Yi Chichi thought the auntie was trying to set her up and was already mentally rehearsing how to politely decline.  

To her surprise, the auntie took an unexpected turn. Upon hearing her response, she nodded approvingly and said, “Young girls shouldn’t rush into things at your age. Don’t go learning from that educated youth in the next brigade.”  

The concern was unnecessary, but the intention was kind.  

“Got it,” Yi replied, then eagerly pressed for more details.  

“What happened after they were caught?”  

Auntie Ma and the others were just as curious and urged Auntie Niu to hurry up with the story.  

“What else? The engagement was called off, and the two families became enemies.”  

Yi Chichi wasn’t satisfied. “Auntie, you skipped all the juicy parts! We want the details!”  

A summary wasn’t interesting—of course the engagement was doomed. But how it fell apart—that’s what she wanted to know.  

“Young girls these days are so demanding,” Auntie Niu chuckled but obliged, recounting the whole incident.  

It wasn’t complicated. In short:  

Comrade Huang caught her fiancé cheating, tapped into her rage, and beat up both the educated youth and her fiancé, Comrade Zhang.  

Her hands (and feet) were a little too heavy—the educated youth ended up with a broken rib, and Comrade Zhang’s “little brother” got a well-aimed kick.  

The originally wronged Comrade Huang suddenly became the one at fault. Not only was the engagement canceled, but she also had to pay hefty compensation.  

And thus, a feud was born.  

As for how things would develop between the two families, Auntie Niu’s take was: “Who knows? I’ll update you if I hear more.”  

Auntie Ma, ever the one to zero in on the key point, asked, “So… it’s really broken?”  

“Yep, broken.”  

“That’s just pathetic. What kind of man breaks after one kick?”  

Yi Chichi nearly choked on her own saliva. Was this really about durability? That area was ridiculously fragile. The fact that Comrade Zhang only ended up “broken” and not in shock from the pain was pure luck on Huang’s part.  

“So… is the matter settled now?”  

“Not a chance. The educated youth and Zhang are getting married.”  

“The educated youth agreed to that?”

The speaker was Wang Nan, and her sudden voice startled Auntie Niu and the others.  

They turned around and—good grief—everyone was eavesdropping, ears perked up and eyes gleaming with curiosity.  

“How much did you all hear?”  

Auntie Niu’s expression twisted. Who could’ve guessed? She’d just wanted to gossip with her own group, but now everyone had heard.  

“Enough to get the gist,” said a sister-in-law from Wang Nan’s group, raising her voice. “Don’t stop now, Auntie—keep going!”  

“The educated youth was the one who proposed marriage.”  

“What?”  

That bombshell sent waves of shock through the crowd.  

Auntie Ma couldn’t wrap her head around it. “What’s in it for her? What’s the point of a broken man? Just to look at?”  

Yi Chichi raised an eyebrow. What else? Survival.  

The educated youth had no choice.  

No matter how it started, the fact remained—she’d been caught with a man who was already spoken for.  

In this day and age, that alone could ruin her.  

Marriage was her only way out.  

If the girl was smart enough, patient enough, and played her cards right, she might even turn things around by the time reforms and opening-up came.  

If she lasted that long.  

Otherwise, it was all for nothing.  

Once again, Yi Chichi was reminded—moral conduct matters in this era.  

One misstep, and you’d regret it forever.  

Recalling stories from her original world about the struggles of sent-down youth, she reminded herself: Until you have the power to change the rules, keep your head down.  

“Who knows what she’s thinking, but they’ve already registered their marriage.”  

“The Huang family didn’t make a scene?”  

“They had no leg to stand on.”  

They’d already broken the man—what more could they do?  

What was supposed to unite two families had instead left one son ruined and both sides sworn enemies.  

Auntie Ma spat in disgust. “Zhang the Second is trash too. Cheating when he already had a girl? Serves him right.”  

Then, turning to Yi Chichi and the others, she warned, “Listen up—no matter how amazing a man seems, if he’s taken, you stay far away.”  

Yi Chichi and the others: “…”

Why did this suddenly turn into a lecture for them?  

Exchanging a glance with Wang Nan, the two spoke in unison, “We won’t touch [taken men].”  

And with that, the topic came to an end.  

For the rest of the morning, everyone worked in silence. Basket after basket of corn cobs was hauled away.  

By a little past eleven, Yi Chichi—arms sore, legs aching, and stifled by the heat—pressed a hand to her faintly throbbing stomach. She was just about to ask when they could finally knock off when a whistle blew.  

Auntie Ma and the others immediately sprang up as if electrocuted.  

“Let’s go, let’s go! Time to eat!”  

After working nonstop, they were finally done.  

Yi Chichi’s face lit up with relief, and she eagerly trailed after them.  

Just as she stepped out of the cornfield, she spotted Wang Nan and the others waiting for her, waving her over.  

“Chichi, over here!”  

She hurried toward them. Ge Sujuan smiled and asked, “How was your first day of work?”  

“Exhausting.”  

Too exhausting. Farming was not a sustainable long-term plan—she needed to figure out a way to land an easier job.  

Ideally, she’d prefer not to work at all, but the times didn’t allow for that.  

Sigh.

With a melancholic exhale, she stared at her hands in agony. “I feel like my hands are about to fall off.”  

Since arriving in this world, her hands hadn’t yet touched silk thread, mulberry silk, or fine embroidery—instead, they’d been put to work husking corn.  

“What about you guys? Tired?”  

“Husking corn is considered light work.”  

The implication being: This is nothing. 

Zhou Qiuyu sniffled, on the verge of tears again. “When will harvest season be over?” she asked pitifully.  

“Probably late October.”  

It was hard to say for sure, but that was usually the timeframe.  

Yi Chichi’s face fell like a mourner at a funeral. Just end me now. Nearly another month of harvest season?  

This life was truly unbearable.  

But she didn’t have the courage to not endure it—she just had to tough it out.  

The only silver lining was that once harvest season ended, they’d mostly hunker down for winter, and things wouldn’t get busy again until May of the following year.

Looking at it this way, it wasn’t so bad after all.  

And just like that, Yi Chichi managed to console herself.  

On October 22nd, as the last basket of corn was stored away, the grueling dawn-to-dusk autumn harvest in Kaoshan Village finally came to an end.  

A month was more than enough time for Yi Chichi to get familiar with the village’s elders, uncles, aunties, and neighbors.  

Her relationship with the other educated youths at the educated youth dormitory was also decent—after all, she lived and ate separately from them, which minimized the chances of conflicts from the get-go.  

On the way back, Wang Nan, looking like she had just been reborn, said, “I want to go to the county town tomorrow. Anyone else coming?”  

“I’m in!” Yi Chichi was the first to respond. She still hadn’t picked up the luggage she’d mailed over.  

Ge Sujuan and the others agreed too. Zhou Qiuyu hesitated.  

“What are we going to the county for?”  

“To eat something decent for once, and maybe check out the supply and marketing cooperative to see if we can buy anything.”  

After some thought, Zhou Qiuyu nodded. “I’ll go too.”  

The group chatted and laughed as they walked back to the educated youth dormitory. Halfway there, they ran into a pack of scruffy little boys sprinting toward them.  

The oldest was seven or eight, the youngest barely two or three—all of them filthy, like mud-stained monkeys.  

The littlest one, unsteady on his feet, tripped and fell face-first right in front of Yi Chichi.  

“Aiya!” She quickly bent down to pick him up. “Little Niu Niu, why are you running around with your brothers again?”