Seeing that Lin Siqi's soup was almost ready, Shen Mu Ning called out to everyone, "Uncle Wang, Zhang Zhiqing, dinner is ready."

Shen Mu Ning had been watching the fire in the kitchen the whole time, and the dishes had long since whetted her appetite. She had been wondering when she would be able to eat Lin Si Qi's cooking, but she didn't expect to be able to so soon.

"Coming right away." Zhang Jiayang had already smelled the aroma of the food; his stomach had been rumbling for a while. Finally, he could eat, and his voice was filled with joy.

Shen Muling fetched water for Wang Ziqiang and Zhang Jiayang, washed her hands, and then set the food on her long table for them to eat.

Wang Ziqiang was quite satisfied with the appearance and taste of the food, which proved that the three educated youths truly cared about them. It was worth it for him to carefully check the stove and kang for them.

"Hmm, those two girls are very good cooks. I've checked and repaired your stove and built the pots." Wang Ziqiang tasted all the dishes, satisfying his own appetite before he had the mind to talk to them.

"These were all made by Lin Zhiqing. I was just her assistant." Shen Mu Ning wouldn't be complacent at this moment; her cooking skills were only at the level of ordinary home-cooked dishes.

"You see, we don't know much about kang stoves. We thought we could just light a fire anywhere. It's the professionals who have the experience. We're so grateful for your help."

Shen Mu Ning genuinely felt that people in this era were very simple and honest; when you hire someone to do work, they will consider all aspects for you.

Those who don't care about future generations are already showing some conscience by not taking advantage of you.

Lin Siqi knew this Uncle Wang Ziqiang; she had asked him for help in her past life. But because she was ignorant of social etiquette, she didn't invite him to stay for a meal or even offer him a glass of water. He took his wages and left without saying much to her.

Looking back now, it was really wrong of her. Later, when she was almost beaten and scolded by Wang Cheng after she married him, this Uncle Wang even spoke up for her.

Indeed, in this world, only sincerity can win sincerity. They arranged for Zhang Jiayang to run errands for Uncle Wang and treated him to good meals, which made him more considerate of them.

After finishing his meal, Wang Ziqiang quickly set up the pot in Zhang Jiayang's room, took the brown sugar prepared by Shen Muning and the other two, and went back.

The brown sugar was brought to the countryside by Shen Mu Ning. She didn't like drinking plain water, so she bought a lot of brown sugar, white sugar, and rock sugar in the market.

When they went to invite Uncle Wang at noon, they found out that his daughter-in-law had given birth, so they agreed to pay him with two catties of brown sugar.

After cleaning and tidying up, Shen Mu Ning, Lin Si Qi, and Zhang Jia Yang finally finished decorating their little nest.

Shen Mu Ning had lit the coal stove early in the afternoon, using the firewood she had chopped to start the fire, and boiled several kettles of water early on. The three of them took a bath and went to sleep.

The next day, perhaps because she had been looking forward to going to work since the night before, Shen Mu Ning woke up exceptionally early.

She took out a small rice ball and mixed it with some leftovers from last night before eating it.

After that, Shen Mu Ning was fully armed, wearing long sleeves and trousers, a straw hat, a sickle, and carrying a large basket.

All the former educated youth admired her greatly, "Shen, how did you prepare so thoroughly?"

Shen Mu Ning sniffed, feeling guilty, and said, "I just didn't know what kind of work we were going to do, so I thought I'd be as prepared as possible."

Zhuang Xue looked at her with amusement: "You don't need so much stuff. The women's work these two days is to turn over sweet potato vines and fertilize various crops. You can carry a small basket on your backs."

"As for the men, they have to do heavier work, such as digging and carrying fertilizer."

After Zhuang Xue gave them some pointers, Shen Mu Ning and the others packed their things and left.

As dawn broke, Shen Mu Ning, filled with excitement, walked towards the drying ground with the other former educated youth.

The large drying ground was a place specially leveled out by the brigade for drying grain. After the state implemented the system of public ownership, several large warehouses were also built here to store grain.

The large dam area was generally a place where people from the brigade would gather for meetings and to assign tasks to smaller teams.

When Shen Mu Ning and her group arrived, they saw the brigade leader Gu Chengde and secretary Wang Qing standing on the platform, while the other villagers chatted in twos and threes.

Once everyone had gathered, the team leader gave a speech on stage. Shen Mu Ning thought he was going to give a long speech, but he just encouraged everyone to work hard.

After saying this, he immediately announced that Shen Mu Ning, Lin Si Qi, Zhang Jia Yang, and He Xiao Lan were assigned to teams one through four respectively, leaving only team five without any new members.

The beaming smile of the fifth squad leader contrasted sharply with the gloomy, lifeless expressions of the other four squad leaders.

The four squad leaders who had taken in the educated youth looked at the brigade leader, Gu Chengde, with resentment. They knew that the educated youth were not good at farm work and were not physically strong, so why were they assigned to them?

Gu Chengde touched his nose under their gazes. Unlike before, when all the educated youth were evenly distributed, now that new educated youth have arrived, of course they are distributed one by one from each small team.

The squad leaders knew they couldn't change anything, so they started comparing themselves to each other.

The team leader of the third squad looked at Zhang Jiayang, who had been assigned to his team, and nodded with satisfaction. Even if this young man didn't know how to do farm work, he seemed to have a lot of strength. Not bad, not bad.

The remaining three team leaders looked rather grim as they led the female educated youths they had been assigned to towards the fields. They wondered what was the point of sending these young girls to the countryside; with their delicate skin and slender arms and legs, it would take them a long time to adapt to rural life.

Shen Mu Ning was led by the squad leader of the first team to a sweet potato field. The women in their group had recently been turning over the sweet potato vines and pinching off the tips.

“Aunt Guihua, Shen is an educated youth assigned to our group. Could you please take care of her for a couple of days and teach her how to do farm work?”

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