Chapter 19

After leaving the house, Song Yitao didn’t head toward the Wei household next door, nor did she plan to make a scene. Instead, she briskly made her way to the post room at the entrance of the village.

“Any parcels from Guangdong Province?”

The staff at the post room rummaged around for a while. All the incoming and outgoing mail for Dongfeng Brigade was kept here. After searching high and low, they still didn’t find a package under the name “Song Yitao.”

“Did the postman not deliver it to you? Or maybe someone picked it up by mistake? There’s nothing here for you.”

Song Yitao grew anxious. She was sure she hadn’t remembered wrong—her mother had clearly said she would send a package when she left Guangdong.

“That’s impossible! It’s been days already. Can you check again?”

She pressed on, unwilling to give up.

The staff carefully searched once more, but still came up empty.

At that moment, an older woman picking up a letter nearby chimed in, “Miss, you said a package from Guangdong? Maybe someone took it by mistake. A few days back, a young man picked up the wrong package.”

Song Yitao’s heart skipped a beat. If someone took her package, and it was filled with clothes and food her mother had sent—wouldn’t it all be gone by now?

“Forget it, maybe it hasn’t arrived in Heilongjiang yet.”

She turned and left.

She didn’t notice that a postman on a bicycle was just setting out and passed her by.

By the time she returned to the Luo household, Granny Luo was holding a big black package. As soon as she saw Song Yitao, her face twisted with disdain.

“Look at you, always late for work, running around who knows where—and when the postman comes to deliver your package, you’re nowhere to be found!”

Granny Luo shoved the package at her.

The postman stood beside her, waiting for a signature.

Song Yitao nearly exploded—what kind of tone was that, this old hag!

“Mind your own business whether I’m late or not. If they want to dock my work points, let them—I don’t care!”

So she had just crossed paths with the postman.

Delighted, she signed for the parcel and carried it straight into her room. She slammed the door shut behind her, shutting Granny Luo out.

Granny Luo was so angry her lips quivered. Her eldest son’s wife had passed, her second son’s wife was timid and soft, her daughter Luo Sang-sang didn’t dare talk back, and her sons were all filial.

But now they had this brat living with them.

“Luo Yisen, dock her work points—dock them all! She eats our food, makes little Jun call her to get up, and now she can’t even take a word of criticism. Ungrateful little wretch!”

Inside, Song Yitao eagerly opened the parcel and was shocked to find imported chocolate inside!

Since being sent down to the countryside, she hadn’t had sweets in ages.

Peeling open the wrapper, she popped some in her mouth, her eyes crinkling with joy. For once, her mother had a conscience and sent something decent.

Seeing the time, she packed the chocolates away, zipped the parcel back up, and left for work.

Daylight passed quickly. Song Yitao, still thinking about her chocolate, was the first to finish work and rushed back to the Luo household.

She was worried—what if Luo Xiaojun had sneaked into her room and eaten it all?

As she approached, the rich aroma of chicken soup drifted from the Wei household next door.

She had seen in the morning that Wei Yanzhen had taken a chicken—he moved fast, already making soup.

Meat or sweets…

Meat sounded better!

Suddenly, the chocolate didn’t seem so appealing anymore.

After only a moment of hesitation, she made up her mind. Grabbing a chipped bowl from her room, she thickened her skin and headed over to the Wei house to beg for soup.

But as soon as she entered, she saw Luo Xiaojun already there.

“Auntie, this soup is so tasty~”

Deng Zhilian had served Luo Xiaojun a bowl of chicken soup. The poor boy had lost his mother young, and his father Luo Yisen was a rough caregiver. His fingernails were always grimy.

Still, he wasn’t underfed and had a chubby face.

“If you like the soup, drink up,” Deng Zhilian said warmly. “Want some chicken too?”

He nodded eagerly. She picked out a few pieces of chicken for him.

“Auntie, you’re so good to me. My grandma never lets me eat meat.”

She chuckled softly and ruffled his hair, then led him to sit outside in the courtyard.

“Eat up.”

“…That wicked woman got a big black package this morning. It was huge. Who knows what goodies are inside,” the little boy added.

Deng Zhilian raised a brow—seems like someone in the Song family still had a conscience, sending something out here.

But before she could say anything else, a sharp and sour voice rang out through the yard.

“Well, well!”

“Drinking chicken soup and eating mushrooms in secret, are we?”

“And look at that basin in the yard—you’ve even got a fish!”

The more Song Yitao looked, the more jealous she became.

She turned on her heel and ran.

At this time of day, the villagers had just finished work. As she stepped outside, she spotted Luo Yisen chatting and laughing with other men.

Charging up to him, she cried out indignantly:

“Everyone in the brigade works so hard, yet someone is stealing from collective property! Luo Yisen, you’re the team leader—aren’t you going to do something about it?”

Luo Yisen was with a group of educated youth (zhiqing). Their food rations and work points were calculated separately each month.

He had been planning to take them back to his house to go over the monthly records, but now this woman blocked his way like some wild obstacle.

“Comrade Song, what nonsense are you spewing?”

“What do you mean ‘stealing from collective property’? You better explain yourself properly to me, the production brigade leader!”

That was a serious accusation.

Luo Yisen’s brow furrowed, and the educated youth nearby looked at her with open disdain—what was wrong with this woman?

The people in the brigade were honest folk—how could she go around accusing people like that?

“The Wei family—the people living next door to me.”

“They’re eating mushrooms, drinking chicken soup, and even keeping fish!”

Oh boy. As soon as she said that, the crowd exchanged looks.

Among them, Zhu Qinghan’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be… the mushrooms she harvested had been picked up by the Wei family?

But she didn’t even know anyone from the Wei family!

Luo Yisen followed Song Yitao to the Wei household, joined by a curious crowd of villagers.

Zhu Qinghan quietly asked a companion, “Who exactly are these Wei family people? I don’t think there are any locals with that surname in the brigade.”

A male educated youth explained, “Zhu comrade, you’ve been working near the dam, so you don’t know about the families living downstream.”

“A few days ago, some new down-sent people arrived in the brigade—the Wei family and that Comrade Song. Since they didn’t have homes, they moved into the Luo family house and the one next door.”

Now Zhu Qinghan understood—they were outsiders, fighting amongst themselves.

Well then, she was eager to see what kind of show was about to unfold.