Chapter 38: The Leader’s Inspection (Part 1)

Xu Yongshou was also at the threshing ground.

He was very pleased with the impact the little girl had brought.

During the autumn harvest, discipline needed to be tightened. Without motivation, how could they win this battle?

He had just observed that Mian girl’s threshing was exceptionally clean, even better than most of the men.

At the threshing rack, Mu Mian, the person in question, also found this work much better than picking up scattered grains.

Threshing required strength. Otherwise, the rice grains wouldn’t fall off properly.

And strength was something she had in abundance.

Father and daughter worked side by side, each strike followed by three shakes, their movements perfectly in sync.

Since Mu Mian was standing on a stool and couldn’t move easily, Mu Fugui would grab two bundles at a time so that she wouldn’t have to shift around.

Truly, father and daughter working together made labor much easier.

By the time work ended in the evening, Mu Mian was delighted to see the scorekeeper write a “10” next to her name.

Hehe, full work points!

If she had spent the day picking up rice grains, she wouldn’t have earned full points.

With more work points, their family would get more food during distribution.

Just thinking about it made her happy!

—

Mu Mian was satisfied, but the other families were in an uproar.

A nine-year-old girl!

And she managed to earn full work points threshing rice!

Looking at their own kids, who had only earned one or two points after a whole day of picking, they realized most of the time, their children had wandered off.

Running around, playing, and even disappearing for hours when sent to fetch water.

Why was someone else’s child so capable? She could write essays and work in the fields!

That night, the Qingfeng Brigade was anything but peaceful.

Meanwhile, the center of the discussion, Mu Mian, was starving after a full day of labor. Threshing was far more exhausting than picking up grains—she had been exerting force all day.

After a quick wash, she casually grabbed a steamed bun and stuffed it into her mouth. She didn’t even wait for the dishes to be served and chewed down half of it right away.

This bun was made with half cornmeal and half wheat flour. As she chewed, she could taste a hint of sweetness—it was absolutely delicious!

During the autumn harvest, eating only cornmeal and sweet potatoes wouldn’t be enough to sustain them.

The wheat flour was something Mu Fugui had exchanged for at the commune. The portion they had received last year was long gone.

Even so, he hadn’t managed to get much. Mixing it with cornmeal was the only way to make it last for a few more meals.

There was no choice. Fine grains were precious and hard to come by. Being able to trade for some was already quite fortunate.

Mu Fugui and Liu Shuangcui were both exhausted. Liu Shuangcui had spent the whole day harvesting rice. By now, her hands and arms were so sore that they barely obeyed her.

She took a couple of bites of the bun and then glanced at her daughter, who still seemed fine. Reaching out, she pinched Mu Mian’s thin arms. “Can you really bear it?”

Mu Mian nodded. “Mhm, just a little sore, but I still have strength left.”

Liu Shuangcui said no more. She had long been envious of her daughter’s seemingly endless energy.

Mu Fugui chuckled. “She’s fine, but I bet Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother are exhausted.”

His two younger brothers usually earned nine work points, but today, after being motivated by Mian girl, they had pushed themselves for full points. If they weren’t sore, it would be strange.

Not just them—many men at the threshing ground had earned an extra work point or so today.

All because they didn’t want to be outdone by a little girl.

Mu Mian, who had indirectly caused this situation, didn’t think much of it. After a day of work, she collapsed into bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, her arms were sore and swollen, but at this time of year, who wasn’t feeling aches and pains?

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the autumn harvest left people feeling like they had shed a layer of skin.

Mu Mian wasn’t at that level yet. Carrying her small stool from yesterday, she followed her father to the threshing ground again.

Today, the workers at the threshing ground were just as energetic.

Not far behind them, in the rice fields, even the children seemed much better behaved than yesterday.

Each one followed behind the adults, sticking their little butts up, picking grains row by row without fussing or fighting.

They had no choice. With Mu Mian earning full work points as a precedent, the other parents now found their own mischievous children increasingly intolerable.

And when parents were displeased, a wooden stick might just land on a certain someone’s backside.

Last night, every household had talked about the same thing over and over again—

Why was someone else’s daughter so capable?

You can’t thresh rice, but can’t you at least pick up some grains?

The others had been standing and working all day without complaining, yet you’ve only been picking for half a day and are already exhausted?

If you can’t match their strength, fine, but where’s your attitude? If you were really working hard, how come you only earned one work point?

If you don’t put in real effort tomorrow, be careful—I won’t be so easy on you!

…

…

And so on and so forth.

This was only because it was Mu Mian. If it had been someone else, the little troublemakers in the village would have surely hated that kid to death.

But when it came to Mu Mian…

To be honest, they actually thought she was amazing!

She could even thresh rice! That was something even stronger men, like their fathers, struggled with.

Of course, the most important reason was…

They didn’t dare to dislike her!

What if she beat them up like she did to Shi Dabao before? That girl was scary!

With her strength, she could toss them around like ragdolls. If she threw them into the fields, they might not even be able to climb back out.

So no way—they couldn’t afford to provoke her!

Picking up rice grains? That was easy! They could do that just fine!

Mu Mian never expected that just by switching to a different task, she would end up making all the mischievous kids in the village behave so well.

One by one, they diligently picked up every grain of rice from the ground, leaving the fields cleaner than ever.

If a bird came looking for food, it would probably curse in frustration and fly away—there wasn’t a single grain left for it!

For a while, the entire Qingfeng Brigade was united in one goal—working together to complete the autumn harvest.

As for Mu Mian, after three or four days of threshing rice, she was so exhausted that she would fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillow at night. Her arms ached constantly, never getting a break.

But when she looked at the people in the fields, their faces tanned by the sun, backs bent as they worked tirelessly, she felt she could hold on a little longer.

Everyone was already beyond exhausted, yet they kept pushing through. The sooner they finished, the sooner they could rest easy.

That day, Mu Mian, now familiar with the routine, set her stool down in front of the threshing frame and began another day’s work.

The sky was a little overcast, not as hot as the past few days.

It felt more comfortable, but during the autumn harvest, cloudy weather wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

If it rained, the crops could get damp and spoil, making them difficult to store.

Fortunately, the clouds cleared after a while, and the sun came out again.

Even so, everyone unconsciously worked a little faster.

As they always said, the sooner they finished, the better. Only by harvesting the crops properly could they ensure food for the next year.

They had all experienced the hunger in the past few years. No one wanted to go through that again.

—

While the Qingfeng Brigade was busy with the harvest.

Director Song Caijun, who was in charge of production management at Hongxing Commune, was answering a call. The person on the other end said only a few words before hanging up.

After putting down the receiver, Song Caijun stepped outside and called over a staff member.

The person he called was Guan Wenbo. He stood up and asked, “What’s wrong, Director Song?”

Song Caijun got straight to the point. “Just got a call from the city. Some leaders are coming to inspect the harvest. They might be staying for lunch, so make the arrangements.”

Guan Wenbo nodded. “Should we send someone to notify the brigade?”

Song Caijun shook his head. “They’re already on their way. No need to give advance notice. Just tell Chef Li at the cafeteria to prepare a little extra food for lunch. Keep everything as it usually is—no need for extravagance.”

If they weren’t notifying the brigade in advance, it meant the leaders didn’t want any special preparations. They didn’t like putting on a show.

After giving his instructions, Song Caijun stepped outside just in time to see a car approaching.

The person coming from the city was Secretary Wang. Song Caijun didn’t actually know him, as he usually only dealt with county-level officials.

Secretary Wang had no airs about him. He didn’t even stop to take a break or drink water. “Sitting in a car isn’t tiring. Let’s go straight to the brigade. Which one is up ahead?”

Song Caijun, being extremely familiar with the commune, answered immediately, “That would be Qingfeng Brigade. It has the largest population in our commune. Their brigade leader is Xu Yongshou. They had the best harvest last year.”

Secretary Wang nodded. “Alright, let’s visit Qingfeng Brigade first.”

As the car slowly pulled out of the commune, over at Qingfeng Brigade, Xu Yongshou had no idea what was happening.

It wasn’t until half an hour later that an old woman who lived near the brigade entrance came running to tell him. Her last name was Chen.

Xu Yongshou was busy at the threshing ground when he heard the news. His eyes widened in shock. “What?! City leaders are here already? They’re at the brigade entrance?! Why didn’t anyone inform me earlier?!”

He knew how much importance the leaders placed on the autumn harvest in recent years. Who wouldn’t? Just a few years ago, people had nearly starved to death.

Last year, county leaders had come for an inspection, but at least they had been notified in advance.

This year, there was no notice, so he assumed no one was coming.

Aunt Chen had no idea about all that. “How would I know? I was just told to come and get you. The leaders are already heading north.”

“Oh, and there’s a young man with them, holding some kind of… you know, that thing that takes pictures. What’s it called?”

Xu Yongshou abruptly stopped walking and turned back to look at Aunt Chen, who had fallen five meters behind him. “They brought a reporter?”

Aunt Chen, still panting, asked curiously, “That thing is called a reporter? What a strange name!”

Xu Yongshou muttered, “The thing isn’t called a reporter. The person is a—oh, forget it, no time to explain!”

Without another word, he turned and dashed off.

The threshing ground.

Mu Mian was still threshing the rice, striking it one handful at a time. Once she finished with the bundle in her hands, she reached up to lift the brim of her straw hat and glanced forward. “I think I just heard Uncle Xu calling out. Did something happen?”

The distance was quite far, and the sound of threshing filled the surroundings, so she didn’t catch it clearly.

Mu Fugui bent down to grab two handfuls of rice stalks and handed one to his daughter. “Who knows? It’s probably nothing serious. Old Xu is always like that, making a fuss over nothing. He also has a bad temper, unlike your father, who’s steady and reliable.”

Hearing this, Mu Xingwang and Mu Xinglong both chuckled, and Mu Mian giggled as well. She casually echoed, “Mm-hmm, Dad is the most reliable!”

Mu Xinglong snorted. “Xiao Mian, are your eyes getting tired from threshing? Where does your father have anything to do with being steady? If anyone here is reliable, it’s me and your Fourth Uncle.”

Mu Xingwang, who was being compared, didn’t even spare his younger brother a glance.

Threshing was exhausting work, so after exchanging a few words with her little uncle, Mu Mian stopped chatting and focused entirely on the rice in her hands.

On the other side, Xu Yongshou had already joined Secretary Wang and his group.

As he walked, he introduced the brigade’s situation, speaking calmly without a trace of nervousness.

At first, when he heard that city officials were coming, he had been a little flustered.

But once he collected himself, he realized—wasn’t it just showing the leaders around? Their brigade could stand up to scrutiny!

Secretary Wang was quite satisfied as he walked. The brigade’s harvest was indeed good, and the villagers were full of energy.

When they reached the rice fields, Secretary Wang discreetly took a few more glances. His gaze lingered for a long time on the line of children carefully picking up stray grains of rice.

He had visited many brigades before, but he had never seen children this well-behaved.

Kids at this age were usually lively and mischievous. They could work, sure, but it wasn’t uncommon for them to start playing around in the middle of it.

Yet, in all the time he’d spent walking around Qingfeng Brigade, he hadn’t seen any children fooling around even once.

Curious, he asked about it while they continued walking.

Xu Yongshou didn’t claim credit. He chuckled and said, “I can’t keep those little rascals in line, but I can manage their parents.”

“They’ve been behaving well lately because of that Mian girl. She can earn a full day’s work points on her own, so if any of the other kids dare to go home with just one work point, their butts will definitely be beaten to a pulp.”

Before Xu Yongshou even pointed her out, Secretary Wang had already noticed.

Among the group of male workers, her small figure stood out too much.

Even though she was small and had to stand on a stool, her movements were just as skilled as the men beside her.

The reporter accompanying them immediately raised his camera and snapped a photo—this was a scene he had never seen before.

Song Caijun spoke in a curious tone, “Such a young girl can actually thresh rice?”

Xu Yongshou replied honestly, “That girl has a lot of strength. She’s been working alongside her father for days now. Her whole family is hardworking.”

“All three of them earn full work points every day. Her mother is out in the fields harvesting rice—the fastest among the women.”

“That Mian girl even fought off kidnappers before. Just back in April.”Secretary Wang perked up with interest. “Fought off kidnappers?”