Chapter 5

Seeing this, Zhang Qingmei, fearing that the situation would spiral out of control, patted Song Shishi on the shoulder, “Comrade Song, don’t worry, this is a matter for our educated youth point, naturally, it’s up to Captain Chen and me, the deputy captain.”

Zhang Qingmei had always disliked Zhou Xingxue, a kind of instinctive dislike.

Before, Zhou Xingxue had even tried to flirt with Chen Hui, but later learned that Chen Hui’s family was poor, and her attitude changed instantly.

She hated people like that the most.

Zhou Xingxue didn’t expect Zhang Qingmei to refuse to give her face in front of so many people.

But what Zhang Qingmei said was true, this was the educated youth point, not a place where she, a record keeper, could have a say.

Hearing that Zhang Qingmei’s family was wealthy, Zhou Xingxue didn’t dare to go too far. Besides, she just simply disliked Song Shishi, and how this matter ended didn’t really matter to her.

Seeing that the person who was helping her had left, and Song Shishi and Zhang Qingmei’s attitude was so firm, there was no way they would give in, Jiang Cuihua’s teeth were about to be ground to pieces, she could only grit her teeth and pay Song Shishi all the money she had saved.

Song Shishi took the five large bills, squatted down and put the intact can of malted milk back in her bag, then thanked Zhang Qingmei.

The farce was finally resolved, Chen Hui then raised his voice and said, “Comrades, you can take a walk around the village this afternoon and get familiar with the environment.

To welcome you all, the head of our Huaqing Brigade will prepare a sumptuous dinner for you.”

Chen Hui spoke with passion, which aroused the enthusiastic new educated youth to respond loudly.

Song Shishi dragged her things into the room and didn’t rush to tidy up.

The conditions of Huaqing Brigade were not good, the houses built for the educated youth were all earthen houses.

They had six new female educated youth this time.

But they had to squeeze into one room.

The already small space, with the luggage of the six of them piled up, became even more cramped.

After greeting Zhang Qingmei, she went straight out of the educated youth point.

An Jinsheng, who was still chatting with Zhou Xingxue, immediately had his attention drawn.

Zhou Xingxue shyly lowered her head, not noticing this.

Along the way, she met many villagers, everyone was busy with their farm work, they just glanced at her when they saw her.

Song Shishi went straight to Zhao the carpenter’s house at the east end of the village.

When she reached the door, seeing that the door of Zhao the carpenter’s house was open, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

“Uncle Zhao, are you home?”

Zhao the carpenter was an old man with a grumpy temper, but in fact, he was a kind-hearted person.

“Who is it?”

An old man with a limp came out from the inner room.

He looked up and down at Song Shishi’s clothes, frowning, “You must be the new educated youth from the educated youth point, right? What are you doing here at this time?”

“Yes, my name is Song Shishi, I just arrived at Huaqing today.

I heard that you’re a good carpenter, I wanted to ask you to help me make a set of wooden cabinets, the kind that can be locked.

Are you free now?”

“You just arrived today, how did you know about me?”

“I learned from a friend.

By the way, I heard that you like pastries.

This is a little token of appreciation for my first visit, please accept it.”

Saying that, Song Shishi took out a small package of peach cakes from her backpack.

Seeing the peach cakes, Zhao the carpenter, who had been frowning, smiled.

“How tall do you want the cabinet to be?”

“I have a lot of things, so I want a bigger one. If you have wooden basins here, I’d also like to buy two.”

“Okay, I have some basins ready, you can take them directly, just give me 5 yuan.

But the cabinet will have to wait until tomorrow, I’m making a cabinet right now, it will be finished tomorrow, I’ll give it to you first then.”

“Thank you so much. How much is the cabinet? I’ll pay for it all today.”

Usually, people wouldn’t pay until they saw the goods.

So Song Shishi’s action once again made Zhao the carpenter happy.

He waved his hand, “Just give me 25 yuan, I’ll have someone deliver the cabinet to you when it’s finished.”

That’s great, they even offer delivery service.

Song Shishi readily paid the money and went back to the educated youth point with the two basins.

As she was about to reach the educated youth courtyard, she suddenly heard cursing coming from a courtyard by the roadside.

“You little brat, you eat and live here, and now you dare to steal money?”

The woman’s voice was sharp, and her words were also sharp and sarcastic.

Then a little girl’s voice, tinged with crying, sounded, “I didn’t steal, my brother sent it to me.”

“Don’t use your brother as an excuse. How old are you? Can you manage money? Your brother left you with us to raise, this money is for us, you took it without saying anything, isn’t that stealing?”

After the woman finished speaking, a boy chimed in, “That’s right, Xu Li, my mom isn’t easy raising you, you can’t be an ungrateful wretch.”

Then there was the sound of fists and kicks, accompanied by the girl’s cries of pain.

Hearing the name “Xu Li,” Song Shishi stopped.

She then remembered that Xu Li was the sister of Meng Xunzhou’s comrade-in-arms.

When she heard about Xu Li’s story, Meng Xunzhou and his comrade-in-arms, Xu Qiang, came to attend Xu Li’s funeral.

She only saw Meng Xunzhou at the time, she didn’t know Xu Qiang and Xu Li.

She only knew that Xu Li was very pitiful, she was abused by her aunt’s family all her life.

Xu Li and Xu Qiang’s parents had both passed away, Xu Qiang went to the army to support his sister, and left Xu Li to be raised by his aunt.

But her aunt was not a good person either, she always took the money and tickets that Xu Qiang sent back, but she didn’t treat Xu Li well.

She always gave the good things in the family to Chen Jialiang, Xu Li’s cousin.

In the end, she even forced Xu Li to marry a fool from the neighboring village in order to get a high dowry so that Chen Jialiang could have money to marry a wife.

Xu Li was only two years younger than Song Shishi, the helpless girl committed suicide by jumping into the river that summer.

Perhaps it was because she had experienced that kind of tragic ending, so Song Shishi felt a strange emotion for Xu Li at this moment.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

She mustered her courage and went up to knock on the door, the sound of knocking stopped the voices in the courtyard.

“Who is it?” After a while, the woman’s sharp voice came from the courtyard.

Song Shishi took a deep breath and replied, “Hello, is Xu Li home?”

Hearing that it was someone looking for Xu Li, the woman went to open the door.

Xu Guiying looked up and down at Song Shishi, from her good clothes, it was not hard to guess her identity.

“You must be the new educated youth who just arrived today, right? What are you looking for Xu Li for?”

Song Shishi glanced into the courtyard, the woman moved her body, blocking her view.

“It’s like this, the aunts at the threshing ground are preparing dinner tonight, but they’re short-handed, Aunt Qian asked me to come and ask Xu Li to help.”

The woman thought that Song Shishi was a new educated youth who wasn’t familiar with the village yet, since she could mention Aunt Qian and find her house, it should be true.

So Xu Guiying turned to Xu Li, who was lying on the ground, and said, “Since the head of the brigade’s family asked you to help, go quickly. This time I’ll let you off, next time I catch you stealing money again, watch out.”

Xu Guiying stepped aside, Song Shishi didn’t ask any more questions, she immediately went into the courtyard, helped Xu Li, who was covered in bruises, up, and left together.

Until she made sure that Xu Guiying could no longer see them, she stopped and helped Xu Li sit down by the roadside.