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“Sun Siyuan, take it. Otherwise, you’ll go to bed hungry tonight and won’t be able to sleep well.”
“No need to be so polite. We’re all educated youth from the same village—we’re supposed to help each other.”
As Sun Siyuan spoke, his face flushed slightly, as if feeling a bit embarrassed. He silently unwrapped the oiled paper package, revealing biscuits with slightly crumbled edges.
These biscuits had been sitting with him for almost a month—he had been reluctant to eat them himself.
Seeing this, Song Zhaodi and the other three quickly scooped a few mouthfuls of corn porridge, stuffed the biscuits into their mouths, and hurriedly left.
Watching them, Sun Siyuan became even more embarrassed.
On his thin face, two patches of crimson gradually appeared.
However, Zhao Sulan didn’t refuse Sun Siyuan’s offer out of shyness or embarrassment.
Rather, the oiled paper package looked a bit dirty, and the biscuits inside were already somewhat crumbled.
Moreover, since Sun Siyuan’s hand holding the biscuits was close to Zhao Sulan, she could smell a faint, rancid oil scent.
At a glance, it was obvious that the biscuits weren’t fresh and had been sitting for a long time.
Something like this didn’t appeal to Zhao Sulan, who usually loved taking advantage of others, so she had no interest in accepting it.
However, while she wouldn’t eat such biscuits, she certainly knew how to put on a show.
“Comrade Sun, thank you for your kindness, but since we only just met today, I don’t feel comfortable taking your biscuits.”
“You should keep these biscuits for yourself when you’re hungry. I still have some rations,” Zhao Sulan said as she stood up, nodded slightly at Sun Siyuan, and then turned to return to her room.
Seeing Zhao Sulan’s demeanor, Sun Siyuan couldn’t help but feel a ripple in his heart.
“Heh, she’s already caring for her man even before getting married. She even knows to leave the biscuits for me to eat…”
“I must win over Comrade Zhao. Marrying her would definitely be nothing but beneficial!”
Sun Siyuan truly had no sense of self-awareness.
On the other side, after returning the tractor to the brigade, Gu Nan headed home.
The moment he stepped into the courtyard, he was met with the sound of violent coughing coming from the main house.
Hearing the sound, Gu Nan quickly stepped into the house.
He saw Mr. Gu leaning against the earthen wall, sitting on the heated brick bed, covering his mouth as he coughed.
Seeing this, Gu Nan instinctively clenched his fists, only to loosen them powerlessly a moment later.
“It’s so late, you haven’t eaten yet, have you? There are two steamed buns kept warm in the pot—go ahead and eat them.”
As Mr. Gu spoke, he forcibly suppressed his coughing.
Although he was only forty-four years old, his hair was already half white. A few years ago, the family had just settled in the capital, but due to political policies, they were classified as part of the “Five Black Categories” and sent to the countryside. His husband had been exiled separately to an unknown location.
The eldest son, Gu Zhendong, had fallen from the mountains and broken his leg after being sent to the village. His wife had taken their child back to her parents’ home and had been gone for a year now.
The second son, Gu Nan, had applied for military discharge two years ago upon learning that his family had been exiled to the countryside, sacrificing his once-promising future.
The youngest daughter, Gu Ningning, was born when Mr. Gu was thirty-five. She was frail and sickly due to congenital deficiencies.
Gu Nan was usually quiet and reserved, not one to speak much, but he had returned from the military to take care of his family.
Seeing that his parent didn’t want him to worry, he glanced at Gu Ningning, who was already fast asleep beside them. With a slight nod, Gu Nan silently left the room.
Gu Nan sat on the stone steps outside the kitchen, mechanically chewing on the coarse cornbread in his hand. It was dry and tasteless, like chewing on wax.
The moonlight poured down, accentuating the sharp contours of his jawline.
He turned to glance at his mother’s room, then lifted his head to look at the vast night sky, where only a few stars dotted the expanse.
After quickly finishing the cornbread and drinking a large ladleful of water, he returned to his room to change into a set of coarse cloth clothing.
The reason he had dressed more properly today was that the village chief had asked him to make a good impression on the newly arrived educated youths.
Gu Nan placed a slightly rusted sickle and a flashlight into a bamboo basket, then strode quickly toward the mountain.
The new educated youth at the lodging were busy unpacking their belongings.
In the male dormitory, there were two older educated youths already residing there. As they unpacked, they chatted with one another, all seeming quite talkative—except for one man with tanned skin and a close-cropped haircut, who remained silent.
His name was You Wenguang, and he was nineteen years old.
Unlike the others, he wasn’t much of a talker. After briefly organizing his belongings, he climbed onto the kang and lay down, showing no interest in joining the conversation.
No one knew what was on his mind, but judging by his expression, he didn’t seem like someone easy to approach.
Su Niannian’s dormitory had a large kang built near the window, big enough to accommodate five or six people. The heated brick bed took up nearly half of the room’s space.
Opposite the kang, there were two cabinets, three tables, and a few wooden stools—all visibly old and worn.
The cabinets even had several holes, and the wooden boards looked like they had been rotting away under the relentless passage of time.
The tables, chairs, and stools weren’t in much better condition.
“It looks like I’ll have to find a carpenter to make a new cabinet when I have time,” Su Niannian said, eyeing the furniture that seemed ready to crumble like firewood.
“Wouldn’t hiring a carpenter cost quite a bit?” Song Zhaodi asked worriedly.
Her family’s situation wasn’t great, and all their money was set aside for her younger brother.
On this trip to the countryside, her parents had only given her fifteen yuan.
That money was just for temporary use. If she managed to exchange work points for food or money at the end of the year, she was expected to send it back home.
“We can ask around tomorrow,” Su Niannian said. She had money now, but she wasn’t about to spend it freely on making furniture for others.
Too petty.
Zhao Sulan inwardly scoffed at the two of them.
They were fussing so much over getting a simple cabinet made—how pathetic.
Seeing this, Zhao Sulan’s expression turned slightly stiff.
She hadn’t expected that there wouldn’t even be a mattress or a pillow provided here. All she had brought was a single, thin quilt.
For a moment, she hesitated, glancing at the beds of Su Niannian and Song Zhaodi. Their bedding looked much more comfortable than hers—especially Su Niannian’s, which was entirely new.
She bit her lip. Should she ask to borrow something?
At that time, her mother had asked her to bring it, but she found it too bulky and refused.
But now, night had already fallen, and it was clear there was nowhere to buy one. Looking at the thin, tattered quilt with its frayed fabric, she gritted her teeth and spread it over the straw.
She thought to herself that she should make a trip to the supply and marketing cooperative in the county as soon as possible to buy a mattress—or perhaps purchase one from a local family instead.