Daily life of female supporting actresses in the 1970s

After moving the vegetables into Jiang Yanqiu's room, Aunt Yang went back, and Jiang Yanqiu went to work with Gu Qingqing.

The sun was setting, it should be past four o'clock. Liu Yuanda and Lin Shaoyang had completed half of the third ridge, and the others were almost finished as well.

Before Zhao Lanlan caught up with Jiang Yanqiu, Jiang Yanqiu was slowly turning over the sweet potato vines and picking a lot of shepherd's purse to cook in the evening.

Everyone left work together before it was time to get off work.

On the way, Gu Qingqing mentioned the matter of drying vegetables, and Lin Shaoyang agreed. They used to pay for dried vegetables, and sometimes they couldn't even buy them.

Instead of returning to the educated youth group, a few of them went to Carpenter Tian's house to ask if he had any vegetables to exchange for them.

Jiang Yanqiu also went with them. She went to see if there were any drying curtains for vegetables and bought a few to dry them.

Their yard was full of mud, so they couldn't lay the vegetables out on the ground to dry. They had to hang them up with ropes or use curtains to dry them.

It is too slow to hang the cut crops with ropes to dry, and they have to be hung full, making it difficult to collect them when it rains.

Use a curtain to dry vegetables. You can cut them however you want. The requirements are not high, and you can just spread them out anywhere.

The curtains here are not made of reed stalks strung together with needle and thread, but tied with hemp rope. You can learn how to make them by watching a few times, but Jiang Yanqiu was too lazy to do it and it was not expensive anyway.

When they went to the Tian family and asked, they found out that they had just picked, cut and dried the eggplants and cucumbers today, so they picked 30 kilograms of beans for them, and they would have to wait a few days to get the rest.

As for the curtain, there are no extra ones. Anyone can make one. There are plenty of reed stalks, so there is no need to make extra ones.

After leaving the Tian family, Zhao Lanlan said to Jiang Yanqiu, "You need a curtain. Go cut some reeds and I can teach you how to make them. It's very simple, and no one would go out of their way to make extra."

Jiang Yanqiu said politely, "Then I'll trouble you, Sister Lan."

Although I don't want to spend time making these things, if I can't buy them, I have no choice but to make them myself.

Today it happened to be Lin Xiaomei's turn to cook, so Zhao Lanlan suggested going with Jiang Yanqiu to cut reed stalks.

Lin Shaoyang was worried that the two girls might encounter danger if they went to the reed marsh alone.

So he said to Liu Yuanda and Wang Haiyang, "Let's go pick up wild duck eggs and keep them company."

Liu Yuanda and Wang Haiyang followed him back since they had nothing to do.

Lin Xiaomei always procrastinates when cooking. Sometimes she would go to the backyard to pick beans and would be so engrossed in chatting with Qiao Lei that she would forget to cook. When it was her turn to cook, she would not have any food to eat until dark.

There are also reed stalks by the river near the village, but the decent reed stalks have already been cut by the villagers.

A few people had to walk further and climb over the mountain to the west after more than an hour's trek.

Jiang Yanqiu was pleasantly surprised to discover a vast reed marsh. At first glance, the golden reeds swaying in the wind and the reed flowers dancing were very beautiful and spectacular.

Lin Shaohua introduced the two newly arrived educated youth, Jiang Yanqiu and the others, saying, "Across this reed marsh are two corps companies. You can sometimes see people here, but it takes three or four hours to get there by the main road.

Don't be fooled by the lush green grass here; in fact, many areas are supported by grass rafts, and there is a lot of water and swamps hidden underneath. You can't cross through it, you have to take a detour."

Wang Haiyang smiled and said, "It's really beautiful here. When the sun sets, the river shimmers, the reeds sway in the wind, and the scenery is picturesque. Unfortunately, this beautiful appearance hides endless dangers."

Wang Haiyang speaks very pleasantly, with a typical bass voice, and he seems to have an ethereal aura about him, which makes him incompatible with ordinary people.

The feeling it gives people is that "the gentleman is unparalleled in the world, and the person on the street is as beautiful as jade."

Jiang Yanqiu also joked, "Reeds are lush and green, white dew turns to frost; the so-called beauty is on the other side of the water. This is exactly where I am. Across the water are young and beautiful boys and girls. We can see their figures and hear their songs, but they are so far away."

Liu Yuanda responded with a smile: "It will be over in winter. By then, everything here will be frozen, and then everyone will come here to cut reed stalks. The soldiers in the Corps will also go back to cut reed stalks. We will cut and send them to the paper mill, and they will cut them for firewood.

In the first two years after I came here, things were quite harmonious. But when the reeds were almost gone, all those "beautiful women" and "beautiful ladies" kept away. If you dare to steal the reeds, I will kill you, you immortal."

He started laughing while talking, and Lin Shaoyang laughed too.

Across the street are endless fields of crops with few trees, so they rely on reed stalks for heating.

The educated youth who went to the countryside to work were jealous of the educated youth in the military corps who received wages, while they could only rely on work points to make a living. In the first two years, they cut reed stalks as much as they could, thinking that the people on the other side would suffer from the cold because they had no reed stalks to burn.

This was indeed the case. At that time, the educated youth were young and energetic, and they were fearless. So the educated youth who went to the countryside to work fought with the educated youth from the military corps.

Jiang Yanqiu asked in disbelief, "We still have to cut reed stalks in winter?"

Why is she different from other time-traveling heroines? The time-traveling heroines all spend the winter leisurely, focusing on studying and reselling supplies to make money every day.

And they still have to cut reed stalks. Isn't it said that the Northeast is busy for half a year and idle for half a year? Where is the promised hibernation?

She was still sighing when Lin Shaoyang gave her another chill: "Cutting reeds is already considered a relatively easy job. You might also go to repair canals, cut trees, open up wasteland, etc., which are no easier than cutting reeds. In short, as long as there is no heavy snow in winter and the roads are not closed, there will be work for you to do."

Jiang Yanqiu secretly sighed in her heart that life was not easy for the common people in that era. The transformation of the Great Northern Wilderness into the Great Northern Granary was all due to everyone's hard work.

Wang Haiyang expressed his doubts: "Don't be ridiculous! We're going to open up wasteland in the middle of winter to build a canal. How can we dig the soil when it's harder than rock?"

Liu Yuanda explained, "The first two years after I arrived, I spent time repairing canals and clearing land. In summer, we couldn't get machines into the waterlogged areas and meadows across the street. Only in winter could we get machines in to build canals and divert water into the river so it was safe to reclaim the land in the spring. If we couldn't dig, we'd use dynamite. Back then, we were all idiots, vying to be advanced workers and model workers. We'd compete in earth-moving and wood-carrying competitions, and even work in the water in the middle of winter. We worked so hard that several of us fell ill in just two years—literally, we fell ill."

Wang Haiyang didn't know how to respond, so he said admiringly, "You were really active back then. You're a role model for us to learn from."

Liu Yuanda smiled bitterly and said, "Stop praising us. I'll regret it. Don't be as foolish as us, working so hard that when you get sick, those free compliments won't cover your medical expenses or fill your stomach. Especially those female educated youth who were injured working in the water. Some of them have been married for several years and still don't have children. Their lives at their in-laws' house have become difficult."

After hearing what he said, several people understood the logic in their hearts, but they did not dare to take up the topic easily for fear of being flattered by someone with ulterior motives.

When they arrived at the reed marsh, Lin Shaoyang and his friends did not go looking for wild duck eggs, but started cutting reed stalks, which they could take back for use.

After cutting for a while, Jiang Yanqiu suddenly heard a fluttering sound nearby, as if something was struggling.

She was so frightened that she said nervously, "Listen, what's that fluttering sound up ahead?"

Lin Shaoyang looked at her nervous expression and teased her, "It must be a blind bear catching wild ducks."

Having said this, he still stopped and looked around.

The others were frightened by him and stopped to listen to the movements around them.

Suddenly, a tall figure appeared not far in front of them, and their legs seemed to be on stilts as they ran past unsteadily.