Chapter 8 Gift

It was an apple.

It must have been Shu Qingyao who put it in.

His coat pocket was wide, and he was careless, he didn’t even notice that he had put in an apple the size of half a palm.

Xie Xiaoqian sniffed it at the tip of her nose, her pale and thin face lit up, “It smells so good. Brother, can I eat this?”

Xie Hezhang stubbed out his cigarette butt, jumped down from the windowsill, took a look at it, and handed it back: “You can eat it.”

Xie Xiaoqian carefully held the apple and took a bite, her big eyes sparkled, “Brother, this is so delicious. You eat too.”

She had never eaten anything so sweet and delicious, she wanted to eat it in two bites, but she remembered that her brother hadn’t eaten it either, she swallowed her saliva, and handed the apple to Xie Hezhang, “Brother, you try it.”

“I…” Xie Hezhang subconsciously wanted to say no, but seeing his little sister’s flattering and hopeful eyes, he paused, and gently took a bite following her hand.

This bite made Xie Hezhang slightly stunned.

It was indeed delicious, honey-like sweetness, the skin was so thin that a light bite with teeth would melt the juice in the mouth.

There used to be an apple tree at the entrance of Helian Village, which would bear seven or eight fruits every year, those fruits were weathered, they were crooked and twisted, and the taste was so sour that it was hard to swallow, later even the tree was chopped down and used as firewood.

“Brother, have another bite.” Xie Xiaoqian put the apple to his mouth, her own saliva was dripping down, she didn’t even know it.

“I don’t like it. You eat it.” Xie Hezhang wiped her mouth with a cloth, watching Xie Xiaoqian squat by the window, holding the apple and munching on it with gusto.

His gaze became distant, he leaned against the headboard and lit another cigarette.

He thought of Shu Qingyao.

He thought of her fair and delicate face and her big eyes that blinked, like water grapes.

Xie Hezhang thought, he would help her with work again later, as a thank you for the apple.

Anyway, the girls from the city are very practical, when they know his identity, they will soon stay away from him.

He slowly took a puff of smoke and snorted.

*

Shu Qingyao worked for five days in a row, and she couldn’t take it anymore.

She was frail, she weeded for five days, and after being exposed to the sun, she soon developed a fever.

She lay in bed, listless, she didn’t even eat breakfast, Tang Yuan brought her some fever medicine, because the fever medicine in this era had strong side effects, Shu Qingyao took the medicine, and she could only be described as half-dead.

Captain Jin Zhuang came to see her, seeing this young girl who had just come of age lying in bed, looking listless, he was also in a dilemma.

He wasn’t so heartless as to make Shu Qingyao go to work with a high fever, he gave her a leave slip, after others left, Jin Zhuang said to Shu Qingyao: “Shu Qingyao, do you know how to read?”

Shu Qingyao nodded: “I graduated from high school.”

“Yesterday, Secretary Wang from the village entrance told me that the village’s private elementary school is short of a math teacher, you know how to read, go to his house and ask him about it.”

Shu Qingyao’s eyes curved up immediately, “Thank you, Captain.”

Jin Zhuang looked at the petite female intellectual in front of him, rubbed his short hair, and smiled bitterly: “You’re welcome.”

He wasn’t deliberately being a good person, it was just that Shu Qingyao couldn’t do any work, she couldn’t finish the task every day for five days. But she didn’t slack off either, she squatted down and weeded diligently every day.

It was just that her bones were not made for farm work.

He was also afraid that something would happen to her in his team, it was better to give her some guidance, looking at her clothes and dress, she didn’t look like a child from a poor family, it wouldn’t be a loss to do her a favor.

When he sent Jin Zhuang away, Shu Qingyao stuffed him with a big bag of Da Baitu milk candy.

Shu Qingyao also knew that she wasn’t cut out for work.

She came to Helian Village to find Xie Hezhang, not to die, she felt that if she weeded for a few more days, she wouldn’t be able to seduce Xie Hezhang, she would die in his hometown.

Shu Qingyao lay in bed for a while, her fingers fumbled for the jade pendant in her bosom.

Since the apple appeared in the blanket that day, there hadn’t been any new gadgets in the dormitory.

But she guessed that it had something to do with this jade pendant.

It’s just that she had carefully studied this Guanyin jade pendant for a few days, but she couldn’t figure it out, so she had to give up.

Taking advantage of the fact that she was on leave due to a fever, Shu Qingyao went out to inquire, the secretary of Helian Village was called Wang Xingde, and the private elementary school in Helian Village was also built by him and several village cadres, he was busy with work, he was very responsible, and he went home very late every day.

Shu Qingyao carried her meat ticket and grain ticket, took the tractor that went to the county to buy fertilizer, and bought five kilograms of pork and ten kilograms of flour.

She treated the old man who took her to the county in the restaurant, Shu Qingyao returned to the dormitory…

It was already getting dark, and the intellectuals were about to finish work.

Shu Qingyao took two pounds of pork and five pounds of flour to the cook in the canteen, asking him to add a meal for the intellectuals in the evening. The cook looked at the five pounds of pure white, high-quality flour, and smiled so wide that his teeth were invisible, he readily agreed, he would also have a good meal tonight.

Shu Qingyao knew that she hadn’t gone to work in the fields today, even though she was sick, but her work was distributed to others, and the intellectuals who helped her would definitely be unhappy.

She would be living here for an unknown amount of time, she had to get along well with her roommates.

Thinking about this, she couldn’t help but think of Xie Hezhang again.

These days, she had also asked the villagers about Xie Hezhang, but when the people of Helian Village talked about Xie Hezhang, they were like seeing a plague, they were very disgusted.

Xie Hezhang’s small group of people were like invisible people in Helian Village, they were ostracized by the whole village.

Shu Qingyao thought about it and felt uncomfortable, she felt choked up.

Xie Hezhang rarely talked to her about his childhood, she didn’t expect him to suffer so much at his age.

The intellectuals came back one after another.

The cook in the intellectual dormitory steamed a large steamer of vegetable and meat buns, one pound of flour could steam fifteen buns, Shu Qingyao’s five pounds of flour steamed a total of seventy-five buns, the cook kept ten for himself, and the remaining sixty-five were divided among the intellectuals.

As soon as the intellectuals came in, they smelled the aroma of the meat buns, they had been working in the fields all day, and they hadn’t had any meat for a while, their mouths started to water, and their stomachs rumbled.

Ruan Wenhui came back exhausted, and saw Shu Qingyao sitting at the dining table, clean and tidy, eating meat buns, these days, because Shu Qingyao had repeatedly embarrassed her, the two of them had already fallen out.

She said sarcastically: “Some people are just lucky, we work hard all day in the hot sun to have food, while others do nothing and still eat our food for free!”

Tang Yuan walked over and rolled her eyes at her: “Eat your food for free? Did you help with Qingyao’s field?”

Ruan Wenhui paused, glared at Tang Yuan.

Today Shu Qingyao took sick leave, originally her field was supposed to be divided among everyone, but just before work ended, a group of young men came over, the tall leader was handsome and handsome, he asked which field was Shu Qingyao’s, and the group of them finished her work in a flash.

She had only been here for less than a week, and this vixen Shu Qingyao had already hooked up with the men in the village!

Ruan Wenhui was ordinary-looking, when she was in the city, she followed Shu Qingyao, the children of the big factories would buy her some food to please Shu Qingyao, now she and Shu Qingyao came to the countryside together, she thought that they were on the same starting line, but she didn’t expect that the country bumpkins of Helian Village would fawn over Shu Qingyao.

Except for her face, how was she any worse than her?

Ruan Wenhui was already full of anger, now she came back, she was dirty all over, Shu Qingyao was sitting at the table, clean and tidy, she didn’t even get tanned from working in the fields, because she was sick, she looked like a sickly beauty, attracting the male intellectuals to steal glances at her.

“People who work have the right to eat, she didn’t work, why should she eat? Is that fair to everyone?”

Tang Yuan ignored her, she blocked her with one sentence: “Then go find the captain.”

“Qingyao, are you okay?”

Tang Yuan walked over and sat next to Shu Qingyao, asking.

Shu Qingyao smiled: “My fever has gone down. By the way, I’m sorry for the trouble you had with my field today.”

“What trouble.” Tang Yuan smiled, “A group of villagers came over and finished it for you.”

Shu Qingyao’s heart moved, was it Xie Hezhang?

She asked again carefully, confirming that the tall and handsome young man in Tang Yuan’s mouth was her husband, the corners of her lips couldn’t help but curl up, she packed the three buns in front of her into a food box.

“Oh, Old Liu, why do we have meat to eat today?” An old intellectual exclaimed.

“I don’t know how many months it’s been since I last ate such good buns!”

Cook Old Liu chuckled: “Shu Qingyao treated us, two pounds of pork and five pounds of flour.”

As soon as he said this, a group of people came over to thank Shu Qingyao.

Shu Qingyao said shyly: “I didn’t go to work, I’m embarrassed to eat for free, it’s not anything good, you guys just enjoy it.”

Because of Ruan Wenhui’s words, the intellectuals who were originally a little bit concerned about Shu Qingyao not going to work, now had no thoughts about it.

Moreover, she didn’t eat for free, these buns were bought by her, and she even treated them for free.

Ruan Wenhui bit into the bun, looking at Shu Qingyao who was being praised by everyone, she couldn’t help but feel a little more resentment in her heart.

Is it great to be rich? If she had money, she would also treat everyone to buns every day!

Shu Qingyao didn’t stay in the canteen for long, she soon returned to the dormitory, took out two pounds of meat and two pounds of flour, put them in a cloth bag, and she went out under the cover of night.