novelraw Chapter 73 You're just a sour grapes.
Chapter 73 You're just a sour grapes.
To keep her family quiet, Tong Yuheng simply had everyone take a section of the Little Red Book and study it diligently. She dragged the older women into studying with her, saying she wanted to progress together with everyone, which put them in a difficult position, as they didn't dare say they didn't want to learn.
They barely knew any characters, yet they were forced to memorize texts—it was unbearable! So, after a few days, all the aunties and older women disappeared and never came back. However, during group work, they still enjoyed chatting with Tong Jiahui and her daughters, because they could hear things they didn't know from them.
Now that the weather is warmer and the land has thawed, the furrows have been cleared, and everyone is starting to pack up their farm tools. They also need to cultivate rice seedlings while simultaneously harrowing and irrigating the fields. The villagers are all busy, starting work each day to the sound of the team leader's gong.
Tong Jiahui and her four daughters were assigned to a group to till the land with the team leader's wife. Others didn't want to be in their group, disliking the fact that they were all women and couldn't do much work.
They were divided into groups of ten. When they first started working, the five male team members in their group were extremely reluctant. Later they found out that they were the ones who benefited; not only did they not have to do much hard work, they also easily earned a lot of work points.
"Captain, digging like this, shovel by shovel, is too strenuous. Shouldn't we use oxen to pull the plow and turn the land?" Tong Yuheng asked the captain during a break.
Chen Hongxiang said, "Yes, we'll use them, but we only have two oxen, and they're both precious. They need to rest after working for two hours, so we can't overwork them! That means we can't get much work done in a day; most of the work will have to be done by hand. We're currently cultivating land that requires grain taxes, but we still have a lot of uncultivated land in the river valleys that doesn't require taxes to be cultivated!"
"Captain, I got a semi-mechanized sled. If I can borrow a tractor to plow all the land for our team, do you think you can give my family full work points?" Tong Yuheng asked, seizing the opportunity.
"Can you borrow a tractor? But we don't have any large sleds in our village!"
"When I went back last time, I asked someone at the machine factory to make one, and they happened to find a ride to bring it back to me." The big sled that the Tong Yuheng sisters made wasn't suitable for use in her space; it was a bit bulky, and it was a waste to leave it there.
"That's wonderful! I'll have to praise you on the radio for thinking of doing good things for our brigade!" Chen Hongxiang was very happy.
Turning the soil is the hardest job. You have to pick out last year's rice straw roots and dig out the roots in the cornfield. It takes a lot of strength.
"No need for praise, but there's a fee for using the tractor's diesel fuel..." Tong Yuheng thought to himself, "I can't possibly have to pay for the fuel myself, can I?"
"I'll get you a pass to buy it from the agricultural machinery station! I'll go talk to the Party Secretary and the accountant right now. If you can get this done, your family's workers will get full work points, but it'll only be for ten days!" Chen Hongxiang turned and left excitedly. Who wouldn't want to save effort if they could have machinery to do the work?
Tong Yuheng: Hmph! What a stingy old fox! You only give me ten days of work time? Fine, I'll lend you a tractor for ten days, but don't even think about more!
The land clearing process usually takes more than a month and would normally exhaust people, but with a sled with a dozen or so blades, it can be completed in just a few days, saving a lot of manpower.
In his spare time, the brigade leader would take on some tasks assigned by the commune, hoping to earn some money or exchange them for receipts. It was incredibly difficult for rural people to obtain receipts!
Chenjiatun has a population of over 300. It is a small village with no more than 100 able-bodied men, including five or six male educated youths. However, it has more than 600 mu of land, not including another 100 mu of river bend land.
After discussing it, the brigade cadres asked Tong Yuheng to borrow a tractor and negotiate the rental fee. They also wrote a letter of introduction for her to buy diesel fuel. However, manual plowing was also necessary, otherwise how would everyone earn work points?
Tong Yuheng borrowed a tractor from the brick factory, charging five yuan per day for its use, which she then exchanged for rice, flour, and other supplies. She discussed this with the brigade leader, who was a little hesitant about the cost, but the price was already very low. Tong Yuheng even suggested that she pay him on credit after the rice harvest.
At this time, the brick factory basically didn't use tractors, and every year they would lend them out to provide some benefits for the employees. Now that Tong Yuheng had a good relationship with them, he often worked as their substitute for free, and he would also often bring them vegetables and other things from his space as benefits.
Director Yao distributed the money to everyone, and everyone benefited. He took good care of this young educated youth. As for the so-called usage fee, it was just something he said to others.
Tong Yuheng certainly wouldn't let down those who trusted him. He agreed to bring them fabric that didn't require a ration coupon. After registering their sizes and receiving payment, he called Chen Liying and asked her to send some fabric for internal sale.
Chen Liying was very kind and quickly prepared it for her. When it reached the brick factory workers, they were all very happy and said that Miss Tong was very capable.
An older man even offered to introduce her to his nephew, who worked at a timber factory in the county. She had to tell him that she was engaged when she was young before everyone stopped trying to set her up.
The tractor was borrowed for ten days. Tong Yuheng and her second sister loaded the heavy sled they had made onto it. One person stepped on the sled while she drove it from the front. In no time, they had plowed a large area.
The elderly, children, and women with mobility issues would gather roots from the plowed fields and compost them. Those working in the fields with shovels watched with utter envy!
"Aren't they educated youth sent to the countryside? Even if they don't live in the educated youth settlement, they shouldn't be so detached from the masses! They don't even tell us what's going on; they really know how to show off!"
A female educated youth with braided pigtails was extremely jealous of the Tong Yuheng sisters and kept quiet on the sidelines.
"Zhou Manman, you're just being a sour grapes. How are they out of touch with the masses? Didn't you see them working alongside the villagers? Everyone welcomed them, didn't they? Are you the only one among the masses? Do they have to be close to you and fawn over you to not be out of touch with the masses?"
Another girl with two short braids retorted to her. This girl was named Tan Suyun, and she and Zhou Manman didn't get along. The two of them argued three times a day, which had become a daily occurrence at the educated youth settlement.
"Why are you everywhere? Who do you think you are, speaking up for others? Do they even know you? You want to rub salt in their wounds so they can leave you some leftovers!"
"Pah! You're the kind of person who spews filth the moment you open your mouth, your belly is full of rotten stench! You can't stand seeing others do well, you shameless bastard!" Tan Suyun cursed.
"You're shameless, a penniless wretch! No wonder you can't get married, nobody wants you!" Zhou Manman stopped nagging Tong Yuheng and started targeting Tan Suyun, and the two started arguing.