After all, Zhang Mengzhi was born in the 2000s before he transmigrated. When he didn’t want to give someone face, even the biggest official’s status was useless. 

“Educated Youth Liu, my third brother has a bus to catch early tomorrow morning, so he needs to rest early tonight. If something happens because he doesn’t get enough sleep, can you take responsibility?” 

Their village was in the mountains, and it usually took an hour or two to walk to the commune. They definitely had to go to bed early at night, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to get up in the morning. 

“Comrade Zhang Mengzhi, we are sincerely inviting you to participate in tonight’s dinner party. You haven’t participated in a single educated youth activity in the year you’ve been sent to the countryside. This is being unsociable, do you know that?” 

Having his face lost again by the Zhang brothers, Educated Youth Liu’s face darkened as he spoke. 

“It’s not important whether I’m sociable with you or not. It’s enough if I’m sociable with the people in the village. If you still want to return to the city safely, I advise you to be honest recently and not cause any trouble. This is Zhangjia Village, and my surname is Zhang, the Zhang of Zhangjia Village.” 

Zhang Mengzhi wasn’t afraid of him. He used his eyes to restrain his enraged cousins and warned the other party. Don’t think that just because the village agreed to let them go back, they could leave. As long as the village wanted to, they could go back on their word at any time. That way, their wish to return to the city early couldn’t be fulfilled. 

If they dragged it out as long as possible before letting them return to the city, it would be too late to do anything then! 

“You, what nonsense are you talking about? Who wants to cause trouble…” 

Unexpectedly, Zhang Mengzhi not only wasn’t intimidated by him and softened his attitude, but instead threatened him, which startled Educated Youth Liu. 

Seeing his stuttering, Zhang Mengzhi was even more certain that there was a problem with today’s invitation. 

Someone who hadn’t said more than a few words suddenly tried to be ingratiating. Anyone who wasn’t stupid knew that the other party had bad intentions. 

And Zhang Mengzhi was obviously still very clear-headed, so he refused and threatened the other party in a timely manner when they tried to force him to participate. 

“Do you know you’re blushing? It’s obvious you’re lying.” 

Zhang Mengzhi put one hand on Lao Si’s shoulder and said with a smile, exposing the other party’s lie without hesitation. 

“Since Comrade Zhang doesn’t want to go, then forget it. I won’t disturb your rest anymore. Goodbye.” 

After hearing his words, Educated Youth Liu covered his face, left a sentence, and ran away. 

“What do they want to do?” 

Zhang Jianzhong looked at his cousin with a serious face. 

“Big brother, you’ve stumped me with that question. Who knows what they want to do? I didn’t go anyway. It’s probably just to plot something against me! After all, my situation is different from theirs. Even though I’m sent to the countryside, my parents still send me things from time to time, especially food, supplies, and clothes. A lot is sent from the city every month.” 

Zhang Mengzhi was loved by his parents and doted on by his grandparents, completely different from the other educated youths who had to come to the countryside. 

They were sent to the countryside because they weren’t valued by their parents at home. 

Anyway, Zhang Mengzhi hadn’t seen other educated youths receive anything from their hometown in the past year. Their food and lodging were all provided by the villagers, and they were still the same as when they came. 

Compared to them, Zhang Mengzhi, the educated youth sent to the countryside, seemed out of place. After all, while everyone else was suffering in the countryside, one person was living extremely freely. Even the Red Guards who came occasionally were familiar with Zhang Mengzhi and never made things difficult for him. 

The educated youth compound was inspected by the Red Guards every month, but Zhang Mengzhi, who lived with his grandparents, didn’t have to be searched, so naturally some people were displeased with him. 

“You eat well and dress well, what does that have to do with them? It’s because your parents love you that they send you things.” 

Zhang Jianhua frowned. As the second oldest in the family with the most fiery temper, if it hadn’t been for Lao San stopping him just now, his fist would have already kissed Educated Youth Liu’s face. 

“Second brother hit the nail on the head! Third brother has parents who care about him. A group of educated youths who aren’t valued by their families must be jealous of third brother!” 

Little Four Zhang Jianren sneered. Don’t think that just because their brothers, except for third brother who was admitted to university, only finished junior high school, they were stupid. With a little thought, they knew the reason. 

“Fourth brother is right. This alone is enough to make them jealous of third brother.” 

Little Five Zhang Jianhe crossed his arms and hated the educated youths in the village even more. 

Villages built on clans were always very united and very exclusive. 

Unfortunately, they couldn’t refuse the educated youths assigned by the higher-ups, so the relationship between the villagers and the educated youths in the educated youth compound wasn’t very good. 

Only a few educated youths, because of their agreeable personalities, weren’t rejected much. 

The Liu Educated Youth who came was one of them. Now it seemed that the so-called honesty wasn’t real honesty. Who knows how dark his heart was! 

“Alright, don’t get angry, you guys. I’m leaving tomorrow, so they can’t plot against me. Besides, they won’t be staying for many days. Don’t cause trouble for the village in the last few days.” 

Zhang Mengzhi patted the heads of his two cousins to calm them down. 

“It’s also because third brother has a good temper. If it were us brothers, we would have gathered people to beat them up a long time ago.” 

“Alright, restrain your temper a little. Don’t always think about fighting people.” 

Zhang Mengzhi looked at his cousin with a pout and comforted him. 

Violence alone can’t solve problems. Just like Zhang Mengzhi knew there was a tiger in the mountain and directly avoided it. 

A wise man doesn’t stand under a dangerous wall. The ancestors had long warned their descendants. 

“Lao San, have a good rest. We won’t come back to sleep tonight to avoid disturbing you.” 

Second brother Zhang Jianhua patted his cousin’s shoulder and pulled the other two cousins away. 

Tonight, they would go to other people’s houses in the village to spend the night. 

“Okay, thank you, second brother.” 

Zhang Mengzhi was a light sleeper, and he had to go to bed early tonight. When Zhang Jianhua and the others came back to sleep after packing up at night, they would definitely wake him up. 

And he was the type who couldn’t fall asleep for a long time after being woken up. In order to have the energy to take the bus tomorrow, he had to rest well tonight. 

After seeing off his cousins, Zhang Mengzhi went to the kitchen to fetch water to wash his face, brush his teeth, and take a bath. He changed into clean clothes, caught all the mosquitoes in the mosquito net with the kerosene lamp, and then went to sleep peacefully. 

The next day at five o’clock, Zhang Mengzhi woke up. He hung up the mosquito net and walked out of the room. 

“San’er is awake.” 

Zhang Grandma and Zhang Grandpa heard the movement and walked out of the kitchen. 

They woke up even earlier than their third grandson, and breakfast was almost ready. 

“Grandpa, Grandma, why did you wake up so early?” 

Zhang Mengzhi walked quickly towards the kitchen. 

“Hurry up and wash your face and brush your teeth. Breakfast will be ready soon.” 

Zhang Grandma patted her grandson’s arm. Although it was only a little after five o’clock, it was already getting light outside because of the summer. 

It was believed that it wouldn’t be long before the sky was completely bright. 

“Okay.” 

Zhang Mengzhi knew that time was tight in the morning, so he didn’t waste any words and immediately went to wash his face and brush his teeth. By the time he was done, breakfast had been brought to the table by his grandparents. 

“You like to eat cold noodles. It’s hot today, so we’ll have cold noodles for breakfast.” 

Zhang Grandma put a bowl of mixed cold noodles in front of her third grandson. 

“Thank you, Grandma.” 

Zhang Mengzhi didn’t stand on ceremony and picked up his chopsticks to eat. 

The earliest bus from their commune to the city left at seven o’clock, and he had to catch this one, otherwise he would have to wait until the noon bus. 

“Mengzhi, take good care of yourself after you go back to the city, you know? Don’t worry us.” 

Zhang Grandpa looked at his third grandson, who was very different from the other grandsons in the Zhang family, with a fair and clean face. He had always been a child who grew up in the city, unlike his cousins who were all big and burly. 

“Grandpa, I know. You and Grandma have to take good care of yourselves. When it’s your birthday, my dad and mom will definitely come back to celebrate your birthdays.” 

Zhang Mengzhi ate while urging the two elders. They were old, and if something happened, it would be too late to regret it. 

“We know, you don’t have to tell us. We haven’t seen you get married and start a career yet!” 

Zhang Grandpa used the action of eating cold noodles to hide his reddened eyes. 

Don’t think that they haven’t spent much time with this grandson, but in fact, their relationship as grandparents and grandson was very good. 

Zhang Mengzhi had been filial since he was a child and would come back to visit them two old folks every year. Even if his parents didn’t have time to send them back, Zhang Mengzhi would take his sister by bus to the countryside to see the old people. 

They persuaded Zhang Mengzhi not to come back so often to save money, but Zhang Mengzhi didn’t listen and still came back every winter and summer vacation, sometimes with his sister, sometimes by himself. 

Logically speaking, adults shouldn’t be at ease with a little kid taking the bus alone, but because he was too precocious and had always been steady in his work, his parents and elders were at ease letting him go back to the countryside by himself to visit his grandparents. 

Moreover, the drivers and conductors on the bus were all acquaintances from their commune. As long as they put the child on the bus and told the driver and conductor, there would definitely be no incidents of losing the child. 

This wasn’t the society of later generations that specialized in screwing over acquaintances, but a world where it was easier to get things done with acquaintances. 

After so many trips back and forth, Zhang Mengzhi could be considered an old acquaintance on this road back to the city. 

“Mengzhi, going back to the city today!” 

As soon as the conductor aunt saw him, she immediately greeted him. 

“Yes, Aunt Li, you’re on the bus today too!” 

Zhang Mengzhi put his luggage on the engine compartment at the front of the bus and then sat in the passenger seat at the front of the bus. 

“Yes, I’m on the bus today. You came early today. There’s no one else on the bus yet. Hurry up and sit down.” 

Seeing him sitting in the front seat, the conductor smiled. 

“Hehe, thank you, Aunt Li. Isn’t that right? The scenery is best in this seat on the whole bus.” 

Zhang Mengzhi smiled proudly. He used to take the noon bus, and there were a lot of people on the bus at that time. He basically had to stand all the way back to the city. 

“Alright, I won’t talk to you anymore. Someone’s coming. This is your ticket.” 

The conductor took the fare from Zhang Mengzhi and tore off a ticket for him. 

“Okay.”