The Ups and Downs of the Commoners 2 Page #13

This book is the second volume of the novel "The Ups and Downs of the Commoners". It will tell you about caused by the disastrous consequences of the "Great Leap Forward" and the People's Commune Movement in China in the middle of the last century to the livelihood of the Commoners, as well as the difficult path of study of the protagonist of this book, Fang Zhengben.

• Novel

								

After the students had a full meal, they went outside's paddy to wash the dishes. Meng Jingyu and Zheng Guoqiong helped pack up their cooking utensils before leaving.
They returned to the hill, burned out, and sat down on the hillside next to the sweet potato field. After Teacher Tang let the students rest for a while, he shouted: "Students, everyone better get up and continue to work!" We dug up the sweet potatoes and have to rush back to school for dinner, and if we don't do it, it's too late. So everyone got up and went back to work.
Fang Zhengben and a few female classmates were still sitting on the ground picking sweet potatoes.
Seeing that all the sweet potatoes in a piece of field had been dug, Teacher Tang said to the class leader Xie Fanghua: "Go and call Company Commander Zhang and ask them to weigh the sweet potatoes that have been picked." After a while, Company Commander Zhang took the custodian and a member of their company to the sweet potato field. The custodian carried a large scale on his shoulder, and he also held a record book and an abacus in his hand. The member carried two big bamboo baskets on his back. Company Commander Zhang said to Teacher Tang: "Teacher, please arrange for two classmates to help pick up sweet potatoes! This way it will be faster to weigh." Teacher Tang immediately said to Meng Jingyu and Zheng Guoqiong: "It's better for you two to!" The two agreed and went.  Company Commander Zhang, the custodian, and the member weighed to the each basket of sweet potatoes, and then the custodian wrote down the weight of each basket of sweet potatoes in his notebook. Company Commander Zhang and the member poured the already weighed sweet potato on the ground again.
After an unknown amount of time, the students finished picking all the sweet potatoes in the field. After Company commander Zhang and the other two weighed all the sweet potatoes, he said to Teacher Tang: "Teacher, please come over, let's add up these sweet potatoes together!" Teacher Tang came to in front of them. The custodian held the abacus in his left hand, reading a string of numbers in his mouth, and his right hand crackled and plucked the abacus beads, and soon reported out a number: "A total of 577 kilogram!" As is customary, the custodian recalculated again and said, "That's right, that's the number!" Company Commander Zhang nodded in approval, and said to the custodian: "Even if it is 575 kilogram!" The custodian pulled a pen from the pocket of his worn Zhongshan coat and made a note in his notebook.
At this time, Company Commander Zhang solemnly said to Teacher Tang: "Teacher, please write a receipt!" We need to settle the bill with the grain station with the receipt to offset our Public Grain and Government Grain Requisition Tasks." Teacher Tang said, "This is natural!" Saying that, he took out a pen from his pocket, used the paper from the custodian's record book, and wrote down a receipt that: "Received 575 kilograms of sweet potatoes from the 1st Company of Minglang Battalion in Qinglong Commune in Xinghua District" and handed it to Company Commander Zhang.
At this time, the students had each loaded the sweet potatoes on the ground into their basket for holding soil. Zhu Zihong saw that Company Commander Zhang was busy, so he moved the sickle and other tools borrowed by him to him and said, "Company Commander Zhang, these are the tools you borrowed for us, please take an inventory." Company Commander Zhang glanced at it and said, "I don't have to count!" You just put it there and I'll let the members move back!" Teacher Tang stood aside and thanked Company Commander Zhang again.
Teacher Tang saw that the students had finished loading the sweet potatoes and said, "Have the students packed up? If packed up and let's go back to school!" At this time, a student asked: "Teacher Tang, our basket for holding soil is filled with sweet potatoes, how take the hoe?" After discussing with Zhu Zihong, Teacher Tang said, "Just free up a few people to carry the hoe!" So Zhu Zihong arranged for a few classmates to carry hoes, and the sweet potatoes they originally loaded can only load into the basket of other students.
With everything packed up, the classmates carried sweet potatoes or hoes down the hill and set out on their way back to school.
When the Teacher Tang and his students returned to school, it was already dark. Students who went to various communes to dig sweet potatoes also returned to school before or after them. The classes lined up in the courtyard dam of the cooking workshop, where the chef weighed the sweet potatoes they carried back and stored them in the school's sweet potato cellar.
In the following days, the whole school's students fight in multiple battalions and production teams in various communes in Xinghua District. Because the teachers and students are tired, the school informs that during the period of digging sweet potatoes, students are exempted the self-study at morning and night.
In a week's time, this evening, school will resume the self-study at night. The students of the Class 1, Grade 1962, Junior High School one after another returned to the classroom after dinner.
The classroom gradually darkened. Zheng Guoqiong first came to the lectern, intending to take out the kerosene lamp of their group from the locker under the lectern. When she opened the two cabinet doors and took out the kerosene lamp, she said to herself in surprise: "Why is there no kerosene in our lamp?" Hearing Zheng Guoqiong's self-talk, several classmates gathered around, wanting to see what happened. Zheng Guoqiong saw everyone looking, pointed to the kerosene lamp, and said: "Look, the kerosene in this lamp was added last Sunday night, and we only went to one night of self-study, I remember that there was a lot of kerosene left, and I haven't used it since, why is this kerosene gone? What a weird thing!" When everyone saw it, there was really only a little kerosene left in the kerosene lamp. At this time, someone said: "Take a good look again, did you accidentally knock it down?" Zheng Guoqiong hurriedly buried her head under the lecture table, carefully inspected the bottom of the locker, and saw that there were a lot of oil stains on the bottom of the cabinet, but it didn't look like knocking down the kerosene lamp. She shook her head and said, "It's not like it's knocked down! If it really knocks down, it will be soaked wider." Everyone was puzzled and said, "Don't be busy, take out our lamps and take a look." So they took out all the kerosene lamps that were placed under the lectern one by one and placed them on the table. When everyone saw it, they were really surprised: "How could it the kerosene in these lamps all disappear?" There was an immediate uproar in the classroom. Some people speculate, "I think this kerosene must have been stolen by someone else!" "Well, could it be that the school took it back?" Some people say that. "Not busy, wait for the squad leader to come and we ask it will be clear!”“......”

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