Chapter 18

Chen Suihuan sighed. She really didn’t know where Liu Lainan’s resentment toward her had come from. The two of them clearly hadn’t even known each other before.

But some people were just like that. Liking someone might require a reason, but hating someone—sometimes, the moment they stood in front of you, you already disliked them.

Not planning to pay Liu Lainan any more attention, Chen Suihuan lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. She wanted to sleep early tonight—starting tomorrow, she would begin working.

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The next morning, Chen Suihuan and the others got up along with the old educated youths and went to the fields together.

Because they were going to work, they all wore the most ordinary clothes. If they wore good clothes, who knew how dirty they might end up.

However, even dressed in plain clothes, their group still stood out from the villagers in terms of temperament.

As a result, they drew the attention of the entire Shengli Brigade.

Not to mention the female educated youths—even the male ones were being stared at so much that their faces began to flush.

Just as the group of educated youths were wondering what they were supposed to do, the Captain finally arrived and assigned them their tasks.

It was August now, and most of what was planted here was corn. This was the time when the ears were forming, so there wasn’t much other work—just weeding.

The corn was already taller than a person, and the leaves were full of barbs. Just brushing against them lightly would leave red marks on the skin. Going into the fields to pull weeds was, as one could imagine, quite unpleasant.

Luckily, Chen Suihuan and the others had worn long sleeves. Aside from some scratches on their hands and faces, their bodies were fine.

“I brought a few pairs of gloves. I forgot to take them this morning. I need to bring them when we go back for lunch at noon. If I keep pulling weeds like this all day, my hands will be cut up.” Chen Suihuan said after pulling up a few weeds and noticing red marks forming on her palms.

Her current body, nourished by spiritual spring water, was especially delicate—just the lightest touch could leave a red mark.

Qin Fei and Gao Yue had each chosen plots on either side of Chen Suihuan, so the three of them weren’t far apart and could still chat.

“Yeah, we need gloves. My hands are hurting too.” Qin Fei was the first to agree.

Gao Yue let out a little cry: “What do I do if I didn’t bring gloves? Do you two have extras? Sell me a pair later, my hands hurt too.”

Chen Suihuan responded, saying she had brought extras.

For the weeding task, they were given eight work points for an acre. If they finished within the day, they would receive the eight points. If they could keep going and complete a bit more, they could earn up to ten.

Chen Suihuan was strong. Though she appeared delicate, she quickly got the hang of it, and her speed picked up. Before long, she had left Qin Fei and Gao Yue far behind.

By noon, Qin Fei and Gao Yue were nearly collapsing onto the ground, and although Chen Suihuan was also tired and her back ached, she was still able to manage.

It was only thanks to Chen Suihuan’s help that the two of them managed to walk back for lunch.

Their morning work ended at eleven, and the afternoon session began at one. After lunch, they had an hour to take a nap.

Qin Fei and Gao Yue were utterly exhausted and immediately fell asleep once they lay down. Chen Suihuan, on the other hand, drank some spiritual spring water before lying down and closing her eyes.

In the afternoon, the three of them came better prepared, with straw hats, gloves, and water bottles.

Chen Suihuan even added some spiritual spring water into Qin Fei and Gao Yue’s bottles. During the afternoon’s work, the two of them clearly felt better than they had in the morning.

On her first day of work, Chen Suihuan managed to weed a whole acre of land and earned eight work points. Qin Fei and Gao Yue did a bit less, each earning only six work points.

What surprised everyone was that Liu Lainan, who was usually the most dramatic and difficult, turned out to be incredibly capable. Just like Chen Suihuan, she also earned eight work points.

Most of the male educated youths only got six work points. Only two of them earned five points—less than what Qin Fei and Gao Yue had managed.

The new educated youths had never done fieldwork before, so being able to earn that many points on their first day was already quite impressive.

The old educated youths were already familiar with farm labor and typically earned eight or nine points a day.

The Captain glanced over the work points of the new educated youths and immediately smiled, clearly very pleased.

“Did we earn a lot of work points today? Why does the Captain seem so happy?” Gao Yue asked in confusion.

Guo Lan, who was standing in front of them and overheard, turned around and smiled. “You all actually did pretty well. Do you know how many points we got when we first came?”

Qin Fei became interested and quickly asked: “How many? Was it more or less than we got today?”

Guo Lan shook her head and held up three fingers. “Back then, at most, we only got three or four work points a day.

It gave the Captain such a headache—he would sigh every time he looked at us. Later, after we got trained up, we gradually began to earn more and more points.

Now you guys are earning that much right from the start. Especially Educated Youth Chen and Educated Youth Liu—their scores are about the same as ours.

If you keep working hard, maybe you’ll even get full points someday.”

Hearing this, Qin Fei and Gao Yue were both quite happy.

Chen Suihuan only smiled and said nothing. The reason the two of them had been able to get six work points was entirely thanks to her spiritual spring water. Without it, just relying on their own strength, they’d be lucky to earn four points on the first day.

They returned to the educated youth site with the rest of the unit to eat. Afterward, everyone forced themselves to quickly wash up and then collapsed onto the heated bed to sleep.

Chen Suihuan looked left and right, then got up to go to the restroom. After closing the door, she entered her space.

After rinsing off with spiritual spring water, she felt all her exhaustion wash away. She drank another cup of the water, wandered around inside the space, and fed the pigs, cows, and sheep—any animal with a mouth—before finally going back to sleep.

This kind of routine continued for several days, and the new educated youths gradually began to integrate into life there.

Chen Suihuan’s body had already adapted to the high-intensity labor. Now earning eight work points felt like child’s play.

She had no intention of doing more. Eight points a day was already quite good. Among the village women, aside from a rare few who could earn full points, most earned about the same.

That evening after work, seeing there was still time, Chen Suihuan grabbed a machete and headed up the mountain.

Ever since arriving at Shengli Brigade, she had wanted to explore the mountains. But the work had been too busy. Now that she had some free time, she wanted to scout the area.

True to the reputation of the Northeast’s vast and bountiful land—how did that saying go again? Use a stick to knock down a roe deer, scoop fish with a ladle, wild pheasants fly right into your pot.

Though Chen Suihuan didn’t come across any roe deer or fish, and no wild pheasants flew into her pot either, she did find plenty of mushrooms and wild herbs.

However, by this time of year, most wild vegetables were no longer edible. Chen Suihuan only picked some large-leaf celery that was still good to eat.

With half a basket of mushrooms, another half of large-leaf celery, and a small bundle of firewood, Chen Suihuan prepared to head down the mountain.

Just then, her sharp ears suddenly caught the distant sound of a chicken clucking. Her eyes lit up instantly.