Chapter 9: Cooking Skills

Anran woke up early, even before the usual morning work call rang out.

Today was her team’s turn to cook.

After freshening up, she went to the kitchen and saw that Zheng Xiuhong was already there. Breakfast was going to be simple: porridge and pickled vegetables. Nothing too difficult.

“Xiuhong-jie, you’re up early and already cooking today. Let me take over lunch then,” Anran said. “Why don’t we take turns? One meal each—whoever cooks is the head chef, and the other helps out and washes the dishes. Sound good?”

Zheng Xiuhong looked at the bright-eyed girl in front of her and smiled.

“Sounds good.”

Everyone else gradually got up and came over for breakfast.

A new day meant more weeding and earning work points. Among the female educated youths, Xu Zhaodi was still radiating positivity, Zheng Xiuhong remained calm and unreadable, and Wang Xixi looked like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. The boys were doing relatively fine.

A group of people with wildly different vibes headed out together to pick up their tools.

Anran held back a bit and walked over to the village head.

“Uncle Village Chief, I’d like to get the kang bed-stove connected and have it checked over.”

The village head thought for a moment.

“That’s easy enough. After work this evening, I’ll come by with my eldest boy to take a look.”

“Great, thank you, Uncle Chief! I’m heading off to the fields then.”

Anran hopped away toward the farmland, cheerful and light on her feet.

The village head shook his head, smiling.
“Still just a kid.”

By mid-morning, Anran had finished clearing all the weeds from her assigned land. She straightened up and looked around—her progress was about the same as the boys.

As for Wang Xixi, more than half her plot was still covered in wild weeds. She seemed to have been scared off by the blunt country boy next to her and was only sniffling quietly now.

“Seriously… where do all her tears even come from?” Anran thought, half amused.

Since Anran had collected edible wild greens yesterday, everyone had started picking them more consciously. They saved anything that looked similar, ready for Anran to identify back at the kitchen.

The ever-knowledgeable Anran felt quite proud of herself.

After the morning work session, Anran and Zheng Xiuhong jogged back to prepare lunch. Compared to her usual leisurely stroll, this was a dramatic change.

First, Anran picked through the wild greens, washed and chopped them up. She decided to contribute two eggs for lunch—today felt like a good day for something special.

She heated the pan, poured in some oil, mixed the greens with the eggs, added salt, then snuck in a dash of five-spice powder and chicken essence. Into the pan it all went.

The result? Crispy, golden, savory wild green and egg pancakes.

For the staple food, it was coarse wheat buns. Anran secretly mixed in some sifted black flour so they wouldn’t scratch the throat going down.

Soon the aroma wafted through the air, and everyone gathered, mouths already watering.

“Lunch is ready,” Anran called out.

At her words, everyone grabbed their bowls and chopsticks, ready to pounce.

“Anran, I didn’t know you could cook this well!”

“Yeah, it smells amazing.”

Wang Xixi, clearly not in a good mood, muttered,

“Well sure it tastes good. Anyone could cook well with eggs.”

Anran, not in the mood to indulge her attitude, smiled sweetly.

“Then next time when you cook, you could contribute two eggs too. Let everyone enjoy some more.”

The air tightened. No one said anything for a moment, and everyone quietly finished eating.

Even though they had agreed on a division of labor, and it was Zheng Xiuhong’s turn to do the dishes, Anran still stayed behind to help with little tasks. Since there was no oil or grease, cleaning up was easy.

Once everything was done, she went back to her room for a nap. Lunch had been decent enough, so she didn’t bother sneaking out snacks from her space this time.

When the work bell rang, it was time to go back to the fields.

That afternoon, Anran managed to turn over about a third of her plot. Meanwhile, Wang Xixi’s section was still mostly covered in weeds.

The task supervisor came by and recorded the work points: everyone received seven, except for Wang Xixi, who only got four. She instantly became the cautionary tale of the educated youth camp.

Back at the dorms after the workday ended, people were in better spirits than the day before. The exhaustion had faded, and they were gradually adapting.

But Wang Xixi, embarrassed and sulking, stormed around the dorms, making noise even during dinner. Nobody paid her any attention. Eventually, realizing no one was going to bite, she gave up and retreated to her room.

Later that evening, the village head and his son came by the educated youth camp.

Anran welcomed them in, poured them tea, and said cheerfully,

“Uncle Chief, Brother Xiao, no rush—have some tea first.”

The village chief sipped the rare tea with a pleased smile, thinking to himself:
“This girl An is really thoughtful.”

After the tea, they got to work inspecting the kang.

“Looks good,” the chief said. “It was probably connected with the main house from the start—it’s still usable.”

“Perfect, that puts my mind at ease,” Anran replied with a smile.

Just as the two men were about to leave, Anran opened a cabinet and pulled out half a jin of brown sugar.

“Uncle Chief, Brother Xiao, thank you both for helping me with the kang. And thank you also for everything today—Comrade Xiao Hong even took us up the mountain. We’re really lucky to have you as our village chief.”

As she spoke, she tucked the sugar into the older boy’s hands.

The boy looked at his father, unsure what to do.

The village chief paused, then said,

“Just take it.”

And with that, he walked out of the youth camp, hands clasped behind his back. His son quickly followed.

Outside, the son said,

“Dad, this Comrade An is so generous. That brown sugar must be at least half a jin.”

The chief gave a small smile.

“Kids from the city—they know how to think.”

Then he fell silent again. From the way Comrade An spoke and handled things, she was clearly no ordinary person. She’d praised him just enough, subtly mentioned his daughter’s good deeds that morning, and made it sound like pure gratitude. It was flattery, yes, but the kind even he enjoyed hearing.

Now that—was skill.