Wang Ying had never lived in the countryside for a long time in her previous life. Her biggest impression of the countryside was from a colleague of hers. Her parents did not want to live in the city and continued to farm in their hometown. They would send various agricultural products to their daughter from time to time. So this colleague often gave them green wheat to eat during the wheat harvest season.
The so-called green wheat is the time when the wheat kernels are tender and can be eaten directly before they turn yellow. Every year, between half a month and a month before the wheat harvest, the green wheat kernels exude the fragrance of the grain itself. The nurses who are always losing weight like this colleague the most and ask her to help them every year. Then mix the green wheat kernels with chicken breast, carrots and oyster mushrooms, cook them first and then stir-fry them. They are chewy and reduce fat.
As for Wang Ying herself, she always makes sweet soup with green wheat kernels, which she pairs with water chestnuts and adds a few glutinous rice balls to make the soup look particularly refreshing in color and fragrant in taste.
Seeing them eating green wheat in all kinds of ways, my colleagues sighed: "In my hometown, if you cut the wheat before it's ripe and eat it green, you'll get yourself killed. But in recent years, there's actually a lot of demand for green wheat. My parents told me some time ago that someone went to our place to collect green wheat, saying they were going to take it back to feed the cows... If the village cadres hadn't stopped them, I guess many people would have sold it. The price of green wheat is even higher than that of ripe wheat."
Who would have thought that in just thirty or forty years, people would be able to eat wheat in a variety of ways
But don't think about it at this stage. Wang Ying also stood on the field wearing a straw hat and participated in the vigorous harvest season.
The saying "wheat harvest in a short time" means that wheat matures very quickly. How quickly? Wang Ying recalled that the wheat in the field was still green one day ago. After two days of being exposed to the sun, the gong sounded on the third morning of the day.
Regardless of whether they were eating at home or working in the fields, they all gathered directly on the threshing floor.
Tian Youfu waved his hands and shouted at the top of his voice: "Comrades, now is the critical moment! We are responsible for the heavy responsibility of grain production. After months of hard work, now is the time to test it!"
"We must hurry up and harvest. The captains of each team must follow the areas we have divided before. We will not go home until the harvest is completed! Each family's own meals will be delivered to the field! The sooner we finish harvesting, the sooner we can rest!"
…
Wang Ying was standing on the periphery and was also infected by this atmosphere.
Cheng Shufen, Cheng Yu and Qian ** also came. Everyone in the team was called over, including Tian Youfu.
Wang Ying saw Tian Youfu's red face and thick neck, and he was full of energy, and heard whispers coming from the side.
"What's wrong with being blessed? Previous years weren't like this year!"
"Shh... Don't you know the other brigades?"
"What's the matter?"
"As for the two brigades next to us, we can see that their wheat fields are sparse when we pass by... I heard that they didn't replant well. And the lazy commune downstream has run out of food..."
"That hailstorm in the spring? Oh my God!"
"Youfu was afraid that things would get chaotic, so he told us to harvest the wheat as soon as it was ripe. While other teams hadn't started yet, we worked around the clock to hand in our share..."
"Harvest them quickly. I see the weather is not good this year. There was hail at the beginning of the year. Let's harvest them quickly and feel at ease."
"Who said it wasn't? Fortunately, I just distributed pork a few days ago. I plan to have meat for every meal these days. I can't do without some oil and water during the rush to harvest."
"Is your kid back? Is the wheat harvest holiday over?"
"He was released and came back a few days ago. I asked him to go to work too."
…
Tian Youfu was still giving instructions: "Leave some people at each edge of the field, leave a few people in each group to take over at night, and leave one person to sleep at the edge of the field to be alert at night..."
No one raised any objection to Tian Youfu's statement. What's the point of arranging people to sleep on the ground? At this critical moment, just let everyone sleep on the ground!
Tian Youfu: "Put aside all the work on your private plot first, and don't confuse priorities."
The ones pointed out are those who slack off on public land but work hard on their private land.
"Don't worry, Youfu, we definitely can't do that."
We are not stupid. The crops and vegetables planted in private plots are not as important as the large tracts of grain in the fields.
With Tian Youfu's order, all the people in the brigade were mobilized.
Wang Ying and Old Lady Xu also joined in. To Wang Ying, there was nothing wrong with doing farm work. She didn't do it every day anyway. It was wheat harvesting, so it was understandable.
I heard from Old Mrs. Xu that in previous years Xu Shuang would take time out from working in the restaurant in the afternoon to come back and work for a while. Even people like Cheng Shufen were assigned to push grain.
Qian** also stood with Wang Ying. She had successfully raised a 150-pound fat pig some time ago and received full work points. She was not required to come, but Tian Youfu still asked everyone to come and gave them extra work points so that they could harvest the grain as soon as possible.
But we also took into consideration that those who usually had work to do would not be the main force this time, so we simply grouped them together with the educated youth.
Wang Ying and Old Lady Xu were assigned by the team leader to help unload the truck and dry the grain.
Qian** also dries grain.
As soon as the division was completed, there was a lot of noise among the educated youth.
Wang Ying looked around, and Old Lady Xu was not surprised: "I'm afraid she feels that the division is unfair."
Sure enough, the angry roar of the team leader could be heard from a distance: "What's wrong with me dividing it up like this? Each of these people has their own half-jobs to do. Wang Ying is a doctor, and it is inevitable that someone will be careless during the autumn harvest, so she has to prepare for emergencies. Qian ** has to feed the pigs in the meantime, and there is a baby less than one year old at home. And what about Old Lady Xu? She is so old, can she be called to harvest the wheat?"
The team leader thought that his division was fair, and in order to make the educated youth less bored, he arranged for them to take turns. But Jiang Lei was still unwilling, and he accused him of helping the members instead of the educated youth.
The team leader spit all over Jiang Lei's face, and Bai Ling didn't want to talk anymore.
She regrets it now.
Having your reputation tied to such a person is truly fatal.
Bai Ling rolled her eyes at Jiang Lei and her gaze unconsciously drifted away.
Standing next to him was Yu Pengcheng.
Yu Pengcheng wore the same clothes as everyone else. He wore the same clothes when he went to the fields. Few people would wear their best clothes. They would pick the most worn clothes and would not feel bad when they got torn. Yu Pengcheng wore a white short-sleeved shirt and trousers with a patch at the knee.
Bai Ling was very calculating. She thought to herself that Yu Pengcheng's worst clothes were just a pair of patched pants...
Bai Ling has been observing Yu Pengcheng a lot during this period, and gradually estimated Yu Pengcheng's worth from various details.
Judging from the fact that Yu Pengcheng goes to the town to buy things from time to time, this man cannot be poor. It is conservatively estimated that he has a few hundred dollars in his hands.
Bai Ling confirmed this and gritted her teeth. Although she had not yet found out what Yu Pengcheng's family did, she was already ready to take action.
You have to know that when she first went to the countryside, she didn't plan to settle down within a year. After all, people with real connections would have already been arranged jobs by their families, and it would be impossible for them to end up in the countryside.
But if there is really a good one, Bai Ling is not opposed to finding someone to live with. She has many brothers and sisters in her family, and she has been used to fighting and seizing opportunities since she was a child. This time she was sent to the countryside because her elder sister, who was supposed to go to the countryside, suddenly found someone to marry, so the matter of going to the countryside fell on her.
In order to avoid going to the countryside, her sister found a boiler worker who had poor legs and feet.
Bai Ling had to say that her sister was really cruel. The boilerman was more than ten years older than her sister. He was short and ugly.
Her sister's move left her with no future. The several potential partners she had originally planned to date were no longer suitable, and the only one she found when she went to the countryside was Jiang Lei.
Bai Ling took out a handkerchief from her pocket, wiped the sweat off her face, and then said softly to Jiang Lei, "Jiang Zhiqing, please stop talking. When we go to the countryside, we naturally have to obey the command of the brigade. The villagers can do these farm work, so why can't we?"
After she finished speaking, she glanced at Yu Pengcheng secretly. Now that they no longer lived together, she knew very little about Pengcheng, so she could only act according to her own impression of Pengcheng.
Yu Pengcheng had been quite active in the previous few educated youth activities. Although he was usually alone, he had a set of ideas when talking about the collective. Especially on the first day of going to the countryside, Yu Pengcheng clearly opposed Jiang Lei and talked about how the collective was.
Bai Ling immediately changed her mind. She was weak when she was coaxing Jiang Lei, but for Pengcheng, she had to please him, be stronger and more sensible.
Sure enough, there was a hint of surprise in Yu Pengcheng's eyes when he looked at her.
Bai Ling was delighted and said, "Jiang Zhiqing, you see, everyone has delayed a lot of progress because of you. Let's get started quickly and can't delay the autumn harvest. If you keep making trouble, people will inevitably think you are shirking your responsibilities, which will not be good for the reputation of us educated youth."
Jiang Lei was repeatedly scolded by the team leader and was also criticized by Bai Ling. His face looked very ugly.
The leader of the educated youth team, Yang Hong, got some tools from somewhere else, came back with two other educated youths, distributed sickles to everyone, and the educated youths started working.
Jiang Lei had a gloomy face. He was waiting for Bai Ling to come over and comfort him in a gentle voice.
Bai Ling didn't care at all and was already working in the field with the main group.
Jiang Lei felt a little aggrieved. He didn't understand why Bai Ling was like this. She had asked him to buy her a hairband yesterday. How come she had changed her attitude in just one day
Jiang Lei went to harvest wheat with a wronged look on his face. When Bai Ling saw him coming, she switched rows with the others and kept a distance from Jiang Lei.
Jiang Lei: …
Not to mention the undercurrents among the educated youth, Wang Ying's work was not easy either. In less than half a day, two or three people came to see her.
One cut his hand with a sickle, and the other got his foot pricked by a hedgehog in the ground.
Wang Ying brought the person to the conference room, disinfected him with alcohol, and applied medicine to him. After wrapping him up, he rested for a while. The two of them packed up and went back to work.
Country people don't say they won't work just because of a small wound. Even this time they came to see Wang Ying because of the captain's request, saying that it would be infected if it was not treated. According to the meaning of previous years, they just washed it with water and continued to work. Who would go to the doctor separately
Wang Ying was aware of all this, so she had already told Tian Youfu and notified all the teams that no matter what the problem was, as long as there was bleeding, they had to come to her.
Even if you don't use medicine, cleaning it with alcohol is better than fooling around.
Wu Guihua even asked the children to rehearse this statement into a skit. The children vividly performed a story about an old bachelor who had no oil at home and licked the lard off a knife with his tongue. As a result, he died of tetanus after being scratched.
After this skit was performed, everyone knows that if rusty objects touch a wound, it will cause tetanus, and any wound that bleeds should not be taken lightly.
When the wheat was harvested at noon, Old Mrs. Xu went back to cook.
Wang Ying was puzzled when she saw Qian** didn't go back: "You're not going back?"
Qian** patted his chest and said, "Cheng Yu and my girl are both at home. They will bring it over at noon!"
Cheng Shufen pushed the cart and jogged along. Due to her poor class background, she could only be assigned relatively tiring work. When she heard what Qian** said, she smiled secretly, but quickly put it away for fear of being seen.
She didn't say anything to Qian** and pushed the cart to transport grain again.
Qian** whispered, "Sister Shufen, this... Alas."
Wang Ying: "Think positively, maybe Sister Shufen won't feel it's hard."
Cheng Shufen really didn't feel tired. Although she could only do this kind of physical work reluctantly, she was not incapable of it. Besides, even if she came here to work, she felt happy. It was better than being dragged to be criticized.
After some time, meals were delivered to each household and people gathered in the field to eat.
Wang Ying and Qian** Old Lady Xu found a shady spot under a tree, and Qian Maisui brought a large lunch box full of food, with rice at the bottom and scrambled eggs with tomatoes and potatoes fried with lard on top.
Qian** asked while eating: "Have you eaten? Did Xiaoya cry this morning?"
Qian Maisui's face was flushed from the sun: "We ate! The dishes cooked by my sister and sister Cheng Yu were delicious. I ate a big bowl. Xiaoya didn't make much noise. We tied some cloth to the bedside for her to see. She was very happy..."
Qian**: "That's good. Oh, this dish is really well fried! The eggs are fried well! The potatoes are also cut evenly."
The little girl was so happy as if she was praised: "My sister also asked me to ask you if you can buy a cup with a lid for the family so that she can bring you some soup tomorrow. Mom, let's buy one."
Qian**: "It's nothing, just ask your sister to buy it, she has the money, you two can go to the town together this afternoon. I'll find someone to exchange the tickets later."
Wang Ying also opened her lunch box and interrupted, "Don't bother. I have a ticket for an enamelware pot at home. I'll give it to you later."
It was from the bunch of tickets that Chen Dong stuffed into her last time, but she couldn’t use it.
Qian**: "Okay, I won't be polite then."
Now that she had earned work points, she had the confidence to speak up, and no longer had to shrink back and not dare to owe favors to others like before. She would pay what she owed Wang Ying, and she would buy a piece of cloth for Wang Ying at the end of the year to thank her properly.
For lunch, Old Mrs. Xu made stir-fried pork with solid rice underneath, a few pieces of smoked fish on top, and stir-fried beans and eggplant on the side.
The big, greasy lunch box tasted good. The stir-fried meat was crispy and fragrant, and the fish chunks were smoked fish chunks that Xu Shuang had reserved from the fish fillets, and they were delicious even after being heated. The beans and eggplant were fresh and tender, and the aroma of the fried pork fat was fragrant.
On the other side, some distance away from Wang Ying and Qian **, Cheng Shufen avoided almost everyone. The lunch box that Cheng Yu sent looked bland, with only two mixed-flour steamed buns on it, and nothing else.
But as soon as Cheng Shufen bit into the steamed bun, she could feel the gravy flowing.
In order to avoid attracting attention, Cheng Yu put the fillings inside. These two are actually buns.
Two big steamed buns, one filled with meat and the other with carrot and egg.
Cheng Shufen finished her meal happily and wiped her mouth so that no one could tell.
After a short break after dinner, a few people started working again.
Drying wheat is not a tiring job, compared to harvesting wheat in the field, but it is actually very laborious. The harvested wheat must be spread out flat, and then the team members drive the oxen to thresh it. After threshing it several times, the field must be turned over, and after turning it several times, the wheat straw must be collected and wait for the second threshing.
After threshing two or three times to ensure that all the wheat grains have come out, the wheat grains can be stored and the straw can be piled into haystacks, ready to be fed to cattle in the winter.
The work lasted until the afternoon, when Xu Shuang showed up. She was carrying a large pot of sour plum soup, and when she arrived, she took over for Old Lady Xu and Wang Ying: "Take a break."
The sour plum soup in the pot was the recipe given by Wang Ying. He made it in the restaurant and put a handful of rock sugar in it. It tasted good, but it was not cold enough.
Wang Ying and Old Lady Xu drank half a pot of wine happily, and shared some money. Even Wu Guihua, who came over with a cart to pour wheat, had a sip.
Wu Guihua smacked her lips. "Wow, this is really delicious. It's sour and sweet."
Wang Ying: "Do you want to cook it? I'll prepare a recipe for you. I've also put some heat-clearing medicine in it."
Wu Guihua savored it for a moment, and sure enough, it was sweet and sour with a hint of medicine: "Okay, I'll ask Xinghua to bring the money to your house tonight."
Qian** also raised his hand: "Me, me, me, I want one too. How much is this one?"
Wang Ying: "Five cents, but there's no sugar in it. You can take it back and add sugar according to your taste."
Five cents, not expensive at all, just the price of an egg.
Qian**: "Then I'll have two more. I have several at home and I'm afraid they won't be enough to drink."
Wang Ying: "Not that much. It contains hawthorn, and it's not good for children to eat too much."
Qian** thought about it and decided not to force it.
Wang Ying asked Wu Guihua again: "How is Xinghua doing recently? Is she still keeping up with the training?"
Yes, Tian Xinghua has been with Wang Ying for more than a month, and it is finally time for training. Now she can’t even participate in the wheat harvest and has to receive training at the commune health center all day.
Speaking of this, Wu Guihua was happy: "Good, good, good! Why not? She said she can keep up."
Wang Ying was relieved immediately. It seemed that Tian Xinghua was a sure bet for the job. After the training, she was confirmed to be sent to the obstetrics and gynecology department of the county hospital for another month.
All in all, I can come back just in time to catch up with the team's peak birth rate.
Wu Guihua is now the director of the Women's Affairs Department and knows exactly who has pregnant women in the brigade: "There are more than ten pregnant women in our brigade this year."
If Xinghua is really chosen, she will face considerable difficulties.
A few people chatted for a while, while Xu Shuang worked diligently on the side. He was strong and could turn the field skillfully. He did the work of two people and had some extra.
When it was almost evening, Xu Shuang rode her bike to the restaurant again.
Wang Ying and Old Lady Xu were busy until after nine in the evening, and then they packed up and went home. They had a quick dinner, took a bath, and went to bed.
The busy wheat harvest lasted for four days. On the fifth day, something big happened.
The cause of the incident has to start with the educated youth. There are quite a few new educated youth this year. Tian Youfu himself did not have high expectations for the educated youth. The team leader who led the educated youth also knew that it was impossible to ask these educated youth to work harder. After all, they came to the countryside to work, not to settle down. Even if there was not enough food, could they starve to death
Therefore, the speed of harvesting wheat in the team of educated youth was always the lowest. Some people were really not good at it, they had never done it before, and some were injured accidentally. Some were lazy and slacked off. There were some who worked seriously, but they were pitifully few.
The team leader was so angry that he complained to Tian Youfu for a long time.
Tian Youfu thought that since these educated youth were unable to do the job, he might as well arrange for them to sleep in the fields.
The first reason for sleeping on the ground was to prevent rain in the middle of the night. If it rained in the summer, it would usually be heavy rain, and the wheat in the threshing floor had to be gathered in quickly to prevent people from being left alone. Another reason was to prevent people from stealing.
Tian Youfu thought, since you guys are all so bad at work, why not just guard the field
Several male educated youth were immediately assigned to sleep in the fields at night, and among them was the troublemaker Jiang Lei.
Jiang Lei has been in a bad mood recently. Bai Ling ignored him and avoided him whenever she saw him. Even if they were in the same field, Bai Ling would avoid him as much as possible.
Not only that, Jiang Lei watched coldly as Bai Ling and Yu Pengcheng got closer and closer.
Jiang Lei's heart was like the lava under the sea, cold on the top but still full of anger underneath.
He couldn't understand why Bai Ling was like this.
He and Bai Ling were clearly together, so how could he go out with Yu Pengcheng
Confused about this, Jiang Lei took advantage of the time when the educated youth were off work to find Bai Ling and stopped her alone.
Bai Ling thought to herself, here it comes, this is the time.
Jiang Lei kept talking to Bai Ling about his admiration for her and insisted that Bai Ling give him a definite answer.
Most of the money he brought was spent on Bai Ling. If Bai Ling got together with someone else, wouldn't he be a sucker
Jiang Lei is no longer as easy to fool as before and wants Bai Ling to agree to marry him.
Bai Ling bit her lower lip, looking pitiful: "Don't force me..."
Jiang Lei grabbed his head, distressed and puzzled: "What did I force you to do? Bai Ling, we were classmates in middle school, and I have always liked you. If you marry me, we can be together. When the right opportunity comes, I will tell my family to let us go back to the city. I don't understand why you don't agree."
Bai Ling burst into tears: "I am not in good health, I will be a burden to you."
Jiang Lei: "You've said this many times, and I'm not afraid of you being a burden. We're both from the capital, so how can we make our lives worse? If you agree to get married, I'll ask my family for some money, and we'll rent an empty house in the brigade, and our lives will get better and better in the future."
Bai Ling still shook her head.
The way she hesitated and refused to give a definite answer made Jiang Lei feel disappointed.
"So what do you want?"
Bai Ling still shook her head.
Jiang Lei had a bad temper, and he had already poured out his greatest patience on Bai Ling. Now that she neither refused nor agreed, Jiang Lei angrily swung his fist and smashed the big tree next to him.
Bai Ling immediately felt relieved, she finally achieved her goal.
Jiang Lei left, and Bai Ling stayed there to think for a while.
After adjusting herself, she rushed back to her residence crying. As the director of the women's department, Wu Guihua was sure to come and question her when she saw her like this.
Bai Ling was crying and gasping for breath: "Director Wu, I want to report that Jiang Lei just tried to do something bad to me."