That afternoon, Tietui took his little sister to the supply and marketing cooperative. Following Miao Qing’s instructions, he bought two catties of millet and one catty of brown sugar.
Since the cooperative didn’t sell eggs, they went to Sixth Uncle’s house and asked Sixth Aunt to help buy thirteen eggs from other households, along with a basket of big pumpkins.
That evening, Miao Qing and Yang Xiaomei ate egg drop soup with dough drops, while Tietui and his little sister had pumpkin noodle soup.
The noodle soup was naturally the leftover broth from Miao Qing’s lunch noodles, but the little sister’s millet porridge was cooked a bit thicker, and she ate the sticky rice oil with great relish.
A rare smile appeared on Tietui’s face. His cousin’s arrival meant not just another adult in the house, but also gave him a sense of being able to breathe a little easier.
He eagerly wanted to do something for Miao Qing—simply cooking and delivering meals wasn’t enough to express his gratitude.
Seeing Miao Qing finish eating, Tietui quickly took the empty bowl and also picked up the dirty clothes Miao Qing had placed by the edge of the kang.
“Sis, since I’m going back to wash diapers anyway, these two pieces of clothing—I’ll just wash them for you while I’m at it.”
With that, he ran off before Miao Qing could even call him back.
As darkness fell, the educated youth who had finished their work returned one after another.
They were all covered in dust and utterly exhausted. Even Fan Xiaojun didn’t have the energy to force a smile and ask after Miao Qing—he only mumbled a vague greeting before going to cook.
Miao Qing lay by the cave dwelling’s window, propping her head up and listening to their murmurs.
It turned out that those who went to work didn’t come back for lunch, because the worksite was too far away and going back and forth wasted time. So they brought some dry rations and ate a little something during their rest breaks at the field.
Today’s task was to go up to the ridge and chop corn stalks. The corncobs had already been harvested, but the stalks hadn’t been cut yet.
Not only did they have to chop the stalks, but they also had to carry the bundled stalks to the edge of the field, load them onto a cart, and haul them to the designated threshing ground before they were done.
After a full day’s work, everyone was sore in the back and arms.
If it weren’t for the fact that they were desperately hungry, they wouldn’t even want to eat—just lie down on the kang and never move again.
Listening to this, Miao Qing felt even more grateful for her self-awareness. If she had gone to do that work, she’d surely have been half-dead with exhaustion.
Just as the older educated youth finished cooking, the new arrivals came back.
Wang Changzhu pulled a cart, with Zhang Jingshan and Wei Ran pushing on either side. Chang Rufan walked empty-handed at the very back, pouting.
Seeing the cart piled high with goods, Fan Xiaojun and the others quickly exchanged glances.
Fan Xiaojun was the first to stand up and greet Zhang Jingshan and the others.
“You’re back just in time. We just finished cooking, and the fire in the stove hasn’t gone out yet. If you need to cook, hurry up.”
“No need. We bought a new pot. From now on, we’ll use the stove in our cave dwelling to cook. It works out well since it’s getting cold—burning the kang will warm the place up too.”
Wei Ran smiled amiably, declining before Zhang Jingshan could speak.
Fan Xiaojun’s smile froze for a moment, then quickly returned to normal.
“That’s good too. You bought quite a lot of stuff—where did you borrow the cart from?”
“We’re new here, what can we do? We’re lacking everything.”
Wei Ran sidestepped the question and busied herself with unloading the cart, pretending not to catch the probing tone in Fan Xiaojun’s words.
A flicker of displeasure passed through Fan Xiaojun’s eyes. He stared at the items they were carrying down for a few moments before finally looking away.
Zhang Jingshan lowered his voice to remind Wei Ran,
“He is the team leader after all. We should at least save him some face.”
Wei Ran pressed her lips together in a smile but didn’t explain.
In a few more days, Zhang Jingshan would come to know that a fair-weather friend like Fan Xiaojun—who forgets all loyalty when profit is at stake—could never be won over. Whoever could benefit him, that’s who he’d flatter and suck up to.
As for face—he didn’t need it.
From now on, they would cook and eat on their own, no longer having to watch the faces of the older educated youth, nor would they be taken advantage of by them endlessly like in their previous life.
The start was excellent, and Wei Ran was full of confidence.
That was, until the moment they had just finished cooking, when Fang Mingyuan and Wang Haiyan walked in carrying large bags and small bundles.
Wei Ran was so startled that her face dramatically changed. She flinched, lost her grip on the ladle, and with a clatter, it hit the side of the pot.
“Ah, that scalded me! What are you doing? Did you do that on purpose?”
Chang Rufan’s hand was splashed with a bit of hot soup, and she glared in anger.
Miao Qing looked at Wei Ran, then at Fang Mingyuan, sensing something inexplicably strange.
One looked as if she’d seen a ghost, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.
The other looked like a cat that had spotted a fish, his eyes lighting up.
Fang Mingyuan, at least, seemed fairly normal.
After all, he made no effort to hide his lecherous nature—even with Wang Haiyan in his arms, he kept staring at Wei Ran.
Wei Ran, however, was acting quite unusually.
From the look of her, it seemed she had known Fang Mingyuan before, and their relationship appeared to be anything but ordinary.
Miao Qing wanted to observe more closely, but Wei Ran had already regained her composure. She smiled faintly and asked Fang Mingyuan and Wang Haiyan,
“Are you the newly arrived educated youth?”
Her tone and demeanor were as if this were their first meeting, as if her earlier shock had merely been from someone suddenly walking in.
Apart from Miao Qing, who had been watching her the entire time, no one noticed anything amiss.
“Yes, we just arrived today. My name is Fang Mingyuan, from the capital…”
Fang Mingyuan was exceedingly warm and friendly, his smile sunny and radiant, his peach-blossom eyes sparkling so brightly that even Chang Rufan found it hard to look away.
Seeing that Fang Mingyuan’s eyes were practically glued to Wei Ran, Wang Haiyan felt deeply displeased.
But since she had just borrowed money and ration tickets from Fang Mingyuan to buy bedding, she couldn’t very well give him the cold shoulder. Instead, she vented her frustration at Zhang Jingshan and the others.
“I don’t need to introduce myself, do I? If you hadn’t helped that idiot stir up trouble, I wouldn’t have been misunderstood and taken away.”
Only then did Chang Rufan notice Wang Haiyan, and she immediately became agitated.
“What are you doing here? Don’t you have a contagious disease?”
“You’re the one with a contagious disease! I’m not sick—I have allergies, do you even know what allergies are?”
“I don’t believe you. If you weren’t sick, why would the train police have taken you away? Anyway, I’m not sharing a room with you!”
“Believe it or not, as if I’d want to share a room with you either.”
…
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Zhang Jingshan quickly stepped in to mediate.
“Let’s discuss sleeping arrangements later. The food is ready—let’s eat first.”
With that, he invited Fang Mingyuan and Wang Haiyan to join them for the meal.
Since they were all new educated youth, they would naturally be together from now on. Even if he didn’t particularly like Wang Haiyan, some degree of unity and mutual assistance was still necessary.
But Zhang Jingshan never expected that the always generous Wei Ran would, for the first time, be uncharacteristically stingy. She reached out her hand and demanded money from Wang Haiyan and the others.
“Today we spent a total of sixteen yuan and eighty cents on daily necessities. We exchanged twelve catties of national ration tickets for industrial coupons and bought an iron pot, a kitchen knife, a water vat, a chopping board, and so on.
Since you want to join our shared household, you’ll share the costs as well.
That’s two yuan and eighty cents per person, plus two catties of national ration tickets. Hand them over.”
Fang Mingyuan immediately pulled out the money and tickets, placing them directly into Wei Ran’s palm.
Wang Haiyan, however, looked pained.
“I don’t have ration tickets.”
Wei Ran was unceremonious.
“Then give me an extra fifty cents to make up for the tickets.”
“Why?”
Wang Haiyan was unhappy. A catty of white flour only cost fifteen cents—why should two catties of ration tickets cost her fifty cents?
Her family certainly wouldn’t send her any more money. After being extorted out of twenty yuan by Miao Qing, she had only ten yuan left, and she’d even had to borrow money for her bedding.
At this point, she couldn’t bear to part with even a single dime, let alone fifty cents.
Wei Ran let out a cold snort.
“If you don’t want to, fine. You can cook for yourself from now on.”
“You—”
Wang Haiyan was about to lash out when Fang Mingyuan held her back.
Out of consideration for Fang Mingyuan, Wang Haiyan reluctantly pulled out three yuan and thirty cents. Just as she was about to hand it over, she suddenly sensed something was off.
“There are seven people in this room altogether. Sixteen yuan and eighty cents divided equally among seven people should come to less than two yuan and fifty cents per person. Why are you charging us two yuan and eighty cents?!”
Feeling she had caught Wei Ran in a mistake, Wang Haiyan’s face took on a smug expression.