Chapter 13 – Qin Fang Is Just Purely Stupid

The sky was just beginning to lighten at dawn the next day.

Nan Qiao woke up, wiping the tears from her cheeks. As she recalled her dream, a smile slowly returned to her face.

All in all, her aunt had lived a full life. Aside from the regret of never finding her, everything else had gone well. She’d had both a son and daughter, lived without disaster or illness, and even in death, hadn’t suffered much.

Nan Qiao felt content.

After all, life comes with death, and to pass with such completeness was already a great blessing.

Her aunt’s journey had ended well. As for her own, the path ahead remained unknown. The most important thing now was to pull herself together and live the days before her.

With that, Nan Qiao got up, put on a pair of dark blue trousers and a light blue floral long-sleeved blouse, and went outside to wash up.

It was a hot day, so she skipped the hot water. Instead, she drew water straight from the well. The icy-cold water jolted her fully awake. Too lazy to make breakfast, she pulled out a piece of bread and a carton of milk from her storage space and ate inside her room.

By the time she finished breakfast, Shen Nian next door finally stirred awake, crawling out of bed as the loudspeakers started blaring the morning announcements.

She hurried off to wash up.

Meanwhile, Nan Qiao filled their cups with mung bean water—her own insulated bottle and Shen Nian’s regular one.

Shen Nian’s cup was just an ordinary mug from this era—it couldn’t keep things hot or cold.

Nan Qiao’s, on the other hand, was a true piece of modern tech: 24-hour temperature retention. Though styled in a vintage, weathered look, it didn’t draw attention.

And so, later that day under the blazing midday sun, Nan Qiao would still be sipping refreshingly cold mung bean water.

“Niannian, getting you up every day is quite the challenge,” Nan Qiao teased, sitting on a stool as she watched Shen Nian rush around tidying herself.

“I went to bed so early too! Who knew I still wouldn’t be able to wake up?” Shen Nian replied innocently.

“Means you need to sleep even earlier. Let’s go, I filled your water already.” Shen Nian munched on a biscuit as they walked out together.

Just as they left the alley, they ran into Aunt Xiumei and Peach Blossom heading to work.

“Morning, Auntie!” Shen Nian and Nan Qiao greeted.

“Morning, Sister Nan! Morning, Sister Shen!” Peach Blossom bounced over to greet them.

“Morning to you both. Shen Zhiqing, did you oversleep again? Skipping breakfast isn’t good,” Aunt Xiumei said.

Skipping breakfast before a whole morning of farm work—your body just wouldn’t take it.

“Oh, Auntie, I really did go to bed early! I just couldn’t wake up. Qiaoqiao, can I ask you for a favor tomorrow?” Shen Nian raised a finger, pleading pitifully.

“Want me to wake you up?” Nan Qiao grinned.

“Yes! You can pound on my door—whatever works!”

“I don’t know about that. What if I break Auntie’s door?”

Shen Nian shot her a look. “Come on, with your tiny frame? Even if it breaks, I’ll pay for it. I just don’t want to keep rushing like this every morning…”

“Alright then. Tomorrow I’ll call you as soon as I’m up.”

“Deal, deal, deal! Thanks, Qiaoqiao!” Shen Nian hugged her, took a sip of her mung bean water, scarfed down her biscuit, and hurried toward the tool shed.

When Nan Qiao and the others arrived, the village brigade leader, along with the returning and new educated youths and several villagers, were already gathered in line to register and collect tools before heading to the fields.

The brigade leader saw that all the new youths had arrived and called everyone together.

Hongqi Commune was one of the more prosperous communes in the area, so it had attracted more educated youths. There were nearly twenty of them now—new and returning combined.

No matter what village you placed that many in, it was a sizable group.

The brigade leader was already feeling a headache just looking at them. Couldn’t carry a load, couldn’t lift a thing—what were they even here for? Just to be a burden?

But then he remembered the subsidies the province gave the commune for receiving educated youths and forced himself to swallow the annoyance. That money wasn’t small—it could raise several pigs for the village…

“Alright, comrades! The current farm tasks are wheat harvesting and corn planting,” he announced.

“Returning zhiqing, stick to your usual duties. New zhiqing, form into groups of three. Your task for the day is corn planting. Get into teams and move quickly.”

Naturally, Nan Qiao wanted to be in a group with Shen Nian. But aside from the two of them, the only other female zhiqing were those three annoying ones—no way she wanted to group with them. She was still hesitating over who to team up with when a male voice spoke beside her.

“Comrade Nan, can I join your group?”

She turned and saw it was the male zhiqing who had ridden the tractor back with them the other day. His name was something like Li Zhuoran. Nan Qiao had a fairly good impression of him, so she agreed.

“Sure, Comrade Li.”

“Oh, just call me Zhuoran—it’s too formal otherwise.”

“Then you can call me Nan Qiao,” she replied with a smile.

Shen Nian, meanwhile, was still groggy and didn’t care how teams were forming. In her mind, Nan Qiao would never leave her behind—she just had to follow her lead.

Ever since Li Zhuoran had started talking to Nan Qiao, Su Mu, standing not far away, had been staring at them, feeling a pang of regret. If he’d moved faster, maybe he could’ve ended up in Nan Qiao’s group instead.

Dong Jiayan, Qin Fang, and Wang Yuman naturally grouped up.

But Dong Jiayan wasn’t happy about it.

She had been hoping to get closer to Su Mu. All the plots were the same size—why was she stuck with an all-girls group? How long would it take them to finish? Furious, she mentally cursed the other two for being idiots.

Still, realizing they were hopeless, Dong Jiayan took the initiative.

“Brother Su Mu, can you join our group? We’re all girls and afraid we won’t manage well. Maybe you could help teach us a bit?”

Su Mu’s face twisted with discomfort. Was she trying to pick a fight? If she didn’t know how to plant, what made her think he did?

Besides, Nan Qiao was right there. His male pride wouldn’t let her see how little he knew about farming. But the thought of grouping with those three made him forget all about pride.

He firmly declined. “Comrade Dong, please call me Comrade Su. And we came to the countryside to learn. You should be learning from experienced villagers, not cluelessly fumbling around with us.”

Su Mu’s words were not gentle. The usually gentle and refined Su Mu seemed to have been somewhat provoked by Li Zhuoran and Nan Qiao forming a team.

He also showed noticeably less patience toward Dong Jiayan than usual.

Dong Jiayan’s eyes welled up with tears at his words. Her eyes reddened, but unwilling to let others look down on her, she stubbornly held her tears back.

She no longer looked at Su Mu and simply waited for the brigade leader to make arrangements.

Dong Jiayan held back, but the fool Qin Fang did not.

While the person in question had already shut up, Qin Fang just had to jump out and embarrass herself.

“Comrade Su, you sure know how to talk. But if it’s like you said, shouldn’t the zhiqing help each other? You’re really okay with the three of us girls suffering while you four big men get to relax together? Doesn’t your conscience bother you?” she shouted.

The moment she said that, the expressions around her darkened. Qin Fang saw the change in their faces and thought she had hit a sore spot—she even looked smug about it.

Nan Qiao rolled her eyes at her, looking at her like she was an idiot. Was this girl actually stupid? How had she even lived this long?

Thinking this was hardship and suffering was one thing—but with the current tense political climate, even if you felt that way, you should keep it to yourself. Who ran their mouth and shouted it so loudly?

The state promoted sending educated youth to the countryside to bridge class divides and receive reeducation from poor and lower-middle peasants. And here she was, turning it into “suffering” and “abuse”?

She might as well volunteer to be the next person dragged out for criticism. Truly living up to her name as a fool.

As Qin Fang beamed with misplaced pride, Dong Jiayan nearly exploded with anger behind her.

If not for having known her since childhood, she wouldn’t even want to be seen with her anymore. How could someone be this dumb?

Some people really wouldn’t know what hit them even on the day they died.

Wang Yuman quietly took a step back, as if deeply afraid of being associated with either of them.

But since everyone present were new zhiqing and had no prior grudges, no one planned to make a fuss over this minor incident. As for Nan Qiao… if she really wanted to deal with Qin Fang, she would strike in one blow. Petty, painless bickering like this? Not her style.

“What? Got nothing to say now, Comrade Su?” Qin Fang pressed on smugly. “If you ask me, you should feel lucky to have such a great fiancée like Jiayan. With how careful you’re being, aren’t you afraid she’ll run off?”

She was so pleased with herself that she didn’t notice Dong Jiayan’s face stiffen instantly—or the smirk on Nan Qiao’s face from where she stood, clearly enjoying the show.

Every time Nan Qiao thought about it, she got mad—if it weren’t for this whole engagement nonsense, she would still be living freely in the 21st century!

Qin Fang could say whatever she wanted, but this fiancée thing—especially saying it in front of Nan Qiao—was too much for Su Mu.

His face instantly turned cold. He glared at Qin Fang and sternly snapped, “Comrade Qin, I’ve tolerated your nonsense because we’re from the same hometown. But regarding this matter of a so-called fiancée, for the sake of both my and Comrade Dong’s reputations, I must clarify things.”

He paused, glanced at Dong Jiayan’s pale face without the slightest trace of pity, then firmly declared, “Everyone was present the other day. I didn’t speak up then, so I didn’t clarify. But now that Comrade Qin has brought it up, as the person involved, I must make it clear. Comrade Dong and I grew up on the same street. There was never any engagement between our families. We are both free to choose our marriages. I hope Comrade Qin will watch her words going forward.”

Qin Fang froze when she heard that. She instinctively turned around to look at Dong Jiayan and demanded, “Didn’t you say you two had met each other’s parents and were engaged?”

“I… I… When did I ever say that?” Dong Jiayan looked at everyone, her face as white as a sheet.

Su Mu’s piercing glare, Qin Fang’s questioning, Nan Qiao’s mocking smile, and the curious stares of onlookers all stabbed into her heart like needles.

Even the brigade leader, who had been watching the drama with interest, saw that things were getting out of hand. He stepped in and cut them off, “Alright, that’s enough. If you can’t decide teams, I’ll do it.”

He pointed to a male zhiqing nearby and said, “You team up with those three girls. Get your tools and get to work—it’s getting late.”

Then he urged the scorer to register them.

The poor soul picked was Jiang Haihe, the other male zhiqing who had ridden the tractor back to the village with Nan Qiao and the others.

He was now looking at Dong Jiayan and the other two with utter despair.

He didn’t want to team up with them! He was hoping to earn more work points during the shift, and now? With a big plot of land and four people—only one of whom was male—he’d have to do the heavy labor, get paid less, and suffer more. What a terrible setup.

And that Li Zhuoran? Ran off quick, didn’t he?

With the matter settled and no more excitement to watch, Su Mu and Nan Qiao’s teams grabbed their tools and headed to their assigned plots.

Dong Jiayan and Qin Fang were left standing there, glaring at each other, fury surging in both their eyes.

“Dong Jiayan, didn’t you say you were engaged? So you were just fooling us? Great, now we’re the ones who look stupid.”

“I—I never said we met each other’s parents! I only said our families had the intention!”

“Oh, so now it’s our misunderstanding? Wow, you really are cunning,” Qin Fang spat, unfiltered.

Wang Yuman stayed silent. She’d figured it out—these two weren’t the harmless girls they acted like back home. When it came to real personal interests, they were as ruthless as they come…

Nan Qiao didn’t listen past the first few lines of their argument.

She suddenly realized—Qin Fang wasn’t actually malicious.

She was just plain stupid. Selfish, short-sighted, and always putting herself first.

Nan Qiao turned away and continued walking toward their plot with Shen Nian and Li Zhuoran.

Behind them, Jiang Haihe watched the two girls still bickering and helplessly stepped in.

“Are you going to work or not? Keep arguing and we’ll lose half a day’s work points! If the brigade leader gets a bad impression of you, it might affect your eligibility for the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University. Don’t come crying later.”

At his words, Qin Fang and Dong Jiayan immediately quieted down. They exchanged glares and then said nothing more, stomping off toward the work site.

On the other side, when Nan Qiao and Shen Nian arrived, they found that the neighboring plot was the one Aunt Xiumei’s family was in charge of. At the moment, Aunt Xiumei and Peach Blossom were working together planting seeds, and Sheng Yanchuan was off in another field, working alone.

“Auntie Xiumei, what a coincidence! You’re here too?” Shen Nian greeted her.

“Oh hey, Nan girl, Nian girl—you’re assigned to this plot, huh?” Aunt Xiumei hadn’t expected them to be so close.

“Peach Blossom, come teach your Sister Nan how to do this properly,” she said, noticing how clueless the three looked.

“Okay, Mama!” Peach Blossom chirped, bounding over to Nan Qiao’s side.

“Thanks a bunch, little Peach Blossom!” Nan Qiao said with a bright smile.

Peach Blossom blushed slightly at the praise but still did her best to teach Nan Qiao everything she could.

Meanwhile, from his field, Sheng Yanchuan had been keeping an ear out since Nan Qiao arrived.

And when he caught sight of Li Zhuoran hovering around Nan Qiao, his gaze darkened considerably…