Chapter 005

Chu Xia cheerfully followed Liang Youtian’s pace.

Lin Xiaohan took a few long strides and easily caught up.

The Tanxi Brigade’s primary school was located right across from the brigade office.

Nearby were also the village supply store, clinic, barbershop, and a few other small establishments.

Instead of heading directly to the school, Liang Youtian first brought Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan to the brigade office to hand them two sickles and a hoe.

As they stepped out of the office with the tools, Liang Youtian explained, “The school shut down back in ’66, and it hasn’t reopened since. No one’s maintained the place all these years—grass inside has grown taller than people. Now it’s your responsibility to clean it up.”

Chu Xia held her sickle and responded readily, “Don’t worry, Captain Liang. You can count on us.”

Liang Youtian smiled at her words and turned to her with a teasing tone, “Comrade Xiao Xia, you’re a lot livelier than usual today. Something good happen?”

She had always been quiet and obedient—not the chatty type.

Chu Xia smiled and replied, “Isn’t it because of what you said—letting me become a teacher?”

Liang Youtian laughed heartily. “Well, since you’re this happy, make sure you do a good job for us. Be a role model for the village kids.”

Lin Xiaohan added smoothly, “Don’t worry, Captain Liang. We will.”

Chu Xia glanced at him—just a fleeting look.

In that moment, she simply thought to herself: He really knows how to put on an act. He’s like a completely different person when he’s with the brigade leaders compared to how he is with the other educated youth.

There’s no way Liang Youtian could imagine what Lin Xiaohan is like when he’s around them privately.

If she had a choice, Chu Xia certainly wouldn’t want to work with him.

Lin Xiaohan always looked down on her, treated her like a fool—he probably didn’t want to work with her either.

But this was the brigade’s arrangement. They didn’t get to choose their partners.

So Chu Xia figured—

As long as she kept her distance from him on a day-to-day basis, it’d be fine.

They were just coworkers, not friends.

When they arrived at the school gate, Liang Youtian pulled out a key to unlock it.

The gate was made of rusted iron bars, twisted and bent out of shape.

Once it was open, he handed the key to Lin Xiaohan and said, “There’s only one key for this lock. I’m giving it to you now—everything in this school is officially in your hands.”

Lin Xiaohan accepted the key, and both he and Chu Xia followed Liang Youtian into the school grounds.

As soon as they stepped inside and looked around, they saw the courtyard and rooms were indeed overgrown with weeds. Amidst the dry grass were fresh green shoots of spring—some even taller than a person.

Liang Youtian bent down, yanked up a handful of weeds, and continued, “One more thing—you won’t just be cleaning up the school. You’ll also need to recruit students yourselves. We don’t have many school-age children in the village to begin with. After the school closed, even fewer kept studying. In the past couple of years, only about three kids have gone to study at Shazhuang or the commune school. Cleaning the school and recruiting students—you’ve got a week. Is that enough time?”

Before Chu Xia could think it over, Lin Xiaohan answered confidently, “Captain Liang, seven days is enough. In a week, you and the Party Secretary can come attend our opening ceremony.”

Chu Xia looked at him. Since he had already agreed, she didn’t say anything more.

Liang Youtian patted Lin Xiaohan’s shoulder with a smile. “Alright, I believe you two can handle it. From now on, you don’t need to do farm work anymore. Like the other teachers, you’ll get paid a monthly salary.”

Lin Xiaohan responded with a smile and walked him out.

Naturally, Chu Xia followed to see him off. They waved at Liang Youtian outside the gate, and once he was out of sight, they returned to the courtyard.

The school was small—very small, in fact.

There were only two buildings in the yard. It was clear one was a classroom, and the other was meant to be an office for grading and prep.

There was also a restroom.

Chu Xia didn’t say much to Lin Xiaohan.

After surveying the area, she pushed through the weeds and walked to the space between the classroom and office. Then, trampling down the grass, she created a straight path that divided the school in half.

Once the division was clear, she finally spoke to Lin Xiaohan: “Don’t worry, I won’t take advantage of you. We’ll divide the school along this line—each of us is responsible for our own half.”

Lin Xiaohan had no objections. He picked up his sickle and started working.

As soon as Liang Youtian left, he was all business again. Chu Xia gave a little secret sneer and began working too.

While working, she did her best to keep as much distance between herself and Lin Xiaohan as possible.

With the thick grass in between them, they couldn’t see each other—might as well pretend she was working alone.

Weed by weed, the overgrowth fell.

Bit by bit, the sun climbed higher.

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At the Educated Youth Center.

Han Ting and the other nine didn’t go to the fields today. After breakfast, none of them went out to do anything useful either.

All ten of them were crammed into the boys’ dormitory, goofing off.

Han Ting, Chaozi, and Guogai were playing poker, while the others stood around watching.

Things got so heated that everyone started shouting all at once—nearly loud enough to blow the roof off.

Just as the noise reached its peak, someone suddenly called out, “Hello, Captain Liang!”

The room instantly fell silent. Everyone turned their heads to see Liang Youtian, who had somehow entered without anyone noticing. Chaos immediately followed.

There was no time to hide the playing cards, so Guogai yanked a messy quilt over them.

Han Ting quickly stood up and greeted him with a smile. “Captain Liang, what brings you here?”

Liang Youtian had come in without a sound and had clearly seen everything he needed to see. His face was cold, and his voice was even colder as he shot back, “What do you think?”

Still smiling, Han Ting replied, “Captain Liang, it’s our first time cooking independently today. We didn’t plan the time well, the meal wasn’t properly cooked, and after eating, we all got food poisoning. We kept running to the toilet, so none of us went to work. You’re not mad, are you?”

Liang Youtian let out a cold laugh. “Why would I be mad? You don’t go to work, you don’t earn any work points, and then you don’t get grain. It’s your own stomachs that’ll go hungry—what’s that got to do with me?”

At that, Chen Sisi muttered under her breath, “It’s just half a day’s work points, not a big deal.”

That was the last straw. Liang Youtian, who had still been holding it together, instantly exploded.

His eyes swept over to Chen Sisi as he shouted furiously, “Just half a day? Haven’t you all been slacking off enough already? Have any of you got a shred of shame left in you?! Do you have any shame at all?!”

Startled, Chen Sisi flinched and dared not say another word.

Han Ting stepped in again, still with a smile, “Of course we have shame, Captain Liang. We really just got sick from the food. Otherwise, how could we not go to work?”

Liang Youtian pointed a finger at him. “Cut the nonsense, Han Ting! I may be a countryside man with little education, but I’m not a fool. The organization sent you down here to be re-educated by the poor and lower-middle peasants. To learn how hard life really is, how precious grain is. Not to come here and eat, drink, and mess around!”

“You call this learning? After taking you to visit the Zhazhuang brigade’s educated youth station?”

These people were completely unteachable—it was no use saying anything more.

Liang Youtian took a breath, steadied his tone, and continued, “You don’t want to work, fine. I’m not going to whip you into the fields. But I’m going to make one thing clear—listen closely. The grain you got yesterday was a six-month share. Just enough to last until the autumn harvest. If your work points for this half of the year can’t cover that grain, don’t expect to get a single grain more for the second half. You’ll only get it once you make up the missing points. If you starve, that’s on you.”

“Our brigade doesn’t feed freeloaders. I mean what I say.”

“If you’ve got the guts to keep slacking off, go ahead. But when the time comes and you want to leave to beg for food, don’t expect to get an introduction letter.”

“I want to see just how thick-skinned and capable you really are!”

With that, Liang Youtian turned and left in a huff.

None of the ten educated youths followed him out. Only after he had exited the fenced yard did they relax and slump back down, muttering nonchalantly, “It’s just half a day’s work, what’s the big deal?”

Wang Xiangqian did some rough math and said, “Actually, it is a big deal. A strong laborer working a full day earns, at most, ten work points. That’s only worth a few cents. Us guys still earn decent points, but you girls earn a lot less. And remember, when we slack off during work, the record-keeper deducts points—we’ve already been docked plenty.”

Everyone suddenly felt a bit disheartened.

Gu Yuzhu sighed, “I don’t want to stay in this hellhole even one more day. Always working under the scorching sun, toiling away, never enough food… If only we could go back to the city.”

Hu Yang shot her a look. “You’re dreaming. Just got here and already want to go back? Do you know how many senior educated youths have been stuck out here for six or seven years without being able to return? We’ve just arrived—forget it.”

Gu Yuzhu snapped, “So what? Just because I can’t go back doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to want to!”

The conversation was turning more and more depressing—totally unnecessary.

Han Ting stepped in again. “Enough of that. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone starve. If our work points really aren’t enough, we’ll find another way.”