Chapter 1269: Going to the Countryside 8
Wang Zhengguo was not soft-hearted when it came to these sent-down youths. He believed in teaching those who needed to be taught and making them work as necessary, starting with the lighter tasks. If they didn’t know how to use a clay stove, the more experienced sent-down youths would teach them. These experienced youths were also personally trained by Wang Zhengguo. Whether the food they cooked was delicious or not, that was something they had to bear themselves.
The arrival of the sent-down youths brought no small burden to the Wanglou Brigade. First, it was necessary to build housing for them, and then the brigade also had to allocate grain rations for them. More for them meant less for the brigade’s own share.
Therefore, many of the village elders and folks were unhappy and felt that what Wang Zhengguo was doing was right.
The attitude towards the older generation of sent-down people was completely different from that towards the younger sent-down youths. For one, they were older, and their work points and grain rations were all halved according to regulations. Secondly, they were once important figures, and the villagers respected them deeply, wondering whether they might rise again. Particularly for those several old revolutionaries who had fought in wars, which villager did not feel grateful and indebted to the war heroes?
The "Four Olds" living in the cowsheds often received gifts from the villagers in private, and everyone made sure that the children in their homes respected them, saying if it weren’t for their fighting, there wouldn’t be peace today.
This led to the Wanglou Brigade’s distinctly different attitudes toward the sent-down youths and sent-down older individuals.
Those who worked well earned high work points, while those who worked poorly received low points.
When the work ended at dusk, Wang Dachun directly said this to them, quite bluntly, "After autumn, the grain will be distributed based on work points. Those with high points may have a little surplus after deductions, but those with fewer points might find it quite embarrassing to end up owing!"