Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Shen Banyue had been unusually well-behaved lately, showing up to school right on time every day and avoiding wandering around the village unless absolutely necessary. The moment she stepped out, a commune member would grab her to discuss farm tool modifications, and those weird-looking tools were a real eyesore.

Lin Mian was in a similar situation, except he had been quiet since childhood, especially around strangers. When someone cornered him about farm tools, he’d just stand there stiffly, let them talk themselves out, toss out a half-hearted reply, and slip away. Often, it would take the other person several minutes to realize they’d been yapping forever without getting a single useful word out of him.

They were supposedly attending school diligently, but only Teacher Tang knew that while she was teaching up front, these two kids had other books blatantly spread out, reading away, totally into it.

"Sister Yue, the brigade leader wants you at the village entrance."

A kid with a red, wind-chapped face stood outside the classroom, yelling at the top of his lungs, totally clueless. The whole roomful of students turned to stare at him in unison.

Shen Banyue heard Teacher Wang Lihua’s yell from the next classroom: "Comrade Shen Gang, didn’t you say you were sick and took off?!"

Clearly, this kid had gotten so caught up in the excitement that he forgot he’d made up an excuse to skip class. Maybe the moment the brigade leader called for someone, he’d come running over without a second thought. Still, he was quick on his feet—hearing Teacher Wang’s voice, his face changed, and he immediately grabbed his stomach, shouting, "My stomach hurts again! Sister Yue, hurry up and go, I’m out!" Then he took off.

Shen Banyue heard Teacher Wang mutter helplessly, "That kid."

She looked at Teacher Tang on the podium, and before she could say anything, he waved her off with a resigned sigh: "Go on, go on." Then he gestured to Lin Mian, who had raised his hand: "You too, go, go, go."

After Shen Banyue and Lin Mian ran out, Teacher Tang tapped his little bamboo stick and glared at the restless students: "If you can all get a hundred on every test, then you can leave too!"

The elementary school kids immediately shrank back, turning into scared little quails.

Shen Banyue and Lin Mian strolled along toward the village entrance.

Lately, people from other villages had been coming to "inspect" the plow, and word was that the fields east and west of the entrance had nearly been plowed through once. Shen Banyue recalled the brigade leader asking them earlier if they’d take orders from other villages for new plows, and she figured a "deal" might have come knocking.

But as they got closer, something felt off. Wasn’t there a huge crowd gathered at the village entrance?

Were the commune members really that excited about taking on new plow orders?

Soon, she realized she was wrong, because she could already hear someone yelling "tractor" in the distance. Turning past the fork ahead, she spotted a big, imposing Jiefang truck parked on the road outside the village entrance.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she exchanged a glance with Lin Mian. Without a word, they both took off running.

"Hey, hey, hey, Xiao Yue and Xiao Mian are here!" someone turned and spotted them, shouting, "Xiao Yue, there’s a tractor here for you to sign off on!"

The crowd parted like the Red Sea, automatically clearing a path for the two kids.

"Xiao Yue, did you really buy this tractor?"

"I heard this tractor’s broken—can you guys actually fix it?"

"This hunk of iron must have cost a fortune. The driver said he drove it from the Jiangcheng State Farm. Did Guo Qiang buy it? Man, he sure spoils those kids."

"Whether he spoils them or not ain't your business. If I had kids like Xiao Yue and Xiao Mian, I’d spoil 'em too."

...

The commune members were all yapping away, saying all sorts of things. But the brigade leaders who had come and gone were staring intently at Shen Banyue and Lin Mian. They hadn’t dared to dream of a tractor, but they were dying to know when these two kids would start forging new plows.

Kids this young—if it had been before, the brigade leaders would have been skeptical. But they’d just heard the farm driver say that the old tractor on the truck was supposedly sent here for these kids to repair.

If they could fix a tractor, a few plows were nothing!

Now they were just worried that the kids would get so caught up in fixing the tractor that they’d have no time to make new plows.

Shen Zhenxing was shooting the breeze with the farm driver, also trying to get the scoop on the tractor. Hearing the commotion, he immediately turned to look at Shen Banyue and the others, beaming and waving at the two kids: "Come over here and take a look!"

The farm driver, cigarette in mouth, turned around and got a clear look at the kids. He gasped, choked on his smoke, and coughed like crazy.

He’d just heard from his boss that the tractor was being sent to some kids to fix. "Kids," in the eyes of adults—whether his boss or him—meant at least middle school grads, maybe even high schoolers.

In adult terms, anyone who hadn’t started working or gotten married could be lumped together as "kids."

He never expected these "kids" to be actual children.

They looked about ten or eleven. Even though both kids were well-built and seemed more composed than their peers, they were still children!

The driver thought to himself, this brigade didn’t seem all that rich, so how could there be a parent dumb enough to spend six hundred yuan on a "toy" like this for their kids?

If the tractor couldn’t be fixed, it’d just sit there for the kids to climb all over—what else was it but a toy?

Just as he was thinking this, he saw the two kids run up to the truck, grab the edge, and vault onto the truck bed in two quick moves.

"..."

That was way too quick, wasn’t it?

Shen Banyue and Lin Mian had no idea they’d been pegged as "wastrels" from a "sucker’s family" in the driver’s eyes. The moment they jumped onto the bed, they circled the big rig, looking it over from all sides, poking and prodding it, and couldn’t help but grin with satisfaction.

The tractor was a patchwork of old parts, but Farm Director Liao was a careful man. He hadn’t just shipped it off carelessly; before loading, he’d had someone give the machine a good wipe-down. The person responsible had been diligent too—it wasn’t gleaming like new, but at least it was clean and neat.

So on the surface, this "big guy" looked pretty decent.

As for the inside, based on Shen Banyue’s intuition, it wasn’t in too bad shape either.

Finding a junked tractor this fast, and in such good condition—nothing like the "missing limbs" junk they’d imagined that could end up in a scrapyard with scrap metal—was an absolute thrill!

Shen Zhenxing stopped jawing with the driver and grabbed the truck edge, eagerly asking the kids: "So, can you fix this thing?"

In his excitement, he totally forgot these kids had never fixed a tractor before, and he hadn’t believed for a second that they could.

Shen Banyue grinned: "Brigade leader, we’re just starting to learn. I don’t know if we can fix it, but it looks pretty good. How much did Uncle Guoqiang pay for it?"

"Now that it’s at our doorstep, of course we can fix it—we have to!" Shen Zhenxing declared immediately. As for the price, wary of eavesdroppers, he turned his back to the crowd and flashed a "six" at Shen Banyue.

Shen Banyue’s eyes lit up. Hey, the price wasn’t bad—four hundred less than her budget.

Not bad at all.

"Great, let’s unload it."

She waved for Lin Mian to get down first. Shen Zhenxing quickly picked a few men known for their strength from the crowd, and the group cheerfully climbed onto the truck bed, heaving the tractor up with a flurry of hands.

Shen Banyue took a spot near the front. Down below, the driver saw this ten-something-year-old girl squeezing in among the burly men, apparently bold enough to try lifting the tractor too. Thinking the villagers were just too excited to notice, he rushed over and grabbed Shen Zhenxing: "Hey, Brigade Leader Shen, get that little girl down—"

Before he could finish, he saw the skinny little girl brace her hands and, alongside a big, burly man, lift the front of the tractor!

Gulp.

His unfinished words died in his throat, swallowed by shock. The driver’s eyes went wide as he realized the girl was lifting it even higher than the man beside her, and her expression looked far more relaxed!

"How, how is this..."

Shen Zhenxing was glued to the tractor being slowly hauled out, sparing the driver a distracted glance and offering a casual reassurance: "It’s fine, Xiao Yue’s got a lot of strength."

The driver gulped again.

This ain't just being strong—it's crazy, freakish strength!

Despite the tractor's weight, there were too many hands reaching in from both the truck and the ground, and since the heaviest part—the front—was already being carried by Shen Banyue and Wang Daniu, the others didn't find it all that heavy. With a coordinated "one, two, three," they lifted the tractor off the truck.

As soon as the tractor hit the ground, the commune members who had been standing at a distance, too shy to get too close to the truck, swarmed around it in a frenzy. Their eyes sparkled as they stared at the tractor, smacking their lips in awe while secretly reaching out to touch it. When their hands met the cold iron, they'd grin and exclaim, "Whoa, it's freezing!"

Well, no kidding—it's the dead of winter.

"It actually looks pretty new. See, this part's still shiny."

"Exactly, and it even has a trailer! From now on, when we go to the commune, we won't have to take the ox cart, right? Can we drive the tractor instead? Man, that'd make delivering grain and pigs way easier! But hey, nobody in our brigade knows how to drive a tractor, do they? If it gets fixed, what if nobody can drive it?"

"Man, you're thinking way too far ahead. Didn't you hear the driver say it's busted and won't run? It needs fixing! And if it can't be fixed..."

Before the speaker could finish, a nearby commune member clamped a hand over their mouth. "Shut your mouth! It'll definitely get fixed!"

The commune members refused to leave the tractor's side, staring at this hunk of junk like it was a rare treasure. As word spread back to the village, more and more people came out, until even the mischievous kids from the brigade's elementary school were let out early to run over. The tractor was surrounded layer upon layer, it was getting treated almost like a celebrity from later times.

Shen Banyue squeezed out of the crowd and ran over to the driver to ask about the details of how Shen Guoqiang had bought the tractor. Upon learning that it had been cobbled together from three tractors from the farm, she smirked and gave Shen Guoqiang a mental thumbs-up.

Although the bargaining had been done by some unknown senior engineer, the fact that Shen Guoqiang thought to bring someone like that along was pretty smart.

The driver didn't dare treat Shen Banyue like a kid anymore—after all, she could probably knock him out with one punch—so he explained everything in detail. Then, from the truck's cab, he handed her a delivery slip. After looking it over, Shen Banyue pulled a fountain pen from Lin Mian's shirt pocket, signed it with a quick scribble, and thanked the driver with a smile.

With the handover complete, the driver said goodbye and started the truck. As the engine roared to life, he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the commune members still crowded around the tractor, not giving a damn about the truck leaving.

In this era, cars were rare, and the driver had never been treated with such "cold shoulder" before. He shook his head with a grin, thinking to himself that he'd have to tell his colleagues about today's events—though he wasn't sure if anyone would believe him.

Shen Zhenxing wanted to get a closer look at the tractor too, but he couldn't push through the crowd. At times like this, nobody was gonna move just because he was the brigade leader. So he had to pull Shen Banyue and Lin Mian aside and keep telling them, since they'd spent so much money, to make sure the tractor got fixed.

A few other brigade leaders shamelessly shoved their way in to take a look too.

They didn't dare to hope, but they still wanted a look. Even in the whole county, let alone their Yunding Commune, there probably wasn't another brigade that owned a tractor.

Hong Li, the brigade leader of Shanglin Brigade, was the first to squeeze out of the crowd. The tractor was impressive, but his mind was still on the new plow.

Hong Li patted down all his pockets but couldn't find a single piece of candy. Finally, with a reluctant sigh, he pulled out two five-mao notes and, with a familiar air, stuffed them into Shen Banyue and Lin Mian's pockets. "This is a little welcome gift. Don't think it's too small. Your brigade leader and I—we risked our lives working for capitalists back before liberation. His kids are my kids. When you're on break, come visit Shanglin, and I'll cook you something good."

Shen Zhenxing looked dumbfounded but didn't say anything.

It was true they were old friends, but always bringing up their shared history of working for capitalists felt a bit off.

Hong Li went on and on, showering Shen Banyue and Lin Mian with over-the-top but sincere praise. Finally, he got to the point and brought up the new plow. He thumped his chest and promised they wouldn't work for free—he'd pay them for their labor and throw in an extra hundred pounds of their brigade's specialty ponkan oranges for the two kids.

Just as he was speaking, the other brigade leaders emerged from the crowd. Yang Anfu yelled, "This shameless old Hong!" and hurried over. "You're Xiao Yue and Xiao Mian, right? I'm Yang Anfu, the brigade leader of Shanxia Brigade. Don't worry, we'll pay you for your work too, and on top of that, we'll give you some dried persimmons. There's a family in our brigade with a secret recipe passed down through generations—their dried persimmons are absolutely delicious. You kids will love them."

The other brigade leaders thought to themselves that Hong and Yang were indeed sneaky, using food to tempt the children. Not to be outdone, they jumped in: "It's not just your brigades that have good stuff! Our brigade has plenty too. Our sweet potato strips are soft, chewy, and sweet—most folks don't know how to make 'em."

"Our brigade..."

"Our brigade..."

And so, the arguments started again.

Shen Zhenxing's head was spinning from the chaos, but Shen Banyue smiled and raised a hand. "Uncles, we get how eager you all are for the new plows. Don't worry, we'll start working on them today and put in extra hours to get them done as fast as we can."

With that promise, the group finally relaxed and reluctantly left.

Once they'd ridden off into the distance, Shen Zhenxing asked, "Aren't you supposed to be fixing the tractor? Do you have time to make new plows? Biting off more than you can chew—you've spent so much money, shouldn't you prioritize the tractor?"

As he spoke, a flicker of doubt crept in. "Can you really fix the tractor? You're not thinking of giving up, are you?"

"Comrade Brigade Leader, as the leader said, we must despise the enemy strategically but take them seriously tactically. No matter what, to achieve victory, we can't lose heart from the start. The money's already spent, so you should encourage us more—encouragement works wonders!" she lowered her voice. "Besides, we still have Uncle Nie and Uncle Lü."

Shen Zhenxing thought about it. The kids might not know much, but those two—an engineer and a researcher—should have some idea, right?

Shen Banyue grinned and reminded him, "Also, you need to find us a place to store the tractor."

The tractor could be left out in the open, but since they'd be repairing and modifying it, leaving the parts outside risked theft or losing track of them. It would be best to have an enclosed space.

Shen Zhenxing thought for a moment and said, "Push it to the cowshed. I'll have someone put up a fence around it in the next couple of days, and we'll clear out the storage shed next to it for your parts."

Once the tractor was on the ground, pushing it was easier—though if it wasn't, the villagers could always carry it over.

After they pushed the tractor to the outside of the cowshed, Shen Zhenxing shooed everyone else away. "If you've got nothing to do, go check on your private plots. Don't just stand here bothering Xiao Yue and the others."

The commune members were reluctant to leave, but Shen Zhenxing scared them off with a warning: "Anyone who keeps bothering them won't get a ride when the tractor's fixed."

Once they were gone, Nie Yuanbai and the others came out of the cowshed.

They were well-traveled people who had seen plenty of tractors and even cars, but even they couldn't help getting excited at the sight of this "junker."

Lü Fang carefully inspected the body and said with restraint, "The materials look decent. No severe rusting—the whole shell probably doesn't need replacing. Not bad." In the end, he couldn't help adding another "not bad."

Nie Yuanbai focused on the front and the diesel engine for a long time, his expression serious. "The diesel engine has some serious issues, and there are problems with other parts too. But it should still be fixable."

Shen Zhenxing's eyes lit up so brightly they practically burned. "It can be fixed?!"

Nie Yuanbai smiled. "It can definitely be fixed, but it depends on how much money we're willing to spend. Some parts might need replacing, which will be costly. I'm not very familiar with tractors, so I'll need to study it more carefully with the kids."

"Study it all you want, take your time. As long as it gets fixed eventually, that's what matters." Even if it took a year or two, as long as it could run, it would be a win.

With the tractor sitting right outside, it was very convenient for Nie Yuanbai and the others. From then on, Shen Zhenxing lightened their workload, letting them work only half a day and spend the rest of their time studying the "big beast" at the door.

Since Shen Banyue had promised to make plows for several brigades, she went to the commune's blacksmith shop the next day with Lin Mian, accompanied by an excited Old Liu.

The plow design wasn't too complicated, though there were a few tricky connection points. For the plowshare, Shen Banyue used a bit of her special ability while forging it.

Her idea was that since this tool was useful, it could gradually be promoted. Before mass production, Xiaodun Brigade could treat this as a sideline business. With so many brigades in the county, if seventy or eighty percent came to them for plows, they could make a decent profit.

But the kids couldn't keep doing this work forever, so eventually, it would have to be handed over to others in the village. She taught Old Liu the key techniques, so aside from the plowshare, he could handle the rest.

Old Liu never expected that at his age, he'd get a chance for "advanced training." He spent every day squatting in the blacksmith shop, studying with such dedication that he forgot to eat and sleep.

Shen Banyue took the opportunity to forge extra plowshares as spares. Once Old Liu had mostly mastered the process, she stepped back and threw herself into the tractor repair project.

Just then, the materials from the Luoyang Tractor Factory arrived. These documents were a godsend, solving their shortage of professional references.

Everyone made copies and began burning the midnight oil, studying the materials while comparing them to the actual machine. Shen Banyue and Lin Mian spent day and night in the cowshed, and before long, they started smelling like cow dung.

Both were usually fastidious about cleanliness, normally bathing several times a day. But now, after days of carrying around the "cow smell," neither of them even noticed.

As time passed, the villagers initially made a habit of wandering over to the cowshed to check on things. But after a while, seeing that the tractor looked exactly the same as when it first arrived, different opinions began to surface.

"A few kids got lucky and made some plow, and now they think they're something special, daring to say they'll fix a tractor. They don't know their limits. Mark my words—not just half a month, but even half a year might not bring any progress. If they can fix that tractor, pigs can fly."

At the educated youth settlement, Zhang Ying was picking vegetables while whispering to Xu Zilei. Xu Zilei hesitated and said, "Those kids are actually pretty impressive."

I heard that the new plow alone earned the brigade a lot of money, and it's not just about the money—now Xiaodun Brigade is famous in the commune. When other brigades' sent-down youth hear that they're from Xiaodun, they're all envious.

Zhang Ying rolled her eyes. "A blind squirrel finding a nut, that's all." She paused, then added, "Well, not exactly—it's probably thanks to those three people in the cowshed, right? Tsk, getting mixed up with bad elements, they're asking for trouble."

Xu Zilei glanced at Zhang Ying, frowned, and said, "Actually, we don't have that big a conflict with the brigade..."

Zhang Ying immediately looked displeased: "Giving us the worst land and making us earn the fewest work points—doesn't that count?"

Xu Zilei pursed his lips and said nothing.