Reborn in 1966

Chapter Sixty-One Educated Youth

The ten educated youth assigned to Shenjia Village consisted of six men and four women. The male educated youth lived in an empty house in the brigade headquarters, while the four female educated youth lived in the teachers' dormitory at the school. In their eyes, the conditions were somewhat harsh, but compared to the rest of the county, they were quite good conditions.

Party Secretary Tian said, "These teenagers have left their hometowns and their parents. Some of them don't even know how to cook. Look at our own children. If we don't treat them better, we'll feel really bad."

A small kitchen was specially set up for them to eat in. The grain they eat is now distributed uniformly by the commune. After the autumn harvest, they will have to share it with the other villagers. When they came, they were doing so with the slogan of taking root in the countryside and building a new socialist society.

Pei Yin felt deep sympathy for these people's plight, but seeing their burning enthusiasm, she sighed deeply. These children, unaware of the consequences, were here to suffer. Although their older brothers couldn't go to school, get jobs, or join the army because of their father's class background, they gritted their teeth and stayed in the countryside with their parents for a few years. As long as they had some strength and could earn work points, they wouldn't have to worry about food and drink. Look at the situation in Shenjia Village now. Secretary Tian is a pragmatic person and doesn't care much about those empty words. The villagers of Shenjia Village also know to work hard in the fields. At the end of the year, they receive more grain than those villages that only know how to hold this criticism meeting or that mass rally. They live a more practical life. Therefore, Shenjia Village can only get better and better in the next few years. With Shen's parents here to urge them on, they will still have a bright future when the college entrance examination is reinstated. What about these educated youths who are rooted in the countryside?

Because of the movement, they had very little actual time to study in school. Although they graduated from high school and junior high, teachers were often criticized and denounced by students. If a teacher was too strict, the students would put up big-character posters criticizing the teacher, and some teachers were even denounced to death. In such an environment, the knowledge these people acquired was very limited, and after the resumption of the college entrance examination, very few were able to pass that single-plank bridge. In Pei Yin's view, their worst sin was leaving their parents and relatives at such a young age to participate in agricultural labor in such a distant place. Many of them hadn't even fully developed their bodies before having to do such heavy farm work. Shenjia Village was considered relatively better off; look at those educated youth who wrote memoirs—many even suffered lifelong injuries.

When these educated youth first arrived, the commune was still able to distribute grain to them. But later, they would have to eat as much as they earned, just like the villagers. These kids, mostly eighteen or nineteen and as young as fourteen or fifteen, all came from the city. Could you expect them to be as capable as the children of farmers who grew up in the countryside and did all kinds of farm work? Could you expect them to earn as many work points as the village's teenage children? Could you expect them to be able to cultivate the crops and do farm work well? Could you expect them to be self-sufficient like the farmers?

Let's not talk about anything else for now. Just let's talk about cooking with a large stove in the countryside. Can they cook very skillfully?

As Pei-Yin was thinking about these things, Shen's mother came home from school for dinner.

Seeing her children on the table, Shen's mother said, "If we were still in Beijing, Peihua and Peijun would probably have to go to the countryside to work. It's good that they're here. At least I don't have to worry about them not having a hot meal."

Peihua said, "Mom, why are you feeling this way?"

Shen's mother said, "The educated youth's kitchen was just a shed set up next to the school dormitory wall. Last night, a few of them ate a half-cooked meal."

Peijun said, "It's just starting a fire, don't they know how?"

Shen's mother said, "You two learned to do it from a young age, while they have to start doing it right away. How can it be the same? I heard from Teacher Chen that they couldn't cook properly last night, so they asked her for help."

Pei Jun said, "Once you learn it, that's enough. I heard them say they want to settle down in the countryside. How can they settle down if they can't even cook?"

Shen's mother said, "Are roots so easy to take hold? When you arrive in a new environment, there is an adaptation process. Only slowly can you know whether this land is suitable for you to take root. Trees and flowers will die if they are not suitable for this soil. What about people? If this soil is not suitable for you to take root, will you still continue to take root? Sigh, they are all children. How can they say that this will be their roots all of a sudden?"

Pei-Tian said, "But that's what everyone says, and I even see slogans like that on the walls of our school."

Mr. Shen said, "Alright, everyone, let's eat quickly. After you finish eating, go do whatever you need to do."

After dinner, Mr. Shen said to Mrs. Shen, "Yueran, don't say these things to the child in the future. 'Rooting ourselves in the countryside' is a slogan of the central government. If we say these things, it will cause trouble if someone with ulterior motives hears it."

Mrs. Shen said apologetically, "I understand, I will definitely be more careful in the future."

In the following days, the villagers talked most about the educated youth. It was their first time living in the countryside, everything was new and they didn't know how to do anything. Some of them were conscientious and observed how others did things before humbly asking for advice. Gradually, they learned how to do things. Others, however, didn't care about anything and shirked their duties. They weren't ashamed when the villagers pointed fingers at them. It was obvious that they were just there to coast along.

These educated youths didn't all come from the same place, and gradually a leader emerged. Pei Yin had met this person before. She heard that he was from the provincial capital, was eighteen years old, and had graduated from high school. She didn't know exactly what his family did for a living, but he was the only one from his area. In a very short time, he became a leader, which showed his remarkable abilities.

This man was named Qi Xiangnan. He was nearly 1.8 meters tall, with thick black eyebrows, narrow phoenix eyes, a straight nose, and tightly pursed lips. In Pei Yin's opinion, he had the potential to be an idol drama actor. The young women and wives in the village would often glance at him.

Qi Xiangnan was a very hard worker. He followed the experienced farmers in the village. At first, he was far behind, but gradually he was able to keep up with them. He did a very good job, and the young men in the village liked to work with him. He knew a lot about the outside world, and listening to him talk was a very pleasant thing.

Pei Yin felt that he possessed a leadership quality, which was not only innate but also formed later in certain specific environments. The principle of being influenced by one's surroundings is actually very correct. Just like someone who doesn't like reading, if you put them in an environment filled with the fragrance of books and the people around you are all book lovers, over time they will also find a world they love in books. Of course, Qi Xiangnan's spirit of striving for excellence, not wanting to lag behind others, and daring to fight is not something that ordinary people can possess.

Peihua and Peijun also liked this young man who wasn't much older than them. Qi Xiangnan didn't look down on the two brothers because of the Shen family's class background, unlike some educated youth who, knowing the Shen family's bad class background, wouldn't even acknowledge the two brothers when they met them, and would barely respond when asked to speak.

These past few days, during meals, Peihua and Peijun have been talking about Qi Xiangnan the most. They say he's a quick and friendly worker, that he knows a lot, and that his way of speaking makes people feel comfortable. After hearing this so many times, Grandma said to the two brothers, "Peihua and Peijun, if you think he's a good person, then get along with him well. It's very good to have a close friend."

Peijun said, "Grandma, I think it's great too. Brother Qi didn't look down on us, so we think it's great."

Shen's father felt a pang of sadness upon hearing this. Because of their family background, few of his two children in the village could play with them. His family was very careful about these things. Although the villagers took good care of his family, they still had to be mindful of their own behavior. Many children in the village who were about the same age as Peijun were still in school, while he had to go to the production team to earn work points. In his opinion, the children in the village who were earning work points with him sometimes couldn't connect with him. This wasn't because Shen Peijun looked down on them, but because people's levels of knowledge were different. People also yearn to have someone who resonates with them intellectually to talk about topics that they find interesting. These are human desires.

When they returned to Shenjia Village, Peihua had already grown up. Over the past ten years, this boy, who should have been a fine young man, looked no different from the other young men in the village who worked in the fields. Peihua and his mother had always paid great attention to cultivating their child's knowledge and character. Knowledge is something that needs to be learned and stored in one's mind; it is the nourishment of the spirit. Without the nourishment of knowledge, one's mind will be barren, and one's view of issues will be biased. The reason why the two children felt that Qi Xiangnan could talk to them was because Qi Xiangnan had accumulated a certain amount of knowledge. Although they were young, they already had the perspective of adults when it came to issues. So, it was a good thing to have someone they could talk to.

The village secretary of the educated youth group has been asking for a leader to be found. With this person, there will be someone to take charge if anything happens, whether it's disciplining the educated youth or managing daily affairs. It will be a way to have someone in charge.

With his drive and charisma, Qi Xiangnan rightfully became the leader of the educated youth. Afterwards, Qi Xiangnan held a meeting with everyone to discuss some of the situations that had arisen in the educated youth group in the past few days. The most important issue was the daily cooking problem. They looked at the grain allocated to each person and calculated how much grain they would receive in a few days. If they didn't come up with a plan soon, they probably wouldn't have anything to eat before the New Year.

After sharing their concerns with everyone, these people, who had been full of ambition when they first arrived, fell into deep thought. Thinking about the backbreaking farm work that made people unable to straighten their backs, they had a deeper understanding of their idea of ​​coming to the countryside to work and settle down.