In the golden autumn of October, the fields are a sea of golden yellow as far as the eye can see.
Across the country, the most important day of the year, the autumn harvest, has arrived.
Harvesting, drying, and storing the grain—they were incredibly busy.
A group of children are picking up rice ears in the paddy field with baskets.
After the rice is harvested, some rice ears and grains will be scattered in the paddy field. The children will pick them up. Although there aren't many, they can be accumulated enough to feed the family for a few days.
"There's a loach hole!" Xia Zhu spotted a hole and quickly squatted down to dig.
After the autumn harvest, rice paddies are no longer planted with rice seedlings, so the water is drained early. The semi-dry mud exposes the loach burrows, and you can dig out loaches by digging down into the mud.
Of course, maybe it's not a loach, but...
"Hey, it's not a loach, it's a toad!"
Xia Zhu pulled a toad out of the cave and shook it.
The children burst into laughter, their voices carried away by the wind.
After the grain harvest was completed, it was already late autumn, and various places began to deliver grain to the government.
In previous years, the Hongtaiyang Production Team did not have tractors. In addition to using oxcarts and donkey carts to transport the grain, the members had to carry the rest of the loads to the commune's grain station one load at a time.
With tractors, we can save half the manpower.
Wang Jiaxing drove his tractor, making trip after trip to haul away the grain.
Outside the grain station, Xu Guoqiang chatted idly with other brigade leaders while waiting in line.
People in rural areas are all loud-voiced, and many of them love to boast, making the scene quite noisy.
"Jianmin, it's our turn, let's go!" When it was finally their turn, Xu Guoqiang shouted and pushed a cart of grain inside.
After pouring the grain onto the scale, Xu Guoqiang stayed behind to watch the scale, while Xu Jianmin pushed the cart out and called on the able-bodied men in the team to help lift the grain onto the cart.
After delivering the grain, Xu Guoqiang walked out with his head held high and led his men back to the village happily.
In those days, handing over grain to the state was a very honorable thing. Some production teams would rather their members go hungry than not hand over the grain.
Of course, if you fail to submit your work, you'll be criticized by the leaders, and the entire production team will lose face.
In addition, production teams that fail to pay their grain taxes will suffer greatly, will not be eligible for any of the commune's benefits, and will also be affected in terms of marriage prospects for young men and women in the team.
After the grain was handed over to the public, the grain was distributed among the members of the production team.
The Hongtaiyang Production Team had a good harvest this year. Based on the harvest, each work point was worth about three cents.
The distribution of grain was based on the standard of "70% labor and 30% work per person".
In other words, the population is divided into 70% and the work points into 30%.
The food rations were also graded, divided into four levels: able-bodied laborers, women, the elderly, and children. The able-bodied laborers received the most and the best rations, followed by women, the elderly, and children.
Therefore, families with more sons receive more grain, which is one of the main reasons why everyone wants to have sons.
Whether it's working or fighting, they have confidence.
In addition, there is a minimum standard for individual work points. If the minimum standard is not met, the individual has to pay the brigade extra money.
Every production team has a few households that are lagging behind, either because they have few men or because they are lazy. They not only fail to receive grain or money, but they also contribute grain and money to the team.
For example, the families of Wang Cuihua and Liu Qingju are typical examples.
Every year they distributed grain and incurred debts, yet both families were shameless and didn't care what others thought.
"Captain, next year, next year we will definitely work hard and try to pay back the money and grain we owe the brigade." Wang Cuihua said with a shameless smile.
Liu Qingju squeezed in and, mimicking her words, said, "Yes, yes, we'll definitely pay it back next year."
"Distribute the food rations to them." Xu Guoqiang waved his hand with disgust. "This is the last time. If they can't pay back next year, they can do whatever they want."
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