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At the break of dawn, people began getting up one by one to wash and prepare for the day.
Yu Mo was the first to rise in the west wing dormitory. After she finished washing, Lin Ting and Zhong Shuhe got up unhurriedly. They figured it was the first day of fieldwork—no need to overexert themselves right away.
Lin Ting swiftly entered the kitchen and came out with a tray in her hands.
“I made some corn cakes. You two can take them and eat on the way.”
She smiled indulgently.
“Having me as your roommate isn’t so bad, huh?”
The cornmeal had been allocated to the three new educated youths by the brigade. Eventually, it would be deducted from their monthly rations.
Both Lin Ting and Zhong Shuhe had entrusted their share to Yu Mo to manage.
Lin Ting changed quickly into a long-sleeved top and pants, wrapped most of her face with a scarf—leaving only her eyes, nose, and mouth visible—put on a straw hat and work gloves, and then headed out.
They walked along the road eating the corn cakes, chatting and enjoying the cool morning breeze—it was delightfully pleasant.
By the time they arrived at the fields, quite a few people had already gathered.
Once everyone was assembled, the brigade leader introduced the three new educated youths to the group and then began assigning tasks.
Today’s main job was transplanting rice seedlings, and all three of the new arrivals were assigned to that task.
Zhong Shuhe looked at the vast, muddy rice paddy like she was facing an enemy.
“Are there bugs in there?”
Having grown up near an experimental field, Lin Ting smiled knowingly.
“Water snakes, leeches, snails… any of those could show up.”
Yuan Xiang’e, the local woman assigned to train Lin Ting, chuckled and reassured her.
“She’s just trying to scare you. Leeches are more common in southern paddies. As for water snakes—I’ve only seen one once in the field.”
Zhong Shuhe turned pale.
“So… you mean there could be a water snake?”
Yuan replied, “Possibly. But not likely.”
With that confirmation, Zhong Shuhe looked like she wanted to drop dead on the spot—
She was terrified of snakes.
Lin Ting stepped into the paddy first, carefully navigating her way to her assigned spot.
Yu Mo followed her down, only to find that moving through the field was harder than expected. After just a few steps, her feet got stuck, and she couldn’t pull them out.
Lin Ting offered advice:
“Ease your foot out gently. Don’t force it.”
Yu Mo tried it and—success!
She exclaimed with delight,
“Sis Ting, you’re amazing! You even know this kind of stuff!”
Zhong Shuhe was also struggling, her feet trapped in the mud. Hearing Lin Ting’s advice, she gave it a try—and it worked for her too.
“What is going on with this mud?” she asked, puzzled.
Yuan Xiang’e smiled warmly,
“I don’t know exactly, but this is how we always do it—it just works.”
Lin Ting, of course, knew the science behind it.
When the water and soil in a paddy mix, they exhibit a shear-thickening effect. If you yank your foot hard, the fluid’s viscosity increases, making it harder to move. That’s a property of non-Newtonian fluids.
It could also be explained by negative pressure effects—but Lin Ting, a high school graduate posing as a village laborer, didn’t dare say too much. She wisely kept her mouth shut.
The local mentors began demonstrating how to plant rice seedlings. Lin Ting watched attentively, then started working. Before long, the section in front of her was covered in neat, straight rows of green.
Yuan Xiang’e sighed with admiration,
“Kids these days learn so fast.”
Meanwhile, Qian Sulan, the brigade wife teaching Zhong Shuhe, glanced at her trainee’s crooked and messy seedlings. Some were even floating on the water.
She muttered to herself,
Well, not every young person learns quickly—Zhong Shuhe clearly doesn’t.
The biggest challenge in transplanting rice wasn’t the technique—
It was the strain on the lower back.
Zhong Shuhe felt like her spine was going to give out. She stood up to rest for a bit.
“Your body is the foundation of the revolution,” she thought.
“If I don’t take care of it now, I’ll suffer even more later.”
Yu Mo was exhausted too and sneaked a break.
Seeing them stop, Lin Ting paused as well.
Although she’d grown up in an experimental field, working for long hours was still tiring.
Anyway, they were all new here—if they were going to slack off, they might as well do it together.
Wen Chunlan, noticing the new girls slacking, dared to straighten her back and complain,
“My back is killing me!”
Just then, the brigade recorder looked over and shouted:
“Wen Chunlan! Slacking off again?”
That “again” hit like a slap in the face.
Wen Chunlan felt wronged and tried to shift the blame.
“Why don’t you say anything to them?” she huffed, pointing at the new girls.
Before the recorder could respond, Qian Sulan jumped in:
“Lin Ting is already doing better than you—and it’s her first day!
How do you have the nerve to slack off?”
Coming from a brigade wife, and with Lin Ting’s clearly better performance, the recorder had nothing more to say.
He turned his scolding back to Wen Chunlan:
“You barely earn 4 or 5 work points a day! That’s not even enough to cover the food you eat.”
“Even boys half your age can earn that much!”
Wen Chunlan flushed red with embarrassment and shot a glare at Lin Ting.
Why did that new girl have to work so hard?
Now I’m the one getting scolded!
During the break, the three new girls sat on the ridge between fields, too tired to even speak.
The brigade leader and secretary were sighing not far away.
The leader muttered,
“The commune secretary said if our yield is poor again this year, he’s dragging both of us to explain ourselves. He’s already too ashamed to face the higher-ups.”
Secretary Cheng Aimin frowned deeply.
“Our commune only has two tractors, and they’re the most basic walk-behind types.
With so many brigades waiting to use them, when is it ever our turn?”
“Every year, we have to rely on oxen and hoes to till the land.
By the time we’re ready, we’ve already missed the optimal planting window.”
“How can the harvest be good like this?”
The brigade leader nodded bitterly.
“I heard there’s a crawler tractor called ‘Dongfanghong’ that’s perfect for large-scale farming.”
“But it’s expensive. Our commune’s dirt poor—how could we ever afford one?”
The three girls had thought only their brigade was poor.
Now they realized even the commune was struggling!
Zhong Shuhe whispered,
“It’s going to be really hard to get ahead in a place like this.
If we ever get the chance to run—we should run as far as we can.”
Yu Mo looked lost.
“But the cities are already overcrowded. Where could we even run to?”
Lin Ting had a better mindset.
“In times like these, poor places are actually the safest.”
“As long as we keep our heads down, don’t stir up trouble, and stay quiet—
We can live our lives in peace.”
“When the situation improves, we’ll figure out a way forward.”
(In just a few years, college entrance exams will be reinstated—but she couldn’t tell them that yet.)
As long as you survive, there’s always hope.
Suddenly, Lin Ting’s gaze drifted to the side and caught Wen Chunlan pulling out the rice seedlings she had just planted!
Wen Chunlan was resting just beside her field, and if Lin Ting hadn’t looked closely, she never would’ve noticed her sneaky move.
Lin Ting didn’t feel like tolerating it at all.
She immediately shouted:
“Wen Chunlan! Why are you pulling out my seedlings?!”