CTF 0008

The inspection team and the farm managerial team who accompanied them were not far away from the ploughed field, and they were finding it all jaw-dropping as well.

The leader of the inspection team was overwhelmed with admiration. “Indeed, women are no worse than men in anything! Which school does this female student come from? How long has she been learning how to drive a tractor?”

“Today’s visit is from No. 6 High School of the county,” the farm manager immediately answered. “Because each term comes with different teaching tasks…” 

Tractor ploughing was added temporarily purely as a farce. The students weren’t supposed to be exposed to this task before. 

Therefore, how was the farm manager supposed to know how long Xu Yin had learned to plough?

However, the preparations they’d made would be in vain if he told the truth, so the farm manager had to make up something that sounded good. 

“It’s for balance. If they always do the same job… ahem, I mean, always study the same things, they’ll complain about it. What’s more, labour education should be education-oriented, and labour-supplemented. True labour education should include learning about all kinds and aspects of labour….”

The inspectors sent from the provincial level nodded in agreement.

“That makes sense! Secretary Wang, write that down and tell everyone about it when we have our post-inspection meeting. Labour education shouldn’t be just about labour, but should be focused on strengthening education, and allowing students to be exposed to different types of work. This way, they can be better connected to labour when they leave school and enter society.”

After a pause, he incredulously said, “So, does that mean today is the first time that the female student has touched a tractor?”

“That might not necessarily be true,” his secretary reminded in a low voice. “It’s not hard for each village to obtain a tractor now. She may have learned how to drive a tractor during farming season.”

Who would believe that it was her first time driving a tractor after seeing her performance just now?

However, even if she had prior experience, driving so fast and ploughing so deep still required a certain level of skill. 

Even the old veteran farmers who’d been tractor ploughing on the farm for years might not be up to this level. 

Indeed, even sitting on that tractor might make them feel so dizzy and nauseous that they want to vomit. 

After completing ploughing the last ridge, Xu Yin finally sees the S-grade evaluation on the simulation interface. A sense of victory filled her heart. 

She happily turned her head and asked her instructor, “Instructor, how did I do?”

The system had given her an S grade, so the instructor must praise her as well, right?

The instructor: “…”

He was so dizzy that he didn’t have the strength to speak anymore, alright?

Xu Yin: “…”

The instructor had all the intention to praise her, but not the strength to. The inspection team and the farm managerial team came and praised her instead. 

Finally, someone made a suggestion, and the farm leader waved his hand and awarded her a “Best Tractor Driver of the Farm-School Cooperation” honorary certificate.

The prizes she got were an enamelled wash basin, a towel, and some pork meat. 

Because the inspection team was coming, the farm had gone through the hassle and prepared quite a lot of vegetables and meat.

Students who performed well and completed outstanding labour tasks were given double material and immaterial rewards. 

Just like how the school selects the top three students and outstanding cadres¹优秀干部, a term commonly used in China to refer to someone who have performed well in their work/positions. Can also refer to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional dedication, initiative, and effectiveness in carrying out their responsibilities. every semester, the farm also held a conferring of commendation every end-of-term.

Xu Yin was also pulled by the inspection team to take a group photo as a keepsake.

Secretary Wang even whispered to her, “The team leader said that, if there’s a tractor ploughing competition in the future, you’ll receive an invitation letter for it. With these competitions as your foundation, it will be much easier for you to become a Model Worker²劳模, honorary title awarded to outstanding worker (regardless of gender) who made outstanding contributions and exhibits “traits appropriate to the ideal of the socialism”. or a Red Flag Bearer³红旗手, honorary title awarded to outstanding working women in China. in the future.”

Xu Yin: “…”

No need!

Still, it felt good to go home with a prize on her back.

“Dad, Mom, I’m home!”

“You’re just in time for dinner. Why are you so late today?”

Mother Xu saw that there was a large bag hanging on each side of Xu Yin’s bicycle, on top of the school bag that Xu Yin was carrying on her back. She thought that it was the fabric for the custom-made clothes Xu Yin’s classmates ordered, so she hurriedly went to help Xu Yin.

“I went to work on a farm for this week’s labour class. It ended a little late and I had to go back to school to get my school bag as well after that. Mom, look at this!”

She opened one of the large bags and revealed a brand-new enamel wash basin. 

“Huh!” Mother Xu gasped. “Where did you get the money to buy this? Did you squander the deposit your classmates gave you? Don’t we already have basins at home? Why waste money on this?”

She made a hitting motion towards Xu Yin.

“No way!” Xu Yin said. “This is the prize I received for my outstanding performance in the labour class. I didn’t only get a wash basin either. I got a towel and pork meat too!”

As Xu Yin said that, she pulled out the pork meat from another bag.

She hadn’t wanted to stuff the pork meat into her bag, but she was worried that others would see the pork meat along the way.

After all, a whole piece of meat like this was something that ordinary families would only buy for special occasions, like the New Year. 

On usual days, even half a pound of meat was considered a rare treat. Carrying such a large piece of meat on the front of her bike would attract too much attention, so she had no choice but to stuff it in the bag.

“Pork, pork meat?”

Seeing the five-pound piece of pork made Mother Xu feel dizzy. “Is it a prize? You didn’t squander the deposit money, did you?”

“Mom, I wouldn’t lie to anyone, especially you! It is a prize. Look, I even got a certificate!”

Seeing the certificate of award, Mother Xu couldn’t help beaming with joy.

“Oh my, Old Man! Our daughter won an award, and it’s a big one! She got a lot of prizes, including a basin, a towel, and pork meat! Where are you, you old fool? Are you hiding in the outhouse toilet smoking again!?”

The wash basin and towel that Xu Yin brought back were carefully hidden in a cabinet inside Xu Yin’s parents’ bedroom by her mother.

“I’ll keep it for you as your dowry.”

Xu Yin: “…”

Fortunately, the pork meat had not gone bad.

“It’s too late today; I’ll make braised pork for you tomorrow,” Mother Xu happily said. 

Both meat and fabric coupons had been cancelled in some areas that’d experienced rapid development, all since the reform and the opening-up policy⁴This in one phrase, also known as ‘the Chinese economic reform’ (改革开放政策). It’s a set of reformation measures proposed by Deng Xiaoping that was implemented starting from 12 December 1978. was implemented.

However, although Mingyang had also relaxed restrictions on the agricultural product market and allowed farmers to sell their chickens, ducks, geese, eggs, vegetables, and foraged mountain goods on the streets, the supply of pork still failed to meet the demand, so the implementation of meat coupons had yet to be abolished in Mingyang.

Urban residents received a fixed amount of meat coupons every month. Even if they only received one or a half of a kilogram each month, they still received fresh pork meat. That was not the case for rural residents.

Fortunately, in the past two years, raising pigs was no longer limited to village collectives. Households could now also apply to raise their pigs, though they must turn in one quota pig at the end of the year.

In rural areas, families with many members to do labour would raise a few pigs and wait until the end of the year to turn in the one quota pig, and then slaughter the pigs they wanted to eat.

Father Xu had also wanted to raise two pigs—one as a quota pig, and the other for them to eat.

Although his family was not plentiful in terms of hands to do labour with, he had a daughter-in-law who could help with the work.

However, raising pigs would require more space compared to raising chickens and ducks. 

The Xu family’s house had two courtyards⁵Outdoor space enclosed by the house buildings., one in the front, and one in the back of the house. The front courtyard had been reduced in size by half after his son’s two-room wing of the house was built⁶Callback to Chapter 2. Before Xu Yin’s brother married, the family built an additional wing for him and his wife’s family. The two rooms are probably his and his wife’s, and Little Douding’s. , and there was also a well near it. If they built a pigsty there, they wouldn’t have a front courtyard anymore. 

Meanwhile, their back courtyard had a woodshed and a toilet on one side, a vegetable garden on the other side, and a self-cultivated plot of land at the end.

To build a pigsty there, they’d have to destroy the vegetable plot, and they were a bit reluctant to do it.

In addition, the original host had been firmly opposed to raising pigs at their home at the time, because raising pigs was a smelly ordeal.

Even if she didn’t have to cut pig grass, cook pig food, or clean the pigsty, she still felt embarrassed. She was afraid her female classmates, who came from the urban areas, would laugh at her.

This was why the Xu family didn’t raise any pig, and spent money instead to buy pork at the end of every year. 

In any case, their family had a son who was earning a salary, and their financial situation was better than that of their neighbours.

The Xu family was now living much more comfortably than they were a few years ago. During the Chinese New Year, they bought half a pig and enjoyed several meals with it. They had preserved the rest of the meat by smoking and salting it, and the meat would last until the summer harvest if they rationed it carefully.

Particularly with people like Mother Xu, who was very thrifty, the meat might even last until autumn.