“Huh? Why did he turn into this? Do you think he’ll change back in the future?” Xiang Wenhui asked curiously.
The production team leader’s wife shook her head. “Who knows?” Then she muttered under her breath, “Maybe it’s better if he doesn’t.”
Xiang Wenhui didn’t hear clearly. “What? Auntie, what did you say?”
Xiang Wenshan had heard it. The leader’s wife was probably sympathizing with Song Laowu — he must’ve suffered quite a bit.
“Nothing, nothing. Just… a bit of a pity.”
Xiang Wenhui nodded along. “Yeah, it is kind of a pity.”
Xiang Wenshan casually asked, “Auntie, does Song Laowu not have a proper name? Or is he just called ‘Laowu’?”
After asking, she bent down to pull weeds as if it were just an offhand question.
But inside, she was anything but calm — nervous, and carrying a faint thread of hope.
“He does, he does. What was it again… Let me think. Around here we all call each other ‘Old So-and-so,’ we rarely use full names. Let me think…”
No one rushed her. After several dozen seconds, she said, “Oh right! It’s something Zhaohua.”
Xiang Wenshan’s heart trembled.
She silently repeated it — Song Zhaohua.
Wasn’t that her flash-marriage husband’s name?
Could it really be this lucky? This coincidental?
The leader’s wife continued complaining, “All the brothers and sisters in that family have those fancy-sounding names. It’s their father — Song Dashan. Just because he studied for three years, he gave them all tongue-twisting names to show off.
If he really wanted to show off, he should’ve let the kids stay in school!
The eldest and second went for one year. The third and fourth studied three years. The fifth only went for half a year. The sixth finished primary school. The seventh studied the longest — graduated middle school.
With that education, he could’ve been a scorekeeper or something. But he’s lazy as can be — still dreaming of becoming a city person.” Her tone was thick with disdain.
Seeing her expression, and remembering the team leader’s surname was also Song, Xiang Wenshan cautiously asked, “Auntie… are your families related? You both have the surname Song?”
“Distant relatives. My man and Song Dashan share the same grandfather. Half the people here are surnamed Song. Go back a few generations and we’re all connected somehow.”
“Oh, I see.”
Mentioning Song Dashan’s family clearly irritated her, so she changed the topic. “How are you girls adjusting here?”
Xiang Wenshan forced a small smile. “It’s okay.”
“That’s good. The last batch of educated youths had a hard time at first too. You know Sun Zhiqing? Now she earns seven or eight work points a day.
But when she first came, she cried while working, worked while crying. Half the day was just her crying. We didn’t even dare stand near her — afraid outsiders would think we were bullying her.”
Xiang Wenshan’s lips twitched. Eight work points was full points for a woman — Sun Zhiqing was impressive.
Xiang Wenhui burst out laughing. “No way!”
After laughing, she immediately felt a bit guilty.
“Hey, don’t laugh at her. With those skinny arms and legs of yours — you think it’s novel now. After a full morning, you’ll definitely start complaining.”
Xiang Wenhui pouted. It was true. Her hands were already burning painfully.
By noon, Xiang Wenshan was exhausted too — aching back, sore legs, palms stinging. At one point she’d been sliced by a blade of grass. It left a small cut, though it didn’t bleed.
And after all that, she’d only earned two work points.
Thinking about the days ahead made her feel utterly hopeless.
What could two work points even do?
One work point was worth two cents. Two work points equaled four cents. Even earning five work points in a day only meant ten cents.
And five points would probably leave her completely wiped out.
In modern times, no one would bother picking up a dime off the ground. But now—
Heavens.
The heavens were trying to destroy her.
After work, Xiang Wenshan only wanted to lie down somewhere. Her legs barely felt like her own.
Behind her, Xiang Wenhui bared her teeth in pain, rubbing her arms and legs. “Sis, I’m dying of exhaustion.”
Xiang Wenshan sighed. “That’s normal. It’s just the beginning.”
With a bitter expression, Xiang Wenhui muttered, “Sis, I want to go home.”
Just as Xiang Wenshan was about to comfort her, Xiang Wenhui suddenly clenched one fist.
“Sis, I’ve made a decision.”
Xiang Wenshan’s brows furrowed slightly. This girl better not be thinking of doing something foolish.
“What are you planning?”
Xiang Wenhui grinned, flashing her white teeth. Glancing at the people walking ahead and behind them, she lowered her voice.
“Sis, I’ve decided. I’m going to write home and cry about how hard life is here. Let them know how miserable I am. I’ll get my parents to send money and ration coupons.
From now on, I’ll just earn two or three work points a day. This morning was way too much — I’m exhausted. This afternoon, I’ll just aim for one work point.”
Xiang Wenshan’s mouth twitched. Those two morning points were probably only because the scorekeeper pitied them as newcomers. “Mm. That works.”
“Sis, don’t doubt me. If I don’t ask, it’ll just benefit Xiang Wenwen and my annoying little brother instead.
Besides, I answered the nation’s call and followed leadership’s arrangements. That deserves a reward! My parents have a good reputation at school. For the sake of their face, giving their daughter a little more support isn’t unreasonable, right?”
For a moment, Xiang Wenshan couldn’t refute her logic. She nodded. “Right. You’re right.”
“Sis, you should ask too. Then we won’t have to work so hard.”
Xiang Wenshan froze slightly.
She hadn’t planned on asking the original family for money.
The original family wasn’t well-off. Her father had only gotten promoted two years ago, raising his salary to a little over fifty yuan; before that it had been in the thirties. Her mother earned twenty-eight yuan a month.
Together that was just over eighty yuan. They still had household expenses, and buying the second brother’s job had already drained most of their savings…
In earlier years, Fourth Uncle had poor health and was often taking medicine. He’d been a little better these past two years, but whenever the weather changed, he would catch a cold and run a fever.
On top of that, they had supported four children through school. How much savings could the family possibly have left?
Seeing her sister silent, Xiang Wenhui thought about her family’s situation and said, “It’s okay, Sis. When the time comes, I’ll ask my mom for a bit more.
“If I have a bite to eat, you’ll have a bite too.”
Xiang Wenshan’s heart softened. She let out a small laugh—what an adorable girl.
“Let’s go. We should head back to the youth point.”
On their first day of work, the meal had been cooked by the older educated youths. Starting tomorrow, it would be the three newly arrived youths’ turn.
After eating and resting for a while, they went back out to work.
In the afternoon, it was still weeding.
After a full morning, Xiang Wenshan had become somewhat more practiced at it, but her hands hurt, and several blisters had formed. She didn’t push herself too hard and simply worked at a steady pace with the others.
Anyway, she wasn’t short on money, nor did she care about earning a couple more work points. In this day and age, work points were the least valuable thing.
Xiang Wenhui, however, couldn’t manage the same. Exhausted, she plopped down onto the ground and shuffled forward bit by bit as she weeded.
One of the team leaders couldn’t bear to watch anymore. “Comrade Xiao Xiang, what’s going on with you?
“You’re about to flatten the field by sitting on it.”
Xiang Wenhui gave an awkward smile. “I can’t help it. I’m so tired I can’t even squat anymore.” As she spoke, her eyes reddened.
The team leader waved his hand. “Alright, alright.”
The production brigade didn’t strictly require anyone to earn a fixed number of work points. The more you worked, the more you earned—and at the end of the year, the more grain you’d receive.
Likewise, if you worked less, you earned less—and you’d be allotted less grain.
If that wasn’t enough to eat, then you went hungry. Don’t expect the brigade to subsidize you.
Everyone was very self-aware. To receive more grain at year’s end, they all worked especially hard.
Whenever there was an opportunity to earn work points, people eagerly signed up—except for the occasional idler.