Chapter 12: Goals

Luo Qiao thought that in a few days, once she had her health better, she would go up the mountain to look for some medicinal herbs to sell. With that money, she planned to buy the courtyard of the female educated youth.

She wanted to avoid the situation where someone from the village might buy it, forcing her to find another place to live.

The courtyard at the female educated youth point had two main rooms, a kitchen, and a storage room. Luo Qiao liked it well enough, especially because the courtyard had a well, which was quite convenient.

Gao Suhua, having gained nothing from her encounter with Luo Qiao, thought to herself that the girl’s courage was quite something, daring not to open the door for her. She decided to keep an eye on her.

In the following two days, Luo Qiao did nothing but rest in the courtyard. The well water from the space turned out to be very beneficial. In just two days, she felt significantly better.

Although she still appeared frail and weak on the outside, her constitution had improved considerably compared to before. Her skin also looked much better than it had.

Over the past two days, Luo Qiao had also been preparing various nourishing foods for herself in the space, so she decided that tomorrow she would ask the captain to assign her some work. Otherwise, people might start gossiping.

Luo Qiao had been thinking about her situation. She was only fifteen years old and couldn’t stay in the village indefinitely. It was the early 1980s, and she needed to find a way to go to school. At the very least, she needed to obtain some qualifications.

The original Luo Qiao hadn’t attended school while living with the Luo family on the farm. Firstly, their background was problematic, and she was often ostracized by peers. Secondly, the Luo family didn’t want her to go to school.

However, the original Luo Qiao was smart. There were many knowledgeable people on the farm, and she was sweet-talking and sensible. The elderly Yang couple who lived next door had taught her a lot. Before returning to the city, they encouraged her to seize any opportunity to get an education.

Unfortunately, the Luo family had returned to the city after their rehabilitation but had sent her here just a few days later. Luo Qiao remembered what the Luo family had done to the original owner and vowed that one day she would make them regret it deeply.

From the pocket of an old set of clothes in the bundle, she found a piece of paper with two addresses written on it. These were left by Grandpa Yang and Grandma Yang, who lived next door on the farm, and Grandpa Yuan, who lived not far from her home.

Back on the farm, these people had taken good care of her. They used to joke that she didn’t look like a member of the Luo family. Seeing that Luo Tianming and Feng Hui were not close to her, they teased that she might have been adopted.

Heh, the eyes of the masses are sharp.

Luo Qiao put the note away in the study room within her space, thinking about how Gao Suhua hadn’t come to bother her in the past few days. She wondered whether Gao Suhua had given up or was planning something big.

The next morning, after having breakfast and tidying herself up, Luo Qiao went to the riverbank. The captain’s wife had previously told her that they needed to gather there for work assignments.

When Luo Qiao arrived, it wasn’t too late. Captain Gao Jiefang was already there waiting for people. Luo Qiao walked up and said, “Good morning, Captain. I’m here to start work.”

The captain, seeing that she looked much better, kindly reminded her, “Make sure you’re fully recovered before starting work. Don’t end up with any lingering illnesses.”

Luo Qiao smiled and replied, “Thank you, Captain. I’m pretty much recovered. I need to support myself somehow.” As soon as she said this, a few sympathetic glances were cast over her way.

A woman nearby said, “Look at how skinny she is, like a stick. What kind of work can she do? No wonder the Zhao family didn’t want her.”

Another woman, who felt sorry for Luo Qiao, said, “Sister Xiulan, the poor girl has had a hard life. She needs time. When we were her age, we couldn’t do much either.”