Volume 1 Chapter 0008 Fighting for Feces
It's a rush to harvest and then to plant, and a busy farming season only takes ten days or so.
In ten days, Nan Yi earned at least twelve work points, and the most he earned on that day was twenty.
That was the day when people came to the grain station. Nan Yi carried three times more grain than others. He got 20 work points. If his red heart had not been sprayed into ink by the black dog's blood, he would have been too embarrassed to jump out and vote against it.
At least there are no such people in Wenchangwei.
In ten days, Nan Yi had a complete understanding of the situation of the brigade. He was lucky enough to receive the shy peeping of several young women of marriageable age in the brigade, and also saw Xian Yaodong doing something that could not be put on the table.
It was the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and the work in the fields was no longer busy. Nan Yi could not earn more than twelve work points. She applied fertilizer and weeded in the fields every day, and was paid eight work points according to the standard for women.
Weeding and fertilizing are relatively easy, but the fertilizer is artificial, collected from the brigade's cow dung and added to the fertilizer fermented in the dung tank.
Even so, it was still not enough, so we had to go to the commune or even the county to grab fertilizer.
Nan Yi followed a few strong young men from the brigade, who carried urine buckets and took a boat to the commune. As soon as they arrived at the septic tank of the commune, they saw people from other brigades scooping sewage there.
"Yan Jiashao, who asked you to come? Don't you know that it's our turn to scoop manure water in Wenchangwei this year?"
The one who spoke was Xian Weimin, the son of Deputy Captain Xian Yaohua. He was also good at farm work and a very tough guy. Usually, he led the team whenever Wenchangwei needed to compete with other brigades for something, and this time was no exception.
"What's wrong with me scooping? Can you still eat me?"
The guy on the opposite side was very arrogant and even dared to provoke me.
"I 'll say it again, this year it's our Wenchangwei's turn, so hurry up and pour the manure back to me." Xian Weimin said again.
"What? Fighting for what?"
"Fuck you!"
At Xian Weimin's command, all the strong young men in Wenchangwei put down their urine buckets and took out dung shovels from the buckets. There was no point in negotiating the number. In short, they had to do it.
Xian Weimin took the lead, followed closely by Nan Yi, whooshed the dung shovel into the opponent's head.
The dung shovel is not too hard, so be gentle and nothing will happen.
But Nan Yi was more of a grandson. He didn't smash the man, but used it like a gun - to pick him up. He inserted the dung shovel under the man's armpit, exerted force with his hands, and picked the man up into the septic tank.
One, two...three...three, four, five...five, five, five, I can’t go any further.
After Nan Yi knocked down four of them, the opponents were already scared.
"Pu Ni Amu, Xian Weimin, you actually asked for foreign aid."
"Fuck off, Nan Yi is an educated youth from Wenchangwei, and he will be settled in our place soon. What a foreign aid. Okay, you lose, leave now, we are in a hurry to scoop out the shit."
"Okay, the mountains will never change..."
"Change your head, you've watched too many movies, you."
Very straightforward. He retreats when the opponent loses the fight, without any hesitation.
There is no need to worry about the enemy gathering troops and coming back to attack. At this time in the countryside, fighting for water, land, and manure is inevitable.
But once the job was done, it was done, without any further ado.
If you feel unhappy, come back and fight again next year.
"Nan Yi, not bad. From your looks, have you practiced before?"
Xian Weimin patted Nan Yi on the shoulder and gave him a Guangxi.
Nan Yi took the cigarette and said with a smile: "I have practiced farming techniques for a few days, but there is nothing fancy about it. I can only fool around."
"You kid." Xian Weimin nodded at Nan Yi, and said to the others, "Okay, hurry up and scoop out the manure."
Fighting over manure is just a glimpse into rural life in Nanyi.
Life in Wenchangwei is not very poetic and picturesque. The beauty of the countryside can probably only be discovered by city dwellers who come here for a visit.
They started working at six o'clock and worked until seven or eight o'clock in the evening. They were bitten by mosquitoes, sucked blood by leeches, cut their hands by rice ears, and had to carry things on their shoulders and hands. Although they grew their own rapeseed, they could only eat a few ounces of oil throughout the year. To make a new set of clothes, they had no cloth coupons and had to borrow from the entire team.
Who dares to say such a day is beautiful?
Probably, perhaps, possibly, Nan Yi dared to say so.
After more than ten days of treatment, Liu Zhen's complexion has become rosy, and she can obviously see that she is growing flesh on her face and hands; the split ends of her hair have also become less obvious, and her hair has turned from dull and yellow to shiny black.
The perceptive Nan Yi also discovered that the little girl's height had grown by one centimeter, as if she had been stuffed into a dog hole.
If the nutrition is good, the little girl's development will also keep up.
For Nan Yi, work is not tiring and he does not have to worry about food and drink. After nightfall, he will go to the fields to catch frogs and go to the river to catch fish to improve his meals.
Look, Nan Yi is carrying two big fat fishes, a net bag of frogs, and a bottle of Moutai hidden in a sheepskin bag. He is humming a song as he walks towards Xian Yaodong's house.
"Nan Yi, you are here again, haha, what a fat fish."
Nan Yi and Xian Yaodong have gradually become familiar with each other and are no longer too reserved in their conversations.
"It's fat, right? Let's finish it today. We also have a bottle of Feitian." Nan Yi shook the sheepskin bag in his hand.
"Well, just wait and see my craftsmanship."
Xian Yaodong quickly cleaned up the two fish and prepared a few more side dishes.
After they drank a few glasses of wine, they started talking.
"Nan Yi, when I first came here, you said you would give me a chance. Now that we are familiar with each other, shouldn't you tell me about it?"
Intoxicated by the alcohol, Xian Yaodong blurted out what he had been holding back for a long time .
"Uncle Xian, from my observation over this period of time, do you often exchange straw and Xiangkeng's horses for fertilizer?"
"Yes, now that you know, I won't hide it from you. The horses in their Jockey Club like to eat our rice straw very much, because our rice is fertilized with artificial fertilizer. One ship of rice straw can be exchanged for one ship of chemical fertilizer.
But I can tell you that I am not doing this for myself, I am doing this for the benefit of the members."
"Of course I know that Uncle Xian is a man of high moral character and selfless." Nan Yi gave a thumbs up, then changed the subject, "But, Uncle Xian, you'd better not do this kind of work in the future. There is no such thing as a wall that is impenetrable. Sooner or later, the commune will know about this kind of thing.
Then you’ll be in trouble.”
"Of course I understand. I was just about to stop because a lot of people have been heading there recently and the situation is tense. But Japanese urea is better than our domestically produced one."
"No matter how useful it is, it can't be used anymore. Let's just give it a rest."
"Forget it, let's not talk about this. Just tell me about your opportunity." Xian Yaodong waved his hand and said.
"The opportunity I'm talking about is right there." Nan Yi pointed in the direction of Shencun Bay.
"Sham Cun Wan?" Xian Yaodong was dumbfounded and said, "You're not saying you're helping someone get there?"
"How is that possible? I know there are people doing this job in Wenchangwei. How dare I, an outsider, come up with this idea?"
"Besides crossing the sea, is there any other way to make money in Sham Cun Wan?"
"Uncle Xian, you have lived here for decades. You must know how many people have swam here. How many have succeeded, and how many have sunk?
You must have a rough idea of where those innocent dead are buried.
You said you wanted to swim over, how many of you don’t have some valuables on you?
Whether it is gold, antiques, US dollars, British pounds, or Hong Kong dollars, how can it not be waterproofed?
Tell me, if we can catch them, how much wealth will it bring?"
"You know what, the water in Shencun Bay is not very deep. The water in the inner bay is only about two meters. Even the center is not that deep. People with good swimming skills can definitely swim to the bottom. But, average swimmers can't handle it."
"Uncle Xian, to be honest, I've practiced Kung Fu and I'm pretty good at swimming. If you can just find a way to get some diving equipment, I'll definitely be able to get the stuff out of the water."
"really?"
"More real than pearls."
"How do we divide it?"
"I know you have acquaintances in Xiangkeng, and you have the channels to make the move. You must give the benefits to others, and when we have the money in our hands, we will split it 50-50. But..."
"But what?" Xian Yaodong asked quickly.
"I need Uncle Xian's help."
"What favor? Is it about settling down? If that's the case, don't bother talking about it. It's not a big deal. If you settle down now, no one will have any objections."
"No, I want to get a residential plot, preferably a bigger one. I plan to build three large tiled houses and have front and back yards."
"Well, that's all. It's not a big deal. The homestead originally belongs to the brigade. If anyone wants to build a house, they can pay some money to the brigade and get a piece of it. How big and which piece you want? Just tell me. I'll let Jimin calculate it. You just pay the amount you should pay.
But it takes some time to build a house. If you don’t mind it being old, there is an empty house in the brigade. It’s quite big, but the price is definitely not cheap.”
When Xian Yaodong said this, Nan Yi immediately realized which house he was talking about. It was probably the house next to Sham Cun Bay, which was originally owned by a landlord in Wenchangwei.
The landlord's surname was Liu, and his family had long been extinct. As for whether he had any descendants overseas, Nan Yi had not found out.
"Uncle Xian, you are talking about the house of Landlord Liu, right?"
"Yes, that's it. It's been empty there for nearly 30 years. If you're not afraid of it being dirty, I can sell it to you."
"Is it really possible? Will other members have any objections?"
"No, let me put it this way. The death of Landlord Liu's family is closely related to the old people in Wenchangwei. No one dares to live there. Do you understand?"
"I see. No one in there has ever been hanged, right?"
"I'm sure there isn't."
"What price are you going to sell it for?"
"Two thousand. This price is fixed. There is no room for negotiation."
"Okay, money is easy to talk about. Take me to see the house first. If there is no problem, I will make the decision."
"Okay, after we finish drinking, I'll go with you to see it. I haven't been to that house for more than ten years. Now that a strong young man like you is here, it's a good opportunity to go and take a look."
