The next morning, the bell for starting work rang early. Yun Ting opened her eyes groggily and checked her watch—it was only 4:30 a.m.. Isn’t this a bit too early?
Although she was still sleepy, she got up anyway.
It was her first day of work, and she didn’t want to leave a bad impression on the production team leader.
When she went out to the courtyard to wash up, everyone except Yin Jiao was already awake.
After washing, Yun Ting returned to her room, took out some sponge cake, ate two pieces, and drank a little water. Then she fully geared up and headed out. Just as she reached the gate, she ran into Li Hongxia and the others.
“I was just about to call you! Perfect timing—let’s go together,” Li Hongxia said with a smile.
“Sure!”
..
Not long after they started walking, they saw many villagers gathered together, chatting noisily.
They were probably waiting for the team leader to assign the day’s farm work.
When the group of educated youths arrived, the villagers all looked at them curiously.
“Wow… the new female educated youths are really pretty! Look how white their skin is—like steamed white buns…”
Yun Ting: “…Go away with your white buns.”
“They really are good-looking.”
“That’s right! City kids are different.”
“Those two male educated youths look good too. I wonder if they have girlfriends yet. My daughter Cui’er is still single!”
“Bah, Li Big-Mouth, forget it! With your daughter’s big build, do you really think a male educated youth would like her?”
“Yuan Yinghua, shut your mouth! What’s wrong with my Cui’er? Being strong means she’ll be good at bearing children!”
Just like that, the two middle-aged women started arguing. Everyone’s attention shifted to them, and no one continued discussing the new educated youths.
Yun Ting watched the quarrel with great interest. She didn’t mind the earlier comments—once the novelty wore off, people would stop talking.
“What’s going on? Why are you arguing? Too much energy, huh? Want to go carry manure instead?” the team leader shouted.
The two women immediately fell silent, as if someone had pressed a pause button.
Who wanted to carry manure? It was exhausting and filthy.
“Where are the new educated youths? Why are two missing?” the team leader asked.
“We’re here! We’re here!” Li Zhaodi’s voice called out.
Everyone turned to see Li Zhaodi pulling Yin Jiao toward them at a run. Yin Jiao was still wearing a light blue dress, which made Yun Ting speechless.
“Next time get up earlier. If you’re late again, your work points will be deducted.”
Seeing everyone present, the team leader began assigning tasks.
“Those who were already working will follow yesterday’s assignments. Anyone who needs tools can go pick them up.”
People who needed tools went to the tool shed to collect them and had to return them after work. If they damaged them, they had to compensate.
Those who didn’t need tools went directly to the fields.
“As for the new educated youths,” the leader continued, “the women will weed in the cornfields, and the men will turn the soil. I’ll have someone guide you.”
He called Aunt Meihua to take the female educated youths, while Zhang Wei led the men.
Aunt Meihua smiled at Yun Ting and brought them to the fields.
“Little Comrade Yun, you can work in my plot for now. Each educated youth will be assigned a section, guided by a village auntie. If you don’t understand something, ask—don’t mess around blindly.”
“Alright! Aunt Meihua, you’ll have to teach me well,” Yun Ting replied sweetly.
“Xiuzhi! Little Comrade Yun will work in our section. Teach her first—I’ll take the other girls to their assigned plots,” Aunt Meihua called to another woman working nearby.
“Alright!” the woman responded.
Wearing a hat, Yun Ting had planned to cover her face with a scarf, but since the sun wasn’t strong yet, she decided to wait until later. After putting on gloves, she crouched down and started working.
“Hello, aunties. I’m a new educated youth—my name is Yun Ting.”
“Oh my, alright, alright. Comrade Yun, you’ve never done farm work before, have you?” Aunt Xiuzhi said while squatting beside her, skillfully pulling weeds as she spoke.
Another woman nearby worked quietly. When she heard Yun Ting speaking, she raised her head and smiled at her. Yun Ting smiled back.
“I have,” Yun Ting replied.
Well… helping the headmistress weed the vegetable garden at the orphanage counted, right?
“Auntie could tell at a glance—you can at least tell which is a seedling and which is a weed.”
Yun Ting laughed awkwardly. “Auntie… that’s a compliment, right?”
“Of course it is! You don’t know—when some educated youths first came here, they couldn’t even tell weeds from crops and pulled out the seedlings instead.”
“Uh…” Yun Ting was speechless.
“Oh? What are you chatting about?” Aunt Meihua returned and asked with a smile.
“We’re praising Comrade Yun!” Aunt Xiuzhi laughed loudly.
“Little Comrade Yun really is pretty good.”
“Aunties, please stop praising me, or my head will start floating,” Yun Ting joked.
Everyone burst into laughter.
“Little Comrade Yun, the one over there is Aunt Fuzhen,” Aunt Meihua whispered. “She can’t speak, but she’s a good person.”
Yun Ting nodded in understanding. No wonder she hadn’t heard her speak.
“Working in the morning isn’t too bad,” Aunt Meihua said. “But by noon, the heat will feel unbearable.”
“Tell me about it! Being farmers means working ourselves to exhaustion.”
“Little Comrade Yun, with your delicate skin, you should cover your face later. It’d be a shame if you got sunburned!”
“I will, Auntie.”
While chatting with the women, Yun Ting continued working. Even though it was hot and her back began to ache, time passed quickly.
Luckily she had brought gloves—otherwise her hands would have been ruined.
The others weren’t so lucky.
Yang Qingqing had also prepared gloves, but Wang Xue, Yin Jiao, and Li Zhaodi hadn’t. Their hands were already red and scratched.
Yin Jiao was sitting by the edge of the field crying loudly. She wanted Li Zhaodi to help her, but Li Zhaodi had her own work to do.
“Comrade Yin, this won’t do,” one auntie said angrily. “If you don’t hurry up, you’ll drag all of us down. Our work points will be deducted—you’ll have to compensate us!”
“Why should I compensate you? I just won’t do it!”
“Then why did you come to the countryside? What kind of thinking is that? I’ll report this to the team leader and have you replaced!”
When the team leader arrived, his face was dark with anger. This Comrade Yin really gave him headaches every day—spoiled and constantly causing trouble.
“Comrade Yin,” he said sternly, “if you keep behaving like this, I’ll send you back to the Educated Youth Office and have them reassign you. Our team can’t accommodate such a ‘great figure’ like you.”
Yin Jiao immediately fell silent and obediently returned to work.
She actually wanted to go back home, but her father had told her their family was being watched, and she absolutely couldn’t return.
The more she thought about it, the sadder she became. As she worked, she wiped away tears.
The team leader watched for a moment and sighed before leaving.
Girls who had been pampered at home suddenly coming to the countryside, forced to do farm work they’d never done before—it was understandable that they struggled to adapt. He sympathized with them.
But what could he do?
Once they came here, everyone had to work. No exceptions.