Huang Xiaofu didn't dwell on Miao Fengying for long. He had thought that seeing her again would inevitably leave him with a sense of melancholy, but now it seemed that it was nothing more than that.

After Miao Fengying's outburst, the midday sun had passed, and the last vestiges of sleepiness had dissipated.

"Mom, where are we going now?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to just browse around? Take a look at anything?"

Huang Xiaofu glanced around; it was all gray and drab. He had just walked from the state-run restaurant, and there were hardly any shops around.

I still haven't seen a supply and marketing cooperative; it's so dilapidated.

Grandma Wu could tell what he was thinking at a glance. "This place hasn't been developed yet. The buildings and houses are all in the old style. What else would you like to see?"

Huang Xiaofu sighed. How long were they going to stay in this place?

"I'm not leaving, I'm staying here."

ah???

"No way? I thought we'd just stay here with Lao Si after the rural trip and then go back."

Grandma Wu stopped, turned around and smiled at him, "Good boy, Mom won't force you. If you want to go back, you can still do so."

Just as Huang Xiaofu was about to speak, a voice interrupted, "Who wants to go back?"

The two turned their heads and saw Huang Xiaoqiang standing blankly three steps away, with Gu Qing beside him.

"Mom, who wants to go back?"

Huang Xiaoqiang was a little nervous, and the object of his nervousness was naturally Old Lady Wu.

"Your brother."

"I don't!"

Huang Xiaofu directly and firmly denied what Old Lady Wu said, and looked at Huang Xiaoqiang, "Don't worry, brother, I will take good care of you."

Let him go back? He's not going back.

With his father around, it's impossible to live a peaceful life.

Grandma Wu looked at the two of them and asked, "Why are you in town? Isn't today the start of the workday?"

Huang Xiaoqiang pointed and said, "Oh, the educated youth are all here. Brother Tie Niu brought us here."

"We were planning to go to the fields today, but when the village secretary went to the former educated youth compound, it was a mess and nothing was tidied up. They said they needed to come to town to buy some things, so they asked Brother Tie Niu to drive the tractor and bring us here."

Grandma Wu nodded. "In that case, let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative. If you two brothers need anything, we can buy it together."

Huang Xiaofu was overjoyed, "Really?"

"Fake."

The two brothers followed Grandma Wu with great enthusiasm. A hint of envy flashed in Gu Qing's eyes. She wished she had a brother or sister too.

"Wait for us!"

The educated youth on the bus quickly jumped off and followed Grandma Wu and the others.

Grandma Wu shook her head helplessly; they really were just a bunch of kids.

“Aunt Wu, this Xishang Town really has a sense of historical weight, it’s different from our place.”

Grandma Wu glanced at Huang Xiaofu and thought, "Look, now that's someone who knows how to talk."

Huang Xiaofu secretly glared at the skinny guy with four eyes who looked like a stick insect, and said, "You've got to show off."

Fang Wen subconsciously reached up and pushed up his glasses, unaware that someone had already glared at him.

"The buildings here are still relatively well preserved, and there will definitely be great development in the future."

She agreed with this statement, after all, land here will be extremely valuable in the future, and even money may not be enough to buy it.

The others seemed to understand, but they didn't care about the future; they just wanted to live well in the present.

"We can't control what happens in the future, we just need to live well now. The courtyard is big and spacious, but it's empty and there's nothing there, not even a kang (heated brick bed). I heard that people here sleep on beds, we can't exactly sleep on the floor, can we?"

The others nodded. "Yes."

Grandma Wu stopped, hissed, and frowned as she looked at them. "Are you planning to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy beds and furniture?"

Are they out of their minds?

It would be cheaper to find a carpenter in the village to make it than here, and you need a ration coupon to buy it from the supply and marketing cooperative.

"yes!"

The group suddenly realized what was happening and thanked Grandma Wu profusely.

Many educated youths came and went to the supply and marketing cooperative today, since the surrounding villages are all located around Xishang Town.

Seeing that there were many people, including girls, Huang Xiaofu kept dodging and making way for them, squeezing around in circles for a long time.

Speechless, Old Lady Wu simply pulled the person away, saying, "I'll do it! You're really useless."

Others could only envy them; there was nothing they could do, since their mothers weren't around to help them.

Everything had to be done personally.

Iron Ox sat in front of the tractor, a straw in his mouth, lying under the shade of a tree, dozing off, when suddenly a noisy sound came to his ears.

Turning his head, he gasped, his mouth agape, before finally managing to utter, "You bought so much? You've emptied this supply and marketing cooperative!"

The brothers Huang Xiaofu and Huang Xiaoqiang had something hanging in front of them and on their backs; the other educated youth weren't much better off.

Fang Wen laughed and said, "Isn't this the first time? I have no experience, so I only brought a few sets of clothes and didn't prepare anything else."

If it weren't for Grandma Wu's reminder, they would have almost moved all the cabinets from the supply and marketing cooperative.

As educated youth from the surrounding villages gradually arrived, the supply and marketing cooperative in Xishang Town became unusually busy, depleting all of the previous year's inventory.

The station manager of the supply and marketing cooperative took a train overnight to another province to purchase goods.

"Okay." You guys are really rich.

Tie Niu muttered to himself the last sentence.

Tie Niu didn't know that among the first batch of educated youth sent to the countryside, some were genuinely exceptionally enlightened and willingly came to suffer in the countryside, while others, like Gu Qing, came from wealthy and influential families to avoid trouble at the request of their elders.

They would naturally have no shortage of money, and even before any problems arose at home, they would receive generous monthly supplies, so there would be no limit to how much they could spend.

'Beep beep beep beep......'

Tie Niu drove back to Shanyao Village with a truckload of returning educated youth.

Because these delicate educated youths were lazy and inactive, the village secretary ordered the villagers to clean up the educated youth compound overnight.

Get them to work the next day as soon as possible.

The carpenter that Gou Cuifen took Wu to find was not only skilled but also fast, and he made everything Wu needed in just three days.

"Your skills are really good, and you're so fast too." Old Mrs. Wu complimented, but she knew in her heart that it must be those two bottles of good wine that had the effect.

Carpenter Zhou picked up his small wine cup, took a sip, and waved his hand, saying, "Hey, what's this? When I was young, I could make this for you in a day and a night. Now I'm old, my eyesight is failing, and I can't do things as well as I used to."

Grandma Wu smiled without saying anything, paid the money, picked up her cart and left, saying, "Please wait here, I'll bring the cart back to you after I take the things back."

"It's alright, it's alright, I have a car in my yard, you can use it first."

"Thank you very much, Uncle Zhou."

"It's alright, it's alright, just get me a bottle of good wine."

Old Mrs. Wu's lips twitched. What a drunkard.

It doesn't matter if someone is an alcoholic, as long as they have good cooking skills.

Huang Xiaofu, who picked up Grandma Wu halfway there, looked at the things on the cart with a happy expression, "Now we don't have to sleep on the floor anymore."