Volume 1 Chapter 0004: Faces
"Okay, we're here. Get off the boat. I'll take you to the educated youth site."
"Uncle Xian, why are you in such a hurry? There's a boatload of fertilizer here. Stand aside and smoke while I carry the fertilizer off the boat."
As he said that, Nan Yi took his and Liu Zhen's luggage off the boat, took off his outer shirt, revealing a sailor shirt underneath, and with a "pah" sound, he spat into his palms, rubbed his hands, went on board, picked up a bag of fertilizer and carried it under the boat.
One bag, two bags, one bag after another.
Xian Yaodong was watching there, Liu Zhen was watching there, Jiang Biyun was watching there...
Nan Yi doesn't care what Jiang Biyun thinks of him. He only cares what Xian Yaodong thinks of him. As long as he is satisfied, his efforts will not be in vain.
He carried over thirty bags of fertilizer off the boat with great effort. He took off his sailor shirt, shook it off twice, wiped his face with the back of the shirt, then handed the shirt to Liu Zhen, who took the shirt and put it on.
"Good boy, you're full of muscles. I believe you must be a good worker." Xian Yaodong walked over, patted Nan Yi on the shoulder, put a cigarette in his mouth, and helped him light it.
"I'm not one to brag. If I say I'm a good hand, I'm definitely a good hand. Uncle Xian, on the way here, I saw people harvesting rice in the fields. The early rice should be ripe. Is our team also rushing to harvest it?"
"We don't get much rain this season, and there isn't much land, so there's no need to rush to harvest. We can just harvest slowly."
"Oh, do we plant three or two crops now?"
"There are only two crops. Winter rice has a low yield and is not cost-effective. We can plant some vegetables, sweet potatoes and yams in winter."
Liu Zhen: "Captain Xian, what are potatoes?"
"You are ignorant. I always call you Uncle Xian, so why are you still calling him Captain Xian? Join me in calling him Uncle Xian." Nan Yi pretended to be angry.
"Hahaha, you little brat!" Xian Yaodong pointed at Nan Yi and said to Liu Zhen, "From now on, follow Nan Yi and call me Uncle Xian. Potatoes are potatoes. You guys may call them yam or potato."
"Oh, it's potatoes."
"Okay, I'll take you guys to the educated youth site."
Xian Yaodong walked in front, introducing the situation of the former educated youth to Nan Yi.
"Your team leader is Zhao Hongzhuang, the daughter of a cadre. Besides her, there are two other people from Guangzhou, Lin Guangwei and Qu Jing; and Ke Hongxing, whose original name was Ke Liya.
Lai Jihua, his character is just like his surname, he is a scoundrel and works in a sneaky way;
There is another person you need to pay special attention to. His name is Li Hai, and he is also from your capital. I will not talk about his affairs, you will naturally know them later. "
"Oh, okay, Uncle Xian, if you don't tell me, I won't ask around."
"We're here. Everyone is working in the fields right now. You guys put your things down first. Nan Yi, I want to tell you that the commune hasn't distributed your rations yet. I'll bring you some rice later.
The educated youth all cook together and wait for people to come back. You can get to know them yourself. I have something else to do in the brigade, so I will leave first. "
"Hey, Uncle Xian, I'll take you there."
Nan Yi diligently escorted Xian Yaodong out of the courtyard of the ancestral hall, and then came back to take a closer look.
The Xian family's ancestral hall is very large, with two entrances and two exits. The courtyard outside was probably built later. I don't know whether it was used to accommodate educated youth or to cover up the ancestral hall.
Nan Yi looked around and made sure that no one was inside the ancestral hall before walking into the yard. "I've been sitting on the train for two days and my clothes are all smelly. It's not cold today. You guys wash up in the yard and I'll keep watch outside. If you move a little faster, you don't know if anyone will come back."
"Yeah, got it, bro."
"What did you call me?"
"Brother, what's wrong? You are the first person who is so nice to me. In my heart, you are closer to me than my own brother."
"Okay, you can call me brother." Nan Yi frowned and said, "Hurry up and wash."
"Why."
Nan Yi walked out of the yard, closed the gate, and walked a few steps to the riverside. He sat down on the wet bluestone slab, and then…
Three cigarettes...
When Mr. Hua saw this, he would shake his head, and Lu Xun would stab him with a sponge.
"Brother, we are done washing."
"Oh, that's pretty fast. Did you wash your bald skin?"
Nan Yi stood up, pulled his trouser legs, and tore off the pants that were stuck to his body.
"No way, it's only been an hour, brother, it's great here, there's plenty of water, and the water is soft, not as hard as in the capital."
"Don't rush to say yes, we have to work tomorrow. Uncle Xian just said that the best of us educated youth only get eight work points.
I can work, but eight work points is too much for me. I will go find Uncle Xian and go to the brigade to work. You can also go with me and see if there is a shortage of people to cut grass for the pigs. You can go and cut grass for the pigs, it is an easy job. "
"How many work points does it cost to cut grass for pigs?"
"See if there are many pigs here. There are at least two or three, and at most six or seven."
"Two or three. I can't even earn enough to feed myself. How much money can one work point in Wenchangwei be worth?"
"I guess this place is worth at least a dime. I forgot to ask just now. I only know that our monthly ration is 24 kilograms and we get a 5 yuan subsidy. Let's not talk about this for now. I'm going to settle down here. What do you think?"
"You want to settle down, and don't want a Beijing hukou anymore?"
"What's the point of having a Beijing hukou? We've already been registered in Shajiaotou, but it's just a collective household for educated youth. I plan to directly register as a farmer. In this way, we won't have the rations and subsidies for educated youth, but we'll also have a share of the things the brigade distributes every year."
"What's the difference?"
"The difference is that we are registered together, so we are a family. I can legitimately find you an easy job, so even if you get fewer work points, I can help you make up the work points at the end of the year."
"Are our household registrations together?" Liu Zhen's cheeks flushed again.
"Don't you call me brother? What's wrong with falling in love with me?"
"I...I listen to my brother."
"Okay, I'll talk to Uncle Xian later. The educated youth site has a lot of people, so it's better not to have too much contact with them. You go back to the yard first. I'll go to the river to wash. I smell."
"Um."
Nan Yi took off his coat and dived into the river. In 0.3 seconds, his hand touched the river mud.
Using trigonometric functions, gravitational acceleration, the earth's gravity, river water density and flow speed, and wind speed, it is estimated that the river is 3475.2 mm deep.
Well, actually Nan Yi saw a river warning line drawn on the bluestone by the river - 3.2 meters.
After rubbing it twice and rubbing his back against the bluestone to make sure it was clean, Nan Yi went ashore and returned to the ancestral hall to change his clothes.
He took out the rice rolls he had just bought at the commune and gave one to Jiang Biyun. With a lukewarm thank you, the three of them finished the rice rolls.
Seeing that it was only a quarter past two and it was still early to get off work, Nan Yi threw "How the Steel Was Tempered" to Liu Zhen, took out a work notebook, and climbed over the courtyard wall.
Jiang Biyun walked into the room where the girls lived and slammed the door shut. No one knew what she was going to do in there.
Nan Yi shook his head, "A little girl is a little girl!"
He climbed down the wall, walked to his travel bag, took out the remaining Huazi and two bottles of Moutai, and pulled out a sheepskin bag, put the wine and cigarettes in it, sealed it, ran out of the yard, looked around to see if there was anyone, then buried the sheepskin bag in the soil, and carefully covered it up.
…
When the sun got tired of standing at attention and became listless , the singing not far away drifted closer and closer.
"Song of the Educated Youth!"
Nan Yi curled his lips, took out a lighter, lit his work notebook, and watched it burn to ashes. He swept away the ashes with a broom, walked to the water tank, picked up the bucket, and walked out of the courtyard gate.
As soon as I walked out of the gate, I met a group of educated youth returning home.
The one in the lead was wearing a green military uniform . His hair was neither long nor short, the "progressive student hair" that was popular at the time, and his face looked very mean.
"This person must be difficult to deal with!"
Nan Yi pondered in his heart and quickly put on a fake smile on his face, "Hello, I am a newly arrived educated youth. You can tell I am Director Zhao. From now on, I will be under your leadership. Just tell me what you need."
"No, don't say anything about whether I'm following your orders or not. Just don't cause any trouble . Captain Xian should have told you my name, but I'm going to say it again.
My name is Zhao Hongzhuang, and I am the leader of this youth education center. Since you are here to join the team, please behave yourself. Don’t give us the youth education center, and don’t cause any trouble for yourself.”
"No, no, I've been timid since I was little, and I've always been bullied by others. I never cause any trouble."
As he spoke, Nan Yi took out the Guangxi cigarettes he had bought at noon and passed them out to the male educated youth one by one.
As they dispersed, he said nice things, "Brothers, please take care of me in the future. I'm new here, so if I do anything wrong, feel free to criticize me."
After a brief greeting, Nan Yi carried a bucket of water and walked towards the brigade's well.
Don’t ask how Nan Yi knew where the well was. As long as he had been to a village in the south, even if he went to a new village, it would be easy to find where the well was.
Otherwise, just be a little sweeter and ask people, and they will naturally give you guidance.
