Chapter 63: The '60s Farm System (29)

The Brigade Leader saw that everyone had arrived, so he raised his hand to signal for silence:

"To make a long story short, I've gathered you all here today for one main thing. You should have all heard that two bad elements in need of reform arrived at our brigade today. If you have any good suggestions or thoughts, feel free to speak up."

"What's there to say?" The captain of the First Production Team was full of complaints. "People from the city, what are they being sent here for? To share our rations?"

"Exactly! I heard an old man and a child came. One is old, one is young; they can't carry anything on their shoulders or lift anything with their hands. They're even worse than the Educated Youth!"

The only two Educated Youth representatives in the room: "..."

They felt like they had just taken a bullet to the knee.

"Oh! I'm not talking about you, Educated Youth Xie. You are definitely top-notch!"

After saying this, the Production Team backbone remembered that Xie Yang was also here, so he hurriedly tried to make amends, and after finishing, he gave Xie Yang a thumbs-up.

Li Chengguo: "..."

So you *are* talking about me!

The Brigade Leader felt a headache coming on: "What's the use of yelling at me about this? If you've got the guts, go report it to the Commune!"

Seeing that the Brigade Leader was angry, the grumbling from the crowd quieted down quite a bit.

The Brigade Leader continued: "The people are already here, so let's stop saying unpleasant things. Now we need to make a decision as soon as possible on how to arrange their reform Tasks and where they will live."

"Why do we have to arrange a place for them to live? They aren't Educated Youth, and the higher-ups didn't allocate any resettlement funds. Why should our brigade have to arrange their housing..."

"Exactly! We don't even have enough space in our own homes; where would we find a place to put two outsiders?"

"In my opinion, since they are here for reform, there is no need to arrange easy work for them, nor do they need to live in a nice place."

Hearing this, Xie Yang frowned slightly.

"Xiao Xie, what are your thoughts?"

The Brigade Leader had listened to everyone.

The others were almost all just complaining, without a single useful point.

He simply started calling names, and the first one he called was Xie Yang.

Xie Yang organized her thoughts and said: "They surely haven't done farm work before. Personally, I don't suggest giving them important Tasks like carrying manure. If they spill it, it will affect the increase in grain production. If grain yields drop, every member of our team will be affected. Can they bear that responsibility?"

The crowd: "..."

They felt there was something strange about these words.

But once they thought about how manure fertilizer really does affect the harvest, they felt that what Xie Yang said was indeed reasonable.

"Xiao Xie, continue." The Brigade Leader nodded in approval.

Xie Yang continued: "After thinking it over, the only work I can safely hand over is those few wild piglets. On one hand, the wild piglets are a product outside of our brigade's plan. If we hand them over to be raised, once they are grown and fat, we will have five extra big black pigs to divide for meat at the end of the year, and we will also get a lot more pig manure for composting—everyone wins. Even if we take it a step further and they lack experience, and they raise the five wild piglets until they are scrawny and thin, it won't affect our Task pigs, nor will it affect the grain harvest. At that time, I will return the 200 work points the brigade awarded me, and there won't be any loss for our entire brigade..."

"Whoa! Educated Youth Xie, if that's the case, then you're the one losing out! You're throwing away 200 work points for nothing!"

"That's right, Educated Youth Xie, we can't let you suffer a loss!"

Everyone began to chime in with advice, but the atmosphere was much better than before.

It was clear they agreed with Xie Yang: as long as it didn't affect the brigade's overall production progress and Task targets, there was room for discussion.

Xie Yang looked around and smiled at everyone: "Thank you all for your concern. But since I proposed this suggestion, I feel I need to take some responsibility."

"..."

What? Whoever makes the suggestion has to take responsibility?

Who the hell would dare to make a suggestion now!

Maybe we should just go with Xie Yang's suggestion!

Anyway, she made a lot of sense! Every word hit the nail on the head!

Thus, the group applauded and passed Xie Yang's proposal.

Xie Yang: "..."

She had expected to encounter some resistance and had even prepared her second and third arguments, but she hadn't expected it to go so smoothly.

As for where they would live, it was simple if you thought about it simply.

The wild piglets were gradually growing larger, and there was already a plan to raise them separately from the Task pigs, for fear that their increasingly sharp tusks would injure the Task pigs, which would be a loss that outweighed the gain.

When building the Pig Pen for the wild piglets, wouldn't it be logical to build an extra stone house next to it for Song Shuhe and his grandson to live in so they could look after the wild piglets nearby?

"Just now, Captain Fang suggested letting them live in the old cow shed. I took a few looks at that shed when I passed by earlier; the rafters have been eaten through by termites and won't last long. If it collapses while they are living there, injuries would be a small matter, but affecting the progress of raising the wild piglets would be a big one."

"Educated Youth Xie makes sense! Then we'll build a stone house next to the Pig Pen."

Everyone applauded again and unanimously passed this proposal of Xie Yang's.

Xie Yang smiled and said: "Since I proposed it, I will be responsible for building this stone house. Everyone can rest assured, I won't use up any working hours."

She wouldn't be at ease if someone else built it.

But the others felt that Xie Yang was truly righteous.

Not only did she volunteer for heavy and tiring work, but she wouldn't even use up working hours!

"But, if that's the case, Educated Youth Xie, you'll be too exhausted!"

"That's right, we can't let you work for nothing! Brigade Leader, give Educated Youth Xie some extra work points!"

"Or we could count it as 12 work points for her."

"12 work points is fine!"

None of the team members had any objections.

If you really analyzed it, Xie Yang was still the one suffering a loss.

After all, building a stone house is no easy task.

Even if the stones were ready-made, they still had to be carried one by one to the open space next to the Pig Pen.

Digging the foundation, driving the piles, and then stacking them up one by one—it was all manual labor.

Therefore, seeing Xie Yang take on the task of building the stone house all by herself, the looks everyone cast at her were full of admiration, and they all expressed that they would help her carry stones after work.

They could not finish work two or three hours early like she could, but helping to carry a stone on their way back from work was something they could still do.

This meeting concluded successfully at this point.

Every attendee felt very satisfied.

Unlike the bellyaching before the meeting, they walked out of the brigade headquarters talking and laughing, shouldering their farm tools to head to work.

Previously, hearing that the Commune had assigned a pair of grandmother and grandchild who could not lift with their hands or carry with their shoulders had annoyed them to no end.

To say nothing else, having them share their food rations was out of the question!

But now, they felt that having the two of them come seemed not bad; not only did it not affect the brigade's production targets, but they also took on the most dangerous work.

The wild boar piglets had sharp tusks, and the commune members raising the pigs had always been quite fearful. Now it was fine, as this work was their responsibility.

If the wild boars were raised well, the commune members would have meat to share at the end of the year; if they were not raised well, Xie Yang would voluntarily return the 200 work-point reward.

Because of this, everyone actually wished that more people like them would come.

Xie Yang, who heard the commune members muttering: "..."