The contrast was so stark that the crowd fell silent.
Just moments ago, Deputy Captain Mao Peng had dismissed Tao Nanfeng as too delicate for the work, yet the sight of her strength had instantly changed his tune.
He’d completely forgotten how he had just called her a “rich little flower,” unfit for labor.
He grinned and nudged Xiang Bei. “Strong, huh? Good. Strong means she can work. Ten work points for her won’t be a waste.”
The other teammates eagerly strained their necks, trying to get a closer look at her, but Xiang Bei held them back with a sharp glance.
“With strength like that, you’re exactly what we need on the road construction team,” Xiang Bei said, stepping forward and handing her the shovel.
His gesture was one of acceptance, and the team erupted in cheers. These were straightforward men; none of them questioned why she was so strong, nor did they doubt her background or identity.
“Educated Youth Tao, you’re all right!”
“Welcome to the team!”
“The road crew needs a young person like you—educated and strong!”
Tao Nanfeng took the shovel, her racing heart finally settling. “Thank you,” she said again.
Xiang Bei’s lips quirked into a smile, pulling at the scar on his face. The movement distorted his features, turning his ruggedly handsome face into a frighteningly grotesque mask.
You’re better off not smiling, Xiao Aiyun thought, instinctively slipping behind Tao Nanfeng for cover.
You look terrifying.
“Back to work!” Mao Peng shouted, waving his arm.
“Oh…”
The road crew quickly dispersed, retrieving the surveying equipment they had just set down. Under Engineer Yang’s direction, they resumed their mapping, though they couldn’t resist stealing occasional glances at Tao Nanfeng.
CRACK! CRACK!
In less than half an hour, Tao Nanfeng had chopped through the rest of the massive boulder wedged into the mountainside. With a collective heave, the men pushed it off the cliff.
As a thunderous crash echoed through the valley, the rest of the crew turned to her, their eyes gleaming with admiration.
A cool breeze swept through the mountains, and the warmth in their gazes seemed to wash away the stifling tension in Tao Nanfeng’s chest. Her lips curved into a smile, her eyes brightening like a spring morning.
Accepted. Acknowledged. Finally, she could work alongside them—the first real step toward adapting to farm life.
Only after joining the road crew in the field did Tao Nanfeng truly grasp the hardship of outdoor labor. Despite her straw hat, the sun baked her back until it ached, searing her exposed skin like fire. Heat radiated from the parched earth, the shimmering haze stinging her eyes.
The grueling, repetitive work left her muscles throbbing. Her arms grew heavy, her pace slowed to a crawl. Her throat felt like it was on fire, and her stomach gnawed with hunger.
Then, a sudden surge of warmth erupted from the palm wrapped in gauze, flowing rapidly through her limbs and soothing the physical strain.
Tao Nanfeng straightened her back, staring thoughtfully at her left hand. The heat emanated from the dark, tooth-shaped mark. Could this be the Ability from my apocalyptic dreams?
Flutter, flutter…
A wild pheasant burst from the dense brush on the southern slope, its long tail feathers shimmering with iridescent colors in the sunlight.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!”
The road crew erupted in cheers. Dropping their equipment, they scrambled up the slope, laughing and shouting as they gave chase.
“Hurry! A fat pheasant like that will taste amazing!”
“You guys go that way, I’ll circle around here!”
“Get him! Get him!”
Tao Nanfeng straightened her back, her gaze fixed on the pheasant as it soared overhead. In an instant, the grueling labor was forgotten, and a line of poetry surfaced in her mind:
Like a bird’s wings, like a pheasant’s flight.
Years ago, she had read those words—a description of a palace’s magnificent eaves—and wondered why the poet had compared grand architecture to a pheasant taking flight.
Now, seeing it for herself, she finally understood. The pheasant’s plumage was breathtakingly vibrant, its wings sweeping in an arc of raw, thrilling power.
To use such an image to describe a majestic palace was nothing short of perfect.
The men of the road crew charged forward as one, chasing the pheasant across the hillside. But just as they closed in, a sharp, piercing shriek tore through the air.
“Down!” Xiang Beida roared.
The crew instinctively dropped, crouching low. A massive hawk plummeted from the sky, its talons snatching the pheasant in a single, swift strike before soaring back into the clouds.
In a flash, it was gone.
The men stood and stomped their feet in unison, cursing the thief that had stolen their meal.
“Damn it! We almost had it! We could have eaten like kings tonight, but that dishonorable bastard robbed us blind!”
“Well, there goes the chicken. Now we’ve got nothing to show for it…”
“Nothing?”
The men’s eyes lit up. “Quick! Find the nest!”
They scattered into the brush, scouring the hillside for a pheasant’s nest.
“Over here! I found it!”
“One, two, three… damn, we’re lucky! Twelve eggs in this nest!”
“Get a straw hat! We need something to carry them in!”
Hearing their shouts from the slope, Tao Nanfeng’s eyes sparkled with excitement. A city girl like her had never seen anything like this—pheasants, hawks, wild eggs… The morning had been a whirlwind of activity.
When the noon break finally arrived, the sun beat down mercilessly on the earth.
The road crew sought refuge in the shade, sitting on the ground as they uncovered the blue cloth draped over their bamboo baskets.
A dozen square aluminum lunchboxes were neatly arranged. As the lids were lifted, the aroma of food wafted through the air, and Tao Nanfeng couldn’t help but steal a glance.
This must be the lunch the crew prepared this morning,* she realized. Since they can’t go home during the day, they bring their meals to the site.
In these times of scarcity, rice, oil, and vegetables were strictly rationed. Having just joined the crew today, she had nothing prepared. It looked like she would be going hungry.
“Wow! We’ve got stir-fried eggs with pickled shallots today!”
“And sweet potato rice! It smells amazing.”
“Aunt Xiang’s chili sauce is the best for mixing with rice. The stir-fried eggplant is delicious, too.”
Tao Nanfeng lowered her gaze and sat down silently beside them. It had been four days since she left Jiangcheng, and she hadn’t had a hot meal the entire time.
Suddenly, a pair of large hands appeared, setting a lunchbox down in front of her.
She looked up and met Xiang Bei’s eyes.
“Share this with Educated Youth Xiao,” he said, before turning to join the rest of the crew.
Her stomach had been growling ever since she woke up. All she’d had was a single piece of chicken cake from home and a cup of spring water.
Tao Nanfeng and Xiao Aiyun clutched the lunchbox together, scooping up a huge mouthful of rice.
Mmm… It was sweet and fragrant.
Only someone truly starving could appreciate the sheer bliss of a hot meal. A wave of warmth washed over Tao Nanfeng.
Xiao Aiyun was so moved she looked ready to cry. She chattered away between bites. “I never thought sweet potato rice could taste this good. Back home, I always thought only white rice was a real delicacy.”
“What kind of chili sauce is this? It has this amazing smoky aroma—it’s perfect with rice.”
“And what are these white, garlic-like things? They make the eggs smell so good…”
The other crew members burst into laughter. “Educated Youth Xiao, Captain Xiang’s mother is an incredible cook. You’ll soon see why being assigned to our road construction team was the best luck you’ve had. Those are pickled shallots. They grow wild in the fields—you city folk have probably never seen them before.”
After finishing their hot meal, Xiao Aiyun spotted a dense cluster of bright red berries in the scrubland to the north. The berries grew in bunches, each about the size of a thumb, clinging to a thorny bush.
The lush green leaves made the wild fruit—known as “Mountain Red”—look all the more vibrant and juicy.
Xiao Aiyun was the third of five siblings. She had two formidable older sisters, a willful younger sister, and a pampered baby brother. Her family struggled to make ends meet, so she rarely got to enjoy the good food.
Seeing the mountainside covered in these berries gave her a rush of excitement, as if she’d struck gold. She popped two into her own mouth and then stuffed one into Tao Nanfeng’s.
“Tao Nanfeng, these are sweet and sour! They’re delicious!”
“Tao Nanfeng, this one is perfectly ripe! It’s sweet and mealy. Here, try it.”
“Tao Nanfeng…”
Tao Nanfeng came from a well-off family and ate seasonal fruit all the time, but this was her first time seeing wild berries in the mountains. She found them fascinating, nodding in approval as she savored the taste.
The young men from the road construction team saw how much the two girls enjoyed the fruit.
They pulled off their straw hats and helped gather two large handfuls. “Take these back and eat them slowly. There’s plenty of this stuff on the mountain—just watch out for the thorns when you pick them.”
At five o’clock sharp, the whistle blew, signaling the end of the workday.
The crew members shouldered their surveying equipment and marched back toward the farm headquarters, their voices raised in a cheerful chorus: “The sun sinks west, the crimson clouds fly, the soldiers return from the range as the day’s light dies.”
They crowded around Tao Nanfeng and Xiao Aiyun, forming a lively procession.
But upon arriving at the headquarters, a new conflict erupted.
Luo Xuan looked at the work point record sheet provided by the construction team, his voice dripping with affectation. “How can these two female educated youth be credited with a full ten work points each? Road construction is grueling physical labor. Women can only be credited with seven.”
Xiao Aiyun, who shared a room with her two older sisters and younger sister, was no stranger to fights and arguments. At his words, she bristled, shoved her hands on her hips, and fired back.
“When you were assigning tasks, you said women could hold up half the sky! But now it’s time to award work points, and suddenly road construction is ‘too much’ for us? You’re claiming women get paid less for the same work? That’s a blatant contradiction. Is this how you run things as a director?”
Luo Xuan hadn’t expected Xiao Aiyun to be so sharp-tongued. Stunned into silence for a moment, he slammed his hand onto the desk. “What’s the use of a quick wit? Female comrades get seven work points. That is the farm’s rule!”
Tao Nanfeng stood beside Xiao Aiyun, gathering her courage to speak up. “That’s not fair!”
Luo Xuan shot her a sneer. “Fair? You’re new arrivals. You dare demand fairness?”
Yang Xianyong, the engineer, stepped in to mediate. “Director Luo, they really did put in a lot of hard work today. Giving them ten points is reasonable.”
The other road crew members chimed in. “That’s right. Tao Nanfeng is surprisingly strong, and Xiao Aiyun works fast. They did just as much as we did.”
Luo Xuan shot Tao Nanfeng a contemptuous glance, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “What? Just because these girls are pretty, you’re going to hand out the farm’s grain and funds as personal favors? I’ll tell you what—not a chance!”
He added a cruel laugh to fan the flames. “Working fast is one thing, but strong? Haha, heheh. You’re flattering them a bit too much, aren’t you?”
“Tao Nanfeng, since Director Luo doesn’t believe you’re strong, why don’t you show him?”
Mao Peng’s voice, laced with a trace of mockery, rang out from the doorway. Beside him stood Xiang Bei.
Xiang Bei said nothing. He merely carried a massive iron wok on his shoulder.
The wok was nearly thirty inches in diameter, an immense weight. Even for someone of his size, the effort left Xiang Bei drenched in sweat, his towering figure exuding a silent, oppressive strength.
Luo Xuan bolted upright in alarm. “Xiang Bei! What the hell are you doing taking the canteen’s wok?!”
Xiang Bei ignored him, his expression impassive.
Mao Peng grinned at Tao Nanfeng. “Your settlement has a stove but no pot, so you can’t cook a thing. If you want this wok, you’ll have to ask Director Luo for it.”
Tao Nanfeng looked at Xiang Bei, blinking. Her large, beautiful eyes seemed to ask: Do I really have to show him what I can do?
Meeting her clear, spring-like gaze, Xiang Bei gave a slight nod.
Xiao Aiyun cheered, “Go on, Tao Nanfeng! Show off a little and win that wok!”
The other crew members, who had already witnessed Tao Nanfeng’s strength, joined in. “Yeah! Show him!”