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The next morning, as the sound of roosters crowing and birds chirping filled the air, the Educated Youth at the settlement began to wake one by one.
Just as Su Niannian stepped out of her room, she saw Lu Xingguang standing not far from her door.
He was holding something in his hands, clearly waiting there.
Su Niannian was already up fairly early, yet some of the other Educated Youth were already outside.
Song Zhaodi, who was always an early riser, was already busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
Without sparing Lu Xingguang so much as a glance, Su Niannian walked around him and made her way straight to the kitchen.
When Lu Xingguang first saw Su Niannian, his face was lit up with a broad smile. But the moment she completely ignored him and walked away, his expression darkened instantly.
“Educated Youth Su, I have something I’d like to speak to you about in private. Come here for a moment,” Lu Xingguang said, his arms hanging at his sides as he stared at her back.
In his voice, there was a distinct note of displeasure from being ignored, along with an air of self-assurance, as if speaking from a place of superiority.
Lu Xingguang was an arrogant man. He had never intended to find a partner in a place like this countryside. He looked down on rural women, and the female Educated Youth sent down here were no exception in his eyes. Even if he did show interest, it was only to kill time out of boredom—nothing more.
After all, it hadn’t been easy for him to finally take a liking to Su Niannian—her looks, her figure, even her fair skin was all to his taste. She had a graceful air about her, and on top of that, she possessed real medical skills, able to treat illnesses and save lives.
But Su Niannian’s indifference toward him made it hard to swallow. As a young master from a major factory in a big city, he felt his pride had taken a serious hit.
“I don’t have time,” Su Niannian said coldly, without even turning her head, and walked straight into the kitchen.
The pastry box in Lu Xingguang’s hands was nearly crushed from the force of his grip.
In addition to the pastries, he also had a beautiful hair tie hidden in his pocket—but he never even got the chance to take it out.
“Hey? Educated Youth Lu, even if you’re not going to eat those pastries, there’s no need to treat them so poorly,” someone nearby remarked.
Sun Siyuan had been washing his face not far away. When he turned his head and saw Lu Xingguang manhandling the pastries, he walked over with a look of regret.
The pastries in Lu Xingguang’s hand came in a box. In this era, most pastries were wrapped in oiled paper—boxed pastries like these were clearly expensive.
Sun Siyuan’s face showed a trace of pity.
Lu Xingguang shot him a glance. Seeing his petty, small-minded demeanor, he grew even more irritated and simply tossed the crushed pastry box into his hands.
“If you think it’s a waste, then go ahead and eat it.” Lu Xingguang tossed the words over his shoulder and stormed back to his room in a huff.
In all his life, he had never been so blatantly ignored.
That wretched woman Su Niannian actually had the nerve to embarrass him like this.
Just wait—he’d make sure to get her into his bed. Once she became someone discarded by others, let’s see how high and mighty she’d still act.
He’d make her cry, beg, and plead for him to keep her by his side.
Fuming, Lu Xingguang brooded over his twisted fantasies.
On the other side, as soon as Su Niannian entered the kitchen, Song Zhaodi’s voice called out.
“Go wash up, breakfast will be ready soon.” Seeing that Su Niannian had gotten up, Song Zhaodi called her to wash up and get ready to eat.
“Okay.” Su Niannian replied and went to wash up.
After she finished washing up and came out, she saw that Song Zhaodi had prepared a steaming bowl of vegetable noodles.
“You’re hand-rolling noodles this early in the morning?” The noodles on the table had just come out of the pot. The hand-rolled noodles were plump and uniform in size.
The broth was topped with a light layer of oil, and a few small, green bok choy leaves floated on top.
The bok choy was small, clearly not overcooked, and in a tender state.
“Hmm, if I didn’t make it early this morning, I wouldn’t be able to catch you during the day. Aren’t you heading to the county town again today? By the time you come back tonight, it might be so late that we’ll miss mealtime again.”
Song Zhaodi couldn’t help it. She could never seem to catch Su Niannian around. Whenever they ate together, Su Niannian was often absent from the youth commune, and Song Zhaodi ended up eating all the food by herself.
Song Zhaodi felt guilty about it, so when she was alone, she would make coarse grains, but when Su Niannian was around, she would prepare something finer for her.
Otherwise, how could she not feel bad about it?
Su Niannian naturally understood Song Zhaodi’s intentions. She smiled, picked up the bowl of noodles, blew on it, and took a sip of the broth.
“It’s actually pretty good. The cornmeal buns you made before were also good,” Su Niannian said with a smile, picking up some noodles with her chopsticks and slurping them up in small bites.
“If you like it, that’s fine. I’m sure it’s not as good as what you make, but if you like it, eat more,” Song Zhaodi said, trying to scoop some of her noodles into Su Niannian’s bowl.
“I’m good, I can’t even finish this. You need to work, so you should eat more!”
“I’ll finish and head to the village entrance,” Su Niannian gestured for Song Zhaodi to hurry and finish eating, so the noodles wouldn’t get soggy and unappetizing.
Song Zhaodi also began to eat.
Before she went to the countryside, she had never tasted such pure homemade noodles. Not only was her family unable to afford it, but even if they could, it wouldn’t be for her.
The men in the family—her younger brothers, father, and grandfather—were always prioritized when it came to food.
As for the women, as long as they didn’t starve, that was enough.
Every time Song Zhaodi had a good meal, she couldn’t help but think of the days before coming to the countryside.
Now, she truly felt like she had struck it lucky.
After Su Niannian finished eating, she had just put down her chopsticks when Song Zhaodi quickly grabbed them to wash.
“Hmph, get a bite of food and you start wagging your tail and begging for more, fighting to be a servant?” Zhao Sulan came out holding cornmeal flatbreads and a bowl of corn grits porridge, noticing Song Zhaodi’s attentive attitude towards Su Niannian.
She naturally couldn’t stand it and felt quite envious.
“What does it have to do with you? I’m just washing a dish, what’s your business with that?” Song Zhaodi snapped, annoyed by Zhao Sulan’s meddling attitude.
Over the past few days, Song Zhaodi’s personality had changed somewhat. She was no longer as tolerant as she had been before.
She felt a sense of satisfaction when she saw how Su Niannian handled people.
Su Niannian had once told her not to waste energy fighting within herself, and if someone bullied her, she had to fight back.
Over time, as she followed this advice, no one dared to take advantage of or bully her anymore.
Song Zhaodi was also changing little by little, and this change made her feel like she could finally breathe freely.
“I didn’t say anything wrong, why are you upset?” Zhao Sulan had never dared to speak back to Song Zhaodi in such a way before. She wasn’t used to being defiant.
Had she taken the wrong medicine today?
But Zhao Sulan was the type to bully the weak and fear the strong. Once Song Zhaodi fired back, she couldn’t be arrogant anymore.
It was clear that Song Zhaodi was different now compared to the time on the train.
“The mouth is on you, but the hands are on me. If you keep talking nonsense and looking for trouble, don’t blame me for tearing that foul mouth of yours,” Song Zhaodi snorted coldly and gave Zhao Sulan a fierce glare.
Su Niannian, standing by, gave Song Zhaodi a thumbs up.
“Well then, I’ll trouble you for that. I’ll head to the village entrance now.” Su Niannian patted Song Zhaodi on the shoulder and smiled at her.
“Mm, just like yesterday, I’ll work enough for two work points for you, right?”
“Mm, two work points are enough. If I get more, I’m afraid I might get too cocky,” Su Niannian waved her hand and, with her basket on her back, left the youth cadre point.
After Su Niannian left, Huang Yingying finally emerged from the kitchen with her breakfast, her eyes following Su Niannian’s departing figure with a dark gaze.