Chen Shuning was among the first to be settled in the commune, but Yang Wanqiu's situation was not so easy.
Having no relatives or friends left in Beijing, Yang Wanqiu had no one to help her mail her luggage, so she had to carry all her belongings with her.
All six large packages were quite heavy. In addition to the six large packages hanging on her body, there were also washbasins, thermos bottles and other items in the net bag in her hand. Yang Wanqiu was so heavy that she moved like a snail, almost inching forward. I really don't know how she got off the train.
Meanwhile, Zhou Guoqing, Yang Wanqiu's simp, didn't seem to care about anything. He didn't offer to help his goddess carry her things; instead, he stood behind her with a gloomy expression, staring at her.
Once people have found their respective communes, they will follow the signs to the assembly point in their communes and wait. After everyone has arrived, the person in charge will lead them back to their respective communes, and then the communes will assign them to different production brigades.
Xiangyang Commune sent a total of 63 people this time. The commune has seven production brigades, with exactly nine people in each brigade. This is the largest number of educated youth ever sent to the commune.
Xiangyang Commune was considered a wealthy commune in Wangshan County. This time, the Zhizhi Commune sent three tractors to pick them up. However, there were more than sixty people and a lot of luggage. Even with three or four tractors, people were crammed together like sardines in a can, and they had to sit on their luggage.
Of course, a commune like Xiangyang Commune, which could send tractors to pick people up, was considered quite good.
Looking at the other communes that came to pick people up, there were oxcarts, donkey carts and all sorts of other vehicles. Chen Shuning even saw a few of those handcarts pulled by people. This shows that Xiangyang Commune can really be considered wealthy.
Whether it was because she hadn't gotten the better of Chen Shuning on either of her previous attempts, or because her luggage was too heavy, Yang Wanqiu didn't approach Chen Shuning before getting on the commune's tractor. She even chose not to share a ride with Chen Shuning when they were on the tractor.
Heilongjiang Province is sparsely populated, so the distance between communes is not short. In addition, most rural roads in that era were dirt roads, and there were no seats in the back of the tractor. People and luggage were crammed into the carriage and swayed back and forth with the bumps of the road.
Even those who don't get carsick would get carsick from this kind of road condition.
Even Chen Shuning, who was fine even after riding a roller coaster, couldn't hold on with the help of the spiritual spring water. He vomited up the little food he had eaten before getting off the train, along with his stomach acid.
The other educated youth who didn't receive the blessing of the spiritual spring water fared even worse. Vomiting sounds could be heard from the back of the three tractors from time to time. Of course, not everyone got carsick; some were perfectly fine.
After a bumpy two-hour ride, the tractor finally arrived at Xiangyang Commune around 4 p.m. The group got off the vehicle, their hands and feet trembling. Even those who didn't get carsick felt numb from being cooped up in the vehicle for so long.
However, to everyone's dismay, this was not the final destination. There were brigades, or villages, under the commune, and they would have to be reassigned again before they could reach their final destination.
Three tractors drove into the courtyard of Xiangyang Commune in single file. People from various villages who were there to pick up the educated youth were already waiting there. Perhaps because the trains were often delayed, it was uncertain when they would arrive. Judging from their expressions, they had probably been waiting for quite a while, and none of them looked too happy.
Of course, a pale complexion doesn't necessarily mean that you've been waiting for a long time.
They were still waiting for further instructions on which brigade they would be assigned to, so the educated youth who had gotten off the tractor waited in the commune's courtyard, some sitting and some squatting.
The commune's method of assigning these educated youth was simple and crude: they wrote the names of these educated youth on slips of paper, and then people from each brigade drew lots, with each person drawing nine names, and whoever they drew was theirs.
The commune leader who brought them back said to the crowd, "The same rule applies this time. You will draw lots and see whoever you draw. Whether you are male or female, fat or thin, it all depends on your own luck. Nobody should complain."
Judging from this situation, there must have been a conflict in the past over the allocation of educated youth, otherwise the people from the commune wouldn't have said such things.
Even so, it did not ease the tightly furrowed brows of these people.
Indeed, these educated youths were mostly seventeen or eighteen years old, and most of them had just graduated from school and hadn't experienced much hardship. After four days and three nights on the train, plus the two-plus hours of bumpy tractor ride just now, their complexions must not be good.
Regardless of whether it's good or bad, this is the policy from above, and even if they're unhappy, they still have to take the person back.
The lottery process was quick. Each brigade had nine educated youths, and the person in charge of receiving the educated youths in each brigade was either the team leader or the branch secretary.
After everyone had drawn their slips of paper, the leaders of each brigade handed their slips to the commune staff. Then, the commune staff called out names according to the slips of paper and stamped each person's educated youth certificate. This completed the formalities.
After receiving their stamped educated youth certificates, they also received good news: because the winter temperatures in Heilongjiang Province were too low, in addition to the 80 yuan subsidy from the state, these educated youth who had come to Heilongjiang Province could also buy four jin of cotton and six feet of cloth from the supply and marketing cooperative with their educated youth certificates, without needing coupons.
This was the first year that a large number of educated youth were sent to the countryside, so the country's policies were quite favorable in order to encourage more people to voluntarily go to the countryside.
There's a reason why this subsidy wasn't distributed in the streets where people registered: it's too cold in Northeast China, and there were a few isolated cases in previous years.
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