Zhang Yunxi stood up, “Hello, Sister He, my name is Zhang Yunxi.”

He Xiaoxiao: “Hmm, Xiao Zhang.”

Zhang Yunxi: “…”

“Alright then.”

Xiao Zhang it is.

He Xiaoxiao turned and walked out.

Deng Damei immediately pouted, “Not that I’m badmouthing her or anything, but she usually doesn’t like to hang out with others, always alone. She doesn’t even respond when I talk to her. When she’s free, she likes to fiddle with wood, her personality is as stiff as wood.”

Zhang Yunxi: Wow, even cooler!

But catching Deng Damei’s angry look, she could only say, “Is that so?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine. Now that you’re here, we can chat. You better not find me too noisy later.” Deng Damei was the typical extrovert and chatterbox. He Xiaoxiao didn’t like to talk, so the two of them couldn’t hold a conversation, and she was bored to death.

Zhang Yunxi smiled, “I won’t.”

“Oh my, your smile is so beautiful. If I were a man, I’d definitely marry you.” Deng Damei showed a look of longing.

Zhang Yunxi was amused by her.

When the rice was cooked, Zhang Yunxi wanted to stir-fry some vegetables. In these times, food was scarce, and she couldn’t just eat without contributing; she had to do her part.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

Deng Damei screamed.

Even He Xiaoxiao was startled and came in.

Zhang Yunxi was dumbfounded, “Wh-what’s wrong…”

“Why did you use so much oil?” Deng Damei was going crazy; that was at least three days’ worth of lard.

“Sorry.” Zhang Yunxi was at a loss.

Deng Damei quickly used the spatula to scoop the lard into chunks and put it back into the oil jar, “Alright, you can stir-fry now.”

“Okay.”

Zhang Yunxi felt weak.

Thinking about how scarce resources were in the 70s, and how precious lard was, she had only used a piece smaller than a fingernail.

Who would have thought…

Three days’ worth.

Well, she had been presumptuous.

A plate of greens was served, and the three of them started eating at the small table in the courtyard.

He Xiaoxiao handed Zhang Yunxi an egg, “Here, have an egg.”

Zhang Yunxi: “Huh?”

This made her, who had prepared nothing, feel embarrassed.

Deng Damei grabbed it and stuffed it into her hand, “Don’t be polite. She always prepares an egg whenever there’s a newcomer.”

Zhang Yunxi held the warm egg and thanked He Xiaoxiao, “Thank you, Sister He.”

He Xiaoxiao: “No need.”

Zhang Yunxi tapped the egg on the table, peeled the shell, and asked He Xiaoxiao, “Can I share half with Damei?”

He Xiaoxiao didn’t even lift her eyelids, “Up to you.”

Deng Damei refused, “No need, no need, you eat it.”

“Let’s share.”

Before entering the educated youth dormitory, Zhang Yunxi had been quite nervous, afraid that some female educated youth might not like her or cause trouble, but now it seemed that both of them were easy to get along with.

Half of the egg landed in Deng Damei’s bowl, and she said awkwardly, “Thank you both.”

He Xiaoxiao’s lips twitched slightly upwards, then quickly returned to normal.

After eating, Zhang Yunxi washed the dishes. He Xiaoxiao and Deng Damei had to sleep as they had work in the afternoon.

When the village loudspeaker sounded.

Deng Damei and He Xiaoxiao headed out, and Deng Damei called Zhang Yunxi, “Come on, I’ll take you to the accountant. The educated youth also have a settlement fee, which is with the accountant uncle. Remember to collect it.”

“Okay.”

The educated youth settlement fee was twenty yuan, and Zhang Yunxi couldn’t possibly miss that.

The educated youth dormitory was really far from the village entrance, taking about ten minutes to walk.

The female educated youth were in front.

The male educated youth trailed behind, and Zhang Yunxi glanced at them, “There are so many male educated youth, about eight or nine, right?”

“Many female educated youth marry locals, the male educated youth want to as well, but the village girls aren’t stupid.”

Usually, the boys sent to the countryside were the less favored ones at home. If they weren’t favored at home and weren’t good at work, which girl would want to suffer?

“That makes sense. My sister married a local.”

“Ah.”

Deng Damei had heard about Zhang Yunxi’s sister that morning.

All she could say was, it’s all fate.

There were quite a few people at the village entrance, and even more who were staring at Zhang Yunxi. This girl was too beautiful.

Her skin was fair and rosy, smooth and delicate.

When she confidently met everyone’s gaze and smiled, many people’s hearts skipped a beat, and they couldn’t snap out of it.

“This Zhao Mo’s aunt is really beautiful. My goodness, it’s like someone slapped me a few times, beauty just hit me in the face!” Zhao Fugui exclaimed.

Zhao Rencheng glanced over.

She was beautiful.

But clearly not cut out for hard work.

“Let’s go to the fields.”

“Brother, there’s a reason you’re single.” Zhao Fugui complained, then looked at Zhang Yunxi again, “So beautiful.”

Zhao Rencheng glanced at him, “Interested? Should I tell your mom?”

“No, no, I’m heading to the fields now.”

During lunch, his mom had sternly warned him not to fall for the new beautiful educated youth. She clearly wasn’t someone who could handle hard work and wasn’t a good match for their family.

Zhao Rencheng looked at Zhang Yunxi again, just as she met his gaze.

Their eyes locked, and Zhang Yunxi was slightly startled. She smiled and nodded, but seeing his frown, she quickly looked away.

Zhang Yunxi found it strange.

She asked Deng Damei, “Damei, who is that?”

“Who?”

“That one, the tallest one.”

“Oh, our militia team captain. He’s fierce. Even the local troublemakers are afraid of him. He used to be a soldier, but for some reason, he came back and split from his parents, moving to live in the mountains. He’s a bit odd. Just don’t provoke him.”

Deng Damei was most afraid of Zhao Rencheng in the village, with that scar by his eye.

Tsk tsk.

It looked scary.

Zhang Yunxi silently noted: Village militia team captain.

One of the few who had helped Zhao Mo.

The book mentioned him very few times, the most memorable being when Zhao Mo, starving, went to him.

He gave her a bowl of pork noodles.

The best meal Zhao Mo had in sixteen years.

Finally, he gave her twenty yuan.

The largest sum Zhao Mo had held in her hands in sixteen years.

Other than that, there wasn’t much description of Zhao Rencheng, but it was certain that he wasn’t a bad person.

Even after Zhao Mo left Zhao Family Village, he remained single.

Seems his temper really wasn’t great.

Zhang Yunxi stopped worrying about Zhao Rencheng and walked to the village entrance where the village office was.

The accountant uncle was fiddling with an abacus and greeted her when he saw her, “The male educated youth have already come to collect their money, only you’re left. Here’s twenty yuan, sign and fingerprint here.”

“Okay.” Zhang Yunxi signed and fingerprinted, collected the money, and also pre-drawn some grain before carrying her things back to the educated youth dormitory.

But there was a little one waiting for her at the dormitory entrance.

“Zhao Mo!”

Zhang Yunxi called her, her tone cheerful.

Zhao Mo’s big eyes looked at her, and she took out some peeled chestnuts, “Auntie, here, have some.”

She hadn’t gathered many chestnuts.

Only five.

She hoped her aunt wouldn’t mind.

“Chestnuts, let’s eat them together. When you go home later, tell your family that I’ll come over for dinner tonight.”