As the sun rose, the tractor finally reached its destination.
“I’m hungry… I wonder if we’ll even get a bit of time to eat.”
Sheng Jinhe got up, and before anyone else could react, she leapt down from her seat—graceful, clean, and precise.
The scene happened to catch the eyes of the commune secretary and the office director standing nearby.
“This girl looks delicate, but her movements are surprisingly nimble!”
Secretary Xu remarked casually.
As luck would have it, Sheng Jinhe heard him and turned just in time to make eye contact. She nodded politely in acknowledgment before returning to her own business.
“Yining, give me your hand!”
Sheng Jinhe reached out to help He Yining.
“No need, Sister He. You take the luggage; I can jump down myself.”
“All right!”
Kids from the compounds, regardless of gender, were generally tougher, at least Sheng Jinhe thought so.
Once the two of them were safely on the ground, the others on the tractor hadn’t moved much yet. Some male educated youths, however, began jumping down from both sides of the vehicle.
About ten minutes later, everyone had finally disembarked. During the process, Sun Qiu stumbled once, and Sheng Jinhe swore she didn’t mean to laugh—it was just… impossible to hold back.
The commune secretary gathered everyone together, gave a brief motivational talk, and then let the representatives from each brigade take their group.
“I’m the brigade leader of Zhuliu Brigade. Sheng Jinhe, He Yining, Sun Qiu, Sun Dong, Song Jingwen, Qin Ke—you six, come with me.”
Brigade leader Liu Youfu, seeing Sheng Jinhe and He Yining, unusually didn’t frown. He had witnessed that leap just now—though delicate in appearance, she was far from fragile, and at the very least, she wouldn’t cry.
“Sister He, the Li family must be in this brigade, right?”
“I can’t believe I finally got placed in the same group as you,” He Yining said excitedly.
“Calm down. Aren’t you hungry?”
At that moment, He Yining’s stomach growled loudly.
The brigade leader noticed these small gestures and called out:
“Take care of your breakfast yourselves. The state-run restaurant and post office are on this street. Those who need to carry luggage, send letters home, or make calls, hurry up. We’ll regroup in half an hour. The road will take three to four hours; we need to reach the brigade before the sun gets too high. Leave your luggage on the ox cart.”
Without a word, Sheng Jinhe grabbed He Yining’s hand and dashed off.
“Come on, Yining, let’s eat!”
“Right!”
Neither of them showed any sign of fatigue from the long train and tractor journey. They zipped away, with a few others quickly following.
At this point, Secretary Xu was matching names to faces. Watching Sheng Jinhe’s back, he called Liu Youfu aside.
Sheng Jinhe’s first stop was, naturally, the state-run restaurant.
“One bowl of beef noodles, two meat buns to go,” she told the clerk, then asked He Yining,
“What do you want, Yining?”
“I’ll order myself!”
“Three meat buns, one bowl of soy milk, two buns to go.”
They paid and packed the buns into their lunch boxes, then carried their food to find a table.
Only after they had started eating did the other educated youths from the brigade approach. Sheng Jinhe and He Yining ignored them, continuing their meal.
“Afterward, we need to call home. You coming?”
Of course, Sheng Jinhe had to inform her grandfather.
“I’ll go too. Let’s eat quickly—the calls take time to connect. Half an hour might not even be enough,” He Yining replied.
“All right!”
They finished quickly and ran toward the post office. Surprisingly, everything went smoothly, and within ten minutes, both had made their calls.
“I told my mom about meeting a really nice sister. She said when I go home for New Year, I should bring you along,” He Yining said with a smile as soon as she stepped out.
“You’re not afraid I’m a bad person?”
“You’re not!”
“Hahaha!”
The girls’ laughter echoed along the modest, narrow street.
Returning to where the ox carts were parked, the other brigade members had already left. Only the brigade leader remained, puffing on his pipe, the clacking sound still audible as he approached.
“Brigade leader, you haven’t eaten, right? Here!”
“This isn’t bribery—it’s a token of respect from juniors to elders for fetching us,” Sheng Jinhe said, handing him a large bun from the lunch box.
“Eat. I still have more!”
She shook the lunch box, smiling obediently.
Liu Youfu, a big, rough man, didn’t know what to make of it. Many educated youths had come to the countryside over the years, but none like Sheng Jinhe.
“Brigade leader, you’re a man—one bun won’t fill you up. Here, I’ll respect you too!”
He Yining was quick. Before anyone could react, she handed another bun to the brigade leader, then pulled Sheng Jinhe aside to a cooler spot.
Watching the two girls chatting and laughing, Liu Youfu looked at the buns in his hands. His earlier words remained incomplete—he should have added a “young educated youth” too.
People treat others as they are treated. Secretary Xu had specially highlighted the situation of these two youths earlier—they were nothing like the pampered kids from rich families he remembered. He decided he would look after them when he could.
As for the two buns, he couldn’t bear to eat them himself and carefully saved them in the cloth his wife had prepared for packed food that morning.
“Sister He, why hasn’t the brigade leader eaten yet?”
He Yining happened to notice.
“Probably taking them home for his family. This area is poor, mostly mountainous; the harvests are never good. We don’t eat meat buns every day, but we can have them whenever we want. For them, it’s different—some might never have had them from birth to death,” Sheng Jinhe said gravely.
He Yining’s father was a military district political commissar; her older brothers all had decent jobs. She and her sisters-in-law got along well and had never wanted for food, so she had no real understanding of rural life.
Of course, though pampered, He Yining was not fragile. Kids from the compounds were tempered in many ways.
“Got it, Sister He!” He Yining replied.
“Let’s go—they’re here too!”
“On the way, we should think about how to conquer your brother-in-law. By the way, from now on, do I call you ‘sister’ or ‘sister-in-law’?”
Sheng Jinhe suddenly remembered this question.
“Of course sister—it’s closer. Besides, my relationship with Li Erge hasn’t started yet. If he finds out I came, he might get mad!”
He Yining knew he would definitely get angry.
“Tsk, spoiled… ran all the way here, and still push him away?”
“Then we’ll use force. Anyway, the man I want won’t get away. Learn from me!” Sheng Jinhe snorted.
“Really? Then I’ll definitely learn well!”
“All right, tell me about Li Zhanye on the way!”
“Okay, Sister-in-law, I’ll tell you everything!”
He Yining was extremely devoted.