Although this was already the second batch of educated youths sent to the production brigade, quite a few villagers still watched them curiously.
Xiang Wenshan noticed several elderly villagers pointing at them and whispering. She shivered all over. Why did it feel like they were being stared at like monkeys in a zoo?
Xiang Wenhui glanced at her older sister’s fair face. Seeing not a trace of expression on it, she looked at her with admiration. As expected of her beautiful sister.
“Sis, they’re all staring at us.”
“I saw.”
Hearing her reply so calmly, Xiang Wenhui puffed out her cheeks and let out a breath. She needed to learn from her sister—what was there to feel awkward or shy about?
Even so, the group silently quickened their pace.
By the time they reached the brigade leader’s house, they all felt an instant sense of relief.
The brigade leader took them to the granary to distribute their rations. Each person received fifteen jin of sorghum flour and fifteen jin of cornmeal.
They all paid for it themselves. They had money in their pockets now—the sent-down youth subsidy had given them 230 yuan as a resettlement allowance.
The brigade leader gave a few more instructions. “Hurry up and get your rooms cleaned up today. Starting tomorrow, you’ll begin working with everyone else.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Xiang Wenshan. The girl looked fairly tall, but far too delicate. She had fallen sick before even arriving and had looked utterly wilted.
She had given him quite a scare yesterday—he thought she might not pull through. But today her complexion looked much better.
He then swept his gaze over Xiang Wenhui, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.
Four of them had come. Three were girls—and none of them looked like they were built for farm work!
He waved his hand. “Nothing else. You can go back now.”
After locking up the door with the accountant, he left. There was still a mountain of work to do—the wheat was almost ripe, and the riverbank still needed digging…
Xiang Wenshan bent down and picked up the grain from the ground. The moment she lifted it, her pupils widened.
It was light.
Her mind began racing.
The original owner of this body had indeed been strong, but from her memories, thirty jin should still feel at least somewhat heavy.
Yet she felt nothing at all.
Could this be her golden finger?
Heaven had given her a cheat ability—great strength—so she could farm?
While she was thinking, Lu Guangyao, who had been standing nearby struggling for a while, finally spoke. “Um, Comrade Xiang, how about I carry it for you? You haven’t fully recovered from your illness.”
Xiang Wenshan snapped back to her senses. “No need. Thank you.”
She casually picked up Xiang Wenhui’s grain as well. “Let’s go.”
With that, she took the lead.
Xiang Wenhui hurried after her, smiling. “Thanks, Sis~”
“Sis, you’re not fully better yet. How about I carry it?”
Xiang Wenshan glanced at her skinny arms and legs. Before she could say anything, Xiang Wenhui huffed and turned her head away in annoyance. Her sister was underestimating her.
As if sensing her thoughts, Xiang Wenshan handed her the grain. Xiang Wenhui imitated her sister, lifting it with one hand—only to stagger and nearly fall.
She quickly grabbed it with both hands. After just a few steps, she set it down on the ground and let out a breath.
Her face felt a little hot. When she turned to look at her sister, she noticed the other two educated youths hadn’t caught up. They were still standing there, stunned.
She waved at them. “Hurry up!”
The two finally snapped out of it. Thirty jin wasn’t light for them either!
Yet Comrade Xiang Wenshan carried it like it was nothing—and she was holding two portions.
They exchanged a look that clearly said unbelievable, then hurried after them.
Seeing their shock, Xiang Wenhui smugly bragged, “I’m telling you, my sister is amazing. This is just a tiny bit of what she can do. You’ll see how incredible she really is later.”
The corner of Xiang Wenshan’s mouth twitched. Was this girl a sister-con?
No, that wasn’t right. She had a biological older sister, and they weren’t close at all.
Thinking carefully, when had this girl started clinging to the original owner?
Ah, she remembered. When Xiang Wenhui was seven, she had fallen into the water and was rescued by the original owner, who was one year older and a head taller than her.
From then on, she had stuck to her every day.
As Xiang Wenshan was lost in thought, someone suddenly ran past them, startling her. She blinked rapidly.
Xiang Wenhui said curiously, “Who’s that? Why’s he running so fast?”
Just as she finished speaking, several elderly women ran past them. One of them was holding a broom.
“You little brat, stop right there! Go on, run! If you’ve got the guts, don’t come back home!”
“Zhaodi, don’t be so angry. Why bother arguing with him?”
“That useless fifth son of yours—what did he do this time?”
“What did he do? That little wretch is trying to kill me with anger!
The team leader from the first production team just told me that Old Fifth didn’t show up for work again today.
When I went looking for him, that good-for-nothing was lying under the willow tree, sleeping instead of working!”
“He deserves a beating. If he doesn’t work, what’s he going to eat?
A grown man being this lazy—what a waste.”
“Sigh, Song Laowu wasn’t like this before. He worked fast—earned ten work points every day.
A while back, he went swimming with some of the young men and swallowed a few mouthfuls of water.
Song Laoda pulled him out. After taking some medicine, he turned into this.
What a tragedy…
A strong laborer reduced to this…”
Their voices gradually faded into the distance.
After hearing what the last woman said, Xiang Wenshan narrowed her eyes and turned to look at Song Laowu, who had already run far away.
Xiang Wenhui was curious too. “Sis, do you think someone can really change after falling into water?
Could he be pretending to be lazy?
Or is there some dramatic inside story?
Like maybe someone tried to harm him… No, that doesn’t sound right.” She frowned, thinking.
Cao Yu whispered, “Could there be something… unclean in the water?”
When she was little, she had heard the elders talk about water ghosts.
Xiang Wenhui’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell me—”
Shan knew what she was about to say and cut her off. “Alright, you can’t say things like that carelessly.”
“Let’s hurry back.”
Superstitious talk wasn’t allowed these days. If someone reported them, they were unfamiliar with the place—and on top of that, they were sent-down youths. It probably wouldn’t end well for them.
Xiang Wenhui covered her mouth and nodded. Cao Yu’s face went pale; she had almost let her words slip without thinking. Fortunately, she quickly nodded as well.
After returning to the room, the girls began tidying up. They had arrived very late the night before, so they had only done the bare minimum before lying down to rest.
Xiang Wenshan looked at the tiny room housing five people and felt how cramped it was. It made her uncomfortable. The key point was—there were still two empty beds.
If more sent-down youths arrived, there wouldn’t even be space to stand.
An idea suddenly popped into her mind.
But it felt unrealistic. If she moved out to live alone, she wouldn’t dare.
Even though she was fairly strong, this was an unfamiliar place—and these times weren’t exactly peaceful.
Even if Xiang Wenhui went with her, two women living alone still wouldn’t be very safe.
If they found somewhere closer to the sent-down youth residence and maintained good relationships with everyone, it should be fine.
She wondered if the production team had any vacant houses. If it was closer to the local villagers, that might be slightly safer.
Mainly, she just couldn’t stand sharing a room with so many people.
Back in university, she had a roommate who snored, ground her teeth, and even talked in her sleep. The noise kept her awake and messed up her hormones. She drank traditional Chinese medicine for several days, but it didn’t help.
In the end, she couldn’t take it anymore and applied to live off campus.