“Brother Hongqi, how many educated youths are we picking up this time?” Wu Jun asked as he sat on the ox cart heading to meet the newcomers.
“A few days ago, the commune director said five would be assigned to us. No word on whether they’re male or female, though. Hopefully they’re all male. The female city folks are too delicate,” Hongqi replied, thinking of the trouble the female educated youths had caused in Liuwan Brigade.
They arrived at the gathering point, but the truck carrying the educated youths hadn’t arrived yet. Bored, Wu Jun got off the ox cart and started chatting with others who were also waiting.
“Uncle, which brigade are you from? Why’d you arrive so early?” He offered a cigarette as he spoke.
The old farmer took the cigarette—something he’d never splurge on himself—and tucked it behind his ear, grinning. “Young fella, we’re from the Sanhe Brigade. What about you? Here to pick up educated youths too?”
“Yeah, Uncle. We’re from the Red Star Brigade.”
The moment the old farmer heard “Red Star Brigade,” his eyes widened. “Is that case in your brigade really true?”
Wu Jun hadn’t expected the news to spread so fast in an era without modern communication. He gave an awkward smile and moved off to another spot. But word of bad deeds travels far, and many people knew about the Red Star Brigade incident. Everyone kept asking him about it, so he had no choice but to return to the ox cart.
“Why are you back so soon?” Hongqi asked, puzzled.
Wu Jun explained how everyone had been grabbing him to ask about the case.
Hongqi laughed. “You’re still too young. The villagers usually have nothing much going on, and suddenly our brigade makes the news—of course they’re all going to ask. Just stay put and keep quiet. Once we pick up the educated youths, we’ll head back. After a while, everyone will be busy with farm work and no one will ask anymore.”
After waiting over an hour, they finally spotted an army-green truck. The open bed carried about twenty educated youths, each wearing a big red flower on their chest.
Every one of them looked exhausted, no doubt from the bumpy ride. The commune director stepped forward to stand in front of the youths, notebook in hand, and began calling roll.
Nearby, old farmers started muttering as soon as they saw who got off the truck. “Why so many female educated youths this time?”
Sure enough, of the twenty-plus people on the truck, over a dozen were female—a surprisingly high proportion.
Over on the other side, people from various brigades had already started receiving their assigned youths.
“Red Star Brigade! Red Star Brigade!” Hearing the commune director’s call, Hongqi quickly stepped forward.
“Liu Honghua, Chen Zhixue, Su Qing, Wei Hongling, Liu Shiguo—the five of you are assigned to Red Star Brigade.” After reading the names, the director moved on to the next group.
Wu Jun looked at the five educated youths following behind Hongqi and thought: When we get back, Uncle is going to be really frustrated. Four out of five were female.
Catching sight of the shabby ox cart and comparing it to some brigades’ tractors, Liu Honghua—the prettiest of the female youths—said disdainfully, “Why didn’t your brigade send a tractor to pick us up? We’re answering the nation’s call to develop your backward countryside.”
Before Hongqi or Wu Jun could respond, Liu Shiguo, the only male among the five, replied with righteous solemnity, “Comrade Liu, that’s not right. We’re here to develop rural areas and serve the people. Refusing to endure hardship like that is a tendency toward self-indulgence.” Liu Shiguo remembered how this woman had ignored him on the truck and wanted a chance to make things difficult for her.
“That’s enough. This ox cart is what our village uses for pickups. If you don’t want to ride, you’re welcome to walk. It’s getting late. Those who want to ride, get on now. Those who don’t, follow behind on foot.” With that, Wu Jun jumped onto the cart himself and signaled Hongqi to hurry up.
“Brother, looks like we’re in for some interesting times ahead.”
Hearing Wu Jun’s comment, Hongqi could only offer a bitter smile. His father was surely in for some headaches.
The other three female educated youths, who had remained silent until now, saw the two getting on the cart as if ready to leave. They quickly grabbed their luggage and climbed aboard.
Seeing this, Liu Honghua and Liu Shiguo forgot their quarrel for the moment and squeezed onto the cart too, afraid they’d actually have to walk to the village.
Seeing that everyone was on the cart, Hongqi quickly urged the ox forward to head back to the village. There was still a lot to do.
The ox cart jolted along the road, covering the five newcomers in dust.
Just as they entered the village entrance, a woman who had been chatting nearby asked, “Hongqi, are these the educated youths from the city?”
“Yeah, Second Aunt. I’m taking them to the brigade headquarters first.”
Watching the cart head toward the brigade headquarters, Second Aunt marveled, “City folks sure are rich. Their clothes barely have any patches. And look at those big red flowers on their chests—such bright colors.”
“What’s so great about city folks? Look at those scrawny arms and skinny legs. They won’t be able to do much farm work. And four of them are girls. The village really drew the short stick this time,” said Aunt Dazhu, flexing her own arm for comparison.
“I’m more worried about the young men in the village being unable to control themselves,” Second Aunt said with concern.
While the villagers gossiped, the cadres at the brigade headquarters were also frustrated by the five educated youths.
With the homicide case in the village just days ago, the commune director was probably annoyed and decided to assign them four women and only one man. On top of that, the five looked even scrawnier than the rural folk—not exactly prime labor material. Now they had to figure out how to arrange things. Brigade Captain Wu mulled over the problem.
“Welcome to Red Star Brigade. You are educated youths sent by the organization to help build the countryside. I won’t say much beyond this: the people in our village are honest and hospitable. Now that you’re here, just do your work diligently. The brigade will provide your rations for the first month. After that, you’ll exchange work points for food. Since the educated youth dormitory hasn’t been built yet, we need to discuss your accommodations. Rest here for a while.”
With that, Captain Wu ignored the five and went inside with the other cadres to figure out where to house them.
Hongqi and Wu Jun had no choice but to lead the group to the square usually used for village meetings, where they had them sit down and poured some warm water for them to rest.
“Comrade, how long will we have to wait here?” asked Su Qing, who looked honest and simple.
“Shouldn’t be long. Just be patient,” Hongqi replied, a bit impatient since he was stuck waiting with them.
“Hey, what’s with that attitude? We came all the way here to develop your village!” Liu Honghua said haughtily.
“Never mind, never mind, Honghua. We’ve just arrived and don’t know the ropes yet. We shouldn’t trouble this comrade.”
With that, Wei Hongling turned gently to Wu Jun and asked, “Comrade, hello. I’m Wei Hongling. May I ask your name?”
Wu Jun had only planned to accompany his cousin, but now this female comrade was striking up a conversation. “Hello, Comrade Wei. My name is Wu Jun. Just wait a bit longer. The village should arrange your accommodations soon. In the meantime, think about what supplies you’re lacking, and later you can ask the villagers for help exchanging things.”
The five then began contemplating what they might need.
Seeing this, Hongqi raised an eyebrow at Wu Jun.
Half an hour later, Captain Wu came out with the accountant and announced where the educated youths would be housed.
The female educated youths would stay in the house Widow Li had lived in. Since Widow Li had been taken away, the house was now empty and could temporarily serve as their lodging.
The lone male educated youth couldn’t very well be housed with the women, so he would stay temporarily at Captain Wu’s house until the educated youth dormitory was built and they could all move in together.