The three finished eating, but it was still dark, though the gong signaling the start of work had already sounded.
Chen Shuning told the other two about Liu Shumei asking them to bring raincoats. Wang Chunni had a raincoat, but Xu Laidi didn't. However, she found a piece of plastic sheeting to bring. Once the three of them were ready, they turned on their flashlights and followed the crowd heading towards the brigade headquarters.
Today, as usual, the old man, the Party Secretary, gave a pep talk before we started work, and then the team leader began assigning tasks.
Young and able-bodied laborers like Chen Shuning naturally had to go to the fields to harvest soybeans, while lighter tasks such as husking corn kernels and turning wheat in the threshing ground and warehouse were usually done by the elderly and children.
Because the old Party Secretary said that it would definitely rain today, even though it was still dark, the brigade leader still organized people to make a lot of torches, saying that they must harvest the remaining crops before the rain came.
Although Chen Shuning had a flashlight, she also received a torch. After all, she didn't have batteries for such an old-fashioned flashlight in her space, and batteries were hard to buy these days. Not only did you need tickets, but you also had to rely on luck to buy them.
The torches issued by the team are much cheaper to produce; they are made of cedar bark and pine resin and are said to burn for an hour or two.
After receiving torches and sickles, Chen Shuning followed Wang Chunni, Xu Laidi, and Liu Xiangyang, who later joined their small group, toward the bean field.
Upon arriving at the destination, they found the squad leader, received their assigned tasks for the day, and the four began their work.
Soybeans differ from other crops in that they mature late and are also cold-resistant, so they are usually the last crop to be harvested.
After the first frost, once the leaves have completely fallen off and the bean pods and vines have dried up, they can be harvested, threshed, dried, and stored.
Of course, harvesting at this time also has some drawbacks, namely that the dried bean pods are easy to fall off. So after the adults finish harvesting the beans, the village children still have to carry small baskets to pick up a bunch of bean pods and beans in the field.
After all, in such difficult times, every grain of food was precious.
Because it was the last harvest, harvesting beans became the most arduous task of the autumn harvest.
Because bean pods are prickly, even with gloves on, you can easily get pricked by them.
In addition, the bean pods, covered in frost early in the morning, are especially icy, and holding them on the bean stalks feels like holding a block of ice.
So after her hands were pricked in several places and frozen numb, Chen Shuning decisively took out another pair of gloves from her space when no one was paying attention.
Wearing two pairs of gloves finally made her injured hands feel a little better.
However, bean stalks are short and stiff, and bending over to harvest beans all day is much more tiring than harvesting wheat all day.
Adding to the fact that it was dark, and the only light they could get from the torches stuck in the cut ground behind them slowed down the harvesting process, and many people were injured due to poor visibility.
In just a short time, two people were injured in Chen Shuning's small plot of land, including Wang Wenfang, one of the new educated youth.
Fortunately, everyone was wearing more clothes at that time, so Wang Wenfang only had a small cut on her leg. However, given her personality, she would take the opportunity to avoid work even with a tiny wound.
So soon Chen Shuning saw Wang Wenqi carrying her and running towards the village.
Of course, none of this concerns them. After today, they can rest legitimately. She doesn't want to get injured at this critical juncture.
If that's the case, it would be better to be like Yang Wanqiu, who got injured on her first day of work and spent the entire autumn harvest recovering from her injury. Although she didn't earn any work points, at least she wasn't overworked.
It wasn't until after seven in the morning that the sun finally pierced through the thick clouds, giving the earth a little bit of light.
No longer needing to rely on the faint light of torches to work, the people swung their sickles even more frantically.
By now, Chen Shuning's hands were so numb that he couldn't feel any pain. He mechanically swung his sickle to harvest the soybeans in front of him. Wang Chunni and Xu Laidi, who were bundling the soybeans behind him, had to jog to keep up with Chen Shuning and Liu Xiangyang's harvesting speed.
But no one is complaining right now.
Looking at the clouds pressing lower and lower, even Chen Shuning and the other educated youth who knew nothing could tell that it was probably going to rain soon.
At this moment, everyone had only one thought: to quickly store the remaining beans in the warehouse, otherwise the quality of the grain might decline after being soaked by the rain.
Such grain would definitely be classified as low-grade when delivered to the government, which would directly affect their income for the year.
When it comes to things that affect their own interests, everyone will naturally pay attention.
Although everyone was full of energy, it seemed as if the heavens were playing tricks on them. With a muffled clap of thunder, the clouds in the sky looked like a ripped-open bag.
Rain poured down from the clouds, accompanied by a sudden gust of wind.
It didn't give anyone any time to react, soaking the people working in the fields to the bone.
Although Chen Shuning and his group brought raincoats, unfortunately, fate didn't give them time to put them on.
In the short time it took from when the raindrops hit her body to when Chen Shuning ran to the field to find her raincoat and put it on, she was soaked through from head to toe.
The cold rain hitting her body made Chen Shuning, who was always afraid of the cold, feel numb in her hands and feet. She threw down the sickle and shivered as she finally managed to put on the raincoat.
Although the clothes inside were soaked, the raincoats at this time were the windbreaker-style black rubber raincoats, which were still very windproof.
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