Miao Qing couldn’t help but stop and ask Taohua,
“How much… fertilizer… did you… put on… the vegetable plot?”
Taohua looked quite proud of herself.
“We come here every day to empty the chamber pot by the edge of the plot. And whenever we find good leaf mold while gathering firewood, we carry it back and spread it on top.”
Miao Qing held her forehead in exasperation.
“Too much… fertilizer. The vegetables… aren’t lacking water… the concentrated fertilizer… is burning their roots.”
Taohua found it hard to believe.
“But we didn’t pour it directly on the vegetables—we dug a hole next to them and buried it!
Leaf mold is really good—all the aunties and older women in the village fight over it.”
Miao Qing couldn’t be bothered to explain—and even if she tried, she couldn’t. Ever since she’d acquired her wood-type ability, no one understood plants better than she did.
“If you… trust me… stop watering… and stop fertilizing.
It’s too sunny… at noon… find something… to block the light.”
Taohua was skeptical. She looked at the vegetables that hadn’t perked up even after being watered, hesitated for a long time, but ultimately decided to do as Miao Qing said.
After all, her cousin was older and had gone to school—she must know more than Taohua did.
Little did she know that her cousin was secretly helping to accelerate the vegetables.
Too much fertilizer with no way to dilute it—what to do?
Simple—make the vegetables grow faster so they’d absorb more of it.
But this time, Miao Qing was very careful. She only channeled the tiniest bit of her ability into each plant.
She couldn’t make the same mistake twice—her secret must never be discovered.
Three days later, Taohua stared at the thriving, vigorous cabbages and radishes, her admiration for Miao Qing flowing like an endless river.
“Sis, you’re amazing! So books really do teach you how to grow vegetables!”
Miao Qing smiled calmly and serenely. She’d never read any books—she had a cheat code.
But to protect herself, she’d pin it all on books.
Tietui was full of envy. Studying really was useful—what a pity he couldn’t go to school anymore.
Still, he could now chop corn stalks alongside the educated youth, earning eight work points a day—that was already pretty good.
Things weren’t going so well at the educated youth dormitory, though. Fan Xiaojun was furious and throwing a tantrum.
“What is wrong with you new educated youth?
You can’t even finish your tasks every single day, and I end up getting criticized because of you.
At first you said you’d never done this before and didn’t know how—but it’s been three days now. How are you still falling behind?
You can’t even keep up with a kid like Tietui—aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?
Let me warn you—if you don’t finish tomorrow, it won’t be as simple as just losing work points.
See that big dirt slope across the river?
Anyone who doesn’t pull their weight will be sent to the infrastructure team to build the dam.
That requires no skill—just brute force. You grab the rammer and pound the dirt.
Go try it—see if it doesn’t wear you out to death.”
Fan Xiaojun slammed the door and left. Zhang Jingshan and the others looked at each other, their faces etched with worry.
It wasn’t that they were slacking off—they simply lacked the strength.
Who knew that kid Tietui could be so capable? Skinny and small as he was, he could carry huge bundles of corn stalks back and forth without even looking tired.
Compared to him, even the strongest among them, Wang Changzhu, seemed a bit inadequate.
And that wasn’t even counting Chang Rufan, who had sprained her ankle and couldn’t work for now.
Wei Ran and Wang Haiyan were female comrades and lacked physical strength—no matter how hard they tried, there was a limit to what they could do.
As for Fang Mingyuan—tall as he was, with long arms, he worked at a snail’s pace. It was clearly deliberate dawdling.
When Zhang Jingshan and Wang Changzhu both criticized him with displeasure, Fang Mingyuan looked deeply wronged.
“I’m really not dawdling on purpose. I’ve been like this since I was little—slow at everything. I can’t speed up even if I want to.
Just like Miao Qing—it’s innate. Can’t change it.”
Miao Qing wasn’t about to take that blame. She shot back immediately,
“I’m not… innate.
I was sick.
You’re just… lazy.”
Fang Mingyuan’s expression soured. He’d actually liked Miao Qing at first—after all, a girl this pretty and this amusing wasn’t easy to come by.
But Miao Qing wore that dead-fish face all day long, completely unmoved no matter how he tried to charm her.
Fang Mingyuan wasn’t the type to be a doormat. There were plenty of girls who pursued him willingly—he wasn’t about to chase after someone who gave him the cold shoulder.
Besides, there was still Wei Ran and Chang Rufan—one bright and charming, the other sweet and naive, each with her own appeal. Too bad they were both wrapped around that fool Zhang Jingshan’s finger.
And now being publicly humiliated by Miao Qing—Fang Mingyuan was genuinely struggling to keep his composure.
Zhang Jingshan shot Miao Qing a look of approval. Sometimes he really envied her—so direct, so unbridled.
Fang Mingyuan couldn’t very well argue with Miao Qing in front of everyone—mostly because he wasn’t in the right—so he could only shoot a pitiful look at Wang Haiyan.
Wang Haiyan’s maternal instincts immediately kicked in, and she rushed to defend him.
“Fang Mingyuan may work slowly, but he works carefully! The bundles he ties are especially sturdy—no matter how much they’re jostled, they never come loose.”
Fang Mingyuan flashed Wang Haiyan a grateful smile, and her heart nearly floated away.
See? No matter how much Chang Rufan and Wei Ran tried to win him over, Fang Mingyuan was still closest to her.
Zhang Jingshan and the others were so exasperated they wanted to roll their eyes. Fang Mingyuan pretended not to notice and edged a little closer to Wang Haiyan.
Wang Haiyan quickly leaned in to comfort him.
“Don’t worry—I’ll help you tomorrow. I won’t let them send you to build the dam.”
Fang Mingyuan was very satisfied. This was exactly why he’d lent Wang Haiyan money and kept stringing her along.
She might not have much of a brain, but she sure was useful.
Wei Ran lowered her gaze, masking the mockery and self-derision in her eyes.
In her past life, she’d been just as foolish as Wang Haiyan—duped by Fang Mingyuan, naively helping him with his work, ready to give him her very heart and soul.
Not this life. Never again.
Wei Ran lifted her head and gently reassured the others.
“There’s not much corn stalks left. Let’s work hard tomorrow and get the task done.”
The ideal was beautiful, but reality was brutal.
Because the new educated youth had failed to meet their quotas for several consecutive days, everyone—men and women alike—was assigned to dig soil at the dam site. Even Chang Rufan could no longer get time off.
Liang Futian had originally planned to have the male educated youth build the dam. The mountain gullies had little arable land, and the soil was poor—grain yields were low.
To keep people from starving, they had no choice but to use hoes to transform the barren, rocky wastelands—where even grass wouldn’t grow—into fertile dam land by covering them with loess.
But these city kids—weak and delicate—couldn’t even lift a rammer, so they could only be assigned to dig soil.
In Liang Futian’s view, this was the simplest and easiest job available. But to Zhang Jingshan and the others, nothing could be harder.
Digging soil wasn’t like chopping corn stalks. There, only a few people worked a single plot, and you could wipe your sweat, sit down for a sip of water, or take a short break.
Here on the big dirt slope, it was packed with people—men, women, young, and old. Some carried loads, others pushed carts. The brigade leader, the team leaders, the scorekeeper—dozens of eyes were watching. Anyone who tried to slack off would be caught immediately.
They could only swing their hoes endlessly, shovel dirt into baskets and carts, push the impossible-to-push wheelbarrows with all their might, gritting their teeth without daring to stop for even a moment.
Otherwise, they’d end up like the village good-for-nothings.
They worked from dawn until dark before finally knocking off. Back at the educated youth dormitory, they were so exhausted they couldn’t even lift a finger—let alone cook.
Miao Qing, who had been lying on the kang cultivating all day, oblivious to the world, was startled by the sorry state of Zhang Jingshan and the others.
When they first pushed the door open, she nearly thought she was seeing zombies.
Good heavens—just one day, and they all looked drained of life, their faces tinged with deathly pallor. Freaky as hell.
Tietui arrived to deliver Miao Qing’s dinner. The moment he stepped inside, he was stared down by everyone in unison and froze.
Miao Qing, sitting cross-legged at the end of the kang, looking like she was spacing out but actually deep in thought, immediately sat up straight when she saw Tietui.
Here it comes, here it comes—the shredded radish pancakes she’d specially requested for lunch had finally arrived!