Chapter 14

Wu Juan didn’t get any candy, and she felt very unwilling.

Gu Jinshan couldn’t stand Wu Juan’s greedy expression and couldn’t help saying,
“Look at you—no better than this—still eyeing your own son’s candy!”

“Am I that kind of person? How could I be coveting my son’s candy?”

Wu Juan was already fuming inside, and hearing her husband’s words made her explode.
“People always say, ‘Marry a man and you’ll have food and clothing.’ But marrying you, this sullen mule, must be the worst luck in eight lifetimes!

It’s bad enough that your parents look down on me, but even your younger brother treats me differently depending on who I am!

We’re all part of the Gu family, but not only did the third brother not give me any candy, he only gave Dog Egg and Dog Sheng five pieces each—while giving the second brother’s kids ten pieces!”

Gu Jinshan was so exasperated by his wife’s words that he laughed.
“The third brother gave the second brother’s family ten candies, and he gave our family ten as well. How exactly is that wrong?”

Wu Juan pouted. “Is that what you call fairness? I gave birth to two sons, but the second brother’s wife is like a hen that can’t lay eggs—she only deserves five pieces of candy…”

Before Wu Juan could finish, Gu Jinshan was completely enraged. Pointing right at her nose, he lashed out:

“Ajuan, you’ve got no conscience! The second brother’s wife can’t have children—she’s already under huge pressure, and she’s in a lot of pain inside.

People gossip about her behind her back, saying the most hurtful things you can imagine—she’s already sad enough!

And you, as her elder sister-in-law, don’t comfort her at all—worse, you go and call her a hen that can’t lay eggs! Is that something a human being says?

Let me make this clear—if I ever hear you say that again, I won’t be polite to you!”

With that, Gu Jinshan stopped talking to her, slammed the door, and went to take a shower.

Wu Juan was left standing there, stunned.

It was the first time she realized that Gu Jinshan, usually such an honest man, could actually get angry.

And when he did—it was frightening.

Wu Juan just couldn’t understand. She was the great contributor to the Gu family—she had given birth to two sons, carrying on the family line.

But she didn’t enjoy any special treatment from the Gu family. Like all the other village women, she still had to work in the fields for work points every day!

Meanwhile, that “hen that couldn’t lay eggs” was treated with special care by the Gu family.

Had the entire Gu family gone mad?

At the educated youth center.

Lin Xiaoxiao and Huang Lihong borrowed 100 jin of rice grain and 50 jin of sweet potatoes from the production team.

Although Huang Lihong was a city girl, she had been strong since she was young—carrying 100 jin of grain was nothing to her.

It was even easier than Lin Xiaoxiao carrying 50 jin of sweet potatoes.

First, the two of them took the sweet potatoes back to the educated youth center, then carried the grain to the production team’s rice mill.

After milling, the 100 jin of rice grain yielded about 70 jin of rice and 29 jin of rice bran.

Huang Lihong traded the 29 jin of rice bran with villagers at 0.03 yuan per jin, getting 10 eggs in exchange.

“Xiaoxiao, you take the eggs. Tomorrow morning you can make malted milk with them.”

Huang Lihong handed the eggs to Lin Xiaoxiao, then carried the rice back to the educated youth center herself.

With Wang Jianguo’s help, the two weighed the rice properly and poured it into the canister in the canteen before leaving.

After washing her face, Lin Xiaoxiao went back to the dorm to sleep—only to find the canvas bag under her bed had been moved.

She quickly pulled it out and unzipped it to check. Nothing was missing, but everything inside had been rummaged through.

Lin Xiaoxiao snorted—she knew someone had been looking for food in it.

Luckily, she had her own hidden stash elsewhere, and the canvas bag didn’t hold anything valuable. Otherwise, something might really have been stolen.

As the saying goes, it’s not the thief stealing that’s the real trouble—it’s the thief thinking about stealing.

When she had time, she planned to wander around the village and rent a room for herself—somewhere with real privacy.

After riding the bus all day to get here, then setting up her bedding and borrowing food, Lin Xiaoxiao was already exhausted.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep to the sound of insects outside the window.

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The next morning, she was woken by the production team leader’s whistle for work.

She quickly got dressed, pulled out her washbasin from under the bed, and went to the educated youth canteen for water to wash her face.

Today, He Mei was cooking, and she was at the stove boiling sweet potato porridge.

Seeing Lin Xiaoxiao, she warmly offered,
“Xiaoxiao, there’s hot water here. After you wash your face, come get some porridge.”

“Thanks, Sister He, I will.” Lin Xiaoxiao liked this older educated youth, who had been here a few years before her.

After washing up, she drank a bowl of sweet potato porridge and went with the older educated youth to the production team for work.

Zhaoyang County had a subtropical monsoon climate and semi-hilly terrain. The main crops were rice, sweet potatoes, soybeans, potatoes, and sorghum.

The production team leader was standing at the tool shed, handing out farm tools to the members. When he saw the new educated youths arrive, he said,
“You don’t know how to fertilize rice, and you don’t know how to deal with pests, but surely you know how to weed?”

Once the educated youths nodded, he assigned tasks:
“Today, you’ll all go weed the sorghum field. Six mu per person, and if you finish, you get six work points!

And remember—don’t be so clueless that you pull out the sorghum seedlings along with the weeds!

If you pull the wrong plants, you’ll lose work points!”

Lin Xiaoxiao’s plot was on a hillside. She carried her gloves to the field and, seeing the knee-high weeds, was glad she had bought gloves before coming to the countryside.

Determined to complete her assigned task on her first day, she encouraged herself, put on her gloves, and bent down to work.

In her past life, although Lin Xiaoxiao had been an orphan, she had never done farm work. The original owner’s body was also weak.

Not even an hour in, she was already drenched in sweat.

By midday, the sun was blazing. Sweat dripped from her forehead onto her hands and the sorghum seedlings.

She wiped her forehead and looked back at what she’d done—only to be shocked.

After two hours of effort, she had only weeded about one mu.

Lunch was coming soon, and she still had five mu left—what was she going to do?

Just then, she heard rustling ahead. A tall figure appeared faintly among the sorghum.

“Could it be a wild boar coming down to eat the sorghum seedlings?”

She grew tense, picked up a stone, and crept forward to check.

It turned out to be a tall, broad-shouldered man, bending down and weeding at lightning speed.

His powerful arms seemed to have endless strength—each time his hands opened and closed, a whole patch of weeds disappeared.

“Brother Gu, you came to help me weed!” Lin Xiaoxiao said happily.

“I was idle at home, so I came out to help you with farm work,” Gu Jinchuan said, squatting in front of her with a big smile, revealing a row of straight, white teeth under his straw hat.

The first time he had seen Lin Xiaoxiao back in Yang City, Gu Jinchuan had been captivated by her beautiful eyes.

He had never seen eyes so lovely—like two crystal grapes—and he was willing to lose himself in them.

For the first time in over twenty years, his heart had been moved, and Gu Jinchuan intended to seize the chance.