Chapter 2

“The villagers don’t really like us educated youths, so be mindful…”

After Zhang Zhijuan finished giving instructions, she didn’t leave but continued talking about other things. Sun Xiaoyan, meanwhile, went out to cook.

He Xianqiu listened carefully to what Zhang Zhijuan was saying, and more or less learned some things about rural life.

But after listening to so much, He Xianqiu began to space out. She could still hear Zhang Zhijuan’s voice droning on, but didn’t pay attention to the words anymore.

“All right, go out and eat. You don’t have any food rations yet, so we’ll share some with you first. When the brigade leader issues your rations, you’ll have to return it.”

After zoning out for quite a while, He Xianqiu finally heard this sentence clearly.

She touched her stomach. She really was a little hungry. She didn’t know what had been cooked, but she followed Zhang Zhijuan and the others to the kitchen.

She had read plenty of period novels and remembered that at this time, food was precious, and most people still didn’t have enough to eat and were reluctant to use much oil.

When they got to the kitchen, the others were already seated. A small wooden table was surrounded by people, leaving just enough space for He Xianqiu and the others.

Her arrival made the other educated youths fall silent. Some of the male educated youths blushed, while others looked uncomfortable.

But He Xianqiu had always been the focus of attention, so she was used to all kinds of gazes, whether amazed or malicious.

She naturally found an empty spot to sit down. Her bowl had already been filled by someone else. The portions were the same for the female educated youths, while the male ones got a bit more—it was clearly arranged that way on purpose.

He Xianqiu looked at the dishes on the table: two vegetable dishes and one meat dish. The only meat dish was minced meat mixed in with vegetables; at a glance, there was hardly any meat visible.

These dishes were also barely oily and looked very dry. Then she looked at the porridge in her bowl, and her appetite disappeared completely.

Once everyone had arrived, the meal began. To avoid seeming out of place, He Xianqiu also ate a little.

But to avoid wasting food, before eating, she said she wouldn’t be able to finish and that if no one minded, they could take some of hers.

Zhang Zhijuan and Sun Xiaoyan said they’d like some, so He Xianqiu gave them most of her portion.

Zhang Zhijuan was surprised and blurted out, “You’re only eating that little?”

He Xianqiu said she’d eat more later if she was hungry; she still had some pastries left.

Only then did Zhang Zhijuan feel relieved. Looking at He Xianqiu’s clothes and appearance, she could tell she came from a well-off family, so she wouldn’t starve.

He Xianqiu ate in small bites. Even though the food didn’t suit her tastes and was hard to swallow, she maintained a calm expression and elegant posture.

Her manner made everyone else too embarrassed to wolf down their food, so they imitated her slow, refined movements.

Eating was quite unpleasant for He Xianqiu, but determined not to waste food, she forced herself to finish.

She wasn’t sure if it was psychological or something else, but after eating, she actually felt a slight pain in her stomach.

When the meal ended, everyone introduced themselves to the male educated youths. After that, He Xianqiu quickly returned to the dormitory.

The coarse grains of the 1970s were completely different from modern ones—dry, hard to swallow, and liable to get stuck in the throat. Back in the dormitory, she drank some water before she felt better.

Lying on the bed, He Xianqiu’s thoughts drifted far away.

She remembered that the female supporting character came from a good family—a military family. Her grandfather was a commander, her father was an army general, and her mother’s side was extremely wealthy.

The book mentioned the character’s background but not in detail; this was all she knew.

Besides, she didn’t have the character’s memories and didn’t even know what her family members looked like.

But what surprised her was that she and the original character looked exactly alike, even the same height—165 centimeters.

She wondered for a moment if the character’s family might resemble her own, but this thought quickly passed.

As she lay there, still thinking about what to do next, she eventually drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, He Xianqiu opened her eyes to find she was the only one left in the dormitory.

She put on her shoes and stepped outside. Only Zhou Hanmei and Yang Shuhua were there.

Puzzled, she asked, “Where is everyone else?”

Yang Shuhua ignored her and turned to look elsewhere.

Zhou Hanmei answered gently, “Zhang Zhijuan and the others went to work.”

He Xianqiu nodded. “I see.”

Since she wasn’t familiar with these two female educated youths, she went back inside.

Now that she was alone, she pulled her suitcase out from the end of the bed and opened it. One suitcase held daily necessities and snacks, while the other was filled with clothes.

Earlier, there had been too many people around for her to check everything, and she hadn’t dared open the small box where valuables were kept—after all, wealth shouldn’t be flaunted.

But now that no one else was there, and her bed was in the innermost corner where people wouldn’t easily see, she felt safe enough to open it.

She took out the key hanging around her neck and unlocked the small box. The box was exquisitely made with two compartments inside. The first held three hundred yuan and various ration coupons; the second contained seven hundred yuan and larger denomination coupons.

The female supporting character was really a little rich girl. Her family must have loved her dearly to give her so much money and so many coupons. He Xianqiu recalled that prices at this time were very low—a thousand yuan was no small sum.

She took out fifty yuan and some coupons, put them into a small pouch, then locked the box again.

To be honest, she felt an odd sense of guilt and struggle taking the money. She kept thinking that it wasn’t really hers. But she had become this character now, and if she didn’t take it, she’d probably starve.

So in the end, He Xianqiu still took some, since she didn’t have a penny to her name.

She put the suitcase back in place and took a basin and bucket outside. After spending all day on the ox cart, she was covered in dust and wanted to heat water to bathe.

In the kitchen, she looked at the stove and fell into thought. There was only one pot, so the same one was used for cooking and heating bathwater…

The pot’s surface was greasy, so she had to scrub it several times before she felt it was clean enough. Then she finally felt comfortable heating water to wash, though she knew she’d need to buy a separate pot just for bathing.

Squatting by the stove, she struck a match and lit the kindling, but it only produced thick smoke before going out.

Choked by the smoke, she started coughing so hard her eyes closed against the sting.

She backed away, her eyes streaming, and wiped her face with a handkerchief until she could open them again.

This time, she was smarter. She laid fine wood shavings over the other sticks and used them to start the fire. Finally, it caught.

He Xianqiu was a little delighted. Her fair, beautiful face broke into a smile. The second attempt had worked, filling her with a sense of accomplishment.

It gave her a bit of confidence that maybe she wasn’t completely useless—she could learn.

She heated a big pot of water, enough for several people to bathe. She kept adding wood from time to time.

When the water was hot, she patted off her skirt, carried half a bucket of steaming water into the bathing shed, and then added cold water little by little with a basin.

After all that back and forth, she finally managed to take a bath and even washed her hair.

Once she was clean, hauling water didn’t seem so bad after all—these were just the conditions here.

He Xianqiu returned to the dormitory. Not long after, someone called from outside: “The new educated youths, come collect your rations.”

When she stepped out, she saw the production team leader, Lin Jianshe, who had picked them up that morning.

He smiled kindly at everyone. “Follow me.”

They followed him to the storeroom. Lin Jianshe pointed to several sacks of grain.

“For female educated youths, a hundred jin each. For males, a hundred fifty jin. You’ll have to figure out how to carry it back yourselves. This is your ration for the next few months, until the new year’s distribution.”

He Xianqiu wondered how she’d manage to carry hers—a hundred jin wasn’t exactly light. With her small build, she’d never manage it all in one trip.

Yang Shuhua next to her was complaining, “I came here to help build the countryside, not to do heavy labor.”

Hearing this, some of the others started murmuring in agreement.

“That’s right, I’m here to help build, not to work.”

“Building the countryside shouldn’t be like this.”

He Xianqiu frowned deeply. These people had probably forgotten they shouldn’t offend the villagers right away—and here they were, antagonizing the team leader on the first day.

Besides, carrying your own rations was just common sense. What were they on about?

She looked up at Lin Jianshe. His face didn’t show much, but his tone cooled.

“What else is there in the countryside but farm work? And if you don’t work, you won’t earn any work points—so what will you eat? The grain you’re getting now is something the team is giving you for free. If you don’t plan on doing anything, what did you come here for?”

“And I haven’t even assigned you any tasks yet, but you’re already grumbling. Maybe I should just report back and have you all sent home. We don’t need so many educated youths here anyway.”

Hearing that, no one dared speak again. Being reported would be the end—everyone could tell it would be blamed on them, and they wouldn’t have any good outcome back home.

Seeing them fall silent, Lin Jianshe looked a little more satisfied.

“Figure out how to get your grain back yourselves. That’s all I’ll say. Tomorrow I’ll assign your work.”

Educated youths were always full of trouble. Most of them still thought they were better than everyone here, always looking down on the villagers.

With that, he ignored them and walked away, leaving He Xianqiu and the others standing there.

He Xianqiu stared at the grain in dismay. As she was wondering where to find something to carry it in, she noticed a few boys about eleven or twelve years old standing far off, watching them curiously. Her eyes lit up.

She beckoned. “Hey, kids, come here a moment.”

The boys saw her wave but didn’t move, looking unsure of what she wanted.

When they didn’t approach, she walked over herself.

They eyed her warily. “What do you want from us?”

She smiled, showing her little tiger teeth. “Big sister needs a favor.” She pointed at the sack of grain. “There’ll be payment—three White Rabbit candies each.”

The boys exchanged glances and hesitated. “You’re not lying?”

She nodded. “I’m not lying.”

“All right then.”

He Xianqiu directed them to carry the sack back to the educated youths’ dormitory.

The boys were used to farm work and didn’t think the sack was heavy. They carried it steadily back.

She had them put it in the kitchen, and after they came out, she shut the door.

“Thank you,” she said. “Wait here a moment. I’ll go get the candy.”

She quickly went to the dormitory. A few minutes later, she came back with a big handful of White Rabbit milk candies and handed them out.

“Four kids—three each.”

They treasured the sweets and carefully tucked them into their pockets before leaving.

Back at the dormitory, the other two female educated youths were still at the storeroom.

Yang Shuhua was indignant that He Xianqiu had gotten “some wild village kids” to carry her sack without including them.

“What good is being pretty when your heart is black? She got them to help but didn’t think to help us too.”

Zhou Hanmei only smiled without comment, though she seemed to agree somewhat.

Seeing the same boys who had helped He Xianqiu, Yang Shuhua’s eyes flashed with disdain, but she still cleared her throat and called out: “Hey, you kids, come carry mine too.”

The boys asked, “What will you give us?”

“I’ll give each of you one fruit candy,” she said, though she stayed several steps back as if she found them dirty.

The boys weren’t blind—they could tell she looked down on them. They immediately said, “We won’t help.”

Then they hurried off. This female educated youth obviously despised them, and they didn’t care about a single fruit candy. Besides, the beautiful one had given them three White Rabbit candies each—who would bother with hers?

Yang Shuhua grumbled angrily, “They won’t even take candy—country people really are country people.”