Chapter 8

"Hey, it's time to go to work, Xiaojuan, quickly tidy up and go with me. I'll tell you, there's something good today." Li Dong heard the call to work outside, and with a smile, he pulled Xiaojuan, who was wiping her nose, and ran out.

Work in the production team was usually notified the night before, and then called out in the morning. Yesterday, Han Guofu had already told Li Dong that today he would be going with the women to weed the cornfields.

This was a good job. Li Dong had already checked it out yesterday. The corn was growing well, and the cobs were already out. This was good food. While weeding, he could secretly take a few cobs to taste. Just thinking about the sweet and fragrant corn made his mouth water.

Li Dong thought to himself, "I've only been here for a few days, how did I develop such a bad habit? It must be because of the coarse food I usually eat. Sigh, plus working all day, I'm always hungry. It's not that I'm a glutton, but farming really burns a lot of energy."

Comforting himself, Li Dong happily led Xiaojuan, who was touching her nose, to work. When Han Guofu saw Li Dong coming, the corner of his mouth twitched. Han Weiguo didn't dare to tell his mother about borrowing money, he only mentioned it to Han Guofu.

Han Guofu was about to hit Han Weiguo with his tobacco pipe, "Are you stupid? When I heard that Li Dong had spent most of his one yuan on rice candy and canned food, Han Guofu was furious. 'Go, tell the whole team not to lend money to that Li Dong. If anyone lends him money and can't get it back, I won't be responsible.'"

Well, before they even started work, Li Chunhua had already spread the news that Li Dong had borrowed money to buy canned food and rice candy. Everyone in the production team knew that Li Dong was a lazy glutton, a hollow log, and now he was even borrowing money to buy food.

This made Li Dong a negative example. Everyone looked at him with disdain, but some of the children looked at Xiaojuan with envy. Canned food and rice candy were so sweet, and these kids might not get to eat them even once a year. Just thinking about it made their mouths water.

"Li Dong, don't pull the wrong seedlings today."

Han Guofu instructed, and Li Dong patted his chest and promised, "Uncle, don't worry, I can tell the difference between corn and weeds."

The others sneered. "You can tell the difference? Didn't you pull more seedlings than weeds the other day?" Han Guofu thought to himself, "This kid is always boasting."

"Alright, weed well."

But Han Guofu still instructed his daughter-in-law to keep an eye on him, making sure he didn't damage the corn.

Li Dong happily led Xiaojuan to work with a group of women. Xiaojuan was embarrassed, feeling too shy to face anyone. She was the only adult man working with the women, but Li Dong didn't feel any shame.

Labor is glorious, regardless of the type of work. Besides, men and women are equal. When they arrived at the cornfield, a large area of corn was already tasseling, and some had even formed cobs. Li Dong secretly glanced a few times. "I'll take this area," he said, pointing to a section where the corn was growing well, strong and healthy, and the cobs looked promising.

Li Dong seemed to smell the sweet fragrance of the corn, and he pulled Xiaojuan to this prime spot. The others saw that there were quite a few weeds here. Some of the women thought Li Dong was quite good, taking on the important task voluntarily.

Compared to other areas, this plot was more drought-prone, and the corn was not growing as well, with fewer weeds. Everyone was quite happy, thinking that Li Dong wasn't as bad as they had heard.

The Hanzhuang production team had been learning from Dazhai and using their work point system. Unlike the quota system, where a fixed amount of labor was required to earn a work point, in Dazhai, work points were based on a base score. A laborer's base score for a day's work was ten points, a child's was two points, and the scores for heavy and light labor were slightly different, with heavy labor being twelve points and light labor, usually for women, being eight points.

This was based on a day's work, not the amount of work done. Doing more was considered a higher level of awareness, but it didn't earn more work points. Li Dong choosing a spot with more weeds was seen as a higher level of awareness, which was honorable in those days.

Li Dong didn't know what everyone was thinking. After the team split up, he immediately pulled Xiaojuan into the cornfield. Just as Xiaojuan was about to start weeding, Li Dong stopped her. "Xiaojuan, try this."

Li Dong directly picked a large corn cob, peeled it, and fed a few kernels to Xiaojuan, and then to himself. The sweet and fragrant taste filled his mouth.

He hadn't eaten breakfast and hadn't dared to eat much of the rice candy, so he was really hungry. With this good food, Li Dong didn't hesitate. In a short while, he had eaten a whole cob, and then buried it in the soil with some weeds.

Xiaojuan was still in shock when Li Dong picked another cob and gave her a piece. "Don't just stand there, eat quickly, and don't let anyone see."

After eating a few cobs, Li Dong felt much better and had more energy to weed. Zhang Qiujie, Han Weiguo's wife, came over and looked. "Hmm, this is different from what my father-in-law said. He's working hard."

Li Dong didn't know what Zhang Qiujie was thinking. He greeted her, "Sister-in-law, do you need these weeds?"

"Yes, we'll feed them to the pigs."

"Alright."

Li Dong piled up the weeds, tied them, and threw them on the path at the edge of the cornfield. Zhang Qiujie thought, "He's not so bad, why did my in-laws say he was worthless?"

Li Dong was happy, his stomach was full, and while tying up the weeds, he secretly picked a few more cobs and hid them in the bundle. When they got home, Han Xiaojuan was stunned. This new father was stealing from the collective.

By the end of the morning, Li Dong was quite tired. There were too many weeds, and with Xiaojuan, they had only weeded a third of the area. He was exhausted. In the afternoon, he took the corn home. "We'll get more in the afternoon, and we'll have food for the next few days."

Li Dong was quite pleased, but he knew he couldn't let anyone see. Others might be doing the same, but no one was as bold as Li Dong.

"Hey, 99."

Li Dong glanced at the screen.

"99:25:36"

He would probably reach 100 in the afternoon. He wondered if anything would change. He was almost giving up. This thing hadn't moved for so many days. Could he really not go back?

He felt a bit sad. Although there were opportunities here, he had no money or connections, and it was uncertain when he could become wealthy.

Besides, he was lazy. He didn't want to work hard in the sun and wind. Even if he made money, he would have to deal with a lot of competition and conflict, which wasn't his style.

"Sigh."

In the afternoon, Li Dong wasn't interested in stealing corn. He was focused on the screen. The sun went in and out of the clouds several times, and everyone was happy. It looked like it was going to rain. It had been dry for over a month, and the north had been dry for two or three months. Many people had already started to flee.

If it continued to be dry, Hanzhuang would also face famine. Normally, a good harvest would yield 300 to 400 pounds per acre, but in a drought, 200 pounds would be good, and a total loss was possible.

Li Dong was frustrated. It was almost time, but why was the sun playing hide and seek?

Fortunately, just before quitting time, the screen time passed 100.

100:31:45

200

2018.8.15

Below the three lines of numbers, a button appeared. Li Dong was excited. Finally, something had changed. Could this thing take him back to where he came from, to 2018? Li Dong didn't eat dinner properly, he was too excited.

He wondered if he should try pressing the button. Maybe it would take him back to his original place.

He hesitated for a moment and then said to Xiaojuan, "Xiaojuan, Dad is going to the reservoir to fish."

Xiaojuan, fearing that Li Dong would take the cooking oil, stared at the oil on the shelf. "I don't want to eat fish."

Li Dong was familiar with Xiaojuan's look. "Don't even think about the cooking oil." He was frustrated. How could such a cute girl become so stingy?

Besides, he wasn't that kind of person. If you asked Han Weiguo or Han Guofu, they would say he was the laziest and greediest person.

"This child, I'm telling you, Dad is going to the commune. Someone there buys fish for two cents a pound."

"Really?"

"Of course, would Dad lie to you?" Li Dong smiled and ruffled Xiaojuan's hair. "Wait here, Dad will buy you some meat after selling the fish."

He picked up a bucket and left, leaving Xiaojuan to watch the door. "Dad, come back soon."

"Sure."

Li Dong turned back, a bit reluctant, wondering if he could come back after leaving. "Why did I bring two turtles?"

Outside the courtyard, Li Dong turned to a small forest nearby. It was a secluded place.

No one usually came here. Li Dong put down the bucket, intending to press the button, but he saw two turtles in the bucket. He must have taken the wrong bucket. "I wonder if the bucket can go back."

Thinking that fish bait could be brought over, the bucket might also be able to go back.

Since it was a rare trip, he decided to take it as a souvenir. Li Dong picked up the bucket and pressed the button. His vision went black, and he felt a pain in his buttocks.

"Ouch."

The big fish had hit his buttocks. It must have been at least seven or eight pounds. Li Dong was stunned. Looking around and at the bucket in his hand, and the fish hitting his buttocks, he wondered if he had returned.

"Did I come back?"

He was confused and quickly checked his clothes. They were the same, still the patched ones from Han Guofu. "Did I come back?"

"Ha ha ha."

Li Dong was ecstatic. Ha ha ha, he was back. He didn't have to work anymore. It was great.

"Ring ring."

His phone on the fishing boat rang. Li Dong quickly ran over to answer it. Before answering, he checked the time. The date hadn't changed, but the time had passed by over an hour. He had checked the time before leaving.

That meant he had spent six days in 1978, but only an hour had passed in 2018. This was incredible.

Suppressing his shock, Li Dong answered the call. "Mr. Miao, come fishing tomorrow. Stay for lunch, I just caught a wild bighead carp weighing about ten pounds."

"Really? Okay, I'll arrange it. About five or six people."

Mr. Miao was from a construction company and often came fishing, but rarely stayed for lunch. Most of the people who came were from the supervision company and some officials from the district. They would fish, eat, and relax, which was more convenient in the countryside than in the city.