“Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao!” Ye Qiu found Zhao Yuanchao, who was busy working. “The brigade leader told you to arrange a few people for me.”
“Arrange a few people for what?” Zhao Yuanchao put down his hoe and scratched his head in confusion.
Ye Qiu repeated the words she had just said to Zhao Ze.
“That’s how it is. The leader asked me to find you to assign some people so we can run some experiments.”
Zhao Yuanchao looked at Ye Qiu with a completely new perspective and said admiringly, “As expected of someone who has studied, your brain really is more flexible than ours.”
“Brother Zhao, you flatter me.” After humbly responding, Ye Qiu stood on tiptoe, peering around. “Then how many people will you arrange for me? And where will we be experimenting?”
“Shuanzi, Tieniu, Guanzhu, Jiang Yi, Aijun, come over here.”
Zhao Yuanchao shouted at the top of his lungs, and the people who heard him walked toward him.
Jiang Yi?
It must be said that this formal-sounding name was particularly abrupt among the series of other names, and this name had appeared with high frequency in her ears; she always felt like there was a story waiting to happen.
Ye Qiu let her thoughts wander for a moment.
In less than half a minute, the people called over had arrived—a group of young, strong, able-bodied men.
Especially the youth walking at the very back, unhurried and steady. As he stepped closer, Ye Qiu’s eyes lit up. There was someone with such high aesthetic value in the Qingshan Brigade?
The youth looked to be seventeen or eighteen, not yet fully grown. His clothes were covered in patches, but that couldn’t hide his handsomeness. His face still held a hint of youthful naivety, his skin was slightly reddened by the sun, and his pupils were a lighter color, brimming with a calmness that didn’t match his age. His nose bridge was high and straight.
“Ding—detected the existence of harvestable alien energy in the host’s vicinity. Please harvest as soon as possible.”
Hmm?
Was the frequency at which this alien energy was detected getting too high? She had discovered Zhao Lan a few days ago but hadn’t managed to harvest it, and now another one appeared today.
After a brief thought, Ye Qiu couldn’t find a reason, so she decided to find 02314 later to ask clearly, then cast the system’s prompt to the back of her mind.
Zhao Yuanchao introduced each of these young men to Ye Qiu one by one.
Since the alien energy detected by the system was on Jiang Yi, Ye Qiu couldn’t help but look at him a few more times. After all, beautiful people were rare, and even without the system’s prompt, she would have wanted to steal a few more glances.
“Team leader, what do you want us to do?”
“I’ve been working hard; I haven’t slacked off at all. You’re not allowed to deduct my work points.”
“I can testify. Shuanzi has been working very carefully.”
The young men were chattering, stealing glances at Ye Qiu whenever they thought they were being discreet.
They had only seen the two male educated youths they worked with and had never seen the new female educated youths. She really was beautiful.
Her skin was white, her eyes were big, and her lips were red—much prettier than the girls in the village.
Zhao Yuanchao knocked Zhao Aijun, who had been talking the most, on the head. “Talk less. It was arranged by the brigade leader. Call you all to follow Educated Youth Ye and experiment with the scientific weeding method she proposed.”
“What thing?”
“Scientific weeding?”
“Isn’t weeding just pulling them out directly, or digging them with a hoe? Why are we suddenly talking about science?”
The young men exploded into a clamor.
Zhao Yuanchao frowned impatiently and warned them, “Don’t you dare cause trouble. Listen carefully to Educated Youth Ye’s arrangements. The brigade leader will be inspecting, so just wait to be punished if anyone is caught slacking off or disobedient.”
After giving a few instructions, Zhao Yuanchao handed them over to Ye Qiu, leaving her in charge of the arrangements.
After Zhao Yuanchao left, the remaining young men stared at one another, completely at a loss for what to do.
“I just arrived and am not familiar with the Qingshan Brigade. The place Captain Zhao mentioned—lead the way for me now.”
The young men exchanged glances, pushing one another, until they selected a spokesperson.
“So, Educated Youth Ye, will you come with us?” Zhao Aijun tentatively led the way.
Ye Qiu hurriedly followed.
Along the way, except for Jiang Yi, who was walking quietly, the others couldn’t stop fidgeting and had no shortage of small actions.
Ye Qiu knew that if she didn’t explain things clearly, they wouldn’t dare not to work because of the brigade leader’s orders.
But there was a huge difference between working diligently and just fooling around. Therefore, Ye Qiu spent the whole way explaining the feasibility and importance of these methods.
Zhao Aijun realized suddenly, “No wonder my eldest brother often says to read more books! It turns out books even teach people how to weed! That’s truly useful.”
Zhao Aijun was Zhao Yuanchao’s younger brother. Although neither of them had a talent for studying and barely finished primary school before stopping, Zhao Yuanchao respected knowledge and sincerely admired smart people. Coupled with a sharp mind and strong execution, Zhao Ze promoted him to scorekeeper after becoming brigade leader. He also had to arrange groupings and distribute farm tools, holding a status that wasn’t low in the village.
Ye Qiu explained with a smile, “It’s not just that. Books also teach people how to farm and how to fertilize… The tractors, cars, and airplanes our country has now were all built by scientists who read a lot and had knowledge. If you read more, even if you can’t get into university, you can still become a teacher. There are always more choices than not reading.”
Hearing her say this, Zhao Aijun and the others started looking up at the sky and down at the ground again.
Was it that they didn’t want to read more? It was that they didn’t recognize the words in the books, and the words in the books didn’t recognize them!
Jiang Yi, on the other hand, looked up at her.
After walking for a while, the group arrived at the assigned experimental plot.
“What should we do?”
After hearing Ye Qiu’s words about “scientific weeding,” Zhao Aijun and the others felt a sense of strangeness when they picked up their hoes. They didn’t know where to place their hands and were timid when standing in the field.
Ye Qiu thought for a moment. “First, divide it into three equal plots. One plot for digging a buffer zone, one for placing the chickens and ducks, and the rest to cover with straw.”
Next, she subdivided the work for everyone.
Knowing what they needed to do, the young men moved rapidly. Some went to fetch straw, others went back to catch the chickens and ducks, leaving only Jiang Yi and Ye Qiu in the field.
Jiang Yi held his hoe, silently following Ye Qiu’s direction to dig the buffer zone.
“Widen it here; about sixty centimeters should be enough.” Ye Qiu stood in the field, gesturing. “Follow this length for the rest.”
Jiang Yi nodded and began digging the land according to her request. Just like that, one directed from the front, and one dug from the back; the two cooperated quite tacitly.
Jiang Yi didn’t slack off in the slightest, sweating as he dug the pit.
Looking at the beads of sweat constantly sliding down his forehead, Ye Qiu called out, “Jiang Yi, come over and take a rest.”
Hearing her invitation to rest, Jiang Yi stopped what he was doing, walked to a spot one meter away from Ye Qiu, said thank you, and sat down to rest.
Although she was only responsible for moving her mouth, Ye Qiu still felt as if her throat was burning after standing in the sun for so long, so she hurriedly took a sip of water.
After drinking, as she turned to put down her cup, she noticed Jiang Yi sitting upright. She asked curiously, “Aren’t you thirsty?”
Hearing the question, Jiang Yi pursed his dry, cracked lips and shook his head. “I forgot to bring water.”