The male educated youth sitting next to him was named Wu Yongfei, a 24-year-old from Jiangcheng who became a sent-down youth in 1969.  

The bespectacled Qi Yang was also from Jiangcheng, a 22-year-old sent-down youth from the same year.  

Then there was Zhang Yunhao, an 18-year-old sent-down youth from Beijing, also part of the 1969 cohort.  

Zhou Yadong, another 1969 sent-down youth, was 20 years old and hailed from Ganzhou.  

Ge Sujuan and Wang Nan were both sent-down youths who had arrived in 1968. They were 18-year-old classmates.  

Upon learning that Zhou Qiuyu was only 14, Ge Sujuan and the others frowned but said nothing.  

Instead, they changed the subject. “Right now, we’re busy with the autumn harvest. After dinner, you two should wash up and rest early, or your bodies won’t be able to handle it.”  

“Mm.”  

The two nodded.  

Zhou Qiuyu rubbed her hands and asked, “Will we be eating together from now on?”  

Ge Sujuan and the others hesitated, visibly reluctant.  

The main issue was that this girl ate way too much. Despite her small stature and young age, her appetite was absurd.  

A large bowl of coarse porridge and a big steamed bun still weren’t enough for her—she even polished off all the side dishes.  

As a result, the others were left half-starved.  

“Do as you please.”  

The eldest of the group, Bai Chen, left the decision to them.  

Zhou Qiuyu turned to Yi Chichi again, who remained expressionless under her gaze.  

“I won’t be eating with you all. Tomorrow, I’ll borrow some grain from the team and pay you back.”  

Wang Nan grew curious. “Why don’t you want to eat with us?”  

Compared to Zhou Qiuyu, they much preferred sharing meals with Yi Chichi.  

Her portions were normal, she didn’t slurp her food, and she never rummaged through the dishes with her chopsticks.  

As for Zhou Qiuyu…  

Well, best not to dwell on it.  

Yi Chichi sighed. “Let me keep you in suspense for now. You’ll understand later.”  

At the time, Wang Nan and the others didn’t quite grasp what she meant. But by the following evening, it all became clear.  

After reporting to the brigade headquarters in the morning, Yi Chichi had vanished. She only reappeared that night.  

By the time they returned from the fields, she was squatting in the yard, brewing medicine.

The courtyard was filled with the scent of medicine.  

It wasn’t unpleasant, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant either.  

“Are you sick?”  

Ge Sujuan stepped closer, her face full of concern.  

Yi Chichi gave a faint hum of acknowledgment. “I need to take this medicine for a while, and I have dietary restrictions.”  

“In that case, you really shouldn’t eat with us.”  

No one knew what illness she had—was it contagious?  

Ge Sujuan’s expression turned hesitant, as if she wasn’t sure whether to ask.  

Zhang Yunhao, however, had no such reservations. He spoke bluntly, “Comrade Yi, is your illness contagious?”  

In other words, could they catch it?  

Ears perked up across the courtyard. Yi Chichi wasn’t offended. Instead, she smiled.  

“My health was severely depleted before. I just need to recuperate.”  

After a thorough look at her, everyone finally understood why she was so thin.  

So it was because she’d been in poor health all along.  

“Well, you take care of yourself. We’ll go start dinner.”  

“Alright.”  

Half an hour later, Yi Chichi carried the brewed medicine back to her room.  

It was still too hot to drink, so she set it aside to cool.  

In the meantime, she returned the grain she had borrowed from them the day before.  

Sent-down youths received food subsidies for the first two months—twenty pounds of grain per person per month.  

Fifteen pounds of coarse grain and five pounds of fine grain.  

Her stomach couldn’t handle the coarse grain, so she had bought an extra three pounds of rice and two pounds of flour from the brigade leader.  

She couldn’t afford to return the fine grain—she barely had enough for herself.  

So, she repaid them with the same coarse grain she had borrowed.  

Wang Nan, who had just lit the stove, glanced at the bowl of cornmeal she handed over. “This is a bit too much.”  

Yi Chichi paused, then looked at the small portion in the bowl and chuckled. “Just keep it. If I run short later, I’ll borrow from you again.”  

It wasn’t worth arguing over such a tiny amount. Besides, they wouldn’t be eating together anymore.  

“Fine.”  

Once the debt was settled, Yi Chichi chatted with them for a few more minutes before returning to her room to drink her medicine.

It was truly awful to drink.  

Just thinking about having to endure this bitter medicinal concoction for a while longer, a wave of dark despair washed over her.  

She had to find a way around this.  

Nourishing food was better than medicine, but given her current situation, proper nourishment was out of the question.  

So—  

“Everyone’s eating, huh?”  

She swaggered into the kitchen.  

Wang Nan and the others were having dinner—cornbread and pickles, each of them chewing with pained expressions.  

“Sit!”  

Bai Chen, gnawing on a piece of cornbread, gestured to the bench and asked, “Want to join us?”  

Yi Chichi waved her hand. “I just took my medicine.”  

“Then what are you here for?”  

Ge Sujuan asked curiously.  

Yi Chichi smiled sheepishly. “After the harvest, does the village organize hunting trips into the mountains?”  

Bai Chen and the others’ eyes widened in disbelief. “You want to go hunting in the mountains?!”  

“So there really is hunting?”  

Zhou Qiuyu’s eyes lit up, and Yi Chichi wasn’t far behind.  

Bai Chen and the others were speechless—these two’s priorities were something else.  

“Yes.”  

Bai Chen, having arrived the earliest, knew the village’s affairs inside out. He explained, “Every year after the harvest, the brigade organizes a trip into the mountains before the heavy snow seals them off.”  

“But…”  

Yi Chichi and Zhou Qiuyu perked up, leaning forward eagerly.  

“It has nothing to do with us educated youth.”  

In other words: they weren’t included in the hunting party.  

Zhou Qiuyu’s eyes sparkled. “If they bag any game, do we educated youth get a share of the meat?”  

“Yes!”  

After all, they were still members of Kaoshan Village. Even though they were lousy at farm work and got side-eyed wherever they went, the brigade members didn’t outright mistreat or exclude them.  

Well, maybe a little preferential treatment—but that was understandable.

After all, they were outsiders.  

“The quantity isn’t much, but you can buy some from the brigade.”  

As for how much they could buy, that depended on the situation.  

“Are there wild boars?”  

“Not necessarily.”  

Wang Nan, who had answered instinctively, only realized afterward that something was off and asked, “Are you craving meat?”  

“Aren’t you?”  

She countered with a question, and Wang Nan and the others laughed. How could they not crave it? But meat was hard to come by.  

Buying meat required not only money but also ration coupons.  

The key issue was that supply couldn’t meet demand.  

There was no meat for sale in the village. The commune had some, but by the time they got the news and rushed over, it was usually already sold out.  

“Don’t overthink it. Just wait—see what the brigade manages to hunt after the harvest.”  

That was all they could do.  

That night, Yi Chichi sat on the *kang* (heated brick bed) taking stock of all her belongings. She had **1,862 yuan, 5 mao, and 6 fen** in cash.  

There were two types of grain coupons: national grain coupons and military grain coupons, totaling **86 jin and 3 liang**.  

Yi Chichi wasn’t entirely sure where Yi Yong (her father) had gotten these coupons, but it didn’t matter—they were hers now.  

Aside from keeping the bicycle, sewing machine, and cash register coupons, she hadn’t taken the fabric, soap, or other miscellaneous coupons.  

Not only did they have expiration dates, but they were also unusable outside Lincheng.  

She could only let Yi Jing and the others benefit—or, more likely, let the Revolutionary Committee confiscate them. It all depended on who acted faster.  

But based on Yi Chichi’s estimation, the Revolutionary Committee would probably get there first.  

Her hypnosis training wasn’t for nothing, and she knew Zhang Jianshe well. Though reasonable, he was a genuinely ruthless man.  

With the seeds she had planted, Yi Yong and his wife were bound to turn on each other.  

Nine lives lost, plus false accusations and other crimes—that was enough to sentence the couple to death!  

Without their parents’ protection, the future awaiting Yi Jing and the others would be endless suffering.