Jiang You’s assigned task today was weeding, and there were quite a few women around her working as well.
Whenever there were a lot of people together, they naturally liked to chat about gossip. Jiang You rarely joined in, but she particularly enjoyed listening.
It was like being a little animal in a melon field, enjoying one juicy piece of gossip after another to ease the hardship of working.
“Oh, right. Have you heard? Our village is going to have some new educated youths coming.”
“Really?”
“Do you think I’d make something like that up? They’ll be arriving in the next couple of days. I heard from my husband that some of them are even coming from the capital!”
“The capital! That’s a place we probably won’t ever get to visit in our entire lives. I wonder why people from such a big city would come all the way to our little mountain village to suffer.”
Hearing this, Jiang You was secretly delighted.
The educated youths from the capital were finally coming! The female protagonist was finally here, which meant the story was about to begin.
That also meant her mission progress would speed up. Once she completed the mission, she could comfortably stay here and enjoy a leisurely life.
She wouldn’t have to worry about her mission every day anymore.
Woohoo, what a relief!
Thinking about it, Jiang You’s mood became much brighter. The little dimples on her cheeks appeared, making her look even more beautiful.
However, her happiness didn’t last long. After working under the scorching sun for an entire day, she was left completely miserable.
“Mom, I’m going to melt from the sun.”
The moment she met her mother, she began whining weakly.
She hadn’t waited for anyone in the family to come help her. After all, she knew her own abilities. Being able to earn five or six work points a day and support herself was already good enough.
“I’ll make you some mung bean soup when we get home. We’ll have meat for dinner tonight,” her mother said generously, amused by her daughter’s appearance.
The eyes of Jiang You’s father and the others beside her immediately lit up. Jiang You looked pleasantly surprised as well.
“Really?”
“Mom, you’re serious?”
The first question came from Jiang You’s father, while the second was asked by the siblings in unison.
Seeing how excited they were, their mother couldn’t help laughing. She nodded repeatedly.
“Really, really. Look at all of you. You’re acting like a bunch of greedy little gluttons.”
“Hehe.”
Jiang You’s older brother gave a foolish grin. It was meat, after all. Who wouldn’t crave it?
After working in the fields all day, getting covered in dust and sweating profusely, the first thing Jiang You did after returning home was fetch water and take a bath.
After washing herself, she changed into clean clothes. Feeling refreshed, she walked toward the kitchen while drying her hair. When the aroma of meat reached her nose, her eyes narrowed slightly in delight.
“Mom, it smells so good! I’ll watch the fire for you.”
“Go, go. You just got cleaned up. Why would you come in here and get covered in grease and ash? There’s still sunlight outside, so hurry and dry your hair.”
Before she could even enter the kitchen, her mother waved her away and pushed her back outside.
Jiang You’s father was also in the kitchen, sitting beside the stove and tending the fire. Every so often, he would glance at the pot.
“Wife, how much longer does this need to stew? It should be almost done, right?”
Her mother replied, “It’s still a long way from being done. You should hurry up and wash that sweaty body of yours too. Don’t stink up the place.”
Hearing his wife’s disgusted remark, Jiang You’s father looked down at himself and sniffed. After pausing for a moment, he stood up and walked outside, looking back three times with every step.
“Youyou, call me when your mother’s finished cooking.”
“Okay.”
Their family’s living conditions weren’t particularly bad. They were simply ordinary. They had clothes to wear and a roof over their heads, and they didn’t have to go hungry, but they rarely got to eat meat.
Over the course of a year, they only had meat a few times. This year, they had only eaten meat dishes during the few days around the New Year.
By now, more than half a year had passed without them seeing a piece of meat. Who wouldn’t crave it?
This time, they had only bought some meat because the busy farming season was so exhausting and they needed something nutritious to replenish their strength.
“Oh, Mom, where did my brother go?”
Jiang You found a sunny spot in the courtyard to dry her hair. As she smelled the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, she looked around the house and felt that something was missing.
After looking around, she realized that her brother was actually nowhere to be seen. Her mother was cooking meat today, yet her brother wasn’t even guarding the kitchen?
“He grabbed a sack and ran out just now. He probably went to the river ditch to try his luck again. Don’t worry about him. He’ll come back on his own when he gets hungry.”
“Oh.”
Jiang You wasn’t surprised at all. She had absolutely no expectations when it came to her brother going to the river ditch to catch fish.
After all, he had gone countless times before and had always come back empty-handed. Yet, he would still go again the next time. Everyone in the family was already used to it.
Their family had an old reclining chair. After checking the sky, Jiang You dragged the chair over, then went back to her room and brought out a small blanket.
She curled up directly on the old reclining chair and dried her hair in the sun, looking extremely comfortable.
Listening to the sounds of daily life around the house and basking in the sunlight, she gradually became sleepy and soon dozed off.
Under the setting sun, the young girl lazily lay on the chair with her arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes slightly narrowed. Her long black hair casually rested to one side, and a peaceful smile adorned her fair little face.
For some reason, the sight gave off a feeling of peaceful, carefree days, making anyone who saw her momentarily lose themselves in the scene and yearn for such a life.
“Jin’an, what are you staring at?”
Jiang You’s older brother’s loud voice suddenly rang out at the most inopportune moment. He slapped Xie Jin’an on the shoulder, then lowered his head to glance at the fish in his net bag, his face filled with a foolish grin.
“Jin’an, we agreed. We’re going together again next time!”
He had figured it out.
As long as he followed Xie Jin’an, he got to eat meat!
“Brother.”
Jiang You was startled awake by her brother’s sudden loud voice. She opened her sleepy eyes and, after seeing the two people outside the courtyard, instinctively lowered her legs and sat upright.
“Big Brother Xie.”
She greeted the two people outside the door.
After taking a bath, Jiang You had changed into a tender green outfit. Her skin looked even fairer against the soft color, giving her a delicate beauty.
At this moment, her pretty little face carried a hint of bewilderment, inexplicably making one’s heart soften.
Having startled her awake, Xie Jin’an felt somewhat apologetic as well. Where no one could see, the tips of his ears had turned bright red.
Perhaps it was because he had just been caught staring at her and spacing out, leaving him somewhat embarrassed.
On the surface, however, he remained calm. He merely nodded at her, pretending that the person who had been lost in thought just moments ago hadn’t been him.
“Okay.”
After greeting Jiang You and responding to her brother, he returned to the neighboring house.
The things in the village were currently publicly owned, so it wouldn’t be good if someone saw them catching fish. Since everyone was busy preparing dinner and no one was paying attention, they quickly returned to their respective homes.
Jiang You’s older brother carried his fish with him, his face glowing with pride as he puffed out his chest confidently.
“Mom, look what I got!”
After closing the courtyard gate, he immediately ran into the kitchen to show off.
“You caught it yourself?”
Thinking about her son’s previous fishing record, Jiang You’s mother was extremely surprised this time.
“Of course I did, it was just—”
Jiang You’s brother suddenly paused and scratched his head.
“Jin’an helped drive the fish toward me. But I was the one who caught it in the end. How about that? Your son is pretty impressive, right?”
“Not bad. Your tail is practically sticking up into the sky,” his mother teased.
Her eldest son’s catch really was quite good. Jiang You had taken a glance earlier, and it was a big, plump fish.
However, her mother didn’t cook it that day. Instead, she planned to salt it and make dried salted fish to save for later.
Although Jiang You’s older brother felt a little disappointed, when he remembered that they were already having meat that day, he didn’t say anything.
“Seriously, I never knew Jin’an was actually so good at catching fish.”
“You guys have no idea. I was right beside him just now. He simply reached down like this and grabbed one! Every single time, he got one! He’s seriously amazing!”
While eating, Jiang You’s brother couldn’t help marveling again as he remembered what he had witnessed at the river ditch.
Men were all the same—they admired strength and ability. After seeing how capable Xie Jin’an was today and remembering all the times he himself had gone home empty-handed, Jiang You’s brother was genuinely envious.
Not to mention, aside from the final moment when he himself caught the fish in the net bag, everything else had been done with Xie Jin’an’s help.
Xie Jin’an had been working from the moment they found the fish, all the way until he drove the fish right up to the net bag so that Jiang You’s brother could successfully catch it.
Yep, as expected of his good brother!
Hearing this, Jiang You’s father also nodded, his eyes filled with approval.
“That boy Xiaoxie really is smart and capable. When he was still in school, he had the best grades in the whole town. Back then, everyone who saw him would praise him.”
“It’s just a shame that something suddenly happened to Old Xie and his wife. Otherwise…” Jiang You’s father paused, sighed, and took a small sip from his cup of liquor.
There was meat today, so Jiang You’s father allowed himself to drink a little.
The rest of the Jiang family also fell silent upon hearing this, and afterward, no one continued discussing the Xie family.