Du Jianguo choked on his pipe and coughed several times before stopping. "Chu Zhiqing, is what you said true? Did you hear it from others, or did you see it with your own eyes?"
"Of course I saw it with my own eyes. Just this afternoon, I heard them negotiating the price of laundry. Two yuan a month for washing their clothes 11 times." Chu Jingqiu replied.
Shi Aihong also quickly interrupted, "Old Secretary, I heard from the aunts in our village today that Liang Hongrao is just pretending to work in the fields and doesn't do any work. Yuan Xingyuan does all the work.
Why do you think Yuan Xingyuan helped her? It must be because Liang Hongrao paid her. "
Du Jianguo pondered for a moment. "If what you said is true, then the thinking of these educated youth is not good. The commune asked us to strengthen the ideological education of the educated youth. It seems that I have to give them a good beating."
Shi Aihong asked anxiously: "Old Party Secretary, what are we going to do at work tomorrow?"
Du Jianguo said awkwardly, "Chu Zhiqing, Shi Zhiqing, the team leader has already made arrangements, and I don't want to embarrass him. Do you have any good ideas?"
Chu Jingqiu thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Old Party Secretary, you always put us educated youth into a separate group, which is not conducive to our growth.
Shi Aihong and I can't even tell the difference between grass and seedlings now, so it's easy for us to pull out healthy crop seedlings.
I think we should be put into a group with the other members so that we can learn from them while working. This will be more conducive to our progress.
That day I saw Fatty and the others complaining that they pushed the work that no one wanted to do onto her. The members of the cooperative really didn't want to do the work of cutting grass for pigs because they thought the work points they earned were too little.
You can assign it to the educated youth who are willing to do this work. We can learn from the members while picking grass, which will help us improve faster. The members will also earn more work points, and everyone will be happy. It's a win-win situation."
The old branch secretary nodded repeatedly, "Liu Pangni did tell me many times that she didn't want to do this job, but it was because she made a mistake that she had to do the job that no one else wanted to do.
The members of the cooperative rely on these few work points to survive all year round. If you don't mind, you can switch with Fatty and Li Huandi and be assigned to Da Laba's group!"
Shi Aihong jumped up happily, "Thank you, old Party Secretary, you are such a good person..."
Du Jianguo smiled and said earnestly: "As an elder, I still want to advise you two. Once you become proficient in your work, it would be best to earn more work points. You can't always rely on subsidies from your family.
Especially Shi Zhiqing. Chu Zhiqing went with the army as soon as he got married, but you have to live in this mountain village for a long time. Try to earn more work points and support yourself."
Shi Aihong excitedly shouted: "Old Party Secretary, you are right. When I become proficient in this job, I will try to get full work points in one day."
Early the next morning, the bell for work rang, and the brigade indeed divided the educated youth into a group with the members.
Yu Shujie shouted, "Yesterday, the team leader reported that the educated youth were not only pulling weeds slowly but also pulling out a lot of crop seedlings. The villagers discussed this today.
Assign the educated youth to the commune members and let them learn from them. Never let the mistake of uprooting crops happen again!"
Chu Jingqiu and Shi Aihong were grouped together with Dalabao and Chun Niang, while Yu Shujie still grouped Liang Hongrao and Yuan Xingyuan together.
Chu Jingqiu and Shi Aihong returned to their old ways, occasionally running into Yuan Xingyuan while delivering grass to the cowshed. They didn't exchange words, just polite nods.
Yuan Xingyuan and Liang Hongrao didn't seem to be scolded, and their days passed peacefully.
About a week later, on this weekend, Yuan Xingyuan was washing clothes in the yard again. She was scrubbing a large basin full of dirty clothes with all her might.
The old branch secretary stood quietly behind her with his arms behind his back, observing her for a while, and his face became darker the more he watched.
"Who is Yuan Zhiqing washing clothes for? Why is he washing such a big basin of clothes?
Yuan Xingyuan was so frightened that he trembled a little, and said with a wry smile, "It's Secretary Du! You scared me.
I was doing some laundry, so I washed two for them too. When we're out and about, we should help each other."
Du Jianguo laughed in anger and said jokingly, "Yuan Zhiqing is really a good comrade who loves to work and help each other. He not only often helps Liang Zhiqing and Tong Zhiqing wash clothes, but also helps them to do the laundry.
And you even helped Liang Zhiqing pick up grass for the pigs. Should I hold a meeting in the village to make you an example and commend you as a model worker?
The smile on Yuan Xingyuan's face froze for a moment, and she stammered, "Old Party Secretary, I... I like to do good deeds... I don't want to leave my name behind, and set an example... Forget it!"
The old Party Secretary snorted coldly and said sternly, "Yuan Zhiqing, do you think I'm a fool? Do you think others will believe the reasons you gave? Think carefully about how to explain it!"
The old branch secretary went to Jiang Qingzhou's room with his arms behind his back. Not long after, the two of them walked out of the room.
Jiang Qingzhou gathered all the educated youth in the yard. Everyone looked at each other in confusion because they didn't know what had happened.
The old Party branch secretary walked up to the crowd and said in a deep voice, "Comrades, recently members have reported to me that some of our educated youth are backward in their thinking and are not actively participating in labor. Instead, they pay people to do the labor. This is typical capitalist thinking, and we absolutely cannot tolerate it."
Yuan Xingyuan's face changed. She had never expected the truth to be exposed so quickly. She had no choice but to defend herself, "Old Party Secretary, Liang Zhiqing and I were just helping each other. We didn't charge them any fees. You really misunderstood!"
The old Party Secretary gave her a cold look and said, "Yuan Zhiqing, aren't you going too far in helping each other? You can help them once or twice, but you can't help them with their work every day!
Liang Zhiqing sits in the field eating, and you work for her like a horse or an ox. If you are not after the money, then Liang Zhiqing and Tong Zhiqing are exploiting and oppressing you. Then I have to have a good talk with them.
This kind of capitalist hedonism is really unacceptable."
Liang Hongrao's expression changed, and she stammered, "Old Party Secretary, we did help each other and didn't bully Yuan Zhiqing.
She helps us with the laundry and I help her with the chores, and we are united and friendly.”
The old Party Secretary nodded and said, "Okay, Liang Zhiqing, tell me what you did to help Yuan Zhiqing."
Liang Hongrao's big fat face suddenly turned red, and she didn't say a word for a long time. She glanced at Tong Yujuan, and Tong Yujuan pointed to her mouth and stomach.
Liang Hongrao's eyes lit up, and she stammered, "I... I helped her to relieve her boredom. She was in a bad mood after leaving home, so I chatted with her every day and helped her fully integrate into the big family of educated youth."
Tong Yujuan covered her eyes, pretended to be a quail, hid behind the crowd and never showed her head again.
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