After Jiang Erzhu left, Song Wei wanted to turn back to her room, but Xu Laidi suddenly rushed out and blocked her way.
"Song Wei, what do you mean? Don't you know we educated youth don't get along well with the brigade? You gave all that meat to a country bumpkin and didn't even share it with us. Are you looking down on us? You're so uncooperative!"
Xu Laidi was impulsive, mainly because she was drooling over the meat. When she stood up, everyone else had a look of anticipation.
Many of the educated youth actually agreed with Xu Laidi's words.
Song Wei's smile faded: "How dare you say such shameless things?"
"It's mine. Who I give it to is none of your business. Get out of my way."
Xu Laidi stubbornly blocked her way: "No, unless you give me the rest of the snake meat."
She's gone crazy with greed.
Li Juan: "It's all gone, we can't tell."
"How is that possible!!!"
Xu Laidi didn't believe it and barged into the backyard of Li Juan's room. Seeing the empty pottery jar, her eyes immediately turned red.
"Are you pigs reincarnated? You can eat so much! Several pounds of meat! And in the end, you gave some to some country bumpkin and didn't even give us any..."
Song Wei interrupted her: "Don't keep calling him a country bumpkin. You're in the same boat now. At least he can farm and support himself. You can barely support yourself, so how dare you look down on others? Workers and peasants are respected now. Are you saying this to look down on farmers?"
Xu Laidi's face turned pale. She dared not say this; if word got out, she would definitely be criticized.
"I didn't, I didn't! You're just talking nonsense!"
Xu Laidi seemed a little scared and stopped insisting on the snake meat. She just glared fiercely at Song Wei and Li Juan before hurrying back to the dormitory.
Xu Laidi's name itself reveals her family's preference for sons over daughters; she was also neglected and couldn't afford a single room after arriving in the countryside without a penny to her name.
"Song Zhiqing's words are too harsh. Xu Zhiqing was just being sarcastic."
Just when she thought the matter was over, another one showed up to make her presence known.
Her words were gentle, and Song Wei looked at her.
Bai Yunjiao said, "We all came to the countryside together; it's fate that we're all here. We're all educated youth and should stick together. Xu Zhiqing's words weren't malicious.
We don't have any major conflicts with her, so it certainly won't spread. Otherwise, if the villagers find out, they'll think all educated youth are restless."
This implied that only she and Xu Zhiqing had a conflict, and if word got out, it would be her spreading it.
"Haven't they already seen us educated youth as restless?"
Bai Yunjiao was momentarily speechless.
“Besides, if it really gets out, it’s not like we can’t find out. If someone is wronging me, I’ll take Xu Laidi and knock on every door to find out who spread it.”
Bai Yunjiao bit her lip: “That’s not what I meant…”
She looked so aggrieved, as if she had bullied her.
Song Wei immediately took Li Juan and took three steps back: “You all saw it, I didn’t bully her, I didn’t even touch a hair on her head.”
Luo Yecheng, who was about to stand up for justice: …
Bai Yunjiao was also stunned, seemingly not expecting her to react like this.
Song Wei stared at her eyes curiously: “Crying? Did any tears fall? Explain why you’re crying, don’t let everyone misunderstand that I hit you. I’m telling you, I’m not the kind of person who hits people casually.”
The other educated youth: …Are you serious?
Wasn’t it you who hit Liu Linlin before?
Luo Yecheng also thought of how she had hit him before without saying a word, and his face darkened.
Bai Yunjiao was now in a dilemma, not knowing whether to cry or not.
"I...you didn't bully me."
But her tone and voice were full of grievance.
“I really didn’t bully you. We only exchanged a few words, and I didn’t even mention your name. How could I have bullied you? What idiot would take that personally? Wouldn’t that just mean she wanted to spread what Xu Laidi said and then use it to slander me? Right, Bai Zhiqing?”
Song Wei revealed a set of clean, white teeth.
Bai Yunjiao forced a smile and nodded.
This time, she really didn’t dare to continue.
Song Wei waved her hand: “It’s okay, everyone can go now. We have to go to work tomorrow.”
Although the harvest was over, there was still a lot to do.
Drying wheat and millet, shelling corn, and quickly planting a crop of radishes and cabbages in the fields.
In the countryside, except when it snows in winter, the fields are basically never idle.
Today, having eaten and drunk her fill, Song Wei patted her belly and felt especially sweet even sleeping on the simple bed.
She dreamed of it with a smile.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, around six o’clock, the sound of the gong signaling the start of work for the brigade rang out.
The older educated youths were already used to this sound, but the newer ones got up slowly.
Song Wei, however, perked up.
She then went with Li Juan to get her work.
"Song, the educated youth,"
the work team leader said, looking at her sickly appearance with the white bandage still wrapped around her head.
"Go over there and thresh the corn. It's easy work, five work points per pile."
Ten centimeters is a typical amount of work a grown man could finish in a day.
The Ping'an brigade leader was clever. Previously, the way everyone worked together had led to many slackers. After some thought and discussion, they divided the work among everyone each day. Those who could finish their own work would get ten work points, and those who couldn't would get work points depending on the situation.
The corn piles were already divided, one pile for each person, a large pile worth five work points. At an adult's pace, it would take half a day to finish.
But this work was easy, so it was mostly done by the village's children and elderly, who would have to work a whole day.
Since Song Wei was injured, the team leader assigned her an easy task.
She accepted the work without any objection.
Over at the corn pile, some people had already taken up work and were sitting cross-legged on the ground, while others had brought small stools from home.
Song Wei didn't want to sit on the ground, not because she was clean, but because sitting like that for a long time would make her buttocks ache and her legs go numb.
So she found a stone stool that looked good, moved it over, greeted those she knew, and smiled at those she didn't know before setting down the stool and getting to work.
"Song Zhiqing is here?"
Upon seeing her, the surrounding women's eyes immediately fell on her.
An old woman next door even brought her small stool and moved closer to her.
"Song Zhiqing, is your head injury better?"
Just from her gossipy eyes, Song Wei knew what she wanted to know.
Song Wei nodded: "I was a little dizzy yesterday, but not so much today."
"I heard you accidentally fell into the water? That's different from what you said before."
Obviously, what Song Wei had said on the oxcart had already spread.