Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 257 - 0257: The Autumn Harvest Begins1_1

Chapter 257: Chapter 0257: The Autumn Harvest Begins1_1

Just a few days after the fifteenth of August, Wang Zhengguo rang the gong early in the morning, informing the villagers to prepare for the autumn harvest.

The Wanglou Brigade was comprised of twelve production teams, each in charge of their allocated land and responsible for their own agricultural work.

Therefore, Wang Zhengguo started dividing the tasks of harvesting and cultivating the crops and allotting the livestock among the teams. The team leaders took full responsibility for these tasks, while he directed the overall production brigade.

The Lu Family was part of Production Team Seven, led by Feng Qingxue’s older cousin, Wang Dachun.

Wang Dachun had learned from his father at a young age how to manage the brigade affairs. Over the years, he had honed his skills. He promptly assigned Lu’s father and several other older men to herd the livestock and roller the field, followed by assigning others to mend the team’s cellar. Then he arranged for the rest to cut sweet potato vines and spread them out near the cattle house to dry.

Once the sweet potato vines are dried, they will serve as livestock feed for the winter.

The sweet potatoes grown on the mountain ripen early and grow well. Every year they grow summer sweet potatoes, which are harvested before the frost comes to be used as seed potatoes.

Seed grain is more important than food grain as it has a direct bearing on the next year’s crop yield.

Many production brigades were littered with corpses due to starvation. This was because a year of either drought or floods had decimated their crops, leaving them without seed grain for the next planting season, a practice that led to a near three-year famine, didn’t it?

They were currently harvesting the spring sweet potatoes to clear the land for wheat planting.

The autumn harvest had just begun and wasn’t particularly busy yet. The students did not get a break, but everyone else, young and old, men and women who weren’t in school, took to the field.

Feng Qingxue was no exception.

Due to Lu Jiang’s instructions before he left and Lu’s father’s request, Wang Zhengguo had already reminded Wang Dachun. As a result, he assigned Feng Qingxue the light task of keeping track of the work points and counting the grain yield. This job couldn’t be done by illiterate people, which conveniently provided Wang Dachun with an excuse.

In the whole Wanglou Brigade, besides the Lu family, the descendants of all the tenant farmers could read and write, including Wang Zhengguo, but the Lu family did not belong to Production Team Seven, except for Lu’s father’s family.

Wang Dachun assigned the task to his cousin but not to his two younger brothers or his sister; though, no one complained.

Of course, the primary reason was their respect for Qingxue’s medical expertise. Wang Dachun also explained that, since Qingxue was not involved in physically demanding work, she would receive only six work points a day.

What are work points? They are the farmers’ livelihood.

The distribution of grain and money at year-end depends on the number of work points earned. Everyone values work points as treasure and wishes they could earn twelve work points a day from dawn till dusk. Unfortunately, the maximum possible here is ten points, termed ’full work points’.

Carrying a basket on her back and accompanied by three children who hadn’t gone to school, Feng Qingxue went to the field. On the way, they passed by the field where crops were being dried. Lu’s father and several others were driving donkeys, cows, or mules in circles, pulling a stone roller fitted with a wooden frame. As the yard gradually flattened, Lu’s father held a manure bucket, ready to catch the animal droppings.

Everyone else did the same as Lu’s father, driving the animals and simultaneously keeping an eye on whether the animals defecated.

Feng Qingxue didn’t dare to linger. When she got to the field, most of the people were already there, including Wang Zhengguo’s whole family. Even the usually lazy Wang Jiao was working, wearing a large bamboo hat and trousers rolled up to her knees.

"The autumn tiger sun is intense, and I, with my delicate skin, can’t afford to get tanned," Wang Jiao winked at Feng Qingxue and said.

Qingxue smiled faintly. After all, most of the people were wearing bamboo hats, both old and new.