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Chapter 13: Want to Go Collect Pig Grass
Li Lin crouched low to the ground, slowly pulling up the weeds, her mind wandering. *I need to think of some other kind of farm work,* she thought. *Otherwise, how long will I be stuck doing this exhausting, sun-drenched task?*
Just as she was lost in thought, she noticed a few children nearby, struggling with heavy baskets on their backs.
Curious, she turned to Lin Meina and asked, “Meina, what are those kids carrying in their baskets? They look heavy.”
“Oh, that’s pig grass,” Lin Meina explained. “The team raises a few pigs, and these kids go out to collect the grass for them. The work doesn’t earn much in terms of work points, but the adults don’t want to do it. For the kids, though, it’s not tiring, and they can earn some extra points to help with family expenses.”
Li Lin’s eyes immediately lit up. *That sounds like a much easier job than this,* she thought. *I’ll go talk to the team leader later and see if I can take on the job of collecting pig grass.*
She wasn’t worried about the low work points—it was the easy, light work that she was after.
“Li, I’ll tell you this,” Lin Meina said, noticing the gleam in Li Lin’s eyes. “Collecting pig grass earns very few work points. By the end of the year, you’ll barely have enough for a few pounds of grain.”
Li Lin listened attentively as Meina continued, “I used to think the same way—easy work, right? But when it came time to distribute the grain, I had barely enough. And though I had money to buy things, there was no one to sell me food, since everyone here is barely getting by. In the end, I had to take a risk and buy grain on the black market at a high price to get through the winter.”
Li Lin didn’t look disheartened by Meina’s advice. “I’ll ask and see if it works out,” she said with a carefree wave of her hand. “Whether it does or not, we’ll see.”
Meina sighed quietly and returned to her work. She knew she had tried to warn Li Lin, but the younger woman had made up her mind.
Hu Yingying, who had been working quietly nearby, overheard their conversation. She gave Li Lin a quick glance but didn’t say anything, continuing to pull up weeds at a slow, steady pace.
—
Meanwhile, Liu Lan, who had also joined the work, was struggling. Although she had done housework at home, she had never done this kind of fieldwork before. After barely getting started, she began to complain.
“When will this work be finished? My legs are already sore and numb! And look at my hands—they’re a mess!” She extended her hand to Zhao Li, who was working nearby, showing her callused palms.
Zhao Li glanced up briefly before continuing her task. “Stop complaining. We all had to start somewhere. You’ll get used to it with time. It’s just a matter of practice.”
“Yeah, if you’re complaining about this, just wait until the busy season. You’ll really have something to complain about then,” added Li Di, who was also working in the same area.
Liu Lan looked over at Li Lin and Hu Yingying, who were both working without complaint, their movements efficient despite being new to farm work. She huffed and muttered, “I bet they’re just pretending to be good at it. Let’s see how long they can keep up that act.”
However, with everyone focused on their own tasks, no one had time to respond to Liu Lan’s words. They just kept working, pulling weeds and focusing on their own progress. The complaints and gossip faded into the background as the hard work of the day continued.
Liu Lan saw their expressions and, in a fit of frustration, accidentally yanked up a corn seedling. Just as the scorekeeper happened to come over, she was immediately deducted two work points.
“This time, I’ll let it slide as a lesson for you. Be more careful next time. If I see you pull up any more corn seedlings, it won’t just be two work points next time,” the scorekeeper said, jotting down two marks in his little book, then looked at Liu Lan with anger before leaving.
Liu Lan, hearing that her work points had been deducted, quickly approached and tried to flatter him, saying, “Scorekeeper, I didn’t do it on purpose. Can you not deduct points today? I promise it won’t happen again.”
“No,” the scorekeeper answered coldly, not even looking at her. He glanced around at the others who had finished their work, marked the points, and then turned and left.
“Pah, what kind of nonsense is this,” Liu Lan muttered under her breath as she squatted down and got back to her work obediently.
—
“Yi Ge, I don’t think the new intellectual youth in the front yard is that great, but the ones in the back yard seem okay,” Zhu Liyan said in a low voice while doing his work. He had been quietly watching the actions of the female intellectual youths, and then casually shared his thoughts with Fang Mingyi.
“Do your own work. Don’t just watch others. Be careful not to get into trouble one day,” Fang Mingyi replied, but even as he said this, he couldn’t help but glance over at the person who was distracted while working, a smile fleeting across his eyes.
However, Zhu Liyan didn’t catch this and, hearing that he was being reprimanded again, went back to working diligently and stopped watching.
—
Time passed slowly, and just as Li Lin was about to collapse, the village leader finally struck the gong and called out, “End of work!”
“Phew, finally, work’s over. If it had been any later, I think I would’ve had to crawl to finish,” Li Lin stood up and stretched her back, saying.
“Right, I can barely hold on anymore. Look at my hands, they’re all green,” Hu Yingying nodded in agreement, stretching out her hands for Li Lin to see.
Li Lin glanced at Hu Yingying’s hands, then looked down at her own, and immediately grabbed Hu Yingying’s arm and rushed to the village leader.
“Village leader, we need to talk to you about something,” Li Lin said, panting as she dragged Hu Yingying over.
“What’s the matter?” Zhang Jun asked in confusion.
“Village leader, we heard there’s work to be done cutting pig grass. Could you assign us to that task?” Li Lin didn’t hesitate and directly stated her request.
“Cutting pig grass only earns three work points for a whole day, but fieldwork can earn at least six work points a day. Sometimes it can be as much as eight to ten points. Are you sure you want to cut pig grass?” Zhang Jun replied. He had a good impression of the two young intellectuals and, after saying this, he also kindly warned them, “Besides, after the autumn harvest, the work points can be exchanged for food. If you cut pig grass, you won’t get much food.”
“It’s okay, village leader. I still want to go cut pig grass,” Li Lin said. She had a store, so she wasn’t worried about food, and she was determined to go.
Hu Yingying, who wasn’t short on money, nodded as well, agreeing to go cut pig grass.
“Alright, as long as you’re not regretting it, I’ll assign you. But let me remind you, food is hard to buy these days. Even if you have money, you might not be able to get any. You’d better be prepared,” Zhang Jun said. He wasn’t trying to scare them but was simply sharing his own experience. The older generation had lived through disasters and knew that as long as you had food, you wouldn’t panic. Those who sold grain were either younger people who didn’t understand or people who were in financial trouble or reselling grain at high prices.
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