To understand their competitors, they all inquired about and remembered those who had registered at the team leader's house.

So some people discovered that there was one person in their own educated youth settlement who hadn't registered, and that person was Xue Fu.

Why isn't Xue Fu going to the captain's house? Does she already have a plan and is determined to succeed?

Some people thought this to themselves, eyeing Xue Fu with suspicion.

Xue Fu didn't like being looked at with such scrutiny, as if she were a thief who had done something shameful.

She readily admitted it, putting their guard up.

"Yes, I didn't register for the exam. I don't like being a teacher."

Other educated youth: ?

Cheng Pei-pei exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?"

She was closer to Xue Fu, so she asked directly.

"Xue Fu, why?"

In Zheng Peipei's eyes, being a teacher is far more respectable than her current job feeding fish. It doesn't involve being exposed to the elements.

Because it was Cheng Pei-pei, Hsueh Fu explained a bit more: "I think my current job is pretty good, and I don't want to change."

She was telling the truth; she's having a very easy time at the fishpond now.

After feeding the fish and then patrolling around to check on the fish fry, she can go back to the cabin to rest.

Moreover, under normal circumstances, no one comes here to check. Basically, only the aunt who delivers hay and the scorekeeper will come in the afternoon.

Xue Fu was extremely comfortable with her job and didn't want to change it.

Being a teacher also requires writing lesson plans, which Xue Fu finds lazy.

Hearing her insistence, Zheng Peipei didn't ask any more questions.

But it's always good to have one less competitor, and most people secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Before turning off the lights at night, Xue Fu remembered the blood-sucking mosquitoes that had been biting her during the night. She opened the medicinal wine that Gu Chong had given her and prepared to apply it to her body.

The aroma of the infused liquor wafts out as soon as the cap is unscrewed.

Indeed, as Gu Chong said, the smell was not unpleasant.

It has the smell of wine, but the wine flavor is also mixed with a floral fragrance.

Xue Fu then remembered that this tree was called magnolia.

Many families in the village have planted this tree in their yards, where it stands tall.

The tree's flowers smell very fragrant. When they bloom, many girls in the village pick the flowers and thread them into bracelets or necklaces to wear, just like perfume, making them smell wonderful.

Last week, Gu Fei gave him a string of them. She still keeps them on the table.

The magnolia flowers had already withered, but Xue Fu could still smell a fragrance when she leaned closer to smell them.

She poured some of the medicinal wine into her palm and rubbed it on her body with her fingers.

When using this medicinal wine, Xue Fu inevitably thought of Gu Chong.

My breathing became erratic for a moment.

She stared at the yellowish-brown medicinal wine. When the bottle was shaken, bubbles would be produced, slowly rising from the bottom to the surface and then gently bursting, but the small bubbles dissipated almost without any sound.

Xue Fu suddenly realized that she seemed to be a little tempted.

After she finished applying the ointment, she looked at the other female educated youths and asked them if they wanted some too.

"What is this?" Cheng Pei-pei didn't know what it was.

Li Jing and Liu Ling had been working in the countryside for a long time, so they recognized each other.

Since Xue Fu was able to produce this bottle of wine, they could easily guess who gave it to her.

Neither Li Jing nor Liu Ling reached out to take it, but Zheng Peipei poured some over without hesitation and applied it to the areas where she was afraid of being bitten by mosquitoes.

In the days that followed, everyone at the educated youth settlement became even busier.

The recruitment of primary and junior high school teachers in the village was a very serious and formal process, involving both written tests and interviews.

The primary school was recruiting 3 teachers and the junior high school was recruiting 2 teachers, but there were hundreds of people applying in the village. Even people from neighboring villages who did not have their own primary school applied to Qingtang Village.

The competition is indeed quite fierce.

Every time Xue Fu returned to the educated youth settlement after having dinner at Gu Chong's house, she would see them reading, reviewing, and preparing lesson plans.

People who used to save kerosene and go to bed early at night have now reached a consensus to study late into the night.

However, because of the competition among them, the atmosphere at the educated youth settlement became a bit strange.

The most obvious change was that there were significantly fewer people chatting and interacting. The educated youth settlement became very quiet.

Only Xue Fu was enjoying herself.

She was the one who ate and slept the best, and among a group of educated youth with dark circles and eye bags, she looked exceptionally radiant.

At night, Xue Fu slept on the side by the window, and the lights they turned on didn't bother her much.

As Xue Fu lay in bed trying to fall asleep, she turned over and changed her sleeping position.

She lay on her side and saw Li Jing sitting at her desk, studying diligently with her books spread out.

The warm yellow glow of the kerosene lamp made Li Jing's face appear even more gentle and graceful.

Xue Fu suddenly remembered the plot of the original book.

One of the primary school teachers in the village is Li Jing.

Xue Fu looked away, then looked up and saw the roof beams hanging from the roof.

She became even more certain that her decision not to sign up was the right one.

At the same time, Xue Fu belatedly realized something.

Since she started working with Gu Chong, she rarely got involved in the affairs of the educated youth settlement.

They wouldn't actually tell Xue Fu about what was going on inside their lives.

How far has the original storyline progressed?

When Xue Fu first went to the countryside, Li Jing cared about her a lot, but later Xue Fu didn't spend much time with her, and their relationship didn't become very close.

Li Jing would never say those intimate things.

Xue Fu knew nothing about Li Jing's relationship status.

Xue Fu was a little uneasy.

She kept her distance most of the time, so she wouldn't be forced to follow the plot, right?

Xue Fu was unsure.

So she decided to be an extra, a background character.

She will absolutely not get involved in this mess.

She planned to go west if Li Jing went east, and south if the male lead went north.

That day, Xue Fu had just finished eating at Gu Chong's house. Gu Chong dropped her off at the educated youth settlement and left. Xue Fu went inside alone.

As soon as she went in, she felt something was off.

The educated youths looked at her with some hostility, leaving Xue Fu puzzled.

She saw Zheng Peipei, who was closest to her, and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Why are you all staring at me?"

Cheng Pei-pei's expression was also a bit strange; she moved her lips as if she wanted to say something but dared not.

Zhao Wen, who was in charge of the overall situation, spoke first.

His tone was steady, but there was a hint of accusation in it.

“Xue Fu, someone saw that you actually left the team leader’s house on the day you signed up to be a teacher.”

Have you registered?

Xue Fu: "?"

Disaster struck from the sky.

A whole pot of dirt was thrown at her head.

"What? Who said that?"

She was very confused; who was spreading rumors about her?

Zhao Wen shook his head: "I don't know who spread it, we heard about it as soon as we got back."

Xue Fu took a deep breath, somewhat angry, but suppressed her emotions and restated her statement.

"I didn't go to the team leader's house that day, and I didn't register or go back to take the exam. I'm very satisfied with my current job."

After saying that, her face turned completely cold, and she went straight back to her room without speaking to anyone else.

Being wrongly accused is a terrible feeling.

I was both angry and aggrieved.

What did she do to deserve such slander?

She didn't register or take up a spot, so what good does it do to spread rumors about her?