The house had just been built, and the educated youth held a small meeting.
“In a few days, we’ll start harvesting the corn. Some of us have been through this once or twice, but you newcomers don’t know how busy it really gets during harvest, so you need to prepare yourselves mentally. Also, at the start of harvest, everyone gets more tired, so you need to eat more, and the meals must be decent, at least with some meat and vegetables. That’s why we’re having this small meeting today: to let everyone know to pitch in some money and ration tickets so we can buy a piece of meat from town. I’m not pocketing it for myself. Eating meat is essential during harvest; otherwise, you might not make it through,” Li Baozong said, his face serious.
A few of the older educated youth nodded repeatedly to support him: “During harvest, I lose several pounds. Normally, we can get by with just a little food, but during harvest, without some meat, you absolutely won’t last.”
“If you don’t believe us, you can ask the villagers. During harvest, everyone’s meals must be better, and they definitely eat more. The newcomers don’t have much grain, so you’ll need to trade with the locals for some. That’s about all for this meeting. As for whether you want to contribute money or ration tickets, that’s up to you. One thing: if you don’t contribute, you can’t touch the meat,” Li Baozong said, scanning the newcomers with a serious look that made it clear he was sincere.
Li Ruolan said: “Deng Minghao and I won’t add any grain. After harvest, we’ll be moving out, so we won’t eat with everyone anymore. As for money or tickets for the meat, we’ll contribute whatever everyone else does.”
Qin Wan, Xu Tao, and Guo Xiaoya agreed with Li Ruolan. Li Baozong didn’t mind and nodded in approval.
Each person contributed one yuan for the meat. Only six people had meat tickets, and they contributed some of theirs; those without tickets added a few extra coins.
The next day, Li Baozong and Zheng Hongmei went to town and bought two chickens, ten jin of pork belly, and four fish.
“Two chickens cost nine yuan including tickets. Pork belly was 0.79 yuan per jin, so ten jin cost 7.9 yuan. Fish was 0.1 yuan per jin, and the four fish weighed about 15 jin, costing 1.5 yuan. I still have about six yuan left. Next time we go to town, we’ll use it to buy more meat.”
They didn’t buy all the meat at once because the meat store required queuing. Even if you got to the front, if you wanted a lot, they wouldn’t sell it all to you. They always left some for the people behind, so each person could only buy a little. Li Baozong and Zheng Hongmei queued separately, so each could buy five jin.
Even with all that food, twenty-two people at the educated youth point meant it still wasn’t enough.
The next day, Li Baozong went to town again, bringing back five jin of meat and a set of offal, pork liver, heart, and lungs—all considered meat.
The day after the meat arrived, harvest work began.
Work started early, at dawn. The entire production team went to the fields.
The women picked corn, the men carried it out, and some cut down the stalks.
The biggest danger during harvest was rain, so everyone worked as fast as possible—what they called “racing against harvest.”
Li Ruolan’s task was picking corn. She wore long sleeves and pants, tied her cuffs tightly, and wore gloves. Even so, by the end of the day, her neck and face were scratched by the leaves, and her hands were raw and red.
It was exhausting. Even drinking Lingquan water from her water bottle didn’t help much.
After meals, everyone was completely worn out, stiff and zombie-like, crawling onto their kangs and falling asleep immediately.
It felt like one blink and the sun was up again, and they hadn’t rested properly before heading back to the fields.
Fortunately, they had decent meals during this time, with meat every day and plenty of staples, so they could manage.
During harvest, the brigade members also ate well, almost like during the New Year, usually having at least one meal with meat each day.
But some families couldn’t afford meat, so during harvest, some meals were insufficient, and a few people even fainted in the fields.
Most of those were women, along with some elderly men.
Despite the daily exhaustion, the work points earned were impressive.
A strong young man could earn twelve to thirteen points a day. Even the women could earn full points.
After seven or eight days, everyone at the educated youth point was physically worn out. Li Ruolan’s small gain in weight disappeared, and the men had all lost weight too.
At night, there was no talking—everyone focused on eating and then sleeping.
The older youth had some experience, but the newcomers felt close to death.
Among them, Qin Wan had it easier.
Because she often went up the mountain, her ability had reached first-tier, which improved her physical condition and strength.
So while picking corn, Qin Wan didn’t feel tired. She could even absorb some wood-element energy in the fields, making it very easy for her.
Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao had lost weight too, but with Lingquan water to sustain them, they fared better than the others, though not as well as Qin Wan.
Finally, the corn was harvested. On the third day after finishing, the weather changed. Early in the morning, the brigade director called everyone to return the corn spread out on the ground to the warehouse.
Everyone, young and old, male and female, worked together. As soon as all the corn was in the warehouse, heavy rain began to pour.
With the autumn rain came cold air. People suddenly wore padded clothes.
The brigade director gave everyone a break, finally giving them some rest.
Li Ruolan and the others had been waiting for this day. As soon as the break was announced, they packed their belongings and moved into the newly built house.
The house had a main hall and a large courtyard. The main hall’s door was on the west side. Inside was a spacious kitchen with cabinets, tables, and chairs.
Next to the earthen stove was a warm wall. The kitchen connected to the bedroom, which had a kang near the window, and two large wardrobes against the opposite wall.