As soon as she entered the courtyard, everyone's eyes turned to her.
Song Wei greeted them without changing her expression.
"Song...Song Wei, Uncle Erzhu is here to set up a door for you,"
Li Juan said quickly, snapping out of her reverie.
She looked at Song Wei with envy; if she had that kind of strength, she would never be afraid of hunger again.
"Okay, I know,"
she said, putting her things at the door and going into her room.
Song Wei planned to do what Li Juan did: open a door at the back of her room leading to the backyard.
The backyard was spacious enough to store a lot of things and grow some vegetables.
"Uncle Erzhu, can educated youth set up their own plots in the backyard?"
Song Wei's heart stirred with desire as she looked at the large plot of land in the backyard.
Jiang Erzhu had already finished setting up the backyard door and shook his head upon hearing this: "I don't know, you'll have to ask the brigade leader."
Strictly speaking, the educated youth could allocate this plot of land themselves.
Li Juan also had some vegetables she had planted on her plot, and some of them were ripe now.
However, she glanced at it just now and noticed that a patch of the vegetable garden looked bare.
After the door was fixed, Song Wei gave Jiang Erzhu five yuan.
This was for the kang (heated brick bed) and the door; the mud bricks and other materials were brought by him, so the price was a bit higher.
"Thank you, Uncle Erzhu."
Jiang Erzhu was an honest and simple farmer. Seeing that Song Wei paid him so readily, and remembering the snake soup from yesterday, a genuine smile appeared on his face, his wrinkles crinkling up.
"Song, you've only just arrived and there aren't any vegetables in the yard. Aunt Ma asked me to tell you to come to our house and pick some vegetables to eat."
Song Wei smiled, revealing a set of neat, white teeth. She didn't stand on ceremony and said, "Okay, I'll go find Aunt Ma tomorrow."
After seeing Uncle Erzhu off, Song Wei took a woodcutter's knife and chopped the large tree branches into neat sections, busily piling the firewood she had gathered yesterday and today into the backyard. Just
as she was finishing, she heard arguing coming from the front yard.
She craned her neck, tossed the mushrooms from her basket and the chestnuts from her sack into the room, and skipped lightly to the front yard.
Of course, she was there to watch the drama unfold.
"This isn't the first or second time! These are vegetables I planted! Why do you always pick them and eat them without even asking? You don't even say thank you, and when I say something, you accuse me of being stingy!"
Li Juan cried, her face red and her neck bulging as she wiped away tears.
"Is it really necessary? It's just some vegetables. That backyard plot belongs to everyone. Aren't the vegetables grown meant for everyone to eat?"
Only a few people present seemed a little embarrassed by Li Juan's complaints; the rest either ignored her or thought she was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Liu Linlin and Xu Laidi were especially sarcastic.
Xu Laidi rolled her eyes: "I watered these vegetables too, of course I get a share."
Li Juan was so angry she was trembling: "You splash your morning wash water on them, and your evening foot-washing water, and I complain about it so much, did I ask you to water them? Sometimes the foot-washing water you splashed on them was hot, and the seedlings were scalded to death, I had to go find more to replant them, have you no shame!"
Xu Laidi said righteously: "Well, I watered them too, what a delicate young lady! It's just foot-washing water, what's wrong with it? It'll be clean after washing. In the countryside, people use manure to make their vegetables grow well, why don't you go and tell them that?"
Liu Linlin: "Are you even going to eat? You're starving and you still have the mood to argue here."
Because they needed to prepare for the grain tax, although it wasn't as busy as the harvest season, a day's work was still exhausting.
Everyone decided to cook together.
Today, Xu Laidi and Bai Yunjiao came back to cook, and they went to the backyard to get a lot of vegetables.
Bai Yunjiao said, "I'm sorry, Li Juan. We were thinking that everyone was tired lately, and we didn't have Song Zhiqing's ability to get meat, so we thought we'd get some vegetables to help us recover. We didn't expect you to object."
Tsk tsk, listen to that soft, weak tone. Not only did she put Li Juan down, but she was also being generous with other people's money. And to make matters worse, she used other people's things to boost her own reputation while simultaneously drawing hatred.
Sure enough, after Bai Yunjiao's words, everyone's gaze towards Li Juan changed.
"It's just some vegetables, we'll make it up to you later,"
one of the male educated youths immediately chimed in, following Bai Yunjiao's lead. He was Bai Yunjiao's suitor, an unspoken understanding among them.
Luo Yecheng looked at Li Juan with disappointment: "We're all educated youth. Bai Yunjiao and Xu Laidi are doing this for everyone's good. Li Juan, you need to have a spirit of dedication."
Li Juan's face turned pale. Everyone was criticizing her, even though they had eaten her food.
"What a show,"
Song Wei said, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.
"The shamelessness of some people has truly broadened my horizons once again."
Liu Linlin glared at her resentfully. "What business is it of yours? You didn't hand in any grain, so you don't get any today!"
Song Wei scoffed, "You all talk so sweetly, telling Li Juan not to be selfish, yet you yourselves set an example of generosity."
"Luo Yecheng, if you're so generous, take some of your grain and give it to Li Juan."
Luo Yecheng, whose name was mentioned, tensed up. "Why should I!"
Song Wei's eyes widened in surprise. "Didn't you say that one shouldn't be selfish but should have a spirit of dedication? Now I'm giving you a chance to show your generosity and selflessness; you should thank me."
She was pretty, and her playful tone made her seem more energetic.
It was precisely these words that made some people grit their teeth in hatred.
"And you, Bai Yunjiao, I remember you just picked up a package from home three days ago. There was a piece of cured meat in it, right? You're so concerned about everyone's health, why don't you take out the cured
meat and share it with everyone? Just eating vegetables won't nourish your body. I'm not as generous as you in not sharing the meat, but you're different. You're the most generous, kindest, and selfless good person in the world. You would definitely be happy to share the cured meat with everyone, wouldn't you?"
Bai Yunjiao had previously taken out some things from the package she picked up at the post office to show off how good her family was to her.
Song Wei's flattery was like putting Bai Yunjiao directly on the hot seat.
Her smile immediately became forced, and her eyes darted away.
"No way, no way, you wouldn't just advise others to be generous while being so selfish and petty yourself, would you? Impossible! After all, you're the kind, selfless, and considerate Bai Zhiqing who always cares about others and puts everyone first!"
Bai Yunjiao's chest heaved with anger. "I... it's late now, and this is enough."
"It's not late. It's never too late to eat meat."
Li Juan felt extremely relieved seeing them speechless after Song Wei's sarcastic remarks.
"Yeah, didn't you feel sorry for everyone being tired and needing nourishment? Vegetables are no match for meat!"