Chapter 30: Group Dinner

Zhao Keke affectionately held onto Nan Qiao and Shen Nian as she led them over to a stone table.

As they sat down, while the others focused on playing cards, Keke kept staring directly at Nan Qiao.

Nan Qiao felt a bit uneasy under her gaze and touched her face awkwardly.
“Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?”

Keke blushed and looked down shyly before saying, “You’re just so pretty. You look just like the people on the fashion magazines from Port City that I’ve seen before.”

Nan Qiao, who had been confused, burst out laughing when she heard that. “If I look good, then take a good look.” As she spoke, she even leaned in closer to Keke.

Keke’s already red face turned even redder and practically glowed.

Jiang Haihe, watching the girls from a distance, had a thought and walked over.

“Comrade Shen, Comrade Nan, do you still remember me? We arrived in the village on the same day, got off the train together. I’m Jiang Haihe.”

Hearing his voice, Shen Nian and Nan Qiao turned their heads.

Nan Qiao frowned slightly at the scheming look on his face and turned back to watch the card game.

Shen Nian remembered what Nan Qiao had told her before about him and wasn’t pleased either, so her tone turned cold.

“Mm. Yeah, we remember.”

She then leaned on Nan Qiao’s shoulder to continue watching the game.

Jiang Haihe noticed their disinterest and awkwardly turned back to his seat.

Another male educated youth nearby chuckled and teased,
“What, got shut down? I told you, girls like them—especially those from good families—are always picky. You didn’t believe me.”

“Hmph. The days are still long.” Jiang Haihe shot a faint glance toward Shen Nian.

“If you can’t win over Comrade Shen, then there’s always Zhao Keke. Why not give it a shot?”

“What’s there to consider? The rest aren’t even worth thinking about,” Jiang Haihe said with a sneer.

“What, even Comrade Nan’s not good enough for you?” Du Ze looked at him with clear disdain in his eyes.

“Then why don’t you go for her?” Jiang Haihe snapped.

“I’m not interested. I know my place,” Du Ze chuckled self-deprecatingly.

From the moment Nan Qiao arrived, plenty of people had been watching her. Du Ze knew very well someone like her wasn’t someone he could afford to pursue.

Besides, he was only teasing Jiang Haihe—he had no real intentions.

He just couldn’t stand Jiang Haihe. He was a grown man and still always scheming, trying to mooch off female educated youths instead of working hard to earn a living.

Honestly disgusting…

“You two don’t like him?” Zhao Keke asked, puzzled at how Nan Qiao and Shen Nian treated Jiang Haihe.

“It’s not that… we just don’t know him well, and he seems too calculating,” Nan Qiao said as she took out a few fruit candies from her pocket and placed them on the table.

“Yeah! Don’t you think his gaze makes people feel like he’s sizing up prey he’s determined to catch? Gives me the creeps,” Shen Nian said with a shiver.

Keke nodded. “Well, it’s best to stay away from him anyway.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Nan Qiao caught on to something deeper in Keke’s tone.

Keke glanced around to make sure no one was listening, then whispered,
“When we first arrived, aside from that fool Qin Fang always causing trouble, Jiang Haihe also tried to freeload. The thing is, he’s more subtle about it. The guys didn’t want to make a fuss over a few meals and bring it to the village chief, so nothing ever came of it. But he’s just as much of a scrounger.”

“A grown man worried about not having enough food? Why is his first thought always to freeload from others?” Shen Nian said, her disdain deepening.

“Well, everyone has their own goals,” Nan Qiao said calmly.

She understood that sometimes a poor family background could shape a person—affecting their actions and confidence—but that didn’t mean they had the right to prey on others. She really looked down on that.

“Dinner’s ready! Come help bring the food!” Sister Jiang’s voice rang out from the kitchen.

The courtyard bustled with activity as people helped bring dishes and set up the tables.

Just as the food was served, Qin Fang walked in from the back courtyard, looking very pleased with herself.

“Wow, the food looks amazing today! We’re so lucky!” she exclaimed.

“Who invited you?!” Zhao Keke snapped angrily.

“What? I thought this was for all the educated youths to get to know each other. Aren’t I one too?” Qin Fang said as she sat down at the table.

Looking at the delicious spread, she was practically drooling. Since coming to the countryside, she’d been broke and hadn’t managed to take advantage of Nan Qiao—she hadn’t had meat in ages.

Seeing no chopsticks on the table, she reached out to grab some meat with her hand.

The other youths, both male and female, instinctively moved to stop her.

Sister Jiang, who was farther away, also noticed and quickly called out,
“Wait—!”

“Nan Qiao, what are you doing grabbing me?!” Qin Fang scowled and snapped irritably.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’ve seen annoying people, but never anyone like you. Do you even realize how bad you smell? You just reach out and grab food with your hands—how do you expect anyone else to eat after that?” Nan Qiao said with disgust, flinging her hand away from Qin Fang.

Everyone around nodded in agreement. They’d all witnessed how awful Qin Fang’s hygiene had been these past few days—downright unbearable. And now she was grabbing at the only meat dish with her hands?

No way they were eating that if she touched it.

“But… there weren’t any chopsticks…” Qin Fang mumbled awkwardly. It wasn’t like she never bathed—she just had a stronger natural body odor than the other girls. She really was just too tempted by the meat.

“Even if there were chopsticks, you don’t get to eat this,” Nan Qiao shot back coldly.

“What gives you the right to eat but not me?” Qin Fang argued.

“Everyone at this table pitched in with money, food, and effort to prepare this. What did you do? You think you can just show up to eat for free? What are you, a starving ghost reincarnated?” Nan Qiao retorted mercilessly.

She had long held a grudge against Qin Fang. If they stayed out of each other’s way, that was fine. But if Qin Fang got in her face, she had no intention of showing any mercy.

“You! Nan Qiao, don’t think you can do whatever you want just because your family has some money! What gives you the right to lecture me?!”

“Why? Two boxes of Snowflake Cream, one Dacron dress, one industrial coupon, plus all sorts of odds and ends, and cash and ration tickets—I’ll be generous and round it to 50 yuan and 10 jin of grain tickets.”

Nan Qiao spread her hand out toward Qin Fang.
“Return what you owe me first. Then we can talk about whether I have the right to call you out for always taking advantage.”

“I—I don’t owe you anything! You gave it to me willingly. Now you want it back? Have some shame,” Qin Fang said, her gaze flickering as she instinctively avoided eye contact.

“Oh really?” Nan Qiao narrowed her eyes. “I remember that one time I gave you ration tickets, and Dong Jiayan was there too. Right?”

She turned toward Dong Jiayan, who was spacing out nearby.
“Dong Jiayan, you were there when Qin Fang borrowed those ration tickets from me, weren’t you?”

Still in a daze, Dong Jiayan heard her name and reflexively responded, “Mm.”

That one sound of confirmation made Qin Fang visibly deflate. She had thought this was just another spat. She never imagined that when Nan Qiao confronted her, Dong Jiayan wouldn’t even stand up for her. And the idea to ask Nan Qiao for money? That was their plan together… Sure, she was the one who spent the money, but still…

After replying, Dong Jiayan also realized what Nan Qiao had asked—but she didn’t explain or cover for her. She just stared straight at Qin Fang, her mind filled with images of Su Mu rejecting her. Bit by bit, her heart hardened.

“She’s not wrong,” Dong Jiayan thought.

Her answer solidified things for everyone present.
If the crowd had once merely disdained Qin Fang for her smell, now it was genuine disgust.

Borrowing money and not repaying it was bad enough. But slandering people who helped you? That was a matter of character.

Seeing that Dong Jiayan didn’t come to her defense, and noticing the contempt in everyone’s eyes, Qin Fang started to panic.

She shouted in frustration, “Dong Jiayan, have you no shame? Weren’t you and Wang Yuman the ones who told me to ask Nan Qiao for money?! Now that she wants it back, you two act all innocent. Real classy, both of you.”

“Qin Fang, how could you say that about Yuman and me?” Dong Jiayan snapped. “When you borrowed the money, we told you to return it once you had more to spare. But then you acted like it never happened. How’s that our fault?”

Her sweet and manipulative tone was on full display, and her passive-aggressive words were perfectly rehearsed.

Wang Yuman, watching the two argue, found it amusing.
Back then, Dong Jiayan had said Qin Fang should repay the money, but with that syrupy tone of hers, no one would take it seriously—especially someone who schemed with her.

But that was just Dong Jiayan’s style. She always had to maintain the image of a gentle, kind girl in front of others. As for true kindness? Please. Her family was well-off. If she’d really wanted to help Qin Fang, why didn’t she just do it herself? Why send Qin Fang to ask Nan Qiao?

In the end, wasn’t it because Su Mu wanted to mess with Nan Qiao? These two were never “kind,” just equally opportunistic, which made them such a good pair.

“You advised me? When was it not you whispering shady ideas behind my back?” Qin Fang retorted. “Now you want to play the good guy?”

“Qin Fang, we’ve been friends for years. We helped you because we knew your family was struggling. But you can’t keep taking our help for granted,” Dong Jiayan said coldly, no longer pretending to be polite.

Qin Fang noticed the increasing disdain from those around her, and her earlier confidence faded. Her voice grew weak and pitiful. She truly didn’t understand—after everything, why was Dong Jiayan treating her this way?

“I really misjudged you, Dong Jiayan,” she said, then turned and stormed off.

“Qin Fang! Don’t forget to pay me back!” Nan Qiao called out, making sure to remind her loudly.

Qin Fang paused for a second, then quickly walked away.

Once she was gone, the educated youths in the courtyard all breathed a sigh of relief and quickly sat down to eat.

Except for the occasional glance from Su Mu and Dong Jiayan, the dinner was lively and fun. Everyone laughed and chatted until the sky darkened and the gathering gradually ended.

Nan Qiao and Shen Nian strolled home together. After washing up, they each went to rest.

Her foot had healed, so tomorrow it was back to work…

Nan Qiao turned off the light and was about to fall asleep when she heard a noise outside the window.

She slept alone and was only wearing a short nightdress, so when she heard a knock, she quickly threw on a long coat and went to the window, guessing it was Sheng Yanchuan.

“It’s so late. Why did you come over?” she asked as she opened the window and saw Sheng Yanchuan standing there.

“I… I just wanted to see you,” he said, standing under her window and looking up at her.

“Just to see me? You’re sure there’s nothing else?”

Sheng Yanchuan shook his head, but his uneasy expression made it clear it wasn’t that simple. Nan Qiao didn’t want to press him if he didn’t want to talk.

“Well, you’ve seen me. I’m closing the window and going to sleep. You should head home and rest too,” she said and moved to close it.

“Nan Qiao, why are you so warm with everyone else but so cold to me?”

“Warm?” Nan Qiao froze mid-motion. Had she really been warm with anyone besides Aunt Xiumei and Shen Nian?

“Warm with who?” she asked, puzzled.

“That… that guy named Bai…”

“Bai? Bai Kaixuan? When was I ever close with him?” Nan Qiao was completely baffled now.

“This afternoon… I saw you laughing and chatting together in town.”

Nan Qiao thought back—he must have seen when she’d asked Bai Kaixuan about the black market…

“Were you… following me?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“No! Of course not! I was just running errands nearby and happened to see you…”

“That area’s near the black market. He probably didn’t see her father…” Nan Qiao felt a little guilty.

Seeing her reaction made Sheng Yanchuan even more upset. He was starting to believe something really was going on.

“You… the two of you… really…”

“What do you mean ‘you two’? Didn’t I already tell you we were just visiting Director Bai’s home? He just walked me out.”

“Go home. I’m going to sleep.” Nan Qiao said firmly and moved to close the window.

Seeing her about to shut it, Sheng Yanchuan panicked and grabbed her wrist.

His fingertips were rough and calloused, and the friction against her skin sent a flush across her cheeks. Looking at his handsome face, she felt her heart stir a little.

She instinctively tried to break free. Her pull was a bit forceful, and she staggered back.

Seeing her lose her balance, Sheng Yanchuan reached through the window, bracing himself on her bed and pulling her back in.

The soft girl fell right into his arms.

Having never been this physically close to a girl before, Sheng Yanchuan immediately felt his whole body flush with heat. His bronze-toned skin turned slightly red, and his usually confident face was now frozen in a dazed expression.