Chapter 3

Gu Nian thought to herself, this system sure keeps piling on tasks one after another.

“Accept the task.”

Early in the morning, before Gu Nian had slept enough, she heard Song Youyou calling her from outside.

“Gu Nian, wake up. It’s time to go to work today.”

“I’m up.”

By the time Gu Nian got up, everyone else was already awake. She didn’t have time to eat, so she took two meat buns from her storage space.

The storage space maintained the temperature, so the meat buns were still warm.

When she arrived at the grain-drying yard, the villagers saw the newly arrived educated youths, all looking handsome, and couldn’t help but shake their heads—good-looking but useless.

Village chief Jiang Dashan assigned tasks to each educated youth. Gu Nian was grouped with Aunt Guihua and Aunt Xiangxiu, both reasonable women.

They didn’t make things difficult for her while working; instead, they helped her a lot. Gu Nian took out ten White Rabbit candies from her system store.

“Aunt Guihua, Aunt Xiangxiu, thank you for helping me with the work.”

Seeing the candies in her hand, their eyes lit up, but they still said,

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s your first day, so it’s normal to be slow. You’ll get used to it after a few days. You should keep the candy for yourself, Gu Zhiqing (Comrade Gu).”

They knew it wasn’t easy for a young girl to be sent to the countryside.

“Aunties, please take them. It’s just a small token of my appreciation.”

“Alright, then we’ll accept them.”

After taking the candies, they worked even harder to help Gu Nian. The atmosphere was harmonious.

Meanwhile, on the other side, something caused a commotion. Aunt Guihua and Aunt Xiangxiu looked completely unfazed.

“Another man came to help Sun Zhiqing with her work. Honestly, they come every day. That Sun Zhiqing really has some skills. I wonder what trick she’s using to make these men listen to her so obediently.”

“What else? Just look at her. With those wide, round hips, she’s bound to be a good child-bearer. Of course, the men are all eyeing her.”

Listening to their gossip, Gu Nian realized they were talking about Sun Zhiqing—Sun Dantong, the only educated youth with the surname Sun.

There were three or four men around her. Gu Nian wondered if any of them were the ones Sun Dantong had met last night.

“Aunties, Sun Zhiqing has been in the countryside for two or three years now. After all this time, hasn’t she taken a liking to any of these men?”

“Not at all! Sun Zhiqing has sky-high standards. No way she’d settle for any of the village men.”

“Well, she’s smart. Even if she doesn’t agree to marry them, these men are still willing to work for her.”

Gu Nian wasn’t sure what kind of person Sun Dantong was, but it seemed like she wasn’t interested in any of these men. That meant the person she met last night was someone else.

At dusk, after work, Gu Nian walked into the yard and saw Shen Yuling sitting on the ground crying. A few educated youths stood beside her, seemingly trying to comfort her.

“I can’t do this. The work is too hard. I want to go back to the city!”

He Yirou, though annoyed, suppressed her frustration and comforted her.

“Yuling, don’t cry. You must be hungry after a long day. I have some biscuits. I’ll bring you some.”

Shen Yuling looked at He Yirou with gratitude, but Jia Xueli couldn’t stand it anymore.

“We all came to the countryside, so why is she acting so delicate? This isn’t even the hard part. Harvest season is coming soon. If you have the energy to cry, you should think about how to survive that.”

Hearing this, Shen Yuling got angry and glared at Jia Xueli.

“What… what do you mean by that?”

Jia Xueli ignored her and walked back to the educated youth dormitory. The others also dispersed. After all, Jia Xueli wasn’t wrong.

Except for Gu Nian, the new educated youths were all feeling exhausted and dispirited.

As He Yirou led Shen Yuling away to eat biscuits, she timidly asked Ji Yunchen as they passed by him,

“Ji Zhiqing, would you like some biscuits?”

“Thank you, He Zhiqing.”

The three of them left together. Gu Nian smiled—Ah, the male and female leads are already starting to interact.

She went into her room, boiled a pot of hot water, and took out a packed portion of braised pork from her storage space. She ate heartily—nothing was more satisfying than eating meat.

The smell of braised pork quickly spread outside, making the other educated youths envious. The senior educated youths, especially, hadn’t eaten meat in nearly a year.

Some were envious, some were resentful, but Gu Nian didn’t care. No one was going to stop her from enjoying her food.

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, Gu Nian and the others had been in the countryside for half a month. Thanks to her spiritual spring, she lived quite comfortably.

She also visited her original parents, bringing them some items from the system store.

Her original parents were overjoyed to see her, but when they heard about her brother and sister-in-law’s behavior, they were furious—so much so that they wanted to go back and settle things with Gu Yan themselves.

Her relationship with her original parents was decent. Two elderly professors lived with them, and they were also grateful for the things she brought.

Autumn had arrived, and winter was not far off. In Northeast China, people needed to burn heated brick beds (kang) in winter. So today, after finishing work early, she decided to go into the mountains to gather firewood.

She wanted to stock up and also bring some to her original parents to keep them warm.

The villagers didn’t dare go deep into the mountains, but Gu Nian wasn’t afraid. She collected firewood as she walked.

“Host, there’s a wild pheasant and some pheasant eggs ahead.”

“Got it.”

Sure enough, after walking a few steps, she saw the wild pheasant and its eggs. The pheasant didn’t move when it saw her, so she easily caught it.

“System, why isn’t the pheasant running?”

“Host, because you’ve been drinking the spiritual spring water for half a month. The pheasant smelled it and didn’t run.”

“Ohhh.”

Gu Nian hadn’t expected the spiritual spring water to have this effect.

After that, she seemed to be on a lucky streak.

She found five wild rabbits, ten pheasants, and even a roe deer. Since she had too much, she stored them in her space.

“Host, there are also ginseng and lingzhi mushrooms in this mountain. Look around carefully.”

“Alright!”

Ginseng and lingzhi were valuable. This trip was definitely worth it.

She searched the entire mountain and finally found five hundred-year-old lingzhi mushrooms and two hundred-year-old ginseng roots.

After storing them, she noticed the sky was getting dark and decided to head down the mountain, carrying a full bundle of firewood on her back.

“Hey, Liu Shengjun, when are you finally going to divorce that old hag of yours?”

“Be patient. I told you, give me a few more days. I’ll kick her out and marry you.”

“That’s more like it. Liu-ge, I’ve been with you for so long. You better not lie to me, or I’ll cause trouble at your factory. Then we’ll both be finished.”

Gu Nian listened carefully—wasn’t that Sun Dantong’s voice? And a man’s voice too.

She had been investigating the man Sun Dantong was involved with for half a month. Today, she finally found him.

But why did the name Liu Shengjun sound so familiar?

After thinking for a while, she suddenly remembered who he was.