Chapter 23: Need Extra Money

The brigade leader clearly knew what kind of people they were. He waved dismissively without even listening to their explanation.

“Hurry up and separate them—what kind of mess is this?”

With the brigade leader’s tough stance, everyone else softened. Aunt Liu Si and Aunt Wang quickly stepped forward and pried Li Hongmei off Secretary Zhao.

Now all she could do was sit on the ground and cry. It seemed she had truly mastered the full skillset of a rural village woman.

Secretary Zhao’s pants were saved, but his dignity?

That had been completely lost, thanks to his now-revealed pair of brightly flowered boxer shorts.

Brightly flowered boxers: Who would’ve thought I’d ever get screen time again? Who understands my pain, family?

With a sullen expression, Secretary Zhao discussed with the brigade leader and decided to submit a request to higher-ups: they wanted to have Li Hongmei reassigned to a labor farm.

“I don’t want to go to the farm! I don’t want to go to the farm!”

“Comrade Li, please obey the decision from above. Otherwise, the consequences will be more than you can bear.”

Secretary Zhao, chest heaving with anger, said this and turned to leave. Today had truly been humiliating.

Zhou Ye glanced at Jiang Manman.
“Let’s go.”
Then, he left one more remark for Aunt Liu Si and the others:
“Keep an eye on the pigs in the pen.”

Jiang Manman didn’t have to carry anything in her basket. After all, she still had to go out and collect pigweed in the afternoon.

Seeing the two of them walk off, Li Hongmei gasped between sobs. She was unwilling—completely unwilling!

At noon, Jiang Manman came back with the wild chicken she had caught. Naturally, this led to a lovely meal of chicken and mushroom stew.

The mushrooms she had foraged two days ago weren’t used up yet, and today was the perfect time—otherwise they’d start breeding maggots.

Zhou Ye had sworn off eating her cooking, determined to save his one month’s salary. But now, swallowing saliva and holding back temptation had become his daily struggle.

At a time when most households couldn’t afford a few meat dishes, not even the brigade leader’s family ate meat every day.

Yet the two newly arrived female educated youths were making stews every day. Luckily, they lived a bit farther from the main village, or else people would die of jealousy.

For their own good, Zhou Ye decided he had to warn them.

At lunch, gnawing on coarse steamed buns and salted radish, Zhou Ye glanced at the one yuan note on the table.

He silently reminded himself: one yuan has real purchasing power—eggs are only three cents each, and a single yuan could buy so many eggs.

Spending one yuan for just one meal? Totally not worth it.

One yuan a meal? That’s thirty yuan a month. That’s three hundred sixty yuan a year. Hissss!

Shoving the money into his pocket, he got up and walked out.
“Comrade Jiang, give me a portion.”

Taking the bowl in his hands, he noticed a whole drumstick inside and smacked his lips.
“I’ll just say this: eating meat like this every day will definitely stir up jealousy in the village. You two should tone it down in the future.”

He resolved to eat this one last meal, then deposit all his remaining cash. From now on, he wouldn’t carry money around.

Jiang Manman, open to good advice, nodded earnestly.
“Thank you for the reminder. We’ll be more mindful from now on.”

She hadn’t considered this before. But since she was trying to lose weight, cutting out meat wasn’t really an option either.

There weren’t any standalone chicken breasts for sale, and certainly no lean cuts of beef. Her diet plan would have to adapt.

Zhou Ye finally relaxed. Damn, this chicken leg was delicious.

In the afternoon, Jiang Manman looked around and saw no one near Zhou Ye’s place, so she went off to the pig farm, basket on her back, heading up the mountain.

Just outside the pig farm’s gate, Zhou Ye came running over with a small cloth bundle in hand.

“Here, for you—sulfur.”

Jiang Manman’s eyes lit up as she took the sulfur.
“Thank you, Comrade Zhou.”

Zhou Ye raised an eyebrow, his handsome, youthful features shining with vitality. He lifted his chin and said:

“No need. You’re basically half a member of our pig farm now. If something were to happen to you while collecting pigweed, that would be a real problem.

Figure out how to carry it on you.”

Jiang Manman smiled at his words and continued up the mountain to gather pigweed.

Now that she had sulfur, if she could just find a few spices, she’d be able to effectively ward off snakes, bugs, and plague-bearing rodents.

The mosquitoes here were especially numerous.

She envied those female leads in novels who crossed into other worlds with a full Wanda Mall in tow.

Sighing to herself, she focused on her task. In the morning, she had already memorized the types of pigweed that pigs liked.

It didn’t take long—some from here, some from there—and she soon had twenty pounds of pigweed.

The remaining time was hers to do as she pleased.

Sure enough, collecting pigweed was the most satisfying job. Plus, the mountain air was exceptionally fresh.

Now, it was time for Pamela’s workout routine.

And also, 1,000 high-knee lifts. With enough reps, those love handles had to disappear.

After finishing her exercises, she took out her little folding stool for a break. Her waist and legs no longer felt like hers.

Taking deep breaths of the clean air—pure oxygen exercise.

Sweat poured down like rain. When it finally subsided, she grabbed her pigweed and stool, looked around to make sure no one was nearby, and ducked behind a big tree to enter her space.

Inside her space, she had a change of clothes. After a warm shower and changing, she was about to leave.

Just as she was stepping out, she remembered that the space let her see the outside. She peeked—no one around. One foot out—then suddenly, voices.

Startled, she yanked her foot back.

Looking out from her space, she didn’t see anyone. But the voices were clear—it was Li Hongmei and someone unfamiliar.

“You really are ruthless, educated youth. If you can’t have him, you’ll destroy him?”

Li Hongmei’s voice was vicious.

“That’s right, I’ll destroy him. I won’t just ruin Zhou Ye—I’ll ruin that damn fatty too.”

The unfamiliar man—called Er Shuan—spoke next:
“Gotta add more money!”

Jiang Manman rolled her eyes. So now she was on their hit list too? She heard Li Hongmei ask for a quote.

“How much?”

“Fifty.”

“What?! Fifty is too much. Twenty-five! That’s all she’s worth in my eyes.”

Listening from inside the space, Jiang Manman couldn’t help but roll her eyes again and spit. Only twenty-five? Insulting!

And she dared to say it out loud.

Er Shuan clearly thought that was too low as well and immediately bargained.
“Forty. No less. Otherwise my brother and I aren’t doing it.”

Li Hongmei clenched her teeth and agreed.

“Fine. One hundred and forty total. But I want results before I pay.”

“No way. What if we pull it off and you deny the whole thing?

Tell you what—you don’t need to pay half upfront. Just place this packet in their pig feed, or better yet, put it in that Jiang girl’s pigweed.

That way she’s completely done for. Zhou Ye will turn on her.

And when we tie her up afterward, no one will remember her. No one will stick up for her.

Everyone will just think she ran away in guilt, afraid of being blamed.”

Jiang Manman couldn’t help but want to applaud—what a scheme!

Li Hongmei’s voice sounded a little unwilling.
“Then why are you still charging me forty? I’m doing work too!”

“Big sis, you think my drugs are free?”