Chapter 39

On the day the autumn harvest began, Shen Mo’er and Cheng Tao took six students together to the city to participate in the preliminary competition. Uncle Liu Er drove them in a donkey cart to the bus stop, where they met with two teachers and six students from the commune primary school.

Shen Mo’er noticed that the teachers leading the commune primary school team were exactly the two she had seen that day—one tall named Wang, the shorter one named He.

Of course, the two teachers didn’t remember her, a stranger they had only met briefly. However, they knew she was Shen Shaoyuan’s daughter and were very polite throughout the journey. They kept saying that without Comrade Shen Shaoyuan’s help, their Liqiao Commune Primary School would have really embarrassed itself this time.

After boarding the bus, they even took the initiative to give the front seats to the people from Yangliu Team, and sat with their own school’s students in the back.

In this harmonious and friendly atmosphere, the bus drove steadily into the county town. Then the group met up at the county bus station with teachers and students from other schools in the county—a large and boisterous crowd. The county had specially arranged two large buses to take them to the city.

The six primary school students, many of whom had never even been to the county seat, timidly followed behind Shen Mo’er and the others. Even the usually brave Mao Mao kept a stiff little face and didn’t chatter like usual. The few little girls were even more nervous, clustering tightly around Shen Mo’er, and Zhou Zhaodi quietly tugged on Shen Mo’er’s sleeve.

Cheng Tao was amused by their behavior.

He wasn’t surprised that the children were nervous and uneasy. What surprised him was that Shen Mo’er seemed completely calm. Before coming, he had worried—she wasn’t just sharing the responsibility of taking care of six students, she was taking care of seven all by herself.

After all, the old Shen Mo’er barely dared to talk to anyone in the village. Even now that she had changed, Cheng Tao thought it was probably just that she was less constrained in the village.

But then thinking about how she normally argued with Shen Lingling, Cheng Tao shook his head and smiled wryly. It really was different now.

The county-arranged bus was very large, able to seat forty or fifty people. Shen Mo’er and the others lined up to board and ended up with seats relatively far back.

Teacher He from Liqiao Commune Primary School sat right in front of them and politely handed a tangerine each to Shen Mo’er and Cheng Tao: “It’s still three or four hours on the road. Eat some tangerines to feel better. If you feel really uncomfortable, pressing the peel to your body can help ease it.”

Perhaps worried that Shen Mo’er and Cheng Tao might feel embarrassed to accept, she added, “These are picked from the tangerine tree in my home yard, nothing fancy.”

At this point, it would have been rude to refuse, so Shen Mo’er and Cheng Tao thanked her and took the tangerines. The tangerines were bright yellow and looked very fresh.

Taking kids out is always a bit troublesome. People from Dongfanghong Primary School and several other commune primary schools sat in the front rows. The bus started moving, but suddenly two students said they needed to use the bathroom. The teachers could only take them off the bus to the public restroom at the bus station.

Everyone waited on the bus, the children in the front row chattered noisily, while the few from Yangliu Team Primary School huddled like quails, quietly peeking out the window, whispering a few words among themselves.

Shen Mo’er overheard a teacher from a commune primary school sitting diagonally across mutter: “Dongfanghong Primary School is just like that—the students don’t even know to use the bathroom before getting on the bus.”

It turned out the two students who had gotten off were from Dongfanghong Primary School.

Soon, the teacher returned with the two students, and the bus slowly pulled away. The other teachers in the front row started chatting with a teacher surnamed Dong, roughly saying their other schools didn’t even have art classes, so this preliminary competition was basically about participation, and any awards would be up to Dongfanghong Primary School.

Teacher Dong politely replied with a few words, and as they chatted, someone suddenly said, “I heard there’s even a team from a commune primary school signed up this time. That’s just reckless. Kids in the village going to school is good enough—painting too?”

The person scoffed, clearly looking down on the idea.

Someone quietly reminded them that the Liqiao Commune people were right behind, and that person sneered and said, “Can’t even say the truth now?”

Teacher He stood up, about to speak, but Teacher Wang stopped her to calm things down, pulling her back to her seat: “Forget it, forget it.”

Cheng Tao frowned and turned around to comfort the students.

Shen Mo’er glanced over and saw the children all looking embarrassed and confused. Her expression darkened, and she stood up, speaking loudly: “I am the teacher from Yangliu Team, Liqiao Commune. My surname is Shen. Comrade who just said we were reckless, are you a teacher?”

The bus suddenly fell silent. The students in the front row all turned curiously to look at Shen Mo’er, and the teachers exchanged glances.

The person who spoke earlier sneered and said casually, “Isn’t it obvious? Which team leader here isn’t a teacher?”

Shen Mo’er’s face turned cold. “If you are a teacher, then you should have heard of the phrase ‘teach without discrimination.’ You should treat every student equally when facing them, respect each student’s right to learn knowledge and participate in competitions. You shouldn’t divide students into classes and randomly belittle and ridicule rural children. The country is calling for educated youth to go to the countryside to receive reeducation from the poor and lower-middle peasants. Why then do you look down on the countryside and the children there?”

The person immediately became nervous and stood up. She was a woman in her thirties with a crew cut and a slightly large face.

She glared at Shen Mo’er: “Don’t accuse me of things I didn’t do. I was just giving a factual evaluation. How did that become looking down on the countryside and children?”

Shen Mo’er looked at her calmly: “Your so-called factual evaluation is just your own baseless assumption. Whether or not you look down on rural children, I believe everyone here has their own judgment.”

The woman, unsure whether from anger or embarrassment, flushed red. Teacher Dong from Dongfanghong Primary School quickly stood up to mediate: “We are all sister units. Teacher Hu, and this young comrade Shen, let’s all say less. There are so many children watching; this kind of atmosphere is very bad.”

Shen Mo’er nodded: “Indeed. As teachers, we should always be mindful of our words and actions.”

Teacher Dong said nothing more.

Teacher Hu looked obviously dissatisfied and seemed about to say something else, but Teacher Dong tugged at her and quietly told her something, forcing her back to her seat.

Seeing this, Shen Mo’er also sat back down. Teacher He in front silently gave her a thumbs-up, and Cheng Tao smiled and did the same.

The whole bus of primary school students glanced at each other in surprise.

It was the first time they had ever seen teachers arguing like this in front of them!

The few students that Teacher Hu had brought exchanged subtle glances with each other, all feeling a bit embarrassed.

Their teacher had lost the argument.

More importantly, they also felt that Teacher Hu seemed to look down a little on rural children. Previously, other teachers had said it was commendable that the students from the brigade dared to go to the city to participate in the competition.

The children from Liuqiao Commune Primary School and Yangliu Brigade Primary School all covered their mouths and laughed secretly. Especially the few from Yangliu Brigade Primary School — they suddenly straightened their chests and raised their heads high, no longer nervous or afraid.

By the time they reached the city, it was almost noon. The bus drove straight into the competition venue borrowed from the City Education Bureau, located inside the City Workers’ Club. As soon as they got off, the staff guided everyone into a large indoor hall. There were already people dressed in white chef uniforms waiting inside. After the staff helped them line up, they were given meals one by one.

Each person received a big spoonful of rice and two small spoonfuls of vegetables. The vegetables were stir-fried shredded pork with carrots and scrambled eggs with green peppers. Although the amount of meat and eggs was relatively small, the food was already so good that most people were pleasantly surprised.

The six elementary students from Yangliu Brigade each held an enamel basin in one hand and a spoon in the other. They glanced at each other, their small expressions filled with incredulous delight.

“Eat quickly, and after you finish, rest a bit. We’ll face the competition in the afternoon with the best condition,” Cheng Tao said cheerfully.

Shen Mo’er patted Zhou Zhaodi’s head and also said, “Hurry up and eat.”

The children began to eat heartily in big bites. Shen Mo’er ate slowly and deliberately. Occasionally, she looked up and saw Zhou Zhaodi quietly wiping the corner of her eyes.

Zhou Zhaodi ate very seriously. Shen Mo’er had originally worried that, being so small and thin, she might not finish the large enamel basin of food. But to her surprise, Zhou Zhaodi quickly finished everything; the basin was as clean as if it had been washed with water.

After the meal, the enamel basins and spoons were collected by the staff. They rested on the spot for a while, then went to the restroom, checked the stationery they had brought, and then, following the staff’s guidance like little ants, entered classroom after classroom.

The teachers who had brought the teams returned to the dining area to rest and wait.

During this time, when Shen Mo’er got up and walked around, she overheard Teacher Hu sarcastically telling others, “It’ll be best if they just get a string of zero scores and finish last.”

This time Shen Mo’er ignored her.

Three hours later, the competition ended. The teachers didn’t even have time to ask how the students performed before hastily taking them back onto the return bus.

Once the bus left, someone murmured, “The people from Xinxiang Commune changed buses, huh?”

Shen Mo’er didn’t pay attention. She didn’t even know who the Xinxiang Commune people were until Teacher He told her. That teacher with the surname Hu was from Xinxiang Commune.

Teacher He also revealed a bit of information to Shen Mo’er: that Hu’s spouse worked in the county party education bureau, so she had connections and usually spoke and acted somewhat arrogantly.

Shen Mo’er didn’t care much. The unpleasant person switched to another bus on her own, and Shen Mo’er was glad to have peace.

On the way back, the children were far less excited than on the way there. After a whole day of traveling, most of them looked droopy. But the few from Yangliu Brigade were still quite spirited, whispering quietly to each other from time to time.

Shen Mo’er even heard Zhou Zhaodi softly telling Xiao Yezi that she was very full today and even ate shredded pork and eggs. Since her grandmother passed away, this was the first time she had eaten meat and eggs.

Listening to the children’s joyful chatter, Shen Mo’er quietly looked out into the pitch-black night outside the window.

By the time the bus arrived at the county town, it was already nearly eight o’clock at night. Fortunately, the commune’s bus was still waiting at the station for them. The group transferred without stopping, and when they finally arrived at the commune bus stop, both adults and children were already tired and hungry. Shen Mo’er and her group quickly said goodbye to the teachers and students from the commune primary school and then boarded the donkey cart that had been waiting there.

Uncle Liu Er handed Shen Mo’er four white wheat buns. “Your father prepared these, worried you’d be hungry. He told me to let you have a couple of bites first.”

Shen Mo’er thanked him, took the buns, tore them open, and divided them into halves for everyone. They were all starving, and even though their mouths were dry, they still took small bites to eat their halves.

After eating, the children slumped down on the donkey cart and soon started to snore softly.

Cheng Tao laughed and sighed, “This whole day felt just like going to war.”

Shen Mo’er nodded. “Really tiring.”

She simply imitated Fu Mingze’s posture: resting her hands on her knees, then burying her face in her elbows and closing her eyes for a while.

By the time she finally got home, she didn’t even eat dinner. She just drank a big bowl of water, washed up a little, and went straight to bed.

The next day, Shen Mo’er slept in until the sun was high. Luckily, she only had one class near noon that day. After a hurried wash, she ate a few bites of warmed porridge from the pot and then rushed off to school.

After class was over and the students dismissed, Cheng Tao reminded her, “No classes this afternoon; we’re participating in brigade labor.”

Shen Mo’er’s face immediately fell.

During the autumn harvest, the brigade primary schools only have half-day classes. Every afternoon, teachers and students have to participate in the brigade’s labor. The children are responsible for picking up rice ears or passing along the cut rice stalks, while the teachers are organized into twelve production teams to cut rice together with the educated youth.

Since transmigrating into this world, Shen Mo’er had only pulled weeds for a few days at the very beginning. Later, as there was less fieldwork, she stopped going to work in the fields. Later still, when she had to work again, she had already become a teacher at the brigade primary school. So this autumn harvest was actually the first time she was properly doing labor work.

Seeing her reaction, Cheng Tao burst out laughing, “Has it been so long since you last worked that you’ve gotten unaccustomed already? Don’t worry, we’ll be working with the educated youth, so the labor intensity definitely won’t be as much as your Eighth Production Team.”

That was probably the only good news.

Since the last time she went to the county town to buy crayons, Shen Mo’er had been busy tutoring a few elementary students, using almost all her spare time to catch up on lessons. So by this calculation, although she and Fu Mingze lived in the same village, they hadn’t seen each other for over ten days.

The last time she collected three jin of grain coupons from him, planning to repay him with some subsidy, but she never found the chance.

Oh, right, also that day in the county, the noodles at the state-run restaurant and later the movie tickets were all paid for by him. Although he was terribly poor, she didn’t understand why he insisted on putting on a show of wealth. In front of Zheng Jiamin, she didn’t say much.

Coincidentally, Shen Shaoyuan brought back a few jin of refined flour a few days ago, so Shen Mo’er cut some ham into minced meat, soaked some dried mushrooms collected from the back mountain, and washed a few radishes. She finely shredded all of these and stir-fried them into a fresh and fragrant filling. Then she used the sourdough starter she had at home to make dough and steamed a basket of vegetarian stuffed buns.

The steaming basket had been made recently by Shen Shaoyuan, who had asked members of the village to help out. Since Shen Mo’er had been busy lately, she and her father had been eating simple meals, so the new steaming basket hadn’t been used yet. When the basket of buns was steamed, the air was filled not only with the enticing aroma of the buns but also a faint, refreshing scent of bamboo.

Shen Mo’er moved the steaming basket aside onto the stove counter. She boiled water in a pot, cracked an egg into it, then sprinkled a small pinch of sugar into the soup, making a bowl of sweet egg drop soup.

Two buns and a bowl of sweet egg drop soup solved her lunch.

That afternoon, when she went to work in the fields, Shen Mo’er carried a bamboo basket. Inside the enamel jug was cooled boiled water. The enamel bowl held the soft white vegetarian buns, covered with a clean white cotton cloth, and on top of that was a towel.

As Shen Mo’er walked toward the fields, she ran into Shen Lingling, who was holding a sickle and carrying an army green water canteen.

Shen Lingling glanced at her, snorted, and briskly walked ahead, acting as if stepping past her was some kind of victory.

Shen Mo’er felt puzzled.

The educated youth were already working in the fields. As soon as Shen Lingling appeared, Zhang Zhiqiang enthusiastically greeted her and called her over to join them. Among the older educated youth, some also began calling her “Teacher Shen.”

Since becoming a primary school teacher, Shen Lingling had always worked alongside the educated youth during busy farming seasons. She was quite familiar with them, especially the older ones like Fu Mingze and the others. Before the series of incidents at her home, many of the male educated youth secretly regarded her as a goddess — and of course, even now, quite a few still did.

After the lively greetings, Shen Lingling turned around proudly to glance at Shen Mo’er.

Shen Mo’er didn’t bother with her. She walked down from the nearest field ridge into the field herself. After a few steps, she heard a delighted “Comrade Shen Mo’er!” Looking up, she saw Zheng Jiamin waving at her from beyond the rice fields. “Comrade Shen, come this way!”

Next to him, someone who had been bent over cutting rice slowly straightened up. His upright posture was like a slender white poplar standing tall in the field. One hand held the sickle, the other gripped a bundle of rice stalks, and from a distance, he looked over at her.

Perhaps the autumn sun was especially harsh, because Shen Mo’er suddenly felt her cheeks burning from the heat.

She glanced at Shen Lingling on the left side of the field, chatting energetically with Zhang Zhiqiang and the others. Then she looked to the right, where Yang Qingqing was staring at her with a strangely resentful and somewhat venomous expression. Without hesitation, Shen Mo’er decided to keep walking forward.

After a few steps, a female educated youth wearing a wide-brimmed hat hurried up behind her. “Teacher Shen, Teacher Shen Mo’er!”

Shen Mo’er stopped and turned to look at the newcomer. Recognizing her as Wang Qiutong, she asked, “Comrade Wang, what’s up?”

Wang Qiutong held a sickle in one hand and adjusted the brim of her hat with the other. She seemed a bit shy but still mustered her courage to ask, “Teacher Shen, can I cut rice with you over there?”

Shen Mo’er looked in the direction of Fu Mingze and the others, then asked uncertainly, “You mean with Comrade Fu and Comrade Zheng?”

Wang Qiutong nodded immediately. “Yes, I want to work with you all.”

Shen Mo’er nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”

She actually wanted to say, if you wanted to work with them, why didn’t you just join earlier? But then she thought about how it was probably just Fu Mingze and Zheng Jiamin there before, and since Wang Qiutong was the only woman, maybe she felt too shy to approach them on her own.

Hearing Shen Mo’er agree, Wang Qiutong instantly brightened up and quickly followed along.

Since the incident last time when she fell into the creek, Yang Qingqing had become both irritable and sullen. She wasn’t dating Shi Wei, but the two often hid away in the vegetable garden to argue. Wang Qiutong had unfortunately overheard these arguments twice, and every time, what she heard shocked her deeply.

Right now, she was genuinely afraid of those two, especially after overhearing Shi Wei say, “I’d rather marry Wang Qiutong than you,” and Yang Qingqing’s reply, “If you help me get rid of Fu Mingze, I’ll help you get rid of Wang Qiutong.” Wang Qiutong practically saw both of them trembling with rage.

It was terrifying, really terrifying.

She definitely didn’t want to work with Yang Qingqing!

Even less so with Shi Wei!

Zheng Jiamin warmly welcomed Shen Mo’er and Wang Qiutong who followed her. Wang Qiutong was deeply moved and immediately rolled up her sleeves and threw herself into the work.

Shen Mo’er glanced curiously at Wang Qiutong, thinking, “It’s just a change of field; why is this girl so excited?”

She put the bamboo basket she brought down on the nearby field ridge and turned back to head towards the field. Just then, Fu Mingze stepped back, giving up his spot for her.

Shen Mo’er didn’t refuse and adjusted her straw hat before starting to cut rice.

Accompanied by the mechanical swish of sickles, the golden rice stalks fell in thick waves. Bend down, step forward, bend down again, step forward… Soon, Shen Mo’er felt sweat streaming down her forehead, trickling past her temples and eyes, which stung and made her squint.

In both her lifetimes, she had never sweated so profusely from labor.

“How was the preliminary round?”

Suddenly, a clear male voice sounded beside her. Shen Mo’er was momentarily dazed, then stood up, wiped the sweat from her face with the towel hanging around her neck, and replied, “From what they said, it seems like it went pretty well.”

Fu Mingze also stood up, looked at her flushed and sweaty face in the blazing sun, and nodded, “That’s good.”

Then he asked, “Do you want to sit down and rest for a while?”

Shen Mo’er looked back at him seriously and asked, “Have I been cutting for half an hour already?”

Did she really have the nerve to just sit and rest?

Fu Mingze: “…”

After catching his breath, Shen Mo’er bent down and resumed working. She was physically strong, but inexperienced at farm work. Using the memories of the original owner, she adjusted her technique and gradually became more skilled.

No matter how many poems she had read about the hardships of farmers, it couldn’t compare to experiencing it firsthand.

If she were back in the Great Liang era, she would definitely suggest to the Emperor’s uncle that the imperial family and officials should personally do farm work for a few months. That way, whenever they thought about exploiting the people’s wealth, they’d have to weigh whether it would harm their merits.

After working for over an hour, Shen Mo’er and the others sat on the field ridge to rest. Each took out their cups and water bottles to drink. Shen Mo’er took some steamed buns from her bamboo basket and shared them with the others. “Eat a little snack, so you can work faster later.”

Zheng Jiamin eagerly took a bun and started eating. Wang Qiutong hesitated at first and declined a few times, but Shen Mo’er persuaded her to take one. After biting into it, Wang Qiutong’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Shen Mo’er. “Comrade Shen Mo’er, these buns are really good — even better than the state-run restaurants!”

Shen Mo’er smiled and said, “Then you can have another one later.”

Fu Mingze quietly ate his bun, occasionally glancing at the people around him — watching her laugh and chat with Wang Qiutong, watching her slowly drink water from a large enamel basin, her lips reddened from the dryness caused by sweating too much… He lowered his gaze and looked away.

After Zheng Jiamin and Wang Qiutong finished eating and drinking, their enthusiasm for work soared, and they quickly returned to labor.

Shen Mo’er put the enamel basin back in the bamboo basket, tidied up her things, and was about to get up to return to cutting rice when she suddenly heard Fu Mingze say, “Bao got a secondhand bicycle. It cost fifty yuan to buy, and more than twenty to fix. If you want it, eighty yuan.”

He paused and then added, “If the money’s tight, you can pay part of it later.”

Shen Mo’er immediately said, “I want it. We can come up with the money — well, we’ll try not to owe anything.”

Fu Mingze nodded. “Then I’ll come find you tonight.”

After saying this, he stood up and went back to work.

Shen Mo’er: “?”

She didn’t quite understand what buying a secondhand bicycle had to do with him coming to see her tonight.