Wei Ran was speechless. She raised her hand and pointed at Miao Qing.
“She’s eating with the locals, so you counted one too many.”
Wang Haiyan grew even more displeased.
“Why does she get to eat with the locals?”
Miao Qing hadn’t expected to stir up trouble just by quietly minding her own business, but she didn’t mind making Wang Haiyan miserable. She replied in a thoroughly smug tone,
“Because my Sixth Uncle is the brigade leader.”
With that, she added a dramatic roll of her eyes.
What an idiot. She’d already fallen into Miao Qing’s trap twice and still hadn’t learned her lesson.
Some people never remember their past mistakes—a hopeless pig-brain with no hope of redemption.
Wang Haiyan’s hands trembled with rage. She wanted to snap back.
But she didn’t dare. She had gone out today and already heard that the brigade leader was not someone to be trifled with.
Wei Ran and the others were also taken aback. They hadn’t expected that the seemingly dull and blank-faced Miao Qing had such a powerful backer.
Envy. Jealousy.
Some gnashed their teeth with resentment, while others scoffed dismissively—Chang Rufan, for instance.
Having had her fill of the drama, Miao Qing got up and prepared to head back to her kang to sleep.
Just then, Tietui came again, huffing and puffing as he carried half a bucket of hot water.
“Sis, my mom said you city folks like to be clean, so she had me bring some hot water for you to wash up with.”
Miao Qing was taken aback for a moment, then smiled.
This pit she’d jumped into was totally worth it. Maybe tomorrow she should find a doctor to take a look at her cheap cousin?
Never mind—she’d wait until she was better. The little money she had on hand was enough for food and drink, but definitely not enough for medical treatment.
Chang Rufan grew even more jealous and resentful.
They were all sent down as educated youth, so why did Miao Qing get someone to wait on her?
This wasn’t fair!
Miao Qing looked at her like she was an idiot and couldn’t be bothered to explain.
Zhang Jingshan tugged at Chang Rufan’s sleeve, trying to remind her that Miao Qing’s relationship with this kid was probably not ordinary—hadn’t she heard the kid call her “Sis” when he came in?
Tietui wouldn’t tolerate anyone bullying Miao Qing anymore. He stuck out his neck and shouted,
“What did you say? You dare insult my cousin? I’m going straight to tell my Sixth Uncle!”
“Cousin?!”
Chang Rufan was stunned. Tietui puffed out his little chest and declared with great pride,
“That’s right, she’s my real cousin. Anyone who dares to bully her is picking a fight with us, the Liang family.
My Sixth Uncle is the brigade leader, my Third Uncle is the brigade accountant, and my Ninth Uncle is the captain of the First Production Team.
The one who records your work points is my Third Grandaunt’s daughter, Sister Lanhua. If any of you have a problem with that, come at us and try!”
Miao Qing…
Well, well. Using influence to intimidate others—how arrogant.
Had this kid learned to act like this after watching her extort people today?
No, no, no!
How could this be considered learning bad habits? This was standing up for yourself with good reason!
Nothing wrong with that.
After Tietui’s high-profile defense of her, Miao Qing seemed to have become an outlier among the new educated youth.
Apart from Zhang Jingshan, who still acted the same as before, everyone else consciously or unconsciously kept their distance.
Miao Qing was happy for the peace and didn’t care in the slightest.
Whether it was Wei Ran and Chang Rufan unexpectedly joining forces to drive Wang Haiyan into Liu Yu’s room, or Fang Mingyuan clinging to Wei Ran like a stubborn plaster, or Chang Rufan’s curiosity and budding interest in Fang Mingyuan—none of it affected her in the least.
Before dawn had fully broken, Miao Qing was woken up by Taohua, who had come to deliver her breakfast.
She groggily opened her eyes and remembered that she had to start work today.
Yawning through her breakfast, under the watchful eyes of the other educated youth—some envious, some jealous, some mocking, some resentful—Miao Qing slung her satchel over her shoulder and swayed her way to the gathering point of the scavenging team, following Taohua.
Perhaps because her gaze was so innocent and blank, the small and skinny Miao Qing, mixed in among a group of children, didn’t look out of place at all—on the contrary, she fit right in.
Even Liu Lanhua, who was in charge of registration, couldn’t help but sigh.
“Sister, you’re really pretty. How did you end up getting sick? And your family—honestly, how could they still send you down to the countryside in this condition?”
What could Miao Qing say? Did news travel this fast in the village?
Liu Lanhua seemed to even know that Miao Qing had trouble speaking clearly. Before Miao Qing could open her mouth, she continued on her own.
“Our families are related. My mom is Liang Sanluzi’s paternal cousin. My name is Liu Lanhua. From now on, just call me Sister Lanhua like Tietui and the others do.”
“Sister Lanhua.”
Miao Qing obediently greeted her. Liu Lanhua smiled and gave her some instructions,
“The work on the scavenging team is light and the work points are few, but there’s still a quota. Each person has to pick at least one catty of soybeans per day.
If you get less than one catty but more than half a catty, you get two work points. If you don’t even reach half a catty, you only get one work point.”
Miao Qing nodded to show she understood. Lanhua gave a few more reminders, then sent them off to work.
They were headed to a soybean field that had just been harvested. After soybeans mature, the pods split open easily, and a lot of beans fall to the ground during the harvest. The scavenging team’s job was to pick up the fallen soybeans.
It sounded simple enough—anyone with hands and eyes could do it.
But in practice, it wasn’t easy at all. You needed sharp eyes, quick hands, and fast feet, or you simply couldn’t compete with the other kids swarming around.
Even if you did manage to grab some, every pick meant bending down, and you had to keep moving, keep searching, keep bending.
For Miao Qing, it was truly too difficult.
She even felt that carrying her luggage and running would be easier than this. Walking and bending down to pick things up at the same time made it hard for her to keep her balance.
Especially since the ground was uneven and littered with prickly soybean stubble—one wrong step and she’d fall flat on her face.
Before long, Miao Qing couldn’t take it anymore.
She simply sat down on the ground, and using herself as the center, she picked in a circle around her front, back, left, and right, then moved forward a few steps and repeated.
The other kids were dumbfounded by this move and couldn’t help whispering among themselves.
“Taohua, is your cousin stupid? Isn’t she afraid of getting dirty, just sitting on the ground like that?”
“I heard she used to be a fool. Maybe she’s still not fully recovered.”
“Can stupid catch? We’re not going to turn stupid too, are we?”
“You’re the stupid one! My cousin’s not stupid at all. She’s just been sick and her body’s weak—she doesn’t have any strength.”
“I don’t believe it. Look how slow she is—she’s not even faster than Gouwa, and Gouwa’s only three years old. She’s this big already.”
“That’s… that’s because my cousin’s a city girl. She’s never done this before. Once she gets the hang of it, she’ll definitely be faster than Gouwa.”
…
Miao Qing looked at the little dark-faced kid next to her, sniffling and grabbing soybeans with lightning speed, then looked at the bean that had just been snatched away from right beside her hand. She felt a little sorry for Taohua.
Even if she recovered fully, she probably still couldn’t outpace Gouwa.
In less than an hour, the kids had picked clean that plot of land and were heading to the next one.
Miao Qing looked at the field Taohua was pointing at and was dumbstruck.
Not only did they have to go up and down the ridges, but they also had to climb a long slope.
Just looking at it made her legs go weak. Even if she could make it over there, she definitely wouldn’t be able to make it back.
“How about… I stay here and keep looking around?”
Miao Qing shamelessly discussed it with Taohua.
Taohua looked at her for a moment, then sighed like a little adult, deeply resigned. She poured all the soybeans from her own cloth pouch into Miao Qing’s.
“Sis, you wait here and don’t wander off. I’ll go pick more and share some with you.”
Besides nodding, Miao Qing didn’t have the face to say anything more.
The kids noisily scampered off, leaving Miao Qing alone in the field.
The vast empty land, the rising morning sun, the howling north wind.
A-choo! So cold.
Miao Qing found a sheltered spot against a dirt slope and crouched down. She plucked a few stalks of green bristlegrass, trying to weave something, but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t get it right.
She gave up decisively.
Waiting around was too boring. After a moment’s thought, she took out a soybean, dropped it into the soil, and began to accelerate its growth.
In no time at all, the soybean sprouted, sent up shoots, grew leaves, flowered, bore fruit, and matured.
She reached out, plucked the pod, and gave it a gentle squeeze—out came four soybeans. After harvesting the entire plant, she had seventy-three soybeans in total.
This was way faster than picking beans off the ground, and not tiring at all.