Chapter 27 : Careful

When Nangong Ruochen and Yun Siying returned to the Youth Courtyard, the older educated youths had already eaten lunch and were taking their afternoon naps. He looked at Yun Siying beside him and asked, “Siying, are you going to cook for yourself?”

“Yes.”

Yun Siying looked at Nangong Ruochen in confusion, not understanding why he suddenly asked that.

“Siying, take out some corn and wheat first. I’ll wash them for you and lay them out to dry in the yard. That way, you can grind them into flour tomorrow, which will make things easier for you going forward.”

After hearing her answer, Nangong Ruochen felt a moment of disappointment, but looking at the clearly exhausted Yun Siying, he spoke gently.

After all, she would begin working in the fields to earn labor points the day after tomorrow, and he wanted to make sure everything was ready for her in advance. He didn’t want her to suffer the same hardships he did when he first arrived, completely clueless and worn out.

“Thank you, Ruochen. If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t even know how to handle the food situation.”

Yun Siying spoke sincerely and took out about 20 kilograms of corn and all the wheat she had, handing them to Nangong Ruochen along with a few clean white cloth sacks.

“You’ve been on the train for three days and nights. You must be really tired. Go rest in your room for a while.”

Nangong Ruochen looked at her worn-out expression, feeling a pang of sympathy.

Yun Siying obediently closed the door, entered her storage space, took a shower, then lay down on the newly made kang (a traditional heated bed) and fell asleep.

Nangong Ruochen washed the corn and wheat separately, then took down two large bamboo trays from the wall, spread the corn and wheat evenly, and set them out in the yard to dry.

After that, he fetched water to clean the stone mill at the Youth Courtyard. Looking at his finished work, he returned to his room feeling satisfied. After a while, he picked up a book and sat under the large tree in the courtyard, reading in the shade while keeping an eye on the drying grains to prevent birds from stealing them.

Meanwhile, Xu Ziying was carrying a load of water home when she ran into Li Hongyun, who had always been at odds with her. Li Hongyun was known for her big mouth, whatever she heard would soon spread all over the village.

“Xu Ziying, did you know your Yinyin has come to our brigade as an educated youth?”

“Hongyun, don’t talk nonsense. Yinyin is still with her biological parents.”

Xu Ziying stopped and looked at her skeptically.

“Why would I lie to you? When the new educated youths arrived today, my grandson Dawang saw her and even talked to your Yinyin. They say she’s gotten a lot fairer and was wearing new clothes.”

Li Hongyun spoke with envy in her voice.

“That’s great. She’s probably busy unpacking at the educated youth spot. Hongyun, my family is still waiting for the water, I’ll be on my way.”

A flicker of panic crossed Xu Ziying’s face. She spoke with embarrassment and quickly picked up the water and hurried off.

Li Hongyun watched her leave, pursed her lips, and then headed home. But she didn’t walk far before she started chatting with someone else, unsurprisingly, the topic was Li Yinyin’s arrival at the brigade as an educated youth.

After returning home, Xu Ziying quickly put down the water bucket, rushed to Li Gang’s side, sat down, and whispered,”Li Yinyin has come to our brigade to work as an educated youth. Could it be that the Shu family found out her identity?”

“Don’t panic. Go to the educated youth point and bring her back. We’ll ask her what’s going on first,” Li Gang said, frowning.

“Alright, I’ll go right now.”

Xu Ziying got up and hurried out. As she was leaving, Li Yanyan came out of the kitchen and called out,

“Mom, lunch is almost ready. Where are you going?”

“I heard that your sister Li Yinyin is at the educated youth site. I’m going to see her,” Xu Ziying replied to her daughter as she continued walking without stopping.

“Okay, I’ll make two more dishes,” Li Yanyan said happily and turned back into the kitchen. She had been handling most of the household chores lately and hoped that once Li Yinyin came back, she would help share the workload.

Meanwhile, Shu Ruxue and Shen Subai were riding their bicycles back to the village. Shen Subai looked at the bumpy dirt road with a flicker of disdain in his eyes. As he continued pedaling, he asked,

“Ruxue, now that neither of us has any money, can the team still rent a house to us?”

“Of course not. You should go and borrow some money from Yun Siying first.”

Shu Ruxue also wanted to live alone in the educated youth site and didn’t want to go back to the house to share a room with Li Yanyan.

“After what I said to her last time, she got angry. I don’t think she’ll lend me any more money,” Shen Subai replied. He was self-serving and always calculated who could benefit him most.

“Didn’t she used to like you a lot? If you coax her a bit, she’ll definitely lend you the money.”

Shu Ruxue knew exactly how deeply Yun Siying had once liked Shen Subai.

Shen Subai recalled how Yun Siying used to follow him around all day, calling him “Brother Subai,” with stars in her eyes. But now, her gaze was distant and indifferent, none of the love from before remained.

“I’ll give it a try. If it doesn’t work, we’ll just have to live in the old house with the other educated youths.”

Shen Subai no longer had the confidence he once had when it came to Yun Siying.

When Shen Subai and Shu Ruxue returned to the brigade to return their bicycles, they found out from the team leader that no house could be rented without payment upfront. So, they collected their food rations, borrowed a cart from the brigade, and returned to the educated youth site with disappointed expressions.

After putting the food into the room, Shen Subai headed toward Yun Siying’s room. Nangong Ruochen noticed and stepped in to stop him.

“Shen Subai, Siying is taking a nap. If you have something to say, wait until she wakes up. Don’t disturb her rest now,” he said coldly.

Hearing that, Shen Subai snapped back to reality. In front of Nangong Ruochen, he still felt intimidated. As a child, he could never beat him in a fight. So all he could do was say, “Then I’ll come back later.”

He returned to Shu Ruxue, looking discouraged. He had only eaten two buns in the morning and was starving. He’d already eaten everything he’d brought on the train, so he turned to Shu Ruxue and asked, “Ruxue, I’m really hungry. Do you have anything to eat?”

“Wait a second.”

Shu Ruxue took two boxes of biscuits out of her luggage and handed one to Shen Subai. The two of them sat on the stone bench in the courtyard, eating the biscuits.

Shen Subai said, “Ruxue, let’s just go stay in the old house with the other educated youths for now.”

“No. We’ll stay in the single room here. Once our families send money, we’ll give it to the team. They won’t come into the youth site to drive us out of the room.” Shu Ruxue’s tone was resolute.

“Okay.”

Shen Subai didn’t want to sleep on the same kang as other educated youths either, and he thought what Shu Ruxue said made sense. He borrowed a broom from Nangong Ruochen and began cleaning the room they had chosen.

Just then, Xu Ziying walked into the educated youth site and saw Shu Ruxue busy in the room. She immediately called out, “Yinyin, why didn’t you write to your mother in advance before going to the countryside?”