Chen Qiaoyu finally endured until five in the morning, when the sky was just beginning to lighten. Taking advantage of everyone still being asleep, she grabbed two eggs and headed into the old house’s kitchen.
Then, she placed the eggs in the spot where the duck eggs had disappeared the other day. There was a shallow little round hole there, worn into the floor by rainwater leaking through the old house’s dilapidated roof.
Chen Qiaoyu carefully placed one egg on the spot, her eyes fixed on it without blinking.
A few seconds later, the egg suddenly began to tremble slightly, and then, it vanished right before Chen Qiaoyu’s eyes.
“Ah!” Chen Qiaoyu let out an exclamation, caught off guard.
Gone!
The egg was really gone!
Hesitantly, Chen Qiaoyu placed the other egg on the spot.
She felt a little reluctant to part with it, but last time she had put two duck eggs. This time, she’d switched to chicken eggs. If she only put one, she wasn’t sure if that might cause a problem.
So, gritting her teeth, Chen Qiaoyu put down both eggs.
After the second egg also disappeared, Chen Qiaoyu covered the little round hole with her hand and held her breath, waiting.
The next second, she found herself in the kitchen of an even more dilapidated old homestead.
The faint morning light revealed an empty stove opening, red plastic bags, faded old calendars and newspapers peeling from the walls… even the plastic bottle that had startled Chen Qiaoyu yesterday was still there!
Chen Qiaoyu picked up the bottle she had stepped on and examined it curiously.
The bottle was transparent but slightly yellowed with age, clearly abandoned here for a long time.
The label had been bleached white by sunlight leaking through the roof, leaving only the characters for “mineral water” still legible.
Chen Qiaoyu bent down and found a small red bottle cap near where she had picked up the plastic bottle.
She squeezed the bottle back into shape and tried screwing the cap on. It fit perfectly!
Chen Qiaoyu was both surprised and delighted. This bottle was so much lighter than glass ones!
When they worked in the fields, they carried water in clay pots or glass jars—heavy and fragile.
Chen Qiaoyu tore off the label and hid the bottle by the stove.
Now she needed to go outside and see if the outside world had also advanced several decades, just like the old house.
Wearing a blue work jacket, black coarse cotton pants, and a pair of black cloth shoes, Chen Qiaoyu gathered her courage and pushed open the door of the old house.
The scene before her astonished her. She could vaguely make out the outline of Yao Family Village, but many of the old houses had collapsed, overgrown with weeds, looking like wasteland.
There were also a few two- and three-story buildings she had never seen before, but most of them were abandoned too.
Chen Qiaoyu turned to look at the half-collapsed old house. Someone had painted a circle on the wall and written the character for “demolish” in red paint.
Chen Qiaoyu: …Why demolish our house for no reason?
The village paths had completely changed, so Chen Qiaoyu had to go back to the old house and exit through the kitchen’s back door.
She climbed up the small slope behind the old house and was immediately stunned by the view before her.
At the foot of the slope stood rows of buildings at varying heights, stretching all the way into the distance.
There were also wide roads, much wider than the roads in town!
Most astonishingly, because the sky wasn’t fully bright yet, many of the houses down below, and even the roadside, were lit up with lights!
“Oh my, such bright light bulbs! How much electricity does that use?”
Their village did have electricity, but it only ran to the production team’s headquarters, used for meetings and pumping water to irrigate the fields.
At home, they used candles and kerosene lamps. She had never seen so many lights this bright before.
Chen Qiaoyu clutched the hem of her jacket and headed down the slope.
The slope wasn’t high, and Chen Qiaoyu walked quickly. In just over ten minutes, she had reached the bottom.
She walked past a few quiet residential buildings and finally reached a street.
It wasn’t even six o’clock yet, but there were already quite a few people on the street. Many elderly men and women, dressed in bright clothes, were carrying soy milk, youtiao, steamed buns, eggs, and so on.
Some people were munching on pancakes while hurrying to their destination.
Chen Qiaoyu was dumbfounded by the sight.
So much food!
And every single item looked delicious!
White flour buns and mantou—those were only steamed in the village during the New Year.
And there was a scallion pancake stall by the roadside. A large iron pan was filled with plenty of oil, frying the pancakes to a golden, crispy perfection, releasing an enticing aroma of oil and flour that wafted straight up her nose!
Chen Qiaoyu stared in amazement. She had never seen anyone use so much oil!
The oil used for just this one batch of pancakes was more than their entire year’s ration!
Pedestrians hurried past, and occasionally someone would walk briskly by Chen Qiaoyu. Seeing her with her braided hair, floral-print shirt, and homespun pants, they looked a little surprised.
But everyone seemed to be in a hurry. Despite their surprise, they would glance at her once or twice, then turn away and quickly continue on their way.
Chen Qiaoyu walked along, looking around, feeling that this was a place of prosperity and abundance she had never seen before—even better than anything in her dreams.
She walked down one side of the street, her face full of wonder as she took in everything around her.
She wanted to cross to the other side of the street, but the road was a bit intimidating. The vehicles coming and going were moving very fast, whooshing past her in an instant.
Moreover, Chen Qiaoyu observed for quite a while and noticed that no one jaywalked. Everyone gathered at an intersection up ahead, waiting, and only crossed in groups every so often.
What a magical place!
Fortunately, all the people here looked like “normal folks”—no one had three heads, six arms, or eight heads. Their accents were a bit different, but Chen Qiaoyu could still understand most of what they said.
Sensing familiar human vibes, Chen Qiaoyu felt much more at ease.
She had only gone to middle school, but she had studied “The Peach Blossom Spring” and heard the tale of Wang Ke watching the woodcutters play chess. She wasn’t too afraid, just very curious.
After looking around for a good while, Chen Qiaoyu felt satisfied and prepared to go back.
After all, earning work points was still important. No matter how novel something was, she couldn’t let it interfere with earning her work points.
Just as she turned around to head back, she suddenly heard someone shouting loudly: “Construction site hiring! Day laborers, paid daily! 150 yuan a day!”
Screech—
Chen Qiaoyu came to an abrupt halt. The soles of her cloth shoes nearly left skid marks on the ground.
What kind of job pays 150 yuan a day?
Is this a joke?
The villagers of Yao Family Village might not even earn 150 yuan in an entire year!
Chen Qiaoyu looked up at the small slope in the distance, gritted her teeth, and made up her mind—she wasn’t going back today!
She had to see for herself what kind of job pays 150 yuan a day, no matter what!
Chen Qiaoyu took a deep breath and turned toward the place where the shouting was coming from.
In just a short while, a crowd had already gathered there. They were all chattering as they chased after a middle-aged fat man holding a sign and carrying a briefcase under his arm.
Among them was an elderly man in his fifties, wearing a white tank top that felt oddly familiar to Chen Qiaoyu.
Many people in their village wore that kind of sleeveless undershirt, though the younger folks preferred red ones.
Chen Qiaoyu blended into the crowd, carefully listening to the questions others asked and quietly memorizing them.
The most common questions were—
“What kind of work is it?”
“Do you need a certification?”
“How many hours?”
“Does it come with a boxed lunch?”
“Are there age requirements?”
“Can women do it?”
“How do we get paid? Cash or mobile transfer?”
“Is there a heat allowance? Last time, a construction site gave out drinks…”