Su Ye carefully read the information sent by Gu Xiangqian. She could understand why Ruan Ruliang was so persistent in studying sweet potatoes. At present, there were no natural conditions for studying rice. During the three difficult years, there were either floods or droughts. Only sweet potatoes could guarantee a stable yield regardless of drought or flood, and were resistant to salt, alkali and drought.
To solve the famine in the short term, we still have to rely on the high-yield sweet potatoes.
Liu Gang and his group worked in the fields for the entire month of August. The production team didn't have enough oxen, so they plowed the fields with human labor. Their shoulders blistered and gradually developed calluses. Everyone cried out in pain, finally realizing the hardships of farmers. If they didn't have a big meal of meat every day, they would have packed up and returned to the city long ago.
A female student named Lin Yuan was in charge of raising chickens in the youth camp. Everyone gave her the pheasants they caught, and she could collect about ten eggs every day. Everyone could have a boiled egg every day, and a bowl of slippery egg custard porridge on weekends, which was as delicious as heaven.
Liu Gang was smart and courageous. He took the leftover rabbits to the black market to exchange for food, and he could get a bag of fine grain every week. The food quality of the new educated youth camps rose sharply, and this time they were completely driven away, and they were unwilling to leave.
The food in the countryside is probably better than working as a respectable leader in a government unit. Who would want to leave? Everyone is eager to put down roots in the countryside.
Li Ming sometimes regretted the little wild boar that escaped that day, and he missed the taste of pork in his dreams. It was a pity that they never encountered wild boars again when they went up the mountain after that. There was a 600-jin wild boar in the mountain, so even if the students were still thinking about pork, they didn't dare to do it. It was good enough that they didn't eat pig food!
At the end of August, colleges and middle schools started to open. After an autumn rain, the sweet potato seedlings in the fields sprouted green. The educated youth carefully took care of the two acres of land and every sweet potato survived. Ruan Ruliang came to Shanggou Village to see the sweet potato seedlings and brought Qian Xiaohe with him.
Qian Xiaohe was very happy to see Su Ye, grinning with her white teeth, "Teacher Su, nice to see you again!"
Su Ye waved to Qian Xiaohe and stuffed a boiled duck egg into her mouth. "You came at the right time. We were just having a meal."
Liu Gang recognized Qian Xiaohe, his junior sister, and he often saw her in the office. He quickly wrapped a rabbit leg in oil paper and stuffed it into her hand warmly, "Oh, it turns out to be your junior sister from No. 1 Middle School. Eat it quietly on the way home, avoiding others."
Not only did Liu Gang secretly stuff chicken legs into Qian Xiaohe's pockets, but Li Ming and other seniors also secretly stuffed things into her pockets. As time went by, Qian Xiaohe's schoolbag was almost full.
Qian Xiaohe was surprised to see the meat. She looked at her classmates in shock. They kept silent, pretending nothing had happened. Liu Gang touched her head and said with a smile, "Teacher Ruan is looking for you."
Qian Xiaohe glanced at Su Ye, who was chatting and laughing with Teacher Ruan in the sweet potato field. He seemed no different from before, still as lively and energetic.
Qian Xiaohe later learned through letters that Su Ye did not go to the best university, but ran away to the mountains. She did not expect that Teacher Su and Teacher Ruan were studying sweet potatoes together, and she thought it was great.
Su Ye's mood was very good at this moment, although the news that Ruan Ruliang told her was not good at all.
Ruan Ruliang was a little embarrassed: "Something happened recently. The grafted sweet potatoes I made before can indeed produce high yields, but the seeds produced cannot be used the next year. Now someone is catching on to some mistakes and asking me to stop these sweet potato research."
This is a complicated matter. Nowadays, asexual cultivation technology is highly recommended in China, but the sweet potatoes grown by Ruan Ruliang in the first year through asexual cultivation (grafting) failed miserably. After consulting a lot of information, he believes that Mendel's genetics, which is now regarded as heresy, is correct.
If he wrote about Mendelian genetics in his report, he would definitely be strongly criticized by the academic community. Ruan Ruliang did not dare to speak out anymore and just wanted to grow sweet potatoes quietly.
"So you don't grow sweet potatoes anymore?" The arrow has already been shot, is there any reason to turn back? They said they would break up, but Su Ye would not accept it.
Ruan Ruliang frowned and said unhappily, "Of course not!"
He was counting on this sweet potato field to wash away his shame, so how could he give up so easily? Ruan Ruliang continued, "It means that if I continue to do this, I may be sent down to the countryside. In fact, at my age, I don't care about these material things. Even if I am sent to another place, I can't let go of this sweet potato field. I have to figure out where I went wrong."
Su Ye heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. What's the big deal? It would be even better if he could come to Shanggou Village.
She suggested with a smile: "Teacher Ruan, what do you think of the Gou Village? We have good soil and water here, pleasant scenery all year round, and good food. These students have grown a lot taller after coming here. Don't worry, Teacher Ruan, if you are willing, I will arrange it for you."
This sentence hit the mark exactly what Ruan Ruliang wanted. If he were assigned to this sweet potato field, he would wake up laughing in his dreams.
Su Ye quickly found Secretary Ma to arrange this matter, and they needed to add one more person to their youth cadre site.
The branch secretary Ma didn't mind one more or one less person. The students brought by Su Ye were all strong laborers and the most reliable educated youth. Since this teacher Ruan was recommended by her, he couldn't be too bad.
Besides, even Secretary Ma began to doubt whether his son's words were true or just to fool people. If this teacher Su was really that amazing, then we must not go against her. Secretary Ma thought for a long time and readily wrote a letter of introduction to Su Ye.
Su Ye contacted Gu Xiangqian, who made a few phone calls to relatives and friends, and soon Ruan Ruliang packed his bags and came to Xigou Village.
Ruan Ruliang was shocked when he first arrived at the educated youth dormitory. He had made up his mind to give up everything and work hard for ten years to come to this mountain valley, but he didn't expect that this poor and remote place turned out to be a happy place!
Ruan Ruliang, a student from No. 1 Middle School, fried fragrant scrambled eggs with cucumber, stewed a beggar's chicken with lotus leaves and mud, a roast duck, and a plate of braised chicken and duck offal.
Liu Gang happily poured wine for Ruan Ruliang, "This is Jiannanchun, good wine, the teacher should have come a long time ago!"
Li Ming took off his glasses and ate with great interest. He wiped the lenses until they were especially shiny. "I'll check the books. When this batch of sweet potatoes is ripe, we can use the sweet potato leaves to feed the piglets. In a few months, we may be able to eat pork."
Lin Yuan went on to say: "Our rabbits will be able to have babies next month. They are very fertile! There will be several babies in a litter, and the cubs will grow quickly if they are exposed to the wind."
Ruan Ruliang was confused by what he heard. Wine, pork, and rabbit were all included. It was too shocking. Each student picked up a piece of meat from him, and soon the white rice was piled high with pork. This... This was not just a blessed place, wasn't this just living in a dream
The delicious gravy kept flowing onto the rice, making the rice soft and fragrant. Ruan Ruliang was so shocked that he ate three large bowls of rice in a daze. He only stopped when his stomach was full.
Ruan Ruliang didn't even know when his glasses fell to the ground. He was drunk and seemed to have fallen into a beautiful dream with his legs stepping on the clouds.
When he woke up the next day, he heard the sound of cocks crowing. Liu Gang called him to have breakfast with a bowl of egg and shredded pork porridge. Only then did Ruan Ruliang believe everything that happened yesterday.
This... what exactly was going on? It took Ruan Ruliang several months to slowly digest it.
…
After the spring ploughing, a teacher came to the village. This teacher worked in the fields with the new educated youth during the day and taught them classes at night. The old educated youth were all amazed when they saw this.
Are they so thirsty for knowledge
The old educated youths were very surprised. After work in the evening, they even stopped listening to the radio and went to listen to Ruan Ruliang's class. Ruan Ruliang was very capable. After all, he was an old teacher from a technical secondary school. He taught in simple terms. He taught theoretical knowledge in the evening and farm work during the day was equivalent to practice.
Ruan Ruliang thought he was suffering for his dream, but he found a good life. He was fed and well-fed every day, how could he justify himself if he didn't do something practical? In addition to being grateful, Ruan Ruliang worked hard and tried his best to impart knowledge to his students.
This group of students from No. 1 Middle School is equivalent to attending a technical secondary school for free. Although farm work is tiring, the young people are full of strength and hope. They have experienced a completely new way of teaching. They believe that setbacks and farm work make people mature, and knowledge makes people progress.
At the same time, Su Ye contacted He Meimei to mimeograph a batch of college entrance examination review materials. Although these children followed her to the countryside, she couldn't delay their future. How could they get worse and worse by following her
The treatment of the old educated youth was not so good. Every day, the sullen-looking Ruan Ruliang would drive them out of the new educated youth camp with a broom. A teacher who was as kind as a spring breeze in front of the middle school students turned into a stingy and fierce old man in front of them.
In fact, Ruan Ruliang didn't mind the old educated youth listening to his lectures, but there were a lot of things in the dormitory of the new educated youth, and someone would come over every few days, which annoyed him a lot.
The old educated youth had no choice but to persuade Su Ye to lend them some notes and materials for private study. After a few visits, the old and new educated youth became familiar with each other.
Ruan Ruliang told the students how to prevent drought and flooding in crops, how to prevent insects and apply fertilizers in different growth periods. After that, Su Ye taught them math, physics and chemistry. The old educated youth did not expect that Su Ye looked so young, but he was so good at math, physics and chemistry.
Lin Yuan heard this group of old educated youth chatting privately, and smiled and said, "If Teacher Su can't explain it well, no one else can."
You have to know that this person can attract parents from all over C City to come and ask for review materials for students from No. 1 Middle School by just casually publishing first-hand information. Almost all the students she tutored were admitted to universities. If she stayed in No. 1 Middle School, she would definitely be the most capable teacher. How can such an amazing teacher be judged by her age
After the old educated youth found out about this, they became even more attentive to Su Ye. When there was no honeycomb coal in the countryside, they would ask her to collect firewood and boil water, pick fruits and vegetables and bring some to her, and buy some delicious and interesting things in the county town and bring them to her.