MAC’60s Chapter 66.1

In her previous life, Wang Ying hadn’t lived in the countryside for long. Her biggest impression of rural life was a colleague whose parents didn’t want to move to the city and still farmed at their old home. Every now and then, they would send various agricultural products to their daughter. So, this colleague often brought them green wheat during the wheat harvest season.

The so-called green wheat is when the wheat is not yet yellow, but the grains are tender enough to be eaten directly. This period lasts for about half a month to a month before the harvest. The green wheat grains exude the natural aroma of the grain itself. The nurses who were always on a diet loved this colleague because they could ask her to bring some every year. They would mix the green wheat grains with chicken breast, carrots, and king oyster mushrooms, then boil and stir-fry it. It was chewy and low-fat.

As for Wang Ying herself, she would always cook green wheat grains into sweet soup, pairing them with lotus seeds, and adding a few glutinous rice dumplings to the finished soup. The color was fresh and light, and the aroma was pleasant.

Her colleagues were amazed at how creative they were with eating green wheat. “Back in our hometown, if the wheat wasn’t ripe, we’d harvest it and eat the green wheat. If you did that, people would think you were crazy. But these past few years, the demand for green wheat has grown. My parents said that someone went to our area to collect green wheat, saying it was for feeding cattle… If the village leaders hadn’t stopped them, many people would have sold it. The price of green wheat is even higher than ripe wheat.”

Who would have thought that in just thirty or forty years, people would have so many ways to eat wheat?

However, for now, Wang Ying had other things to worry about. Wearing a straw hat, she was already out in the fields, joining the bustling harvest season.

The saying “the wheat harvest comes in a flash” referred to how quickly the wheat ripened. How quickly? Wang Ying remembered that just the day before, the wheat in the field was still green. After two days of intense sun, by the third morning, the gong sounded in the village.

Whether they were at home eating or working in the fields, everyone gathered at the threshing ground.

Tian Youfu waved his hands and shouted, “Comrades, we’ve reached a critical moment! We bear the heavy responsibility of food production, and after months of hard work, now is the time to test our efforts!”

“We need to rush the harvest! The leaders of each group should go to the designated areas we assigned before. If the harvest isn’t finished, we won’t go home! Each family’s meals should be brought to the field! If we finish early, we can rest early!”

…

Wang Ying, standing at the edge, was also caught up in the atmosphere.

Cheng Shufen, Cheng Yu, and Qian Juhua also arrived. Every member of the village, including Tian Youfu, was called to the scene.

Wang Ying watched as Tian Youfu’s face turned red and his neck thickened, his whole body brimming with energy. She overheard whispers nearby.

“What’s wrong with Youfu? He wasn’t like this in previous years!”

“Shh… Don’t you know about the other two villages?”

“What happened?”

“The wheat fields in the neighboring villages look sparse… I heard they didn’t replant properly. Even the Lazy Man Commune downstream has run out of food…”

“Was it because of that hailstorm in spring? My God!”

“Youfu is worried about things getting chaotic, so as soon as he saw the wheat was ripe, he had us hurry up and harvest it, trying to beat the other villages to it and get our share done…”

“Hurry up and harvest. The weather this year doesn’t look good. We started with hailstorms, so let’s finish the harvest early and feel more secure.”

“Who’s not worried? Thankfully, we just got some pork. I’m planning to have meat every day in the next few days. You can’t do this rush harvest without some oil!”

“Has your kid come back? Did they get time off for the wheat harvest?”

“Yeah, they came back a few days ago. I told them to go help with the work.”

…

Tian Youfu was still giving instructions, “Leave people at each field. Every group should leave a few people behind for the night shift. We’ll have a guard on duty at the fields…”

Tian Youfu’s orders were unquestioned. Arranging for people to sleep at the field corners was nothing. When it came to a crucial moment, everyone was willing to sleep at the field corners!

Tian Youfu said, “Put aside the work on your private plots for now, don’t confuse the priority of tasks.”

He was referring to those who were slacking off on public land and working too hard on their private plots.

“Youfu, don’t worry, we won’t do that.”

Everyone wasn’t stupid. The private plots were planted with oilseeds and vegetables, which could never be more important than the large fields of grain.

With Tian Youfu’s order, everyone in the village was mobilized.

Wang Ying and Old Lady Xu also joined in. For Wang Ying, doing farm work wasn’t a big deal; after all, it wasn’t something she did every day. Harvesting wheat was understandable.

According to Old Lady Xu, in previous years, Xu Shuang would always find time during the midday break to return and do some work at the farm. Even people like Cheng Shufen were assigned to help with the grain.

Qian Juhua stood with Wang Ying. She had recently raised a 150-pound pig and earned a full work point. She didn’t technically have to come, but Tian Youfu still called everyone, giving them extra work points to ensure the grain was harvested quickly.

However, considering that people like them, who usually had their own tasks, were not the main workforce, they were grouped with the educated youth.

Wang Ying and Old Lady Xu were assigned by the group leader to help unload and dry the grain.

Qian Juhua was also drying grain.

Just after the assignments were made, there was some commotion among the educated youth.

Wang Ying peered over, and Old Lady Xu wasn’t surprised. “They probably think the assignments aren’t fair.”

Sure enough, from a distance, they heard the group leader’s angry shout: “What’s wrong with how I’ve assigned things? The people here all have their own duties to do! Wang Ying is a doctor, and with the harvest season, accidents can happen—she needs to be ready to handle emergencies. Qian Juhua needs to feed pigs and has a baby under one year old. As for Old Lady Xu, she’s so old—how can we have her out harvesting wheat?”

The group leader felt his assignments were already fair enough. To keep the educated youth from feeling bored, he had arranged for them to take turns. But Jiang Lei still wasn’t happy, constantly criticizing him for supporting the villagers over the educated youth.

The group leader spat and got some spit on Jiang Lei’s face. Bai Ling, who was nearby, didn’t want to speak anymore.

She regretted it now.

Being associated with someone like him was ruining her reputation.

Bai Ling rolled her eyes at Jiang Lei, and her gaze unintentionally shifted to the side.

Standing nearby was Yu Pengcheng.

Yu Pengcheng was dressed similarly to everyone else, wearing work clothes that were no different from the others. Very few people wore their best clothes to work in the fields; most chose the most worn-out ones so they didn’t mind ruining them. Yu Pengcheng wore a white short-sleeve shirt with long pants that had patches near the knees.

Bai Ling, who was quite calculating, quickly assessed him. She figured that Yu Pengcheng’s worst clothes were just patched-up pants…

Bai Ling had been observing Yu Pengcheng over the past period, and through various details, she had begun to estimate his status.

Just from the fact that Yu Pengcheng frequently went to town to buy things, she could tell that he wasn’t from a poor family. She estimated that he must have at least a few hundred yuan on him.

Bai Ling confirmed this and, with a determined resolve, decided to act. Although she hadn’t yet figured out exactly what Yu Pengcheng’s family did, she was ready to make a move.

When she first came to the countryside, she hadn’t planned to settle down so soon. After all, people with good connections already had jobs arranged for them, and it was unlikely they would end up in the countryside.

However, if someone good came along, Bai Ling didn’t mind finding a partner to settle down with. She came from a big family, so she was used to fighting for opportunities. The reason she ended up in the countryside was that her older sister, who was supposed to go, suddenly found someone to marry, so the task of coming to the countryside fell to Bai Ling.

Her sister had avoided the countryside by marrying a boiler worker who was much older than her. The boiler worker was not only shorter but also unattractive.

Bai Ling had to admit that her sister was ruthless. This decision had completely blocked her way. The potential suitors she had been considering were no longer options, and she was left with only Jiang Lei after coming to the countryside.

Bai Ling pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, wiped the sweat off her face, and then softly said to Jiang Lei, “Jiang Zhizhong, stop talking. We’re in the countryside now, so we should follow the team’s lead. These farm tasks can be done by the villagers, so why can’t we do them?”

After she finished speaking, Bai Ling quietly glanced at Yu Pengcheng. Since they weren’t living together anymore, she knew very little about him, so she could only rely on her impression of him.

Yu Pengcheng had been quite active in the recent matters among the educated youth. Although he usually kept to himself, he was articulate when it came to discussing group matters. Especially on the first day of arriving in the countryside, Yu Pengcheng had openly opposed Jiang Lei, speaking about the importance of collective effort.

Bai Ling immediately changed her approach. While she had been gentle and weak when comforting Jiang Lei, she knew she had to be more strategic with Yu Pengcheng—stronger, more composed, and more considerate of the bigger picture.

Sure enough, when Yu Pengcheng looked at her, there was a hint of surprise in his gaze.

Bai Ling felt a surge of happiness and continued, “Jiang Zhizhong, look, everyone’s already delayed a lot of progress because of you. Let’s start now, we can’t delay the autumn harvest. If you keep causing trouble, people might think you’re avoiding heavy work, and that won’t look good for our reputation as educated youth.”

Jiang Lei had already been scolded by the group leader and then by Bai Ling. His face darkened.

The educated youth leader, Yang Hong, had gone to get tools from elsewhere and returned with two other educated youth. They handed out sickles, and everyone began their work.

Jiang Lei, his face still dark, waited for Bai Ling to come over and comfort him with soft words.

However, Bai Ling paid him no attention and was already working with the main group in the fields.

Jiang Lei felt somewhat wronged. He didn’t understand why Bai Ling was acting this way. Just yesterday, she had asked him to buy hair ties for her. How had she changed so much in just one day?

Jiang Lei, feeling wronged, went to harvest the wheat. Bai Ling noticed him coming and switched rows to create some distance between herself and him.

Jiang Lei: …

Leaving aside the undercurrents within the educated youth group, Wang Ying’s work wasn’t any easier. Within half a day, two or three people came to find her.

One had cut their hand with a sickle, and another had stepped on a thorny hedgehog in the field.

Wang Ying took them to the meeting room, disinfected their wounds with alcohol, applied medicine, and after bandaging them up, let them rest for a while. The two of them then tidied up and went back to work.

In the countryside, people didn’t stop working just because of a minor injury. Even these visits to Wang Ying were at the request of the village head, who said that not treating them could lead to infection. In previous years, they would just clean the wound with water and continue working without going to see a doctor.

Wang Ying understood this, so she had already told Tian Youfu and notified all the small groups: no matter what the injury was, as long as it involved blood, they had to come to her.

Even if she didn’t apply medicine, cleaning the wound with alcohol was still better than ignoring it.

This idea was even turned into a small skit by Wu Guihua’s children, who performed it as a little drama. The children vividly acted out the story of an old bachelor who had no oil at home, licking the pig lard off his knife with his tongue, then cutting himself and dying from tetanus.

Once this skit was performed, everyone knew that if rusty items touched an open wound, tetanus could develop, and any bleeding wound should never be taken lightly.

By noon, when the wheat harvest was over, Old Mrs. Xu went back to cook lunch.

Wang Ying was puzzled when she saw that Qian Juhua wasn’t going back: “Aren’t you going back?”

Qian Juhua patted her chest: “Cheng Yu and my little girl are at home. They’ll bring lunch over!”

Cheng Shufen pushed a cart and jogged over. Her family background wasn’t great, and she was only given the more labor-intensive tasks, but when she heard what Qian Juhua said, she secretly smiled, quickly suppressing it, afraid someone might notice.

She didn’t talk to Qian Juhua and just pushed the cart to transport the grain.

Qian Juhua whispered: “Sister Shufen… sigh.”

Wang Ying: “Don’t think too much about it. Maybe Sister Shufen doesn’t mind the hard work.”

Cheng Shufen really didn’t feel the work was too hard. Though she was struggling with the physical labor, it was still manageable. Besides, she felt a sense of relief just from being there. It was much better than being dragged off to be criticized.

After some time, lunch from various families was brought over, and everyone gathered around the field to eat.

Wang Ying, Qian Juhua, and Old Mrs. Xu found a shady spot under a tree. Qian Maishui, a little girl, brought over a full lunchbox. There was rice at the bottom, topped with scrambled eggs with tomatoes and potatoes stir-fried in lard.

Qian Juhua ate and asked, “Have you eaten? Did the little girl cry this morning?”

Qian Maishui’s sun-kissed face turned red: “We ate! My sister and Cheng Yu did the cooking! It was so delicious, I ate a whole big bowl. The little girl didn’t cry much. We tied some cloth to the side of her bed and let her look at it. She was so happy…”

Qian Juhua: “That’s good. Oh, this dish is really well made! The eggs are scrambled perfectly! The potatoes are cut evenly.”

The little girl looked as if she was being praised herself and was extremely happy: “My sister also said to ask you if we can buy a covered cup for the house, and tomorrow she’ll bring you some soup. Mom, let’s buy one.”

Qian Juhua: “What’s the big deal? Just have your sister buy it. She has money. You two can go to the town this afternoon and have a look. I’ll find someone to exchange tickets later.”

Wang Ying also opened her lunchbox and interjected, “No need to go through all that trouble. I have a ticket for an enamel jar at home. I’ll find someone to give it to you later.”

It was the same ticket that Chen Dong had given her last time, and she hadn’t used it.

Qian Juhua: “Alright, then I won’t be polite.”

Now that she had earned work points, Qian Juhua spoke with more confidence, no longer shrinking back or feeling indebted like before. She would just owe Wang Ying, and at the end of the year, she would give Wang Ying some cloth as a thank you.

For lunch, Old Mrs. Xu made stir-fried pork. The rice was pressed tightly in the box, with a few pieces of smoked fish on top and stir-fried green beans with eggplant on the side.

The meal was greasy but tasted great. The stir-fried pork had a deliciously crispy aroma, and the fish chunks were from the fillets Xu Shuang had intentionally saved earlier. After reheating, they were delicious. The green beans and eggplant were fresh and tender, stir-fried with lard, making them fragrant.

On the other side, some distance away from Wang Ying and Qian Juhua, Cheng Shufen avoided almost everyone. The lunchbox Cheng Yu brought seemed plain, with only two miscellaneous steamed buns inside, nothing else.

However, when Cheng Shufen bit into the bun, she could taste the meat filling flowing out.

To avoid attracting attention, Cheng Yu had hidden the filling inside. These were actually buns stuffed with filling.

One bun had a large meat filling, while the other had a carrot and egg filling.

Cheng Shufen enjoyed the meal in silence, wiped her mouth afterward, and no one could tell.

After they finished eating and took a short rest, they went back to work.