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Chapter 61: The Group with the Kids

It was just four o'clock in the morning and Ma Laowu was already standing under the locust tree at the entrance of the third team of Yaowang Temple and rang the third team's shell bell, which was absolutely not used unless in an important situation.

The loud and heavy clinking sound startled the birds that were nesting in the locust tree and made them fly around in panic.

The so-called shell bell is an earthen bell made from a shell. Half of a bomb shell is hung on a locust tree with a long thin iron wire in the middle. Two iron balls are tied to the iron wire inside the shell. Once it is pulled, the two iron balls will hit the inner wall of the shell, making a clanging sound.

The shell bell has a nickname in Team 3. Because of its shape of a cannon barrel and two iron balls, some bad boys named it: Iron Der Bell.

On weekdays, the iron wire is removed to prevent the impatient children from ringing the bell at will, and the brigade’s radio loudspeaker is used for gatherings.

This thing would only be rung on important days like autumn harvest, wheat harvest, spring ploughing, etc., when it was necessary to get up early, to call all members of the three teams to gather.

Soon, members of the third production team walked out of their homes one after another at the call of the bell and rushed to the open space in front of the Yaowang Temple.

The ox carts, horse carts and mule carts in the team were also parked nearby under the leadership of the driver, who was giving the animals water and feed.

Today is the day when the third team officially starts the autumn harvest. The autumn harvest and planting campaign of the third production team, which owns 253 acres of arable land, is about to begin. No matter if they belonged to the sideline group or the carriage and horse group before, no matter if they are men or women, young or old, the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled, women and children, they must accept the arrangements of the production team and participate in the labor.

Yang Liming followed Xie Hushan, looking somewhat excited. He had specially changed into Xie Hushan's old clothes today, preparing to go to the fields with Xie Hushan, Han Hongbing and others to harvest the autumn harvest, and to experience the feeling of the educated youth when they went to work in the countryside.

"Let me tell you. Today we will harvest the longest piece of field No. 5 first. Xiaozaoer, you and a few other people from Tie Girl will take the lead in breaking corn. Each person will work on three ridges. Let's break the lane first. Hu Saner, you and the silly boy will take the lead in digging the corn stalks in the lane. Xiaozaoer and the others will break the corn in the front, and you will dig behind. After the lane is dug out, the trucks behind will immediately enter the lane and start loading. Let's try to win this first battle quickly and well! If you do a good job, we will continue to hold a meeting at the end of the year to praise you and reward you with work points!" Ma Laowu looked at the young female captain of the Tie Girl Pioneer Team and Xie Hushan, and arranged the work for the two groups of young people first.

The so-called lane means that a road needs to be cleared in the cornfield to allow horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts to enter the cornfield to load corn. In previous years, the lane standard for Team Three was twelve ridges wide.

The tough girls needed to pick the corn from the twelve rows as quickly as possible and throw the corn on both sides of the driveway, forming small piles. Xie Hushan and his group of silly boys needed to swing the smallest pickaxes and keep up with the girls' speed, digging up the corn stalks they had picked and arranging them neatly.

The wagons followed behind them into the driveway, loading the corn.

As for other farm workers, they are responsible for breaking corn that is not on the driveway, bundling corn stalks, loading trucks, etc., while the elderly, the weak and the disabled do some slightly easier work such as waiting in the threshing floor to unload the trucks, peeling corn, and delivering water and meals to other workers at noon.

"Uncle Wu, I have no objection to anything else. Just assign some other work to Leader Yang. He can't do our job." Xie Hushan said.

Yang Limin was quite dissatisfied: "Are you looking down on me? I have lived with you in such a miserable shack, why can't I do the work?"

"Don't talk, listen to me, if I don't cheat you, you can't do it." Xie Hushan said to Yang Limin seriously:
"I understand your desire to be an animal, but your physique is really not suitable for it."

"Listen to Hu Saner, he is not joking. You will know when you get to the place." Han Hongbing next to him yawned and advised Yang Liming.

"..." Yang Limin saw that the two were talking seriously and did not insist.

Ma Laowu hesitated for a moment and said, "Well, then Xiao Yang should stay in the wheat field and take care of the work of unloading the truck and peeling the corn?"

"I want to work in the fields, even if it's easier than theirs, Uncle Wu." Yang Limin couldn't hold back when he heard that Ma Laowu wanted to leave him with a bunch of old people waiting to unload the truck and peel corn, and he immediately spoke up. "Uncle Wu, let him work with Han Laosan and Daxiu's group of kids to break the corn. The kids break two ridges, and he breaks one," Xie Hushan said.

Yang Liming rubbed his face. He and the children were in a group to break corn ridges. The children each broke two ridges, and he only broke one?
"...I'll apply to split two ridges. Even if I haven't worked before, it's impossible for me to not be able to split the ridges for my children." Yang Liming insisted.

"Let's do as Hu Saner said!" Ma Laowu did not waste any more time. The reason for gathering so early was to take advantage of the coolness in the morning so that they could work more efficiently. Otherwise, when the sun rises, the cornfield would be stuffy and hot and very uncomfortable.

After dividing all the members into several groups and arranging the work, Xie Hushan's silly boy commando team, each holding a small pickaxe with a sharpened blade, walked towards the cornfield. Standing in a row next to them was the corresponding Iron Girl Vanguard Team of Production Team 3.

In the words of time traveler Xie Hushan, all those who dare to call themselves Iron Girls in this era are women who are comparable to monsters. If they want to punch, no man in later generations will be able to take it, and there will be nothing they can say.

These women are really no worse at work than men. It’s not that men are deliberately being modest, but the competitiveness and pride of these young women make them feel they must surpass men.

If a man can pull a 500-kg cart, we women can pull a 600-kg cart to compete with you. No matter if I am exhausted to the point of vomiting blood after finishing the work, before I vomit blood, I will definitely make the man convinced.

When they reached the edge of the field, Xie Hushan gave cigarettes to his men one by one: "Han Laoer, Daxi and I will lead the way. Each of you will be responsible for digging up four rows of corn stalks. Ma Saner, the same goes for the other three. You will be responsible for the other lane."

"Fen'er, Xiaohong and I, each of us will be responsible for picking four rows of corn!" Ma Xiaocui, the leader of the Iron Girls Pioneer Team, nicknamed Xiaozaoer, glanced at the men who were lighting cigarettes, and said to her team members while shaking her thick black braids:

"Don't let them catch up!"

The men can dig four ridges at the same time, and the women can also dig four ridges each.

After the women had chosen the main force to dig the driveway, they immediately entered the cornfield and began to break corn cobs swiftly. Xie Hushan and the other two stood at the edge of the field smoking. When the three women breaking corn had walked deep into the cornfield and no one was visible, Xie Hushan threw away his cigarette butt:
"Let's do it!"

As soon as the work started, Xie Hushan, Han Hongbing and Chen Daxi each occupied four ridges. They bent over, held the corn stalks with their hands and swung their small pickaxes. Each time they used the pickaxe, they cut off a stalk. They quickly moved forward to harvest without even raising their heads, and the corn stalks fell to the ground.

In just a few moments, a wide enough lane was cleared, and at this time, a donkey cart was ready on the road, and the driver drove the donkey cart into the cornfield.

The members on both sides quickly picked up the corn that the iron girls had broken off and piled into small piles on the ground and loaded them onto the donkey cart!
"Captain Yang, you are responsible for this ridge..." Han Laosan pointed to a row of corn and said to Yang Liming.

Before Yang Limin could react, Daxiu came over from the side and slapped Han Laosan on the back:

"Get out of the way! I'm the leader of our team! I have the final say! Why do you have to interfere?"

Han Laosan was angry for a long time, but he didn't dare to talk back to Daxiu. He just stood aside and said nothing. Daxiu then pointed to the ridge of corn and looked at Yang Limin with suspicion, then said:

"Leader Yang, you have to break this ridge! Work hard and don't embarrass our group! If you hold us back, I'll let my brother take care of you!"

Yang Limin nodded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Yes! Comrade team leader, I will definitely work hard and not be lazy!"

(End of this chapter)