As for the two protagonists who attracted attention, they were already used to it—after all, good-looking people are always the center of attention wherever they go.
However, Song Yunqiao was more covered up, unlike An Yanyan, who had her pretty little face fully exposed for the villagers to see clearly.
After they walked away, an older woman spoke up.
“My goodness! How can someone be this pretty? She looks like she walked right out of a painting.”
Another person chimed in, “Exactly! So what Li Gouzi said yesterday wasn’t just bragging.”
Li Gouzi was a well-known lazy man in Huohe Village.
He was already in his thirties and still unmarried. He usually hung around widows or women with bad reputations. When he heard new educated youths had arrived, he immediately ran to the village entrance to take a look.
And when he saw them—good heavens—he had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. He rushed back to the village and started spreading the news, saying the new educated youths were incredibly beautiful.
But everyone in the village knew his character, so they only laughed it off and didn’t believe him.
Who would have thought he wasn’t exaggerating this time.
Soon, Wan Changsheng led them to a peanut field where He Suxia and Sun Xiuzhen were already working with their heads down.
There wasn’t much to explain about weeding—just pull out the grass. Wan Changsheng gave a few simple instructions and told them to each choose two rows and start working.
Song Yunqiao glanced at the rising sun and crouched down to start weeding.
Luckily, she was smart enough to bring gloves, otherwise her hands definitely wouldn’t have been able to handle it.
Wan Changsheng looked at Song Yunqiao with new respect. He had originally thought she was the most delicate of the five newcomers, but unexpectedly she worked the most actively.
Seeing this, Wang Guoqing refused to fall behind and crouched beside her to start weeding as well.
“Yanyan, why don’t you find a place to sit and rest? I’ll do your work for you.”
Jiang Xueming couldn’t bear to let An Yanyan do farm work.
“Thank you, Brother Xueming, but I think I can do it myself,” An Yanyan said, then also crouched down to work.
Jiang Xueming stayed by her side.
All four of them were working, so Ma Xiaoping had no choice but to crouch down unwillingly and pull weeds as well.
Seeing their enthusiasm, Wan Changsheng finally felt relieved.
This peanut field was over two mu in size, and even with just a few people, it would take the whole morning to finish.
Before long, the sun came out. It was already May, and the sunlight was quite harsh. There was no shade in the fields, so they were directly exposed to the sun.
Song Yunqiao, wearing a hat, didn’t feel too bad, but her clothes were already soaked with sweat. After finishing one row, she planned to rest in a shaded spot nearby.
Before coming out, she had filled her military-green water bottle with water. She found a place to sit and drank a few mouthfuls before finally feeling better.
He Suxia also came over to rest. She took out her bottle to drink water but found it empty. She subconsciously licked her dry lips.
Song Yunqiao kindly said, “If you don’t mind, I can pour you some water.”
If it had been Ma Xiaoping, Song Yunqiao wouldn’t even think about sharing water with her—even if she were dying of thirst.
But He Suxia was different. From what she had seen so far, she felt she was a good person, so she was willing to share water with her.
“Thank you, Comrade Song,” He Suxia said.
Song Yunqiao smiled slightly, saying it was nothing, and poured her some water.
As He Suxia drank it, she felt the water tasted slightly sweet. She assumed Song Yunqiao had added sugar, otherwise it wouldn’t taste so good. Strangely, after drinking it, she felt refreshed and even more energetic for work.
What she didn’t know was that the water contained a precious spiritual spring. Because of it, she felt less heat and gained more strength.
Song Yunqiao didn’t immediately go back to work; she stayed resting a bit longer while thinking over the past two days.
Heaven had treated her fairly. Although she had been sent to this backward era, she discovered she had a spiritual spring. With that, she wouldn’t starve here no matter what.
Last night, after everyone had gone to sleep, she kept hearing dripping water sounds near her ear. At first, she thought it was coming from outside and asked others, but no one else heard anything.
She became cautious and, as expected from someone who had read many novels, she closed her eyes and tried to sense it.
After a few minutes, she opened her eyes—still nothing. She tried several times with the same result and eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.
This morning, when no one was around, she tried again to see if it was some kind of spatial ability she hadn’t activated. After experimenting, she found there was no space—but she discovered something else: she could produce water from her hand.
She guessed this might be the so-called spiritual spring that could improve a person’s body and appearance.
As she was lost in thought, Ma Xiaoping came over.
“I forgot to bring water, Xiaoqiao. Let me have some of yours,” she said directly.
Song Yunqiao snapped back to reality and replied flatly without even looking at her, “I don’t have much water left. You should ask someone else.”
Ma Xiaoping looked wronged. “But I just saw you giving water to someone else.”
Song Yunqiao stood up, brushed the dirt off her clothes, and said, “Yes, I had it just now. I don’t now.”
Then she picked up her water bottle and went back to work.
Ma Xiaoping stomped her foot in anger. What made her most furious was Song Yunqiao’s attitude—always so superior since childhood!
So annoying!
She actually gave water to someone she had just met yesterday but refused to give it to her.
In the end, Ma Xiaoping didn’t get any water. She hadn’t brought any herself, and with the weather so hot, everyone barely had enough for themselves—no one was willing to share.
Perhaps because of the spiritual spring water, although Song Yunqiao had worked all morning and sweated a lot, she only felt slightly tired.
Unlike her, An Yanyan was not doing well at all.
When she returned from the fields, she didn’t even eat lunch and immediately lay down on the bed to rest.
Jiang Xueming felt very distressed. Not long after the sun came out, he had already told her to rest in the shade, but she refused. He knew her personality well—though she looked gentle, she was actually very stubborn.
What he didn’t know was that An Yanyan refused to rest because she saw Song Yunqiao working continuously without rest. She didn’t want to be outdone, so she forced herself to keep working the whole morning.