She was a small, young girl, about fifteen or sixteen. Her round, almond-shaped eyes were especially likable. They’d probably been soaked by the river water, leaving them slightly red now, making her look like a little rabbit.
Strangely cute.
That was his first impression of Nian’an.
Now, with a lone man and a lone woman together, both of them dripping wet if anyone saw them, even with ten mouths they wouldn’t be able to explain it clearly.
Seeing that he was already fine and thinking of the serious consequences if they were discovered, Yu Nian’an turned around and left at a brisk pace, not even giving the person behind her a chance to speak.
Gu Shen, collapsed on the ground without an ounce of strength.
After barely catching his breath, he struggled to his feet, found his shirt by the riverbank, put it on, and then followed in the same direction.
When Yu Nian’an returned home, she changed out of her half-dried clothes and found a basin in the kitchen.
Fortunately, she hadn’t done any particularly filthy fieldwork these days. After running the clothes through some water, they were clean with just a few rubs.
After hanging them out to dry, Yu Nian’an sat on the steps in front of the door, staring blankly at the two large water vats.
Being delayed like this meant she could only go to Aunt Chunxing’s place another day when she had time. This time, not only did the kitchen layout need to be changed, but it was also necessary to dig another well in the courtyard.
She wondered whether her small savings would be enough.
When it was time to head out for afternoon work, Yu Nian’an had just reached the fields when she heard a group of people nearby chatting animatedly.
Seeing that Aunt Chunxing was mixed in with them, curiosity got the better of her and she went over to listen.
“Have you seen that newly arrived educated youth? Oh my, that face, that figure—really handsome.”
“Exactly. But if you ask me, good looks alone won’t put food on the table. You’ve got to find someone who’s good at farming, strong and capable!”
Yu Family Brigade was located in the Northeast. The local customs were relatively open minded, and once people started chatting, aside from household gossip, the conversation inevitably turned to men, with no sense of restraint at all.
After listening for a couple of sentences, Yu Nian’an felt bored and prepared to walk away to do her own work.
The weeding from the past few days had already been finished. Today she’d been assigned a new task turning over the sweet potato vines so she needed to go get familiar with it.
Unexpectedly, just as she turned around, Aunt Chunxing spotted her.
Seeing her about to leave, Aunt Chunxing followed along and muttered at her side, “Girl, a while back I was telling you to go check out those educated youths. Now that I’ve seen this batch, they’re all looks and no substance. How about we wait a bit longer?”
Yu Nian’an felt a little awkward. She really hadn’t taken that matter to heart. She was just about to say a few words to brush it off when Aunt Chunxing continued talking about the educated youths.
“You have no idea this morning, as soon as those educated youths arrived, two of them fainted on the spot. There was another one who looked sickly as well. Anyone who didn’t know better would think a bunch of tuberculosis patients had shown up!”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Aunt Chunxing immediately covered her mouth.
Yu Nian’an reacted at once nowadays, with the campaign to smash the Four Olds, feudal superstition was unacceptable, and that particular word was even more taboo.
She glanced around; fortunately, no one seemed to have noticed what was going on over here.
Both of them let out a sigh of relief.
Aunt Chunxing gave an embarrassed laugh. “Look at me once I start talking, I end up saying too much.”
They exchanged a knowing smile and then went their separate ways.
Turning over sweet potato vines was much easier than pulling weeds. Yu Nian’an recalled what Aunt Chunxing had just said that once the sweet potato vines grew a bit more, each household could pinch off some of the tender tips from the plots they were responsible for and take them home to eat as vegetables.
It wasn’t worth much money, but it did count as adding another dish to the table.
But when she thought of her completely empty cupboard forget cooking oil, she didn’t even have any seasonings.
After gnawing on raw sweet potatoes for two days, under her stomach’s protests, she finally broke through her psychological defenses and started cooking in the kitchen.
Baked sweet potatoes and coarse rice porridge after eating them for so long, they had become utterly tasteless.
She had no idea how long she would be staying in this world from a book. Keeping on like this simply wouldn’t do. It seemed she’d have to find a day to go to the county town to buy some supplies. Even if her standard of living had taken a step back, she couldn’t shortchange herself.
The chatter of the aunties discussing the educated youths drifted to her ears again. These days, that was the only bit of novelty in the brigade, so there would probably be talk about it for quite a while.
Yu Nian’an listened along for a bit too. With a dose of gossip to spice things up, the work didn’t feel all that dull.
After finishing work in the fields, Yu Nian’an was on her way home, idly kicking a smooth, round stone along the path.
That slightly childish moment lasted until two people approached her head-on, one of them speaking up and breaking the scene.
“Hello, comrade. May I ask how to get to the commune?”
Yu Nian’an stopped when she heard the voice and looked over.
The man on the left looked familiar it was the very man she had pulled out of the water at noon. His hair had dried by now, and he’d changed into a white shirt. His complexion was still a little pale, giving him a somewhat frail, sickly-beautiful air. The one on the right, by contrast, was tall and slender, with gently curved brows and eyes, his smile dazzlingly bright in the sunlight.
Their personalities were obvious at a glance one quiet, one lively.
But the two of them were heading to the commune?
Yu Nian’an recalled what Aunt Chunxing had said that afternoon, “one of them looks sickly.” It was probably referring to the man in front of her.
These two must be the newly arrived educated youths.
With a faintly amused look, she withdrew her gaze and pointed out a direction for them. “Go straight down this road, then turn left at the fork. There’s a courtyard with a red flag flying that’s the commune.”
The smiling man nodded at her and thanked her.
As the two brushed past her, Yu Nian’an heard a soft, gentle “Thank you.”
She suddenly turned her head, her gaze colliding with his for an instant before she quickly looked away.
Even after the two of them had gone far, Yu Nian’an still found the image of that man lingering in her mind.
With such a handsome face, why hadn’t he appeared in the original book at all?
Something about it just felt off.
On the other side, Gu Shen, who had already walked some distance away, suddenly stopped and reached out to grab the person beside him.
“Ye Xiao, you go on your own. If you bring me along, I’m afraid they’ll deliberately make things difficult.”
Hearing this, Ye Xiao pursed his lips and said angrily, “We’re almost there why are you backing out now? I promise you, no one will know your identity. Don’t live your life being so overly cautious, okay?”
Seeing Gu Shen open his mouth as if to say more, Ye Xiao simply reached out and covered it.
“Enough. I still have to collect Lin Zhi’s share too. If you don’t help, how am I supposed to carry it all by myself?”
With that, ignoring his objections, he grabbed him and dragged him forward.
During the first month after new educated youths arrive, they are allotted thirty jin of grain. They’d been delayed earlier that morning because Lin Zhi wasn’t feeling well, which was why they were only heading to the commune now to collect it.
Following the directions Yu Nian’an had given them, after turning left at the fork in the road, they soon spotted the flag fluttering in the distance.
When they reached the large courtyard, an elderly man happened to be coming out. Seeing their unfamiliar faces, he became a bit cautious and asked, “Comrades, who are you looking for?”
Gu Shen remained silent, but Ye Xiao stepped forward openly. “Sir, we’re newly arrived educated youths. We’re here to collect our grain.”