Chapter 20: Wang the Third Daughter

Jiang Pan Yu was just about to launch into an impassioned speech when the Team leader caught them slacking off. With a dark expression, he approached, and everyone quickly scattered to resume their work.

Before heading home for lunch, Yang Guiying grabbed Jiang Pan Yu’s hand and said, “Jiang, come to work this afternoon and tell me more about what you didn’t finish this morning.”

Jiang Pan Yu naturally agreed. She had been eager to integrate into the circle of rural gossip-loving women, as it would provide her with plenty of useful information.

Her little story from the morning had clearly been a success. Jiang Pan Yu strolled back to the Educated Youth Residence, where the atmosphere was somewhat somber. Many of the new Educated Youth had secretly shed tears.

Although they knew farming in the countryside was tough, hearing about it and experiencing it firsthand were two entirely different things.

Tan Yanlu, Shen Shilei, and Chen Xiaoxue, the three girls, all had red-rimmed eyes, clearly having cried before returning.

The male Educated Youth, on the other hand, appeared more resilient, not showing their tears as openly.

Jiang Pan Yu consoled the girls, “Stop crying. Crying won’t make the work go away! Go wash your faces, eat, and rest for a bit. Also, since it’s your first day doing farm work, don’t let them rush you. Take it slow. If you overdo it on the first day, you’ll be too sore to get up tomorrow.”

This was well-meaning advice. Shen Shilei sniffled and asked Jiang Pan Yu, “Don’t you find it hard?”

Jiang Pan Yu shrugged, “I wasn’t as fortunate as you. I grew up doing farm work, so I’m used to it. It’s not so much about whether it’s hard or not.”

No matter how tough it felt, no matter how much they wanted to cry, they were already in the countryside. Returning to the city was nearly impossible, so they had no choice but to grit their teeth and persevere.

The girls wiped their tears and went to wash their faces and hands.

Li Gaoyang had already assigned the daily tasks for the new Educated Youth on the wooden board by the entrance.

With so many people, the workload wasn’t heavy, but it still had to be done.

Today, Li Yunying and Zhao Xiuzhu were once again in charge of cooking. This time, Zhao Xiuzhu didn’t dare to cause any trouble, and lunch was a normal meal.

After eating, it wasn’t yet time to return to work, so the Educated Youth went back to their rooms for a nap.

It wasn’t until the drums and gongs sounded at the threshing ground that the villagers gathered to resume work.

The afternoon’s task was still loosening the soil. The fertile soil of the northern province yielded high crop production, but weeds also grew quickly. The extensive root systems of wild vegetables could easily harden the soil. If the soil wasn’t loosened and fertilized, the wild vegetables would compete with the crops for nutrients, and the hardened soil would lead to reduced yields.

However, some of these weeds were edible, such as Joint Grass, Wormwood Grass, Dandelion, Cartwheel Vegetable, and Sow Thistle, all of which were considered wild vegetables.

The women brought large baskets with them to work, loosening the soil while also tossing the edible wild vegetables into their baskets.

They weren’t so poor that they had to survive on wild vegetables, but every household in the countryside now raised Task Pigs. These wild vegetables, when chopped up, were excellent for feeding pigs and chickens.

Of course, if they found tender ones, they could also pick them for themselves. It was a win-win situation.

Jiang Pan Yu didn’t take any of the wild vegetables, and the Educated youth residence never made such a request either, as they didn’t raise pigs or chickens.

So while Jiang Pan Yu was loosening the soil, if she came across any wild vegetables, she would toss them into the baskets of the aunties.

It was just a small gesture, but it made the aunties look at Jiang Pan Yu with even more warmth in their eyes.

However, they were also puzzled. How could a city girl like Jiang Pan Yu handle farm work so effortlessly?

Jiang Pan Yu just smiled and said, “I grew up in an orphanage when I was little. I did plenty of farm work back then, so I’m quite familiar with all the tasks in the fields!”

“An orphanage? Jiang, are you saying you’re an orphan?” asked Yang Guiying, as the villagers were always curious about life in the city.

“When I was little, I was sickly, and since I was a girl, my parents abandoned me. They left me under a bridge, and it was the Director of the orphanage who picked me up and took me in.”

Jiang Pan Yu briefly recounted her background.

Yang Guiying tossed a handful of dandelions into her basket and said, “Seems like city folks aren’t much different from us country folks. They also favor boys over girls.

I never thought you city folks would have to do farm work too.”

“Yeah, well, we’re all human after all. The only advantage of the city is that you don’t have to work in the fields, but when it comes to basic needs, it’s all the same.

In the city, even a single scallion has to be bought, and you have to pay for water and such. It’s not really any easier than life in the countryside.”

Yang Guiying then remembered the story Jiang Pan Yu had mentioned earlier, which had been interrupted by the Team leader, so she was particularly eager to know who the protagonist of that story was.

Jiang Pan Yu shook her head and began to spin a tale with a straight face: “Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to talk about, but here’s what happened. There was a family surnamed Wang living next to the soap factory in our neighborhood. Both parents had jobs, and the family was quite well-off.

They had three daughters, and this incident happened to the youngest one, Wang the Third Daughter.

Wang the Third Daughter was beautiful from a young age and, being the youngest, was doted on by her parents.

When she was in her teens, she went out to buy vinegar and was harassed by someone.

A boy from our orphanage saw it and chased the hooligan away.

Because of this, Wang the Third Daughter insisted on marrying that boy.

Her parents, of course, were against it. The boy was an orphan, had no job, no house, nothing to his name, and often didn’t know where his next meal was coming from. The Wang family didn’t want their daughter to suffer like that.

But guess what happened.”

“What happened?”

“The Third Daughter was determined to follow that poor boy, saying she’d even eat wild vegetables if she had to.

Old Wang had no choice but to disown her, saying he no longer had a daughter!

The Third Daughter wasn’t upset. She packed up and left with the boy, and they ended up living in a public toilet.

Later, the boy said he was going to the provincial capital to look for relatives, and he left Wang the Third Daughter behind.”

“Ah! What happened after that?”

“After that, Wang the Third Daughter lived in the toilet for several years. With no money for food, she went to nearby villages to pick up discarded vegetable leaves and dug for wild herbs.

She cooked them in a broken clay pot and lived like that for years!”

“Why didn’t she go back to her parents? Her family was quite well-off, wasn’t it?”

Jiang Pan Yu sighed, “How could she face them? When Wang the Third Daughter insisted on marrying that boy, she made quite a scene…”

They say marriage is free now, and parents can’t stop her.

The commotion was so big that the Women’s Federation got involved, and it infuriated her parents so much that they even threatened to cut ties with her!

So, whether it’s good or bad, she just had to live with it.”

The aunties all chimed in, “That girl got what she deserved! She abandoned her parents for a man. What happened later? Is she still living in the toilet?”

Jiang Pan Yu said mysteriously, “No, she isn’t. Later, that man of hers came back, saying he had found relatives in the city who arranged a job for him.

But it turned out that guy had started another family outside, and his child was almost in elementary school.”

“What? That guy is really something! What did Wang the Third Daughter do? Did she sue him?”

“No, she didn’t. That guy came back later, but he didn’t dare let anyone know. He secretly tested Wang the Third Daughter, and when he found out she had been waiting for him all along, he took her away.”

Chen Lamei clicked her tongue, “So, he took both wives together? Could Wang the Third Daughter accept that? Could the wife in the provincial capital accept that?”

“Of course not! Wang the Third Daughter was taken as a nanny. That guy deceived both sides, and even if the wife in the provincial capital knew, she could only pretend not to.

And that guy is really ruthless. Back then, the Wang family didn’t want to marry their daughter to him, right?

They even said a lot of nasty things about him, and he held a grudge for years.

Later, when he came back, he had made it big and used his connections to make the Wang family’s life miserable.”

Yang Guiying was puzzled, “Didn’t Wang the Third Daughter try to stop him? After all, they were her own parents.”

“Wang the Third Daughter also held a grudge against her family. She had lived in the toilet for so many years, and the Wang family knew but didn’t care.

She probably wanted to cut ties with the Wang family and acted like she didn’t know anything, just following that guy back to the provincial capital.

But less than a month after Wang the Third Daughter went there, she was gone.”