“There are still two cornbread steamed buns at the cow shed, why are you eating so meagerly today?”
A villager heard the crying and came to take a look. Seeing the Educated Youths' lunch, he shouted in surprise.
Immediately, villagers who heard nearby gathered around. Everyone's expression turned grim upon seeing the Educated Youths' lunch.
If this got out, would the people of our First Brigade still have any face left?
They might even be accused of secretly withholding the Educated Youths' food rations.
Heaven knows how badly the Educated Youths had actually scammed them!
The Hongxing Brigade wasn't actually one village, but comprised of four nearby villages, collectively known as the Hongxing Brigade.
Although they were now in the same brigade, the villagers still habitually separated them by village, thus tacitly dividing them into the First Brigade, Second Brigade, and so on, then further into smaller teams.
For some unknown reason, the Educated Youths all lowered their heads and remained silent. Surrounded by so many people, the new Educated Youths no longer dared to cry, and the scene became somewhat awkward.
At this moment, a villager with a slightly paler complexion, chewing on a steamed bun, asked, "Did you not go to exchange for food after losing grain half a month ago? That won't do. How can you not eat enough during the autumn harvest? You can't exhaust yourselves, no matter what, as that affects your entire life. Why don't you go ask around the village later to see if anyone can spare some grain to lend you, and you can return it when the grain is distributed."
The moment this was brought up, everyone felt as if they had swallowed a mouthful of excrement. Several old Educated Youths even covered their mouths and ran to the side to retch.
At some point, Ren Yan had squeezed herself into a group of aunties and elder women, and was quite liked by them. One moment they offered her pickled vegetables, the next, cabbage. Her extra-large lunchbox was overflowing.
This Tiger Girl was fierce when she needed to be, and shrewd when she needed to be. On her first day of work, she hadn't prepared a lavish lunch, bringing sweet potato rice with few grains of rice and pickled vegetables, plus a boiled egg.
While eating, seeing her own meal was better than that of the other aunties and elder women, she didn't take out the boiled egg she had put in her pocket.
This Tiger Girl had never been a picky eater and ate with great relish.
The place where they were sitting was not far from where the Educated Youths were, and they could clearly see what was happening over there.
“Auntie Lu, what happened half a month ago that person mentioned?”
Munch, munch*, taking a big bite of rice.
Auntie Lu had already finished her meal and was resting. She had been somewhat listless, but the moment this matter was brought up, she immediately perked up.
“At the Educated Youth Point, there’s an Educated Youth named Su Xiaohong, reportedly from Haishi. When she first arrived, she was so stylish, wearing a wide hat with a pink fringe, and a particularly beautiful white dress. She was also quite pretty, and as soon as she arrived, she captivated several of the village's young men to the point where their parents didn't even recognize them.”
“If it were just that, it wouldn't be much. We could only blame our village's lads for not knowing their place. But she shouldn't have accepted gifts from everyone who gave them to her.”
“In our village, it's like this: between young men and women, if you accept something, it means you've agreed to date. What was the meaning of her accepting gifts from seven or eight young men?”
Aunt Sun also chimed in, “Right, right, this matter blew up half a month ago. The cause was Er Niu saying at home that Educated Youth Su was his partner, then San Niu started fighting with Er Niu, saying Educated Youth Su was his partner, and that Er Niu, as the older brother, had taken an interest in his younger brother's partner. He was a shameless beast.”
“They fought so fiercely that they overturned the table at home and smashed a big hole in the pot.”
“Before these two brothers finished fighting, their cousin Li Dong came over. Upon hearing that the brothers were fighting over Educated Youth Su, he joined in, saying Educated Youth Su was his partner, and then their families' relatives started fighting.”
“Tell me, wasn't that a commotion? Their whole family caused trouble.”
A young wife squeezed in from the side and added, “It wasn't over yet. After the three of them finished fighting, they went to the village branch to resolve it. Among the onlookers, several more young men came forward, all claiming to be Educated Youth Su's partner.”
Aunt Sun pushed the young wife aside and continued, “The Captain also summoned Educated Youth Su to identify who her partner was. Then Educated Youth Su said that none of them were, and she only treated them all as older brothers.”
Saying this, Aunt Sun clicked her tongue with disdain.
Even though they were the older women of the village, they understood everything. Their eyes were sharp, and they knew exactly what was going on in their hearts. How could they not see what that little girl was thinking?
Moreover, the Educated Youth Go to the Countryside movement had been going on for so many years; what kinds of people hadn't they seen? They too had gained knowledge and experience.
She was just stringing along those foolish children to work for her and give her food rations. As for dating or even getting married, she simply looked down on them, these villagers.
Aunt Lu's expression wasn't very good. “You know, we're not unreasonable people. Our Old Ancestors left us rules. We can't slander someone without evidence.
Since she said they weren't her partners, the Captain had us search her room. Not all the gifts from those young men were food and drink; there were also hair clips, combs, and fabric.”
The young wife took a sip of water and continued, “Who would dare to casually accept such things if they weren't partners? Educated Youth Su shamelessly claimed she was forced to accept them. Educated Youth Li immediately lunged at her and scratched her. Then, somehow, as they were fighting, Educated Youth Su and Er Niu fell into a cesspool.”
Ren Yan, with a look of confusion, finished the last bite of her meal.
Aunt Lu remembered that Ren Yan had just arrived and knew nothing about what had happened at the Educated Youth Point, so she spilled the beans. “Educated Youth Li and Er Niu had been dating for over half a year. They had originally planned to get married after the autumn harvest.”
But now, after what happened half a month ago, this marriage might not happen.
Ren Yan got up to wash her lunchbox at the nearby river. When she returned, everyone was already lying on the ground in small groups, resting.
This area was lined with large trees, forming a perfect natural canopy. It was also close to the river, making it relatively cool, and was the usual resting spot for the First Brigade during the autumn harvest.
Ren Yan also found a spot and lay down to rest.
She was adapting well to all of this. To pay off her debts, she had even laid railway tracks for half a year. This bit of hardship during the autumn harvest was truly nothing to her.
Barely half an hour later, the work whistle sounded again. Everyone, dragging their still-weak bodies, picked up their sickles and continued to strive.
&
Lin Yuexi slept for two full days, only waking up around 8 PM on the second night.
By this time, the others in the house, tired from a day's work, had already gone to rest. Only Liu Huai, an idle person, was by her side.
Liu Huai first stepped forward to conduct an examination, then breathed a sigh of relief and sat down again. “The Chen family's medical skills are indeed extraordinary. I heard they have a set of inherited acupuncture techniques that are very powerful. I wonder if they used it this time. Your condition now is even better than when you were in Beijing City; you can consider it a blessing in disguise.”
It seemed to be called the Chen Clan Thirteen Needles. There were rumors that the inheritance was broken in the generation of Old Chen, and other rumors that Chen Wenkun, inheriting it through a different generation, had mastered the technique.
Lin Yuexi didn't know what happened after she fell asleep, but from Uncle Liu's words, it seemed they had already quietly invited someone from the cow shed to treat her.
She looked around the room where she would likely live for the next few years. The room was quite large, about thirty square meters. The walls were painted snow white. Beneath her was a heated brick bed, not a regular bed, but it was still soft, covered with thick bedding. The room was fully furnished with a kang cabinet, kang table, wardrobe, dressing table, and so on.
And all of it was new.
Clearly, Third Brother had put in a lot of effort.
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