then used the yeast water stored at home to make a basket of vegetarian buns.

Shen Shaoyuan asked the village members to help make the steamer some time ago. Shen Moer was busy recently, so the father and daughter ate simpler and had not used the new steamer yet. When the steamed buns were cooked, the air was filled with the tempting aroma of the buns and a hint of the fresh scent of bamboo.

Shen Moer moved the steamer to the other side of the stove, boiled water in the pot, cracked an egg into the pot, and sprinkled a pinch of sugar into the soup to make a bowl of sweet egg drop soup.

Two buns and a bowl of sweet egg drop soup, lunch was solved.

When she went to work in the afternoon, Shen Moer carried a bamboo basket. The enamel pot was filled with cooled boiled water, and the enamel bowl was filled with soft white and white vegetarian buns, which were covered with a washed white cotton cloth, and a towel was covered on the white cotton cloth.

Shen Moer walked to the edge of the field with a basket in her hand and ran into Shen Lingling, who was holding a sickle in her hand and carrying an army green water bottle.

Shen Lingling glanced at her, snorted, and quickly walked in front of her, as if she had won some victory by passing her.

Shen Moer was puzzled.

The educated youth were already working in the fields. As soon as Shen Lingling appeared, Zhang Zhiqiang immediately greeted her enthusiastically and called her over to join them. The old educated youth also called her "Teacher Shen" one after another.

Since Shen Lingling became a primary school teacher, she has worked with the educated youth during the busy farming season. She is quite familiar with the educated youth, especially the old educated youth before Fu Mingze and others. Before the series of incidents in her family, many male educated youth secretly regarded her as a goddess. Of course, there are still many who do so now.

After the warm greeting, Shen Lingling looked back at Shen Moer with pride.

Shen Moer didn't bother to pay attention to her. She went down from the nearest ridge to the field. After walking a few steps, she heard a surprised "Comrade Shen Moer". She looked up and saw Zheng Jiamin waving at her from behind the rice field farther away: "Comrade Shen, come here!"

Then, a man next to him who was originally bending over to cut rice stood up slowly. His tall figure was like a small white poplar standing in the rice field. He held a sickle in one hand and a handful of rice in the other hand, and looked at her from a distance.

Maybe it was because the autumn heat was too strong, Shen Moer suddenly felt that her cheeks were a little hot from the sun.

Shen Moer glanced at Shen Lingling who was talking enthusiastically with Zhang Zhiqiang and others in the field on her left, and then glanced at Yang Qingqing who was looking at her with an inexplicable and somewhat resentful look in the field on her right, and immediately and decisively chose to continue walking forward.

After walking a few steps, a female educated youth wearing a wide-brimmed hat caught up with her: "Teacher Shen, Teacher Shen Moer!"

Shen Moer stopped and turned to look at the person who came. She recognized that it was the female educated youth named Wang Qiutong, so she asked: "Wang Zhiqing, what's the matter?"

Wang Qiutong held the sickle in one hand and grabbed the brim of the straw hat with the other hand. She seemed embarrassed, but still plucked up the courage to ask: "Teacher Shen, can I go over there with you to cut?"

Shen Moer turned around in confusion. She looked in the direction of Fu Mingze and the others and asked uncertainly, "Are you with Fu Zhiqing and Zheng Zhiqing?"

Wang Qiutong nodded immediately, "Yes, I want to

go with you." Shen Moer nodded, "Okay, let's go."

She actually wanted to ask, since you want to work with them, why didn't you go there before, but then she thought about it and saw that there seemed to be only Fu Mingze and Zheng Jiamin there, and she probably felt embarrassed as a female comrade to take the initiative to go over and "partner" with them.

Wang Qiutong was so happy when she heard her promise, and immediately followed them closely.

Ever since the last incident of falling into the water in Xijian, Yang Qingqing has become irritable and gloomy. She has no relationship with Shi Wei, but the two often quarrel in the vegetable garden. Wang Qiutong was unlucky enough to run into them twice, and she was shocked by what she overheard every time.

She is really afraid of these two people now, especially when she heard Shi Wei say during one eavesdropping, "I'd rather marry Wang Qiutong than you." Yang Qingqing replied, "If you help me kill Fu Mingze, I'll help you kill Wang Qiutong." She almost trembled when she saw these two people. It was really

scary, wuwuwu.

She didn't want to work with Yang Qingqing! And she

didn't want to work with Shi Wei even more!

Zheng Jiamin expressed a warm welcome to Shen Moer and Wang Qiutong who came with Shen Moer. Wang Qiutong was so moved that she immediately rolled up her sleeves and started working.

Shen Moer looked at Wang Qiutong in surprise, thinking, isn't it just a change of land, why is this girl so happy?

She put the bamboo basket she brought on the ridge beside her, turned around and walked back, and saw Fu Mingze stepped aside and gave her his original position.

Shen Moer didn't bother to be polite with him, adjusted the straw hat on her head, and went over to start cutting rice.

With the swish of the machinery, the golden rice fell to the ground in pieces, bending forward, bending again, and moving forward again... Soon, Shen Moer felt the sweat flowing down from her forehead, sliding down the corners of her forehead and across the corners of her eyes. She was so stimulated that she could not close her eyes. She

had never been so sweaty because of labor in her two lives.

"How was the preliminary round?"

At one point, a man's clear voice sounded beside her. Shen Moer was in a trance for a moment, then she stood up, wiped the sweat off her face with the towel hanging around her neck, and replied: "From what they said, it seems that they performed quite well."

Fu Mingze also stood up, turned his head to look at her face which was red with sweat due to the scorching sun and hard work, and nodded: "That's good."

Then he asked: "Do you want to sit down and rest for a while?"

Shen Moer looked back at him and asked seriously: "Have I been cutting for half an hour?"

Do you have the nerve to sit down and rest for a while?

Fu Mingze: "..."

After taking a breath, Shen Moer bent down and started working again. She still had good physical strength, but she lacked experience in farm work. She adjusted her skills according to the original owner's memory and gradually became proficient.

After learning so many poems about the hard work of farmers, it is better to practice it yourself.

If it were Daliang, she would have to suggest to her uncle that the royal family, civil and military officials should do farm work for a few months. If they ever have the crooked idea of ​​plundering the people's wealth, they would have to think twice before doing so.

After working for about an hour, Shen Moer and the others sat on the edge of the field to rest for a while. They each took out a cup and a water bottle to drink water. Shen Moer took a bun from the bamboo basket and distributed it to the others: "Eat a little snack, you can work faster later."

Zheng Jiamin took it and ate it happily. Wang Qiutong was a little dumbfounded. She refused for a few times, but was finally persuaded by Shen Moer to take it. After taking a bite, she looked at him with sparkling eyes. To Shen Moer: "Comrade Shen Moer, this bun is really well made, even better than the one in the state-owned restaurant!"

Shen Moer smiled and said, "Then you can have another one later."

Fu Mingze ate the bun quietly, looking at the people beside him from time to time, watching her talking to Wang Qiutong with a smile, watching her holding a large enamel pot and drinking water slowly, her lips that were dry due to excessive sweating became red... He lowered his eyes and retracted his gaze.

After eating and drinking, Zheng Jiamin and Wang Qiutong's enthusiasm for work increased, and they soon returned to work.

Shen Moer put the enamel pot back into the bamboo basket, sorted out her things, and was about to get up and go back to harvest rice when she heard Fu Mingze say, "Brother Bao got a second-hand bicycle. He sold it for fifty yuan and repaired it for more than twenty yuan. If you want it, it's eighty yuan."

He paused, then said, "If you don't have the money, you can owe me part of it first."

Shen Moer immediately said, "Yes, we can get the money together. Well, try your best, try not to owe me."

Fu Mingze nodded: "Then I'll come to see you in the evening."

Then he got up and went to work.

Shen Moer: "?"

I don't quite understand what the connection is between buying a second-hand bicycle and coming to see her in the evening?