The next morning, Xu Ning woke up to find that everyone had already left. She checked the time on her watch—it was six-thirty. The watch was the one her mother had given her before she came to the countryside.

Today, it was Li Fengjiao and Lin Qiuhua’s turn to cook. The cooking duties rotated daily, but it was common to team up with those they were close to. Li Fengjiao and Lin Qiuhua teamed up, Xu Ning and her brother worked together, and the three male educated youths cooked as a group.

Each person’s food ration was fixed, and after yesterday’s events, it was unlikely anyone would dare to cut back on the siblings’ rations again.

However, Xu Ning decided not to eat with the others anymore. With the autumn harvest coming up in a month and the food supply dwindling, she planned to separate her and her brother’s rations and cook for themselves.

With that in mind, Xu Ning got up, dressed, and went to the kitchen to fetch water and wash up.

Li Fengjiao and Lin Qiuhua were steaming cornmeal cakes. When they saw Xu Ning enter, they immediately turned their heads away. Xu Ning paid no attention to their attitude, filled a bucket with water, and went outside to brush her teeth and wash her face.

Soon, the male educated youths got up. At breakfast, Xu Ning announced that she and her brother would be separating their food rations and cooking for themselves.

None of the male educated youths had any objections. After yesterday’s incident, Li Fengjiao and Lin Qiuhua knew they wouldn’t gain any advantage by trying to take advantage of the siblings and were likely relieved that they would be separated.

Xu Ning suggested that since everyone was gathered, they should divide her and her brother’s food rations after breakfast. Everyone agreed.

With the autumn harvest approaching, the remaining food was sparse. There were seven or eight pounds of sorghum flour and just over two pounds of cornmeal. The food distribution was handled fairly by Sun Hao and Chen Xiangdong.

The reserved plots had already been planted with vegetables, so they wouldn’t be divided at the moment. For now, everyone continued to share, but once this season’s crops were harvested, a plot near the Daqing Mountain would be allocated to Xu Ning and her brother.

The three male educated youths suggested that a plot closer to the camp be allocated to the siblings, but Li Fengjiao and Lin Qiuhua disagreed.

Xu Ning told the three male educated youths not to worry about it. She was fine with the plot near the Daqing Mountain.

She proposed that they should first allocate a plot for her and her brother. Once this batch of vegetables was harvested, she would take over the cultivation of that plot herself.

Xu Ning realized that her space didn’t have many vegetables, and the winters here were long. Once the heavy snow sealed off the mountains, it would be difficult to go out, and even if she could, buying vegetables would be challenging. She needed to stock up enough food for herself and her brother for the winter.

Yesterday, she had looked at the plot near the Daqing Mountain where she had planted beans. The plants looked sparse, probably because it was far from the youth camp and not as convenient to tend to. She had left it mostly unattended.

Once everyone agreed on the plan, Xu Ning said she would ask the village head to help allocate the reserved plots after work in the evening.

Everyone went off to their respective tasks. Xu An carried his basket and headed off to cut pigweed. Once they were gone, Xu An approached Xu Ning, excitedly asking, “Sister, we’re going to eat separately from them now?”

Xu Ning smiled and patted his little head, asking, “Are you that happy?” Xu An nodded and replied, “Yes, I’m happy. Sister, if we eat separately, you’ll be able to eat your fill. Then you can eat more.”

Xu Ning agreed, saying, “Yes, we’ll both eat well every day.”

Happy, Xu An went off to cut pigweed.

Xu Ning prepared to visit the county. It would take about two hours to walk to Chengnan County from here, but since it wasn’t the busy farming season yet, there were bullock carts going to the county every day. The cart ride would take about an hour.

Xu Ning sighed at the poor state of transportation.

When she reached the village entrance, the bullock cart was almost full. The village head’s wife was also on the cart and waved to Xu Ning, “Xu Zhiqing, come sit here.” Xu Ning quickly ran over and sat next to the village head’s wife, asking, “Are you going to the county too, Auntie?”

The village head’s wife patted a nearby basket filled with peppers, beans, and various vegetables. Smiling, she said, “I’m sending some vegetables to my daughter. How’s your head now, Xu Zhiqing?”

The village head’s eldest daughter had married into the city and her son-in-law worked as a factory worker, a respectable job at that time, comparable to a civil servant in the 21st century.

Xu Ning replied, “It’s much better, Auntie. The village head asked me to rest at home for a couple of days, so I’m going to the city to send a letter.”

After a few more pleasantries with the village head’s wife, Xu Ning fell silent. The original owner had been a quiet girl, and Xu Ning didn’t plan to change much. She wanted to stay low-key and live quietly through these years.

The bullock cart rocked its way into the county. The grand archway displayed the words “Chengnan County” in bold, and on either side were stone lions. The lions had chains around their mouths, with lion heads in the center of the chains and wavy lines carved beside them. Below the chains were the lions’ massive front paws.

Xu Ning gazed at the stone lions, deep in thought. They looked strikingly similar to the stone lions described at the entrance of the county in the book The Delicate Wife from the 70s that she had read before crossing over.

She had read the first half of that book a few months ago while on a business trip in Hangzhou with her office colleagues, who had recommended it to her.

The protagonist, Lin Miao, was a popular internet celebrity from 2021 who found herself transported to a worker’s family in Su Province. Her parents were ordinary workers, and she had an older brother, an older sister, and two younger brothers. Her older siblings were already married, and the younger brothers were still small. Only Lin Miao was deemed suitable for going down to the countryside, but she did not agree with this. She felt that her parents were biased, and she had been resisting and even threatening to starve herself up until the day before her departure. Unfortunately, her threats came true, and she died from starvation. Thus, Lin Miao from 2021 arrived in this new world.

After Lin Miao’s arrival in 2021, she quickly packed her belongings and went to the countryside. Lin’s parents felt deeply guilty about their daughter and sent money and tickets to her every month.

Additionally, her livestreaming space came with her, though it only had the function of storing items. The space contained various samples from brands, including cosmetics, snacks, bedding, and clothes. While the quantity was not large, combined with the financial support from Lin’s parents, it was enough for her to live comfortably.

The male lead, Gu Wenping, arrived in the countryside over a month after Lin Miao. He was from Beijing and came from a good family. He had responded to the national call to go to the countryside. When Gu Wenping first saw Lin Miao, he was immediately smitten. Lin Miao was petite and delicate, with a small, oval face and skin as smooth as jade. Her eyes sparkled and her teeth were white… (Here, a lengthy description of Lin Miao’s beauty was omitted). Essentially, she was portrayed as exceptionally beautiful.

The story then followed the tangled love affair between Lin Miao and Gu Wenping. There was also a highly accomplished male supporting character who created a love triangle. Lin Miao was torn between the two, enduring years of ups and downs with Gu Wenping. During an outing to gather wild vegetables, they encountered a wild boar. Gu Wenping risked his life to save her, and they eventually ended up together. Afterward, with the restoration of the college entrance examination, both leads were admitted to university.

Before Xu Ning’s transmigration, she had read up to this point in the novel, with one-third of the book still unread. Reflecting on it now, it seemed that the place where the female lead went down to the countryside might be Huaguo Province’s Chengnan County, which also featured a large green mountain in the book. Could it be that the place the leads went to was also Yushu Village? If so, the names of the educated youth would not match!

The night before her transmigration, after finishing the novel, Xu Ning had put her tablet in the space, so she didn’t need to worry about it now. She touched the bandage on her head and thought about needing to go to Dr. Han’s in the afternoon to change her dressing. Suddenly, she stopped as she realized, what if she hadn’t transmigrated yesterday? Would the original protagonist have perished just like that? In that case, the village head would definitely send the two culprits to the educated youth office, and Yushu Village would have no Li Fengjiao and Lin Qiuhua, nor would it have Xu Ning.

Chen Xiandong, Sun Hao, and Ge Hongbin were all very low-key. If a death had occurred and two others had been sent to the educated youth office, the three of them would definitely stay as far away from the situation as possible. This would explain why they were scarcely mentioned in the book.

The female lead Lin Miao seemed to have gone to the countryside in 1969. The book described how Lin Miao arrived just in time for the autumn harvest, with her delicate hands covered in blisters. She was grateful that her livestreaming space had sunscreen; otherwise, her face would have been severely sunburned.

With less than a month left before the autumn harvest, if Xu Ning was indeed transmigrated into the book, she needed to find a way to move out of the educated youth point before Lin Miao arrived in Yushu Village.

Lost in thought, Xu Ning heard the village head’s wife calling out, “Xu Zhiqing, Xu Zhiqing, we’ve arrived! Aren’t you going to send that letter? Hurry up, it’s getting late. If you don’t hurry, you’ll miss the return ox cart.”

Xu Ning quickly responded, “Okay, auntie, I’ll go right away.”

Instead of mailing the letter, she decided to familiarize herself with the original’s notes first and practice writing.

Her first stop was the supply and marketing cooperative. It was quite crowded inside. Some of the tickets the original had brought to the countryside were about to expire, so Xu Ning planned to use them. She bought two pounds of brown sugar, one pound of cake, and one pound of salt. Handing over the tickets for two pounds of sugar and one pound of cake to the sales clerk, she said,

“Brown sugar is forty-eight cents per pound, two pounds total ninety-six cents. Cake is seventy-five cents per pound, salt is fifteen cents per pound. That’s a total of one yuan and eighty-six cents.”

Xu Ning paid the clerk, put the items in her basket, and looked around. When she reached the meat section, she saw it was crowded with people and decided to leave.

She had no intention of selling the items from her space or engaging in black market trading like the female lead. Lacking the female lead’s charisma and unwilling to take such risks, she preferred to wait for at least ten years until grain freedom was more secure. Although her space had limited food supplies, she was determined to care for the original’s family since she had taken over the original’s body.

Thinking about the original’s parents, she suddenly recalled a brief incident mentioned in the book.

When the village head went to pick up the new batch of educated youth, there were also a man, a woman, and a two or three-year-old boy accompanying them. These three were considered to have undesirable class backgrounds and were sent to the countryside for re-education. Unlike the educated youth, who travelled by ox cart, the two adults and the child walked alongside the ox cart to Yushu Village.

The three were to be housed in the cattle shed, which was not far from the youth camp. When the ox cart delivered the educated youth to their designated place and took the three to the cattle shed, a young boy ran over, shouting, “Mom and Dad, Xiao Mo!” The two or three-year-old boy called the older boy “brother.” Later on, no matter how many times he said that they had already severed their relationship, no one believed him! The little boy who had called them Mom and Dad ended up living in the cowshed too.”

The book didn’t mention this family much after that. Years later, after the male and female leads got married, they were walking after dinner one evening and passed by the cattle shed. They saw a teenage boy in tattered clothes carrying water to the shed and lamented, “The victims of the times!”