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Today at the educated youth spot, it was Tang Lingling and Wang Xiaomei’s turn to cook.
After Tang Lingling learned about it from Wen Qinghe, she knew that from now on, there definitely wouldn’t be any more meat dishes.
But she didn’t mind, since Wen Qinghe wasn’t eating at the educated youth spot anymore, so she wasn’t taking up anyone’s rations.
Besides, under their original conditions, they wouldn’t have been eating meat anyway—this was simply going back to normal life.
Only, when the educated youths entered the canteen today, they had been cheerfully speculating about what kind of meat dish they’d get.
But when they saw only corn buns, pickled-vegetable gruel, and a plate of stir-fried wild greens on the table—
Everyone’s faces turned sour. Having grown used to rich meals, now looking at these corn buns and pickled vegetables, they felt like they were eating pig slop.
“Why are we eating this today?”
“Didn’t the team leader send over meat?”
“With just this, how are we supposed to work this afternoon?”
“Exactly! I won’t be able to make it in the fields!”
“Wasn’t Educated Youth Wen already staying at the spot? She doesn’t even have to go work, so why are we eating this now?”
Tang Lingling couldn’t stand it. “Weren’t we always eating this before?
The fish and meat before were all paid for by Educated Youth Wen. Now that she’s not eating with us, why should she keep paying out of pocket for meat?
You should be glad you have food to eat at all! Eat if you want, if not then leave it!”
After saying that, she picked up her bowl, ladled out some pickled-vegetable soup, grabbed a corn bun, and sat down to eat by herself.
The others were left staring at each other…
She wasn’t going to indulge their bad habits. Besides, having meat every day—if they didn’t get sick of it, she already had!
With so much oil and fat, she had already gained seven or eight pounds in a month; even her waistband was tight.
If she ate any more, her pants wouldn’t fit, and she’d have to spend money to buy new ones.
Wang Xiaomei and Zhou Zhengyi also sat down and ate their portions quietly.
Zhou Zhengyi had long guessed the team leader couldn’t possibly be generous enough to provide meat every day. But since everyone thought so, he hadn’t said anything.
Now it looked like they could forget about meals being as good as last month’s.
Wang Xiaomei, having helped Tang Lingling cook, more or less knew the situation.
Educated Youth Wen may have been physically weak, but even if she had just provided fish and meat casually for over a month, any villager would have been grateful.
Not to mention, they had done little for her—most of her laundry had been done by Tang Lingling, and she’d also paid rations for her meals.
By both reason and feeling, she didn’t owe them anything.
Everyone understood this in principle. Some felt regret that there would be no more meat, but didn’t fuss too much.
But there were still those who nitpicked. For example, Liu Meixiang and Chen Zhaodi thought: since she was able to buy meat for everyone for a month, why shouldn’t she continue? After all, she still lived here, and they would surely have to look after her in the future.
Fang Yu also thought: so his guess was right.
Wen Qinghe must indeed come from a well-off family, if she could provide everyone with meat for a month.
And considering she didn’t work in the fields, yet still lived well—
Maybe coming down to the countryside was just a young lady’s whim to experience life, and when she got bored she could just return.
If that were true, he needed to cling to her all the more tightly. That way, maybe he could return to the city early.
For a while, although everyone sat down to eat, their thoughts at the table were far from unified.
…
Wen Qinghe had no idea about the conversations at the table.
She closed her door, and in her tiny room of just over ten square meters, made her own little world.
In the afternoon, while others were bent over working in the fields—
Wen Qinghe curled up in her room with milk tea, French fries, and a movie.
She chose a popular film, Ex-Boyfriend 4.
Watching the male and female leads, though still caring about each other, deliberately let go in the end.
They turned their once unforgettable love into something light as clouds and wind.
She sighed at the story, but couldn’t quite agree with it.
Fortunately, she had no unforgettable exes, unlike Yan Xiao, who might have such worries…
Thinking of Yan Xiao, with how pure he was, he should have no former girlfriends, right?
But in this era, relationships between men and women were so conservative. At most, dating meant holding hands or hugging.
Whether or not he had a past relationship was hard to say, so she decided—
Tonight, when he brings her dinner, she must ask.
……
That evening.
“Brother Yan, have you ever liked anyone else before?”
Yan Xiao was momentarily puzzled by her question, but he still answered honestly:
“You are the first girl I’ve ever liked. Whether before meeting you or after, I’ve never thought of getting close to any other girl.”
Wen Qinghe was skeptical. “Before me, in these twenty-some years, you never fancied anyone?”
“I, Yan Xiao, swear—there is only one partner for me, Wen Qinghe. No matter the past, present, or future, I will only ever like Wen Qinghe.”
Hearing this, Wen Qinghe finally felt reassured, but soon her heart leapt again.
Because Yan Xiao asked her:
“And Qinqin? Am I Qinqin’s first partner?”
Uh…
This body might be,
but she herself definitely wasn’t…
Yan Xiao had only asked casually, but when he saw the girl’s hesitation—
His gaze instantly turned dark and deep, his thin lips pressed tight. Thinking of the girl’s peerless face, surely many had coveted this rare treasure.
He couldn’t help but feel jealous, wondering which bastard had once briefly possessed his precious Qinqin.
Thankfully, the two hadn’t ended up together.
Otherwise, he’d have no chance at all.
Tch! It must have been fate!
Only he and Qinqin were meant to last forever.
Suppressing the sourness in his heart, he wanted to know why they had separated, so he could learn from it.
“Why did Qinqin break up with your former partner?”
She realized she couldn’t dodge the topic, so she answered vaguely:
“Mm… he betrayed me, went off with some rich sugar mommy.”
Yan Xiao: That idiot! Truly stupid! To abandon a pearl for some worthless street stone!
Still, he had to thank that idiot—if not for him, Yan Xiao would never have had the chance to possess this treasure.
“Qinqin, don’t worry! I would never do such a foolish thing. To me, you’re more important than anything. In the future, I’ll make Qinqin a rich lady too.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a metal box he’d brought along.
“This is my savings from all these years. It’s all yours. From now on, I’ll work hard to earn money so Qinqin can also be a rich lady.”
Wen Qinghe stared in shock, not understanding how the conversation had suddenly turned into him handing over his savings.
The key point—he had actually carried it with him? Did that mean he had planned all along to give it to her?
When she opened the iron box, she was stunned by the thick stack of Great Unity banknotes inside…
She sucked in a breath and stammered: “So much! How much money is this? Where did you get it all?”
Yan Xiao, worried she might think the money came from shady sources, quickly explained: “It’s not much, only about twelve thousand. Some came from selling animal pelts, some from selling game and herbs I hunted on the mountain.”
In truth, part of it was also from shady business dealings.
But since they had only just confirmed their relationship, and black-market trade counted as speculation and profiteering, he worried the little girl would dislike it…
Wen Qinghe: Is this a Versailles moment? Twelve thousand, and he says it’s not much?
In this era, people with ten-thousand-yuan savings were few and far between.
To think the allowance she’d given him before was just one yuan per day… sigh, she really had overestimated herself in front of this man.
What’s more, she never imagined that once in love, this man would turn out to be such a love-brained fool. (ー_ー)!!