But what Feng Shuhua didn't expect was that although Yahou Street was a good place, the mood of the people who lived here and walked out from here was not entirely comfortable, and more importantly, they didn't know when this unpleasant day would change.

No, just this morning, that is, when Zheng Wenshu and Hao Zhiguo lamented the fate of Yahou Street together, the former's son Cen Xinrui, who was more than 100 miles away, had already worked for an hour. At this moment, he and his companion Que Rendong were dragging a mud boat in the field, in order to smooth the uneven soil so that the seedlings could be planted.

"Xinrui, take a break. After a while, Que Rendong, who was holding a nail rake, greeted. He got up early in the morning and leveled a large field, and he was a little tired.

"Okay. Looking back at the fields that had been leveled, Cen Xinrui agreed, and at the same time erected the mud boat vigorously, dumping the mud transported from the high convex place inside into the low recess. Bursts of sweat broke out on his head because of the effort.

"Xinrui, what's the point of us doing this?" Looking at the gloomy sky, the empty fields, and the people who were working in the morning, Que Rendong said sadly, "It's been a busy year, and it's hard to even feed yourself." ”

"Be quiet. Cen Xinrui observed the surrounding situation and found that in addition to the partners of the collective household, there were also members of the production team, and some of them were walking towards this side, so he reminded him.

"Alas, all those with backgrounds are gone, and there are only a few of us left. Que Rendong sighed with a nail rake, "Where is the way out in the future, could it be that we really want to live here for the rest of our lives?"

Listening to the sighs of his companions, Cen Xinrui didn't squeak, but he felt the same way in his heart. Unknowingly, it has been more than three years since these intellectuals were sent to Balinghu Commune. During this time, from not adapting to adapting, from not being able to live to being able to live, they don't know how much suffering they have suffered.

According to Ma Ping, it is "the mind is hard, the muscles and bones are tired, the body is hungry, and the body is empty." "Of course, it's not all without gain, just myself, my height has jumped up a lot, from 1.62 meters to 1.73 meters, as for the physique, I am much stronger, carrying a burden of 12 or 30 pounds, and I can travel four or five miles without resting.

It's just that people are in Baling Lake, but their hearts always miss Lichuan County and Yahou Street in the north of the city. Especially watching the partners who came with me recruit workers and soldiers one by one, leaving fewer and fewer people to work hard here, I feel even more empty in my heart. He didn't know how long he would stay here or what his future would hold. If the only thing that still makes him feel a little fun, it is that under the small kerosene lamp, he has finished studying the high school textbook left by his brother, and can calculate the exercises in it without much effort.

At that moment, a whistle was heard in the distance.

"It's time to finish the morning," Hearing the voice, Que Rendong nailed the rake pillar in the field, "Go to eat." ”

"Okay. Cen Xinrui carefully tied the fiber rope to the handle of the mud boat, picked up the water from the field, washed his legs and feet, and walked up the ridge with Que Rendong. In March, it is the spring equinox, and the temperature is still very low. After soaking in muddy water for a morning, both of them had their legs and stomachs red from freezing. Fortunately, I have long been used to it, and I don't feel too uncomfortable.

"It's been a busy morning, and I'm really hungry. On the way home, looking at the thatched hut of the collective household from afar, looking at the faint cooking smoke emitted from the roof, Que Rendong muttered, "I don't know what Wen Lijuan will get to eat this morning?"

Cen Xinrui was also hungry, but he didn't cater to Que Rendong's muttering this time. The Wen Lijuan mentioned by the latter is the daughter of Tan Zhujun, the head teacher when she was studying in No. 1 Middle School.

After a while, the two returned to the collective house with Ma Ping, who was assigned to other work sites by the production team. It's just that when they came into the house and picked up their rice bowls, they found that Pang Xiuying, who lived in the same room with Wen Lijuan and was always chattering, was not there.

"She went to the commune, just now," Wen Lijuan, who looked at the puzzled expressions of everyone present, said Wen Lijuan, who was on duty to cook, "It was announced on the radio." ”

What are you doing when you go to the commune? Hearing this, everyone became suspicious. At this time, an answer invariably appeared in their minds: recruited?

At the thought of this, everyone's hearts immediately churned. Among them, there is not only envy for Pang Xiuying, but also jealousy for her, and of course, there is also the loss caused by her own nothingness.

"Damn, what kind of world is this?" Seeing that everyone had different expressions but were silent, just sending rice to their mouths without a single handful, Ma Ping couldn't help it. He slapped the enamel bowl in his hand on the table, and said angrily: "There is no hope for those who work hard, and those who are lazy and slippery can return to the city!"

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other without squeaking. Although everyone doesn't think that he Maping is a serious worker, Pang Xiuying's fear of hardship, tiredness, laziness and slippery is a fact. But it's her, who is about to leave Baling Lake, and will never look here again after leaving, just like the partners who recruited workers from here to join the army.

A breakfast with few dishes and no meat is difficult to eat, and when they hear such news at this moment, everyone feels that eating it tastes like chewing wax in their mouths. If it weren't for the work to do in the morning, I'm afraid everyone wouldn't want to swallow it.

Finally, breakfast was finished. It's just that before everyone can recover from Pang Xiuying's trip to the commune, the production captain came to send workers again. This time, Cen Xinrui and Ma Ping were sent to Cheshui, and the two young daughters-in-law on the team were in the same car.

The two came to the waterwheel that had been erected yesterday on the edge of the ridge at the head of the village. With the arrival of two women, the waterwheel spun in the pedal of four people with eight feet. The water of the white flowers gushes out of the mouth of the watermill and flows to the land that needs to be watered.

"Xiao Cen, I heard that Pang Xiuying is going to recruit workers?" After stepping for a while, a woman suddenly asked Cen Xinrui beside her.

"I don't know. Cen Xinrui replied truthfully.

"Wouldn't you?" said him, and the woman didn't believe it, "you live in the same collective household, can you know?"

"I'm telling the truth," Cen Xinrui felt that this should not arouse the other party's questions, "She was temporarily notified to go to the commune, what to do, she didn't say it herself, and no one told us." ”

"It's all like that now. Hearing this, another woman spoke, "The recruiter came quietly, and the recruiter left quietly, saving a lot of trouble." ”

"Isn't this the back door?" the woman who questioned him could not approve.

"What is not opening the back door now?" Ma Ping, who had not opened his mouth, suddenly attacked, "You have to open the back door for further education, you have to open the back door for soldiers, you have to open the back door for recruitment, and there is no door for those who can't open the back door." ”

The two women looked at each other and stopped squeaking. Although they are not the parties concerned, they can understand the feelings of the educated youth who are stranded in the production team at the moment. In the last year, a lot of people were recruited. Especially those who are recruited are all from the family background, how can this make the people who stay convinced and relieved. Forget about Ma Ping, but Cen Xinrui is a good guy no matter what he says, he has to work hard in the field, and the members are always there to help if they have anything, and they are very reasonable in talking and doing things, but he doesn't have his share in recruiting and recruiting workers, how can he figure it out? Don't look at him as often whining as Ma Ping, his mood is definitely not much better.

"Let's rest for a while," mechanically pedaled for a while, Ma Ping felt really bored, coupled with the excitement brought by Pang Xiuying's incident, he felt that the current work was not interesting, so although he was not tired, he still proposed to rest. And without waiting for the other three to respond, he slipped off the wooden bar of the frame and sat on the shovel handle that Cen Xinrui brought when he went to work.

The three people in the car glanced at him, and although they hesitated, they continued to pedal on the wheel. It's just that because of the lack of one person, they feel that it is obvious that they will have to struggle at first.

Ma Ping was a little embarrassed. He didn't expect the other three to respond to his offer. Just when he didn't know whether to continue to rest or return to the car, someone suddenly said, "What's the matter, there are only three people in this car?"

The voice was familiar, and it seemed to be the secretary of the brigade. Everyone looked back, and sure enough, it was him who was in the production team, still holding a bamboo stick in his hand, followed by the accountant and the head of the electric platoon station of the brigade.

"Ah, I just. Seeing this, Ma Ping quickly stood up and explained, then climbed onto the waterwheel and stepped on with the other three.

The brigade secretary looked at him and shook his head slightly. In fact, he saw the situation just now, just because the other party was a young man in the countryside, and it was not good to treat him as an ordinary member.

"Secretary, where are you going?" said the woman who asked Cen Xinrui at first.

"Look at the situation in the big canal. The secretary replied as he walked down the embankment of the irrigation canal and probed the depth of the canal with a bamboo stick in his hand.

"It's not measurable, it's far from it. Seeing this, another woman spoke.

When the secretary heard this, he glanced at her and did not answer.

"Stationmaster, didn't we talk about artesian irrigation when we built the canal, why do we still need a truck of water, and one car is so many years?" asked the woman who asked the secretary earlier.

"The fields near the electric discharge station are still self-irrigated. The head of the electric platoon station glanced at the secretary of the brigade and said in response to the question.

"Isn't the electric row station repaired for those production teams?" The woman who asked the question was not satisfied with this answer, "You know, our production team not only invested a lot of work back then, but also contributed a lot of money." ”

The head of the electric platoon station glanced at her, but there was no squeak. This is not only because she is telling the truth, but also because she is relying on her eldest brother to be a battalion commander in the army, and she has always spoken with prick and no scruples.

"Is it because the pumping machine is not running at all?" Ma Ping interjected.

"All my units are running, you say I didn't drive enough?" Hearing this, the head of the electric platoon station was not happy, "Xiao Ma, investigate before speaking, don't make trouble for others at every turn." ”

"I'm just guessing, what's the trouble for you?" Faced with the attitude of the electric row stationmaster, Ma Ping was not happy.

"Then why can't we irrigate artesian here?" said another woman.

"This matter is actually very easy to explain," Hearing this, Cen Xinrui, who didn't want to make a sound, still took over, "One reason is that the terrain of the electric row station is low, and it has been pumping for a long time, and the water is still at the bottom of the canal when it flows to us." ”

Hearing him say this, everyone turned their eyes to the secretary of the brigade.

The secretary of the brigade was moved, he wanted to say a few words about Cen Xinrui, but when he saw that the four people in the car were still pedaling there, he beckoned: "We have also been here for a while, you can rest for a while." ”

"It's the secretary who cares about us. Hearing the secretary say this, Ma Ping jumped out of the car, but he didn't forget to compliment him.

The team secretary glanced at him, and the corners of his mouth moved. Turned around and asked Cen Xinrui: "Xiao Cen, why do you say that the terrain of the electric row station is lower than here?"

"I've been aware of this for a long time. ”

"Oh, let's hear it. When the team secretary heard this, he hurriedly said.

"When we first arrived, we took this road on the irrigation canal. At that time, the electric station was pumping water, but I noticed that the further I went, the shallower the head of the canal became. When we arrived at our most remote production team, there was only a thin layer at the bottom of the canal, so that the waterwheel could not be used at all. Looking at the inquiring eyes of the team secretary, Cen Xinrui said with certainty.

"That's what happened. The two women nodded in agreement.

"That's not necessarily," seeing this scene, Ma Ping disagreed, "There will always be a process of water flow, and if there is less time, the water in the remote channels will not rise." ”

As soon as Ma Ping spoke, Cen Xinrui knew that in addition to raising the bar with him, he also wanted to show his ability. He didn't want to say anything more, but when he saw that the secretary was still looking at him, he said, "When we walked all the way along the canal, the water in the inlet channel was obviously full, and it was about to overflow, but there was no sign of flow. Why is this happening? It's because the water can't flow high. ”

"No," Hearing Cen Xinrui say this, the head of the electric platoon station also agreed, "Often the water in our place is so full that it is about to overflow, and several remote production teams are still reporting that there is no water available." ”

Hearing this, Ma Ping was dumbfounded. When I looked back, I found that the two women were clearly laughing at themselves on their faces, and they were even more embarrassed.

Seeing Ma Ping's extremely uncomfortable appearance, the team secretary said "hehe" in his heart. Although he didn't have much contact with him, listening to his words and deeds, he had long decided that this kid was not very authentic, just like the sentence of the commune secretary at a meeting some time ago, "the reeds on the wall, top-heavy and shallow-rooted, and the bamboo shoots in the mountains, with thick skin on the tip of the mouth and hollow belly", are far less intelligent and calm than Cen Xinrui.

But. Although his culture is not high, the city government is very deep, so his disapproving thoughts are not superficial at all, but just said to Cen Xinrui in an appreciative tone: "Xiao Cen, what you said is indeed reasonable, I observed this road with the stationmaster today, and I came to this conclusion." ”

"Then what should I do, just let it continue like this?" Hearing the secretary of the brigade say this, the woman who asked the question earlier couldn't help it.

"Isn't the secretary going to solve the problem?" said the brigade accountant, who had not spoken all this time.

"What do you say?" the secretary asked, taking shredded tobacco and cut paper from his pocket, and handed them to the smoking man. To be honest, he has long noticed the problem of unreasonable design and construction of electric row stations. It's just that he wasn't in charge when it was built, so he can only endure it all the time. Now it's different, I have been the leader, but the production team suffers the most from the problem of water connection, so I can't help but put the solution of this problem on the agenda.

"This is easy to do," although Ma Ping did not smoke, he still took the tobacco and square paper handed by the secretary, and rolled up the horn tube like everyone else, "Since the current electric row station is low, let's change the place and build a new one." ”

"You said it lightly," Ma Ping's voice just fell, and the stationmaster of the electric row expressed his disagreement, "Don't say anything else, just the construction of the computer room, I can't take it for a year and a half, what if the production is delayed?"

"Then, how did you live when you didn't repair the electric row station?" Regarding the statement of the electric row station manager, Ma Ping couldn't agree, "If you rebuild it now, just treat it as if you didn't repair it then." ”

"If you really don't have it, then it will work naturally, but once you have it, people's feelings are different. Regarding Ma Ping's words, the head of the electric row station was very unimpressed, "What does the old man say? This is called 'from thrift to luxury, from luxury to thrift'. ”

Listening to the stationmaster's words, everyone was silent, and neither was the secretary. However, although he agreed with the stationmaster's statement, the other party's careful thinking could be seen clearly.

"What's more important is that there is no money. After the stationmaster finished speaking, the accountant also spoke, "I want to build this electric row station back then, not only did each production team share labor and tickets, but the commune also asked the county for money, and now it wants to rebuild, and these two things can't be done." ”

Hearing the two of them say this, everyone looked at each other, and Ma Ping felt even more faceless, regretting that he shouldn't have thought about it and opened his mouth.

"Xiao Cen, what do you say?" Seeing that everyone was silent, the secretary turned his gaze to Cen Xinrui again.

"It's not that hard to solve. Cen Xinrui asked and said with confidence.

"Oh?" the secretary frowned when he heard this.

"The gap between the elevation of the bottom of the electric discharge station and the elevation of the bottom of the remote production team was measured, and according to the obtained data, the bottom of the water inlet of the electric discharge station was raised and extended to each water section one by one. ”

"Good idea. "What is the head of the electric row station doing in this business, and I understood what Cen Xinrui meant when I heard it. In his opinion, although it takes a lot of work to do this, it is more practical than moving the electric row station away from his own production team.

"How much does that have to be raised?" Hearing this, although Ma Ping couldn't help but admit that it was a good idea, out of jealousy, he still expressed a different opinion, "Besides, if you go to the bottom of the ditch, what do the old and young masters of the production team think, most of them will think that you are tossing blindly!"

"I said Xiao Ma, don't say it so ugly, okay?" Listening to Ma Ping's words, and they were also yin and yang, the two women who had been listening to Cen Xinrui were unhappy, "Who do you think we are? are all stupid guys who don't understand anything?"

"That's not what I meant?" When Ma Ping heard this, he realized that he might have offended the two in front of him by speaking, and hurriedly explained.

"Forget it, don't talk about this uselessness. Seeing this, the secretary hurriedly persuaded him. After a short conversation, he once again strengthened his original understanding: I'm not afraid of not knowing the goods, I'm afraid of comparing the goods, don't look at the middle school graduates, Cen Xinrui is much stronger than Ma Pingke. Although this Maping seems to have a sharp mouth, most of them don't know how to pretend to understand, and they often use strong words, no wonder so many people don't want to see him. However, these are not the things to care about at this moment, so he said to Cen Xinrui: "Xiao Cen, what you just said is very reasonable. Actually, I also thought of it, just to use your opinion to strengthen my own opinion. After a pause, he said: "Of course, we still have to find professionals to measure and design what to do, and we can't just pat our heads and do it as we did in the past." ”

"That's it. Listening to the secretary's words, everyone agreed, only the head of the electric row station was a little unnatural. He knew that the secretary had something to say, but he couldn't make a sound.

What a shrewd person the secretary is, the expression of the head of the electric platoon station has long been seen by him. But he didn't want to say anything because it wasn't something he was thinking about right now. Just when he stood up and wanted to say something to Cen Xinrui, the clerk of the production team came quickly above the canal.

What's the matter?, looking at his anxious expression, everyone speculated.

"Xiao Cen, your sister has come to see you, now in the collective household, you go back quickly. Seeing that the secretary was present, the clerk nodded to him, and then said to Cen Xinrui, "I'll do it for you." ”

"Really?" Hearing this, Cen Xinrui was naturally happy, but he didn't believe it, because his sister had now been transferred from the county meat company to a meat station in the countryside, and it was unlikely that she would come here.

"Am I still lying to you?" the clerk knew that he had doubts, and explained: "Your sister said that she has been transferred to the commune next door to us as a social education team, and today she is taking the opportunity of a meeting in our commune to visit you, and she will rush back in the afternoon. ”

Hearing this, Cen Xinrui was very happy. He said to everyone, "Don't accompany you", and ran to the collective household.

"Let's step on it. The clerk glanced at Ma Ping and the two women, and took the lead to climb the waterwheel.

Ma Ping also wanted to take the secretary to rest here, but seeing that the clerk was like this, he had to climb onto the waterwheel.

Looking at Ma Ping's expression, the secretary smiled, said "go", and walked away with the accountant and the electric platoon station manager.

The waterwheel rattled again. As the movable keel runs back and forth in the tank, the water at the bottom of the canal is lifted by the wiper to the outlet and flows to the field.

Damn, it's good to give birth to this kid again. Looking at Cen Xinrui's distant back, Ma Ping muttered in his heart. Since the start of work this day, he has been unhappy, not only to bring the waterwheel up from such a deep bottom of the canal, but also to lose face in front of the secretary, but this face was lost in the comparison with Cen Xinrui.

"Xiao Ma, do you know Cen Xinrui's sister?" asked the woman who stepped for a while, and spoke with a big thorn.

"Acquaintance, what's the matter?" Ma Ping was puzzled, thinking to himself what this has to do with you.

"She's a state cadre, right?"

"I guess so. ”

"Then how can she help Cen Xinrui recruit a job?"

"So easy?" Ma Ping thought what the other party said was too funny.

"Why?" the other party was puzzled.

"Why? Isn't he in power?" Ma Ping thought to himself, does he need to ask such a simple matter? Therefore, he paused and said: "If you want to talk about state cadres, my family also has them, and my sister is still working in the Beijing army, is it useful?"

"Then, Pang Xiuying must have relatives in power. Another woman who had been silent on the side said.

Yo, dare to love them, they all know about Pang Xiuying, hearing this, Ma Ping was stunned, thinking that Pang Xiuying only knew about this when he had breakfast, which shows that many things are kept in the dark by the educated youth, and they are not even as good as irrelevant members, which is pitiful enough.

"You're right," Seeing that everyone was discussing the matter, the clerk interjected: "Pang Xiuying's aunt is in the Provincial Power Engine Factory, and it is said that she got the indicators and recruited workers by name." ”

"How do you know?" the crowd wondered.

"My brother came back yesterday and said it when he was gossiping. ”

I see, hearing him say this, the two women were deeply convinced. They knew that the clerk's brother had been assigned to work at the county labor bureau after he had changed jobs, and the news would not be false.

Hearing this, Ma Ping's heart moved: Isn't Cen Xinrui's uncle in the Provincial Power Machine Factory, why didn't he do something for him?

Thinking of this, Ma Ping couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion, thinking that the fate of this person was really unpredictable: yesterday Pang Xiuying was still working with everyone, covered in water and mud, and today she is going to become a worker. But I don't know how long I will stay in this place. Shicai Cen Xinrui's sister came to see him, shouldn't she also get him a capped recruitment index? If this is the case, then he will be miserable. You must know that everyone is not hiring, and there is a comfort for each other. As soon as this person walked a lot, the rest of them felt weak and panicked, and they didn't know what it would be like in the future! I hope that this time Cen Xinrui will not just leave like Pang Xiuying, and stay here to be a companion for everyone, although it is very unkind to think like this.

Thinking of this, Ma Ping felt that the sweat was coming up, and his feet were just mechanically following the other three, without any intention of taking the initiative.