Chapter 12 Zhou Xiye's Suspicion

When Jiang Zhizhi heard that Zhou Xiye and the others wanted to stay for dinner, her heart jumped into her throat. She didn't understand why they would suddenly stay.

Seeing Zhou Xiye agreed, Old Man Liang happily ran to the kitchen and urged Yang Fengmei to hurry up: "Put more lard, don't just smear it on the bottom of the pot, what will it taste like?"

After urging them to come back, he chatted with Zhou Xiye and Zhang Zhao. Zhou Xiye casually asked how the harvest was. Old Liang sighed, "It's no good. You know, we all depend on the weather here. This year the weather was dry, and there was no rain in the spring. When it was time to harvest the wheat, it rained a few times, but we didn't have time to harvest it. The wheat has already sprouted. And those educated youth at the educated youth settlement can't do any work at all."

The room was full of complaints, but Zhou Xiye remained silent. After all, they didn't get involved in local affairs.

Dinner was eaten in the yard. Liang Dazhuang moved out a small square table, and Old Man Liang asked someone to call the village accountant to come and eat together.

Jiang Zhizhi then realized that Old Man Liang was not only the captain of the village, but also the branch secretary. He had some power. He called the accountant because this meal could be counted as the cost of entertaining cadres, so he didn't have to pay for his own food.

Even all educated youth who wanted to visit their families or return to the city had to get Old Man Liang's signature first.

In other words, this unassuming old man held the future of a group of educated youth in his hands.

Although Yang Fengmei had a lot of complaints, she still cooked a meal seriously because Zhou Xiye and the others were there.

The noodles are rolled very thin and cut very evenly, and served with their unique sour sauce, which is pickled radish leaves and bok choy, fried with lard and a little dried chili peppers, which is sour, spicy and appetizing.

Old Man Liang filled a big bowl for Zhou Xiye and Zhang Zhao, and another bowl for Jiang Zhizhi. The noodles in it were even more than in Zhou Xiye and the others' bowls.

Jiang Zhizhi quickly waved her hand: "That's too much, I can't eat that much, half is enough."

Old Man Liang refused: "My Dazhuang said that he picked you up at the train station and didn't even let you drink a sip of water. He took you to get your car repaired and then rushed back after it was repaired. It's been half a day now and you haven't eaten a single bite. You must be hungry, right? We don't have much to eat in the countryside. If you don't mind, just eat it all."

As luck would have it, Jiang Zhizhi was sitting next to Zhou Xiye. She didn't dare to move too much while eating for fear of attracting Zhou Xiye's attention.

Although I haven't seen Zhou Xiye many times, his eyes are so deep and sharp that they seem to be able to see into a person's mind at a glance.

In front of Zhou Xiye, her little tricks looked like nothing more than a rookie.

But at this moment she was very close to Zhou Xiye, so close that she could see his knees and the texture on his army green pants by lowering her eyes.

And the scent emanating from him was like the air after a spring rain on a mountainside—cool yet pleasant.

In this situation, Jiang Zhizhi lowered her head and slowly picked up the noodles, wrinkling her nose and inhaling the pleasant aroma.

A tiny bit of lust had secretly surfaced.

As Zhou Xiye chatted with Old Man Liang and the others, he could see the head next to him almost buried in the bowl when he looked down. The braid was hanging in front of his chest, revealing a section of fair and delicate neck, which hung down in a beautiful arc.

But isn't she tired of keeping her head down like that?

Are you afraid of yourself?

Zhou Xiye and Zhang Zhao finished their meal and left. Before leaving, Zhang Zhao stuffed five kilograms of food coupons into Old Man Liang's pocket, making Old Man Liang embarrassed and said, "Look at you guys. If I had given you food coupons, I wouldn't have kept you for dinner."

Zhang Zhao laughed and said, "If you don't accept it, then we really won't come again."

Old Man Liang had no choice but to accept the food coupons and send the two out: "You gave too much. Next time you come to eat, don't give me more."

...

Zhang Zhao picked up the car, with Zhou Xiye in the passenger seat. Once they left the village, Zhang Zhao finally couldn't hold back any longer: "How did that Comrade Jiang suddenly become an expert from the provincial capital? Boss, why didn't you expose her?"

Zhou Xiye frowned: "Expose what about her? And what happens after you expose her? Do you think she's a bad person?"

Zhang Zhao was taken aback by the question and paused for a moment: "Boss, you think she's not a bad person, and there's a reason why she's hiding her identity?"

Zhou Xiye didn't say anything. He was also very curious about what Jiang Zhizhi was doing in this small mountain village after coming all the way from Beijing.

If it was to get closer to them, then none of the previous encounters were accidental.

Seeing Zhou Xiye remained silent, Zhang Zhao couldn't help but remind him, "Boss, you often tell us not to let our subjective judgments affect our objective judgments. We can't let our guard down just because of someone's appearance. If Comrade Xiao Jiang is suspicious, we should report it to the police in advance."

Zhou Xiye shook his head: "Wait a minute. If she really has some special identity, then there must be someone behind her. If you report it now, you'll only alert her."

Zhang Zhao opened his mouth, but found himself speechless. He felt that his boss seemed to have ulterior motives, but what he said also made a lot of sense.

...

After dinner, Yang Fengmei carried a stool to the threshing ground to watch a movie, while Old Man Liang had already gone there to entertain the projectionist.

Liang Dazhuang also wanted to go, but it wouldn't be good to leave Jiang Zhizhi alone at home. After racking his brains for a long time, he asked Jiang Zhizhi, "Do you want to go see a movie?"

Jiang Zhizhi wasn't interested in watching the movie; instead, she thought she could get some useful information from the honest Liang Dazhuang: "Dazhuang, how many people are in your village? Are there any unregistered residents?"

Liang Dazhuang nodded without thinking: "There are illegal households. My fifth uncle's wife is an illegal household. But illegal households don't get work points even if they work."

Jiang Zhizhi frowned. That must be because the wife was bought from somewhere, which is why she doesn't have a household registration: "Then, if someone from out of town stays in your village, what procedures are required?"

Liang Dazhuang scratched his head: "No need, as long as my dad writes a note and then reports it to the commune, that's enough. In my dad's words, we're far from the capital, so there aren't that many rules here."

Jiang Zhizhi nodded: "Then how will we live?"

Liang Dazhuang was very honest: "As long as the commune approves the permit, we'll all go to work together. We'll earn work points for our work, and at the end of the year we'll receive our rations. Comrade Jiang, why are you asking about this?"

Jiang Zhizhi smiled and said, "It's nothing. I was just curious and asking casually."

Liang Dazhuang said "Oh," and then added, "I thought you thought our village was nice and wanted to settle down here."

He was just honest and simple, but not stupid at all. He felt that there must be a reason why Jiang Zhizhi asked so many questions.

Jiang Zhizhi smiled slightly: "I do have this idea, but don't tell your dad yet, I'll take a look."

Liang Dazhuang nodded repeatedly. He admired Jiang Zhizhi immensely and wished he could take her as his mentor. If she could stay in their village, they wouldn't have to worry about the team's tractors breaking down in the future.

He was just curious: "Comrade Xiao Jiang, why would you, a city person, want to stay in our village?"