Chapter 70: Jiaojiao is spoiled by the rough man

"We will form a team of three, each responsible for this area. Our goal is to harvest all visible rice fields before dusk today. Don't worry about not being able to pile up the harvested rice. Just deliver it to the roadside, and a tractor will come to collect it and take it back to the village. Don't worry about others taking your share, we have someone here to count and record it."

Watching the young man in front of her explaining, Su Wanwan quietly rolled up her sleeves and rolled up her trouser legs. Perhaps because of the limited conditions in the Hundred Flowers Garden, she noticed that the female companions who were working next to her were not wearing special waterproof shoes... This meant that when they stepped into the rice fields, their feet and calves would be soaked by the water below. If they did not wash their feet at night, the moisture would penetrate into their calves and even their bodies.

In addition, during the short time for washing before leaving the accommodation to work, Su Wanwan also discovered the situation of hot water in the residence - although there were two kettles for the villagers to use, they were only limited to daily washing and drinking, and it was a luxury to enjoy the comfort of foot soaking.

The young man in charge of the explanation asked her why she was standing there motionless, "Have you never worked in the fields before?" The people around her had already begun to disperse according to the designated teams, leaving only Su Wanwan and a few others still standing.

It seemed that the team assignment had sparked a debate, and Su Wanwan stood there in bewilderment. The young woman who assigned the task took the initiative to say, "Since you are young people who have been exchanged, you should be in a group with Xiaohong and the others." She also considerately guided the two of them.

Following the direction she pointed, the young man she pointed at had a slightly darker complexion and a thinner figure. Seeing the attention of Su Wanwan and Li Meifen, he smiled honestly, his white teeth were neat and tidy. Su Wanwan acquiesced to this arrangement. Since there was a job assigned here, she should get busy with the task at hand.

And the way Li Meifen walked towards the team seemed to be dissatisfied.

"I feel like you're unhappy, what happened?" she asked softly. Su Wanwan responded, "That's not the case, but it's true that I've never harvested rice, as you said."

Indeed, Li Meifen's intuition was right. But there was no benefit in being a maverick in this big group. So she said, "That's not right. Everyone has a different division of labor. I'm just not the one responsible for harvesting in the team."

The two followed the instructions and came to Xiaohong, and together with her and two other girls, they formed the largest team in this working area.

"Because our team has two extra members, the area we are responsible for is slightly wider." Looking in the direction Xiaohong pointed, several people's eyes fell on the clearly divided rice fields, where their working areas were marked out.

"Here are the sickles for you." As he said that, he distributed the tools to Su Wanwan, Li Meifen and two other young women, and then everyone started to move forward.

"How long will it take to harvest all this rice?" Su Wanwan was not the only one who was unfamiliar with this kind of farm work. Li Meifen was also unfamiliar with this kind of farm work because she came to this production team to settle down temporarily and would return to the city in the future. From childhood to adulthood, she had neither personally experienced such crops nor had a deep understanding of the growth process.

If they had to do this kind of work every day during their stay in Baihua Village, it would be torture. She heard: "Generally speaking, rice harvesting lasts about a week a year. If the weather is good and there is not much rainfall, the work can be completed in a week. But it depends on the weather. If there is a heavy rain, we can only stop temporarily and cannot go to the fields to harvest."

Xiaohong explained and divided the work for each person. Su Wanwan was responsible for a field of work that seemed to have no end, which frightened Li Meifen. This was not a reasonable distribution at all, but more like driving people like animals. Although she had many dissatisfactions in her heart, now that everyone was silent, it would be abrupt to raise questions by herself, so Li Meifen could only suppress her emotions.

Li Meifen, who took over the sickle and was ready to work, was reminded by the young man next to her when she just started swinging it: "Your action will damage the rice plants. The correct way is this..." Then the other party demonstrated the correct posture for cutting rice.

Li Meifen pursed her lips, nodding to show that she understood, but she was reluctant inside. She imitated the girl and started her homework. At the same time, she secretly glanced at Su Wanwan next to her. Noticing that Su Wanwan's movements were also awkward, Li Meifen felt a little comforted.

After hearing the next arrangement: "After all the rice is harvested, we will go to the threshing ground to remove the rice and dry it." Su Wanwan, who was already shocked by the size of the vast rice fields, felt even more desperate after hearing this. However, in order not to reveal her inner emotions, she tried to keep her expression stable. She thought that the young man Li Meifen who came with her for the exchange should have had similar experiences before and could accept it all calmly. However, to her surprise, Li Meifen had just recovered her movements for a while, and suddenly stood up again and spoke in high spirits.

"How is it possible? Harvesting so much rice means endless hard work. We still have to thresh the rice after harvesting. Even if we are to be worthy of the production team's oxen, we shouldn't do this!" Although Li Meifen's voice was not loud, several young women who were working nearby caught her words word by word.

The first to respond to Li Meifen was the dark-skinned Xiaohong, with a crescent-shaped smile on her lips. But when she heard these words, her smile suddenly disappeared, replaced by a look that even Su Wanwan was slightly confused about. There was a half-smile in her eyes, and she stared at Li Meifen directly——

"Comrade Li, everyone in our production team is doing the same, and it is indeed busy in autumn every year. But if we can just hang on during these days, we will be fine." Xiaohong's tone was still calm, just like before.

However, Li Meifen was not moved by these words, and still stubbornly threw the sickle in her hand forward, "How can we bear such a large amount? With so much work, when will it end?"

In fact, after she and other girls were assigned to the production team a year ago, Li Meifen was doing clerical work at this time last year. Even when she helped with the autumn harvest, she was doing easy work in other parts of the village and did not really experience field work. Therefore, for her, the gap between theory and practice was very large, which made her feel a significant gap in her heart.

"Comrade Li, everyone here is working for himself. Every bit of hard work you put in will be reflected in your work points. In the end, you will receive your salary yourself. What are you complaining about?" Looking at Li Meifen's angry look, Xiaohong was silent for a long time, and then her tone suddenly changed. The original subtle smile disappeared, and her face became grim. Her originally dark skin became more eye-catching under this solemnity.

Hearing this, Li Meifen was surprised and her shoulders trembled slightly. Su Wanwan on the other side was also deeply shocked by this sudden word. After all, this was her first time to experience the hard work of farming...

"Forget it, hurry up and work. Otherwise, you won't even have time for dinner. These kids from the city are used to a life of luxury, so it's natural that they don't understand this kind of hardship. You'll get used to it in a few days."