Chapter 020

It took them half the day, but the bulletin board was finally complete.

Though Chu Xia hadn’t done the majority of the work, she was still quite pleased with the end result.

She carefully packed away the remaining chalk, even saving the tiniest bits.

Then she looked at Lin Xiaohan and smiled. “Didn’t expect you to be so talented. The board looks great.”

Lin Xiaohan didn’t get smug at her compliment. He just gave her a glance and said coolly, “Back in school, I was the one who always did our class bulletin boards. You didn’t know?”

Chu Xia blinked at him but said nothing.

She really didn’t know. She had never paid attention to him back then.

Lin Xiaohan didn’t continue the conversation either. He wasn’t interested in reminiscing about school days.

Although they had been in the same class, they’d lived in completely different worlds—there wasn’t much to talk about between them.

The only topic they could really talk about… was Han Ting.

Both of them paid attention to Han Ting—Chu Xia liked him, while Lin Xiaohan deeply disliked him.

It seemed like he and Han Ting were born to be at odds with each other, each finding the other completely intolerable.

But neither of them was particularly interested in talking about Han Ting.

Lin Xiaohan rinsed his hands using the water from the bucket, then went straight back to the office to grab his bag.

Seeing him leave, Chu Xia quickly washed her hands as well, poured out the water in the bucket, then headed back to the office, slung her bag over her shoulder, and caught up with him to leave the school together and walk back to the educated youth compound.

Since Lin Xiaohan had done most of the work drawing the blackboard poster—he had drawn the designs and written the text, while Chu Xia had just filled in the colors—she said to him, “You did more work on the board than I did. You must be more tired too. So how about I help to heat your steamed buns for lunch today?”

Walking ahead, Lin Xiaohan replied, “You really keep a close count of things.”

Chu Xia matched his pace and said, “Of course. I hate owing people. If we’re working together, you can rest assured—I won’t let you suffer any losses.”

Lin Xiaohan said, “If I don’t want to take a loss, no one can make me.”

Chu Xia thought for a moment, then looked at him and asked, “So when you gave me water to drink the other day, gave me a ride in the donkey cart yesterday, and took on the bulk of the blackboard drawing today—were all of those you voluntarily taking a loss?”

If it were any other guy, Chu Xia wouldn’t even bother asking. These were such minor things that no one would care enough to bring them up.

But since it was Lin Xiaohan, she couldn’t help being curious.

If he’d done all that willingly, did that mean she didn’t need to feel guilty about it?

Lin Xiaohan was momentarily stunned by her question.

Then he looked at her and said, “Thanks for reminding me how much I’ve already lost out when it comes to you. You don’t need to heat my buns today—I’ll just eat yours.”

Chu Xia: “…”

Still the same stingy man!

Back at the educated youth compound, Chu Xia ended up heating buns for both of them.

After eating, neither of them stayed to rest. They headed straight back to school to work on the speeches they would need for the afternoon meeting.

Not long after they left, Han Ting and the other nine returned, making a noisy entrance.

As they entered the courtyard, Han Ting said, “I asked around. No one’s willing to lend anything. The locals are stingy to the core—not even willing to spare a piece of dried radish. I talked to quite a few of them. Two seemed kind of open to the idea of a trade. If we bring something to exchange, they might give us a little.”

They were talking about the pickled vegetables they’d mentioned the day before.

When they reached the hand pump, Guogai grabbed the handle and started pumping water. “What would we trade for it?” he asked.

Clean water began flowing from the pump. Han Ting was the first to wash his hands.

Straightening up, he said, “They didn’t give specifics. Food or goods—anything they haven’t seen before. I figure if it’s something novel to them, we might be able to make a deal.”

Han Ting finished washing and headed into the kitchen. The others washed up and followed him in.

Some started the fire and fetched water to cook; others just sat around and kept talking.

Chaozi looked around at everyone and asked, “So what do you all have that we could use to trade?”

Li Qiao, always the eager one, jumped in first. “Food is the easiest to trade for more food. But we didn’t bring much from home, and it’s long gone. We’ve got nothing left to offer.”

Chaozi asked, “What about other stuff?”

But what else could they offer? There really wasn’t anything.

Everyone looked at each other but no one spoke.

After a moment of silence, Hu Yang, one of the male educated youth, said, “You girls brought so much luggage when you first arrived. How do you have nothing now? If it comes down to it, trade your clothes. These villagers have never seen nice clothes before.”

Gu Yuzhu immediately objected. “Why should we trade our clothes? Why not trade yours? Are we supposed to go around with nothing to wear?”

Hu Yang said, “Because you girls brought way more clothes than we did! We guys barely brought any. What’s the big deal if you lose one piece?”

Gu Yuzhu retorted, “Who told you we brought a lot? We brought just enough to get by—no extras. You guys can wear the same shirt for ten days or two weeks and not care. Go trade yours. Keep one—what more do you need?”

The way she said it was particularly irritating.

Hu Yang was about to snap back, but Han Ting stopped him.

He glanced at both of them and said, “What are you two arguing about again? Every time there’s an issue, it’s you two going at it the most. Is arguing going to solve anything?”

That shut them both up, at least a little. They toned down their emotions and voices.

Gu Yuzhu asked more gently, “Then what do you suggest we trade?”

Han Ting thought for a moment and said, “If no one has anything else, then let’s use grain.”

That actually wasn’t a bad idea.

Li Qiao immediately raised her hand. “I think that’s doable.”

The others all agreed—trading grain made sense.

Since no one objected, Han Ting decided to just go for it. He told Chaozi to grab some grain, and the two of them took it and headed off to the villagers’ homes to try and trade for pickled vegetables.

At the school.

In the office.

Lin Xiaohan and Chu Xia sat at their respective desks, focused on writing their speeches for the afternoon meeting.

While they were editing their drafts, a loudspeaker from the brigade headquarters suddenly blared outside: “Hello? Testing, testing!”

It was Brigade Leader Liang Youtian. After a couple of test calls, his voice grew louder as he announced:

“All commune members, please pay attention! All production teams will halt work for half a day today. We’ll be holding a village-wide meeting at the brigade’s threshing grounds. Every household must send at least one person. Bring your own stools and find a spot to sit. All children registered for school must attend, and all educated youth from the compound must also be present. No absences will be tolerated…”

Because he didn’t want anyone to miss it, Liang Youtian always repeated every announcement multiple times.

By the time the announcement ended, Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan had finished revising their speeches.

Lin Xiaohan put away his fountain pen and asked Chu Xia, “Are you done writing?”

Chu Xia also capped her pen and said, “Mm-hmm, all done.”

After that, the two gathered their speeches and walked together to the nearby classroom.

Following Liang Youtian’s instructions, they picked out three relatively clean desks from the classroom. Each carried one end, and together they moved all three desks to the threshing ground.

The desks were made for two people each.

Placed together, the three desks could seat six or seven people.

After setting up the desks, Liang Youtian happened to arrive with a roll of red silk cloth from the brigade and a microphone wrapped in red fabric. The microphone was connected to a very long cord.

With the red silk laid out on the desks and the microphone set up, it started to look quite official.

Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan then went back to the classroom to bring out three long benches.

Just as they placed the benches behind the main platform, the most lively kids in the village came charging onto the threshing ground, immediately running around and playing near the platform.

As the children played, the adults also began arriving one after another with their benches.

Whenever the villagers gathered, they naturally had endless things to talk about—chattering about neighbors and daily life. The threshing ground gradually filled up, growing more and more lively.

The villagers didn’t mind meetings much. Whatever the village cadres told them to do, they just did it.

But the ten educated youths who showed up looked increasingly sullen and unenthusiastic.

Gu Yuzhu muttered under her breath, “Why are we being called here for the school’s opening ceremony?”

What were they supposed to do—sit in the audience clapping, congratulating Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan on becoming teachers, while they themselves would never have to work the fields again? Was that really necessary?

Earlier, back at the educated youth housing, they’d been excited when they heard they didn’t have to work that afternoon—some even cheered. But now it turned out they were summoned for this pointless meeting instead.

And not just one of them—everyone had been called by name to attend.

Other households only needed to send one representative, so why did they all have to come?

The villagers might enjoy watching Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan bask in the spotlight, but they certainly didn’t.

All ten of them felt they were just as capable as Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan. Why should those two be the ones to become teachers?

Su Yun sat next to Gu Yuzhu.

When she heard Gu Yuzhu grumbling, she quietly took a breath and lowered her head, fidgeting with her fingers.

She was already feeling bitter and frustrated, and Gu Yuzhu nudged her with an elbow, asking, “Su Yun, don’t you feel bad? I still think you’re the one who should’ve been chosen as the teacher.”

Su Yun: “…”

She forced a smile at Gu Yuzhu and said, “Don’t say that.”

Gu Yuzhu insisted, “I’m not saying it for no reason. You’re clearly more suited than Tang Chu Xia to be a teacher. They just didn’t know how to pick the right person. If it were up to us, we would’ve picked you.”

Su Yun gave another forced smile, then bowed her head without replying.

She didn’t know why, but something about this whole situation just felt off.

It felt like she should be the one dressed up, glowing with confidence, sitting on the platform speaking into the microphone.

And that quiet, unremarkable girl, Chu Xia—she should be sitting in Su Yun’s current spot instead.

That feeling was incredibly strong, like a storyline fate had already written.

She couldn’t explain why she felt that way, but it made her unbearably stifled inside.