Since last December, Chairman M issued the instruction that "it is very necessary for educated youth to go to the countryside to receive re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants", and the Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement was launched on a large scale.
All the junior and senior high school students in school (the classes of 1966, 1967, and 1968, later known as the "old three classes") went to the countryside.
Although the land in Liuguan County was barren, it had to accept more than 5,000 educated youth.
Early in the morning, after Qian Shulan sent Xiao Min to school, she was called over by Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua to welcome the educated youth to the countryside.
They were driving there on a tractor, and when they were almost reaching the county town, Qian Shulan suddenly stopped the tractor.
"Auntie, why did you stop? Is there no oil?" Wang Shouquan was anxious. It's too late.
Qian Shulan turned her head to look at him and asked, "How many educated youth have come to our production team this time?"
Wang Shouquan said happily, "Our production team has fifteen, the most among all the production teams. Other production teams only have five or six."
Qian Shulan was so angry just by hearing the number, but when she saw Wang Shouquan's attitude, she secretly complained in her heart that Wang Shouquan was stupid. What was there to be happy about
She was ready to explain the reason to him. These educated youth from the city were all students in school, and they had caused so much trouble in school. They were full of passion but had no ability to distinguish right from wrong. They were incited by others to cause destruction everywhere, and they were radical and self-righteous.
Wang Shouquan went to greet them with such an enthusiastic attitude. Was he dissatisfied with the living conditions in their production team and wanted to create some trouble
Qian Shulan took out a melon seed from her pocket and ate it, looking at him expressionlessly, "Do you know why these educated youth went to the countryside?"
Wang Shouquan scratched his head, a little confused, "Aren't you here to support our rural construction?"
Qian Shulan rolled her eyes and said, this kid must have been fooled by Secretary Chen and President Zhou. Otherwise, why did other production teams only have five or six people, but they had three times as many as others
She spat the melon seed shells into the grass by the roadside and yelled at him, "Support our rural construction? Where do we need their support? Schools, fields, or chicken farms?"
Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua looked at each other, frowning and thinking. The school must not be able to do that. They were teaching well, so why should they suddenly give way to these educated youth? Besides, their education level was only that of junior high school students. They were not much better than their current teachers.
Qian Shulan clapped her hands and said to them, "These city kids can't carry anything, tell me, where can you assign them? Have you forgotten Chen Xuanxuan? I just asked her to sweep the floor, it's an easy job, isn't it? There are so many people in our team vying for this job, and you assigned her to it, but what about her?? She was so lazy and had an affair with someone else. Can one educated youth cause such a big problem for our production team? Now there are fifteen of them. You don't think Deng Xingming is good, and the others are good too? Are you stupid?"
Since Deng Xingming became an accountant, he has done a pretty good job, much better than Qian Yuetao. Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua are very satisfied with him.
Wang Shouquan's burning heart was instantly chilled by Qian Shulan's words.
Qian Shulan came up to the two men and whispered, "I'll tell you the truth, why did these educated youth go to the countryside? Because they were too noisy in the city. The country can't arrange jobs for these people. They have nothing to do all day, either criticizing this or educating that. They can recite Chairman M's quotations better than I can. By then, our production team will be in a mess because of them. Think about it, what reasons can you use to refute them? Think about it, if these people come to our production team, if we don't suppress their arrogance, how can you manage them in the future?"
These spoiled children will definitely not be able to bear it in the countryside, and it is only a matter of time before they cause trouble. If we don't take precautions now, what will happen in the future? If those people let everyone engage in class struggle every day, can the production team still live a good life
Wang Shouquan swallowed his saliva, sweat all over his forehead. He now knew that the emotional people had thrown a hot potato to him. They also said that they were rewarding their advanced production team and gave them so many educated youth to work. Fuck him, they actually made fun of him! "Third Aunt, what should I do?"
Qian Minghua was also anxious, his face flushed with anxiety. According to what his aunt said, these educated youth were all troublemakers. Other production teams only had five or six, but they had fifteen. This was going to cost them their lives.
Their production team finally had some peace and quiet. But he had no choice, the people had already been settled, so he had to accept them. "Aunt, what do you say we should do?"
"Cold!"
Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua looked at each other. Then the two men started playing rock-paper-scissors behind Qian Shulan's back.
Wang Shouquan lost, rolled his eyes, licked Qian Shulan's shoulders, pinched her throat, and said in a flattering manner, "Third Aunt, just tell me, how to make it cold?"
Feeling so comfortable being pinched, Qian Shulan stopped being pretentious, waved for the two to come over, and talked for a while.
Qian Minghua hesitated, "This is not a good idea. What if Secretary Chen and Secretary Zhou have a problem with us?"
Qian Shulan guessed that the other two were just like these two guys, and really thought that the educated youth went to the countryside to support construction. That's why Liuguan County was relatively peaceful, so they were so naive. When people came, hey! They must have a headache.
Qian Shulan glared at the two of them, "What's your opinion? They have no right to remove you. Besides, our production team pays so much tax to the commune every year. They don't think of us when they have good things to do, but instead bring in so many troublemakers. We have to do this for better management."
Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua looked at each other and responded in unison.
They had originally planned to set off at eight o'clock, and the tractor was faster than the horse-drawn carriage, but they did not move until the horse-drawn carriages of other production teams had passed by.
Lin Wenlin drove over with his donkey cart and asked, "What's wrong with you guys?"
Qian Shulan had already opened the cover in front of the tractor, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and said with a bitter face, "The tractor is broken, let's fix it."
Lin Wenlin was a little puzzled. "Such an expensive thing can actually break. What a waste of money."
Qian Shulan glared at him unhappily. "I've bought this tractor for ten years and it only broke down once. Even if it's a waste, your donkey has diarrhea from time to time. Shouldn't you sell it to the public sales cooperative to support construction?"
Linjia Village had only one donkey cart, and the rest were oxen used for plowing, more than the oxen in Wangjia Village. This donkey cart was not used easily, unless there was something special.
It seems that Lin Wenlin also attaches great importance to this event of educated youth going to the countryside, otherwise he would not have come so early.
Lin Wenlin was choked by her and clasped his fists towards her, "Yes, yes, I can't speak, then you can practice slowly, we will leave first."
He whipped his whip and walked away with a clatter.
Although he drove the donkey again and again, the donkey seemed to be born slow. No matter how hard he hit it or how slow it went, it would not be in a hurry or panic. Its speed was almost the same as that of a human.
Wang Shouquan laughed out loud in the back, "No wonder this old guy never drives a donkey cart when he goes to the commune for meetings. This speed is really too slow."
Qian Minghua also tried to hold back his laughter.
The sun soon rose to the top of our heads. I estimated that it should be twelve o'clock.
Wang Shouquan was anxious, "Auntie, can we leave now? The production team still has a lot of things to do."
Qian Shulan glared at him and said, "What are you in such a hurry for?"
She took out something wrapped in oil paper from her bag.
"What is this?" Wang Shouquan sniffed and found it to be very fragrant.
Qian Shulan opened the oil paper to reveal the fried broad beans inside, "Try it."
The two of them didn't even think about picking up anyone, and just started eating handfuls of food.
Qian Shulan also put some in her pocket and chewed them. Each bite was crunchy and delicious.
After Wang Shouquan finished eating a handful, he licked his face and asked Qian Shulan for more. Before he stretched out his claws, he saw Qian Shulan's actions and couldn't help but exclaimed repeatedly, "Third Aunt, you have really good teeth. You can even eat this."
Qian Minghua also looked up. That's right. A man in his sixties could still eat broad beans.
Wang Shouquan immediately asked for advice, "Aunt, how did you stay healthy? My mother can't even chew shredded potatoes. She can only eat tofu and soaked pancakes every day."
Qian Shulan felt a little guilty about this question at first, but after so many times, she had her own way of dealing with it. "I brush my teeth every morning and evening and take good care of them. Does your mother do the same?"
This? Wang Shouquan shook his head honestly. His mother couldn't bear to buy toothpaste and toothbrushes. They were so expensive. It was okay before. Although they were expensive, they could be bought. But now? They needed industrial coupons. Where could he get them? So not only did his mother stop using them, he also stopped.
Qian Shulan looked at him with disdain, "If you want to have good teeth like me, you have to brush them every morning and evening. Also, don't eat cold food right after eating hot food. It's easy to damage your teeth. You have to take care of them!"
Wang Shouquan nodded repeatedly, but finally became dejected and said, "I can't get the industrial vouchers."
Qian Shulan thought so too, "Next time I'll ask Yunping to help you bring it. She has industrial vouchers."
Wang Shouquan thought about it and realized that a tube of toothpaste can be used for a long time. "Okay! I'll give her the money when the time comes, and I'll use the industrial coupons to buy it. It's not easy for her either."
"Sure!"
Qian Minghua didn't need it, mainly because Qian Weihan had a way to get this stuff. Qian Weihan would give him some bills every time.
The three men stood on the side of the road and ate up a bag of fried broad beans before restarting the tractor.
When the three men arrived at the county square, they found that everyone else had left. Only the fifteen educated youth from their production team were left, some standing, some sitting, and some squatting, all with dejected expressions.
Qian Shulan parked the tractor at the edge of the square. There were stairs ahead and she couldn't go up.
Wang Shouquan and Qian Minghua walked over slowly.
Qian Minghua was naturally dark and cold. He shouted at the group of people, "Where are the educated youth from the Wangjia Village production team?"
The roar was like the sound of a bell, which frightened the group of people so much that they stood up straight reflexively.
"here!"
"Come and gather quickly!"
Qian Minghua took out the list and started calling out names, and no one was missing.