Chen Ruonan carried her luggage and found her seat, which was beside Hu Mingliang.
Hu Mingliang had witnessed the noon shouting match with his own eyes, so he felt a little intimidated by this girl who looked quiet and slender but clearly had terrifying fighting power.
The moment he saw her trying to squeeze in, he immediately stood up to make room and even helped her put away her luggage with exaggerated enthusiasm.
Nan Mo and Lu Yuanyuan sat there, smiling as they watched Hu Mingliang acting like a lackey. Chen Ruonan, on the other hand, felt a little overwhelmed by the attention.
Lu Yuanyuan noticed her embarrassment and said, “It’s fine. Let him do it. He’s just afraid you’ll scold him.”
Hu Mingliang got teased by his cousin, but he was not annoyed. Instead, he smiled at Chen Ruonan as if admitting Lu Yuanyuan was right.
They chatted about where each of them was being sent to the countryside, and by coincidence, all of them were headed to the same place.
At dinner, Nan Mo, Lu Yuanyuan, and Hu Mingliang said they wanted to eat Chen Ruonan’s corn buns.
To trade for her corn buns, they all took out their own food and shared with one another.
None of them were the shy type. Chen Ruonan also knew she was the one benefiting the most, so when it was time to pour water and wash the lunch boxes, she refused to let any of them get up.
She decided she would do more work for them in the future. She could not let them take a loss, and she would make up for what she had gained.
The four of them got along smoothly, but on Wu Mingyue’s side, things only looked calm on the surface. In reality, it was already a standoff that felt ready to ignite at any moment.
After three days on the road, everyone looked tired. Only Nan Mo, who had used her space to catch some sleep, appeared less worn out.
As the train neared their stop, they lined up to use the restroom before getting off.
When it was finally Nan Mo’s turn, she held her breath, locked the door, and quickly entered her space. She took a fast shower.
Afterward, she drank a cup of spirit spring water. Feeling light all over, she took down her suitcase and met up with Lu Yuanyuan and the others at the train door.
It was the first time Tang Yifan had properly seen Nan Mo. Her skin was fair as snow, her face small and delicate, her eyes clear like lake water. Between her brows and eyes was a cool, distant calm, and her aura looked both noble and elegant. Her beauty made it hard to look away.
Tang Yifan had been staring in a daze, and Wu Mingyue followed his line of sight. She saw Nan Mo, glowing and refreshed.
That damned Nan Mo, she was everywhere. Wu Mingyue glared at her, then walked over and stood in front of Tang Yifan, speaking in a weak voice. “Brother Tang, I’ll go with you later, okay? I’m a little scared being alone.”
Tang Yifan’s gaze was interrupted. He looked at Wu Mingyue and felt a trace of impatience, but he did not show it. He only nodded in agreement.
After they got off the train, the group arrived at the educated youth assembly point. The leaders of each production team were already waiting there.
Hu Mingliang spotted the leader from Xiangyang Brigade among the crowd and waved at Nan Mo and the others. “Over here, over here!”
Hearing that, they all walked over to greet the brigade leader.
The brigade leader took out a list and called names one by one. The full group had not arrived yet. He knocked his smoking pipe against the sole of his shoe twice and told them, “Follow me.”
He led the educated youths out of the station. The roadside was packed with ox carts, donkey carts, and several tractors, likely all there to pick up educated youths.
The brigade leader brought them straight to a brand new tractor. A man in his forties or fifties was already sitting on it.
“I’ll introduce myself first. My name is Gu Baolin, the leader of Xiangyang Brigade.
This is our tractor driver, Gu Baogen. He’s also my second older brother.
If you’re tired, get on the vehicle first. If you’re hungry, there’s a state run restaurant right next door. You can leave your luggage on the tractor. My second brother will watch it.
Two more educated youths haven’t arrived yet, so we’ll wait a bit.” After saying that, he turned around and walked away.
Nan Mo saw everyone standing there in a daze. She walked over, placed her luggage on the tractor, and said to the older man on the tractor, “Uncle Gu, please help watch our luggage.”
After Lu Yuanyuan and the other two finished putting their luggage up, Nan Mo told the three of them to go wait at the state run restaurant first. She needed to go to the post office to pick up packages.
Chen Ruonan refused to go, saying she still had dry rations, but the other three dragged her along anyway.
At the post office, Nan Mo gave her name and showed her identification for the staff to verify.
The worker remembered her name clearly because the two packages were simply too large.
When the worker brought them out, even Nan Mo was startled. The worker asked, “You’re the new educated youth, right? You should find a few comrades to help you carry these. A young girl like you can’t manage them alone.”
Hearing that, Nan Mo went to the state run restaurant. It was nearly full of educated youths from the same train.
Wu Mingyue, Tang Yifan, and Lu Zhihui sat at the same table, though it was hard to say what kind of strange combination that was.
The moment Nan Mo entered, she drew everyone’s attention, including Gu Ran, who was sitting in the corner with his older cousin, having been dragged into town for a meal.
Gu Ran gave her a calm glance, pressed down the fierce pounding in his chest, and looked away as he continued eating his noodles.
Lu Yuanyuan and the other two saw Nan Mo and called out, “Xiao Mo, over here!”
“Where are the packages?”
“There are too many, I can’t carry them. I’ll treat you to a meal if you help me carry my luggage, how about that?” Nan Mo said playfully.
“Deal, but I want braised pork!” After a few days together, they had learned Nan Mo’s personality.
If she did not want to give something, there was no point asking, and no amount of doing things for her would earn you extra favors. But if she wanted to give, you just accepted it.
They believed in give and take, and they would not let the other side suffer a loss.
After eating, Nan Mo bought ten meat buns, and then they went together to pick up the packages.
By the time they returned to the tractor, not only were the others still there, even the two late arrivals, Xu Mei and Chen Hongxia, were waiting as well.
The few people who had been in the restaurant now knew those were all Nan Mo’s packages, and curiosity about her family background grew.
It looked like she had moved her entire home here.
Only Wu Mingyue knew who Nan Mo was. Thinking of the two hundred yuan she had shamelessly begged from her parents, she felt unbalanced again.
They were both girls, so why did Nan Mo get to have such a good life and so many nice things?
Xu Mei stared at the huge packages, her face full of jealousy. “With such big packages on the tractor, where are we supposed to sit?”
Nan Mo glanced over. Xu Mei’s skin was sallow. Probably from poor nutrition, her cheeks were sunken, which made her cheekbones look high.
“A tractor this big still can’t fit you? If you really can’t sit, then walk back,” Lu Yuanyuan snapped. She was not about to indulge her, especially when Xu Mei dared to target her friend.
“Why should I? The tractor is here to pick up educated youths. You’re putting two huge packages on it, where are the rest of us supposed to sit?”
Chen Ruonan was about to step forward to argue, but Nan Mo stopped her.
Nan Mo rolled her eyes. “Since when do educated youths travel without luggage? If you don’t like us taking up space, then go get some big packages of your own. No one’s stopping you.”
After saying that, she did not look at Xu Mei again. She walked over to Gu Baogen, pulled out two meat buns, and handed them to him.
“Uncle Gu, I just bought these buns. Eat them while they’re hot. Sorry to keep you waiting so long.”
Gu Baogen paused, then accepted them without refusing, smiling as he did. He thought to himself that this newly arrived educated youth really knew how to handle people.
Together with Lu Yuanyuan and the others, they loaded her luggage onto the vehicle. The group waited on the truck for the brigade leader.
Seeing that they had already found good spots and sat down, the others also climbed aboard one after another.
When Xu Mei saw no one responding to her, she felt embarrassed and bored. She pouted and followed them onto the truck.
Before long, the brigade leader finished the paperwork and came over, and the group set off toward the village.
Considering that they all had luggage, the tractor drove straight to the entrance of the educated youth residence.
They had already spent several days and nights on the train, exhausted in both body and mind. Now, after being jolted around by the tractor, they all looked pale and drained.
The brigade leader looked at these city youths, each one wilted like drooping cabbages, and felt a headache coming on.
Fortunately, he considered himself clever. When he thought about how this batch of educated youths might bring some profit to the brigade, his mood improved quite a bit.