Chapter 39: Aunt Huang’s Wisdom

After returning home, she unloaded the wood and went to return the cart.

This time, the door to the Liu family’s house was knocked again. Aunt Huang had already made preparations. When she saw Zhou Sinian, who was as tall as the door frame, she mustered up the courage to greet him.

“You’re here~~~~”

But her voice was trembling.

Zhou Sinian looked at her with confusion. Was she still cold, dressed so warmly?

Ming Dai followed behind. After the cart was put inside, she spoke to Aunt Huang: “Aunt, I’ve brought the cart back for you. Here are some candies for my nephew.”

Aunt Huang grabbed her arm. “Xiao Ming, I treat you like my own daughter when I speak to you. But your hands are too loose. You’ve given away so many things these past few days, and you’re still raising someone who wastes food. Don’t you have any concerns about it?”

Ming Dai casually wrapped her arm around Aunt Huang’s: “Aunt, I’m being careful, you know. The educated youths over there in the front yard never even got a single piece of candy. I know who’s good to me. It’s clear in my heart. Besides you, it’s my uncle. I love my nephew, and I’m happy to do it!”

Then, she winked. “Besides, this is free. Someone gave it to me this morning.”

Aunt Huang was immediately distracted. “Oh, you don’t know. After you left this morning, that Song Lanlan was talking about Fang Zhiqing, being a capitalist and wasting things. Fang Zhiqing didn’t say much, but Qi Zhiqing disagreed and got into an argument with Song Lanlan. In the end, Qi Zhiqing almost cried from anger.”

Ming Dai immediately became curious. “Who cried?!”

“Who else? Qi Zhiqing! Let me tell you, Song Lanlan is not a good person. She used to be involved with someone from the commune, but after he got transferred, she was left high and dry. That’s when she finally settled down in the village…”

Aunt Huang suddenly remembered that Ming Dai, being only 14, probably wouldn’t understand.

Sure enough, Ming Dai looked at her in confusion.

“Ahem, anyway, don’t pay attention to her. She’s not a good person. Her insults stink worse than the old ladies’ foot wraps in our village.”

Ming Dai nodded. “What did Fang Zhiqing say?”

Aunt Huang sneered dismissively. “Heh, not a word from her. She just let Qi Zhiqing take the insults. She sat at the back, peeling corn with her little gloves, not even doing any real work.

Child, listen to your Aunt. Don’t bother with her. You can lend her a tool, but don’t trust her with your heart. She’s sneaky inside. On the surface, she looks gentle, but really, she looks down on everyone and thinks she’s fooling everyone. We just treat her as entertainment. Otherwise, who would bother with her!”

Ming Dai looked at her with admiration. She was really impressive!

Even as a loyal fan of Legend of Zhen Huan, Ming Dai hadn’t developed such a sharp sense of understanding people. Yet Aunt Huang had mastered it!

If Aunt Huang were given a platform, she could definitely do a better job than Liu Dazhu!

Ming Dai’s expression pleased Aunt Huang, who gently touched the girl’s soft, tender face.

Educated youths fresh from the city always seemed so delicate—like soft-boiled eggs. After a year in this harsh northern wilderness, though, they would be covered in frostbite and chapped skin.

But… why did Ming Dai smell so nice?

Someone was standing quietly nearby, interrupting Aunt Huang’s thoughts. It was Zhou Sinian.

Zhou Sinian was standing by the stable, nearly scaring the horse. He was displeased as he watched Ming Dai continue talking to Aunt Huang.

He hadn’t eaten yet!

Ming Dai noticed his presence and, with a smile, stuffed the candy into Aunt Huang’s hand. “Aunt, I want to buy some cabbage for the winter, and some seeds. Also, can you save me some of the chive roots you mentioned last time?”

Aunt Huang didn’t refuse and nodded with a cheerful smile.

When they got home, Ming Dai heated up some steamed buns and had them with egg sauce. She took out some red sausage from the space, sliced it, and made egg drop soup to lift Zhou Sinian’s mood, who was still upset.

That night, after learning that the emergency light’s battery was unlimited, Zhou Sinian started playing with the light.

He was very curious and wanted to take it apart to see how it worked.

Ming Dai was happy to indulge him and took out a new one, just reminding him to be careful.

Considering that the entire village was in darkness, it felt strange that their house was lit. So, she quickly put up blackout curtains on both of their windows that night.

She also took out the Chinese medicine she had been brewing in the space and watched Zhou Sinian drink it. After admiring the bitter expression on his face, Ming Dai happily gave him two pieces of chocolate.

She reminded him not to stay up too late and left, despite Zhou Sinian’s look of accusation.

This time, Zhou Sinian was clever. He took the chocolate Ming Dai had given him, ate two pieces, and then went to brush his teeth, perfectly solving the problem of not being able to eat after brushing his teeth.

The next morning, after going through her usual phone routine, Ming Dai got up.

She tied her hair in front of the mirror and noticed that her dry, damaged hair had improved a lot. While it still looked a bit yellow, it was no longer the dull, fried hair it used to be.

Feeling quite cheerful, she came out and looked at the neatly cleaned yard. Ming Dai gave Zhou Sinian a thumbs up. The chestnuts she had collected last night could be stored away today.

Even though she had the space as a magical tool, Ming Dai still chose to follow her usual routine, not relying on the space for everything.

Zhou Sinian agreed with Ming Dai.

Entering the kitchen, she poured some water to wash up and handed the brewed Chinese medicine to the reluctant Zhou Sinian to drink. Then she started making breakfast.

There were still steamed buns, but the egg sauce was gone, and Zhou Sinian said he wanted more.

Ming Dai gladly agreed.

She grabbed two fresh cucumbers, didn’t even bother cutting them, just washed them, and handed one to each of them. They ate them right away.

Suddenly, while biting into the cucumber, Zhou Sinian said, “I’ve had this before.”

Ming Dai sipped her milk, thinking about her plans to grow taller—it was a matter of urgency!

“When?”

“When the insects were chirping.”

“Oh, that’s summer.”

“Yeah, I ate a lot, and also some red fruits. I ate those too.”

“How many did you eat?”

Zhou Sinian thought for a moment. “A whole basket.”

Ming Dai glanced at the basket of steamed buns on the table and silently mourned for the family Zhou Sinian had stolen cucumbers from. She figured they must have run out of cucumbers for the entire summer.

What she didn’t know was that Zhou Sinian made sure to distribute his cucumber thefts evenly across all households—he took from every home without mercy.

So, during the summer, Zhou Sinian always ate the most.

After breakfast, Zhou Sinian went to tidy up while Ming Dai waited. She looked at the pile of firewood in the yard and thought they should build a shed to cover it.

She then looked at the chestnuts on the ground and realized they couldn’t let the pine nuts dry out like this—they needed a rack. She also noticed some areas in the yard needed repairs.

Lost in thought, she started drifting off mentally.

It was Zhou Sinian calling her back to reality. She glanced at his bald head and the bright red headscarf he was wearing. Ming Dai quietly tied her own green headscarf.

She followed the crowd of workers heading to the grain warehouse. People still feared Zhou Sinian, but since he hadn’t caused trouble for several days, they weren’t resisting him anymore—though they still kept their distance.

Ming Dai noticed a shift in the dynamics of the educated youth commune—the relationship between the new and old educated youths had changed.

Before, they hadn’t been particularly close, but they weren’t distant either. Now, however, a clear divide had formed—everyone stuck to their own groups and no longer walked together.

Qin Fangfang was troubled. Yesterday, a conflict had broken out between the new and old educated youths. She wasn’t quick-witted enough to follow the argument and, before she even understood what had happened, the group had already split—each side now eating separately.

As she thought about their dwindling rations and the bleak state of the kitchen, anxiety gripped her. She had no idea what to do.

It was still Cai Mingcheng who comforted her, telling her to just follow whatever the others decided—they were only responsible for working, nothing more. This reassured her, and although she still looked worried, she went off to work.

The issue was eventually resolved when Fang Rou stepped in.

“Our kang is already set up, right? I’ve divided the room and turned part of it into a kitchen. Let’s cook there from now on.”

The new educated youths were overjoyed—the problem was finally solved, and they stood a little taller with pride.

However, with Fang Rou and Qi Zhijun’s involvement, the old educated youths completely severed ties with the new ones. Before long, they stopped speaking to each other altogether.

But this had nothing to do with Ming Dai. Her life carried on as usual.