Chapter 90: New Blood

After completing the full “purification” process, they were placed in the dormitories of the quarantine station. The dormitories were separated by gender, and each room had more than twenty beds. What was novel to them was that the beds were all double-decker; those sleeping on the top had to climb up. However, everyone had their own separate bed, with a clean straw mat and a thin felt blanket. For these children who had been sleeping in the open for months, these conditions were like heaven.

They were also given a large-mouthed ceramic cup and a face cloth—towels required knitting machine technology, which could not yet be produced. In contrast, toothbrushes were put into production very quickly. They had wooden handles and horsehair bristles. The drilling of holes and the bundling of bristles were all done by hand. The people from the industrial department were very surprised because the local women, relying only on their drawings and requirements and extremely simple hand tools, were able to make toothbrushes—of course, the output was still very low, only about twenty a day.

As for the indispensable items like mouthwash cups and rice bowls, unfortunately, they had brought very few, so they had to make do with fragile glazed pottery. Without stainless steel rice spoons, a wooden one would have to suffice. These daily necessities, which were extremely simple to make, could not yet be self-sufficient due to a lack of raw materials.

The fierce-looking maid led them to their assigned beds. The younger ones slept on the bottom bunks, while the older ones were assigned to the top. Many rules were also set: they could go out, but only to the open space at the entrance, and were not allowed to visit the next dormitory; rice bowls, cups, and other items could only be used by oneself and not shared; everything had to be placed on the shelves in an orderly manner… Hearing all this, everyone was choked with indignation. This place had so many rules.

For those who violated discipline, there was a most effective punishment: starvation.

“Time to eat!” With the sound of the bell outside, someone was shouting. Someone brought steaming hot food in large, lidded iron buckets. The first meal was a thick fish paste congee, made by chopping up fish paste made from miscellaneous fish and boiling it into congee, with many vegetables added, making it a nutritionally complete meal. Everyone was quite satisfied with the meal, but there were no refills—Wu Nanhai was afraid that if they ate too much at once, they would get stomachaches. However, from the very beginning, they were given three meals a day here to increase their nutrition—the health group was well aware that many infectious diseases were closely related to malnutrition.

During this 40-day quarantine observation period, they could not be allowed to idle away their time. The transmigrators were not here to do charity work. Two of the best graduates from the night school in Saltworks Village were sent to teach them literacy and Mandarin. Everyone was given a slate and chalk. The morning was for studying, and the afternoon was for labor. The rattan and wood processing factory in Bopu would send some simple manual labor here for them to do. They learned to process rattan, weave rattan products, split bamboo, and sand wooden boards. Those children who showed dexterity and skill in their work would be noted down as a direction for their future training. Before dinner, they could have some free time to play games. After dinner, it was time for cleaning and bathing, and then they had to go to sleep—the transmigrators did not provide electricity for lighting in the dormitories. But every night, many children would still gather by the wire fence to watch the flickering lights in the rows of red houses on the other side of the harbor.

For most of the children, like Tian Liang, their current life was satisfactory. They had food to eat, clothes to wear, and a clean room to live in. The fleas that had always made them scratch were gone, and the few scabies sores on his body had completely healed after applying ointment a few times. Although there was a lot of homework every day and they had to abide by discipline, these were still tolerable.

Some of the older children, having wandered for a long time, had become wild and were not at all interested in reading and writing. They were even more unwilling to learn the “short hairs’” tongue-twisting, neither-here-nor-there Mandarin. Others could not stand the discipline. After several failed attempts at “starvation education,” the most stubborn children were transferred to the production team’s apprentice squad.

Tian Liang often wanted to go to the girls’ dormitory to see how Guo Fu was doing, but a high bamboo fence separated the two sides, and the gate in the middle was always locked. Even if he could peek at the scene on the other side through the fence, it was difficult to pick out which one was Guo Fu from the crowd. Over time, he slowly gave up hope.

Ma Peng pushed a small wheelbarrow, which creaked along the path between the fields. On the wheelbarrow were the only belongings of his family and his old mother.

“Peng’er, if we just go like this, will the ‘kūnzéi’ masters take us in?”

“Mother, how many times have I told you, they will take in as many family members and relatives as come. Chief Wu said so himself.”

“Sigh, sigh, you really are something. Why did you have to quit your job at Master Fu’s! Master Fu treated us well.”

“He treated us well, but aren’t the ‘short hairs’ better?” Ma Peng pushed the cart with great energy. “As an employee of the ‘short hairs,’ you get to eat rice at every meal, and there’s fish. Does Fu Bu’er have that? Even during the busy farming season, he only gives us a meal of shredded sweet potato rice. If you eat too much, his wife will grumble.”

As they were talking, another group of people carrying loads on shoulder poles came from behind. They were all carrying baskets of unhusked rice, the poles trembling under the weight, hurrying towards Bairen City.

“Mother, look, these are all people going to Dongmen Market to sell grain. The ‘kūnzéi’ chiefs’ money is truly more than the water in the sea.” Ma Peng smacked his lips with a bit of pride, feeling that being a long-term laborer for the “short hairs” was much more respectable than working for the rural landlord Fu Bu’er.

Just as he was speaking, the leader of the group carrying loads turned his head. “Little brother, are you also going to Dongmen Market? Taking your old mother to see the sights?”

“I’m a long-term laborer for the ‘short hairs,’ and I’m just taking my old mother over.”

The leading man laughed heartily. “You’ve got guts, little brother! Daring to work for them.”

“It’s nothing. The ‘short hairs’ aren’t three-headed, six-armed man-eating monsters. Speaking of which, they’re not bad people.” He then rambled on about what happened after he went to war with Fu Bu’er and was captured, including various strange and interesting stories.

“…I think it’s all the same who you work for. At least the ‘short hairs’ feed you well.”

The man nodded. “That’s right. Just like our master. At first, he was scared to death, afraid every day that the ‘short hairs’ would come and attack. Later, he heard that the ‘short hairs’ were buying rice at a high price, and his mind started working. He eagerly sent grain to them. He’s been delaying and defaulting on the government’s autumn grain tax, but over here, he’s already sold to them once, and this is the second time.”

“The rich are just obsessed with money.”

As they spoke, the group had already arrived at Dongmen Market. In just half a month, this place had become bustling with activity. In the middle of a large area of bamboo sheds stood a towering red brick building, which was very conspicuous. People selling grain with shoulder poles and carts formed a long queue here. On the other side was the shop of some “welfare cooperative” that had recently become famous throughout the county. The entrance was also crowded with people. Besides the common people, there were also some who looked like landlords and wealthy men looking at the goods and bargaining with the women in pretty blue cloth clothes. Ma Peng had been away from here for almost a month, and now everything seemed new to him. He felt more and more that he had made the right decision to come back. The “kūnzéi” chiefs were not leaving!

He parted ways with the group that had come to sell grain—Ma Peng was heading to the production team’s camp on the bank of the Wenlan River outside the South Gate. As he passed a plot of land for housing, many people he had never seen before were setting up scaffolding and building houses. The houses were completely different from what he had seen in the past. They were not made of bamboo or wood, nor were they made of rammed earth. The houses were built with bright red bricks. Ma Peng had never dreamed that this would be their home.

The reporting rate of the Bairen Production Team was surprisingly good. Wu De had originally estimated that at most 60-70% of the people would return to the team after the busy farming season, but he didn’t expect that over 95% would return after the season ended. Many also brought their families with them. Some people who hoped for better treatment from the “short hairs” also came along. All together, the number of people in the Bairen Beach Production Team was 120% of the original, which was better than their most optimistic estimate. This made the Executive Committee overjoyed—before this, they had been unable to confirm whether they had the ability to win the hearts of the people. Now it seemed they were doing a good job.

The common people who had migrated from Damei Village—now organized by Wu De into the Bairen Beach Production Team Two—experienced the busiest farming season of their lives. The men were busy felling trees, quarrying stone, digging earth, and firing bricks. The women spread out the harvested rice to dry and winnowed it. The lines of people carrying grain to the mill by the river were endless—there were now over 1,300 mouths to feed in Bairen City, and the daily demand for rice alone was one and a half tons. Ma Qianzhu instructed that the mill should only process the rice to the brown rice stage, not to polished rice—firstly, to preserve nutrients, and secondly, to increase the yield. The older women helped cook in the kitchen, and even the half-grown children had to go to the farm to help loosen the soil and cut grass. They were busy from the first cock’s crow in the morning until dark, working more than a dozen hours a day. But despite the fatigue, the food provided by the “short hairs” was good! They didn’t have to cook their own meals; three meals a day were delivered ready-made to the work site: steaming hot rice, as much as they could eat, and meat and fish for lunch and dinner, in large, oily portions. They had never even seen, let alone eaten, such good food. In addition, they were paid wages, although they were just colorful pieces of paper. But according to the people from Production Team One, who had arrived earlier, these pieces of paper were very valuable and could be used to buy rice, fish, and meat in the cafeteria. Those with children and elderly to support could feed their families with these work point coupons. So, although the work was heavy, there were no complaints.

Ma Qianzhu himself came from a large state-owned enterprise and was nostalgic for the welfare system that benefited the employees’ families, young and old. He saw that many women were unable to go out to work because they had young children or many children, which wasted a lot of labor. This gave him the idea of starting the first nursery, in order to liberate women with children to participate in labor. He found Fang Yijing—she used to be a childcare teacher, had managed everyone’s dormitories before the transmigration, and was now also the head of the residential area management committee—and appointed her as the director. He first selected some women for simple childcare and hygiene training. Ma Qianzhu knew that it was ineffective to rely on force to change people’s long-standing living habits, so he adopted some economic strategies: he stipulated that for anyone willing to enroll their young children in the nursery, all three of the child’s meals would be provided by the cafeteria.