16
Sending a Chicken to Her for Nourishment
Li Simin was very dissatisfied with Chen Shuangyan’s bootlicking behavior toward Sun Xiaoyue and hadn’t spoken to her all the way to the riverbank.
Chen Shuangyan couldn’t be bothered with Li Simin either – her constant passive-aggressive attitude and perpetually sullen face made interactions exhausting.
So when they reached the riverbank, each found a spot to squat and do laundry without speaking to the other.
Jiang Zhizhi planned to first sketch a draft, noting areas with bends and rapid currents, before returning to draw detailed diagrams.
Noticing two girls arriving with basins to do laundry, she didn’t pay them much mind. Judging by their appearance, they were probably the female educated youths from what people called the Educated Youth Housing.
They were somewhat different from the local village girls.
Chen Shuangyan finished washing her clothes quickly and, seeing Li Simin still silently scrubbing away, pursed her lips and carried her basin aside to wait.
Being naturally talkative and curious, she scanned the area before deciding to approach Jiang Zhizhi with her basin. When she got close enough to see Jiang Zhizhi’s features clearly, she was astonished – how could there be such a beautiful girl in the village? Her skin was so fair, appearing pink and tender under the sunlight, remarkably eye-catching.
Chen Shuangyan wondered uncertainly if Jiang Zhizhi might also be an educated youth sent to the countryside.
She moved closer to greet Jiang Zhizhi: “Hello there! Are you from this village or from our Educated Youth Housing? How come I’ve never seen you before?”
Jiang Zhizhi smiled amiably: “I’m the village technician. Are you from the Educated Youth Housing? Taking a break today?”
Seeing Jiang Zhizhi’s friendly smile, Chen Shuangyan found her approachable. Setting her basin aside, she proactively sat down next to Jiang Zhizhi: “We just arrived yesterday. We have today off to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings before starting fieldwork tomorrow. What are you drawing there?”
Jiang Zhizhi glanced at Chen Shuangyan: “Just doodling for fun. I had some free time this morning and thought the scenery here was nice, so I came to sit for a while.”
Chen Shuangyan exclaimed in admiration: “Then you must be very educated! That pencil of yours looks really expensive.”
Jiang Zhizhi examined her ordinary-looking pencil, unable to see what made it valuable: “Expensive?”
Chen Shuangyan nodded: “You can’t buy these in regular stores. I only saw one before at my father’s factory with an engineer. He wouldn’t even let me touch it, said it was really precious and unavailable elsewhere.”
Jiang Zhizhi looked at the pencil again – this hard-to-obtain pencil, and Zhou Xiye had managed to get five of them for her at once.
Chen Shuangyan asked curiously: “Technician Jiang, how long have you been in Qingquan Village? Are the people here easy to get along with? That village party secretary seemed quite fierce to me, speaking very impatiently.”
Jiang Zhizhi thought to herself: I only arrived one day before you did.
But she simply nodded: “Everyone’s been quite nice.”
Chen Shuangyan sighed: “I heard our assignment at the Educated Youth Housing is land reclamation. This place is so desolate – not even grass grows on the mountains. Even after reclaiming the land, we’ll still be at the mercy of the weather for farming.”
Jiang Zhizhi grew curious: “Where are you all from?”
At this question, Chen Shuangyan became quite talkative, sharing how she and Li Simin came from the same place and had known each other since childhood, chattering on at length – though she notably forgot to mention Sun Xiaoyue.
Mainly because she’d just met Sun Xiaoyue, and since she wasn’t present, bringing her up wouldn’t lead to much conversation.
Sun Xiaoyue hadn’t left the slope and watched Chen Shuangyan chatting happily with Jiang Zhizhi. She grew anxious again, realizing she’d forgotten to remind Chen Shuangyan not to mention her in front of outsiders.
Her heart was uneasy. If Jiang Zhizhi found out she was here too, she would definitely be on guard against her.
That fool seemed to have become much smarter after attempting suicide once!
……
From Chen Shuangyan, Jiang Zhizhi learned a lot more about this era. For example, if you engaged in private business, the consequences of being caught were severe.
Even selling your own family’s possessions was not allowed.
This completely dispelled Jiang Zhizhi’s idea of secretly doing some business on the side.
After parting ways with Chen Shuangyan, Jiang Zhizhi returned and immediately started drawing diagrams. Working with one hand was inconvenient, especially since it was her left hand, so the drawing process was slow. She also had to add detailed annotations—the dimensions and angles of the pressure tank had to be precisely marked.
Sitting in the courtyard, she became so absorbed in her drawing that she didn’t even notice Zhou Xiye entering the yard.
Zhou Xiye stood behind Jiang Zhizhi with his hands clasped behind his back, watching the young girl hunched over the dining table, sitting on a small stool and focused intently on her drawing. She looked like a small, concentrated bundle.
She was muttering to herself, and her hair, likely because it was difficult to style with one hand, was tousled. The ends of her braid brushed against the paper.
On the white paper, a preliminary diagram had taken shape—complex, complete with symbols indicating various angles.
Zhou Xiye grew increasingly suspicious of Jiang Zhizhi’s identity and suddenly spoke up: “Your drawing is so intricate. Do you think anyone can understand it and actually build it?”
Jiang Zhizhi, deeply immersed in her work, was startled by Zhou Xiye’s voice. Her hand jerked, and she nearly fell off the stool. Turning her head, she saw Zhou Xiye standing behind her, leaning over—she had no idea how long he had been there.
“Do you have to sneak up on people like that? You scared me to death.”
Since she had already been caught, there was no use hiding it.
Zhou Xiye apologized: “I came to drop something off for the village party secretary. Your diagram is very complex. No one in the commune would understand it, and it’s probably unrealistic to bring someone from the city to work on it.”
Jiang Zhizhi pursed her lips: “I can do it. As long as we have the materials, I can build it myself.”
Zhou Xiye looked at her with keen interest, his eyes shifting to her injured hand: “Your hand is hurt. How will you manage?”
Jiang Zhizhi’s expression turned serious: “I can direct Liang Dazhuang. He’s very clever—if I tell him what to do, he can handle it.”
Secretly, she felt pleased. It was even better if no one else could do it—that way, she could legitimately stay here a while longer.
Zhou Xiye nodded noncommittally: “I left the things for the village party secretary by the door. Let him know later. By the way, there’s a chicken in my car. Take it and stew it for lunch.”
Jiang Zhizhi was surprised. Why was he suddenly giving her a chicken?
Zhou Xiye explained further: “On my way here, I accidentally ran over a villager’s chicken. After compensating them, they insisted I take the chicken. I have no way to deal with it back at my place, so I’ll leave it with you.”
Jiang Zhizhi studied Zhou Xiye’s serious expression but couldn’t tell if he was being truthful. Still, the thought of eating chicken made her happy.
She had been eating bland food every day, and her stomach had long been growling with craving.
Putting down her pencil, she stood up cheerfully: “Alright, how much do I owe you?”
Zhou Xiye shook his head: “No need. Just let our military unit use this set of equipment when it’s done.”
Jiang Zhizhi didn’t think much of it: “You can take it and use it whenever you need.”
She followed Zhou Xiye to his car and watched as he took out a plucked and cleaned chicken. She was stunned: “Wasn’t it run over? Why is it already plucked?”
Zhou Xiye responded with an unchanged expression, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave first.”
Jiang Zhizhi held the plump hen, scrutinizing it from every angle, yet couldn’t discern which part of the chicken had been run over by the car.