◎ Dizzy ◎

Qi Yuzhen did not think that far ahead. “Dad just took office, and you’re already thinking about his re-election? Being a team leader is not an easy job.”

The previous team leader had served several terms and was a responsible leader. The reason he stepped down was because he got injured during the typhoon season this year while working on disaster recovery. He was not young to begin with, and his family was worried about his health, so he simply retired to rest.

The team leader must be in charge at the very front during typhoon days, making him more likely to get injured than ordinary commune members.

Even if he doesn’t fall, it’s easy to become ill from exhaustion.

Qi Yulian: “I know, ever since Dad became the team leader, he’s been even busier than before.”

Seeing Qi Jiali coming over, Qi Yulian didn’t dare chat idly with her sister anymore and continued working hard.

She wasn’t yet an adult and couldn’t earn adult work points. Coming to the fields to work was mainly to help her sister.

If the helping child slacked off, Qi Jiali wouldn’t scold her. Qi Yulian simply didn’t want to be a burden to her sister.

Qi Jiali didn’t do farm work, but her daily job wasn’t light. Every day, she had to patrol all the fields in the brigade to check how everyone was working—whether anyone was slacking off, and if any commune member who was supposed to be working was missing, she had to ask and find out the situation.

Commune members could ask for leave. To ask for leave, they had to get the team leader, the squad leader of their own squad, and the scorekeeper to sign off.

Whether it was the previous team leader or the current one, as long as the leave wasn’t asked for too frequently, they would sign.

The team leader’s side was easy to pass, but the squad leader and scorekeeper’s side wasn’t so easy. If it wasn’t something very important, they wouldn’t sign.

So some people skipped the signatures and simply didn’t show up, waiting to be criticized and educated later.

Out of the corner of her eye, Qi Yulian saw Qi Jiali walking toward her and her sister. She was extremely nervous.

Her mind had already flashed through how many times recently she had been chatting with her sister.

She couldn’t remember, she really couldn’t remember.

“Yuzhen, Educated Youth Tang fainted. Go take care of her.” Qi Jiali came looking for Qi Yuzhen just for this matter.

Qi Yuzhen roughly guessed the reason Educated Youth Tang fainted. After asking clearly where she was, she packed up her things and went over.

Qi Jiali didn’t go with Qi Yuzhen, but stayed in the field where the two sisters were to check whether anyone was missing from Squad One.

Squad One had people of “high rank and authority” in the brigade, such as the team leader and deputy team leader. No matter their status, if they were supposed to be participating in labor, they had to do so—no exceptions.

Qi Yulian very much wanted to follow her sister, but of course, that could only be wishful thinking. In the end, she greeted Qi Jiali and went to work beside her two older brothers.

…

Qi Yuzhen arrived at the location of Squad Four and saw Educated Youth Tang lying under a tree.

The educated youth had only arrived a few days ago, and various situations had already happened. She walked over. Educated Youth Tang had her eyes closed and brow furrowed. It seemed she hadn’t lost consciousness.

Before coming over, Qi Yuzhen had brought dry food and had also poured a cup of water. Since there was water in Educated Youth Tang’s kettle, she gave her the flatbread cooked in the morning and kept the water for herself.

There was no need to hear it from the educated youth themselves—she had already heard quite a bit about them from her younger sister.

The five educated youth had different personalities and hadn’t reached a consensus on cooking matters.

An Lin was in Squad Three. During the autumn harvest period, the brigade provided lunch. She chose to eat breakfast and dinner at Qi Erya’s home, gave her own rations and grain coupons to Qi Erya’s family, and additionally paid one cent per meal.

Mainly because she and Qi Erya were in the same squad and got along, so she chose Erya’s home without hesitation.

Educated Youth Tang was rather quiet. She could talk but didn’t like to talk and always had a low presence.

There were only two female educated youth. An Lin had solved her food issue, but Educated Youth Tang hadn’t. Asking her to negotiate cooking and housework with three male educated youth was completely impossible.

When the educated youth first arrived, it was clear from their clothing that their family backgrounds were different. An Lin was the first to start eating at a commune member’s home. Xue Guoshu and Song Xunzhou also went to eat at commune members’ homes respectively.

As for Song Xunzhou—more precisely, he brought his food and went to eat by the fields, not staying long at the accountant’s home.

The accountant of their production team had a relatively high level of education and was flexible, not like Qi Yuzhen’s family, who directly stated they wouldn’t accept educated youth eating in their home.

The accountant’s family wasn’t concerned with appearances and was happy to have educated youth eat in their home. They earned some money and coupons, and the educated youth got their meals. What was wrong with that?

Of the remaining two educated youth, the one most troubled about eating should be Educated Youth Tang. Qi Yuzhen had heard her younger sister say that Educated Youth Cen ate breakfast and dinner using the biscuits and other food he had brought from home. Educated Youth Tang hadn’t brought much food and didn’t want to eat at commune members’ homes. She could only eat one meal a day from the large pot meal provided by the team at noon.

Where Song Xunzhou and Xue Goushu chose to eat wasn’t a secret. As for other matters about the educated youth dormitory, most of it came from An Lin’s mouth.

For example, Educated Youth Xue was not clean and snored very loudly at night—so loud that even the female educated youth room could hear him.

And for example, how calculating Educated Youth Cen was—when there was garbage in the common area, he couldn’t bear to see it but wasn’t willing to pick it up and throw it out himself. He knew who threw it but didn’t dare confront them, so he had Educated Youth Tang clean it up.

As long as you didn’t provoke An Lin, she wouldn’t interfere. Cen Wei picked the soft one to bully. Tang Sui didn’t want to cause more trouble, so she quietly cleaned up the trash when no one was around.

The one who casually threw trash was Educated Youth Xue. He wasn’t as tall as Educated Youth Song but had a sturdy build and never took things to heart.

Educated Youth Cen didn’t know his boundaries and didn’t dare anger him easily.

Among the male educated youth, both Educated Youth Cen and Educated Youth Xue were exhausting to deal with.

Out of the five educated youth, it seemed that Educated Youth Song had the most normal personality.

Qi Yuzhen: “Educated Youth Tang, I brought you half a piece of flatbread. Once you feel a bit better, sit up and eat it to regain your strength.”

Tang Sui hadn’t lost consciousness. She said thank you, then slowly sat up, drank a sip of water, and after taking a moment to recover, began eating the half piece of flatbread that Qi Yuzhen had brought.

Qi Yuzhen didn’t come over just to deliver food.

The educated youth came to a completely unfamiliar production team. There was no way the team would let them faint from hunger. Each educated youth had been given rations. The dormitory had a stove for cooking. No matter how poor Educated Youth Tang’s family conditions were, she wouldn’t starve in the team.

She came to conduct ideological work—to persuade Educated Youth Tang to cook. Not to cook for others, but for herself.

Seeing that Educated Youth Tang had started nibbling on the flatbread, Qi Yuzhen gently asked, “Educated Youth Tang, are you trying to save your rations to send them to your family?”

There was a stove and firewood, yet she didn’t cook. She guessed perhaps it was to send the rations home.

Educated Youth Tang seemed to be the one among the five with the most ordinary family background.

Tang Sui denied: “No.”

“Do you really not eat breakfast and dinner at the dormitory?”

“No, I don’t.”

“So it’s because you don’t want to talk too much with others, and to avoid communication, you simply don’t cook?”

“Something like that.”

Qi Yuzhen could understand people like Educated Youth Tang, so she did her best to speak a long paragraph in standard Mandarin. For some content she didn’t know how to say in Mandarin, she mixed in the dialect: “You can’t not eat. Working every day is very tiring. How about this, I’ll take you to see Sister Feifei. Sister Feifei is about the same as you. She also doesn’t like to take the initiative to talk to people. Let’s ask if her family is willing to help you cook. If both sides are fine with it, then agree on a place. Sister Feifei will hand the food to you and leave immediately. She won’t chat with you or pry into your business.”

Sister Feifei was about the same as Educated Youth Tang—able to communicate, but unwilling to do so, not fond of joining the crowd.

Others said Sister Feifei was timid and dull. Qi Yuzhen felt that calling her dull was fine, but being timid might not be true.

Sister Feifei married Brother Taoyuan, who had an extremely outgoing personality. Both families thought Sister Feifei would become more lively and cheerful. That didn’t happen. Sister Feifei became even less willing to talk to people. If something came up, she let her husband handle it.

If she had to face a crowd, she would hide beside or behind her husband and let him do the talking. She wouldn’t say a word.

Qi Yuzhen had a good relationship with Fei Feifei. Qi Taoyuan was her cousin, Fei Feifei was her cousin-in-law, but they were more used to calling her Sister Feifei rather than sister-in-law.

Hearing that no one would chat with her or pry into her business, Tang Sui had no objections.

Qi Yuzhen waited for Educated Youth Tang to finish eating half a piece of flatbread and take a few sips of water: “Are you really just hungry, not for some other reason? If you fainted for another reason, I’ll take you to the barefoot doctor at the commune to see a doctor.”

“It’s because I was hungry and tired. It’s never happened before.” Tang Sui didn’t want to see a doctor.

“Alright. If you don’t feel well in the future, come find me. I’ll go with you to see a doctor. When my younger siblings get sick, they all like me to go with them. They’re afraid to see the doctor alone, but with me there, they’re not so scared.”

“Mm, thank you.”

°.✩┈┈∘*┈˃̶୨୧˂̶┈*∘┈┈✩.°

Author’s Note:

The text only mentions dialects; actual dialectal words will not appear.