Chapter 48

As for the third one, she was already plotting in her mind.

The third one was twenty-one years old this year. Due to delaying his studies in high school, he was already behind, and most of the boys his age in the village were already married.

She had also wanted to find him a good match, which was why things had been delayed until now.

During this period, the third one had been asking her for money every day, running to the county town, claiming that he had rekindled a relationship with an old female classmate. He said they were very much in love, and there would surely be good news soon.

Learning from the earlier mistake of speaking too freely, this time she refrained from boasting, fearing that she might end up losing both the woman and the soldier.

Everyone started complimenting Liu Guifang a few times.

The women began a new topic, chattering away, as if they could talk forever.

The drying field soon became crowded.

It was divided into small groups, with the educated youth standing together and the regular members standing together.

Gu Qinghuan casually glanced over and immediately spotted Lin Xiaomeng, who also stood out in the crowd.

Like her, although Lin Xiaomeng was an educated youth, she was no longer fully considered one. She stood on the side, ignored by everyone.

The two of them could be considered the two oddities of Xu Family Village.

Upon closer inspection, Lin Xiaomeng’s fortune progress bar was still stuck at thirty percent. It seemed she hadn’t had a chance to lay her hands on the money or the cauliflower yet.

She, too, couldn’t think of a good solution and could only take things one step at a time.

The brigade leader came over, keeping track of time, to assign the day’s production tasks.

The task for all the educated youth today was to dig sweet potatoes, and Gu Qinghuan and Lin Xiaomeng were no exception.

Since the two of them were sisters-in-law and lived close to each other, they were unfortunately assigned to the same group. Both of them glanced at each other with some disdain but didn’t speak.

Because the educated youth were not very skilled, digging sweet potatoes was a task that required experience and judgment, so the brigade leader planned to assign a more experienced worker to each group.

Lin Xiaomeng silently prayed in her heart: Qian Caihua, Qian Caihua, please assign Qian Caihua to our group.

For the past few days, she had been trying to figure out how to approach Qian Caihua, but it wasn’t appropriate to suddenly rush up and serve her water—it would be too obvious and could cause trouble.

So she had been delaying until now.

The brigade leader originally planned to assign Liu Guifang to their group, thinking that the three of them, as mother-in-law and daughters-in-law, would work well together, and Liu Guifang could teach them.

But when he called out names, for some unknown reason, he suddenly misspoke and called out Qian Caihua instead.

Once the words were out, there was no way to take them back, so it was decided—Qian Caihua it was.

Lin Xiaomeng got what she wanted.

With her current luck, she could only influence small outcomes, like getting Qian Caihua assigned to their group or perhaps finding a rabbit or wild chicken while climbing the mountain or spotting wild duck eggs while washing clothes by the river.

The wild ginseng she found last time was purely a stroke of luck.

Gu Qinghuan immediately understood when she saw that Qian Caihua was assigned to their group—it was Lin Xiaomeng’s plan in motion.

Everyone rushed to the tool storage to get their tools and then slowly walked to their assigned land.

Qian Caihua cursed in her heart, thinking she had no luck today. She was stuck with these two, and she was sure she wouldn’t earn a full work point.

Carrying a hoe, she walked at the front with a dark face.

Gu Qinghuan and Lin Xiaomeng followed behind, each carrying a basket, and they made their way to the sweet potato field assigned to them.

“This entire field of sweet potatoes is our task for today. If we finish, everyone gets full work points. If we don’t finish, just wait and see!” Qian Caihua shouted loudly. “I’m telling you both, work hard today, and don’t drag me down!”

Lin Xiaomeng walked over with a smile on her face. “Caihua, don’t worry. I’ll definitely work hard. You’re so experienced at this, you’ll have to teach me more!”

Seeing this, Gu Qinghuan couldn’t help but shiver, a chill running through her body.

Anyone who didn’t know better might think Lin Xiaomeng really liked Qian Caihua. In reality, she had already planned to drain all of Qian Caihua’s good fortune, yet she appeared so harmless, even more so than Pan Jinlian.

The most poisonous thing in the world is a woman’s heart, and this was just like that.

Qian Caihua, seeing Lin Xiaomeng so cooperative and saying the right things, softened her expression a little.

When she saw that Gu Qinghuan was still standing on the edge of the field and not moving, she shouted at her: “Huaian, what are you thinking? Hurry up and get to work! Do you want me to come and ask you personally?”

Gu Qinghuan snapped out of her thoughts and quickly went down to start working.

The tasks were divided as follows: Qian Caihua was responsible for digging up the sweet potatoes, while Gu Qinghuan and Lin Xiaomeng were in charge of cleaning the potatoes from the soil, placing them in baskets, and then carrying them to the tally clerk.

It seemed unfair at first, as Gu Qinghuan and Lin Xiaomeng were doing the heavy lifting.

But giving them hoes to dig up sweet potatoes was simply out of the question.

The growth of sweet potatoes in the ground could only be judged by experienced workers based on years of practice. If they blindly started digging, they would only end up with half-grown potatoes, which would result in them being unable to complete the task.

This was how most of the educated youth were assigned.

Once the tasks were assigned, everyone began working.

Gu Qinghuan and Lin Xiaomeng both reached into their pockets and pulled out a pair of work gloves, putting them on without a word.

A woman’s hands are her second face; they shouldn’t be dirtied.

Seeing this, Qian Caihua muttered: “Are your hands made of gold or something? Why bother being so fancy? These fine cotton gloves will get all dirty in the mud. You might as well unravel them and knit a sweater—it’d be warmer.”

Gu Qinghuan turned the gloves over, inspecting them carefully. “How do you knit a sweater with these gloves?”

Lin Xiaomeng curiously looked at her.

“Don’t look at me now like I’m old and worn out. When I was younger, I was just as keen on looking good.

When I was still a young girl, I loved knitting. But back then, resources were scarce, and I couldn’t afford to buy crochet hooks, so I used a toothbrush that no one wanted and turned its head into a hook.

I didn’t have money for wool, so I collected white cotton thread work gloves, unraveled them to make thread, wound them into balls, and knitted sweaters.

But white sweaters aren’t lucky, so I taught myself how to dye them with pomegranate peel.

I’d dry the pomegranate peel, break it into small pieces, boil it in water, and then soak the sweater in the dye, letting it cook and color.

In the end, I made a sweater in a warm autumn yellow.

I even wore that autumn yellow sweater to my matchmaking session, and Mr. Xu instantly took a liking to me.”

Qian Caihua became lost in the fond memories of the past, and the air around her seemed to soften, turning gentle and romantic.

No matter if a person was forty or seventy, everyone once had their youthful days.

Time might wear down the sharp edges, but it couldn’t take away the beautiful moments that once existed.