Chapter 3.1

“Thank you!” Jiang Yao gratefully accepted the pork. “You’re really kind, thinking everything through for me.”

“You misunderstood,” Lu Che’s tone remained as plain as boiled water. “I just don’t want to cause trouble for myself.”

“…”

After leaving the Lu family, Jiang Yao walked towards the youth dormitory based on her memory. The Lu family wasn’t far from the dormitory, just a ten-minute walk. During this time, she sorted out her current situation.

Based on the plot point where the original owner took medicine last night, Jiang Yao deduced that it was summer of 1972 and the original owner was 19 years old. Suddenly, she was 11 years younger. This should be considered the biggest gain from transmigrating.

Now that she was in the countryside, she had to work every day. Although she was lazy, she wouldn’t starve. Because since coming to the countryside, her brother, Jiang Zhen, had been sending money and tickets to support her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to make ends meet.

However, life was still very difficult.

After coming to the countryside, if she wanted to return to the city, she had to either be recommended for college or find a job. Although she had a brother who was an officer, it wasn’t easy to reach him in the short term. As for waiting for the resumption of college entrance exam, it would be five years later.

Sigh… She had been a lawyer for so many years, considering herself a lawyer with a strong sense of justice. Not only did she not take on cases that violated her conscience, but she also frequently provided legal assistance to those in need.

But why did fate play such a big joke on her, sending her to this era of scarcity? Did it want to give her a boyfriend here since she had been single for so long?

“Jiang Yao…”

Someone suddenly called her from behind, and Jiang Yao turned her head to see a woman running towards her. After carefully distinguishing her, she recognised her as Zhu Xia, an old youth from the educated youth dormitory.

Zhu Xia ran up to her, furrowing her brows anxiously. “Where did you go? We’ve searched the whole village for you.”

“Huh? Why were you looking for me?” Jiang Yao pretended to be surprised, raising the piece of pork in her hand and saying, “I’ve been working for half a month, eating sweet potato porridge every day. I went to the supply and marketing cooperative early this morning to line up and butcher meat to improve the meals.”

“You… you’re really driving us crazy…” Zhu Xia was about to scold her, but when she thought that she was safe and sound, she didn’t mind anymore. She said, “It’s good that you’re fine. Du YueJiao said you didn’t return all night, and we thought something happened to you. Luckily, it was just a false alarm.”

Jiang Yao had dealt with countless people since she started working, and she could easily tell whether someone’s concern was genuine or fake. Although the original owner didn’t have much interaction with Zhu Xia, her current concern seemed genuine, unlike Du YueJiao’s pretentious and insincere care.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” Jiang Yao said.

“It’s good that you’re fine. Let’s quickly inform everyone so they know you’re okay. Otherwise, everyone will be worried.” Zhu Xia pulled Jiang Yao along as they walked forward.

On the way back, they ran into two more youths from the dormitory. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Jiang Yao was safe, then ran off to inform others who were still searching.

Jiang Yao and Zhu Xia returned to the dormitory shortly after, and other youths gradually returned as well. They all expressed their concerns for her, making Jiang Yao feel warm inside.

“Yao Yao, you’re back. Are you okay?” Jiang Yao’s arm was suddenly grabbed, and she turned her head to see Du YueJiao looking at her with a pitiful expression.

This scene was too cheesy. Jiang Yao disdainfully pushed away her hand and gave her a cold glance, saying, “Why would I have any problems? It’s just that I went to the supply and marketing cooperative early this morning to line up for meat. What about you? What’s the meaning behind spreading rumours that I didn’t return all night?”

“…I didn’t…” Du YueJiao was bewildered by Jiang Yao’s sudden coldness.

“You didn’t?” Jiang Yao snorted. “As an unmarried youth, you spread rumours that I didn’t return all night. People who know me might think it’s fine, but others might think I did something inappropriate.”

Du YueJiao’s face turned red and white alternately, but no one felt sorry for her. Zhu Xia even questioned angrily, “We’ve been busy for half a month. It’s rare that we can have a good rest today, and you scared us half to death. Why did you spread rumours that Jiang Yao didn’t return all night?”

“Yeah, spreading rumours without understanding the situation, it’s simply malicious.”

“…”

Du YueJiao hadn’t figured out what was going on yet, but everyone was accusing her one after another, leaving her no choice but to try to appease the ‘people’s anger’. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I thought today was a day off, so Yao Yao should sleep till late, so I didn’t expect her to go out so early. So… I thought… she didn’t… come back last night… I was just worried.”

“Let it go.” Someone said, “We’ve been working hard all morning, let’s make lunch quickly. I’m starving.”

Dealing with Du YueJiao, a little white lotus, was not something that could be done in a day or two. Jiang Yao temporarily let it go, and besides, she was indeed hungry. Although the white porridge she had at Lu’s house in the morning was thick, it lacked oil. It had been digested by this point.

“I’ll cook.” Zhu Xia stood up as she spoke, and Jiang Yao immediately chimed in, “I’ll help you. Everyone ran around all morning for me, so I’ll make a meal to thank everyone.”

“Okay, you must cook well this time.” Zhu Xia said with a smile.