The Production Team Office.

As the work bell rang, Su Huaiyuan and his son Su Ze arrived.

They had made arrangements with Uncle Jiu the night before.

Every day before work, they would first gather at the production team office, and then go to the warehouse next door to register and pick up their tools.

However, the person who rang the work bell wasn’t Bai Lianshan, but an elderly man who seemed to be about sixty years old.

When he saw the Su father and son, he silently nodded at them, clearly already knowing who they were.

Soon, the members of Baigou Village began to arrive one after another. In addition to them, Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze also saw about six people who, although different from the others in energy and spirit, looked remarkably similar to the father and son.

Four men, two women.

The same kind of people.

They were people of the same status.

The six individuals also noticed the Su father and son and stood some distance away from them. However, they stayed far apart from the other members.

“Why are only two here? Wasn’t it supposed to be four people?”

“These two seem to be father and son. They really look alike.”

“I heard they’re from the capital, and one of them is some kind of professor.”

“I heard there were indeed four people assigned to our production team, but no, it’s not just four—there are also two children.”

“Then why only two people have shown up?”

“I heard that yesterday, on the way here, the two children fell seriously ill. They probably are still sick, so the two of them stayed behind to care for the children while the others came to work.”

“Ah, I see. Sixzi, you sure know a lot.”

“I heard it from my grandmother. She went to ask the team leader’s wife and found out from her.”

“Yesterday afternoon, I saw the team leader rushing with an ox cart toward Uncle Jiu’s house. Didn’t expect someone to be ill.”

“Yeah, getting sick right after being assigned here. They must have suffered a lot before coming here.”

“I think their faces look fine. The people who came before didn’t look this healthy.”

“Exactly. But coming to our village is their luck. Our village branch secretary and team leader are decent people. They never make things hard for them, and they told us not to bother with them. They never scold them. As long as they do their work, that’s enough.”

“Guozi, what do you know? The team leader said we shouldn’t interfere. Whatever happens with them is not our concern. If they run into trouble, we can pretend we didn’t see it, but we shouldn’t kick them when they’re down. That’s the bottom line for us in Baigou Village.”

“That’s right. We just follow the village secretary and team leader’s instructions.”

…

The members of the production team also noticed the newcomers and couldn’t help but gossip, curious about who the two new people were while exchanging the information they knew.

At this moment, Bai Lianshan arrived.

As soon as he saw the Su father and son standing at the edge, he walked over and began assigning tasks to the team members.

Digging the fields.

People would first dig with a hoe, and then the ox would plow the land, so as not to tire the ox too much.

In this era, without machinery, most of the farming was done by people and oxen.

And each production team had only a limited number of animals, so they were seen as the most valuable assets of the team.

After the tasks were assigned, the team members rushed to the warehouse to collect their tools.

Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze, along with the six other individuals, were the last ones to pick up their tools—they couldn’t rush ahead of the others.

Only then did Bai Lianshan walk over to the Su father and son, nodding gently at them.

“Today, you’ll work with them. The ground is still hard, and since you’re new, I’ll start you off with half an acre each to dig.”

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Since neither Su Huaiyuan nor Su Ze had ever worked on a farm or dug fields before, Bai Lianshan didn’t give them a full acre like the other team members.

But in a couple of days, they wouldn’t be treated so leniently.

Otherwise, the team members and others might start complaining.

“Team leader, we will follow the tasks assigned by the production team.”

Su Ze quickly nodded and agreed.

He was determined to complete the task well.

Su Huaiyuan also nodded, and then the father and son went to collect their tools.

Each of them received an old hoe.

The production team was divided into ten groups, and since Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze weren’t part of any of these groups, they were grouped together with the other newcomers.

They were special people—no one was willing to work with them, and no one dared to speak to them. They, in turn, didn’t dare speak to anyone else.

Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze followed the six other newcomers, and wherever they went, the father and son followed.

After about twenty minutes of silent walking, the eight of them finally reached the designated area for their work.

“You two go dig over there.”

The oldest man among the six pointed to the farthest piece of land and indicated where Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze should go. He also looked at their hands but said nothing and turned to start working.

Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze exchanged a glance, unsure how to ask, so they just picked up their hoes and started working.

Clang!

Su Ze gripped his hoe tightly, raised it high, and then slammed it into the ground.

When the hoe hit the earth, not only did it fail to dig, but his hands were also jolted several times, leaving them numb.

Su Ze: “…”

Su Huaiyuan, standing two meters away from his son, tried the same thing. His hands were also shaken and numb, and the ground was barely scratched.

Su Huaiyuan: “…”

The ground was so hard.

How were they supposed to dig?

With these hoes, how long would it take them to make any progress?

No, how could they even turn over this land?

Su Huaiyuan and his son looked at each other, both sensing that things were not going well.

They quietly observed the others nearby and noticed that everyone was digging the same way.

But what was different was that everyone seemed to be wearing something on their hands. It looked like work gloves, or maybe their hands were wrapped in thick, worn-out clothing.

Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze: “…”

Great, their hands might not be usable by noon.

..

At home, only Zhou Wanwan and the two children were there.

Qiao Jiuru didn’t dare go too far and stayed nearby, just a few meters away, looking for stones.

Luckily, there were plenty of large and small stones at the foot of the mountain. She searched for a few that could serve as seats or places to put things and quietly stored them in her space.

After finding the stones, she turned to gather firewood, looking for suitable wood.

But after more than two hours, she returned with a large bundle of firewood.

Dabao and Xiaobao had woken up and heard that their father and grandfather had gone to work.

After hearing that their grandmother was nearby picking stones and wood, the two children obediently played at home with their mother.

“Grandma, grandma…”
“Mom, grandma.”