After saying it, Song Ziyao felt some regret as well. Eating too much candy was not particularly beneficial anyway.
So she changed her words and said: “A can of pork is fine too. Wait for me when we go back down the mountain later. I’ll return to the dormitory and get it for you.”
Tan Jinhe’s sharp brows moved slightly. “No need.”
After saying that, he carried his curved blade to one side and began chopping down trees.
Tan Jinhe had come up the mountain to cut timber for Tan Youliang.
On the outer edge of the back mountain, elm and cypress trees were generally the most common. Both types of wood could be used to make furniture.
These trees all belonged to the Production Team’s property. However, as a carpenter, he was allowed to keep the branches trimmed from the trees as firewood. The team tacitly permitted this.
Holding the curved blade that was still stained with snake blood, Tan Jinhe aimed at a cypress tree. One strike had the blade angled upward, the next had it angled downward.
The arm he swung looked exceptionally powerful. Again and again, his expression remained cold and stern, his muscles taut, while short bursts of breathing escaped his mouth.
Before long, a large V-shaped notch had been cut into the tree.
At that point, Tan Jinhe moved to the opposite side, and after only a few strikes, the tree fell.
Watching Tan Jinhe continuously trim branches without stopping for even a moment, as though he did not know what fatigue was, Song Ziyao recalled what he had once told her, that when he was young, he had often lacked the energy to do anything because he could not eat enough.
He had been lying to her, hadn’t he?
Although after coming to the countryside she had indeed come to understand the poverty and backwardness of the environment in which he had grown up, but… he had exaggerated it, right?
Song Ziyao secretly glared at Tan Jinhe.
He had made her feel so sorry for him!
Tan Jinhe remained completely unaware as he bundled up the trimmed branches.
The bundles he tied were very large. Song Ziyao’s small frame clearly could not carry them.
Therefore, he could only carry them back for her.
Fortunately, by the time they returned, it was already three-thirty in the afternoon. Everyone had gone back to work, so no one saw them.
Song Ziyao stopped Tan Jinhe just as he turned to leave, then quickly ran back into her room and brought out a can of pork, stuffing it into his hands.
A trace of unnaturalness flashed across Tan Jinhe’s face.
He tried his utmost to ignore the agility Song Ziyao had displayed while running. For the despicable thoughts he had harbored on the mountain earlier, he covered them with one final layer of self-deception.
Only after he had walked a considerable distance away did Tan Jinhe finally let out a harsh breath of relief. He rubbed his sweat-covered face and only then realized that he was still holding a can of pork in his hand.
After Tan Jinhe left, Song Ziyao belatedly realized that she seemed to have exposed herself just now.
…Even though she had deliberately pretended to limp all the way down the mountain.
However, Tan Jinhe had not exposed her. Perhaps he had not noticed?
Well, that was possible too.
There was no time to think about it further. Song Ziyao hurried off to work.
Half a month later, Song Ziyao’s table, chairs, and bedside cabinet were finished.
Tan Jinhe delivered them to her.
But before they could exchange more than a few words, he hurried away.
Song Ziyao could only turn her attention to her furniture.
After tidying things up and putting everything that needed storing into place, the little room looked much neater and more pleasing to the eye.
“Your furniture looks pretty good. The little room finally looks decent.” Wen Xue said as she appeared at the doorway.
Song Ziyao smiled. “What? Regretting not choosing to live in this little room now?”
Wen Xue immediately shook her head. “No regrets, no regrets. I like spacious places. Only you would treasure a tiny room like this.”
Although Liao Hongmei was not exactly a good roommate, whenever the two interacted, Wen Xue always held the upper hand. More often than not, Liao Hongmei ended up crying from frustration.
After chatting idly for a while, Wen Xue suddenly spoke with a trace of fear in her voice. “I heard we’re starting to harvest corn the day after tomorrow. That’s another busy farming period. What should I do? These past few days have only been ordinary labor, and I’m already almost unable to endure it…”
After hearing that, Song Ziyao also felt somewhat worried.
But worrying was useless. Everyone had to participate during the busy farming season.
Even children of five or six years old could help shell corn kernels. Unless there was an irresistible circumstance, no one could escape it.
When the day arrived, Song Ziyao filled her water flask with spring water from the space and added freshly picked honeysuckle flowers from behind the house.
Then she carried the flask and went to work.
When Liao Hongmei saw that even Meng Jing, who normally almost never worked in the fields, had to go harvest corn together with the other Educated Youth, she finally revealed a smile that had rarely appeared on her face recently.
“Hmph, if you’re so capable, go seduce the Production Brigade Leader’s son again and have him find a way to let you keep resting.”
Meng Jing did not even spare her a glance.
Furious, Liao Hongmei turned her attack toward Song Ziyao instead. “And you too. Why don’t you get those two fools, Shi Lei and Shi Changjiang, to do your work for you? Oh right, everyone has work during the busy season, so nobody has time to bother with you anymore!”
Liao Hongmei bullied the weak and feared the strong. She disliked many of the Educated Youth, yet only dared target Meng Jing and Song Ziyao.
Although Meng Jing appeared cold and difficult to approach, her reputation within the team was poor. Even the Production Brigade Leader’s wife disliked her. In Liao Hongmei’s eyes, that made her an easy target.
As for Song Ziyao, she had always been soft and gentle before. Although she seemed to have become somewhat tougher recently, Liao Hongmei clearly had not taken it seriously.
At that thought, Song Ziyao let out a cold laugh. She went around Liu Qingping, who was standing between them, moved behind Liao Hongmei, grabbed her by the collar, and yanked hard backward.
Caught completely off guard, Liao Hongmei nearly fell flat onto the ground.
“Song Ziyao, you… cough cough… what are… you doing… cough cough cough…” The collar was constricting her neck so tightly that she could not even complete a sentence.
Song Ziyao exerted force with her hand, yet spoke in a very gentle voice beside Liao Hongmei’s ear. “Your neck is so thin. It feels like it would snap if I twisted it lightly.”
Liao Hongmei’s eyes widened as she stared at Song Ziyao in terror.
“I ignored you before because I didn’t want to waste my energy on you…” Song Ziyao’s tone grew colder and colder. “But if you keep barking and biting around me in the future, then you’d better sleep with one eye open every night!”
After speaking, she gave her a forceful shove.
The shoved Liao Hongmei was only prevented from falling to the ground because Wang Yiguang, standing in front of her, stopped her.
Shivering, Liao Hongmei turned around and looked at Song Ziyao as though she had seen a ghost.
During the years Song Ziyao had spent with Tan Jinhe, he had doted on her, indulged her, and allowed her true nature to emerge. Inevitably, she had also absorbed some of the ruthlessness buried deep within his bones.
At this moment, the usually gentle and approachable Song Ziyao had a face covered in frost and eyes filled with hostility. Not only did she intimidate Liao Hongmei, but even the other Educated Youth stopped walking and stared at her blankly.
It was as if they were meeting her for the first time.
Song Ziyao brushed off dust that did not exist on her clothes and said to everyone: “What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and get to work.”
After speaking, she took the lead and walked away.
However, after climbing a small dirt slope, she unexpectedly ran into Tan Xuesong.
With a strange expression, Tan Xuesong greeted her.
Song Ziyao paused.
Could it be that Tan Xuesong had witnessed what happened just now?
Actually, it would not matter much if he had seen it. As long as he did not say anything in front of Tan Jinhe and ruin her gentle image.
…He would not be that bored, would he?
The Tan Xuesong whom Song Ziyao believed would not be that bored began clicking his tongue and sighing in front of Tan Jinhe half an hour later.
“…Fourth Uncle, I never expected Educated Youth Song to be nothing like the gentle person she appears to be. She’s really fierce. She even said she was going to twist that female educated youth’s neck off!”
As he said this, Tan Xuesong rubbed his own neck. “I used to think that when I got married, I’d have to find a wife with a personality like Educated Youth Song’s. Now it seems I’d better forget it. I still want to live a few more years!”
Yet after hearing all this, Tan Jinhe did not even raise his head.
Tan Xuesong was talking nonsense.
She was clearly timid and delicate.