Seeing their curious expressions, Yuan Chao kindly warned, “That is the house of a poverty-stricken household in the brigade. Don’t go over there if you have nothing to do.”
Qu Tong seemed to have thought of something and kept nagging, “Why can’t we go over? Aren’t they all people in the brigade?”
“Although Qingshan Brigade is poor, most families can still get by. But the family you just saw is different; they are truly a household living in extreme poverty,” Yuan Chao explained patiently.
“The parents of the Jiang family passed away early, leaving only Grandma Jiang and four children. In a family of five, there is only one strong laborer, Jiang Yi. Even with relief from the village, logically speaking, they shouldn’t be able to support so many people. Yet, aside from being poorly fed and clothed, all three children have been raised.”
“The most peculiar thing is that two years ago, their grandmother fell ill. The village’s barefoot doctor said there was nothing to be done, but Jiang Yi sent her to the city hospital and managed to save her.”
Su Qing scratched his head, puzzled: “Saving a person is a good thing, that’s not a problem, is it?”
Yuan Chao glanced at him and said meaningfully: “They are a poverty-stricken family. Back when Jiang Yi was still young, they relied on help from the villagers. Where would he get the money to send the old woman to a city hospital?”
“Speculation and profiteering.”
The term appeared in all four of their minds simultaneously.
In this era, it was fine if you weren’t caught, but once caught for speculation and profiteering, you would be sent off for labor reform!
Hu Kang was stunned: “Then… isn’t that speculation and profiteering? Does no one care?”
Yuan Chao spread his hands: “How to care? Who would care? Although some people in the brigade say so, no one has actually caught any evidence. Besides, everyone is in the same brigade. It is better to forgive others when possible; everyone just turns a blind eye and lets it pass.”
Ye Qiu pondered this; it was true. Since no one had gathered evidence, the rumors were just rumors. Villagers might stay away from the Jiang family for fear of getting involved, but to say they would send someone to prison over it? That was truly going too far.
Judging from this incident, Qingshan Brigade was exactly as her parents had described: the atmosphere in the village was quite good. She let her thoughts wander for a moment before putting the matter behind her.
Qu Tong, however, hung her head and remained silent after hearing Yuan Chao’s explanation, as if she were lost in thought.
“We’re here.”
As they reached the entrance of the village committee, Ye Qiu turned and noticed Qu Tong still in that dazed state, so she gave her a light tug.
“Oh, okay.”
Seeing she had snapped out of it, Ye Qiu didn’t press her further and naturally turned back to inspect the Qingshan Brigade’s village committee office.
It was clear that Qingshan Brigade was not wealthy; both rooms of the committee office were built with mud walls. However, they were well-maintained, the courtyard was clean, and a tall pear tree planted at the entrance added a touch of vitality to the small yard.
Yuan Chao led them into the office and called out loudly: “Captain, Captain, I’ve brought the new educated youths over.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a young man in his twenties walked out of the office and replied: “Alright, thanks for bringing them over.”
Yuan Chao scratched his head: “Then Captain, you can arrange the rest. I’m going to work.”
The young man waved his hand: “Go ahead, leave the rest to me.”
After handing them over, Yuan Chao turned and left the office, leaving the four educated youths staring at each other.
Su Qing winked at Ye Qiu.
Can this be right? Is this the captain of Qingshan Brigade? He’s so young?
Although his demeanor was steady, he looked to be no older than thirty—probably only a little older than the few of them. Letting such a young person be the captain, was Qingshan Brigade really okay?
Seeing the new educated youths winking at each other, Zhao Ze sighed helplessly: “Stop standing at the door and come in.”
Without waiting for their reaction, he walked straight back into the room.
He was used to the shock of others. After all, people nowadays believed that “if you don’t have hair on your face, you can’t handle affairs properly.” He was only in his twenties; compared to other brigade captains, he was significantly younger.
“You guys are lucky; you didn’t arrive during the busy farming season, so you have time to adapt. How about I arrange some simple work for you to do for the next few days?” Zhao Ze asked for their opinions.
The four of them nodded repeatedly, thanking the captain for his consideration.
Zhao Ze stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said: “Can you manage digging pits and moving dirt?”
The new educated youths shook their heads.
“But the job of carrying water to irrigate the fields is too heavy; you probably can’t do it either,” after some deliberation, Zhao Ze made a final decision: “Then let’s do this: the two male educated youths go do fertilizer application, and the female educated youths go weeding. These jobs aren’t difficult; the village’s elderly and children do them. The only thing is, the work points are low—the most you can get is five or six points a day, and weeding is even lower, at most three points. See if you can accept that.”
After discussing it, they accepted Zhao Ze’s arrangement. Having just arrived in the countryside, they needed to give themselves time to adapt.
“Then that’s the plan. Tomorrow I’ll give you a day to unpack, and we’ll start work in the fields the day after tomorrow.”
Once the arrangements were made, Zhao Ze had other matters to attend to and sent the four back to the educated youth hostel.
When they returned to the hostel, the sun had already set, and the veteran educated youths who had been working in the fields had also finished their day.
Before the four of them arrived, there were a total of six educated youths in the hostel: four men and two women. One male educated youth had married someone from the village and did not live with them, so the hostel originally housed five people, which was fairly spacious. Now that four newcomers had arrived, the sleeping arrangements became a problem.
“Why are so many people here all of a sudden? It’s a tiny place; it’s not even big enough for us to squeeze in!”
The veteran educated youth, Chen Zhongshi, spoke up first, extremely dissatisfied, looking at Su Qing and Hu Kang with a very unfriendly expression.
Although Su Qing had a good temper, he wasn’t a pushover. He frowned and retorted: “How many people come is decided by the commune, and this house was built by the village. Don’t really treat this as your own home and think you can arrange things however you want.”
“How are you talking to me!”
Having his authority challenged by the new educated youths, Chen Zhongshi was highly dissatisfied and pointed at Su Qing, about to curse, when Yuan Chao dragged him away.
“Comrade Su is right. It’s all arranged by the commune. We have all left our hometowns; it isn’t easy for anyone. Let’s just be tolerant and accommodating.”
“You’re the only one who’s a good person!”
After venting his anger, Chen Zhongshi ignored the others, went back to his room on his own, and slammed the door shut, making the whole room tremble.
“What’s with his attitude!” Even though Su Qing had a good temper, he was about to blow up from anger. Because of Yuan Chao’s enthusiasm during the day, he had thought the people at the hostel would be easy to get along with. Who would have thought he’d run into someone as unreasonable as Chen Zhongshi?
They were all educated youths. By what right did Chen Zhongshi vent his anger? Just because he had arrived a few years earlier, he really thought he was something special!