Liu Guifen listened to the children's every word, her eyes gleaming with greed as she stared at the fish and honey in their hands.
If they had all of these, then Song Wei must have even more.
"Hey Liu Guifen, are you trying to steal my boy's things? Have you no shame?"
"You dare try to steal one? I'll scratch your face!"
Liu Guifen wasn't afraid of one person, nor two, but several…
she was still afraid of getting beaten up.
"I wasn't talking about them, I was talking about Song Zhiqing. She's not from our brigade, so why should she take all the good things from our mountains?"
Heidan stood in front of Song Wei, trying to protect her with his thin, dark frame.
"Sister Song is from our brigade! She found all these things herself, they're hers!"
"Get lost, you little nemesis without parents."
Song Wei narrowed her eyes, her clear black and white pupils filled with sharpness and impatience.
She pulled Heidan to stand beside her, her words already laced with anger.
"Auntie, what you're saying is that we educated youth are going to be at odds with the people in the production brigade. We educated youth came to the countryside to help build our country, so we should understand and tolerate each other. We educated youth and the farmers are a group. Auntie, your ideological awareness is terrible. How can you imply that you're excluding the educated youth in your words?"
Liu Guifen's eyes widened. "That's not what I meant! How can you say such things? How did I exclude the educated youth? I didn't!"
If these words got out, they could easily be used against her.
The other aunties all looked at Song Wei. This educated youth Song Wei really had a sharp tongue.
Song Wei suddenly smiled and said, "You must have misunderstood. But in the future, aunties, please be careful what you say. We educated youth are strangers to the villagers at first, so some conflicts are normal. Even a family has its disagreements.
But the aunties in our village are warm and generous, and I believe we educated youth will soon integrate into the Ping'an Brigade family. This also depends on the aunties' tolerance, right?
When I came to the countryside, I heard that our Ping'an Brigade had the best atmosphere in the surrounding area. I didn't really believe it at first, but after this short period of getting to know each other, I believe it..."
The aunties, flattered by this, immediately felt much less resistant to Song Wei's earlier perceived strength.
This educated youth Song Wei has a surprisingly sweet tongue.
It's just that Liu Guifen coveted the things but couldn't say anything nice. These things were hard-earned, and Song Wei had so generously shared them with her son. If she hadn't been so good with words, she would have been taken advantage of by that shameless Liu Guifen.
"Liu Guifen, you've gone too far! These educated youths are also part of our brigade. Do you dare say those things to the brigade leader?"
"What? You think we can't let them have the work points they earn from the things in the mountains? As if everyone knows what you're up to? You have the nerve to bully a little girl."
Aunt Ma immediately said, "Song, you should go back now. We won't keep you any longer. Don't take Liu Guifen's words to heart. If she really dares to steal, we'll drag her to the brigade leader to settle things."
Song Wei obediently said, "Then thank you, aunties."
Then, under Liu Guifen's murderous gaze, Song Wei said goodbye to the other children and slowly went down the mountain with Heidan.
"Why did you provoke her? Didn't you say your mother-in-law didn't get away with it today?" A friend
who usually played with Liu Guifen rolled his eyes as he listened to her swearing.
"What right does she, a mere educated youth, have? Everyone's siding with outsiders. I'm the one from our old Zao Village!"
"Have you ever given fish and honey to the village children?"
Liu Guifen choked on her words: "For such a small thing, who cares?"
"You may not care, but I do. It's a pity my brat isn't with us today."
Liu Guifen's face turned pale: "Whose side are you on?"
"I just came to comfort you, why aren't you appreciating it?"
Liu Guifen: ...Thank you, but the more you comfort me, the more upset I feel.
...
When everyone saw Song Wei return with a large bundle of firewood, their mood had calmed down considerably.
But those who were envious and jealous were still envious.
Gao Le and his friend were purely envious; they were exhausted after work every day, like dogs, where would they find the time to chop firewood?
Gao Le: "I heard the winters here are freezing. Let's go up the mountain and get some more firewood after we pay our grain taxes."
Zhao Shu squatted on the doorstep, shoveling food into his mouth. His face was contorted with bitterness.
"I don't want to go. When will this work ever end? I don't want to stay in the countryside for even a day longer. My father is so heartless, sending me here to suffer."
Gao Le: "You should be grateful. At least we have a chance to go back. As long as my father calms down, that's enough. Look at the other educated youth, they have no hope of returning to the city."
He said this quietly. Returning to the city was a huge temptation for almost all the educated youth. Although they were a bit slow, they were still smart enough not to say it aloud.
"Gao, Zhao, do you have enough food? Do you want some of mine?"
A sudden, sweet voice almost made Gao Le drop his bowl.
It was like a scene from a ghost story.
Zhao Su stared warily at Bai Yunjiao. His mother had said that any woman who was kind to him for no reason must have ulterior motives—either her body or his status.
Now that he was in the countryside, he relied on his family for support to survive, and he didn't want to support someone else for nothing; that would be a huge loss.
"No need, we're full,"
Gao Le said irritably.
Zhao Su squatted a little further away and continued eating.
Bai Yunjiao bit her lip, looking shy yet curious.
"What were you two talking about just now, Gao Qing?"
Gao Le and Zhao Su immediately became alert: this woman definitely had ill intentions!
"We have to go!"
The two brothers helped each other up and hurriedly ran into their room, then closed the door.
Gao Le: "She's asking about our identities!"
Zhao Su nodded gravely: "My mom said that women who ask about our identities are just looking for freeloading, wanting us to be their slaves, giving them money, tickets, and work for them. It's terrifying."
Gao Le: "We absolutely can't lie anymore. We can't even support ourselves. Those aunties are looking at us strangely now that we only get two work points a day."
"Really? I think earning two work points a day is already pretty amazing."
The two simpletons stared at each other, finally nodding in agreement.
Before going to the countryside, they were carefree playboys who only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun. Earning two work points on their own was quite remarkable, and they didn't cry!
They selectively forgot about the first two days when they secretly cried together.