Chapter 14

“Everyone, be quiet for a moment. I want to say a few words. As you have all seen these past few days, ten educated youth from the city have arrived one after another. From now on, we are all from the same village. We should help each other and do a good job on the farm. That is the most important thing.”

Yan Mancang said and looked at the ten educated youth standing nearby. “You just arrived and probably haven’t done farm work before. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to do it. I will arrange for someone to guide you. But now is the busy farming season and we are rushing to harvest. You have to be diligent. This also affects your food rations. The less you work, the fewer work points you get. If you don’t have food, you will be the one who goes hungry.

Since you are here, you must obey the command of the brigade. If anyone cheats or does not do his job, don’t blame me for being rude! Go wherever you want!”

He took over these educated youth. Everything about them was written on their faces, and he could tell what kind of personality they had at a glance. Some of them were arrogant and difficult to manage. In order to prevent these people from being disobedient and causing trouble for him, he had to set down the rules from the beginning.

When the educated youth saw that the usually kind team leader could be so strict, they understood him a little better.

“Ergang, Goudan, Taohua, the three of you take these educated youth to the slope of the west mountain to harvest peanuts. This morning, harvest the one acre of land in the east first. Teach them well!”

Yan Mancang arranged for these three capable young men in the village to take ten educated youth to Xishan to harvest peanuts.

Zhang Ergang and the other two received the order and went up to the educated youth, introduced themselves to them, took the farm tools and led them up the mountain.

“Here we are. We just need to finish weeding the east field this morning.”

When the group arrived at the edge of the field, Zhang Ergang pointed to the one-acre field in front of him and said to the educated youth behind him, “It rained a little last night, and the soil is very soft now. The roots will come out if you pull them out. I’ll pull out two first to show you.”

As he spoke, he bent down and started pulling the peanuts. He gathered the peanut vines together with his hands, and then with a slight push, the white peanuts sticking to the soil were pulled out. “After pulling them out, shake off the soil, and then use the small claws in your hands to pick them up in the pit again, making sure nothing is left behind, and put them in the small basket. It’s that simple. Do you know how to do it?”

The process looked very simple indeed. Several educated youth understood it after seeing it and nodded their heads.

“Okay, we don’t have enough tools, so the men will pull them out first, one row at a time, and the women will pick them up in the back. We can switch positions after a while.”

Everyone had no objection to his arrangement, and some were even a little impatient. After all, they were also aspiring young people who were going to the countryside to build their motherland with a passion.

“Let’s have a competition. Whoever reaches the end first gets to choose the first seat when we assign dormitories later. How about that?”

After the positions were assigned, a male educated youth with a shaved head suggested with a grin.

The other few people thought this was fine and didn’t object.

“That’s fine, but only the six of us can compete. Ergang and Goudan can’t participate. They are veterans.”

Ergang and Goudan said it was no problem, as they didn’t need to share dormitories and besides, it would be unfair if they won against these rookies from the city.

The competition was confirmed, Ergang was the referee, and after he gave the order, the six male educated youth began to pull the strings with great effort. Ergang and Goudan smiled at each other and began to bend down to work.

“Let’s get started too.”

Taohua smiled and called the four female educated youth to follow her and pick peanuts.

Li Qinghe looked at the male educated youth working hard in front of him and proposed a competition. “Since they are all competing, let’s have a competition too. How about who picks up the most this morning and who gets to choose the position first?”

“OK.”

The other three said they had no objection.

Ten minutes later, the male educated youth’s competition ended. Jiang Shang, the male educated youth who proposed the competition, won the first place. Having tasted the joy of victory, he proposed other prizes for the competition. Having prizes made people more motivated, so no one had any objections.

Yan Mancang came over with two brigade cadres to inspect the work. Seeing that these young people were full of energy, he praised them generously, which encouraged them to work even harder.

“Phew, it’s too hot. I’m going to take a rest under the tree. Do you want to join me?”

Maybe it was because her body was too delicate, coupled with the scorching sun overhead, after only working for half an hour, Xiang Nuan was already sweating profusely and having difficulty breathing.

The other female educated youth were also very tired. After hearing what she said, they nodded and indicated that they also wanted to rest.

Taohua said, “Then let’s go over there and rest for a while. You have just started working, so you have to take it slow. You can’t stand working too much at once in this hot weather.”

When the male educated youth saw that the female educated youth had gone to rest, they also wanted to rest. After all, the competition was very strenuous.

“Who is that? She’s so pretty!”

Several people were chatting and laughing under a tree, when suddenly, the female educated youth Sun Qiuli pointed at Yan Fangming who was walking towards them not far away and called out in surprise.

Everyone looked over when they heard this.

Taohua saw Yan Fangming coming over here with a kettle, and her face immediately turned red with shame. The only people here who knew him well were her, Ergang, and Goudan. What was so good about those two grown men? Brother Fangming should be here to see her, right? Her mother had mentioned the two of them to her last night, and she wondered if Brother Fangming was willing.

Xiang Nuan looked at Yan Fangming approaching, then at Taohua who was blushing beside her, and thought to herself, didn’t Fangming say he didn’t want to go on a blind date with Taohua? Why did he come over now? Did he change his mind?

“Brother Fang Ming!”

As soon as Zhang Ergang saw someone, he went over to say hello with a grin on his face.

Yan Fangming looked at him with a smile, “Ergang, you’ve grown a lot taller in the past two years.”

Zhang Ergang chuckled, “That’s all. I can’t grow any taller. What are you doing here, Brother Fang Ming?”

Yan Fangming glanced at Xiang Nuan after hearing this and said, “My aunt asked me to bring some water to Nuan Nuan.”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at Xiang Nuan. Xiang Nuan instantly felt as if she was being scanned by countless x-rays.

She stood up and walked over to take it, “Thank you, I haven’t finished the water I brought yet.”

Yan Fangming smiled gently, “It’s okay, save it for later.”

After he said that, he looked at the peanut field in front of him and said, “I have nothing to do at home, so I’ll help you here.”

“That’s great. We haven’t worked together for many years!”

Zhang Ergang nodded excitedly and agreed. The person he admired the most was Yan Fangming. In fact, he also wanted to be a soldier, but unfortunately he was not selected.

Since Zhang Ergang agreed, there was nothing more to say.

“Brother Fang Ming.”

Taohua stood up and greeted him shyly.

Yan Fangming glanced at her and nodded with a smile, “Taohua, you are here too. You have grown into a big girl.”

Taohua felt as if her heart was ruthlessly stabbed by a sword. My goodness, you just saw it?

Xiang Nuan saw her reaction and wanted to laugh but couldn’t. Comrade Yan Fangming, you have hurt a young girl’s heart invisibly!