Chapter 68 Moth
Even though we had a day off the previous day, we didn't get enough rest. When the bell rang for work the next day, everyone groaned. It was as if our butts were stuck to the kang and we couldn't get up.
Of course, these people did not include Xia Zhizhi, who was sleeping soundly with the small pillow made for her by her daughter, Ah Ju.
You have to move even if you can't. The work is there, you have to do it whether you can or not.
The educated youth walked out of the yard one after another.
An old man in the village who was good at observing the weather said that it would rain recently, so the team leader did not let everyone continue to carry water for irrigation. Seeing that the work in the fields was almost done, they just waited for the crops to mature and then the autumn harvest.
The team leader arranged for some people to clean the warehouse and sharpen tools, and for others to go to the cotton fields at night to light lamps and catch moths.
There are more than 50 mu of sandy land at the foot of the northern mountain in Zhongxing Brigade. The land does not produce much grain, but it would be a pity to leave it empty. After some discussion within the team, they decided to plant cotton. This place is not very suitable for growing cotton, but it will be empty anyway, and there will be some harvest if they plant. When the harvest is good, each person can get half a pound of cotton at the end of the year, and the whole family can get enough cotton to make a set of cotton jackets.
Several new educated youth were assigned to the night shift to catch moths. Everyone came back to sleep during the day and gathered again at night.
When everyone set out in the evening, Xia Zhizhi followed along.
It’s not that she suddenly became diligent, it’s just that she has never seen it before and was curious, so she went to see what’s new.
About thirty or forty people came to the field carrying small nets and backpacks. Looking at such a large group of people, she felt that they were going to scare moths to death.
When we arrived at the field, Lin Hongyan (the son of the village chief who is a tractor operator) and two men I had never seen before were tinkering with the machines in the field.
It looks like a large electric heater.
At this moment, I didn't care about work safety. I just pulled the wire from the electric pole passing by and connected the electricity to the large heater. After the power was turned on, the machine emitted a white light. I found an open space to put it, and then moths flew towards here with wings fluttering. One by one, they were electrocuted and fell into the liquid under the lamp.
It turns out it's not a heater but a moth trap.
For people of this era, this is too rare.
Everyone sighed in surprise.
Seeing how lively it was, she was the first place, so Xia Zhizhi squeezed in from the crowd.
Asked Lin Hongyan: "Comrade Lin, this is a moth-catching lamp, right? Did you borrow it from the commune?"
Lin Hongyan nodded, very proudly: "It's borrowed from the agricultural machinery station. It's a new machine, and it will be assigned to our village first."
After saying that, he looked at the two male comrades and introduced them to everyone: "These two are technicians from the agricultural machinery station, Comrade Li Xiangsong and Comrade Wang Fei. Our village farmers can get the moth-catching lamps thanks to these two comrades."
Most of the people who catch moths at night are young people. After all, young people have good eyesight. Everyone is busy looking at the lights. After hearing what Lin Hongyan said, they perfunctorily praised: "The two technicians are really young and promising!"
"Yes, yes, thanks to them."
Technician Li and Technician Wang were both still single. When they saw Xia Zhizhi, their eyes lit up. They had never seen such a pretty girl in the whole village. They immediately became shy and waved their hands, saying, "Serving the people is what we should do."
Li Xiangsong was about to talk to Xia Zhizhi when he saw Han Youran behind her.
The eyes are brighter.
This one is dignified, generous and beautiful, and is more suitable to be a daughter-in-law than that skinny and weak one!
Then I saw Jiang Xiurong next to Han Youran.
Jiang Xiurong was talking to Han Youran: "I didn't know before that cotton needs to catch moths at night."
Jiang Xiurong is beautiful and speaks standard Mandarin, but her accent has the softness that is unique to the Jiangnan water towns. Southerners are used to it and don't think it's a big deal, but to northerners, this accent is just like coquettishness, and compared with the tough and straightforward girls from the Northeast, it's like two different genders.
These two technicians were pure young men from Northeast China, and it was the first time they knew that a girl could be so gentle.
The two boys blushed and looked at this and that, unable to make a decision.
Xia Zhizhi held her own camera to test the light of the moth-catching light.
Her camera doesn't have a flash, so it's basically impossible to take pictures at night.
But there is light now, so she can make do with it. Although the light source is still a little weak, she brought two flashlights so that Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong can help her with manual lighting.
She turned her head and glanced at the two technicians. The two young men were looking at Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong with nostalgic looks. Both of them were good-looking, tall, and had formal jobs. In the marriage market, these conditions were very good.
She rolled her eyes and walked over to him and said, "Comrade, I'm planning to write an article about catching moths and submit it for submission. I want to take a photo of the moth-catching lamp at work. I wonder if you can cooperate with me."
The two technicians blushed and said seriously, "Sure, how should we cooperate?"
Xia Zhizhi asked two technicians to squat in front of the moth-catching light and pretend to be debugging it. Then she pulled Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong over and asked them to stand around with notebooks and pens in their hands.
It looked like 4 technicians were testing the lights.
She held up the camera, found the best angle for the light source, constantly asked Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong to change angles and movements, and also directed two lighting operators Cui Zijin and Tang Mingli to climb up and down for lighting.
Lin Hongyan didn't know that she was deliberately making things difficult for Cui Zijin and the others. He heard her complain again, "Oh, you held the flashlight too high. Lower it a little. It was just right just now. Why did it miss again?"
Lin Hongyan felt that these two male educated youth, although they seemed to work well, did not seem to be very smart. They took so long to talk about such a simple matter.
So he stepped forward and took the flashlight from Tang Mingli's hand: "Tang Zhiqing, you take a break, I'll try it."
Xia Zhizhi didn't intend to embarrass Lin Hongyan, so she had to stop acting up and took a few photos honestly.
Lin Hongyan thought to himself that these educated youth were really good-looking but useless. Look, even for such a simple matter, he still had to take action.
Han Youran and Jiang Xiurong were 360 degrees beautiful in the photo. As for the two technicians, the background was not important, as long as they didn't blink. We took several photos and thought that was enough, so we let them go.
There was only one moth-catching lamp, so the others had to catch moths manually. After watching the excitement, they held up the lamps and gently hit the cotton seedlings with poles, then used net bags to catch the flying moths. Instead of killing them on the spot, they were put into baskets to take back and feed the chickens.
Although the two technicians blushed with shyness, their professionalism was unquestionable.
Xia Zhizhi asked them a few more detailed questions, wrote them down one by one, and then stopped paying attention to the two of them and turned to watch other members catching moths manually.
Wang Fei stayed behind to watch the lights. Li Xiangsong shyly followed Jiang Xiurong and said, "Catching cotton moths at night can prevent them from laying eggs and greatly reduce the incidence of cotton bollworms. In the past, members used lights to catch them, which was inefficient. If the moth-catching lights are used well, the commune should add a few more next year, and then you won't have to work so hard."
Jiang Xiurong smiled and nodded, but she didn't actually hear what he said.
Although moths and butterflies both have wings, the two things look completely different. Jiang Xiurong grabbed the moth with no expression on her face, but she was screaming in her heart. Fortunately, she was wearing gloves, otherwise she would have lost her hands.
Seeing that she was slow in catching the insects, Li Xiangsong also helped. Technicians are technicians, and they caught the insects quickly and accurately.
Jiang Xiurong didn't want him to help, but Li Xiangsong said, "Comrade Wang can just watch over the moth-catching lamp. It would be a waste of time for me to stay here. It's better to join everyone in production. Labor is the most glorious!"