Reborn in 1966

Chapter Seventy-Four Autumn Harvest

Every day, the production team leader had to arrange what everyone did in the fields. With so much land in the team, the production team leader had to decide what each person did and how much they did each day. It seems that being a good production team leader is not an easy task.

Mother Shen carried the washbasin and took Pei Yin home. She hung Xiao Jingjing's diaper on the clothesline and, seeing that it was getting late, hurried to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Pei Yin went to her second aunt's room to see if her little sister had woken up.

My second uncle's child is already more than ten days old. During the day, he can open his eyes and play a little. When Peiyin went in, Jingjing was awake and looked around with her eyes open, but it was unclear what she saw.

Peiyin knew that children this young couldn't see very far, so she moved closer to Jingjing and said, "I'm your older sister, I'm your older sister. Jingjing, grow up quickly, and I'll take you to the river to wash clothes."

Second Aunt sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) and said with a smile, "Peiyin is really like an older sister. Come and tell your second aunt, how many clothes did you and your mother wash by the river today?"

Pei Yin held up her fingers and said, "There are several pieces. I washed them very clean. When Jingjing grows up, I will teach her how to wash clothes so that she can be an obedient and good child like me."

Tian Lingling was amused by Pei Yin's self-praise and kept laughing, saying, "You child, how can you be so funny? How can you praise yourself like that?"

Pei-Yin said, "If I don't even think I'm a good child, who would think I'm a good child? Mom, do you think I'm a good child?" Pei-Yin asked Shen's mother, who had just entered the room.

Shen's mother said, "You are a good child. Among all the children in our family, you are the best and the most obedient."

Pei Yin nodded and said, "See? Even my mother said so." Shen's mother and her sister-in-law Tian Lingling both laughed heartily.

That night, as they were going to bed, Shen's mother told Shen's father about meeting Zhou Qian by the river during the day. Shen's father said, "Everyone knows about this, but the village also has its own difficulties. If you take care of this one, what about that one who has a different reason? Are you going to take care of them or not? Besides, these educated youth came here to earn their own living. The village really has no obligation to do anything more."

Shen's mother said, "Look at such a young child, he can't even take care of himself, so he has to work to earn his own food."

Father Shen sighed and said, "That's the directive from above. What can we do? Secretary Tian has already done enough. In all the villages in our commune with educated youth, none are like our village, with separate dormitories and kitchens. The village has provided all the kitchen utensils. Take Sister Qiong's village for example; they only gave her two thatched huts. Luckily, the educated youth from her village are all male. They don't even have a place to cook; they have to share meals with the villagers. The villagers have complaints about this, and the educated youth have complaints too. They've even taken it to the commune, but the village just won't back down, saying they're in a difficult situation. What can you do?"

Shen's mother said, "Can't they just stay in the city? They've come all this way to the countryside. They're not used to doing this since they were little. How can they handle having to work in the fields all of a sudden? Zhou Qian's small frame makes me worry."

Shen's father said, "Things will be better after the autumn harvest. With Qi Xiangnan leading the group of educated youth, I don't think they'll go hungry. I heard from Secretary Tian that when the village organizes people to go out for labor, these educated youth will also go. They can earn more money and food then, although it will definitely be tiring."

Seeing that Mrs. Shen was still thinking, Mr. Shen said, "Stop thinking about it and go to sleep. Every generation has its own mission and its own experiences. None of us can help anyone else."

Father Shen blew out the extinguisher, and in the darkness, Mother Shen let out a long sigh…

Harvesting corn is a very painful form of fieldwork.

The leaves of the corn stalks are no longer green and tender; they are half-dry and half-wet. If you pull them on your body, they will leave a red mark. Even if you wear thick clothes, the sweat will soak through them in no time. Therefore, picking corn during the autumn harvest is the most difficult work, but it is also the job with the highest centimeter.

Qi Xiangnan and Li Lei were assigned to pick corn. It was their first time doing such farm work. Although they had prepared themselves mentally, they still had to rely on sheer willpower to get to work.

The corn cobs were broken off one by one from the corn stalks, piled up, put into sacks, carried to the edge of the field, and then pulled back to the team's threshing ground by oxcart.

There were people in the team who specialized in husking corn, removing the corn from its husks, and throwing the corn cobs out to dry in the threshing ground. Once they were dry, they would peel the kernels off the cobs so that the kernels could be sent to the grain depot.

Qi Xiangnan, wearing a black coarse cotton shirt and white woolen gloves, walked nimbly along a corn row. Soon, a large pile of corn cobs would appear behind him. Li Lei next to him was not slow either. The two of them were neck and neck. Although they could not compare with the village's farming experts, they were still comparable to the village's young men.

When they arrived at the field, they squatted down on the edge of the field to rest. Li Lei took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out and offered it to Qi Xiangnan. Qi Xiangnan waved his hand and said, "I don't smoke, and you should smoke less too."

Li Lei lit a cigarette, put it in his mouth, took a deep drag, and said, "I'm so tired, I need to relax."

Qi Xiangnan said, "I think we can finish harvesting this whole field of corn in another two days, and then we can finally take a good rest."

Looking at the endless cornfield, Li Lei would occasionally see people picking corn among the upright corn stalks, and sometimes he could hear people shouting from a great distance.

Li Lei turned to Qi Xiangnan and said, "Do you think we have to stay here for the rest of our lives?"

Qi Xiangnan said, "Who knows? But it's not bad here. At least we can eat as long as we work."

Li Lei said, "Is this kind of life meaningful?"

Qi Xiangnan said, "I don't know, Li Lei. Don't overthink it. Just get back to work." He then stood up and continued working along the row of corn.

Looking somewhat lost, Li Lei glanced at Qi Xiangnan, who had already walked quite far away. Thinking of the meager amount of food that the educated youth had, he gritted his teeth and followed him into the cornfield.

Peihua, having turned eighteen, went to work with the adults. This time, he was also picking corn in the cornfield. After a day's work, he returned home, washed his face with the water his younger sister, Peiyin, had prepared, and then lay down on the single bed in his and Peijun's room, unwilling to move.

Seeing her older brother's appearance, Pei Yin knew he was exhausted. Clutching a piece of candy she had secretly saved, she quietly slipped into her brother's room.

This room was connected to the side room of Shen's father and mother. It was a separate room, not very big, with two single beds. By the window, there was a table between the two single beds. The room was very clean. There was a copy of Mao Zedong's Selected Works on the table. There was a glass bottle on the windowsill with wildflowers that are common in the fields.

Pei Yin entered the house, but Pei Hua didn't notice and still had his eyes closed. Pei Yin went up to him and gently tugged at his hand. Pei Hua opened his eyes and saw that it was his little sister, so he quickly sat up.

Pei Yin said mysteriously to Pei Hua, "Big brother, I have something delicious to give you, but don't let anyone else know." After saying that, Zhuan Tou looked at the door and saw that no one was there. He quickly put the candy in his hand into Pei Hua's hand and said, "Hide it well. You eat it yourself and don't give it to anyone else."

Peihua looked at the candy in his palm. The wrapper was already torn, indicating that it had been stored for a long time and had been handled frequently. He said with some emotion, "Big brother is an adult now, let's save it for Peiyin."

Pei Yin quickly tucked Pei Hua's hand away and said, "Hey, big brother, here you go, take this and find a place where no one is watching to eat it secretly." Then she ran out.

Pei Hua watched Pei Yin's small figure run out the door, feeling a sweet warmth in his heart, but also a touch of bitterness. When he was little, his whole family was still in the capital, and such candies were nothing special. His younger siblings had never tasted anything delicious, and when they had something good to eat, they would think of him, their older brother. Now that he was older, he had to earn more money to buy delicious food for his younger siblings.

Grandma, at her advanced age, went to the threshing ground to peel corn, and the children in the family followed her to help. Even Pei-yin, holding a small stool, sat next to Grandma and peeled corn in a very professional manner.

The grandmothers brought their children, who couldn't go to the fields to help, to the threshing ground to help husk corn. The girls were fine; they could follow the adults and work properly. But the boys couldn't sit still; they would run around after working for a while.

Grandma Shen took Peitian, Peizhi, and Peiyin with her. Peitian had been working for a while and then ran off and disappeared. Peizhi had been working for a while and then told her grandma that she was going to go play with her friends. Anyway, everyone was doing the corn husking together, and no one was assigned to any particular task. The grandmas all doted on their grandchildren, so they let the children run around and play in the yard.

The children got into a fight while playing, and soon Peizhi came running over in a panic and said to her grandmother, "Grandma, my third brother is fighting with someone, you should go and see."

When Grandma heard this, she was really worried. She knew her grandson well; he wasn't the type to cause trouble. Last time, he only started a fight because Tian Xiaomin spoke ill of their family, and he got a good beating from his father afterwards. It had only been a few days, and she probably wouldn't have fought back if she hadn't been so desperate.

Pei Yin watched her grandmother hobble after Pei Zhi, and she followed behind her grandmother, running to see what was wrong with her third brother. She knew that her family's class background was bad, and if they caused any more trouble, her father would suffer.

Next to the threshing ground was a small grove of trees, planted with rows of small white poplars. At this time, the grove became the domain of a group of mischievous children. The poplars were already as thick as bowls and looked quite impressive.

A group of children were gathered around, and from a distance, one of them could be heard shouting, "You shameless bastard, are you going to cause trouble again? Are you going to cause trouble again?"

Grandma was anxious. She was afraid that the one who got beaten was her grandson, and even more afraid that the one who hit him was her grandson. Her heart felt like it had been doused with boiling oil. After the sizzling sound, she didn't know how much it hurt.