Li Ying felt sorry for her daughter and gave her the few remaining coins and coupons, along with a dime and two ounces of grain coupons.

"Go buy two vegetarian steamed buns, one for you and one for An'an."

He Xinglan took the money, got up, and went to the window to buy a vegetarian steamed bun.

"Eat, An'an."

He took the dark-colored steamed bun from his nephew, chewed it up in large bites, and swallowed it.

The food provided by the canteen must not be wasted; if anyone finds fault with it, their family will be criticized and denounced again.

An'an's complexion improved after eating the soft, fragrant white steamed buns.

He took a bite himself and then handed it to his grandmother.

"Grandma, let's eat together."

Li Ying shook her head. "Grandma, eat your fill first, An'an, then we'll go do our work."

"good!"

After the others finished eating and left, they also put away their lunchboxes and bowls.

After leaving the house, collect your farm tools.

He Jianguo whispered, "From now on, let's not talk while we eat. The more we talk, the more mistakes we make."

Everyone agreed on this point; just the moment the grandson shook his head, the people around him were so angry they wanted to eat them alive.

Children speak without thinking. If they say something wrong, being scolded is a minor matter; losing their lives is the most terrifying thing.

After just one experience, the He family realized that the days ahead would not be easy.

After breakfast, the group gathered in the farmyard.

Work assignments begin.

As the lowest-ranking members of the farm, the He family naturally didn't get any good jobs.

"Hey Lao Tan, you're one of the old guys on our farm, so why don't you show them around and take them to the Blackwater Pond area? Make sure it's cleaned up by the end of the day, and they don't need to come back for lunch. Someone will bring them food."

"receive!"

After the tasks were assigned, the team dispersed and followed each other out of the farm gate.

As you walk further afield, you see many small figures on the vast land.

After confirming that no one was around, Old Tan said to himself, "Say less and look less, just keep your head down and do your own thing. Let the monthly criticism meetings go in one ear and out the other. Just nod at whatever they say, and don't think you can deny it just because you didn't do it..."

The old man muttered to himself, his voice barely audible.

When they arrived at the location, the four of them realized that this was not a field at all, but a large, undeveloped wasteland.

"Hurry up and get to work. There are many animals drinking water by the pool, including wolves and bears. Be careful."

The old man seemed numb; as soon as he arrived at the ground, he started hoeing.

He Lin looked at the waist-high weeds and, without lingering, followed to the other side to dig and collect stones.

"Mom, let's weed."

Picking up the sickle, He Xinglan began to cut grass.

However, the movements were not practiced and the speed was very slow.

Li Ying would be even less likely to do so.

"An'an, stay behind Grandma and don't run around."

"it is good."

The little guy carried a water bottle on his shoulder and followed behind his grandma and aunt.

After this period passes and October is over, the long winter will begin.

But that doesn't mean they can comfortably spend the winter on the freezing Northwest Plateau.

There's just as much work to be done in winter.

He Jianguo would ask Lao Tan some questions from time to time.

Old Qin answered the questions he could answer seriously, and remained silent about the ones he couldn't answer.

"The winters here are cold and long, so you should spend the money to get a stove as soon as possible. You'll also need to find firewood for one person to get through the winter yourself in the mountains. Repair the roof and cracks in the walls of the warehouse as well. The house is already quite spacious, so you don't want the children to catch a cold. The nearest hospital is over a hundred kilometers away. The farm has medicine, but it might not be able to cure the children..."

The old man was talking about lessons he had learned through bloodshed over the years.

"Thank you, brother."

"Hey, let's get to work. You'll have to get used to people like us being here, only able to do the hardest and most tiring work and eat the least amount of food."

Old Qin's eyes were lifeless as he numbly swung his hoe, one stroke after another, without pausing for even a moment.

He Lin glanced at his father, showing no emotion whatsoever at the ransacking of their home. His grandfather had foreseen this day long ago.

The only thing that angered him was that shameless woman who, knowing the family's dire situation, still used the children to take away the family's last "lifeline."

"He Lin, hurry up and get to work."

He Jianguo wasn't familiar with digging, but how could he let a man in his sixties be the main force?

He called out to his son and got to work.

This piece of land is about five or six acres.

If everyone works quickly, it's still possible to finish in a day.

The sun hadn't risen yet, and I could barely see the road beneath my feet.

I worked from 7:30 in the morning until noon.

He was already exhausted, but although Old Tan was old, he was still very good at working and didn't even pant.

"You can't use brute force when you're working. Take a break, the food will be here soon."

Old Tan sat on the handle of his hoe and took a sip of the water he had brought with him.

The group waited from 12 o'clock until 1 o'clock, but still didn't see the person delivering the food.

Old Tan seemed to be used to it. "No need to wait, keep working. Dinner will be around three o'clock."

There probably wasn't enough food for lunch, so they can't get any food for them right now.

The adults, unaware of what was going on, chose to listen to Lao Tan and continued working.

The midday sun on the plateau is very strong.

Braving the sun, the group continued working.

The thin porridge and dark bread I had this morning weren't enough to fill me up, and now my stomach is growling with hunger.

There was nothing I could do but endure it.

Old Qin said it was three o'clock, and it really was three o'clock.

A man was carrying something wrapped in a cloth.

"Dinner's ready, Lao Qin!"

He stood on a high place and threw the white cloth over, fortunately it was wrapped tightly and did not come undone.

But just by observing their actions, the four members of the He family understood that Old Tan was right; they had no status or human rights here.

Upon opening the cloth bag, I found burnt flatbread with only a small edible portion.

Old Tan voluntarily took away the burnt half.

"Eat up, don't worry about it, there are still many tough days ahead."

Old Tan may seem optimistic, but he has long been consumed by despair and can only vent it in this way.

If you see someone who has had a similar experience, try your best to help them.

After all, his wife died here, and he didn't want to see anything like that happen again.

"You must understand here that as long as you can survive, everything else is external. Let go of what you should let go of. Young man, you'll be criticized for acting like this. You need to learn to hide your true self from people in the future."

Old Qin has a good eye for people. He Lin has been giving people the same look since yesterday, completely ignoring everyone here.

"Did you hear that? You better keep a low profile from now on. Let people talk, but don't confront them head-on, or you'll be the one who suffers!"

"understood."

On their first day at the farm, the He family received help from Lao Tan.

This made their lives on the farm a little better, but they still couldn't avoid hard and tiring work.

The monthly criticism sessions were also unavoidable.

The Northwest is sparsely populated, and moreover, it is a desolate plateau. The atmosphere is not as intense as in the central and eastern regions, but it still cannot escape becoming the main subject of criticism rallies.

At the end of December, today's denunciation meeting just ended, and the dozen or so people, including the He family, are not having a good time.

It's snowing heavily outside right now.

"He Lin, go down the mountain to pick up five new educated youths! Hurry up!"

At this time of year, the north wind howls and stings your face.

He Lin didn't speak, but nodded in agreement.

It was originally someone else's job, but through a lot of pushing and shoving, it ended up on his shoulders.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like