The village where the Yang family lived was called Yang Family Hollow.
Ninety percent of the villagers shared the surname Yang, all tracing their ancestry back to the same forefather, so the people in the village were generally quite united.
According to what Yang Tao had learned, when the original owner was injured, the educated youth she had rescued had also fallen unconscious after choking on water.
The stretch of river where they fell in was near a mountain hollow north of the village. During the busy farming season, hardly anyone passed by there.
If they hadn’t happened to run into Yang Xin, the production team’s leader’s eldest grandson, who was returning from a matchmaking trip to town, both Yang Tao and that educated youth might have lost their lives in the river.
Because of this, after work today, her mother had taken ten eggs that the family had carefully saved and delivered them to the team leader’s house to thank them for saving her life.
“Oh? Isn’t this Educated Youth Chen? What are you doing standing at the door? I heard you were sick too. Have you recovered?” Yang Tao was helping her grandmother tend the fire in the kitchen while dinner was being prepared when she heard her mother’s voice coming from the courtyard entrance. She had probably just returned from delivering the eggs and run into someone at the door.
A clear and pleasant male voice replied,
“Auntie, I’m much better now. I came to thank Comrade Yang. Many thanks for saving my life. I heard she was seriously injured, so please let her have these things to help her recover.”
“Oh, there’s no need to be so polite. Educated Youth Chen, come inside and have a seat.”
“Auntie, please keep the gifts. I don’t think I’ll come in.”
Perhaps because it was nearly mealtime, Educated Youth Chen felt embarrassed about entering.
“It’s fine. Come in and have some water first.”
A series of footsteps entered the courtyard.
Clearly, Educated Youth Chen had failed to resist her mother’s hospitality and followed her inside.
Speaking of this Educated Youth Chen, the Yang family actually held quite a bit of resentment toward him.
First, the original owner had been injured while saving him.
Second, he had not come to express his gratitude during all these days.
Of course, they later heard that he himself had been seriously ill. There were still nearly two months until the Dragon Boat Festival, and the river water was extremely cold. Catching a severe cold after being soaked in it was understandable.
Only then did the Yang family’s resentment ease somewhat.
Seeing him come to visit today, everyone was willing to treat him with a decent attitude.
Although, it might also have had something to do with the gifts he brought.
After all, supplies were scarce in these times. The original owner had saved his life, and whatever he brought was probably worth more than the ten eggs her family had given to the team leader’s household.
Yang Tao glanced toward the doorway.
She didn’t get a clear look at him.
All she saw was a tall, upright figure dressed in indigo-blue clothing entering her grandparents’ room.
Her grandmother also glanced toward the entrance, then put down the work in her hands.
After instructing the eldest sister-in-law, who was slicing cucumbers nearby, to keep an eye on the pot of mixed-grain porridge, she headed back to her own room as well.
“Third Sister, why don’t you go take a look too? Educated Youth Chen came specifically to thank you,” her sister-in-law said gently.
Because the three branches of the Yang family had not split households, everyone used a unified ranking system when addressing one another.
Hearing her sister-in-law’s suggestion, Yang Tao actually wanted to go and see what was happening.
However, she felt it would be inappropriate to leave her sister-in-law working alone, so she replied,
“What’s there to see? Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, and Dad are already there.”
Seeing that she wasn’t interested, her sister-in-law didn’t persuade her further and instead continued chatting.
“I heard Educated Youth Chen is from Beijing. His family should be fairly well-off. Ever since he came here last year, he has never earned full work points. Sometimes he even takes leave from work. If his family weren’t constantly sending support, he probably wouldn’t even have enough food to eat.”
“I’ve heard he goes to town almost every month to collect parcels. With such good family conditions, I wonder why they still sent him to the countryside.”
Before Yang Tao could react to those words, little cousin Yang Ping from Third Uncle’s family came running over.
“Third Sister! Grandpa and Grandma said they’re going to marry you to Educated Youth Chen! Hurry up and go take a look!”
What?!
Oh my heavens!
Where did that come from?
The stunned Yang Tao was momentarily speechless.
She couldn’t help grumbling inwardly.
Although she would already be considered an older unmarried woman by twenty-first-century standards, she wasn’t even eighteen here yet!
At this age, a girl in the twenty-first century would probably still be a high school student preparing for the college entrance examination.
And now they were already planning to marry her off?
Besides, she didn’t even know whether this Educated Youth Chen was tall or short, fat or thin.
Sure, she had heard that his family might be wealthy, but that wasn’t enough.
She had to go see for herself.
There was absolutely no way she could agree to this.
She had to completely crush her family’s idea of marrying her off early.