The rain outside continued to fall, but the next day, the village loudspeaker broadcasted the news everyone had been waiting for: the autumn harvest would officially begin tomorrow.
The Autumn Harvest Begins
Before heading out that morning, Cheng Rong applied a thick layer of sunscreen to her face and arms. She had to admit that anything produced by the system was top-tier—the sunscreen didn’t have any pungent chemical odor, couldn’t easily be detected by others, and offered incredible protection against the scorching sun.
Once out in the cornfields, everyone set to work snapping off the heavy corn cobs. The harvested ears were tossed into carrying baskets, and once filled, they were emptied onto the open ground in front of the tally clerks to be weighed and credited as work points. Afterward, the village oxcarts hauled the corn away to the communal granary.
Beneath the blazing sun, the entire village buried themselves in the grueling labor of gathering the crops. After an entire day of breaking corn cobs, everyone’s hands were cramped and sore. At the end of the day, a strong man could earn a full ten work points, while the women could secure around seven.
Although Feng Yingying had Gu Xiaohu acting like a loyal puppy trailing after her, the heavy demands of the autumn harvest left Gu Xiaohu with zero extra free time to lend a hand. With Brigade Leader Liu and the tally clerks keeping a strict watch, just a few days of harvesting had already tanned Feng Yingying’s face dark brown, cracked the skin on her hands, and left her looking considerably rough around the edges.
Cheng Rong was exhausted too, gaining a deep, firsthand appreciation for just how backbreaking farm work truly was. Because the harvest demanded so much physical energy, she treated herself even better than usual. Every single day, she slipped into her modern kitchen space to stream and cook up extra meals, eating until she was thoroughly satisfied and glowing with health.
Once the corn was finished, the villagers immediately moved on to harvesting quinoa, and finally, digging up sweet potatoes. As soon as the crops were fully gathered, Cheng Rong and the rest of the youth were put right back to work at the granary, shelling dried corn kernels.
After nearly a month of non-stop hustle, the autumn harvest finally came to a formal close. However, this year’s crop yield wasn’t particularly bountiful; after turning over the mandatory state grain quota, the remaining grain left for the village wasn’t all that much.
Observing the anxious expressions on Brigade Leader Liu’s and the villagers’ faces, Cheng Rong couldn’t help thinking that life back in the cities wouldn’t be easy next year either.
Dividing the Grain
The day after the harvest wrapped up, the production brigade delivered the year’s public grain quota to the commune, and immediately began distributing the remaining grain based on accumulated work points.
The village square was packed tight with people, every household lined up with cloth sacks and woven baskets in hand. Having busted their tails for an entire year, this was precisely the moment everyone had been waiting for.
The educated youth consciously formed a line at the very tail end of the queue, waiting patiently for their turn.
It took from noon until past four o’clock in the evening before the youth finally reached the front to collect their provisions. Once the brigade accountant tallied up everyone’s work points, the clerks began measuring out the grain.
Because the newly arrived youth didn’t have many work points accumulated, the grain allocated to them was quite limited. After deducting the grain the brigade had advanced to them earlier in the season, there really wasn’t much left at all.
In the end, Cheng Rong’s share came out to:
This was meant to serve as her entire food supply for the upcoming year.
Sending Another Package Home
With the autumn harvest successfully out of the way, the workload within the brigade quieted down significantly. Taking advantage of a break day, Cheng Rong consulted with Li Fang and the others, planning a joint trip to town to mail out packages.
Quite a few veteran youth also needed to supplement their families back home; after all, urban grain rations weren’t quite enough to survive on either, whereas living in the countryside at least allowed them to forage wild vegetables to pad their stomachs.
Cheng Rong packed up 20 jin of dried chestnuts and roughly a jin of kudzu root powder from her spatial kitchen, pairing them with a fresh safety-reporting letter to mail back to her parents.
The other youth mailed packages home as well, making Cheng Rong’s actions blend right in without appearing overly conspicuous.
Back in the Courtyard
A week later, back at the Red Star Rolling Mill in Yanshi, Uncle Zhang the gatekeeper intercepted Cheng Dazhi once again.
“Dazhi, you’ve got a package.”
Hearing that a package had arrived, Cheng Dazhi immediately knew it had to be from his youngest daughter. Only this time, the package was noticeably much larger than the previous one.
When he carried it back into the courtyard, the parcel immediately drew the watchful gazes of many neighbors, who quickly realized that Cheng Rong had sent yet another package home.
While quite a few families in the courtyard had children sent down to the countryside as educated youth, not a single one of them had ever seen anyone actually receive packages sent back from the country.
“My goodness, that Cheng girl really is quite capable.”
Inside their home, Li Springxia watched her husband haul in the large parcel, wondering what on earth her daughter had sent them this time.
Upon opening it, they found a massive bag packed full of dried chestnuts, accompanied by a smaller secondary pouch containing an unfamiliar substance.
When Cheng Dazhi read his daughter’s letter aloud, they discovered that the small pouch held kudzu root powder—a highly nutritious, nourishing delicacy.
The letter explained that the items had been gathered straight from the mountains through entirely legitimate means. She also noted that this year’s autumn harvest grain had already been distributed, urging her parents to stop sending her money and coupons. Tucked inside the letter was the exact ten-yuan bill and twenty jin of grain coupons they had previously mailed to her.
Finally, she promised that she would return home to visit them during the upcoming Chinese New Year, telling her mom and dad not to fret over her.
With tears streaming down her face, Li Springxia stared at the bounty from her daughter and felt a deep ache in her heart, convinced that her girl must have suffered quite a bit of hardship out in the countryside.
Equally heavy-hearted, Cheng Dazhi comforted his wife, assuring her that they would see their daughter again during the New Year and make it up to her properly then.
Once Li Springxia managed to steady her emotions, she portioned out a generous share of the goods her daughter had sent and headed out the door straight for her maternal family’s home.