Chapter 9: Seeing Her Back

While the two were talking, Qin Zheng had already brought over some water.

Grandma Bai handed the cup to Tang Wan. The cup was entirely black with no patterns, looking very plain.

It was a black glaze cup.

The moment Tang Wan held it, she recognized its significance — a tea cup popular in the Jian’an area during the early Northern Song dynasty, a collectible piece of ceramic art even in later times.

Tang Wan had two sets like this in her modern home collection, cherished by her grandfather, who called them understated and unpretentious.

She hadn’t expected to see something like this here.

Grandma Bai invited Tang Wan to drink the water.

Tang Wan politely took a sip.

Honey water?

Tang Wan couldn’t help but take another sip to confirm.

Indeed, it was.

Tang Wan was a bit surprised — it wasn’t easy to have something sweet at this time, especially honey, which wasn’t available even in the supply and marketing cooperative and was hard to come by.

Grandma Bai was also a little surprised when she tasted the honey water. The honey had been brought by Qin Zheng for her to drink; she thought even Qin Zheng might not know where to find any, but unexpectedly, he had managed to get some just now.

Grandma Bai chatted with Tang Wan for a while and learned that Tang Wan was a sent-down youth from Beijing.

“That’s a good place. I went there when I was young too,” Grandma Bai smiled.

Tang Wan was a little surprised, but considering Grandma Bai’s demeanor and dress, it made sense. Grandma Bai didn’t seem like someone who had never left this small mountain village.

“I stayed there with the young master; everything was so good,” Grandma Bai sighed.

Before Tang Wan could ask more, Grandma Bai changed the subject, clearly unwilling to talk further about Beijing, and Tang Wan cooperated.

Tang Wan didn’t stay long; night had already fallen.

When Tang Wan was about to leave, Grandma Bai insisted that she take back the things she had brought.

Tang Wan obviously couldn’t take them back, so after a long discussion, she promised to come whenever Grandma Bai invited her for a meal in the future. Only then did Grandma Bai accept the items.

Tang Wan returned to the sent-down youth site, and Grandma Bai sent Qin Zheng to escort her.

Tang Wan originally refused, but Grandma Bai seriously warned her that many female sent-down youths were harassed walking alone at night, suffering various terrible fates, especially pretty girls like her, so it was best not to go out alone at night in the village.

Tang Wan also thought about this. Indeed, at this time, many idealistic young women sent down to the countryside were ruined by the beasts in the village, just like the original heroine’s fate in her previous life.

So she did not refuse Qin Zheng’s escort.

Qin Zheng said he was sending her off but did not walk alongside her, only slowly following behind. At night without streetlights, the path was pitch dark. Tang Wan walked cautiously and slowly, and Qin Zheng wasn’t impatient; he walked steadily behind her, giving a strong sense of security.

On such a pitch-black road, if Qin Zheng hadn’t been following behind, Tang Wan would have been quite scared.

Fortunately, there were no other homes on the way from Qin Zheng’s house to the youth site, and they didn’t meet anyone.

When Tang Wan saw the youth site from afar, she stopped.

Seeing her stop, Qin Zheng stopped as well.

When he didn’t come forward, Tang Wan simply turned and walked to his side.

Up close, Qin Zheng’s imposing height felt even stronger.

Tang Wan had to tilt her head up to look at him.

Qin Zheng also looked down at Tang Wan; her fair, delicate face looked even more beautiful under the faint moonlight.

Tang Wan took out the money she had prepared from her pocket and handed it over.

At first, Qin Zheng didn’t understand her meaning. When Tang Wan gestured toward his hand, he realized it was money for his lunch box.

Seeing Tang Wan’s insistence in her eyes, Qin Zheng had no choice but to accept the money.

For some reason, even though it was what he should receive, he felt a bit unhappy.

Tang Wan didn’t notice his mood and felt relieved once he took it.

After saying goodbye to Qin Zheng, Tang Wan returned to the sent-down youth site, not expecting someone to be waiting for her.

It was the little girl’s parents.

They hadn’t seen Tang Wan last time; Zhong Ling helped reject their thanks. They said they had always wanted to thank Tang Wan in person.

But since the little girl had a fever then, today she was a bit better and finally had time to come thank Tang Wan.

They were newly arrived and brought ten eggs.

Their words of thanks weren’t very sincere, and their attitude was somewhat casual.

Tang Wan could tell this family favored boys over girls, didn’t care much about their daughter, but under social pressure, they had to bring something to thank Tang Wan.

After all, most people in the village knew that Tang Wan had saved the little girl.

In the end, Tang Wan did not accept the things they brought, saying that if she took the ten eggs, the blame would go back to the little girl.

Tang Wan’s thinking was quite accurate.

Seeing that Tang Wan refused to take the gifts, the couple’s smiles became a little more genuine, and they only said that if Tang Wan needed help in the future, she could come to them.

After seeing off the couple, others at the sent-down youth site also had something to say.

Leading the complaints was Li Qing: “Their own daughter was saved, and they looked so grateful then, but when it came time to bring something, it was so cheap, as if afraid we’d accept it.”

That couple’s attitude was too obvious; anyone could see they weren’t sincerely thankful.

“It’s because she’s a girl and not precious. If it were a boy, they would have come to thank us properly,” Yan Hong said gloomily while cleaning the dishes.

Just like the parents of that little boy who pulled out money on the spot to thank Zhong Ling.

That girl’s parents said thank you with their mouths but didn’t show much emotion that their daughter had escaped death.

They delayed two days before coming and only brought a few eggs, acting like it was painful to do so.

The male sent-down youths didn’t comment, and Li Qing also said nothing.

Tang Wan knew this kind of thing: men as beneficiaries wouldn’t feel anything, and girls treated like this had long accepted the reality, even been assimilated by it.

This was an undeniable fact of the era, but it would change sooner or later.

This evening’s incident took away the good mood Tang Wan had and made her lose interest.

She tidied up early and got into bed.

After lying down, she still went into her space as usual, drank some spring water to wash away the fatigue from a day’s work.

Pulling weeds was easy, but squatting all day was really torturous. Although Tang Wan was not delicate, she still felt very tired.

After drinking the spring water, Tang Wan ate a steamed bun.

She hadn’t eaten before leaving at night, nor did she ask Yan Hong to save any for her.

At the sent-down youth site, meals now were just small handfuls of cornmeal mixed with wild vegetables steamed into buns, one per person, eaten with some garlic.

The cornmeal now made your throat raw, but it was already precious food, and there wasn’t much left. They had to mix in wild vegetables just to feel full.

This was already quite good; when the season came with no wild vegetables, they could only eat half full.

Tang Wan knew this situation well.

She couldn’t get used to the food at the youth site, so she simply didn’t have them make food for her, saving some for the others.