…
Shanggou Village.
When Su Ye returned to the village, he discussed with Ma Gensheng about buying two mu of land to do research on increasing the yield of sweet potatoes. Ma Gensheng almost spit out a mouthful of tea and said, "Teacher Su, I can't make a decision on this matter. I have to go back and discuss it with everyone."
There was not much arable land in their village to begin with, and many people died of starvation this year. Everyone had to work harder to cultivate the land in order to have food to eat. Food was precious now, and planting one more acre of land meant feeding a few more mouths. How could the scarce arable land be given to people just like that
Ma Gensheng returned home and told his father about this. Secretary Ma stroked his beard and pondered for a while before asking, "She said she wanted to use it as an experimental field. What should she plant?"
Ma Gensheng replied: "Plant sweet potatoes!"
Secretary Ma wanted to grow sweet potatoes, which was also a form of grain. After all, they were all grains, so there was no difference between sweet potatoes and rice. It was difficult to repay a favor, so this time Quan did it to repay Teacher Su's favor. He generously said, "Growing sweet potatoes doesn't require paddy fields, so I'll give the land in front of the educated youth dormitory to Teacher Su."
Ma Gensheng was silent again, and after a long while he stammered, "The sweet potatoes in that experimental field are experimental crops. We can't give all of them to the team after they're grown. We have to keep some for further experiments."
“A part” is a bit subtle. There is no exact number for how much it is, but it cannot be completely handed over to the state.
Secretary Ma took two puffs of his pipe in silence and said, "It's understandable that they keep some seeds for research. They only have two mu of land to plant. Can they hand over tens of thousands of kilograms of sweet potatoes to the grain station? Just turn a blind eye and be smart when the time comes."
Secretary Ma set aside two acres of land as an experimental field for increasing sweet potato production. The announcement of this decision caused an uproar among all the members.
Farmland is the lifeblood of farmers. Two mu of land was allocated to Su Ye as an experimental field. One kilogram of grain less means one kilogram less of public grain for everyone at the end of the year. The villagers could not help but complain, "Teacher Su Ye is fine for teaching, but what does she, a city dweller, know about farming?"
Ma Gensheng was the production team leader of the first brigade. Under his tyranny, no one in the first brigade said a word. The two acres of land happened to be under the management of the second brigade, and the members of the second brigade were furious and swore.
Niu Dazhu from the second brigade put his hands on his hips and cursed, "We can't give her this land. Why should we give it to her? Two mu of land can produce more than a thousand kilograms of grain. Those students have never worked on the land and will only waste the grain."
Ma Gensheng was given a headache by the quarrel. He knew in his heart that if the quarrel continued like this, the matter would be sorted out by nightfall.
He took a deep breath, grinned and said cheerfully: "Do you want this good job? If you want, just give it to our first team. The two acres of land are close to the dormitory of the educated youths, which is convenient for those kids to take care of it. I will give this good job to you. I will give them the two acres of land at the foot of the mountain of our first team."
All the members had an expression of "you are fooling me" on their faces. How could it be a good thing to let two acres of land be wasted for nothing
Ma Gensheng described vividly: "You don't know how amazing this teacher Su is. Everything she does goes smoothly. Others say she is a lucky child that is rarely seen in a century. When I went to their compound, I heard a lot of her stories. She could catch a bucket of fish without a hook. Wild rabbits would bump into her heels obediently, pheasants would jump into her arms, and wild ducks would chase her.
Think carefully about it. Since our village met her, everything has gone smoothly. She wants to grow sweet potatoes now, which means that growing sweet potatoes must be a great thing. Can we not follow her and grow them? "
A large group of people were stunned when they heard this. The older generation in the countryside believed in this kind of thing.
These words may not have any effect in the city, but their power is immeasurable in the countryside. These days, every household has an incense burner, and people go to temples to burn incense and worship Buddha at the end of the year. You can trust yourself but you can't help but trust God. After Ma Gensheng finished speaking, half of the people believed him.
Niu Dazhu shook his head sympathetically and said sarcastically: "I think your brains are covered with donkey shit! When you are too poor to afford food, don't come to us to borrow food."
…
Educated youth point.
On the weekend, Su Ye drove to the Agricultural College to pick up Ruan Ruliang.
Ruan Ruliang brought all his grain seeds with him. He spent a day giving agronomy lessons to the young men captured by Su Ye, teaching them how to grow sweet potatoes and the characteristics of each growth stage of sweet potatoes.
The students of No. 1 Middle School thought that they would not have to attend classes again after graduation, but they did not expect that they would have to work hard to attend classes and take notes even though they had come to the countryside. Their hands were sore after taking notes all day.
Ruan Ruliang was very satisfied with the group of students Su Ye had found. The young people were quick-witted, stubborn, and nimble. But if he were to temporarily train a group of farmers, they would probably not bother to listen to his lectures.
Ruan Ruliang observed the weather and chose a cool day to let his students plant the sweet potatoes. Ruan Ruliang has been studying sweet potatoes for many years. In the past few years, he studied how to increase the yield of sweet potatoes by grafting. The first year was a good harvest. He wrote a paper and published it in the newspaper, which attracted a lot of attention. The next year, he used the remaining seeds to plant, but the harvest was a disastrous defeat.
The incident was reported at the time, and Ruan Ruliang was accused of launching a "false" anti-aircraft gun. No magazine was willing to publish his paper, not to mention the trial field. This time, it was not easy to seize the opportunity of Su Ye, so there was no room for carelessness.
Ruan Ruliang took a week off to train his assistants, which made the students who were drafted in exhausted. They worked in the fields during the day and attended classes at night. They ate sweet potatoes and corn every day, and the porridge was thick. They didn't know whether the educated youth who came first next door were more miserable or they were more miserable.
Su Ye observed for a week and saw that Ruan Ruliang was indeed quite capable. It didn't matter whether he was the big boss or not. If he liked to grow sweet potatoes, then let him grow sweet potatoes. A cat that can catch mice is a good cat, whether it's black or white.
A week later, Gu Xiangqian from the capital finally sent a telegram, giving Su Ye new contact information. Su Ye called Gu Xiangqian and asked him to send her some books about rice.
Gu Xiangqian was surprised for a moment when he heard this request. "Okay, I'll keep an eye out for you. Tsinghua University started school today, and many students came to the school. When I helped you with the leave of absence procedures, your teacher was very surprised. She told you to work peacefully over there, and the school supports your choice very much."
He paused and said, "There are many delicious foods in Beijing. I think you will like them. When you come here, I will take you to eat at Bian Yi Fang."
Su Ye and Gu Xiangqian chatted for a while and then hung up the phone.
On the weekend, Su Ye opened the backstage and took a look. He was surprised to find that there were 200 kilograms of pork in the backstage. Looking at the children who were abused by Ruan Ruliang, he finally felt guilty and wanted to improve their food.
The wool comes from the sheep. How can we shear the wool after the sheep is worked to death
Su Ye called Liu Gang and Li Ming, planning to organize the students to "collect" food in the mountains. She smiled and said to Liu Gang: "Go and inform everyone, the female students bring their baskets, the male students bring their sickles, we will go to the mountains to collect some wild vegetables to improve the food."
Liu Gang patted his chest and ran to call for help. Li Ming felt miserable, thinking that he had fallen to the point of eating wild vegetables. But even if he couldn't find a job in the city, at least he would have relief food to eat.
Although he complained a lot, he quickly grabbed his sickle and followed Su Ye up the mountain.
Everyone had different feelings about picking wild vegetables. The enthusiasm for going to the countryside gradually faded, and regrets came over them. Liu Gang didn't regret it. He was used to following Lu Yuyuan, Yang Chenxing and the others. The brothers who used to play with him envied him for being able to go to the countryside with Teacher Su. They were so envious that they almost got jealous. They kept asking him questions since they went to the countryside.
…
The members of the two production teams saw Su Ye taking the students to dig wild vegetables. Niu Dazhu had no good feelings towards Su Ye, a teacher from the city, and was extremely disgusted with him.
The cadres in Shanggou Village regarded her as their benefactor. They sent her food to build houses and even gave her good farmland to use as experimental fields.
Niu Dazhu kept mocking him: "Damn it, these educated youth are just a bunch of useless trash! We squandered the food we gave them in the blink of an eye. It's better to expect a sow to climb a tree than to expect a woman to do that."
They thought of Ma Gensheng's nonsense about Su Ye being very lucky, and laughed to themselves in a heartless manner.
"Let those educated youth destroy the crops. Next year, the whole team will just be digging wild vegetables like them."
As soon as he finished speaking, they heard Liu Gang holding a rabbit and yelling excitedly: "Teacher Su, this is a rabbit! I found a rabbit!"
Niu Gensheng and the others' giggles stopped abruptly, and they looked at each other with a hint of surprise on their faces: Did they really catch a rabbit
They laughed, "It's not uncommon to catch rabbits in the mountains. Didn't Ma Gensheng and his team catch a few pheasants last month? They eagerly sent them to Su Ye."
Although there are few or no animals in the mountains, some people go into the mountains to try their luck and still get something to eat.
Su Ye on the other side took two steps, quickly caught the flying fat duck and weighed it, "Well, I understand."
The students all saw Su Ye hugging the flying duck, and their blood suddenly boiled. Their sickly, depressed and listless mood was swept away in an instant. They looked at the duck in Su Ye's hand with moist eyes and looked at her with admiration.
This is meat! This is such precious meat. I haven't tasted meat for more than a year and I almost forgot what it tastes like.
"Teacher Su! This is a duck. What a big duck!"
"This, this piece of fat must weigh five kilograms, right?" Everyone was shocked.
One rabbit is enough for these students to satisfy their hunger, but a fat duck weighing five kilograms is different. Each person can get two pieces of meat and can eat them in two meals.
Their hearts were beating faster and faster. They were so happy that they were at a loss and almost dizzy at the thought of having a meal of meat tonight.
Liu Gang said happily: "Teacher Su, we have extra food tonight!"
Li Ming put down the sickle and happily helped Su Ye carry the fat duck. He held his breath to admire the duck in his hands. Its feathers were so smooth and shiny, and under the sunlight, they looked as if covered with a layer of oil.
When Su Ye saw these students who were so happy that they didn't know what to do, he thought to himself that they were really useless.
A rabbit and a duck were more than enough for more than a dozen people to share, so she planned to buy a few chickens. Thanks to these students and Ruan Ruliang, she had stockpiled 50 kilograms of pork belly backstage this week, which was more than enough for another piglet.
Su Ye and the others continued walking a few hundred meters into the mountain and successfully caught a small wild boar that was barely strong enough to tie a chicken.
The cheers and screams of the students almost drowned out the entire forest. "Teacher Su, is this a wild boar?"
Liu Gang's mouth was drooling all over the floor. He knocked the piglet unconscious with his sickle.
Niu Dazhu and his group were completely stunned, and the mocking expressions on their faces froze instantly.