The team leader wasn’t blind to her little schemes.  

Glancing at the cluelessly grinning Educated Youth Rong, he couldn’t help but warn, “Don’t stir up trouble, or I’ll really deduct your work points.”  

Old Lady Zhu planted her hands on her hips. “You little brat, when have I ever caused trouble?”  

The team leader said nothing, merely lifting his pen as if to record something.  

Old Lady Zhu panicked. “Aiyo, you’re killing me! Here I am, kindly helping the new educated youth with their work, and instead of thanking me, you’re thinking of docking my points?”  

The team leader kept his pen poised, his face stern. “If you don’t get to work right now, I really will deduct them.”  

Old Lady Zhu immediately bolted for the fields, muttering as she ran, “Little turtle spawn, acting all high and mighty just because you’re a tiny team leader…”  

After grumbling for a while, she suddenly turned and barked at someone, “Hey, you! What are you standing around for? Get over here and work!”  

Naturally, she was yelling at Rong Xiaoxiao—the strong but easy-to-bully girl in her eyes.  

Gao Liao frowned and whispered, “Maybe I should go instead?”  

It was obvious this old woman was difficult to deal with. Considering they were all fellow youths sent to the countryside together, he figured he might as well help if he could.  

Rong Xiaoxiao didn’t seem bothered at all. “It’s fine. Having Auntie guide me is great. I’ll head over now!”  

With that, she cheerfully trotted after Old Lady Zhu, looking perfectly happy.  

Gao Liao watched with concern.  

She seemed so guileless—was she really going to be okay?  

Jiao Gang lazily draped his arms behind his head. “What’s there to worry about? There are so many people around—you think that old hag would actually dare to eat her alive? And even if she did, aren’t we here?”  

That made sense. Since everyone was working in the same field, they’d surely notice if anything happened.  

“Manman, let’s team up,” Sheng Zuoyuan said, his face full of tender concern. “The work in the fields is dirty—I’ll help you.”  

Jiao Gang shamelessly sidled over. “Brother Sheng, since we’re all from the same place, how about helping me out too?”  

Sheng Zuoyuan shot him a look. “Get lost.”  

Jiao Gang bared his teeth, already plotting to send a telegram home to tattle later.  

They’d promised to look out for each other before coming here, so why was Sheng only fussing over Bai Manman?  

Hmph. Rude!  

Sheng Zuoyuan ignored him and was about to speak to Manman again when he noticed she had already walked over to another older woman. He quickly moved to follow.  

Right now, he was utterly baffled.

Ever since they arrived in the countryside, Manman’s attitude toward him had become strangely distant.  

The warmth in her eyes when she used to look at him was gone, replaced by something that sent a chill down his spine.  

“Hey, no crowding! You two, go weed over there,” the team leader called out, raising his voice. “Pair up and work on the same plot. You’ve got to clear half by noon.”  

The locals were unfazed—some kept working without pause, while others dragged their feet.  

The newly arrived educated youths, still fresh to labor and not yet worn out, found weeding rather novel. At first, nothing went wrong—they obediently copied the others, squatting down to pull the wild grass from the soil.  

Old Lady Zhu glanced back at Rong Xiaoxiao and, seeing her crouched posture, urged, “Work faster! The sooner we finish this plot, the sooner we rest. You don’t wanna be stuck under the scorching sun, do you?”  

Rong Xiaoxiao nodded obediently. “You’re absolutely right, Granny Zhu.”  

Old Lady Zhu was thoroughly pleased with her response, congratulating herself for acting quickly. If this educated youth worked efficiently, she could slow down and slack off a little, couldn’t she?  

Seeing Rong Xiaoxiao reach out to start, Old Lady Zhu stopped watching her and turned to her own section.  

But slacking had to be done discreetly—she still had to put on a show of working at first.  

It wouldn’t do if Rong Xiaoxiao cleared a huge patch while she hadn’t even started.  

After advancing four or five meters, Old Lady Zhu finally paused to catch her breath. When she turned to check—  

Her beady eyes bulged wide.  

“Rong Xiaoxiao! Why haven’t you started working yet?!” Her voice was shrill and piercing. “You think you can just laze around?!”  

Rong Xiaoxiao looked up, baffled. “I am working.”  

Her hands were covered in dirt, and small holes had been dug around the weeds in front of her. It certainly looked like she’d been doing something.  

Old Lady Zhu stormed over. “What are you digging holes for? Don’t you know how to pull weeds?!”  

Without waiting for an answer, she demonstrated—yanking out a weed with a sharp tug.  

“See? This is how you pull weeds. I’m warning you—if you dare slack off, I’ll report you to the brigade leader!”  

Rong Xiaoxiao frowned slightly. “I’m not slacking. I am working.”  

Old Lady Zhu scoffed.  

In the entire brigade, if she wasn’t the best at slacking off, she was at least in the top few. How dare this girl play dumb in front of her? Ridiculous!  

Just as she was about to mock her, Rong Xiaoxiao suddenly pulled her down into a squat.  

“Granny Zhu, listen to me. Nowadays, we emphasize scientific farming—even weeding must be done scientifically. To weed effectively, we must follow several steps. First, we need to understand the weeds.”  

She pointed at a particular plant.  

“For example, take this weed. We must study its growing conditions, ecological habits, how it roots, whether it produces seeds, if its seeds have a dormant period, and so on.”  

Old Lady Zhu was dumbfounded. She straightened up, planting her hands on her hips, ready to scold again.  

“Bullshit! It’s just pulling weeds! Why the hell would I care how it grows?!”  

Rong Xiaoxiao shook her head disapprovingly.  

“See? That’s where your mindset falls short.”

With that, she yanked her down again.  

Old Lady Zhu, forced into a squat by sheer strength, “……”  

Rong Xiaoxiao put on a patient, instructive tone. “Listen to me. These weeds never truly disappear—you pull one, and soon enough, it grows right back, doesn’t it? Doing the same repetitive work over and over just wastes your labor, doesn’t it?”  

Old Lady Zhu didn’t quite follow. “Isn’t that just how weeding is?”  

She’d been pulling weeds her whole life—was she doing it wrong all this time?  

“Yes and no.” Rong Xiaoxiao looked deeply earnest. “Listen carefully. Humans need to eat, and weeds want to survive. So controlling weed growth isn’t simple. Like I said earlier, first, we have to understand them…”  

Understand how?  

Forced to stay crouched, Old Lady Zhu listened as Rong Xiaoxiao’s words poured out nonstop.  

Every individual word made sense, yet somehow, she felt like she hadn’t grasped anything.  

She’d been farming her entire life—how could she not know about these wild grasses and flowers?  

Surely she knew more than some city-bred educated youth, right?  

And yet.  

She was wrong.  

“Listen to me. Once we understand the weeds’ characteristics, we can make targeted plans. For example, we can establish buffer zones to inhibit their growth and reproduction.”  

“…Inhibit what?”  

“Listen to me. Weeds like dandelions, with their taproots, are nearly impossible to fully eradicate once they mature. One spawns ten, ten spawn a hundred—so we must eliminate them mercilessly before they grow.”  

“…Taproot what?”  

“Oh, this one’s actually useful! Listen to me—Amorpha fruticosa is a nitrogen-fixing crop. Do you know what nitrogen-fixing crops are?”  

“…Nitrogen what crops?”  

Old Lady Zhu had long since lost her bearings.  

It was just pulling weeds—why did it feel like she was sitting through a lecture?  

The more she listened, the more confused she got. She began questioning whether she’d been doing everything wrong for decades.  

“Old Lady Zhu, slacking off again?!” The team leader shouted from the slope. “Get moving! Rong Xiaoxiao, you too—or I’ll mark you both for zero work points!”  

Old Lady Zhu jolted back to reality. “I wasn’t slacking! I was teaching her how to pull wee—no, *she* was teaching me how to pull weeds! You can’t dock my points!”  

The team leader scoffed. “Can’t even lie properly. You’ve been pulling weeds for decades—since when do you need someone to teach you?”  

Old Lady Zhu nearly burst into tears of frustration.  

Exactly!

After all, she was a genuine, lifelong farmer—since when did she need someone else to teach her?  

But somehow, despite all the nonsense Rong Xiaoxiao had been spouting—some of which sounded reasonable yet made no sense—she ended up both utterly confused and scolded for it.  

“And you, Educated Youth Rong. I thought you were an honest one—don’t go learning how to slack off now,” the team leader warned. “Work points decide how much grain you get next year. If you want to eat your fill, you’ve got to work for it.”  

Rong Xiaoxiao nodded earnestly. “You’re absolutely right, Team Leader.”  

The team leader was pleased with her attitude.  

See? One kept making excuses, while the other obediently admitted her mistake.  

He couldn’t help but glare at the unrepentant Old Lady Zhu again.  

Old Lady Zhu grew even more aggrieved. “She was the one holding me up! Going on about understanding weeds, saying my mindset wasn’t good enough, something about straight roots and fixing whatever—this old lady didn’t understand a word!”  

The team leader frowned. What kind of nonsense was this?  

“Granny Zhu’s memory isn’t what it used to be,” Rong Xiaoxiao said, taking a step closer to the team leader. “But it’s fine—I can explain again. Team Leader, listen to me—”  

The moment Old Lady Zhu heard “listen to me,” her entire body shuddered in terror.  

Without another thought, she turned and ran.  

She’d rather work herself to exhaustion than stand there listening to that incomprehensible drivel.  

Not only did she not understand a word, it was downright humiliating.  

Once she’d put enough distance between them, she glanced back.  

She couldn’t hear anything from here, but she could see Rong Xiaoxiao talking nonstop—until even the team leader’s frown gradually melted into blank confusion.  

She let out a long sigh of relief. Thank goodness I ran fast.

What was Rong Xiaoxiao saying?  

Naturally, it was all about scientific weeding.  

Did it make no sense?  

Actually, some of it did—otherwise, the team leader wouldn’t have stayed dazed for so long without cutting her off.  

“Dong-dong… qiang, dong-dong… qiang!” The sound of gongs and drums rang out.  

Rong Xiaoxiao abruptly stopped talking and beamed. “Oh, work’s over! Well, you can listen to the rest this afternoon.”  

The team leader, still lost in a fog, took a long time to snap out of it.  

He looked up at the blazing sun overhead. Huh? Work’s over already?

What had he even accomplished all morning?  

It felt like nothing—just listening to Educated Youth Rong talk… and talk… and talk…