Shen Gang had not been exaggerating about catching fish for an extra dish.
After more than an hour of hard work in the stream, the siblings actually managed to catch four palm-sized fish. One of them had even been caught by Shen Yao herself.
For Shen Yao, who was obtaining food through her own efforts for the first time in her life, the experience was so exciting that she almost did not know what to do with herself. The gloom that had weighed on her for days was temporarily forgotten.
Carrying their small bucket and farm tools, the siblings returned to the peach orchard.
The peaches had already all been harvested. Those intended for sale had been packed into baskets and loaded onto a tractor borrowed from the village. The remaining peaches were being distributed among the production team’s families, who stood in line waiting for their share.
When Shen Guozhong spotted Shen Yao, he waved her over.
Noticing the fish still swimming in Shen Gang’s bucket, he smiled and praised them. Then he told them to leave the fish there for now and deliver some peaches to Educated Youth Song on the opposite side of the river.
Their family had received twelve peaches in total.
Shen Guozhong selected four of the largest ones and told the siblings to take them over.
Shen Gang hesitated, reluctant to part with so many.
Shen Guozhong patted him on the head and laughed.
“Your sister only avoided getting a scar because of the ointment Educated Youth Song gave her after she hurt her head. What’s four peaches compared to that? Hurry up and take them over. While you’re there, let the other educated youths know to come collect their share too. The team saved some peaches for them as well.”
Shen Gang was indeed reluctant to give up the peaches, but once he heard that the ointment used on his sister had come from Educated Youth Song, he no longer minded.
Grinning, he agreed and set off with Shen Yao toward the village’s narrow wooden footbridge.
Of all the places she wanted to visit today, the opposite bank was the most important.
Shenjia Village was enormous. The village consisted of over five hundred households and more than twenty-five hundred residents, divided into twenty-six production teams.
The mountain area assigned to the Eighth Production Team lay across the river. That was where the original Shen Yao had fallen.
Hearing Shen Guozhong tell Shen Gang to take her there, Shen Yao secretly felt delighted, filled with both anticipation and nervousness.
Only a dozen or so villagers lived on that side of the river, their homes built either at the foot of the mountain or halfway up its slopes.
The educated youths had been assigned to live in a row of four mud-brick houses that had been left vacant after a refugee family moved away years ago.
The Eighth Production Team had only three educated youths in total.
One was Educated Youth Song, who had arrived several months earlier.
The other two were He Shi and Xu Xiangdong, who had come only ten days ago.
Each occupied one room, while the remaining room served as a shared kitchen.
In theory, it was communal. In practice, only Educated Youth Song used it most of the time.
He Shi and Xu Xiangdong possessed no cooking skills whatsoever. They often took grain coupons and money to local families and paid to eat with them instead.
Shen Yao, however, was preoccupied with visiting the place where the original owner had fallen and had no interest in the educated youths.
When they arrived outside the row of houses, she quietly continued acting like a simple-minded girl.
He Shi and Xu Xiangdong happened to be sitting outside playing cards.
When Xu Xiangdong saw the siblings approaching, he brightened immediately.
He Shi’s face, on the other hand, darkened.
The moment Shen Gang spotted He Shi, he instinctively glanced at his sister.
Seeing that Shen Yao was not paying He Shi any attention at all, he finally relaxed slightly.
Positioning himself so that he blocked her line of sight, he led her straight into Educated Youth Song’s room.
Educated Youth Song was sitting inside reading.
When he saw them enter, he politely invited them to sit.
Shen Gang briefly explained why they had come and placed the peaches on the table.
Shen Yao remained silent. Since Shen Gang was handling everything, she simply followed his lead and set her peaches down as well.
Though she said nothing, Educated Youth Song greeted her with a warm smile and asked after her injury.
Recalling the original Shen Yao’s personality, Shen Yao smiled back and replied that she had already recovered.
Shen Yao possessed a particularly sweet appearance, and her smile was even sweeter.
The smile caught Educated Youth Song off guard.
He stared for a moment before coming back to his senses and awkwardly clearing his throat.
Opening a drawer, he took out a handful of candies and stuffed them into Shen Gang’s hands.
“One tube of ointment hardly deserves such thanks. Captain Shen is being too polite. Take these candies and share them with your sister. Consider it a return gift.”
Shen Gang hesitated.
He had come to deliver something, so how had he ended up receiving something in return?
Seeing his uncertainty, Educated Youth Song smiled.
“If you won’t even accept a few pieces of candy, how could I possibly accept your family’s fruit? Take them. And please thank your father for me.”
Shen Gang clutched the handful of candies. The rich milky sweetness seemed to seep through the wrappers and drift into his nose. He was still young, and he had never tasted such fine candy before. In the end, he thanked Song Jincheng and accepted them.
After informing him about the peach distribution and asking him to notify the other two educated youths, he left with Shen Yao.
Village houses were built low, dark, and poorly ventilated. Most people kept their doors open during the day. From where they sat outside, He Shi and Xu Xiangdong could clearly see everything that happened after the siblings entered Song Jincheng’s room.
As Xu Xiangdong skillfully shuffled a deck of cards, his gaze remained fixed on the departing brother and sister.
“That Song fellow’s got some skills,” he muttered. “The team leader’s family even brought gifts to thank him. And tell me, am I imagining things, or does that kid from the Shen family act like we’re thieves? The way he looks at us…”
He set the shuffled cards down on two stools pushed together and gestured for He Shi to draw.
He Shi, however, said he was done playing.
Just then, Song Jincheng came out and told them about the peach distribution. Thinking of Shen Yao, who had just left, Xu Xiangdong tried to persuade He Shi to come along.
Having nothing better to do, He Shi went with them.
After walking around the low hill where they lived, they reached a fork in the path. Out of the corner of his eye, He Shi spotted a figure in a white top on a nearby hillside to the left.
His steps paused.
He asked Xu Xiangdong to collect his share of peaches for him. After the other two had gone farther ahead, he changed direction and headed into the mountains alone.
Meanwhile, Shen Gang had been sent all over the hillside by his sister in search of fiddlehead ferns.
Shen Yao, however, had followed the original owner’s memories to the place where she had fallen. She carefully examined every blade of grass and every tree, hoping to find some clue that might allow her to return home.
The mountain forest was filled only with birdsong and the chirping of insects when a cool male voice suddenly sounded behind her.
“Have you become so obsessed with getting into the city? Did you forget that I told you not to come near the educated youths’ quarters again?”
The words carried unmistakable mockery.
Shen Yao turned around.
The speaker was a young man who looked eighteen or nineteen years old.
The moment his face entered her field of vision, a strange sense of joy rose within her.
Memories surfaced layer upon layer, vivid and alive, occupying all her thoughts.
Among the dozen or so newly arrived educated youths in Shenjia Village, he had been the most handsome.
The original Shen Yao had followed Shen Guozhong to the production brigade headquarters to welcome the educated youths assigned to their team. The instant she saw He Shi, it was as though she had been rooted to the spot.
Only her eyes moved.
They had shone brightly, like stars suddenly ignited in the night sky.
Even through those memories, Shen Yao could feel how much the original owner had liked him.
After learning that his name was He Shi and that he had been assigned to the Eighth Production Team, the young girl had silently repeated his name several times to herself, her eyes curving into delighted crescents.
Shen Guozhong, who was rather oblivious in such matters, had not noticed a thing. In his eyes, his daughter was still a child, and the thought of romance never crossed his mind.
Over the next two days, Shen Yao stopped obediently following Shen Gang around.
Instead, she wandered all over the production team, unconsciously searching for He Shi.
Shen Gang had no choice but to follow her.
With the mind of a child, Shen Yao did not know how to hide her feelings. Her feet instinctively followed him wherever he went. Her eyes unconsciously sought him out. Her gaze was earnest and intense, yet filled with innocent curiosity.
Even Xu Xiangdong, who had arrived with He Shi, found himself repeatedly glancing her way.
Within just two days, several women in their thirties on the team had noticed that Shen Yao liked the newly arrived Educated Youth He.
Knowing that she still had a child’s mentality, they teased her.
“Yaoyao, have you fallen for Educated Youth He? Shall we ask your father to marry you off to him?”
Shen Yao had no idea what marriage actually meant.
So someone explained teasingly:
“Marrying him means sleeping under the same blanket and eating at the same table, just like your father and mother.”
Shen Gang hated seeing people tease his sister that way and immediately pulled her away.
What nobody expected was that Shen Yao took those words seriously.
With her simple mind, she could not distinguish a joke from the truth.
She remembered only the important part:
Sleeping under the same blanket as He Shi meant marrying him.
For someone as straightforward as her, once she had settled on an idea, there was nothing to agonize over.
That very night, she sneaked into the room assigned to He Shi.
The house allocated to the educated youths no longer had proper doors. They had been removed years ago. Since He Shi and Xu Xiangdong had only recently arrived, Shen Guozhong had temporarily hung straw curtains across the doorways, saying that proper wooden doors would be built after timber was cut from the mountains.
Unexpectedly, that arrangement made things much easier for Shen Yao.
She slipped into He Shi’s room without the slightest difficulty.
On only his second night in Shenjia Village, Shen Yao climbed into his bed.
At this point in the memory, Shen Yao’s face flushed red, then turned pale.
She felt utterly miserable.
Seeing her standing there in a daze, He Shi sneered.
“Let me teach you something. Educated youths will eventually return to the city. The household registration policy is there for everyone to see. Even if you marry an educated youth, you still won’t be able to move into the city. So don’t waste your effort on Song Jincheng either.”
The corner of his mouth curled upward in a roguish smile.
“After all, not every man is like me.”
His gaze swept over her from head to toe.
“You do have a bit of beauty. That’s attractive to men. So be careful. Don’t end up throwing yourself away for nothing and getting nothing in return.”
After tossing out those words, he turned and left leisurely.
As Shen Yao watched his departing back, the memory of that night surfaced clearly in her mind.
Back then, after dragging her out of his room, the things he had said had been far harsher than what he had just said today.
Shen Gang had not gone very far. The moment he heard a man’s voice from this direction, he hurried back.
He arrived just in time to see He Shi walking away.
Reaching Shen Yao’s side, he tugged gently at her sleeve and discovered that her hands were trembling.
A sense of unease rose within him.
“Big Sis, you don’t really like Educated Youth He, do you?”
At thirteen years old, he already had a vague understanding of what liking someone meant.
“Big Sis, educated youths aren’t good. They’ll all go back to the city sooner or later. And that Educated Youth He isn’t any good either. What farm work does he know how to do? If he had to earn work points properly, he might not even do better than me.”
Most importantly, his sister was simple-minded.
No matter how beautiful she was, even decent local families generally did not think highly of her as a marriage prospect, much less city people.
Shen Gang was afraid that she might truly become attached to one of the educated youths.
During those previous days when she followed He Shi everywhere, Shen Gang had already been considering whether he should talk to their parents if it continued.
Then his sister had fallen and injured herself.
After spending so many days recovering at home, this was her first outing. She had not searched the crowd for Educated Youth He the way she used to, which had greatly relieved Shen Gang.
Especially when they had gone to the educated youths’ quarters and she had not even looked at He Shi.
Shen Gang had assumed that, with her childlike mind, she had simply forgotten all about him during the days she spent resting at home.
Seeing his sister staring fixedly at Educated Youth He’s departing figure and reacting so strongly, Shen Gang immediately became worried again.
Shen Yao forced herself to calm down from the devastating revelation that the original owner had actually climbed into a man’s bed.
Hearing Shen Gang cautiously explaining how educated youths were no good, she nodded.
“Mm, I won’t like an educated youth.”