Xue Fu likes receiving gifts; she likes the sentiments that gifts represent, indicating that she is cherished by that person.

The joy and anticipation in her eyes made Gu Chong hesitate, feeling a little embarrassed.

He wanted to buy her many things, anything good, he wanted to buy for her.

He said, "The skirt."

It was the most beautiful one he saw in the mall.

He felt it was a good match for her.

Xue Fu's clothes were always bright and vibrant, not just the dirt-resistant black, gray, and green.

Xue Fu's eyes lit up: "A dress! You bought a dress! Let's hurry back, I really want to see what kind of dress you bought!"

Gu Chong actually bought her a dress!!!

She was genuinely curious and excited to see what kind of dress it was that would make even straight men fall in love and buy it!

Xue Fu's face was flushed with happiness.

Gu Chong thought she looked like a pink peach, plump and juicy, just like the dress he bought.

When they got home, Xue Fu couldn't hold back her emotions when Gu Chong took out the dress.

This was the first time she had ever felt the impact of straight men's aesthetics so strong.

Xue Fu glanced at the dress, then at Gu Chong, and then at the dress again.

She paused for a moment, then said: "..."

Looking at this dress, which was entirely peach pink from the neckline to the hem, I gasped.

What a heavenly peach this is...!

Don't you like it?

Her expression changed noticeably, and Gu Chong became cautious, carefully asking her what went wrong, like a good student learning from his mistakes.

Xue Fu carefully crafted her words, expressing her "thoughts" in a very tactful and subtle way.

"It's actually quite pretty, but it doesn't seem to suit me that much."

"And don't you think this color looks too bright? I wonder if wearing this dress will make my skin look yellowish."

"Wouldn't I look strange wearing this out? Because dresses aren't very casual."

"Sigh... I don't have any shoes to match this dress."

This is as powerful as Death Barbie Pink.

After listening to her say so much, Gu Chong felt dizzy. His lips opened and closed, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Well, deep down he felt that the color suited her perfectly; she looked so beautiful.

It's pink and delicate, like a peach blossom, so pretty!

But under her gaze, he dared not say it.

He hummed in agreement, "I understand."

He even went out of his way to promise, "There won't be a next time. You can choose the dress next time, and I'll pay for it."

Xue Fu laughed out loud, quite pleased: "But I still really enjoy receiving gifts! You're so kind!"

The first month of the lunar calendar has ended, but spring has already arrived.

Xue Fu took off her cotton-padded coat; now the weather was warm enough that she only needed to wear two layers.

The production team is organizing spring plowing and sowing.

Zhou Jianguo used a loudspeaker last night to tell everyone to gather at the village entrance dam tomorrow morning to be assigned production tasks.

Although Xue Fu was in charge of the fishpond on her own, she still arrived at the meeting place early in the morning and stood there waiting for Zhou Jianguo to speak.

Zhou Jianguo stood on the platform and, as before, began by calling out names.

After calling out all the names on the roster, Zhou Jianguo began to speak, explaining the division of labor.

"Spring has truly arrived, and everyone knows it's time for spring plowing."

“This year our village got tractors, which are a great help to everyone. With machines to help us, spring plowing will definitely go by quickly. What we need most next is new land, and tractors can help us expand our planting area.”

"Therefore, in addition to paddy fields, we still need oxen to pull plows to cultivate the land. Our more important task is to seize the time to reclaim more wasteland."

"......"

Reclaiming wasteland is hard work, so Zhou Jianguo said a lot of encouraging and inspiring words on stage, trying to motivate everyone to work harder.

Unfortunately, the results were mediocre.

Nobody can be happy.

It's better to farm than to reclaim wasteland.

It's much easier to carry a hoe and dig soil now.

But now no one dares to object to the production tasks assigned by Zhou Jianguo. In the end, they all go to Zhou Jianguo with long faces to see which piece of wasteland they have been assigned to.

Xue Fu once again realized how cleverly she had arranged the fishpond job.

Raising and feeding fish is such a blessed job!

She cherished it very much.

The reclaimed land assigned to Gu Chong was right next to the previous reclaimed land, on the back mountain, very close to the educated youth settlement and the Gu family.

Xue Fu felt sorry for him and told him to balance work and rest, and not to work recklessly all the time.

"Rest when you're tired, and drink water when you're thirsty. Remember to bring the water bottle I bought for you from Haicheng, and make some brown sugar water or something else to drink."

"good."

Throughout February, everyone in Qingtang Village was busy with spring plowing.

Although the intensity wasn't as great as the summer harvest rush, it was still very tiring.

When Xue Fu held Gu Chong's hand, she could feel that the calluses on his hands had become even thicker and felt very rough.

So I made sure he wore gloves every day and applied face cream as hand cream every night.

In one month, the fish in Xuefu's fishpond visibly grew a lot, from small fry to small fish.

It used to be the size of a fingernail, but now it's about the size of a little finger.

And nothing unexpected happened; none of the fish fry died.

Xue Fu's learning progress has also fallen far behind.

She has almost finished memorizing current affairs and history, and now she is preparing to start studying other subjects.

After she has read through all of them, she will conduct a first and second round of reinforcement.

With her studies, work, and Gu Chong's company, Xue Fu's time was always full, and her life was very fulfilling.

As February ended and March arrived, Xue Fu gradually began to feel the reality of having to leave.

She received a letter from home.

Her parents said in their letter that the original registration date of early April would remain unchanged, but she could start packing now. They told her to send her luggage back to Haicheng little by little in advance, so that she wouldn't be too heavy to carry when she left.

Gu Chong was sitting next to Xue Fu while she was reading the letter, and she didn't try to avoid him.

“Gu Chong,” she squeezed the back of his hand, which was thin and not very fleshy, “my mother asked me to pack my bags and send them back home.”

She said, "You have to help me. Help me move those luggage to the county town and mail it. I can't carry it all by myself."

She took it for granted and made him work as a porter.

Of course, she also thoughtfully considered his feelings of reluctance and sadness as his partner would soon be separated from him.

“I’ll definitely miss you when I get back. I’ll send you a letter every week. Oh, and we can call each other too. I’ll call you then.”

She was just making empty promises to him.