Jiang Xi looked over cautiously and saw Mother Pei quickly leaving the room and closing the door, pretending nothing had happened. Then she asked in a serious tone, “Hey, Xiaoxi, can I come in? I forgot to take the third child’s dirty clothes.”

Jiang Xi looked down at Pei Hejun’s hand, which she was still holding, and went silent.

So, Mother Pei saw it just now, right?

Definitely saw it!

Embarrassed, her face turned red, and she quickly let go of Pei Hejun’s hand, letting it fall back onto the bed, and coughed lightly, “Come in.”

Mother Pei came in with a smile on her face and left smiling as well. She seemed to avoid looking directly at Jiang Xi the whole time, but this only made Jiang Xi feel even more embarrassed.

Mother Pei knew this too and quickly went about her business.

She soon left, closing the door behind her. Not long after, Jiang Xi clearly heard someone talking outside, “Guizhi, did you find money? Why are you smiling like that?”

“Go away, keep your voice down, my daughter-in-law is sleeping,” Mother Pei scolded playfully.

The voices outside gradually faded.

Jiang Xi took a deep breath, trying to calm her embarrassment, but it didn’t work. She collapsed back onto the bed and rolled over twice, finally lying flat on the bed in defeat.

After several seconds, she turned her head and grabbed Pei Hejun’s hand again.

She touched his hand and was about to continue looking at the system panel when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of wide-open eyes.

“Awake?” Jiang Xi suddenly sat up and stared at Pei Hejun’s face.

She saw that the eyes, which had been closed on his thin, tough face, were now open. His eyes seemed stretched wide, much larger than normal, staring straight at the ceiling.

The system excitedly announced: [Ahhh! The host is awake! Host’s wife, your husband is awake!]

Jiang Xi was amused, but she couldn’t be as naive as the system. How could a person in a vegetative state wake up so easily? She tried to touch his face, but when her hand made contact, Pei Hejun’s eyes didn’t reflexively close or move, like a stiff doll.

She closed his eyes and lay back down in frustration, “No, he’s still unconscious.”

System: […Okay]

Jiang Xi lay down, and the system still adjusted the screen so she could see more comfortably, cheerfully typing to her: [Host wife, you completed another emergency mission today!]

Jiang Xi checked and saw it was her second grandmother’s task, with “Completed” written next to it.

So, her second grandmother should be out of danger now.

Jiang Xi felt much more at ease and turned to look at the balance. She had earned 20 points from the second grandmother’s mission. Adding the little she’d earned from seeing patients over the past few days, she now had 68 points, enough to buy a lot of things.

She didn’t want to buy anything for herself. In this era, even if she bought something, she couldn’t just bring it out openly. Even though there weren’t many prying eyes in the countryside, you never know what could happen.

But Jiang Xi still opened the store to have a look. She didn’t need anything for herself, but she could buy some rare or very expensive medicinal herbs to help Pei Hejun recover.

His condition seemed to be improving now. Even if he was opening his eyes unconsciously, it was better than just lying there. If he took some medicine, maybe he could really wake up.

As she browsed, Jiang Xi found some suitable medicinal herbs.

They were just expensive.

The cheapest one cost 120 points.

She needed to hurry up and complete more tasks, but what task should she do? Maybe she could try to heal more people?

Jiang Xi checked the task list again and suddenly saw a new task: [Treat someone with a sprained waist, task reward: 5 points.]

Just a sprain?

Jiang Xi immediately perked up, told Mother Pei she was heading out, and left.

_

At the place where the villagers of the Sixth Brigade work:

It’s mid-May, the time for planting rice. A group of people is responsible for pulling up the grown rice seedlings, tying them into bundles, and piling them up. Then, some people carry them to the rice fields.

There are also people waiting to plant rice seedlings in the fields.

As the captain of the Sixth Brigade, Pei Shengcai had organized everything and was encouraging everyone to work hard, “Work hard today. Those who do well will get 12 work points each, and those who don’t do well will have points deducted! No slacking!”

Most of the villagers were honest and worked hard to earn a bigger share at the end of the year.

But there were always some people who tried to be lazy.

For example, some educated youths.

They usually looked respectable but were very slow when it came to working. While others carried rice seedlings and worked for a long time, these educated youths would take a break after every few steps, not even breaking a sweat.

Pei Shengcai took a slow look around to see if there was any gap he could fill. He was so tired that he drank a large bottle of water in one go. Just as he was about to head back, he suddenly noticed a slow-moving figure, and he immediately got angry.

He approached with a loudspeaker and shouted, “Hu Yi, if you keep this up, you won’t get any work points today!”

Hu Yi, who was being criticized, smiled awkwardly: “Captain, I’m not being lazy on purpose. The rice seedlings are all covered in wet mud and too heavy. I really can’t handle it. I haven’t eaten enough lately.”

Pei Shengcai sneered: “How is it heavier? Look at others; their loads are a third heavier than yours. How dare you complain?”

Hu Yi was upset by the accusation: “How about you try, Pei Shengcai? Let me see you do it.”

Pei Shengcai sneered: “Okay, I’ll show you.”

He took the load from Hu Yi’s shoulders and lifted it easily. He even shook it and said sarcastically, “You’ve been here for a year, but you’re still so useless. You can’t even compare to a 50-year-old like me. How do you expect to get into the Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers University?”

He didn’t hate educated youth in general, just Hu Yi. Although he couldn’t let Hu Yi starve, he disliked how Hu Yi, after being fed, would hang out with village girls and earned a bad reputation.

His visible disgust made Hu Yi’s face turn red: “Captain, there’s no need to be so harsh. I’m an educated youth from the city and haven’t done this kind of work before.”

Pei Shengcai, being in charge of many people, said, “If you don’t want me to say more, then work harder. Hurry up, and I’ll show you!”

He walked towards the paddy field.

Hu Yi, feeling frustrated, kicked a clod of earth. It rolled towards Pei Shengcai, who slipped on it and fell into the field, getting covered in mud.

Villagers laughed and joked: “What’s happening? Did you work too hard and fall?”

Hu Yi, seeing the result of his kick, felt a bit triumphant: “Captain, maybe you should take a break. I told you—ah!”

Before he could finish, Pei Shengcai punched him in the face, knocking him down, and cursed, “Do you really think I didn’t see you kick that clod of dirt? Useless! I can still beat you with my sprained waist!”

Hu Yi’s face went pale. He tried to explain, “I didn’t mean to do that.”

Pei Shengcai, grumbling and in pain, stood up and said, “You’re just a coward for not admitting it.”

Pei Shengcai then limped away, explaining to the villagers that it wasn’t a big deal to maintain his heroic image.

Pei Shengcai was angry. He had to walk to town for a doctor since the village didn’t have a proper barefoot doctor. He vowed to remember Hu Yi.

As he reached the village entrance, the newly married young wife of the Pei family called him. Pei Shengcai wondered, “Is He Jun causing trouble?”

Jiang Xi, with a friendly smile, said, “Captain, I heard you hurt your waist. I know some medical skills. Can I help?”

Pei Shengcai’s eyes brightened. He had heard Jiang Xi was good at medicine. He didn’t have to walk to town in pain!

Excited but in pain, Pei Shengcai hurriedly asked Jiang Xi to help.

Jiang Xi, laughing, said, “Don’t move and take your hand away, or it will get worse.”

Pei Shengcai followed her instructions. Jiang Xi examined him, noting that men in the village usually had dark, tanned skin and no visible redness or swelling.

She pressed a hotter spot: “Does it hurt here?”

“Yes!” Pei Shengcai nodded.

Jiang Xi pressed hard to ease the tense muscle. Pei Shengcai cried out, “Ouch, be gentle!”

Jiang Xi continued working on it. After a while, she asked, “Does it feel better?”

Pei Shengcai, feeling some relief, took a few steps. Though he still felt pain, it was much better than before.

He wiped his sweat and said admiringly, “You’re really good. The third brother found a treasure.”

Jiang Xi smiled and said, “Your condition is serious. You need plaster. I have some from a recent town visit. I can apply it and give you a hot compress.”

“Okay!” Pei Shengcai agreed immediately.

Jiang Xi took him back, and Pei’s mother helped by boiling a towel for a hot compress. She also took out the plaster she had bought earlier and applied it after the hot compress.

After this treatment, Pei Shengcai felt much better: “Sister Guizhi, you have a really good daughterp–in-law. You made a great choice.”

Mother Pei was proud: “Of course.”

Jiang Xi smiled shyly.