The weather in July is hot even in the morning.
Wangjia Village did not feel anything at all. For the sake of the crops, the whole village was busy. Everyone over the age of three had to go to the fields.
After the adults were assigned their own areas, they took their children to work in the fields. The adults harvested wheat while the children picked up wheat ears, working very enthusiastically.
Qian Minghua had been standing by directing everyone to get tools. After everyone in the village had left, he looked up at the sky and said to the scorekeeper next to him, "Have the educated youth arrived yet?"
The scorer shook his head, "Not yet."
Qian Minghua frowned and pursed his lips, obviously angry. He was about to march towards the canteen when he heard the scorekeeper pointing in the direction of the village entrance, "The educated youth are here."
Qian Minghua looked up and his heart sank for a moment.
After waiting for more than half an hour, the educated youth finally came over leisurely. Qian Minghua was very annoyed by their slow pace.
Qian Minghua had a sullen face, and raised the corners of his mouth to reveal a very strange smile, "I forgot to tell you something, our chicken farm is going to recruit two people to sweep chicken manure recently, and we will choose two of you."
The educated youth rubbed their sleepy eyes and were suddenly startled when they heard his words.
After thinking about it carefully, some people couldn't help but sneer, "Sweeping chicken shit? I don't want such a dirty job."
Others also echoed.
A young man who looked honest asked, "How many work points can I get for sweeping chicken shit in a day?"
"Ten!"
More than a dozen people were stunned. So many
As if their Ren and Du meridians were opened, they all gathered around and said, "Choose me! Captain, choose me!"
Qian Minghua ignored the demanding looks from these people and said expressionlessly, "There is only one rule for selecting people, which is the two people with the highest work points! One man and one woman."
Qian Minghua flipped through the work points book and found that the work points of these educated youth were all about the same. The men's work points were generally higher than the women's, but not much higher.
This time, the educated youth stopped wasting time and kept urging the scorekeeper to give them the flag.
The scorers handed out flags to them one by one, and the educated youth picked up their sickles and rushed to the fields.
After everyone left, the scorekeeper asked with a smile, "How long do you think these people can keep up this excitement?"
Qian Minghua shook his head, "Who knows!"
These educated youth are like cows, and they won't move forward unless they are beaten.
If he wasn't worried about them causing trouble again, he wouldn't care whether they earned work points or not. It wasn't his business if they went hungry. It was their own fault for being lazy and not working! But for the sake of everyone's peace, he still had to urge them on.
Harvesting wheat is very hard work, especially when the weather is so hot and the sun is so strong.
In order to earn more work points, these educated youth even worked here to cut crops at night.
But they were not at all conspicuous, as many members were like that.
The work points of the Wangjia Village Production Team were particularly valuable, and everyone worked very hard in order to get more money at the end of the year.
Get up early in the morning and go back late at night.
At noon when the sun is hottest, go back and rest for two hours.
In this way, it was not until the end of the autumn harvest, when the grain collected by Wangjia Village was stored in the warehouse and the public grain was paid, that the grain distribution began. When the educated youth heard about the grain distribution, they came to line up early in the morning. They really didn't want to eat sweet potatoes. There was no oil or water in the past three months, and everyone's appetite was dull.
Soon it was the educated youth's turn, and Wei Jianshe was the first to run forward to receive it.
When Wei Jianshe heard that he could only get this much food, he was furious. "Why can you get 180 kilograms of food? And I only get 135 kilograms?"
Qian Shulan took a look at the work points book. "Look, you have a total of 360 work points these days. Our production team has 50% labor and 50% labor. The annual grain output is 360 kilograms, and the half-year output is 180 kilograms. 50% labor and 50% labor are each half, which is 90 kilograms. You only have 360 work points, and the full work points should be 900. According to the ratio, you can only have 45 kilograms, which adds up to 135 kilograms. That's right."
In fact, as long as they didn't ask for all fine grains, even if they asked for 50% fine grains and 50% coarse grains, these grains would be enough for them to eat until the autumn harvest. Of course, they would just not go hungry, which was naturally not as good as their life in the city.
Wei Jianshe snatched the account book, lowered his head and looked at it, muttering, "Others distribute food according to the number of people, why do you want to distribute food according to work?"
Qian Shulan snatched the account book back with a stern look in her eyes. "All production teams in this village distribute grain in this way. If you are dissatisfied, you can go to the commune and complain."
The production team of Wangjia Village was based on a 50% labor-50% ratio. Some production teams had 40% labor-60% ratio. Some had 30% labor-70% ratio, and the most was 20% labor-80% ratio. Compared with other production teams, Wangjia Village was already very good.
Wei Jianshe was so angry that his eyes turned red.
Qian Shulan seemed to have just remembered and reminded him, "But our production team can spend money to make up for the work points. Do you want to?" She had a smile on her face when she spoke, and her voice was very gentle.
Wei Jianshe didn't believe she would be so kind, but he still asked, "How do I make it up?"
Qian Shulan stared at him with a half-smile, "Four dollars and fifty-three cents per hour, how much do you want to make up?"
Ten work points count as one work point, so one work point is 45 cents.
Wei Jianshe was stunned by this number. According to this calculation, he would have to spend 243 yuan to make up the difference. He didn't believe it and retorted loudly, "Impossible! You are lying to me! How can work points be so valuable?"
Qian Shulan curled her lips and spread her hands. "Believe it or not, if you don't believe it, you can go to the commune and ask. Our production team has always been the first in the county in terms of work points." She gestured with some pride, "It has been nine years."
Wei Jianshe was shaking with anxiety.
Qian Shulan naturally couldn't really let them starve to death, so she gave him a sincere suggestion, "In fact, you can replace the fine grains with coarse grains. Our production team still has some surplus grains. Do you want to change?"
In fact, not only do they need to match the thickness of the cloth, but even the members themselves need to match the thickness of the cloth. Otherwise, the 360 kilograms would not be enough.
When Wei Jianshe thought about the sweet potatoes he had been eating for two months, his stomach started to feel ruffled.
He hardened his heart and gritted his teeth, "Yes! I want 50 kilograms of fine grains, and the rest will be replaced with coarse grains."
Qian Shulan nodded and said to Qian Yuetao beside her, "Calculate the amount of food for him. One pound of food is four pounds of sweet potatoes."
Qian Yuetao was writing and drawing with a pen.
Looking at his clumsy movements, Wei Jianshe looked disdainful and said, "You are an accountant with this level of ability."
Qian Yuetao paused and his face flushed red. After all, he was just a young man and he cared most about his reputation.
In fact, some of these educated youth had a high level of education, but unfortunately the members would not choose them.
Qian Shulan patted Qian Yuetao on the shoulder and said, "Remember it well. It doesn't matter if you calculate slowly. You must make sure it is correct."
Qian Yuetao nodded.
Within two days after these educated youth received their respective food rations, they began to receive letters from home one after another.
The farthest of these people is from Shanghai, and the closest one is from Linyang Province.
The result was the same. They were clearly told not to go back and to stay in the countryside. Those who were better off would send some things over. These people cried bitterly in the educated youth center (now no longer called the canteen).
Early the next morning, these people went to work in the fields, looking a little listless.
Sun Daqin became curious and ran over to ask with a staring face.
After she came back, she told Qian Shulan, "These people got letters from home saying they can't go back." She pouted and said, "If they can't go back, then they can't go back. It doesn't matter where they live."
Qian Shulan laughed and said that Sun Daqin could only speak so easily because she had never had a life of having everything provided for her.
Just as she was about to speak, she heard the educated youth who was receiving the flag squatting on the ground and crying.
The other members all started discussing.
A kind-hearted lady came over, pulled the man up and asked about the situation.
After learning what happened, the aunt comforted them, "As long as you work hard, life in the countryside is still good. Our production team is already quite good."
Such words made them even more desperate, and the educated youth cried and held their heads in their hands.
Soon, Qian Shulan and Wang Shouquan came over and said to the group, "Su Aiguo and Ge Xiaoyun, you two have the highest work points. From now on, you can go to the chicken farm to sweep the floor. You don't have to work in the fields anymore."
The educated youth who were huddled together immediately stopped crying.
Two of them had a bit of joy on their faces. The past three months had exhausted them. Their originally fair faces had been tanned several shades. Changing the hand holding the pen to a sickle was not only a matter of weight, but also meant changing from sitting to bending over. This simple change in posture was extremely hard.
Some people looked at them enviously and asked, "When can we work in the chicken farm?" Since they could not go back, it would be good if they could change to some easier work.
Wang Shouquan smiled and reassured everyone, "Don't worry, our production team recruits new workers every year. You came a little late. If you had come two months earlier, you might have been selected to hatch chicks. Your work points would have been higher."
The educated youths looked around for confirmation, and a kind-hearted woman nodded, "Our brigade secretary is right. Hatching chicks earns more work points than sweeping the floor."
The educated youth stopped crying immediately.
"But our selection criteria are still based on your work points. Whoever has the highest work points can enter the chicken farm. Of course, those who have been selected are not included. And if you go to the commune to cause trouble or criticize and struggle in the village again, I will also deduct your work points, fifty points at a time. You should weigh your points and don't look for trouble all day long."
After hearing this, the educated youth stopped making excuses and picked up their flags and went to the fields.
The crops have been harvested, and now it’s time to plant sweet potatoes and corn.
After work, educated youth from several nearby production teams came to look for these people.
"We are going to hold a demonstration at the commune tomorrow. Do you want to go?"
The educated youth rubbed their waists, somewhat hesitant.
Wei Jianshe didn't want to work in the countryside at all, so he asked, "How many people are there?"
"We are launching organizations. We have more than a dozen of them."
A dozen? Not too few. Wei Jianshe asked everyone, "Are you willing to be farmers forever? Do you want to live such a hard life?"
The others lowered their heads and remained silent.
Liu Xiuli and Wei Jianshe had the same idea. She didn't want to stay in this remote place for the rest of her life. She immediately stood up from the kang and responded to him, "I'll go with you!"
The others looked at each other in bewilderment. Liu Xiuli continued to encourage the two of them, "Xiao Cao, Xiao Hong, we are all from the same city. Don't you want to go back? Can you bear to waste our youth in a place like this?"
The two were very moved by what she said. It turned out that they were Liu Xiuli's followers in school, and now they were moved by her again.
So the four of them followed that man and left.
Su Aiguo comforted everyone, "You should work hard and strive to get into the chicken farm as soon as possible. I heard that as long as you have enough work points, you can exchange them for eggs at the chicken farm."
"Really?"
Su Aiguo was worried that everyone would reject him, so he hurriedly said, "When I get more work points, I will bring back some eggs to improve everyone's meals."
Ge Xiaoyun also hurriedly said, "Me too!"
Everyone was finally happy.