Zheng Hongjun looked at the three girls across from him. He immediately ruled out Lu Chengxiu, who was sitting by the aisle. She was only moderately pretty, with a plain, delicate appearance. Although she was wearing a floral dress, she didn’t have anything valuable like a wristwatch.
Zhou Xue, on the other hand, wasn’t exceptionally beautiful, but she was fresh and attractive. More importantly, her father worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If he could get close to her, wouldn’t returning to the city be a piece of cake?
As for Qin Ziqi by the window, Zheng Hongjun was still observing her. She was too stunningly beautiful and didn’t seem easy to control. She was also rather cold and unwilling to reveal much about her family. He still had no idea what kind of background she came from.
With that in mind, Zheng Hongjun’s attention lingered more on Zhou Xue.
Shen Xingheng, who was sitting in the same row, noticed and frowned. He didn’t like Zhou Xue, but Zhou Xue’s family background was extraordinary. His own father was even one of Zhou Xue’s father’s subordinates.
He had originally been assigned to go to the south this time. It was only because of Zhou Xue that his father had pulled some strings and arranged for him to be sent to the same place as her.
The day before he left, his father had specifically instructed him that no matter what, he had to win Zhou Xue over. The Shen family’s position had remained unchanged for far too long.
“Xiaoxue, I brought some apples. Do you want one?” Shen Xingheng took an apple from his shoulder bag and handed it to Zhou Xue with a gentle smile.
Zhou Xue pouted and turned her head away. “I don’t want one.”
Shen Xingheng was so annoying. She didn’t like him at all, yet he was always hovering around her. It was irritating.
Shen Xingheng was secretly annoyed that Zhou Xue wouldn’t give him any face, but his expression remained unchanged.
“Then I’ll leave it here. You can eat it whenever you want.”
When he put the apple down, he thoughtfully took out a handkerchief and placed it underneath it.
Lu Chengxiu’s eyes flickered.
Zhou Xue’s father worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Shen Xingheng was clearly familiar with her. Could that mean Shen Xingheng also came from an extraordinary family?
Shen Changzheng watched his cousin’s behavior and sneered inwardly. He was practically begging for her attention.
But when he thought of his own father’s instructions to win Zhou Xue over as well, he felt a headache coming on.
Compared with his cousin, Shen Changzheng had to admit that he was inferior in both family background and appearance. If he wanted to complete his father’s assignment, he would have to take an unconventional approach.
But Zhou Xue wasn’t necessarily his only option. If he found someone with an even better family background than Zhou Xue, he could simply switch targets. That would save him the trouble of competing with his cousin over the same woman.
His gaze naturally fell on Qin Ziqi.
This girl had a cool, aloof air and strikingly beautiful features. At first glance, she clearly didn’t seem like someone raised in an ordinary family.
“Comrade Qin, did you also come to the countryside to gain some experience?”
Qin Ziqi didn’t even look at Shen Changzheng.
A twenty-year-old brat was trying to fish for information from her?
“No. Because I don’t have a job.”
Shen Changzheng’s expression stiffened.
No job? Did that mean her family didn’t have the ability to arrange one for her?
What a pity. Such a beautiful face, but apparently useless when it came to practical matters.
Seeing that none of the three men across from them seemed interested in her, while Qin Ziqi and Zhou Xue were both better dressed and prettier than her, Lu Chengxiu became anxious.
“Ziqi, I really didn’t expect you to come down to the countryside. You’re a pampered young lady who stays at home all day. What could you possibly know about doing farm work?”
“You two know each other?” Shen Changzheng and Zheng Hongjun asked at the same time.
More importantly, the information in Lu Chengxiu’s words was quite revealing.
“We’re not close,” Qin Ziqi said.
How could she not understand what Lu Chengxiu was trying to do? She wanted to step on her to make herself look better.
Lu Chengxiu assumed Qin Ziqi was afraid of having her identity exposed.
“Ziqi, how can you say that? You almost married my brother. You were practically going to become my sister-in-law. How could we not be close?”
Whoa.
The amount of information in that statement made the other four people look back and forth between the two of them.
Qin Ziqi’s lips curved slightly.
“I guess I wasn’t lucky enough to become family with a man who was fooling around with his fiancée’s stepsister. Lu Chengxiu, you should be grateful that you were only sent down to the countryside. Look at my stepsister—she was sent away with your family. How pitiful.”
“You!”
Lu Chengxiu had originally wanted to expose Qin Ziqi as a capitalist’s daughter. Instead, Qin Ziqi had turned around and revealed that her own family had been sent down.
Who would dare associate with her after this?
“You’re a capitalist’s daughter yourself. How dare you talk about me?”
Qin Ziqi only wanted to sit quietly and get through this long journey, but someone simply refused to let her have any peace.
“Lu Chengxiu, I’ve been too nice to you. A capitalist’s daughter? Who gave you the right to throw labels around so carelessly? Do you want me to tell everyone on this train about your family’s little scandal?”
Lu Chengxiu wanted to say something else, but she was afraid Qin Ziqi would reveal even more. She could only shut her mouth angrily.
For a while, no one in the compartment spoke again.
Then the aroma of food slowly drifted over from the other compartments.
Qin Ziqi checked her watch. It was almost noon. Time for lunch.
She bent down and took an aluminum lunchbox from the bundle beneath her feet. Shen Chun Yue had stuffed it into her hands that morning. Inside were dumplings she had made early that morning.
To keep them warm, Qin Ziqi had actually put them in her space after they had cooled down. So when she took them out now, they were still warm, but not steaming enough to attract suspicion.
She then took out her water bottle. Inside was malted milk drink made with spiritual spring water.
After coming to this era, Qin Ziqi had developed a particular fondness for the malted milk drink. It tasted far better than the industrialized stuff from modern times.
She opened the lunchbox.
The dumplings were made with pure white flour. Qin Ziqi took a bite.
They were filled with pork and cabbage, and they were incredibly delicious.
Lu Chengxiu and Zheng Hongjun, who were watching from nearby, instinctively swallowed.
Seeing Qin Ziqi begin eating dumplings, Zhou Xue also felt hungry. She took out some food from her luggage. Her mother had packed white-flour steamed buns and meat sauce for her.
The Shen brothers had brought white-flour flatbreads with a little minced meat inside.
Zheng Hongjun blushed as he took out the coarse-grain steamed buns and pickles he had brought.
Everyone else was eating so well. None of them looked like people being sent down to the countryside. They looked more like they were going on a picnic.
As Zheng Hongjun chewed his rough, dry coarse-grain bun, jealousy nearly consumed him. But if he didn’t take it out and eat it, he would simply go hungry.
Besides, this was the only kind of food he had brought. His family had only left him ten yuan, and he couldn’t bear to spend money buying food on the train.
The most miserable of all was Lu Chengxiu.
In the past, she would never have cared about such things. Because of Tao Juxiang’s connections at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, her family had always eaten well.
But now, all she had in her luggage were a few mixed-flour steamed buns. Tao Juxiang had hurriedly asked someone to make them for her. There simply hadn’t been much left at home to give her.
A conductor pushed a food cart through the compartment.
The aroma made Lu Chengxiu swallow hard. She was tempted to buy a meal, but she only had the one hundred yuan relocation subsidy now. All the family’s money was gone.
In the end, Lu Chengxiu held herself back, took out one of her steamed buns, and ate it with pickles.
Thinking about Qin Ziqi eating such delicious dumplings, she glared at her resentfully.
Qin Ziqi rolled her eyes.
Was this girl sick or something?
For a while, the compartment was filled with all kinds of delicious aromas.
However, the situation Qin Ziqi had expected—spoiled children crying and making a fuss because they wanted someone else’s food—didn’t happen.
Mainly because everyone seemed to have been startled by the sheer number of books they had brought along. One person was reading a novel, another was reading another novel, and another was reading yet another.