Chapter 216.1 – Educated Youth (1a)
1975, Shangmu Village
Shangmu Village is a small village in the Water Town of Jiangnan.
It is located on the west side of a large river that flows into the sea. There is a small river winding through the village. The land is fertile and rich in water and grass. The people who live here have lived by farming and raising silkworms for generations.
It is the ninth month of the lunar calendar, and the weather is neither cold nor hot. The villagers in Shangmu Village are busy digging sweet potatoes.
Shangmu Village has always grown rice. Some land grows two crops a year, and some land grows one crop a year. In this rotation, the annual output of rice is still good, but most of the rice must be handed over to the public. There is no way to eat white rice all at once.
Therefore, the sweet potatoes dug today are especially important—they all rely on sweet potatoes to fill their stomachs!
Digging sweet potatoes is an individual task. Early in the morning, young adults in the village use iron rakes to turn over the ground where the sweet potato vines have been cut.
Gu Mingxiu was turning the ground.
He was very thin, but his strength was not small. As soon as he raked it down, a large piece of mud and many sweet potatoes were turned out.
The women in the village use their hands to pick up the mud blocks they dug out, find sweet potatoes from them, and throw them into the bamboo basket next to them.
Occasionally, they will see some big sweet potatoes being pierced by Gu Mingxiu's iron rake, and they will sigh: "Such a big sweet potato, it's a pity."
While talking, they threw the damaged sweet potatoes into another bamboo basket—such sweet potatoes can't be left for a long time, they have to be eaten quickly.
Gu Mingxiu kept turning the ground. The women followed him and other people who turned the ground to pick up sweet potatoes. Behind them, there were some children with runny noses, holding a basket and picking up what was dropped by the woman in front, some finger-sized sweet potatoes, or sweet potato roots.
These little sweet potatoes are full of "fiber", that is, coarse plant fiber, but they can fill their stomachs anyway, so no one is willing to waste it.
Moreover, the big sweet potatoes have to be handed over to the village chief to distribute them, but these small sweet potatoes can be taken home directly.
In order to get more sweet potatoes home, some women will let their children stay behind them, and then deliberately drop some bigger, egg-sized sweet potatoes, and those children's harvest will be much richer.
They are all village folks, and no one usually says anything.
As they were working, someone suddenly said, "Where's the educated youth? Not here again?"
Their village is next to a town, they have small land and more people. Not many educated youths came here, and most of them are relatives of the villagers. People in the nearby towns want to go to the countryside, and they all choose neighboring villages. Many of them went to live directly with their relatives.
But the educated youth is different. He came from Beijing two years ago.
That's the capital!
When he first came, the villagers were very curious, and they all went to see him specially, but now...the villagers are all afraid of him.
This educated youth is tall and big, and looks very strong, but he is too lazy!
He has been here for two years, he still cannot do the work in the field properly. All he knows is to hide at home and be lazy.
"That said, the educated youth is really too lazy."
"Zhang Zugen's daughter also fell in love with him before, and recently, she was also discouraged."
"Can she not be discouraged? He is so lazy, he gets poorer and poorer..."
...
This educated youth, the people in the village really don't know what to say about him.
When he first arrived, he looked glamorous, and his leather shoes were all polished. Everyone thought that his family must be rich, but they weren't.
In the past two years, no one has sent him anything!
In the first year, he was able to live on by selling the things he brought, and in the second year, he was able to live by borrowing food from the village and the people around him.
This borrowed grain from the village, he had to write down every penny. He doesn't always show up for work, and he certainly can't pay back at the end of the year. This...
More importantly, the villagers also learned that his family's background is not very good.
People in this Jiangnan water town have soft personalities. In recent years, it has been so chaotic outside. Sometimes, officials will also pull people from their side to criticize, but the toss is not serious. No one does anything to the educated youth, but everyone does not want to approach him.
Even if he is well-educated, because of laziness and bad background, the girls who had been in love with his face at first retreated one after another.
Everyone in the village feels that if the educated youth keeps going like this, he will probably be a bachelor for a lifetime!
As for the other person in the village who may be bachelor for a lifetime, it is Gu Mingxiu who is working hard to smash the ground.
Gu Mingxiu is the best-looking person in their village. He is not worse than an educated youth. He works hard. When he was fifteen years old, he was able to earn the same work points as an adult when he was working in the farm.
But he also has fatal flaws.
First of all, his family background is also bad—Gu Mingxiu's grandfather was the big landlord of the village.
The Gu family used to be in the raw silk business.
Their family built a large yard with a wall of three meters high by the big river and built a dock. For decades in the morning, when the cocoons are collected every year, people nearby shake their boats to sell the cocoons here. On this dock, that is where people come and go, and the silver banknotes are carried in bamboo baskets.
The Gu family's old man was once unspeakably impressive, and Gu Mingxiu's grandfather, who had gone to the big city to study, was the only one who did so in the village.
It is a pity that the times have changed too fast.
Before Gu Mingxiu was born, the Gu family was already ruined. Not long after he was born, his father committed suicide for various reasons. After that, Gu Mingxiu's mother took Gu Mingxiu and married an old bachelor in the village who could not marry a wife, and gave birth to four more children.
But even if Gu Mingxiu's mother remarried, Gu Mingxiu's backgroung is still not good. Many people are unwilling to marry him, let alone... he is still dragged down by his family.
When Gu Mingxiu was at his stepfather's house, he was seen as a drag oil bottle. He needed to do farm work to take care of his younger siblings when he was young. He was also the son of a landlord. He was always bullied in the village, and he had a bad life.
But even so, God still won't let him go.
When Gu Mingxiu was fourteen years old, his stepfather got sick and his belly grew bigger and bigger. He went to the hospital and the doctor said that he couldn't be cured, so he died.
His mother was in poor health. She was pregnant with a child and fell ill all of a sudden. Later, when she gave birth, the child's feet came out first...
The midwife pulled hard, and his mother also died.
Gu Mingxiu is twenty this year. There are no elders in the family. There are four half-brothers and sisters to take care of. The youngest is only six years old... Who wants to marry him?
However, although Gu Mingxiu's father was a landlord, the old man of the Gu family had always been kind to people. Gu Mingxiu was miserable, so the villagers were still friendly to Gu Mingxiu.
Only occasionally, when there's a criticism meeting, Gu Mingxiu will still be pulled out and criticized.
These days, it is also unavoidable.
The sun was gradually setting from the west, and it was time to call it a day.
The educated youth still did not come to the field.
The aunts couldn't help sighing again.
"It's really rare to see someone as lazy as that educated youth!" one of them said: "He is like this, sooner or later he will starve to death."
Gu Mingxiu who was carrying an iron rake, was walking towards the place where farm tools were stored in the village. He couldn't help but say: "He is sick..."
"Sick? You're the only one who believes in this kind of nonsense." The gossiping women rolled their eyes. With that fat and fair look of the educated youth, sick?
Gu Mingxiu didn't agree with these women's words, but he didn't like to argue with others, so he closed his mouth and said nothing.
There used to be a small temple in Shangmu Village, which houses several Bodhisattvas. This temple was built by the Gu family, but in the early years, the clay Bodhisattvas in the temple had been thrown away. Now this temple has become the place where the village would store various things.
The tractors in the village, the farming tools that everyone used, the grain harvested, and so on, are all placed in this temple.
Gu Mingxiu put down the iron rake and returned home.
A few years ago, the village once made a big pot of rice, but now it has stopped doing it. The food is divided into different families.
At this time, compared to when there was a famine more than ten years ago, everyone's life is much better. Like Gu Mingxiu's family, only Gu Mingxiu is a strong laborer. Three of the four younger siblings are in their teens and want to study. The youngest, because he was suffocated in their mother's belly became sickly and frail, and always had a bad life.
However, sweet potatoes have been harvested in the past few days, and the village has divided the sweet potatoes that were damaged during the digging process early, so that they will not be hungry.
When Gu Mingxiu came home, he smelled of roasted sweet potatoes.
Gu Mingxiu's four younger siblings are two men and two women.
His stepfather's surname is also Gu, his younger siblings are also the same as his surname. Among them, the eldest brother is 15 this year, called Gu Yubao, the second sister is 13 this year, called Gu Yulan, the third sister is 12 this year, called Gu Yuxian, and the youngest is a boy, 6 years old this year, called Gu Yukang.
At this moment, the third sister, Gu Yuxian, has just cooked the sweet potatoes.
Wash the sweet potatoes and put them in the iron pan and cook for a long time. The sweet potatoes are stuck on the iron pan. When the sweet potatoes are burnt on one side, the sweet potatoes will be cooked. When the sweet potatoes are being cooked, she also put a bowl on the steaming rack. Put in a little bit of rice and steam a bowl of rice.
This meal is for Gu Yukang.
Gu Yukang is weak but has a stubborn temper. He doesn't eat sweet potatoes. Even if only sweet potatoes are available, he will never eat sweet potatoes, and will keep on crying.
Gu Mingxiu was never picky about food. He went home, washed his hands, took the sweet potato from the pot and ate it with the skin.
While eating, Gu Yubao, who was in junior high school in town, came back.
Their village is very close to the town. The children in the village go to the primary school in the village. The school is the three-meter-high walled old house of the Gu family. Everyone in junior high school went to the town to study.
Of course, most people don't go to junior high school.
"What's there to eat at home today?" Gu Yubao went into the kitchen and was unhappy when he saw that there were only sweet potatoes in the pot: "Only sweet potatoes?"
After he finished speaking, he saw the rice next to it: "Give me this bowl of rice."
"This is Yukang's." Gu Yuxian wanted to stop her second brother, but Gu Yubao picked up the bowl and, without even using chopsticks, took a sip directly on the bowl of rice that was steamed to a charred yellow color with a hint of burnt sweet potato flavor.
"This is Yukang's," Gu Mingxiu frowned and said.
"Big brother, I want to eat rice too." Gu Yubao reached out for his chopsticks.
"You ate it at noon and you had eggs." Gu Mingxiu grabbed the bowl.
Gu Yubao was in junior high school in town and brought rice every day.
They have been eating badly at home, but Gu Yubao said that people at school are eating well. Eating poorly is a disgrace. Gu Mingxiu can only let him bring rice to school, and every day, he would also boil an egg, cut in half and drizzled with soy sauce to give him as food.
"I still want to eat it tonight," Gu Yubao said confidently.
When Gu Mingxiu's stepfather and mother were still alive, the most favored was Gu Yubao, after all, it was his stepfather's first child and son.
It is also because of this that Gu Yubao has developed the temperament that needs to get what he wants since he was a child.
Gu Mingxiu used to be obedient to Gu Yubao, but today he was tired all day and had something on his mind, so he said: "If you make trouble again, you will bring sweet potato to school tomorrow."
After speaking, Gu Mingxiu gave the bowl on his hand to Gu Yuxian.
Gu Yubao frowned, feeling dissatisfied.
Gu Yuxian was afraid that Gu Yubao would be upset again, and hurriedly took a bowl to feed Gu Yukang. Six-year-old Gu Yukang, they didn't know if it was because he had been suffocated in their mother's belly for a long time, but he was a bit dull. Already six years old and still can't do a lot of things that normal six-year olds can do, whenever he needed something, he will always shout brother or sister.
"You are too good to that fool!" Gu Yubao curled his lips and chose the sweet potato with the best appearance.
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A bit of a background if you're unfamiliar with the setting. At that time, there was a big cleanup. Landlords and capitalists were like... a big nope. Because they were growing too powerful/influential and the nation was like going in a different direction, this one old man in power said... that's a big NOPE. Politics. A lot of politics. Chaos. Books were burned. Vases were smashed. Lands/Houses were seized. A lot of cleanups. The end.
So Ah Xiu, because he came from a family of landlords, his background was not good. :/
Educated Youths – they are the intellectuals who were sent to the countryside to be re-educated by peasants — as part of the 4 cleanups (politics, economy, organization, ideology).
The Village's Big Pot of Rice — like a big canteen for farmers
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Chapter 216.2 – Educated Youth (1b)
At this time, Gu Yulan came back.
The two sisters of the Gu family, the older one is called Gu Yulan and younger one is called Gu Yuxian. Looking at their names, they should be beautiful women, but in fact...
Gu Mingxiu's stepfather is really not good-looking, and the two sisters are also unattractive.
Among them, Gu Yuxian is a little younger, and works at home raising children while studying in elementary school. Gu Yulan is a little older and does not like to study, she has already started working.
When she came back today, she carried a basket in her hand and she proudly showed it to her family: "Look, I went to pick up a lot of sweet potatoes after work!"
The sweet potatoes in her basket were quite big, and Gu Mingxiu frowned, "Why are they so big?"
Gu Yulan said: "I hid it secretly. When everyone left, I went back to get it..."
"Are you not afraid of being caught?" Gu Mingxiu frowned. Although these sweet potatoes will be divided later, but if discovered by others that someone hid it secretly, they will be criticized!
"I won't be caught! And they all do this." Gu Yulan looked at Gu Mingxiu: "Big Brother, you are just too honest!"
Gu Mingxiu was a little helpless. He felt that this was not good, but he didn't know how to say it.
After eating, Gu Mingxiu went out: "I'm out."
Gu Yulan said, "Brother, are you going to town? I'll go with you."
Gu Mingxiu immediately refused: "You stay at home."
Gu Yulan, probably because she suffered hunger when she was a child, when she went out, she always wanted to take everything home. Her hands and feet were not clean. He didn't dare to take her out because he was afraid that she would cause trouble and be beaten or arrested.
Gu Yulan rolled her eyes and stopped talking.
At night in the village, people are arranged to watch the night, not alone, but several people, to avoid someone stealing sweet potatoes or something.
When Gu Mingxiu went out, he didn't go into the field, but went to the town.
The people in the town have public food to eat, and they have a very good life. They look down on the country people. They call the country people "country tortoise", of course, the country people are not to be outdone, they call them "street tortoise".
Gu Mingxiu is not hostile to the people in the town like some people in the village, but he does envy them.
The people in town have a great time.
When he arrived in the town, Gu Mingxiu went directly to the town's material supply point to pick up sugar cane tips.
Recently, there was a good harvest of sweet potatoes and the sugar cane was also on the market.
Shangmu Village and nearby villages all grow sugarcane. After harvesting, part of it will be distributed in the village, part is sent to make sugar, and part will be sent to the nearby county town to supply the local residents.
And such local specialties do not need a ticket.
In the past few days, everyone in the town basically buys some sugar cane to eat. Unlike the country folks, they take the skin and eat it directly after washing. They often buy it home after the skin is peeled, and then they will also make people cut off the head and tail.
In this way, the top tip of the sugar cane with the leaves on it will be cut off and left on the ground, and this tip, someone will come to pick it up.
The tips of sugar cane are not sweet, but the children who lack snacks in the country will still pick them up and eat them. After they are finished, they can be dried and used as firewood.
Here is the plains, and the land that can be reclaimed is basically reclaimed. Anyway, there is no such thing as forest.
This has also caused a situation—the firewood in every household is often not enough to burn.
The Gu family uses their share of straw in the village and some mulberry strips, but this is not enough. For more firewood, after the rice is cut, Gu Mingxiu will go to the field to pull out the roots of the rice at night. And now, he will also come to the town to pick up sugar cane tips.
Gu Mingxiu picked up a lot in one go, bundled them up, and took them home.
When he got home, it was already very dark, but there were still many people in the village who had light coming out of their homes.
Because their village is near from the town, it is connected to the electricity. Of course, not many people are willing to use electricity.
As soon as Gu Mingxiu returned home, several children in the family rushed up. They chose the sugar cane tips they could eat.
Gu Yukang even shouted at the top of his lungs, "Sister! Sister!"
He couldn't get it for himself, so he called out to others to help him.
Gu Yubao has never paid attention to Gu Yukang, this younger brother. Gu Yulan only eats for herself, so Gu Yuxian finds a piece of the tip, cleans it and tears off the skin with her mouth, and then feeds a little to the younger brother.
The sugar cane tips are not sweet at all. Gu Yukang took two bites and didn't want it. Gu Yuxian started to eat it by herself.
At this time, Gu Mingxiu picked up two sugarcane tips that he had been optimistic about a long time ago, stood up and went out.
Gu Yubao frowned: "Where are you going, brother?"
"Maybe to catch the frogs." Gu Yuxian said, "I will also go to catch tomorrow."
Thinking of the frogs, Gu Yubao licked his lips, dropped the unsweetened sugar cane tip on his hand and went back to the room.
Gu Mingxiu did not catch the frog.
He wanted to go, but he was tired for a day today and he also went to town, he really did not have the energy.
In fact, his stomach is hungry right now—only eating sweet potatoes always makes him hungry very fast.
The sugar cane tips didn't have any sweetness, but Gu Mingxiu was still a bit craving, but he didn't eat it.
He went to the well to wash the two sugarcane tips in his hand, and then went to the Gu's old house, where his father lived.
This house is now used as an elementary school, and at the same time, there is also an educated youth living in it, that is the lazy educated youth, Yan Jing Ze.
Gu Mingxiu thinks that the name Yan Jing Ze is particularly nice, and the educated youth is also particularly good-looking.
Since Yan Jing Ze came to the village, he has noticed this educated youth, and he likes this person from the bottom of his heart, and wants to make this person happy.
But he still secretly sends things to Yan Jing Ze.
He can't take the food at home, but usually he finds something that can be sent, so he will always share it to the educated youth.
Today, the educated youth is sick again. Before going to work, he wanted to give something to the educated youth. Unfortunately, he had nothing to send, only the cane tips.
Even if he picked it up specially when he picked it up, compared to the sugar cane tips, this thing is a bit unsatisfactory.
In the past, when the educated youth was in Beijing, he must have been able to eat the complete sugar cane.
Thinking this way, Gu Mingxiu felt a little embarrassed.
But he still knocked gently on the door.
Yan Jing Ze transmigrated.
He woke up abruptly and suddenly found himself in a small house surrounded with broken walls with a strange smell.
It was already dark outside. The house was empty. He wanted to light a lamp but could not find one, and he was still very hungry...
Yan Jing Ze is speechless.
Where did he traverse?
It's fine to traverse, and it's fine if you don't give him his previous memory. But why doesn't he still have the memory of the original owner of this body?
How can he live?
If he goes out tomorrow, will he reveal himself and be caught directly by someone?
Yan Jing Ze became more and more entangled as he thought about it, and his stomach became more and more hungry.
However, he doesn't know what the situation is now, and he simply doesn't dare to go out and wander around. It's dark everywhere, and he doesn't know where he can go.
He could only lie helplessly in bed, intending to stay up until dawn.
At this moment, he suddenly heard a knock on the door.
The voice was very soft, but it was very obvious in the quiet night. Someone was looking for him?
Yan Jing Ze got off the wooden bed and fumbled forward.
The knocking stopped, and the person outside the door left?
Yan Jing Ze was a little anxious, he rushed to the door, fumbled for the bolt, and finally opened the door.
It took a lot of time to open the door, but Yan Jing Ze was ready to see no one outside, but when the door opened, he saw a person.
There was moonlight outside, allowing him to see what this person looked like.
This is a very handsome man in his twenties with sword eyebrows and starry eyes. When he saw this man, Yan Jing Ze felt his heartbeat speed up suddenly.
He can't tell what it feels like, he only knows one thing—he likes this person!
He fell in love at first sight!
After traveling to a strange place, he fell in love at first sight with a complete stranger to him.
But he couldn't control his feelings, just seeing the person in front of him, he felt that his heart no longer belonged to him.
"You..." Yan Jing Ze opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Gu Mingxiu knocked on the door and no one responded, and he became annoyed.
At this point, the sick educated youth may have already gone to sleep, he came to knock on the door like this, wouldn't it disturb him?
He stopped knocking on the door and intended to leave the things in his hand at the door, but he was afraid that they would end up being taken away by someone. He was feeling torn when he saw it open and the educated youth came out.
The educated youth is taller than everyone in their village, and looks strong... they said it's because the northerners are tall.
Gu Mingxiu opened his mouth: "Yan educated youth, I brought you something, I..."
"Do you want to come in and sit down?" Yan Jing Ze asked.
Gu Mingxiu looked at Yan Jing Ze in surprise.
The country people are all dirty and have lice. Before, they said that the educated youth would not let them in, but now he let him in?
As he was stunned, Gu Mingxiu saw the educated youth in front of him staggering. He held his hand on the door frame to stabilize his body.
Before, the educated youth said he was sick, he should be really sick!
Gu Mingxiu immediately stepped forward and held on to Yan Jing Ze: "Yan educated youth, are you okay?"
Yan Jing Ze took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and said, "I'm fine."
He was really fine, he just got dizzy suddenly for a while.
And the reason why he got dizzy was because he got the memory of the original owner.
Yan Jing Ze gritted his teeth and was so angry—this original owner is really a scumbag!
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Ticket – you need tickets to buy food like meat, or milk, or things like fabrics, or bicycles, etc... It's not enough if you only have money.