After everyone arrived, the team leader, as usual, assigned tasks to the members and handed out tools. Finally, he assigned tasks to the educated youth. When it was their turn, they were in a dilemma. They couldn't do the heavy work, and there wasn't much light work, so it was hard to assign them.
Chu Jingqiu and the others have been here for a month. Since it is not autumn harvest, they have not done any strenuous work.
Generally, the educated youth were responsible for all the light work, such as following carts, carrying tools, delivering hot water, and watering the vegetable garden.
The autumn harvest begins today, and the brigade's task for the educated youth is to "harvest sweet potatoes." "Harvesting sweet potatoes" means harvesting sweet potatoes.
"Picking up sweet potatoes" is done by using a donkey to pull a plow. An experienced farmer is in front, holding the plow and driving the animals to plow the sweet potatoes. One or two people follow behind, bending over and picking up the sweet potatoes with baskets.
Those who pick sweet potatoes would carry a basket of them to the edge of the field or a place where they would not be in the way, pile them up, and then pick more...repeating this process for the entire day.
Half of the people picking sweet potatoes in the village are teenagers. It’s not that the village chief looks down on these educated youths, they are not even as good as the teenagers in the village.
Chu Jingqiu repeatedly bent over and stood up again, stood up and bent over again to pick up sweet potatoes, and then carried the sweet potatoes weighing dozens of kilograms to the edge of the field. He repeated the same simple and mechanical movements endlessly, and gradually felt sore in his back and was out of breath.
She forgot to bring her gloves today, and she couldn't get them from thin air, so her nails were already filled with dirt, making them uncomfortable. Her fingertips were rubbed red, and she was so tired that even bending over was difficult.
She looked at Shi Aihong, Qin Yilan and others beside her, who were already grimacing and complaining.
It’s such tedious farm work, my body really can’t handle it.
They worked slower and slower, and saw the scattered sweet potatoes from the plow piling up more and more. He then glanced at the half-grown children from several nearby villages, who were following the plow nimbly and never falling behind, and he felt very anxious.
The old educated youth were better off. Although they were slow, they didn't look so embarrassed. After all, they didn't have many sweet potatoes accumulated in front.
The newcomers had accumulated a lot of sweet potatoes in front of them. Compared with others, they could only endure the pain, grit their teeth and persevere, speeding up their work. Finally, they reached the end of the field when the plow returned.
During the break, Chu Jingqiu picked up the kettle and drank half of it. He was so tired that he lay down on the sweet potato vines. Shi Aihong shouted exaggeratedly: "I can't take it anymore, I can't take it anymore, I'm half dead!"
"Qiuqiu, let me put some spiritual spring water in the kettle so you won't be tired." Jiang Jiang's voice sounded in his ears.
"Can you put it directly without me entering the space?" Chu Jingqiu asked silently in his heart.
"Of course, I can use my mind to fill it for you directly. From now on, you can just fill your kettle with spiritual spring water. You won't feel tired, and you won't get tanned, and your hands won't be rough." After Jiang Jiang finished speaking, he immediately filled Chu Jingqiu's kettle.
Chu Jingqiu drank a few more sips of water and suddenly felt that all the fatigue he had just felt disappeared. The pain in his fingers was gone instantly and his skin returned to its original whiteness and smoothness.
"Jiang Jiang, do you think it would have such an amazing effect if I gave Shi Aihong some of the spiritual spring water to drink?" Chu Jingqiu communicated with Jiang Jiang through his consciousness.
"No, this spiritual spring water was created because of you. It can only save those who are destined to be saved. It can only be used for your blood relatives. It will not have such a strong effect on others. At most, it can improve immunity. If everyone has such an effect, then the world order will be disrupted." Jiang Jiang said seriously.
"Everyone, hurry up and get back to work. The Revolutionary Committee will come to inspect our work soon, especially the educated youth comrades. Everyone should try to leave a good impression." The team leader shouted loudly in the field, and a group of members who had been slacking off reluctantly got up and continued working.
Chu Jingqiu resigned himself to his fate and got up, pulling up Shi Aihong who was still lying next to him and unwilling to move. The two of them picked up the baskets beside them and continued to pick sweet potatoes.
"Comrades, educated youth, please stop what you are doing and gather here. Comrade Gu Wanshan, deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee, will give a speech to us. Welcome everyone." The old branch secretary Du Jianguo called on the educated youth to gather at the edge of the field.
"Roll in the mud and temper a red heart. Comrades, when you go to the countryside to receive re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants, you must carry forward the spirit of not fearing hardship and fatigue. I just saw that everyone is working very hard, and I hope you will continue to keep up the hard work." Gu Wanshan spoke while looking at the group of educated youth.
His bulging eyes lingered longest on Chu Jingqiu and Zhang Pingping. After he finished speaking, he took the initiative to shake hands with the educated youth, saying, "Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your hard work!"
He shook Zhang Pingping's hand for a noticeably longer time, and asked her about her well-being and whether she had adapted to life in the countryside. Zhang Pingping withdrew her hand unnoticeably and tucked her hair behind her ears to disguise the situation.
Chu Jingqiu could tell at a glance that Gu Wanshan was no good. His eyes were puffy, his eyes were droopy, his nose was red, and his chin and neck were fused together. He looked like the inflated face in the movies when practicing Toad Kung Fu. It was very wretched.
Chu Jingqiu calmly took a handful of wet mud mixed with donkey dung from the ground and rubbed it on her hands. The smell was unbearable even for her.
Soon it was Chu Jingqiu's turn to shake hands. Chu Jingqiu quickly spread out his hands and said apologetically, "Sorry, my hands are too dirty."
Gu Wanshan laughed awkwardly, looked at Chu Jingqiu with lustful eyes and said, "This young comrade deserves praise. He is not afraid of getting dirty or tired." Then he pretended to pat Chu Jingqiu on the shoulder.
"Thank you for the compliment, leader!" Chu Jingqiu pretended to bow his head to express his gratitude and avoided the disgusting claws.
"Director Gu, these educated youth comrades have done a good job. Look, their hands are all red from being rubbed." Team leader Yu Fugui pointed at the educated youth comrades who had not yet shaken hands and said, giving Gu Wanshan a way out.
Gu Wanshan then shook hands with the remaining educated youth, told them to continue working, and led a few people to the team leader's house for dinner.
After work at noon, Chu Jingqiu returned to the educated youth camp. She washed her hands several times before she felt they no longer smelled like donkey shit. She entered the space and drank a glass of iced happy water, feeling alive again.
Just as she was about to have a big meal with Jiang Jiang, there was a knock on the door. She hurried out of the space, and as soon as she opened the door, Qin Yilan rushed in.
"Jingqiu, I'm so tired from working this morning! I'm tired and hungry now. Do you have anything to eat?" After saying that, without waiting for Chu Jingqiu's reaction, he opened the small iron box on the kang table by himself.
She found that there was nothing inside. With a bitter face, she said pitifully, "Jingqiu, please take out some more food. I'm starving. I have nothing to eat."
"I don't have anything to eat here. Dinner will be served soon." Chu Jingqiu said calmly.
"You've eaten all the snacks in your cabinet!" Qin Yilan was still a little unconvinced.
"Yes, that's why I went to town to buy things, but I didn't buy anything and ended up working overtime all night to help the commune."
Qin Yilan had no choice but to go to find Shi Aihong dejectedly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
