Chapter 24

The three of them talked a lot about the recent events in the village. Jiang Zhou Ningxin had been listening without saying a word. Jiang Yule was very interested in this little girl, so after a topic was over, Jiang Yule took the initiative to speak to Zhou Ningxin.

“Can I call you Ningxin?”

“Of course.” Zhou Ningxin was stunned by this sudden question. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded in response.

Seeing the girl’s cute and adorable look, Jiang Yule wanted to rub her more, but he was afraid of scaring Zhou Ningxin, so he restrained himself.

“Then you can just call me Yule. You look younger than me, so why did you go to the countryside so early?” Jiang Yule took the initiative to find a topic, and explained his doubts without making the conversation awkward.

“I… I’m 17 years old this year, and I took the initiative to go to the countryside,” Zhou Ningxin said in a low voice. Seeing that the three of them were all puzzled, she continued to explain, “I have three older brothers. My eldest and second brothers are married. Originally, my family was worried about me going to the countryside, so they wanted my third brother to come. But my third brother already had a girlfriend at that time, and he liked my third sister-in-law very much. But my third sister-in-law’s family wanted a lot of dowry, so they couldn’t get engaged. The street office kept urging me to go to the countryside, so I signed up to go to the countryside without telling my family.”

“Then why don’t you find someone to help you with your job? I think your family should be well off,” Meng Wanshu asked.

She had to go to the countryside because when she woke up, the original owner had already signed up and couldn’t withdraw, so she had to come. But she was a spoiled person after all, and she was accompanied by Bai Siyuan and Kang Yan. Even if those two were unreliable, they were still a companion in the eyes of her family.

But Zhou Ningxin’s situation is different from hers. With her weak personality, she will be bullied to death if she comes to the countryside. The fact that her third brother can go to the countryside means that she is also favored. It is better to spend money to buy a job than to suffer.

Zhou Ningxin heard Meng Wanshu’s question and shook her head in disappointment. If possible, she didn’t want to go to the countryside…

“At the time, I thought that the matter would be resolved when my third brother got married, but my second brother gave a lot of gifts when he got married. I don’t know if my third sister-in-law’s family heard about our family’s situation, but they suddenly changed their minds about the originally agreed gift. My family couldn’t come up with so much money in a short time, and the street office was pressing for it, so this is the only way.”

Zhou Ningxin felt a little sad as she spoke. Although she came here on her own initiative, she was a girl who didn’t even take a bowl at home before. Now she came here and did physical work in the wind and sun all day. Zhou Ningxin couldn’t help feeling wronged.

“Ah, it’s not easy.” Meng Wanshu saw the girl’s disappointment and shook her head. Times are really tricky.

“Oh, it’s okay. My parents and brothers are very good to me. They send me things every month. My eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law also send me some clothes and food. Apart from being a little tired, everything else is fine.” Zhou Ningxin saw that everyone was in a bad mood because of her, so she waved her hand and smiled at everyone. It was true that apart from being a little tired, everything else was fine…

As she was talking, Zhou Ningxin looked at the watch on her wrist, stood up and said, “You guys chat, it’s my turn to cook today. I have to cook with Weiwei and Sister Meifang.”

“I’ll go with you to see if there’s anything I can help with.” Meng Wanshu stood up and took Zhou Ningxin’s arm, and the two of them went to the kitchen together.

After the people had gone away, Li Fengxian looked outside and saw that no one was at the door. Then she lowered her voice and gossiped with Jiang Yule.

“I’ve been getting close to Weiwei recently, and we occasionally chat about gossip. This little girl has been taken advantage of by people like Nie Xiangdie. Today they borrow brown sugar from her, tomorrow they borrow a cloth coupon, and when they go to town they find ways to get Zhou Ningxin to go with them. It’s been almost a year since she came to the educated youth point, and she has never returned the things she borrowed. It was okay when Tang Wei was around, but as long as this little girl is alone, there are always people who find ways to borrow things from her.”

“You’re too soft-hearted.” Jiang Yule glanced towards the kitchen. If she couldn’t protect her things, what could others do?

“Yes, Weiwei is kind-hearted. She takes Zhou Ningxin’s young age into consideration, so she always calls her wherever she goes. Over the past few days, she has come to understand that this little girl is too well protected by her family. She is also too sensible and will not refuse. She is also foolishly simple and believes in the theory of human nature being good…”

“Well, we should protect them as much as we can. Fortunately, our team is pretty good. If we go to a place with poor mountains, bad waters and unruly people, we will be eaten alive without knowing how to do it.” Jiang Yule shook his head helplessly. The theory of human nature is not necessarily valid even in peacetime, let alone now.

Although she thought the girl was cute and adorable, she could only care for her temporarily…

Jiang Yule has no interest in raising children…

The two chatted in the room, and Meng Wanshu watched them cook in the kitchen.

After a long time, Jiang Yule heard that there were more people in the yard, so he got up with Li Fengxian and left the dormitory.

As soon as I left the yard, I saw Tang Wei poking her head out of the kitchen and saying to the educated youth who had just returned, “Comrade Jiang and Comrade Meng brought back a pound of pork. I’ll make braised pork and stir-fried pork with chili peppers later, okay?”

Tang Wei was in a very good mood. In the past, she just steamed steamed bread and fried cabbage, and her cooking skills were not put to good use. Today, there was pork cooked by Jiang Zhiqing and fish caught by the Zhiqing in the river. Although there were not many seasonings, Tang Wei tried her best to cook in different ways, such as stewing fish in an iron pot, fish soup, pan-fried fish, braised pork, stir-fried pork with peppers…

The more Tang Wei thought about it, the more excited she became…and the smile on her face became brighter

“Wow, really? That’s great. I haven’t had braised pork in a long time.” A lively and excited voice sounded. Jiang Yule looked over and saw that it was the thin educated youth named Fang Xiaoxian. As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Yule and his eyes with a hint of gratitude.

Grateful? Grateful for what? Eating meat?

Fang Xiaoxian’s eyes made Jiang Yule confused for a while, but when he looked at the people at the educated youth point, most of them had yellow faces, Jiang Yule’s eyes also showed some understanding.

After all, Zhou Ningxin’s family was a minority and would send money and notes to them. For most families, it was considered good enough if they didn’t allow the educated youth to send food back home.

Gratitude? That’s right!

Jiang Yule was thinking a lot in her mind. When she came to her senses, she saw that everyone was staring at her. It seemed that they were talking to her just now?

Jiang Yule looked at Meng Wanshu in confusion. Meng Wanshu, who received the signal, said quickly, “Fang Zhiqing said that there is a bottle of wine buried in his backyard. Do you want to drink some?”

In her previous life, she liked to have a drink at home after work, but the original owner’s body… seems to have never drunk… But there is only one bottle of wine, ten people, each person can only have one glass at most, it should be no problem

Jiang Yule nodded and said, “Sure, but I can’t drink much, so I can only drink a little.”

“It’s okay, we just drink for fun, do what we can.” Fang Xiaoxian waved his hand nonchalantly, and happily went to the backyard to dig wine. He brewed the wine himself when he first came here. He originally wanted to use it to celebrate when he could return to the city, but after so many years, he has not been able to go back. Now that he has so much meat, he might as well drink it early to have fun.

Jiang Yule watched Fang Xiaoxian run out of the backyard excitedly with a bit of amusement on his face. When he turned around, he saw Nie Shuhui’s face full of contempt. Jiang Yule smiled sarcastically and ignored her.

Bai Siyuan listened, looked at the things in his hand, and looked a little unnatural. He looked at Meng Wanshu standing beside him. Bai Siyuan struggled in his heart, and after thinking about it, he reluctantly took the lunch box out.

“Tang Wei, this is the chicken stewed with mushrooms that I bought at the state-owned restaurant at noon, but it was a snack last night.”

“If you don’t want to part with it, don’t take it out. Who are you showing this to?” Meng Wanshu looked at Bai Siyuan and said sarcastically. With Bai Siyuan’s behavior, she didn’t know why her original self loved him so wholeheartedly and even lost her life for this man.

“No, Wanshu, you misunderstood. I just didn’t expect you to bring meat. The meat and vegetables I packed back were cold. I was afraid that everyone would dislike them, so I was a little hesitant.”

Meng Wanshu sneered, “You’re talking as if your dish won’t get cold if we don’t take the meat. There are more than ten people, but you only buy one dish. I don’t know if you really have this intention.”

Meng Wanshu couldn’t stand this person who had so many little tricks in his mind, but always looked so righteous, which was simply disgusting, so she said something very impolite.

It stands to reason that bringing something back is a token of appreciation, not to mention that the old educated youth had only contributed some food, vegetables and fish, which were free of charge. Bai Siyuan’s portion of chicken stewed with mushrooms was already very valuable.

But everyone was eager for meat dishes. After hearing what Meng Wanshu said, some people with bad intentions began to speculate on his thoughts. Maybe it was because Jiang Zhiqing brought the meat… so he couldn’t save face…

In fact, everyone was right about this. This dish was indeed not intended for the educated youth, but for Meng Wanshu… So when Meng Wanshu retorted, Bai Siyuan felt very insecure and turned away awkwardly, not daring to look at Meng Wanshu again.

Today he went to town and called home. On the phone, his parents were very tough on Meng Wanshu’s affairs. Although their two families were neighbors, Meng Wanshu’s father was his father’s direct superior and held the power of his promotion. Recently, there was an opportunity to let Bai Siyuan’s father move up a level, but Meng’s father didn’t know what was wrong recently. He was unmoved by their goodwill and urged Bai Siyuan to settle the matter with Meng Wanshu as soon as possible.

Bai Siyuan packed a meal at the state-owned restaurant, thinking of bringing it to Meng Wanshu tomorrow. But he didn’t expect something like this to happen as soon as he entered the room.

Seeing the cold atmosphere in the courtyard, Tang Wei, who was just proud of her ability to show off her skills, smiled awkwardly, walked out and took the lunch box from Bai Siyuan, and said, “It’s okay if it’s cold, just heat it up. It’s all meat, how can you complain about it being cold?”

Tang Wei took the heavy lunch box and raised her eyebrows slightly as she turned to go into the kitchen. This group of educated youths really have the best conditions.

“Okay, okay, let’s all sit down and chat for a while. We’ve been here for a few days, and we haven’t really gotten to know each other yet.” Raven asked everyone to sit down and ease the atmosphere.

Seeing this, the other old educated youths also hurriedly sat down at the table and took the initiative to find topics to chat about all sorts of things.

Nie Xiangdie stood there without saying a word, but her eyes swept over Bai Siyuan and Meng Wanshu, with some scrutiny and speculation.

Fang Xiaoxian brought the wine back and showed it to everyone like a treasure. All the educated youths were excited. The cold atmosphere in the educated youth courtyard gradually eased. While everyone was chatting, they were also waiting for the food to be served.

As time went by, the aroma wafting from the kitchen attracted everyone’s attention, and they couldn’t concentrate on chatting.

“We’ll be eating soon, let’s move the tables and get ready to eat.” Tang Wei’s shout from the kitchen seemed to liberate everyone, and they all stood up quickly.

Move the table, move the stool, set the dishes and chopsticks, the division of labor is clear, everyone has their own duties

Only Nie Shuhui, with her arms folded across her chest and her chin slightly raised, looked at everyone busying about in a domineering manner.

I won’t offend anyone unless they offend me. Nie Shudie is very obedient and Jiang Yule is not interested in controlling her.

Helping Tang Wei to serve the food on the table, two square tables were put together and everyone sat around them.

“Come on, let’s raise our glasses and have a drink. First of all, we welcome the new educated youth to come here to build the Qingshan Brigade with us. We educated youth are a group. I hope that no matter what problems we encounter in the future, we can help each other. In addition, today’s meal can be so sumptuous thanks to Jiang Zhiqing, Meng Zhiqing and Bai Zhiqing. Let us welcome all the comrades here and thank you for bringing a sumptuous dinner.”

Lei Wen raised his glass and all the educated youth raised their glasses to welcome and thank him.

After a glass of wine, the alienation seemed to dissipate a lot, and everyone laughed and talked happily, but they didn’t forget to pick up the meat with their chopsticks…

Jiang Yule was somewhat of a germaphobe. He only took a few bites of vegetables and meat at first. Then, he looked at the dishes that were picked and shuffled, and couldn’t put down his chopsticks. He just took a steamed bun and ate it in small bites.

Meng Wanshu, who was beside Jiang Yule, didn’t eat much either. She watched everyone’s chopsticks rummaging around in the dish. The red, shiny, and smooth braised pork didn’t taste as good anymore.

On the contrary, the old educated youth, including Zhou Ningxin, seemed to have gotten used to this. They ate steamed bread, ate vegetables, and drank a little wine, feeling very comfortable.

Jiang Yule glanced at Nie Shuhui, who was eating hard. Her mouth was full of oil, but she still stared at the food on the plate.

Inexplicably, Jiang Yule recalled the look of contempt on Nie Shuhui’s face when Tang Wei said they would bring the meat. She looked down on him before, but now she was eating it with relish. She was really a very capable person.

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, revealing a slightly imperceptible smile

After three rounds of drinking, the female educated youth basically put down their chopsticks. The male educated youth drank a little too much. The initial chat and entertainment gradually turned into bragging, either about how great he was before or how popular he was with the girls in the village. Jiang Yule gradually lost his patience, and a slight and undetectable disgust flashed in his eyes.

Just as Jiang Yule felt the initial drink getting a little intoxicating, she checked the time and was thinking of finding a reason to leave when the male educated youth slowly shifted the topic to her. “If you ask me, Jiang Zhiqing is still the prettiest in our village. Her looks and figure are just amazing! I just don’t know which man will get her in the future.”