Xu Ning was sitting on the kang studying her high school textbooks when she heard Wei Lanlan and Yang Xiaomei calling for her from outside.

Quickly slipping on her shoes, she rushed to open the door. Both of them were holding needles and thread, indicating they were planning to settle in for a while.

She invited them to sit on the kang and brought over a plate of pine nuts, asking, “What made you two come out today?”

Wei Lanlan tossed her needle and thread aside and began peeling the pine nuts as she replied, “Since you weren’t coming to find us, we had no choice but to come find you.”

Yang Xiaomei sighed, “This winter here feels way too long. It’s really boring just sitting inside.”

Xu Ning chuckled, “You should be grateful! You get to relax at home every day. I heard the educated youths in the south still have to work during the winter.”

“That’s true,” Wei Lanlan agreed. “Compared to other places, we only grow one crop here, and it really isn’t that bad. We also get a decent amount of grain, and even with some coarse grains mixed in, we can fill our stomachs.”

Xu Ning asked, “I heard you two were making quite a racket yesterday. What was going on?”

Wei Lanlan popped a pine nut into her mouth and replied, “It was just Gu Wenping and Lin Miao again. I don’t know what sparked the argument this time.

In the past, Yang Wenli would try to mediate, but now he’s not even bothering. The two of them just kept getting louder and louder until Sun Hao and Chen Xiangdong finally had to drag them back into the house.”

Yang Xiaomei chimed in, “It’s so annoying! Every day it’s like they’re putting on a show. If they’re going to break up, they should just do it decisively. If they want to be together, then why make it so dramatic? I really don’t understand what they’re trying to accomplish.

And that Wang Juanjuan is no better. She knows they’re in a relationship, but as a girl, she should keep her distance! Why does she have to insert herself into everything? I’ve never seen anyone like her.”

Xu Ning thought to herself, It won’t be long now. Once spring arrives, they should be able to sort things out.

The entire afternoon, Xu Ning listened as they chatted about the various trivial matters happening in the educated youth courtyard.

Wei Lanlan mentioned, “There’s a family in the neighboring village who has their eyes on Chunhua. They think she’s tall and capable and want to make her their daughter-in-law.”

“Chunhua said she would think it over and hasn’t given them a response yet, but I believe it should work out. That family has a good situation; all three of their sons are quite capable. The eldest and the second are already married, and this one is the youngest, who’s strong and hardworking,” Wei Lanlan explained.

Yang Xiaomei nodded in agreement, “That’s true. Chunhua isn’t getting any younger, and with so many siblings in the family, they can’t really afford to send her back to the city. It would be better for her to find a good family to marry into here.”

Xu Ning thought to herself, At 21, she’s not that old. If she can wait for the college entrance exams to be reinstated, her life could change completely.

However, she only considered it and didn’t want to interfere in others’ matters, even when things were better between them before.

When Xu An returned on Saturday, he said to her, “Sister, two of my classmates want to come over to our house for a day next week. Is that okay?”

Xu Ning smiled and replied, “Of course! Do you want to come back for lunch? I can have something prepared for you.”

“Sister, we’ll eat lunch at school and come back later. They’re from the county, so they might stay here for the night. They’ll come over with me on Saturday and head back on Sunday.”

“Okay, I got it! The day you all come back, I’ll trade for some tofu and make fried tofu balls for dinner,” Xu Ning said.

Xu An’s two male classmates were named Fan Sizhe and Jin Dapeng. From their conversation, it was clear they came from good families. They had brought some grains with them, as well as two bags of snacks.

Xu Ning exchanged a few pieces of tofu in the village, planning to prepare the fried tofu balls for them that evening.

Xu An chatted with the two in the yard. Fan Sizhe looked around the courtyard and said with a smile, “Xu An, your place is nice and quiet. This little courtyard feels very cozy.”

Xu An chuckled, “This is just a typical farmhouse; it can’t compare to your homes in the city.”

Jin Dapeng chimed in, “What’s so good about the city? Everyone crammed together makes everything inconvenient.”

Xu An smiled and welcomed the two inside, saying, “Tonight, I’ll show you a special dish of mine that I’m really good at. You’ll get to try it.”

They both laughed, saying, “Xu An, who would have thought you could cook?”

Xu An glanced at the two and proudly declared, “Of course! The dishes I make have been recognized by many. At the wedding of an educated youth, they even asked me to help with the banquet.”

Xu Ning shot him a look, thinking about how he was bragging. He had only helped a bit during Wei Lanlan and Chen Xiangdong’s wedding and was now claiming they had invited him to handle the entire banquet.

Just one meat dish and a platter of pig offal hardly qualified as a banquet! This kid is becoming less mature as he grows up, almost as boastful as Xu Mo now, she thought.

For dinner, they had fried tofu balls, pork and sauerkraut stewed with vermicelli, stir-fried radish shreds with oil residue, spicy kimchi, and a pot of millet porridge.

Fan Sizhe and Jin Dapeng praised the food, finally believing that Xu An really could cook and wasn’t just boasting.

During the meal, Fan Sizhe and Jin Dapeng mentioned they wanted to explore the mountains the next day. Xu An looked at Xu Ning for her input.

Xu Ning thought for a moment and said, “If you’re going to the mountains, you should invite Sun Hao and Chen Xiangdong to join you.”

The three of them were delighted by the idea. After dinner, Xu An took them to the educated youth camp.

Liu Shaojie and Zhang Hairong were excited when they heard they would be heading up the mountain the next day and insisted on joining them.

Sun Hao and Chen Xiangdong agreed as well, while Gu Wenping and Yang Wenli chimed in that they wanted to go too.

The next morning, after breakfast, the six from the camp, along with Xu An and his two classmates, plus Jianmin and Da Lin, set off for the mountains in a lively group.

Xu Ning prepared lunch and waited until one o’clock, but most of them still hadn’t come back down.

When Wang Liang came looking for a few of them to return to school, he heard Xu Ning mention that they had gone up the mountain and hadn’t returned yet.

Wang Liang was surprised and asked, “When did they go up the mountain? It’s already this late, and they still haven’t come back?”

“They left right after breakfast,” Xu Ning replied.

Just as she finished speaking, the door swung open, and Xu An came in first with a backpack, followed closely by Fan Sizhe and Jin Dapeng.

Seeing the group return, Xu Ning quickly went to the kitchen to warm up the food and called everyone to eat.

The three young men were famished and didn’t bother with pleasantries, sitting right down at the table to dig in.

Noticing Wang Liang sitting at the side, Xu Ning handed him a spiced salt pancake and said, “You should eat one too; you’ll have a long walk ahead.”

Wang Liang quickly waved his hand and said, “Sister, I’m not hungry. I just ate before coming.”

Xu Ning didn’t listen to his refusal and simply pressed the pancake into his hands.

She then glanced into Xu An’s backpack and saw it contained two rabbits. She went inside to grab some old newspapers to wrap them up, planning to have Fan Sizhe and Jin Dapeng each take one back with them.

After the three finished their meal, they tidied up their things to head back to school. Xu Ning handed the two rabbits to Xu An, saying, “These rabbits are for Fan Sizhe and Jin Dapeng, one for each. Don’t mention it yet; give it to them in the city to avoid any more of their polite refusals here.”

Xu An, carrying the two rabbits, said to Xu Ning, “Sister, don’t go hunting in the mountains. A few days ago, Big Brother Lu wrote to me asking if you had gone up the mountain. He said if you didn’t listen, I should write to him, and he would come back.”

Xu Ning…