Chapter 11.1

Just as Meng Yinyin and Yu Xiaoyu curiously looked over, another soldier carrying luggage quickly approached them. He had originally planned to ask for directions, but when he saw Meng Yinyin, he froze, staring at her in surprise.

In the army, they mostly saw tough men and rarely encountered any women, especially not someone as beautiful as Meng Yinyin.

The soldier’s face turned red, and he couldn’t bring himself to look directly at her eyes. He stammered, asking, “Excuse me, comrade, do you know the way to Comrade Dou Zhengrong’s home?”

Though Dou Zhengrong was on another soldier’s back, he had already been injured for a while and was still unwell. After the long journey, he had fallen into a deep sleep, and the soldier had no choice but to ask for directions.

But what he didn’t expect was that his bad luck meant he had to ask two new Educated Youths who were unfamiliar with the brigade.

Upon hearing this, Meng Yinyin and Yu Xiaoyu exchanged puzzled glances. After a moment of hesitation, they asked, “Uh, who is Comrade Dou Zhengrong?”

The soldier scratched his head, equally confused. “Dou Zhengrong, of course. Isn’t he the only one from your brigade who went off to join the army?”

Logically speaking, someone like him should be well-known around the brigade.

Finally, when Yu Xiaoyu realized the soldier was referring to someone who had joined the army, she responded, “Ah, I know! Is he the one from Lin Xiuzhi’s family?”

Lin Xiuzhi’s family?

Completely unaware of the conversation, Meng Yinyin fell silent and let Yu Xiaoyu take over.

“Yes, my sister-in-law seems to be called this name!”

Yu Xiaoyu eagerly replied. “I know where they live. Should I show you the way?”

“That would be a great help, comrade!”

After thanking her, the soldier immediately turned back to the car and called for the soldier carrying the injured comrade Dou Zhengrong to come over.

While the soldier went to call people, Yu Xiaoyu quickly lowered her voice to explain to Meng Yinyin, “It’s the female comrade I told you about earlier while we were eating. She’s very beautiful, and I’ll take you to see her house. Her two children are also very well-behaved!”

Meng Yinyin casually responded with an “Mm,” not particularly interested in children, since she still considered herself a baby.

However, since she had nothing else to do, she wasn’t in a hurry to return to the Educated Youth point and decided to accompany Yu Xiaoyu.

Soon, the two soldiers returned, one carrying the injured comrade and the other with luggage. Yu Xiaoyu quickly took the lead, guiding them toward their destination.

The two soldiers, not very talkative to begin with, blushed even more as they stood next to the beautiful Meng Yinyin. They hurried on without saying a word, and the group quickly arrived at their destination.

“This is it,” Yu Xiaoyu said, pointing to the house. Just then, a small figure appeared at the door. “Dabao, is your mother home? We have visitors.”

Meng Yinyin’s gaze shifted to see a small child who barely reached her waist. The child looked to be around four or five years old and was very cute. However, perhaps due to the family’s poor conditions, his clothes had many patches.

Despite the simple attire, the boy was clean, and his face wasn’t dirty like the other children she had seen in the brigade. It was clear that his mother was a very tidy person who took good care of him.

“Educated Youth Sister,” the little boy called up to Yu Xiaoyu, having met her before. He then turned shyly to Meng Yinyin, his face turning red, and timidly called, “Fairy Sister.”

Yu Xiaoyu: “…”

She was the Educated Youth Sister, and Meng Yinyin was the Fairy Sister. Yu Xiaoyu was heartbroken.

Meng Yinyin didn’t expect the little boy to have such a sweet mouth. After being called “Fairy Sister,” she felt the boy’s face seemed even cuter. She smiled and replied, “Hello.”

After greeting him politely, Dabao finally turned his gaze to the two soldiers behind them. When he saw the familiar figure lying on one of the soldier’s backs, his eyes widened. “Dad, is Dad back?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he spun around and ran toward the house, shouting excitedly, “Mom, sister, Dad is home!”

After not seeing his father for so long, Dabao was so overjoyed that he didn’t notice Dou Zhengrong’s condition and was too busy sharing the good news with his mother.

Soon, a big and a small figure appeared at the door. Lin Xiuzhi, full of joy, had been waiting to greet her husband, whom she hadn’t seen in almost three years. But as soon as she stepped outside, she saw her husband unconscious and carried on someone’s back.

Her face immediately turned ashen, and the next moment, her body swayed as if she was about to collapse.

“Zhengrong… what happened to him?”

The two soldiers exchanged glances, and with a bitter expression, they told Lin Xiuzhi, “Sister-in-law, this is a long story, please go in first.”

They walked into the house, and since Meng Yinyin and Yu Xiaoyu weren’t related to them, they didn’t feel right staying. They turned and left.

On their way back to the Educated Youth point, both of them couldn’t help but sigh.

“Who would have thought that the man that was just carried back was Dabao’s father? Did you see his leg earlier, Yinyin? It seems like…”

“Broken.”

Meng Yinyin finished the sentence that Yu Xiaoyu couldn’t bring herself to say.

“Yes, I didn’t expect Comrade Dou to return home in such a way. Sister Xiuzhi’s family is really unfortunate…”

It was indeed tragic. It seemed like both his legs were broken.

However, Meng Yinyin only felt sorry for a brief moment before quickly putting the matter out of her mind. After all, no matter how miserable it was, it was someone else’s problem and had little to do with her.

Instead of worrying about other people’s issues, it was better to focus on her and Lu Chen’s matters. Sigh.

The lunch break passed quickly. Yu Xiaoyu and the other Educated Youths had to return to work, leaving Meng Yinyin alone in the dormitory for the entire afternoon. Resting her chin in her hand, she anxiously pondered major life decisions.

Even though she had begun considering Lu Chen, she had no idea what he thought. Was he willing to marry her? Did he even have plans for marriage?

Surely she couldn’t just run up to him and bluntly ask if he would marry her, right?

It would be great if he agreed, but if he didn’t, wouldn’t she miss out on this fantastic opportunity for nothing?

Besides, marriage wasn’t something a girl should bring up first. She had her pride too!

Tugging at the ends of her hair, Meng Yinyin thought for a long time before coming up with a brilliant idea: she would make Lu Chen fall for her!

Once he fell for her, he would definitely want to marry her!

Then she could move into his house, hang all her pretty dresses, stop working, and even eat meat!

Just imagining it filled Meng Yinyin with optimism. She wished she could immediately move from the Educated Youth point to Lu Chen’s home.

Yes, this was the plan. With her own efforts, she would win Lu Chen over in no time!

As someone who had never even held hands with a man before, Meng Yinyin was brimming with confidence in her plan.

Tomorrow she would see Lu Chen again. Her days of escaping hardship and living comfortably while eating meat were just around the corner!

That night, Meng Yinyin went to bed with a smile on her face, convinced she would have a beautiful dream.

However, to her surprise, she ended up having some strange dreams instead.

The dreams were scattered—daytime turned to night, familiar faces mixed with those of strangers.

Naturally, Meng Yinyin assumed she had multiple dreams.

In a few of those fleeting dreams with familiar faces, she saw Lin Xiuzhi and Dou Zhengrong, whom she had only met today.

She dreamt that Dou Zhengrong’s legs were healed, and he was lifting two children high in the air. Their family no longer lived in the cramped space she saw today but had moved into a bright and spacious new home.

Meng Yinyin woke up slowly to the sound of Yu Xiaoyu calling her. She was still a little dazed.

Why had she dreamt of Dou Zhengrong? She admitted he was good-looking, but he couldn’t compare to Lu Chen. Most importantly, he was married! Why would she dream of him?

She didn’t have any feelings for him, so the whole thing was baffling.

After mulling over it for a while, she reminded herself that she once dreamt of growing wings and flying, so having unexplainable dreams wasn’t that strange.

Shaking off the thoughts, Meng Yinyin quickly put the matter behind her.

The thought of meeting Lu Chen later filled her with excitement.

But that excitement vanished during the morning assembly, replaced by shock and reluctance.

“What? We’re not working in the bamboo forest today?”

The bamboo forest was cool and quiet, with no harsh sunlight. While Meng Yinyin didn’t enjoy working, she liked staying there.

Now, the brigade leader told her she wouldn’t be working in the bamboo forest with Lu Chen today. Of course, she was reluctant.

The brigade leader gave her a curious look. “The work in the bamboo forest is finished. Why would you go there?”

“How is it finished? Just the other day, I saw a big pile of unprocessed bamboo there!”

Yesterday, both she and Lu Chen had taken leave to attend a wedding. How could anyone have finished the work?

Surely no one had taken advantage of their absence to steal their tasks, right?

The thought made Meng Yinyin fume.

Whoever secretly did this better not let her find out!

It seemed the heavens didn’t want to keep her in the dark because the brigade leader kindly added, “Lu Chen only took leave yesterday morning. He went back to work in the afternoon and finished everything himself.”

While saying this, the brigade leader gave her another look, as if to say, Even after pairing you with someone as capable as Lu Chen, you haven’t learned anything from him.

Meng Yinyin: “…”

She pretended not to understand the silent criticism.

But in her heart, she grumbled about how Lu Chen could go to work without her. Couldn’t he have waited a little?

After sulking for a while, she wondered where they would work now that the bamboo forest tasks were done.

“What should I do today, brigade leader?”

Meng Yinyin nervously looked at the brigade leader.

What she truly wanted to know was whether she could still work alongside Lu Chen or if the brigade leader would separate them.

It was May, the start of the busy farming season. The Nanjiao Brigade mainly grew rice due to the climate and geographical factors. Rice planting during this period involved several steps: sowing seeds, cultivating seedlings, transplanting them, nurturing their growth with timely fertilization, and finally waiting for the grains to mature for harvest. This process stretched from May to September or October, nearly half a year, keeping the brigade extremely busy.

The bamboo strips Lu Chen had been making recently were for covering the rice seeds, helping them sprout faster. However, since agricultural plastic film was a newly introduced trial in their region, the brigade had limited quantities. As a result, they didn’t need too many bamboo strips to support the film.

This explained why the task in the bamboo grove had been completed in just two days. Now that preparations were nearly done, it was time to move on to the next step.