Chapter 23 : Peanut Pulling + Energy Absorption

The next day, Su Mo changed into blue work clothes, put on Liberation shoes, and went to work with the other educated youth.

Today, they were still picking peanuts. According to the captain, there weren’t many peanuts left, and they would be done in three days. Afterward, they would dry them and store them in the warehouse, pay the public grain, settle the work points, distribute the grain and money, and slaughter the pigs to distribute the meat.

In short, after being motivated by the team leader, the villagers, who had been exhausted after more than a month of autumn harvest, became full of energy and enthusiasm again.

After all, farmers work all year long just for the time when they can share grain and money. And this year, the brigade had a bumper harvest, so their work points should be quite valuable.

Many of the aunties started discussing on the way what they would buy once the money was divided.

When they passed another threshing ground of the brigade, Su Mo noticed a group of men holding something that looked a bit like diving flippers, hitting the wheat stalks on the ground. There were also a few uncles driving donkeys pulling stone mills in circles.

Su Mo was a little curious. Could this be the legendary wheat threshing?

So, he asked Ma Xiaojuan in a low voice, “What are they doing?”

An old lady nearby happened to hear it and explained, “They are threshing the wheat. They have to thresh the wheat and dry it before packing it into bags and storing it in the warehouse.”

“What are they holding? Can we knock them all down by hitting them like this?”

“That’s called a flail. Threshing wheat isn’t that easy. First, you use the flail to beat the wheat off the stalks, then pick out the wheat straw, and continue threshing and picking. After the big wheat straw is removed, you need to use a wooden winnowing machine to remove the wheat husks and short grass, so the remaining full wheat can be dried.” The aunt explained enthusiastically.

“It’s so hard!” Ma Xiaojuan sighed.

“The wheat is growing well this year, so it’s okay to work a little harder. The worst thing is when it doesn’t grow well, and all the hard work of the year goes to waste,” the aunt said with a smile, clearly very satisfied with this year’s harvest.

When they arrived at the field, the team leader began assigning tasks, and Su Mo was the last to be assigned.

Looking at the small piece of land in front of her, Su Mo was stunned.

Although she wasn’t sensitive to measurement units like mu and fen, she could see that this piece of land was definitely not more than one fen.

“Captain, why is mine so little?”

Team leader Zhao Guoping scratched his head awkwardly. “Well, Brother Changzheng told me not to give you too much.”

Zhao Guoping had been Lu Changzheng’s follower since he was a child and listened to him a lot. Even when Lu Changzheng went to the army, he would write to ask for his opinion when he encountered problems.

Su Mo: …

“Don’t listen to him. Just divide it up as you see fit. Otherwise, how can I earn work points with such a small piece of land?”

Are you kidding? She was still waiting to absorb energy. With that little land, she might as well go pull weeds nearby.

In the end, Zhao Guoping couldn’t persuade Su Mo and gave her three plots of land. Zhao Guoping estimated that this was her limit, and most of it might have to be taken away by Brother Changzheng later.

After Zhao Guoping left, Su Mo squatted down and started picking peanuts.

She held the peanut vines close to the ground, absorbing the wood energy from the bottom up. The first few vines were not properly absorbed, so they were a little dry. Later, she gradually mastered the degree, absorbing about one-third of the energy per vine, so the peanut vines didn’t look much different. Even if they looked a little dry, people would think they were sunburned.

Su Mo absorbed energy while pulling the peanut plants. The soil that Zhao Guoping had originally given to her was sandy and easier to pull. After Su Mo absorbed the energy, the rootstock’s grip weakened, making it easier to pull the plants out.

Soon, Su Mo had cleared a large area of land.

After a while, Zhao Guoping got up from his work to check if the team members were slacking off. To his surprise, he discovered that Su Mo had already cleared a large area of peanuts, and it looked like she was doing almost as well as he was.

Being a team leader these days isn’t easy. Not only must you take the lead and complete your own work quickly and well, but you also have to supervise your team to ensure they don’t slack off or damage collective assets.

Every day, Zhao Guoping was one of the first to arrive and the last to leave.

He had been elected as the team leader because he worked quickly and effectively.

Zhao Guoping blinked in disbelief as he looked at the large area of peanuts. Could it be that Brother Changzheng had been here just now?

But he looked around and didn’t see any sign of Lu Changzheng.

While Zhao Guoping was observing, Su Mo pulled out another small piece of land. Only then did Zhao Guoping believe that Su Mo had done all of this herself.

Zhao Guoping was shocked!

Brother Changzheng is truly amazing. In just a few days, he transformed a worker who was behind into one who is active and efficient.

If Brother Changzheng came back to be the team leader, their team would probably have been an advanced team by now.

When Lu Changzheng arrived, he saw that Su Mo had cleared a large area of land. He was a little surprised and hurried over to ask quietly, “Wife, did you pull all this out?”

As soon as Lu Changzheng approached, Su Mo stopped absorbing energy.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?”

“My wife is so amazing,” Lu Changzheng quickly praised.

You can’t judge a person by their appearance. He had initially thought she was delicate and not suited for farm work, but now he saw that she could pull the plants just as fast as his mother could.

“I don’t need your help to pick them. Please help me carry the peanuts to the threshing ground at the brigade headquarters.”

It wasn’t enough just to pick the peanuts; they had to be carried to the threshing ground for the aunts to sort. The peanut vines would be harvested and fed to the production team’s donkeys and cows during the winter.

Lu Changzheng quickly tied up the peanuts into several bundles, carrying one bundle at each end of a bamboo pole, and hurried to the brigade headquarters.

The young admirer, Zhao Guoping, was so excited that he silently praised him.

Brother Changzheng is the best at everything he does.

Zhao Guoping also carried a bundle of peanuts and followed Lu Changzheng.

As they walked, the children from the village, who had been waiting for some time, set out one by one with their small bamboo baskets.

When picking peanuts, there would always be some left behind in the field, so the children would go out to pick up the remaining peanuts. They could take the peanuts to the brigade to exchange for work points or take them home to eat.

In the past, some aunties would intentionally leave some for their own children to pick. However, after several severe punishments, this behavior of taking advantage of socialism gradually disappeared.