“Old Gao, we people from the oil refinery are really busy. Why do we have to go to the farm to pick cotton?

You don’t know how many thorns are on the cotton bolls. It’s so painful.

After picking cotton all day, you’ll be itching for at least three days, and you won’t be able to sleep.”

Factory Director He was not happy to hear that they had to go help with cotton picking, but, of course, she was fully equipped for it.

District Director Gao sat in the front seat, and since Secretary Xiao Zhang was with them, he didn’t want to argue with his wife.

He tried to appease her: “Didn’t Secretary A say that after helping the farm pick cotton, each person will get twenty kilograms of cotton? Your mother always asks you for cotton, so you can give her twenty kilograms. I don’t oppose it.”

“The idea of helping the farm pick cotton and then giving twenty kilograms to each person—this must have been thought of by He Min, right? It’s a good idea. He’s a very competent leader. I think he deserves great credit,” He Lanshan immediately said.

“Well, I have to responsibly tell you, this idea was actually thought up by Director Chen herself. And as for He Min, he’s not cut out for practical work, just blindly giving orders. I’m starting to feel like his whole resume is a lie,” Gao Feng replied.

“He Feng, you always look at everyone in our He family with colored glasses,” He Lanshan immediately grew angry.

“I’ll ask you this: If he had been doing well in Daqing, with good work performance and the recognition of his superiors, why did he come all the way to the borderlands? I purely believe it’s because of his work style that he couldn’t stay in Daqing, so he came here,” Gao Feng retorted.

“Yes, he was just a level-16 official in Daqing. Coming here to the borderlands allows him to be promoted to level-15, so his administrative rank goes up, and his salary also increases. Is that wrong?” He Lanshan shot back.

“Wrong? You’re still talking about his pay? His mother is a principal, and she gets at least fifty yuan a month. He’s level-15, getting over one hundred yuan. Such a high salary is hard to come by in these times. Your family just isn’t satisfied with what you have,” Gao Feng sneered.

“And you, Gao Feng, aren’t you also scheming to climb to level-12?” He Lanshan directly poked at Gao District Director’s weaknesses.

“Alright, alright, let’s stop talking about your in-laws,” District Director Gao quickly intervened.

Secretary Xiao Zhang, feeling sympathetic, handed Gao District Director a pair of gloves. “District Director, would you like me to help Director He pick her cotton?”

Each person had a quota of fifty kilograms of cotton to pick, and it really took all day to even get close to finishing.

“Do your own work. If others can do it, why can’t I? I tell you, if it’s about picking cotton, in the entire mining district, I’d say I’m second to none,” Factory Director He was still angry.

She got out of the car, grabbed the cotton bags, and headed into the fields.

District Director Gao’s only daughter, Gao Xiaobing, was also in the car.

After her parents got out, she had Secretary Xiao Zhang take her to Director Chen Lili’s house.

It was her first time coming to the farm, and the young girl was quite curious, not at all concerned with whether her parents were arguing.

Not just the mining district staff, but people from all three bases had been called to the cotton fields, and everyone was working hard.

“Secretary A, your posture really looks great. Let me take another picture of you,” He Min, holding a camera, ran around in the cotton fields.

Finally, He Min found a place where he could use his talents—taking photos of the leaders.

“Minister Gao, you’ve already picked twenty kilograms of cotton, and it’s only the morning. Come on, let me take a photo of you and your harvest, alright?” He Min said as he pointed the camera at Gao Dayong.

Gao Dayong, fully armed, with only a face mask missing, was holding two burlap sacks that were taller than him.

He posed for the camera, proudly showing off his “victory.”

He Min quickly snapped three photos.

“Ah, Chief Yu, you haven’t picked much cotton today. What’s going on? Can’t you hear me?” He Min loudly asked.

Chief Yu had his ears damaged from being yelled at by Gao Dayong the night before, so he couldn’t hear anything.

However, any man who saw a camera was always eager to show off.

Because he couldn’t hear, Chief Yu spoke extra loudly: “Secretary A, the bad elements ruined the evening party the night before. After we finish picking cotton, can we hold another social gathering?”

In the cotton fields, everyone was far apart, so when he shouted, Secretary A had to shout back: “Sure, we’ll apply for funds from the mining district, buy some soda, and the farm already has seeds and peanuts. I hereby announce, we’ll hold another social gathering.”

“Then, Minister Gao, can we arm wrestle again? I still want to dance the first song with the esteemed Director Chen.”

Chief Yu turned around and saluted toward the deeper part of the cotton field, where his fiancee Xiao Bao was: “But that doesn’t mean I don’t love our beautiful Red Women’s Army member Xiao Bao. I just want to tell Minister Gao that no matter how he uses despicable tactics, he’ll never beat me.”

Everyone in the armed forces laughed.

Arm wrestling had become the favorite pastime of the armed forces comrades.

The first time Minister Gao and Chief Yu arm-wrestled, they had Chief Yu participate in a weight-bearing military exercise.

Chief Yu told everyone that Gao Dayong won unfairly.

This time, as they were picking cotton, everyone was ready for a fair competition, and Chief Yu still wanted to win.

“Let’s do it. I’m game,” suddenly, Nie Bozhao, who had been quiet all this time, spoke up.

“Director Nie, that’s right! I remember we never finished our arm wrestling match. Alright, once the cotton is all picked, we’ll have an arm wrestling contest, and the winner will dance the first song with Director Chen. How about that?”

“Sure, no problem.”

Nie Bozhao worked slowly, but he was meticulous.

Well, someone like him couldn’t expect to bring in cotton for his family; he could only say he participated.

“Director Nie, don’t you think Director Chen really needs to return to her family? These rough men always joke about her,” someone remarked.

He Min finished taking the photos, grabbed the camera, and ran over to tell Nie Bozhao.

Nie Bozhao didn’t think much of it: “My wife is an outstanding woman. Also, the harvest on the farm means that, at least for this year, everyone in the mining area won’t have to eat cornmeal buns every day starting from the New Year.

It means people will have blankets to cover themselves. I think the comrades from the Armed Forces just want to show their respect for her.

But He Min, you’ve already moved to the base. Why haven’t you allowed Yuan Hua to come over?

You and your wife have been living apart for so long. Isn’t that a bit strange?”

“She’s just a wasteful woman. If she comes, she’ll only make me angry. It’s better if she doesn’t come,” He Min said carelessly, shrugging it off.

After all, Yuan Hua was her younger cousin, and she had married He Min when she was very young.

Nie Bozhao disliked how He Min referred to his cousin as a “wasteful woman.”

Additionally, during the fire at the cotton field, He Min had given poor directions.

It made Nie Bozhao think that He Min really wasn’t fit for his current position anymore.

During the lunch break, in order to catch up on work hours, everyone gathered around the cotton field to eat the large pot of rice that the educated youth had cooked.

For the leaders, this experience of living like the common folk was quite new.

The white steamed buns paired with stir-fried cabbage and lamb soup were unexpectedly delicious.

“Comrade Secretary, listen to my press release. The title of this article is ‘Cotton Field Harvests Joyfully, Mining Area Secretary Leads the Way in Picking Cotton.’ What do you think? If you like it, I’ll add this photo and submit it to the ‘New Youth Daily,’” He Min said.

“That sounds good, Comrade He. You can write press releases too? It might not be easy to get published in the ‘New Youth Daily,’ though?” The Secretary looked at He Min with a new respect. “Our mining area is recruiting heavily right now. This article should attract a lot of ambitious young people to the frontier.”

“Exactly, Leader. I’ll go home right now and start writing the article,” He Min said.

“Good, hurry up.”

Without doing any actual work or picking even a single cotton flower, He Min had gained the leaders’ favor just by flattering them and using some small literary skills.

Nie Bozhao felt he needed to discuss this with his wife.

He believed that He Min was truly a disaster for the farm.

If he kept going like this, the leaders’ vanity and desire for grand achievements would be stoked, and bootlicking and superficial projects would once again become popular at the farm.

However, after searching through several circles, he still couldn’t find Director Chen.

The cotton field was simply too vast, and there were so many people there.

The male workers, especially, were so rough that they didn’t even care to wear masks, which made them easy to spot.

As for the female workers, especially the girls from the arts troupe, to protect their skin and hair, they wore masks, hats, and sleeves, looking like nuclear disaster protection workers from Chernobyl.

“Director Chen, is that you?” Nie Bozhao asked as he approached one woman, trying to recognize her by her figure, which he was familiar with.

“It’s me, Engineer Nie. I heard you’re trying to arm-wrestle with Chief of Staff Yu. Let me ask you, as an engineer, can you really beat him? Should I think of a way to break his arm tonight to help you out?”

The woman took off her mask and smiled playfully.

It was actually Yu’s girlfriend, Xiao Bao, one of the girls from the arts troupe.

Her figure was great, though her face was a bit plain, but she was a straightforward young girl.

“Comrade Xiao Bao, don’t think of ways to break Chief Yu’s arm. I think I can beat him in arm wrestling, at least we should compete fairly,” Nie Bozhao responded. “On behalf of the farm, I want to express my highest respect to beautiful comrades like you for coming to help pick cotton.”

Saying this, Nie Bozhao continued walking through the cotton field and soon spotted another woman in the distance, struggling to catch up.

It was He Lan, the wife of Section Chief Gao.

With her figure, Nie Bozhao could recognize her at a glance.

“Director He, have you seen my wife?”

He Lan only showed her eyes from under her mask and pointed ahead. “Bozhao, does your wife have a little motor inside her body? Also, your son Er Dan is too strong. What did you feed him? His physical strength is so good.”

Nie Bozhao looked further out in the cotton field and saw a woman in the distance, wrapped up like a cocoon.

It was Chen Lina, and he could recognize her immediately.

And there was Er Dan, carrying a cotton bag and following behind Chen Lina, helping her carry the cotton.

Though the boy wasn’t good at studying, he was incredibly strong and worked hard.

“Director Chen, if we had a helicopter to take aerial photos, we would see that you’re the fastest and most efficient at picking cotton. Can you tell me why you’re working so hard?” Nie Bozhao asked, taking out his military water bottle and handing it to her.

Chen Lina took off her mask, drank some water, and gave some to Er Dan.

She then removed her hat, revealing her forehead drenched in sweat.

“Soldiers are lazy, so their commanders are lazy too. Earlier, Director He asked me if I could pick cotton and whether I was afraid of getting pricked by cotton bolls. I told her, if anyone can pick more than me, I’ll have my husband play the accordion in front of everyone and sing a song for them.”

“What song?” Nie Bozhao’s face twitched, and he almost jumped up in frustration. “I can play the accordion, but I’ve never sung a song before!”

“Don’t worry, they’ll never beat me,” Chen Lina laughed.

Er Dan, with his eyes squinted, started to sing: “Alamuhan, neither fat nor thin…” He sang with all his might, “Mom said, if she loses, you’ll have to sing for the big sisters of the arts troupe.”

Nie Bozhao thought for a moment and said, “Alright, Er Dan, you go on ahead. I’ll help your mother pick the cotton.”

For Nie Bozhao, he’d rather be tortured than sing in front of everyone.

While everyone was struggling to pick cotton, He Min, busy with writing so-called news and praising the leaders, stayed comfortably at home.

Before long, the cotton was almost all stored in the warehouse, and everyone’s arms were about to give out.

However, Director Gao and Deputy Officer Yu were still glaring at each other, each ready to compete once again.

The women of the Cultural Troupe, along with Deputy Troupe Leader Wu Qiong and other female colleagues, were different.

They were also picking cotton with all their might, hoping to catch up with Chen Lina.

Well, just thinking about how strict and disciplined Engineer Nie would publicly hold an accordion and sing a love song was enough to energize the women of the Cultural Troupe.

Finally, it was the last day of help from the mine area cadres.

Compared to Helanshan, Chen Lina only had a slight advantage of five pounds.

If she lost, Engineer Nie would have to sing “Alamuhan” in front of everyone.

The rhythm of that song was very fast, and he would have to sing, dance, and swing his head while singing, creating a lively and joyous atmosphere.