As soon as he left, Li Yingying—who had just been crying so pitifully straightened up again. She craned her long neck toward Li Ruolan and said, “Where did you find a partner like that? Why is he so fierce? You have no idea. He nearly scared an old woman to tears just now.”
Li Yingying was clearly trying to poison Deng Minghao’s reputation.
Before anyone else could speak, Guo Xiaoya spoke up instead, looking at Li Yingying with open mockery. “It’s someone else’s seat. If they want to give it up, they will. If they don’t, they won’t. What’s it to you? You tried to flirt with him, got rejected, and now you’re embarrassed and angry. You didn’t dare say anything to his face, so you gossip behind his back after he leaves. You’re not just ugly, you’ve got a crooked heart too.”
Li Yingying had not expected Guo Xiaoya to scold her so bluntly. She froze on the spot.
Li Ruolan was also a little surprised. This Guo Xiaoya actually seemed to have a strong sense of justice. It made one wonder why she was written as such a villain later in the book. Perhaps by then, she had been blinded by jealousy.
Li Ruolan opened the lunchbox she had brought, revealing plump, round dumplings inside. She picked one up with her chopsticks, popped it into her mouth, then glanced calmly at the wide-eyed Li Yingying and said lightly, “Oh. What does that have to do with me? He didn’t hit me.”
She then smiled gratefully at Guo Xiaoya and stopped paying Li Yingying any attention.
Li Yingying’s eyes practically turned green as she stared straight at the dumplings in Li Ruolan’s lunchbox. Growing up, she had rarely eaten dumplings. They smelled so good.
The others glanced over as well, then each took out their own dry rations and began eating.
Liu Kunming had meat pies. Zheng Fanghua and Zhou Shengnan were eating the best fare of all, braised pork packed from a state-run restaurant.
Once they opened their lunchboxes, the fragrance spread everywhere, practically filling the entire carriage and drawing countless looks.
Qin Wan also took out the dumplings she had made and lowered her head to eat.
Li Yingying looked at this one, then that one. She swallowed repeatedly, then finally, with reddened eyes, took out a coarse corn bun and gnawed on it.
Before long, Deng Minghao returned and took out a box of dumplings of his own to eat.
Another two or three hours passed. Liu Kunming, Zheng Fanghua, Zhou Shengnan, and Qin Wan all took turns going to the restroom. Each used White Rabbit milk candies as payment, asking Deng Minghao to watch their seats.
These four seemed like decent people for now, so Deng Minghao agreed.
Li Ruolan stayed seated and was “fed” four milk candies. They were rich and creamy, very tasty.
Soon, people on Xu Tao’s side also began taking turns going to the restroom and watching one another’s seats. When it came to Li Yingying’s turn, however, no one was particularly willing to help.
In the end, one male educated youth did help her. After Li Yingying came back, she immediately latched onto him. He wore an expression of utter despair, and the second time around, he refused to help.
Li Yingying’s seat was taken by an elderly man in his sixties. When she returned and saw this, she looked accusingly at the male educated youth who had helped her before. He ignored her completely.
The train officially arrived in the Northeast at ten o’clock on the morning of the third day.
After getting off the train, they heard people shouting about educated youths. Deng Minghao hoisted both of their bags onto his shoulder and led Li Ruolan over.
There were quite a few educated youths heading to Qianjin Village in Ping’an Town, over thirty of them. The town had sent two tractors to pick them up.
Qianjin Village was a large village with several production brigades, so it received a greater number of educated youths.
Looking at the tractor, then at the dirt road covered in mud, Li Ruolan wore a look of outright refusal. She had ridden tractors before as a child.
Back then, she had found it fun, but anyone who had ridden one knew that on dirt roads like this, the worst part was the numbing, aching pain in your backside.
Deng Minghao climbed up first, put their luggage at the front of the tractor, then quickly pulled Li Ruolan up to sit on the bags.
To avoid attracting attention, their luggage was bulky but filled mainly with quilts and padded clothes, so it was actually quite comfortable to sit on.
Even so, by the time they reached Ping’an Town, Li Ruolan’s waist and back were sore. She felt as though she had been jolted so badly she was about to fall apart.
From the town to Qianjin Village, there was still some distance to go. This time, however, they were not so lucky. There was no vehicle. They had to walk.
Each brigade leader had brought an ox cart and was waiting there. Li Ruolan and the others went straight to register with the leader of Shengli Brigade and loaded their luggage onto the ox cart.
Before setting off, Li Ruolan quickly stretched a bit, then went to the restroom with Qin Wan and Zhou Shengnan. After returning, she drank a few mouthfuls of spirit spring water. Only then did she feel relaxed again, her aches easing considerably.
Deng Minghao drank a few mouthfuls as well.
The others were not so fortunate. When they heard there was no ride, every face turned green.
Li Yingying, in particular, was on the verge of tears.
There were eleven people assigned to the Shengli Brigade this time. Aside from the male and female leads, the female supporting character, and the married couple, there were also Zhou Shengnan, Zheng Fanghua, Liu Kunming, and two others from different carriages—Shen Yi and Ji Hongjun.
Li Ruolan glanced at the two men and noticed that both were tall and well-built, with straight backs. They did not look like ordinary people, more like soldiers.
As if sensing her gaze, both men looked back at Li Ruolan.
She smiled at them, then withdrew her eyes.
“Good-looking?” Deng Minghao asked, his tone sour.
Li Ruolan: “…”
“What are you doing? I just thought they looked like soldiers. Why are you being jealous for no reason?” Li Ruolan said, amused as she looked at Deng Minghao, who seemed to be radiating jealousy.
“Soldiers aren’t allowed either. You can only look at me,” Deng Minghao said dominantly. Taking advantage of a moment when no one was paying attention, he wrapped an arm around Li Ruolan’s waist, then quickly let go.
Li Ruolan nodded. “Yes, yes, all right. Whatever you say.”
Once everyone was assembled and the luggage loaded, Brigade Leader Wang Dayou drove the ox cart forward at an unhurried pace, with Li Ruolan and the others following behind.
Deng Minghao walked beside Wang Dayou, took out a cigarette, and offered it to him. He also struck a match to light it. He lit one for himself as well, earning a sharp look from Li Ruolan.
Li Ruolan disliked the smell of smoke. Deng Minghao did smoke, but he was not addicted, so she usually did not interfere.
“Captain, we’ve just arrived. What’s the situation like in the brigade? Could you tell us about it?” Deng Minghao asked.
The brigade leader chuckled, took a puff of his cigarette, and said, “Don’t worry. Our brigade has been rated an Advanced Production Brigade for the past couple of years. Every year at the end of the year, we get meat. As long as you work hard, you won’t go hungry.”
In the Northeast, there was not much of anything except land. Because of that, work points could be exchanged for quite a lot of grain, at least more than in other places.
Here, earning six or seven work points a day was enough to feed yourself. With full work points, you would not only get grain at the end of the year but also some money.
Deng Minghao smiled and nodded, offering a few words of praise.
“And where will we be living? There are eleven of us. Will each of us get a room?”
The brigade leader shook his head. “The educated youth point has six rooms. There were only four at first. We rushed to build two more to prepare for your arrival. One room will house the men, and one will house the women.”