Chapter 4 Unfamiliar

Xie Hezhang didn’t come in alone.

He was accompanied by seven or eight young men about his age.

As soon as they entered, they occupied a table and sat down. The villagers who were eating in the canteen hadn’t all left, but no one greeted them.

Shu Qingyao found it a bit strange. After all, everyone in Helian Village knew each other, and when they came to the canteen to eat after work, they would greet each other.

But at this moment, her mind was completely captivated by the seventeen-year-old Xie Hezhang, and she didn’t have time to figure out the subtle atmosphere in the canteen.

Unlike the Xie Hezhang in her memory, who called her elder sister and had a small tiger tooth that showed when he smiled, the young man surrounded by his friends in front of her had short hair, a fierce aura, and a face that looked unapproachable.

He seemed to have a bad temper.

His skin was darker, his hair was shorter, and his figure was thinner. If it weren’t for his exceptionally handsome face that was still as outstanding as ever, Shu Qingyao would have doubted if she had recognized the wrong person.

How could her gentle and considerate husband look like a little leopard, so fierce?

Little Miss Shu Qingyao widened her eyes, a little doubting life.

“Hezhang, the female educated youth at the back table is stealing glances at you.”

While eating, Fang Han whispered to Xie Hezhang.

Xie Hezhang glanced over. The female educated youth should be a newcomer, a stranger, wearing a misty blue floral dress, with two thick braids, her deer eyes were big and round, black and white, staring at him blankly, looking silly.

She looked like a pampered girl from a good family in the city.

He paused slightly with his chopsticks, Xie Hezhang coldly withdrew his gaze and continued eating.

Fang Han’s words made everyone at the table look back.

Then they snickered.

“That’s not stealing glances, it’s openly looking!”

“She has a crush on Hezhang, right?”

“Female educated youths are so superficial.” Someone at the table scoffed, “Do you remember Tong Yuan?”

When they mentioned Tong Yuan, everyone at the table fell silent.

Tong Yuan was a female educated youth who came last year. She fell in love with Xie Hezhang at first sight and pursued him relentlessly. Later, she found out that Xie Hezhang was the grandson of a landlord, with a bad background, and immediately changed her attitude, telling everyone that Xie Hezhang was harassing her.

Xie Hezhang never paid any attention to her, but she put on a big show.

“Hezhang, that female educated youth is coming over!”

Fang Han kept an eye on Shu Qingyao’s movements. When he saw her get up from her seat and walk towards them, he immediately informed Xie Hezhang nervously.

Xie Hezhang slowly raised his eyes and looked over.

Shu Qingyao was holding her bowl of meat, a little nervous.

The seventeen-year-old Xie Hezhang sat among his group of friends, and he was also very handsome.

The young man’s bones were still developing, and he was tall and thin, covered with a thin layer of wheat-colored, firm muscles. He was wearing a coarse cloth shirt with patches, and although his eyebrows and eyes were handsome, he sat among the crowd with a fierce aura, making Shu Qingyao think of…

The street thugs who hung out in groups.

The gentle and youthful seventeen-year-old Xie Hezhang in her imagination was so different from the fierce little leopard in front of her, Shu Qingyao was a little confused.

Jin Zhuang finished his meal and remembered Shu Qingyao’s request from the afternoon. He led the silly girl to Xie Hezhang’s table, “Little Xie, this is Shu Qingyao. She just came down to the countryside to join our Eastern Brigade today. Your relative in the city asked you to take care of her.”

“Hello.” Shu Qingyao quickly handed over her meat dish, looking at Xie Hezhang’s thin frame, feeling heartbroken. She had to find a way to fatten him up later, “My name is Shu Qingyao.”

Xie Hezhang glanced at the untouched dish in front of him, then at Shu Qingyao, his tone cold, “Shu Qingyao? I don’t know you. I don’t have any relatives in the city, you’ve got the wrong person.”

“This…”

Jin Zhuang looked at Shu Qingyao, his eyes…

Jin Zhuang was puzzled.

Shu Qingyao quickly said, “Maybe he forgot. Captain, you go ahead, I’ll chat with him and try to jog his memory.”

“Alright, you two chat.”

Jin Zhuang scratched the back of his head, didn’t want to meddle any further, nodded and left.

“This dish is for you.” Shu Qingyao smiled sweetly, facing the young man’s cold and arrogant gaze. Then, she thought for a moment and took out five nougat candies from her pocket, giving one to each person at the table, then looked deeply at Xie Hezhang and left, taking three steps back and looking back.

“Hezhang, this female educated youth definitely has a crush on you! She deliberately made up a reason to approach you! I can see through these little girls’ tricks!”

As soon as Shu Qingyao left, Fang Han said decisively.

“She’s more generous than Tong Yuan last time.” Someone at the table shook the nougat Shu Qingyao had given them, and chuckled.

Nougat was a good thing. People in the village couldn’t afford to buy it, and the supply and marketing cooperative rarely stocked it. Only the educated youths from the city were willing to share it.

“Stop talking nonsense. If you don’t want to eat, get out.”

Xie Hezhang said coldly with a fierce expression.

Everyone at the table was afraid of him. Fang Han chuckled foolishly, lowered his head and shut his mouth, obediently eating his meal.

Xie Hezhang lowered his head and quickly ate half a bowl of rice, suppressing his gnawing hunger, and poured the remaining half into his own lunch box.

He glanced at the meat Shu Qingyao had given him, paused slightly, and poured the meat into the lunch box to pack it together.

Fang Han saw that he only ate a little, and quickly pushed his own meal over, “Hezhang, I have a small appetite, you eat some with me.”

Xie Hezhang stood up with his lunch box, pushed his brother’s head, and laughed angrily, “Even pigs eat more than you, and you still have a small appetite! – I’m going back first.”

As soon as Xie Hezhang left, the young men at the table all had a worried look in their eyes.

Their group of people, their ancestors were all of bad backgrounds, and the villagers didn’t like them. Every time the captain assigned work, he would give them the heaviest and most tiring jobs.

A while ago, Xie Hezhang’s sister, Xie Xiaoqian, went up the mountain to chop firewood and accidentally fell from the mountain, breaking her leg. She could only recuperate at home.

The siblings were orphans and had been living with their uncle’s family. Xie Xiaoqian lost her ability to work, and the siblings were even less welcome by their uncle’s family.

Xie Hezhang’s work points were not only divided in half with his uncle’s family, but he also had to support himself and his sister.

As a result, he hadn’t even been able to eat enough recently, and the young man, who was already thin, had lost a lot of weight.

…

Xie Hezhang carried his lunch box and heard his aunt, Xie Helan, scolding from afar, “Good-for-nothing! A jinx! You can’t even wash a bowl, I’m raising a little ancestor!”

The little girl’s cry was as weak as a kitten’s. In the darkness, only Xie Helan’s vulgar scolding echoed.

Xie Hezhang’s eyes were filled with ferocity. He quickly walked to the door of his house and saw Xie Xiaoqian sitting on the door sill crying, while Xie Helan was beating her with a broom.

“Xie Helan, what are you doing!”

Xie Hezhang rushed over, grabbed the handle of the broom with one hand, and pushed the fat woman away.

Xie Helan was still a little afraid of Xie Hezhang. In recent years, Xie Hezhang had grown too fast and was already a head taller than her. He was no longer as easy to control as he was when he was a child.

Seeing Xie Hezhang’s fierce expression, Xie Helan’s arrogance subsided a little, and then she pointed to a broken bowl on the table, “Your sister broke our bowl, Xie Hezhang, you have to pay, understand?”

Xie Hezhang threw the broom aside, bent down and carried the seven-year-old Xie Xiaoqian on his back, expressionless, “I’ll buy you a new bowl tomorrow.”

He carried Xie Xiaoqian directly into the house.

Xie Wei, who was sitting by the window, cracking sunflower seeds and watching the show, saw Xie Hezhang enter the house and fanned the flames, “Mom, look at his attitude towards you! He called you by your full name!”

Xie Helan also cursed, deliberately raising her voice, “You have no mother, no father, you have no manners! Your uncle and I feed and clothe you, and you can’t even get a good word out of you!”