"These educated youth are absolutely lawless!"

"Do they really think no one can control them? It's one thing for them to act arrogantly all the time in the village, but to be so cruel to the educated youth living in the same courtyard!"

Zhao the carpenter frowned and cursed for a long time before turning to look at Xie Zhuo again. "I'll go to the hospital with you later. If it's really serious, we'll have to make them pay your medical expenses."

"No need, no need," Xie Zhuo quickly refused upon hearing this.

He wasn't actually kicked by those educated youths, and it's impossible that he actually went to the hospital.

The reason I say this is because when he was at the gate of the educated youth settlement, his excuse to ask the brigade leader for leave was that he had been kicked and injured. Although no one else was present, he was seen going into the city instead of going to work, and it would be difficult to explain when he went back.

You can't just say it's because you don't want to go to work.

Wouldn't the brigade leader chase him to his house and scold him?

During the summer weeding season, each household must send at least one person to work. This has been a rule established over the past few years. Xie is the only able-bodied person in the Xie family, so he is always indispensable.

"Can you do it?" Carpenter Zhao asked him with concern.

"It's alright," Xie Zhuo rubbed his stomach. "The place that sells mountain products is close to the hospital, and besides, it's not on your way here. If you follow me around in circles, Zhao Bin will probably get impatient."

“Alright, I’ll go to his place first,” Zhao the carpenter thought about it and realized that it made sense.

If this thing isn't delivered today, I'll get nagged when I get back.

The two exchanged a few more words before heading off towards their respective destinations.

Compared to Qingping County in later years, Qingping County in this era was not as prosperous, and there were not as many people. Most of the houses on both sides of the road were single-story. Xie Zhuo wandered back and forth among the crisscrossing alleys for nearly half an hour. After making sure that no one was following him, he knocked on a small wooden door.

The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man in his forties.

He opened the door and saw Xie Zhuo. His eyes lit up, and he peeked out to look around. Seeing no one else, he quickly welcomed Xie Zhuo in.

"Why did you come early?" the middle-aged man asked as he walked. "Was it fixed ahead of schedule?"

Xie Zhuo didn't answer his question. After sitting down on the stool in the house and taking another sip of water, he took out the small box from the bottom of the basket and handed it to him.

The man probably didn't expect him to put such a precious item directly at the bottom of the basket. He wanted to say something, but he was in a hurry to check the item, so he didn't say anything in the end.

Seeing the hands of all seven watches neatly circling the dial, he couldn't hide his joy.

"Excellent, excellent!"

"Amazing, amazing!"

"You're amazing! You managed to fix this!"

The middle-aged man kept looking at his watch while praising Xie Zhuo.

Xie Zhuo didn't say much throughout the whole process. He sat down, drank a glass of water, and then reorganized the wild mountain produce in his basket before leaving.

"So eager?" The middle-aged man noticed his movements, put down his watch, and went to get the money he had prepared beforehand.

"Yes," Xie Zhuo replied, "Someone is waiting at home."

The middle-aged man, unaware of Xie Zhuo's family situation, assumed his wife was waiting for him to come home. He chuckled, "I didn't expect you to be afraid of your wife. It's good that you care about your family."

He then handed over the money.

Xie Zhuo didn't bother to explain his misunderstanding. He took the money and counted it: seven watches, fifty yuan for each one to be repaired, totaling three hundred and fifty yuan, not a penny less or more.

After counting, he took out fifty yuan as usual and handed it to the middle-aged man, "to exchange for some sugar coupons, snack coupons, and grain coupons."

The middle-aged man was already used to his practice of exchanging tickets each time. He took the money, took out the ticket, and handed it to him.

As Xie Zhuo was about to leave, he took out a dusty little box and put it into his basket. "This time it's two watches."

Xie Zhuo nodded without asking any further questions.

Since this person has the ability to get so many defective watches for free and then sell them after he repairs them, it proves that he has some skills. In addition, Xie Zhuo knows from his past life that this person is reliable, so it's not a bad idea to make a living under his wing for the time being.

It's better than working yourself to the bone in the fields all day and barely making ends meet.

Xie Zhu put the small box away and started to walk out with his basket on his back. But just as he was about to step out of the main room, the middle-aged man called him back, "Do you know how to fix a radio? I'll give you this amount."

As he spoke, he gestured a number with his hand.

On the other side, Qingshan Brigade, the educated youth settlement.

Xu Yan waited until everyone had left before taking the package out again and sorting it out.

The package contained three packs of peach shortbread, two packs of honey-flavored fried dough sticks, two boxes of fruit hard candy, two boxes of White Rabbit milk candy, two bars of soap, and two large cans of malted milk powder. Apart from the canned syrup she had already finished, there was also a dress, a piece of floral fabric, a piece of navy blue fabric, fifty yuan, and some food coupons.

Almost everything is in duplicate.

The original owner's parents probably prepared these things because they were afraid that their daughter would give the things to Han Xiaoyu, but they didn't expect that the original owner wouldn't be able to keep her share at all.

Although Xu Yan had never met the original owner's parents, perhaps because she had only been in this world for a short time and her emotions were still influenced by the original owner, her eyes actually became a little moist when she saw these things.

Is this what parents love for their children?

As far as she knew, although Xu's parents earned a decent monthly salary, and her brother and sister-in-law also worked in a factory, sending so many things over half a year was something even a wealthy family couldn't afford.

Xu Yan sighed.

Xu Yan's parents divorced when she was very young. She grew up with her grandparents. After her grandparents passed away, she began living alone. She sees her parents less than five times a year.

Although they are related by blood, they are often more unfamiliar than strangers.

Just like when she passed away, the two of them only came to claim her body, then hurriedly arranged the funeral and left.

Xu Yan gathered everything from the table and the food in the food cabinet, and locked them all in a dark red suitcase that the original owner had brought.

That's when I finally had time to visit the female educated youth's dormitory.

The female educated youth dormitory was very clean, but also very simple. It was so simple that apart from an unpainted table about two arm spans long and two wooden chairs, there was only a large communal bed against the wall.

There were six different colored sheets on the kang (a heated brick bed). This was suggested by Zhou Jingjing when they first arrived. She said she wasn't used to sleeping on other people's sheets, so the female educated youth each laid out their own.

Following the original owner's memories, Xu Yan's gaze swept across the various colored sheets, finally landing on the one by the window that had been washed until it was faded and patched.

At that moment, the intense sun was shining through the window onto the bed sheet, and you could see with your eyes that it was scorching hot without even touching it.

Xu Yan: "..."