Chapter 27

After Su Ye had eaten and drank her fill, a light sweat appeared on her forehead, feeling both physically and mentally content.

The free-range wild mountain boar rewarded in the livestream was very fatty and tender, with firm, smooth meat that tasted better than the pork sold in stores.

Su Ye immediately made up her mind and decided to exchange ten pounds of meat coupons for pork at the canteen. Such delicious pork—if she missed this opportunity, there wouldn’t be another one.

Li Maogang, halfway through his meal, saw Su Ye suddenly stand up and asked, “Sister-in-law, aren’t you eating?”

Su Ye smiled and said, “You all eat more, I need to step out for a bit.”

Su Ye went to the canteen and exchanged the meat coupons for ten pounds of pork. The cooks were preparing lunch, and they had already used half of the wild boar meat to improve the soldiers’ meals. If Su Ye had come a little later, the pork belly would probably have been gone.

Thanks to Su Ye, the entire compound’s meals were upgraded that day. Chef Yang repeatedly praised, “This wild boar meat is especially tender and delicious. Comrade Su, do you want to take some meat dishes back with you?”

Having been a chef for decades, Chef Yang rarely encountered such high-quality ingredients. This pork was so easy to prepare and tasted great no matter how it was cooked.

Su Ye quickly shook her head. A portion of meat dishes only had a few ounces of meat, yet it required a whole pound of meat coupons. She couldn’t afford to be so extravagant. She had worked hard for months to save up forty pounds of pork belly, so she needed to be frugal.

Su Ye successfully exchanged ten pounds of pork belly and spent 20 cents to buy some sausage casings that didn’t require meat coupons.

As she passed through the canteen, she overheard the military families in line whispering, “The meat smells so good today!”

In the noisy atmosphere, the sound of people swallowing could be vaguely heard, so loud that even Su Ye couldn’t ignore it.

This made her recall the first day she arrived here, envying others eating meat while she had to miserably chew on black steamed buns. In just three months, she now had dozens of pounds of pork.

The military families who had gotten meat dishes were eating enthusiastically, their eyes wide with delight. Although they already knew pork was delicious, today’s dishes were especially tasty—smooth, tender, soft, and flavorful with no gamey taste. People ate with grease dripping from their mouths, completely absorbed in the meal.

Word spread that today’s meat dishes were made from wild boar, and the military families nearly got into a fight at the canteen window trying to get some.

“Today’s pork is really fragrant. I heard from Old Yang that the soldiers hunted it, who’s so lucky?”

“I think it was Gu Xiangqian and his wife.”

“How lucky!”

Hearing this, Su Ye quickly quickened her pace and brought the meat home.

By the time Su Ye returned home, Fang Xiulian and her husband had already eaten their fill and left. She cleaned the sausage casings, ground the spices into powder, and used the spice powder to marinate the pork belly, making five pounds of sausage and five pounds of cured pork.

Next, Su Ye stuffed the leftover pig’s blood into the remaining casings and made blood sausage.

After a full meal, Su Ye slept especially soundly that night.

Meanwhile, a group of people in the countryside had gone crazy trying to catch wild boars. Drawn by the rumors of the legendary pork, they were desperately digging pits in the dark, and the riverbank was soon filled with traps of all sizes.

Pairs of eager eyes were fixed on the trap that Gu Xiangqian was digging.

One person said, “This is definitely the spot! I saw a wild boar fall into this pit during the day. The blood of the boar might attract other wild boars!”

Another person nodded confidently, “If a wild boar comes this way, we’ll definitely catch it!”

Dozens of gazes were fixed on the pit, not sleeping and staring at it as if they could already smell the delicious aroma of the pork.

Monday.

He Meimei arrived at school and shared everything that had happened after Su Ye left the riverbank.

He Meimei said, “The place where we used to dig wild vegetables is now filled with traps. No one dares to go there once it gets dark.” She sighed, “We can’t go there to dig wild vegetables anymore. We’ll have to find another place. Su Ye, next time, take me with you.”

Getting lucky once is an accident, twice is good fortune, but getting lucky three times like this really means the person is chosen by fate. He Meimei made up her mind to follow Su Ye’s lead from now on.

Su Ye couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. She worried that ^[1]someone’s luck could be a double-edged sword means that someone’s good luck can have both positive and negative consequences. While luck might bring benefits, it can also lead to unexpected … Continue readingsomeone’s luck could be a double-edged sword. In later times, not winning a few million wouldn’t even make people remember you.

She had just collected forty pounds of pork and caused a city-wide stir. What if, in the future, she managed to accumulate a mountain of grain or a mountain of meat? Wouldn’t people treat her like a goddess (or like a monster, roasting her on a fire)?

Su Ye decided she could no longer use this method to gain rewards.

Without Gu Xiangqian, things would have been much simpler for Su Ye. But with him around, she had to worry about many more things.

If only Su Ye had decisively divorced back then, things would have been much easier. A useless man couldn’t compare to her eating and living freely. But who knew that she had drunk half a bottle of white wine, and after a few drinks, she became confused. This really was… a man’s looks causing her downfall!

Su Ye gloomily pulled out a mountain of homework and started correcting it frantically. Fame and attention were truly troublesome.

Hahahahahaha, I’m going to die laughing.

With all this excitement, woman, you’ve got to take responsibility. You can’t just pull up your pants and run away. You ate it, so now you can’t back out.

Seems like men aren’t something you can casually take. ^[2]“Don’t pick the wild flowers by the roadside”: This part of the expression implies not taking something that is readily available but potentially troublesome. In many cultures, … Continue readingDon’t pick the wild flowers by the roadside! Gu Tian’e really is poison.

—

Science class.

After class, a few students blocked Su Ye at the door. They appeared to be about the same height as her, wearing clothes that had become faded from washing, with several patches on their shoes.

The boy at the front hesitantly said, “Hello, Teacher Su. We’re high school students. Many of our classmates are very interested in what you are doing. Can we join you and work with you?”

Su Ye looked up at them and could tell their economic conditions weren’t great. She decisively replied, “Of course, you’re welcome.”

Due to her educational background, Su Ye had never taught at the high school level, and her influence didn’t extend to the high school students. She was already quite familiar with the middle school students, so these high school kids coming to her felt like an unexpected gift.

Su Ye was, of course, delighted.

She cheerfully said, “Do you have a solid foundation in math and physics? I’m going to teach students the principles of radio next. If you’re free on Friday afternoon, you can come listen to my lesson.”

She tore a page from her lesson plan notebook and quickly jotted down several reference books. “You can go to the library this weekend and borrow these books to read. Prepare a bit, I’ll be teaching next week.”

The high school students felt warm inside after hearing this. They didn’t expect things to go so smoothly.

This was the legendary Teacher Su… she was really so approachable.

After school, the principal called Su Ye to the office.

The middle school students were extremely nervous upon hearing this. The shadow of last week’s incident hadn’t completely passed, and they thought Su Ye was about to be taken away by the investigation team again. The students sat in the classroom, looking at each other anxiously.

“What should we do? Is there anything we can do to help Teacher Su?”

Yang Xue said, “I heard my dad say that the situation is really intense right now. Let’s write a letter to the Municipal Education Committee asking for leniency for Teacher Su. She was only doing good things, good people can’t just be framed like that.”

“What should we write? Let me think… Hmm, I’ll write about what Teacher Su has done for us, what kind of teacher she is. Once I’m done, we can all add our fingerprints and signatures.”

When the class monitor said this, the whole class nodded and raised their hands in agreement.

Principal’s office.

The principal smiled and made Su Ye a cup of tea. “Little Su, the Municipal Education Committee asked you to organize some materials and write about the watch charity and resource-saving initiative. The time is tight, I’ll take it to the city for evaluation the day after tomorrow.”

“The story of your achievements should be around 10,000 words. The handwriting must be neat and beautiful, and there can’t be a single mistake. Is that okay?”

Su Ye was startled when she heard about the 10,000 words, but thinking about how this honor could protect many people in the future, she decided she would write it, even if she had to break her hand in the process.

Su Ye answered decisively, “No problem, I’ll give it to you tomorrow!”

After returning to her office, Su Ye buried herself in organizing the materials for the award.

Teacher He, from the same office, glanced at what Su Ye was writing and teased, “Teacher Su, are you going to be evaluated for an award?”

“If I get the award, our school’s workshop might just keep growing more popular.”

He fiddled with Zhou Yi and asked, “Old Zhou, have you tallied up the accounts for this month yet?”

Zhou Yi flipped through the account book, adjusted his glasses, and said, “The month’s not over yet, so there’s no rush.”

However, the figures on the account sheet were astonishing, more than even Zhou Yi had expected.

On the other side, at No. 5 Middle School.

The teachers in the entire office were discussing the materials to be sent to the city for the award evaluation. Unlike No. 1 Middle School, No. 5 Middle School was submitting materials for “Outstanding Teacher” evaluations. The teachers at No. 5 Middle School collectively voted for a dedicated teacher, and the senior teachers humbly gave their place to a newcomer. Gao Anna unexpectedly received one of the spots.

She was ecstatic as she organized the materials for her outstanding achievements.

—

The next day, Su Ye, with bloodshot eyes from staying up late, neatly handed the materials to the principal.

To boost her profile, Su Ye had specifically contacted Reporter Xia from the local newspaper, pushing the originally scheduled article about her educational charity a week ahead of time.

Although Reporter Xia was somewhat confused, he still made sure to publish the report as soon as possible. That day’s newspaper featured the story of a group of special children who longed to study but had to leave school due to poverty. Despite their young age, they had to bear the burden of life.

The illustrations included Ma Jianguo strenuously pulling a tricycle, Qian Xiaohe reading earnestly in a dark corner, Yang Xue’s hands, now calloused from work, and the students working hard on watch repair techniques.

Some local citizens, who had seen the “Scholarship Note” from earlier, quickly put two and two together. They realized that the watches they were wearing had been made by these children, and every penny was spent on helping these poor kids.

For the first time, the reputation of the refurbished watches from No. 1 Middle School was completely spread.

In just a few days, many people spontaneously came to the school to donate watches, and Zhou Yi was going to the bank to deposit money almost every other day. This effect exceeded Su Ye’s expectations.

At the end of the month, Su Ye had Zhou Yi calculate the accounts, and the financial details were posted on the bulletin board where everyone in the school could see.

None of them had expected what they saw. The entire school collectively gasped in surprise.

The financial income details that Zhou Yi had compiled showed a shocking four-digit number.

By making small profits, the “Green Factory” was like a rising star, stunning everyone and forcing them to take notice.

Refurbishing watches, to put it simply, is just “collecting scrap.” Who would have thought that collecting scrap could make so much money? This was far beyond what anyone had expected.

Liu Qiu was stunned, completely shocked. Even though she was concerned about this task every day in the office, she never anticipated that it would be so profitable. What was even harder to believe was that this money was earned by a group of kids.

Fang Zhou’s breath was unsteady as he asked, “Is this really the amount for this month? Could it be that Teacher Zhou made a mistake in the calculations?”

Teacher He nodded. “Yes, it’s true. People often overlook things that seem insignificant.”

City C has a population of 7.6 million, with 3.4 million in the urban area. After the founding of the country, people’s material living standards weren’t very high, but in wealthier families, it’s customary to include a watch as part of the bride price for weddings. Over decades, how many discarded watches must have accumulated?

“Collecting scrap” feeds on this kind of communal contribution.

After Su Ye published the financial details, many teachers expressed their desire to join in. Su Ye selected a few teachers who were willing to contribute, were diligent, and liked to work to join her team.

After all, free labor is always a good thing. The more people, the stronger the collective power, and Su Ye was more than happy to pull everyone into the effort.