Eating melons

When the people in the brigade heard this, they not only thought Jiang Qi and Wei Wei were spendthrifts, but also thought they were exaggerating! How could anyone earn more than ten work points a day by rubbing corn, especially if they were educated youth? Their hands would be bald from rubbing corn.

But now it seems that those people were not exaggerating at all. With the sound of rustling, the corn kernels fell off, and one corn kernel fell off at a time. They could really earn more than ten work points a day. But it was just a waste of shoes. It was a waste to use such good shoes to rub corn.

"Wei Zhiqing, Jiang Zhiqing, you're using these nice shoes to rub corn?"

Nowadays, anyone who has a pair of Liberation shoes would want to wipe them three times a day and would not even dare to step in a small puddle. Yet, they actually use them to rub corn.

"Yeah! Wei Zhiqing, Jiang Zhiqing, you're wasting your shoes like that! These Liberation shoes are so expensive! And they're hard to buy. The key is, even if you have money, you might not be able to buy them."

"Indeed."

It really hurts to see them ruining their shoes like this.

Jiang Qi also didn't want the people in the team to always think that the two of them were such spendthrifts, nor did she want people to think that the two of them had too much money to burn.

Jiang Qi: "The side you use to rub corn is actually the sole of your shoe. It's made of beef tendon, so it's very strong. It won't rot even after being worn for over a decade. Even if the upper rots, the sole won't. So there's absolutely no problem using it to rub corn kernels, and it won't waste them. The slight loss from rubbing the corn kernels will at most extend the shoe's lifespan from ten years to nine."

Of course, Jiang Qi was talking nonsense. Not to mention that she didn't know whether these were good products produced in the 1970s, it was also unknown whether the soles could be used for so many years. And rubbing the corn would definitely cause considerable damage to the soles.

But since they are both not taxed, who would know? Even if they are torn, it doesn't matter, as long as they are not torn in front of everyone. There are plenty of Wei Weis anyway, so she can just buy a pair of exactly the same ones and change into them.

"is it?"

They have never bought it, worn it, or known about it.

Jiang Qi: “Yes.”

“But it still hurts to see it this way.”

"Yes, yes."

She was at a loss for words. After all, Liberation Shoes were indeed a rare item nowadays, so it was normal for them to cherish them.

The two of them had almost finished rubbing the corn in a basket, and people who were going to work came one after another, but Liu Aiying did not come today.

"Jiang Zhiqing, Wei Zhiqing, you're here so early! You're almost done with this basket!"

Jiang Qi: "I woke up this morning and couldn't fall asleep, so I just got up. I had breakfast and didn't have anything to do at home, so I just came here early."

Liu Jiaojiao had no doubts when she heard Jiang Qi's words. "So you got up early! I was wondering why you were gone so early in the morning! But why didn't I see Aunt Liu today?"

The woman next to her laughed when she heard this, then said sarcastically, "She's gone to harvest soybeans. It's autumn harvest time now, and all the laborers are in the fields!"

Liu Jiaojiao was confused when she heard this. Not only Liu Jiaojiao, but also Wei Wei, Jiang Qi and Wu Mei were confused.

Liu Jiaojiao: "Isn't the autumn harvest over?"

"What? The autumn harvest is over? It's still early! But it will be soon, about ten days or half a month."

Liu Jiaojiao: "I thought we were rubbing the corn here because the autumn harvest was over!"

"That's because they're worried that you're just occupying the toilet without doing anything. Look at the little work you're doing with your farm tools. You might as well give them up and let the laborers do it! What a waste of time."

Everyone felt a little embarrassed when they heard this.

"Look, here we are, a group of old ladies rubbing corn. Apart from the four of you, there is no labor force. All the labor force is harvesting in the fields!"

Wei Wei/Jiang Qi os: But you haven't reached the stage of an old lady yet! And you are full of energy.

"Young people nowadays are just bad at nothing and just slack off all the time."

"Yes, yes."

Wei Wei/Jiang Qi os: We young people have provoked you.

After hearing these words, Liu Jiaojiao said nothing and sat down with Wu Mei to continue rubbing the corn.

But the lady next to her couldn't stop anymore.

"You new educated youth are the worst batch yet. It's been months, and none of you have achieved full work points. The most you get every day is seven or eight centimeters, and you often slack off."

"It's understandable that you girls can't get full work points, but those three guys are the same way, they only get seven or eight work points every day. In previous years, not all educated youth got full work points, but during the autumn harvest, there were quite a few who got ten work points, and even quite a few who got more than ten."

This is true. Except for Wu Mei, all the educated youth in this group are not short of money.

But for Wu Mei, it is better to find a way to earn more money from Liu Jiaojiao and Yu Xi than to work hard in the fields.

But it was all done secretly. For example, Yu Xi and Liu Jiaojiao provided the food and processing fees, and she took care of the cooking and washing dishes.

Occasionally, I would wash clothes for Liu Jiaojiao, but Liu Jiaojiao would pay me, and all these were done secretly.

For Wu Mei, earning money from Liu Jiaojiao and Yu Xi was more profitable than working in the fields. Although she worked very hard in the fields, she would go home early every day to cook.

Liu Jiaojiao, Wei Wei and Jiang Qi are the three who are slacking off.

The female educated youth were not very active in their work, and the same was true for the male educated youth.

The first one to take the lead was Xiao Xuemu, who had the least work points among the three male educated youth, because he didn't want to work hard during the day and then work in the space at night, which would exhaust him to death.

So I have to hold back when working during the day, and only work seriously in the space at night.

The second is Li Zhibin. Li Zhibin is completely imitating Xiao Xuemu. Every day he thinks about how to go to the county town to make money next time. As for working in the fields to earn work points, he is satisfied as long as the centimeters are acceptable.

Yu Xi was not short of money either. He just wanted his work points to be at least at the top among the male educated youth. It just so happened that he met two slackers, so he became rich too!

So this group of educated youth were indeed the least active in their work.

Although this is the fact, it does not mean that they can tolerate being ridiculed in front of others in such a blatant manner, and it is obvious that this lady has bad intentions.

Jiang Qi: "Auntie, how many work points are required? I earned twelve work points yesterday! I wonder how far I am from the full mark."

Wei Wei: "Yes! Yes! Auntie, you are so capable. When you were young, you must have always earned full work points!"

The nitpicking lady was choked by these words, and the people around her burst into laughter.

"Old lady Zhou, please stop bragging! Even with full work points, you're not much better than these educated youth. Now you can't even compare to them."

Old Lady Zhou: "You can beat me."

After saying that, he glared at Jiang Qi and Wei Wei.

Jiang Qi/Wei Wei os: I can’t afford to play this game, and I got angry even though I couldn’t win the argument.

"We can't compare, but we still make more than you. We can earn eight work points a day! How about you? How many can you earn? Did you earn five yesterday?"

Mrs. Zhou: "My son told me not to work too hard. He has a salary and can support me."

"Tsk, stop bragging. Everyone knows that your son's salary is in the hands of your daughter-in-law."

Mrs. Zhou: "So what? My son and daughter-in-law are filial to me."

"Tsk, if I'm being filial to you, why don't I take you to town?"

"Isn't that because there's too much room in the town?"

"Just blow it."

Upon hearing this, Wei Wei and Jiang Qi's ears pricked up. Not only them, but Liu Jiaojiao and Wu Mei did the same.

But they stopped talking about this. Halfway through eating the melon, they all felt very itchy.

Finally, Jiang Qi couldn't help it and secretly asked the lady next to him, "Auntie, what's going on? Why does no one seem to believe what she said?"

"This old woman Zhou had three sons. She loved her eldest and youngest sons very much. Unexpectedly, the most promising one was her second son. He was a worker in the town. Unexpectedly, this damn old woman wanted to take the job of the second son and give it to the eldest son. The second son disagreed and ran away to the town with his whole family.

Later, they wanted Zhou Laoer's salary, but Zhou Laoer's wife was no pushover, so she naturally wouldn't give it to them. They had been bullied in the Zhou family before, and they had nowhere else to go. Now that they were out, she naturally couldn't control them. Apart from giving them five yuan a month as pension, she never paid any attention to them. That five yuan was what Old Lady Zhou herself had to go to town to get every month!

Wei Wei felt that Aunt Zhou was not someone who would let this go so easily, and there must be a follow-up to this matter.