The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 12 I Don't Want to Be a Team Leader Anymore
Seeing Zhou Lingying wake up, Jiang Cheng gave each of his nephews and nieces a candy and told them to go play by themselves. Then he took Zhou Lingying to the riverside for a stroll. There were trees, grass and river water there. The scenery was actually pretty good, but people of this era didn't have the energy to appreciate the scenery.

Walking to the grass by the river, the two found a clean place, enjoying the breeze, looking at the scenery, and chatting. This made Zhou Lingying very happy physically and mentally. It was the first time she relaxed like this since she came to Jinhe Commune as an educated youth.

During this one year, the ideological education, the philosophy of struggle, and the hard life forced many educated youth to mature and live hard with the faith in their hearts.

But in many cases, everything is forced, forced by life and environment. No one is willing to leave their hometown and go to the villages to exercise.

Zhou Lingying lay directly on the grass, looking at the blue sky and listening to the sound of the river flowing not far away. It feels good to have an excellent partner. It's not that she has no future and wants to rely on men, but she is willing to work hard but has no direction. Since the educated youth went to the countryside a few years ago, I have never heard of anyone being transferred back to the city.

"You are lying on the grass by the river and looking at the scenery, but the scenery in my eyes is just you." Jiang Cheng sat next to Zhou Lingying, looked at her and said a romantic and stuffy word.

Such words were considered a very profound confession in this era, and they made Zhou Lingying shy. She didn't expect that she was so good in Jiang Cheng's eyes and was the scenery in his eyes.

"Jiang Cheng, am I good-looking?" Zhou Lingying sat up and asked Jiang Cheng bravely. Generally, when a girl asks a boy this question, it is actually to express her feelings.

"Yeah, it looks good." Jiang Cheng grabbed Zhou Lingying's hand and sat close to her and said.

It had only been a few hours since noon, but Zhou Lingying felt that she and Jiang Cheng were moving too fast. They had held hands and were now almost sitting close to each other. But she didn't feel disgusted at all, and her heart was already moved.

He had a good job, spoke and thought differently from everyone she had ever met, and was romantic. Even if we put aside the fact that Jiang Cheng had a good job, there were many people among the educated youth who had the same junior high school education as him, and even those with high school education, who seemed not as good as him.

The two stayed by the river until the sun went down before going back. Zhou Lingying wanted to go back to the dormitory for educated youths, thinking it was not good to have dinner at her boyfriend's house when they were just dating. But Jiang Cheng took her home for dinner anyway, for a simple reason: Jiang Cheng wanted to hold her hand and send her back to the dormitory in the evening.

It's a very romantic thing to say. If someone else said it, it might be that there is good food at home, please go and eat it. If you say it this way, even if she goes, it will make people feel that she goes there just to eat.

At the educated youth camp, everyone noticed something was wrong with Zhou Lingying. He didn't come back for lunch, and when work started in the afternoon, they found out that he had asked for leave from the team leader and would not be working in the afternoon. When it was time for lunch, Zhou Lingying was still nowhere to be seen.

It was precisely because she was not there in the afternoon that there were three new educated youth, two women and one man. One of the women was assigned to their group, which was a hindrance.

In the evening, Jiang Cheng sent Zhou Lingying to the roadside of the female educated youth dormitory, peeled a candy and fed it to her mouth, then took another candy and put it in her hand and said, "Peel it and give it to me."

Zhou Lingying was already very shy today, and she was still embarrassed by Jiang Cheng's request. It was very different from what she had imagined. How should I put it? It was just the first day, so intimate, a little shameless. But Zhou Lingying still listened to Jiang Cheng and peeled a piece and fed it to Jiang Cheng.

"The candy you feed me is sweeter than what you eat, because I think everything you feed me is sweet." Jiang Cheng said in Zhou Lingying's ear, and then put all the candy in his pocket into her pocket and continued: "I'm leaving. Come to my house for lunch tomorrow. I'm sure I can catch a pheasant, and we'll eat it tomorrow."

Watching Jiang Cheng leave, Zhou Lingying felt the sugar in her mouth sweeter, and then she happily returned to her dormitory. Once Zhou Lingying returned, the female educated youth in the same dormitory would not let her go easily.

"Team leader Zhou, tell me the truth about where you've been today. This is Wang Fang, a new educated youth comrade. There's another one named Liu Li who lives next door. Wang Fang and I sleep in the same bed at night. The dormitory room is too small to accommodate more beds. The team leader said at noon that they need to build more dormitories for educated youth. Tomorrow, Wang Fang and Liu Li will be arranged to stay in the homes of nearby villagers who have more rooms for a while."

Seeing Zhou Lingying coming back, Zhang Yan, a female educated youth who shared the same dormitory with her, said that Zhou Lingying was the team leader and Wang Fang was assigned to her team. She would have to follow Zhou Lingying's arrangements on what she was responsible for. And if she was not positive in her thinking, Zhou Lingying would also be responsible for the ideological work.

"Zhang Yan, Li Hui and Wang Na, come here. I have something to tell you. I don't want to be the leader of the educated youth group anymore. If any of you want to be the leader, I will report it to the team leader tomorrow." Zhou Lingying said to the others in the dormitory.

Zhou Lingying felt that she was not suitable for the position of team leader because it would be difficult for her to guide others in terms of ideological work.

It is impossible to teach the new educated youth earnestly that they should not be afraid of hardship and fatigue, work hard, and contribute their own efforts to the rural construction of the motherland. Then Zhou Lingying, the team leader, did not want to suffer anymore and planned to find someone to marry.

"Team leader Zhou, why don't you want to be the team leader anymore? You worked so hard to be selected for this position at the beginning of this year." Zhang Yan said in surprise.

"Yes, Team Leader Zhou, what's wrong with you? Did something happen? If there is anything, you can tell us and we will help you solve it together."

"Yes, we will help you."

"Nothing happened to me, it's just that I'm dating someone, a local."

Zhou Lingying told everyone that she and Jiang Cheng had officially started dating today, so it was okay to say it. If Jiang Cheng dared not admit it, she would sue him for being a hooligan. If they were not in a relationship, she would never let a man touch her hand.

"What, you are dating a local guy? What about Li Mingjun?" It was Zhang Yan who asked again, because in the dormitory, Zhang Yan was closer to Zhou Lingying.

"What does my relationship have to do with Li Mingjun? I have nothing to do with Li Mingjun. Don't talk nonsense." Zhou Lingying said righteously.

Zhou Lingying was indeed close to Li Mingjun in the past, but they had a normal comradeship. She did think about whether she and Li Mingjun could develop further in the future, but after all, the two of them did not take it any further, let alone holding hands like she did with Jiang Cheng, and even the step of giving gifts to each other was not there.

Moreover, Zhou Lingying suddenly realized today that after being with Li Mingjun, it seemed that in the past year or so, he only took care of her at the beginning when she was working, and then he gave her free verbal encouragement and ideological guidance.

But every time Zhou Lingying's family sent something, as long as there was food, she never forgot to share it with Li Mingjun. Although it was only sent a few times a year, not every month.

(End of this chapter)