The afternoon work whistle sounded right on time, and Shen Jingyao woke up precisely at that moment.
Zhou Muyan saw her wake up and curved his lips into a smile. “Yao Yao, you’re getting more and more skilled at timing things perfectly.”
Shen Jingyao stood up and glared at him, fully aware of the double meaning in his words.
Back when they were in high school, she would always bring him along to slip into the classroom exactly on time every day.
Zhou Muyan actually woke up early every morning, but he was willing to follow Yao Yao’s punctual habits.
After three years, their classmates affectionately gave them a nickname: the Punctuality Kings.
Shen Jingyao brushed the grass off her pants, ignored him, and directly headed to the fields carrying a large basket.
Zhou Muyan shook his head with a smile and followed close behind her.
The afternoon passed unusually quickly. Amidst working and taking breaks, Shen Jingyao heard the whistle marking the end of the workday.
“A Yan, I want to go with you to see the new house. I haven’t been there yet.” Since it wasn’t her turn to cook tonight, she wanted to take a look before heading back.
“Alright, I’ll take you there.” Zhou Muyan gathered the farming tools from the ground and brought them to the brigade warehouse.
Shen Jingyao followed behind him, maintaining a neither too close nor too distant space between them.
When they arrived at the brigade warehouse, Zhou Lao Da was registering the villagers’ work points.
Shen Jingyao stepped forward to record her work points for the day—still five points. Not bad.
Zhou Muyan said to his eldest brother, “Brother, I’ll take Educated Youth Shen to see the house first. You can come over later.”
Zhou Lao Da saw the two standing together and nodded. “Alright, you go ahead. I’ll join you in a bit.”
The two left the brigade warehouse and headed toward the Zhou family’s direction. People along the way curiously watched Shen Jingyao, wondering what Educated Youth Shen was doing following behind Yan Wa Zi.
The families of the brigade leader and Zhou Youliang weren’t gossipers, so the news about Shen Jingyao building a house hadn’t spread widely yet.
But it wouldn’t be long. In these times, there were almost no secrets. At most, by tomorrow after work, everyone would know.
Zhou Muyan brought Shen Jingyao to the construction site, where people were already busy working.
Zhou Dachuan and Zhou Dashan, the two brothers, had rushed over as soon as work ended, afraid that someone else would snatch the three mao wage.
When they looked up and saw Zhou Muyan leading an exceptionally beautiful young woman over, they stood frozen, unsure what to do.
Zhou Muyan introduced, “Brother Dachuan, Brother Dashan, this is Educated Youth Shen. This house is hers.”
Shen Jingyao immediately greeted them with a smile. “Hello! Thank you for your hard work!”
Both Zhou Dashan and Zhou Dachuan were married with children, but they weren’t used to interacting with female comrades, especially one as beautiful and polite as her.
They nervously rubbed their hands. “No trouble at all, no trouble at all.”
Shen Jingyao could sense their discomfort. “Please continue with your work. I’m just here to take a look. I’ll settle the wages with you when the time comes.”
Hearing about the wages, they finally broke into honest smiles. “Okay.” Then they went back to work.
As Shen Jingyao looked around, Zhou Muyan explained to her what needed to be done in each area and how it should be handled.
Shen Jingyao’s lips curved upward. She playfully winked at him, gave a thumbs-up, and whispered, “A Yan, you’re amazing.”
Zhou Muyan, hidden behind the mud bricks, gently squeezed her hand. “You…”
After looking around, Shen Jingyao stood on the open ground and said to Zhou Muyan, “Comrade Zhou, I’ll head back now. I’ll leave this place in your capable hands.”
Zhou Muyan’s deep black eyes brimmed with evident amusement. “Don’t worry, Educated Youth Shen.”
“Then I’ll be going.” Shen Jingyao turned and left. On her way, she encountered First Brother Shen and Second Brother Shen heading in that direction. The three exchanged slight nods in acknowledgment.
When Shen Jingyao reached a large tree, she seized the opportunity to take about half a pound of mung beans from her Space and poured them into her lunch box.
As she passed by the Zhou Family residence, she noticed the courtyard gate wide open, with three children playing inside.
Zhou Chengdong, already ten years old and half-grown, recognized Shen Jingyao as the person who had brought them delicious sponge cake that night. He approached the gate and asked, “Educated Youth Shen, is there something you need?”
The two younger children also ran over to stand beside him, their three pairs of curious eyes openly fixed on her.
Just as Shen Jingyao was about to speak, Liu Huilan’s voice called out from inside, “Dongzi, who’s at the gate?”
“Grandma, it’s Educated Youth Shen from that night,” Zhou Chengdong turned and shouted back inside.
Soon, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard.
Liu Huilan emerged holding a broom, Xu Xiu’e with corn flour on her fingers, and Gu Yunzhi supporting her stomach—all three women came out together.
Seeing Shen Jingyao standing at the gate, Liu Huilan dropped her broom and hurried forward to greet her, her voice warm and enthusiastic, “Ah, Educated Youth Shen, you’re here!”
Shen Jingyao smiled faintly. “Auntie, it’s me.”
She opened her lunch box. “Auntie, I just visited the construction site. I brought some mung beans from home. Since it’s inconvenient for me at the Educated Youth Point, I thought I could borrow your stove to cook some mung bean soup for the workers to quench their thirst.”
Her main intention was to prepare something for A Yan, who was working hard.
Liu Huilan’s face crinkled into a chrysanthemum-like smile. “Oh, Educated Youth Shen, you’re too kind! I could just boil some water for them—there’s no need for something as nice as mung bean soup.”
She genuinely felt that this Educated Youth Shen was exceedingly polite and remarkably straightforward.
Shen Jingyao knew this was just polite refusal. She handed the lunch box to Liu Huilan. “Auntie, please don’t decline. I’ll have to trouble you to help cook it.”
Liu Huilan chuckled and reached out to take it. “Don’t worry, leave it to me. I guarantee they’ll be able to drink it soon.”
Meanwhile, Xu Xiu’e had already gone back inside to fetch a small hessian sack. Seeing her mother-in-law accept the lunch box, she immediately handed the sack to her.
When Liu Huilan saw the offered sack, her expression turned slightly awkward, and she glanced somewhat apologetically at Shen Jingyao.
Shen Jingyao maintained her smile, showing no other reaction.
Liu Huilan poured the mung beans from the lunch box into the sack and returned the empty container to Shen Jingyao.
“Then I’ll trouble you with this, Auntie. I’ll head back to the Educated Youth Point now.” Shen Jingyao took the lunch box and left directly.
Liu Huilan watched her depart before carrying the sack back to the kitchen.
She glanced at Xu Xiu’e. Her eldest daughter-in-law was decent in other aspects—diligent and efficient in her work—but she had a slight tendency to take advantage of small benefits.
Liu Huilan had long suspected that Third Brother might have feelings for this Educated Youth Shen. If that were true, she certainly didn’t want any family members to hold him back.
Noticing her mother-in-law’s look, Xu Xiu’e understood that she was somewhat displeased.
She immediately lit the fire in the adjacent stove hole and added water to the pot: “Mom, I’ve already heated the water. You can put the mung beans in now, so the third brother and the others can have some to drink soon.”
Once again, she was being clever, knowing how to use the third brother as an excuse, aware that her mother would surely calm down.
Liu Huilan stared at her for a moment and said something she had heard that sounded quite cultured, “Let it not happen again. Go on with the cooking.”
“Alright!” Xu Xiu’e immediately went to knead the wotou. Gu Yunzhi, sitting in front of the stove watching the fire, shook her head. The eldest sister-in-law really was…
Liu Huilan loosely grabbed two handfuls of mung beans and tossed them into the pot, storing the rest in the cupboard to cook for them later.
Meanwhile, Shen Jingyao walked slowly back to the Educated Youth Point.
As for Xu Xiu’e’s behavior earlier, she knew that rural women of this era, lacking education, had narrow perspectives and could only see what was right in front of them.
But she didn’t mind. She was willing to let her take the advantages she could, but anything beyond that was out of the question.