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They were all educated youth sent to the countryside, so why was Su Niannian so special? Why her?!
Huang Yingying had thought that with her looks and family background, she would naturally win over everyone’s favor here.
She had planned to casually beckon a few mud-legged farmers or male educated youth to do her work, allowing her to enjoy a life of ease.
After a few years, she would return to the city, find a well-off man, and marry into a good life.
But now, with Su Niannian standing next to her, she felt as if she had lost all her shine…
As soon as this thought crossed Zhao Sulan’s mind, her expression toward Su Niannian grew noticeably less friendly.
“I’m Liu Yang. I’ve been in Kaoshan Village for six years now. There are still a few empty rooms in the educated youth quarters, so the three newly arrived female educated youth can share one room.”
“This room isn’t very big, but the heated brick bed can fit four or five people. You can settle in here for now.”
As Liu Yang spoke, he pointed out the room to the three female educated youth. Then, turning to the three educated male youth behind him, he continued,
“The men’s dormitory is over here. The house is slightly larger, and the heated brick bed can sleep seven or eight people. This room already has two people living in it, so the three of you will be staying here with them.”
The three of them all nodded.
“You’ve had a long journey and must be exhausted. Eat something and get some rest early tonight.”
“The production team usually wakes up at six in the morning and starts work at seven. The lunch break is from eleven to one-thirty, and work resumes from one-thirty to five-thirty. Unless there are special circumstances, taking leave is not allowed.”
“Of course, if you’re quick and efficient and finish your assigned work for the day, there’s some flexibility with the schedule.”
Liu Yang gave the six of them a brief introduction.
Although that was what Liu Yang said, in reality, some educated youth from better-off families didn’t care about work points. There were always a few who arrived late, left early, or even took leave.
In the end, things weren’t as strict as Liu Yang made them sound.
After the six newcomers settled their belongings, the older educated youth called them out for dinner.
The meal consisted of cornbread made from corn and buckwheat flour, along with some corn porridge.
The porridge was so thin that its consistency was almost like soybean milk.
The cornbread was also quite hard.
However, it wasn’t that the people at the educated youth spot were making things difficult for the newcomers—this was simply how everyone ate here.
In fact, being able to eat until full was already considered fortunate. There were times when even food like this wasn’t enough to stave off hunger.
Su Niannian had come from the future. While she had never been particularly picky about food, she still found this kind of meal rather difficult to swallow.
But given the circumstances, she couldn’t let it show.
She took small sips of the corn porridge and slowly nibbled on the cornbread in her hand.
The others ate as usual.
However, …
After taking a single bite of the hard cornbread, Zhao Sulan refused to eat any more.
“I can’t eat this. Are we going to have to eat this kind of food every day?” she asked Liu Yang, who was sitting nearby and watching the group.
Hearing this, Liu Yang couldn’t help but frown slightly. His voice turned serious as he replied,
“This is the countryside, a place that supports the production brigade. Earning work points and having enough to eat is already considered fortunate.”
“Many educated female youths only earn three or four work points a day—it’s already difficult for them to get enough to eat…”
The unspoken meaning was clear: if it’s already hard just to have enough food, how could she still be picky?
But Zhao Sulan obviously didn’t catch the underlying message in Liu Yang’s words.
“But this stuff is really hard to swallow. Shouldn’t they at least mix in some white flour?”
Several educated youths who hadn’t gone to rest yet—though, in reality, they had stayed behind to observe Su Niannian—found Zhao Sulan’s question rather amusing.
Is the countryside a place for enjoyment?
People here were struggling just to get enough to eat, yet she still wanted to act high and mighty about food?
“This educated female youth—what’s her family background? She must be pretty well off!”
“Judging by her reaction, she’s probably never had cornmeal and buckwheat flatbreads before.”
“…”
A few educated male youths lounging under a nearby tree, enjoying the shade, also began whispering among themselves as they watched the scene unfold.
Among them, a thin man’s eyes flickered with a different kind of light.
Originally, he had come here just to catch a glimpse of Su Niannian, but after hearing Zhao Sulan’s words, he realized something—her family background must be quite good, perhaps even wealthy.
Since returning to the city didn’t seem like a possibility anytime soon, marrying a female educated youth with a well-off family might not be a bad idea…
Moreover, although Zhao Sulan was far inferior to Su Niannian in terms of looks, compared to the village women or those educated youths who had been in the countryside for years, she was still considerably better.
At this moment, the thin man’s thoughts became more active.
After pondering for a while, he stood up and quietly returned to his room.
“Why did Su Siyuan leave?”
“Who knows?”
Liu Yang glanced at Zhao Sulan, then shifted his gaze to the other five people who were still eating.
“If everyone wants to eat together, then you’ll need to contribute grain to the communal supply. The educated youths at the station will take turns cooking, cleaning, and washing dishes,” he explained.
“If you find the meals here unappetizing, you can set up your own stove and cook for yourself. Or, you can partner with other educated youths to share meal preparations.”
“The newly arrived educated youths can also apply to the production team for an advance on grain. At the end of the year, the owed amount will be deducted from your work points,” Liu Yang continued.
“There’s an ox cart that goes to the county town. If you need to buy things from the county supply and marketing cooperative, you can wait at the village entrance at six in the morning.”
After saying this, Liu Yang nodded slightly to the group before turning around and heading back to his room.
He didn’t want to say anything more. This educated youth with the surname Zhao was already giving him a headache.
If she was this picky about just eating a meal, she would probably be a handful when it came to working in the fields tomorrow.
Su Niannian, on the other hand, wasn’t thinking too much about it. Right now, she was so close to her man—being able to eat her fill was all that mattered.
But…
Gu Nan had a weak stomach, so she planned to make some nourishing food to help him recover.
The spiritual spring water contained a significant amount of energy. If she gave it to Gu Nan now, she’d probably have to dilute it with regular water.
The taste was overly sweet, and its healing properties were too strong.
The bruises and injuries she originally had had almost completely disappeared after just five days of drinking the spiritual spring water.
Such powerful healing abilities—if exposed—could become a real problem.
Right now, Gu Nan wasn’t familiar with her yet. Even if Su Niannian wanted to give him the spiritual spring water, she had to take it slow.
That man had been a soldier—keen and intelligent. She couldn’t afford to startle him.
As she mulled over this, she finished a cornbread and a bowl of corn porridge.
After saying a quick word to Song Zhaodi, she was the first to return to the room.
Just as Su Niannian was about to leave, she noticed that Su Siyuan had returned.
He walked straight over to Zhao Sulan and took out an oil-paper package.
Su Siyuan mistakenly thought Zhao Sulan was just feeling shy when she didn’t take the package.
In reality, after having seen Gu Nan earlier that evening, she was thoroughly captivated. Compared to him, this thin, ordinary-looking man who barely stood at 1.7 meters simply couldn’t measure up.
Zhao Sulan hesitated for a moment but still didn’t reach out to take it.