Two o'clock in the afternoon is when the sun is the hottest, and even standing under the shade of a tree you will still be sweating.
Lin Miaoyin tugged at the shirt that was stuck to her body, and then looked at the scene where there were only three female educated youth, and suddenly she became angry.
Her screams could be clearly heard everywhere, and everyone was weeding in the same large area. They either ran away to other places to be lazy or pretended not to hear.
The three female educated youth who came looked at each other, and there was a clear sense of awkwardness in the air.
Xu Liwen tugged at Zhu Wanqin's sleeve and pursed her lips at Lin Miaoyin.
"Sister Miaoyin, maybe they went to the bathroom and didn't hear you. Why don't you call them again?" Zhu Wanqin said with a faint smile.
"Newly arrived female educated youth, come and gather under the big poplar tree!" Upon hearing this, Lin Miaoyin put her hands on her hips and shouted at the top of her voice.
After waiting for about five minutes, the remaining three people who came together finally arrived.
All three of them were pampered girls from Shanghai. Their families were government officials, and they came to the countryside just to get a place to go to university. They thought it was enough to just go for the sake of appearance. Besides, since they were girls, who would let them do heavy work?
Who knew that they only did the lightest work, weeding, and they were so tired that their arms were weak and their backs ached in the morning.
Plus, the accommodation conditions here are really bad. Yanyan
Most of the villagers’ houses have mud walls, which fall off easily if touched. You can hear the sound of mice gnawing on the furniture when you sleep, and you can see holes in the roof when you look up during the day.
As for eating, they don’t have to cook. They use their food coupons to share meals with their fellow villagers. Is the food they eat edible for humans? They had only bran and vegetables, not a single grain of fine food. The food seemed to scrape down their throats, and they got hungry quickly, but they still had to scramble to eat. Otherwise, the children in the family would snatch up all the food in the bowls in a few bites, as if they had never eaten before. Plus, they were unhygienic and their bodies were covered in dust and dirt, which was really disgusting.
They were so hungry after working in the morning that they barely ate half full at noon. They fell asleep and had to start working again before they could even get a nap. The team leader also criticized them for not doing their job well, and in the afternoon he asked a village girl to guide them in weeding.
What's so difficult about pulling out weeds? Do I need someone to teach me? They felt insulted.
Just now, the village girl was calling them to gather. She probably wanted to show off in front of them, with such a mean look on her face. They were not happy about it and pretended not to hear her. They only came over reluctantly after she called them the second time.
"You're finally here? I just called you and you didn't show up. I thought you were hiding away somewhere."
Lin Miaoyin was angry and her words were not very nice.
"Look at what you said, we just went to relieve ourselves."
"That's right, don't you allow people to relieve themselves?"
The three female educated youth murmured, not taking Lin Miaoyin seriously at all.
Lin Miaoyin gritted her teeth and held back.
"Okay, now that we're here, let's get started."
She jumped down from the field and squatted down, "You guys come down too."
After they all gathered around, Lin Miaoyin reached out and pinched the root of a stalk of Berberis ulmoides.
The stems and leaves of Bermuda grass are very hard, the root system is long, and the stems and leaves grow very scattered. If you grab the stems and leaves and pull them out, it is easy to break the stems and leaves while the roots are still in the ground.
"When pulling weeds, you must remove the roots, otherwise they will grow back in a few days. If you only pull out the leaves, they will break and the roots will not come out."
As she spoke, she gathered all the stems and leaves together, pinched the roots, and placed her fingers close to the ground. "Pinch all the stems and leaves together like this so they won't break. Then shake them left and right to loosen the soil around them, and then apply force and it'll be done."
As she moved, a piece of Bermuda grass was pulled out completely.
"Have you learned it?" she asked, looking up.
"I learnt it. So that's how it is done. I was wondering why it kept breaking this morning." Zhu Wanqin said with a smile.
The three female educated youths looked indifferent and said with a little disdain, "It's just weeding. We just got here and don't know much. Of course, we are not as good as you who were born in the countryside."
Lin Miaoyin dropped the grass in her hand, stood up, smiled and said, "Okay, since you think it's easy, then do it well, and don't get criticized again when you finish work in the afternoon."
After saying that, she walked away with a cold face. Humph, she was too lazy to say anything more. At worst, she would just give up that work point.
I returned to my allocated land, put on gloves and started pulling weeds.
It was very hot and sunny in the afternoon. She wore a straw hat and felt the sweat flowing down her chest and her back was also wet with sweat.
When I felt tired, I would sit down and drink some water, fan myself with a straw hat, and then continue working. After four hours, it was almost time to finish work.
She had finished her work and was about to climb up the field to look for the scorekeeper when she saw a familiar figure striding towards her.
Could it be that Meng Yuanzheng had also finished his work and came to pick her up? Or come to help her with work?
But before Meng Yuanzheng could reach the front, he was stopped by someone.
"Meng Zhiqing, are you here to pick up your wife from work?" A female educated youth put one hand on her waist and fanned herself with a straw hat in the other. Her rolled-up sleeves revealed two white and tender arms.
The female educated youth next to her smiled and said, "I heard that Meng Zhiqing is also from Shanghai, so we are from the same hometown."
Meng Yuanzheng stopped out of politeness and nodded, "Hello, I'm here to help Miaoyin with some work."
"Your wife is a great worker. Unlike us, we can't even pull out weeds properly. Alas, we are not as good as the people who were born and raised in Niutouwan." The female educated youth pouted, praising Lin Miaoyin for her good work on the surface, but actually implying that she was a country girl.
I heard that Meng Yuanzheng looked down on his country girl wife the most, but had a good relationship with other women in the team.
Although his behavior is not good, he is good-looking. Compared with other men in the team, just looking at his face makes people want to talk to him.
Unexpectedly, Meng Yuanzheng's face suddenly darkened after hearing this. He glanced at them and said, "Aren't you proud of pulling weeds?"
After saying that, he walked towards Lin Miaoyin without stopping, leaving behind the two female educated youth whose faces turned red and white.
Lin Miaoyin pretended not to see what was happening over there and hid on the ground, concentrating on cleaning up some of the grass that had been missed.
A figure squatted beside him, with a faint smell of feces. Lin Miaoyin did not despise him and said cheerfully, "Have you finished your work?"
"Okay. You take a rest, I'll do the rest." Meng Yuanzheng stretched out his dirty hands and pulled out the remaining grass in no time.
"Actually, I can do it myself..." Lin Miaoyin just stood aside and watched him work without being able to help.
"Okay, let's go home." He stood up, clapped his hands, took a long step, and stood on the field. He also stretched out his hand to signal Lin Miaoyin to hold his hand.
At this time the scorer came. He was an old man with an injured leg and could not do heavy work, so he served as the scorer. He had a high seniority in the team, so no one dared to question the fairness of his scoring.
"It's already late, the sun has already set, and you still have so much left! Oh, I really don't know where you are hiding to be lazy."
The old man looked at the plots of the female educated youths unhappily, and said while counting the points, "Zhu Zhiqing gets seven points, and the others only get five points!"
"We were not familiar with the situation on this first day so we worked slowly. We will pay attention next time." Zhu Wanqin said gently, with a hint of self-blame in her voice.
The other female educated youth looked unhappy. The old man's words were so harsh. How could they be lazy? They clearly worked all afternoon!
The old man didn't care about that and continued to look forward. When he saw Lin Miaoyin's piece, he nodded and said, "Miaoyin gets eight points, plus guiding them to pull weeds, a total of nine points."
He pointed to the corn field below and said to several female educated youth, "Come and take a look. This is the best done. There are no grass roots and it's pulled out cleanly. Look at yours. Not only are you not done yet, you've pulled out so many of them, and even broke the corn stalks. I really don't know what you're doing."
Lin Miaoyin was a little embarrassed. If the old man continued talking, she would become a public enemy. After all, what people fear most is comparison.
"Uncle, let's go and see others so we can go back and eat early." Lin Miaoyin spoke at the right time.
After the old man left, everyone present finally breathed a sigh of relief and was about to go home, but they heard a young intellectual pointing at the gloves she was holding and asked, "How did you get Wanqin's gloves?"
The author has something to say: Jinjiang Literature and the author wish dear readers and friends: a safe and happy Spring Festival holiday! At the same time, we kindly remind everyone to wash hands frequently, wear masks, ventilate more and avoid gathering together.
If you can't go out, stay at home and read novels.
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