Chapter 12 – The Self-Talking One

“Are you blind? Today you shouted that I fell into the water—it was her who saved me. The brigade leader even told me to give her twenty catties of rice as thanks.

And now you come and ask me?

I haven’t even questioned you yet!

You were the one who shouted nonsense and made me lose twenty catties of rice. Let me tell you, Zhao Caihua—you should be the one paying for that rice.”

The woman across from him was none other than Caihua, who had shouted that Zhou Ye had fallen into the water earlier. Now she had appeared here, accompanied by a male comrade.

Upon hearing Zhou Ye’s words, the man immediately spoke up.

“Zhou Ye, I’ve already heard about what happened today. Caihua was just worried about you. Who told you to hold your breath underwater for so long?

She panicked, naturally thought you were drowning, and called for help—that’s totally normal.

Besides, Caihua and I are about to get married. I hope you stop bothering her.”

As he spoke, the man glanced at Jiang Manman standing next to Zhou Ye with a look of disdain and added:

“This educated youth who saved you doesn’t look bad either. To be so well-fed, her family must be well-off. Since you have her, stop pestering Caihua.”

Zhou Ye was infuriated by this comment.

“I’m pestering her? Sun Dazhu, are you blind?

Fine, I’ll ignore your blindness, but just look at her! Skin and bones, sharp eyes, pointy chin—just screams bitter and mean. Do I look like someone as blind as you?”

Zhao Caihua was shaken by his verbal assault and looked like she might fall over.

“Brother Zhou, h-how could you say that about me?

You—you weren’t like this before. Is it just because she saved you that you’re suddenly switching your affection?”

Sun Dazhu hurried to support the heartbroken Zhao Caihua and glared at Zhou Ye, full of condemnation.

“Caihua, don’t be sad. He’s just being bitter because he couldn’t get you. At least we don’t have to worry about him pestering you anymore. Let’s go.”

Jiang Manman rolled her eyes. So what were these two trying to do—show off their presence?

Also, this guy standing next to her, with that good-looking face, was clearly just another narcissist like Caihua.

She really couldn’t stand people who made up their own narratives.

If this wasn’t none of her business, she wouldn’t have stayed silent for so long.

She shot a glance at Zhou Ye beside her and said,
“Now that we’ve bought everything, let’s head over to the ox cart!”

Zhou Ye was also annoyed. That Caihua woman always loved talking to herself like that—what could he even do?

Hearing Jiang Manman say they were done shopping, he picked up the white flour and walked with her toward the cart.

Tang Xiaomin had been waiting for them there early. When she saw them returning together, she quickly waved.

At the moment, there were a few middle-aged women already seated on the ox cart.

“Director Zhou, don’t you have to work today? Who’s that young lady next to you?”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen her before. She’s quite the looker.”

“Zhou Ye, is this the wife your family arranged for you? Already sent her to the countryside?”

Seeing their conversation starting to go off the rails, Jiang Manman quickly redirected it.

“Hello aunties, I’m an educated youth sent to the countryside. I didn’t have everything prepared, so I came to the county to buy some things. I just happened to run into Comrade Zhou Ye.”

After hearing this, the women all let out an “Ohhh.”

The gossiping fire in their eyes instantly dimmed—just an educated youth, huh.

“Oh my, girl, you’re really quite plump—must weigh around two hundred catties, right?”

“You think she’s eating your family’s rice or something?”

“You think she’s eating your rice or something?”

Jiang Manman and Zhou Ye retorted in perfect sync. Both were momentarily stunned and looked at each other.

The auntie who got scolded looked at Zhou Ye, then at Jiang Manman.

“Oh? Zhou Ye, you—”

Zhou Ye replied impatiently.

“Auntie, enough already. The young lady’s just an educated youth who’s just arrived in the countryside, and you’re already talking like that? Aren’t you hurting our brigade’s reputation?

What if she goes home and tells people our brigade is full of gossipy busybodies? Is that what you want?”

The middle-aged woman rolled her eyes.

“I only said one sentence and now you’ve got a whole speech ready for me. Alright, alright, I won’t say another word.

When are you going back to the mountain to hunt wild boar? Count my Jia Bao in next time!”

Zhou Ye rolled his eyes, bent his legs and sat down, resting his head on his hand, casually saying:

“Depends on my mood! Jia Bao’s a good kid and we get along fine, but Auntie, you might want to watch that mouth of yours if you want to earn him some good karma.”

The auntie gave him an awkward side-eye.

Seeing him like this, the other women on the ox cart dropped the topic of the two educated youths and switched to gossip.

“Did you hear? That widow Zhang from the next village crawled into the party secretary’s bed. Oh my, that got the secretary dismissed on the spot. They say he was even expelled from the party.”

“That’s nothing. I heard that the wife of Old Ge’s second son’s wife’s aunt from Southwest Village couldn’t have kids—”

“Right, I heard that too. Then she crawled into her husband’s older brother’s bed and bam, got pregnant. Well, now it’s clear who’s the real problem in that marriage! Hahaha!”

“Hey, hey, did you hear about Old Song’s stepmother? Tsk tsk, beat Jiu Hua again yesterday. That poor kid didn’t have a single unbruised spot.

How can a stepmother be so cruel?”

“Eh, what’s the surprise? She treats her own son like a treasure and sees Jiu Hua as an eyesore.”

Jiang Manman’s eyes sparkled as she listened to the gossip from the aunties on the cart. She was fully enjoying the juicy stories.

She even pulled out a handful of sunflower seeds and offered some to Tang Xiaomin.

Tang Xiaomin smiled awkwardly as she accepted them and continued to listen.

Zhou Ye tilted his head and saw her happily munching on seeds while eavesdropping.

He reached out his hand, and without thinking, Jiang Manman grabbed a handful of seeds and put them in his hand—only to realize a second later this wasn’t Tang Xiaomin’s hand.

She glanced at the owner of the hand and glared.

Eating her sunflower seeds—where did he get the nerve?

Zhou Ye opened his mouth in silent laughter. Sure enough, this girl zoned out while gossiping, and handed over seeds without even looking.

Jackpot.

He happily joined in, munching seeds and listening to the aunties’ gossip.

When they got back to the village, they carried their big and small packages home—it was still early.

Jiang Manman placed the pot she brought out onto the stove counter. It fit perfectly. This pot and the stove were a match made in heaven.

She also brought out a spatula, bowls, chopsticks, rice, flour, oil, salt, two kang mats, and two small stools.

“Comrade Jiang, where did you get all this stuff?

They all look like they’ve been used before?”

Jiang Manman smiled.

“I figured we’d need to spend money on a lot of things after moving to the countryside, so I went to the black market and bought some cheaper secondhand stuff.”

“Black—!”

Tang Xiaomin immediately covered her mouth and stared wide-eyed in shock. They were going to be using this stuff together—they couldn’t let anyone find out!

“You’re too bold! How much did it all cost?”

“One yuan.”

“That cheap? Then—then does that place have any more good deals?”

Jiang Manman shot her a sideways glance.

“You were just saying how dangerous it was. Don’t even think about it. That place is dangerous. I’m never going back, and you shouldn’t get any ideas either.”

Tang Xiaomin pouted and nodded, slightly disappointed.

“Alright, alright. You really know how to live. Ah! You even bought a padlock?”