Chapter 27

While Liu Yu was feeling indignant, on the other side, Bai Xueling was equally upset.

She sat on her bed, tears falling one by one.

Bai Xueling’s pitiful appearance tugged at heartstrings. Everyone loves beauty, and her fellow female educated youths, who shared a dorm with this delicate and gentle girl, generally liked her.

They often looked after her, so when they saw her crying, one of them asked, “Hey, Xueling, what’s wrong?”

Bai Xueling simply stared with her tearful eyes and didn’t say a word. Instead, she had someone call for Li Qinghua.

When Li Qinghua arrived, Bai Xueling’s tears fell even more furiously. She sobbed softly, “Brother Li, please help me!”

The more she cried, the more distressed Li Qinghua felt. “What happened? Did someone bully you? You can tell me!”

Finally, through her tears, Bai Xueling explained, “Today, Captain Liu assigned me to fertilize the cornfield! That job is usually given to someone else. Why did Captain Liu specifically assign it to me today?”

“Was it Liu Yu?”

Li Qinghua immediately understood the implication in her words. Captain Liu was Liu Yu’s father, and he had always spoiled his chubby, spoiled daughter!

“I don’t know. Although I did have a small conflict with Liu Yu when I was home a few days ago…”

Bai Xueling’s eyes turned red, making her look even more pitiful.

It must have been her! Li Qinghua was convinced. Liu Yu had every reason to retaliate against Bai Xueling—after all, he had been spending a lot of time with Bai Xueling recently.

Looking pitiful, Bai Xueling tugged at Li Qinghua’s arm and gave it a slight shake. “What should I do, Brother Li? I don’t want to fertilize the cornfield!”

Fertilizing the cornfield was indeed dirty and unsightly work. How could someone as pure and clean as Bai Xueling be tasked with such a thing?

“Liu Yu is so despicable! Don’t worry, I’ll go find Captain Liu and sort this out right now!”

Filled with righteous anger, Li Qinghua stormed off immediately.

Inside the room, Bai Xueling shed another glistening tear, but a smile appeared on her lips.

—-

Meanwhile, Liu Yu was sitting with her younger brother at the edge of the field, eating breakfast. Liu Ye held a potato in his hands, stuffing his cheeks as he chewed. “Sis, if I could eat fried white bread dipped in sugar every day, I’d be living like a god!”

Hearing her brother’s dream, Liu Yu couldn’t help but smile, though her heart ached a little. Life was tough during these times, with scarce supplies, where even plain white bread was considered a luxury.

Looking at her brother, who was as skinny as a monkey with only his face looking somewhat healthy, Liu Yu made up her mind. She had to find a way to earn some money and improve her family’s diet.

“Little brother, I’ve got something delicious for you. Just wait—I’ll make it appear like magic!”

Liu Yu grinned mysteriously as she reached into the pile of clothes they’d placed by the edge of the field. Pretending to rummage through it, she secretly took out something from her hidden space.

“Ta-da!”

A green canned fruit jar appeared in her hand—courtesy of Wang Changping.

Liu Ye was dumbfounded. “This… is canned fruit, right? Where did you even get something this good?”

Acting smug, Liu Yu swayed her head proudly. “Your sister has great connections. Someone gave it to me!”

Just as the siblings were enjoying their moment, Li Qinghua suddenly appeared, storming toward them in anger.

Liu Ye, recognizing him as one of the educated youths from the city—and knowing he was the reason his sister had jumped into the river a while back—instantly bristled. Seeing him now only made Liu Ye angrier. “Why is that b*stard here?!”