Chapter 343 Educated Youth Sent Down to the Countryside in the 1960s (5)

Jiang Yue carried oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and other condiments into the house, while Yao Ling washed the jars and pots. After that, she washed the vegetables. Since they had some free time today, they pickled some sauerkraut. While they were busy, the neighbors came over. Several elderly women were watching from the doorway, but when they saw that Jiang Yue and the others didn't seem to care, they ran into the yard.

After washing the pot, Yao Ling went inside to make several bowls of brown sugar water. She then served a bowl to each of the older women who were watching the play. After drinking Yao Ling's brown sugar water, the women felt embarrassed to watch and started helping to pickle the vegetables. They chatted while working and soon became familiar with each other. The older women began to share village gossip with Jiang Yue and the others. Listening to the gossip while working made everyone feel less tired.

As they chatted, more and more people came to watch the new educated youth's antics. Yao Ling wasn't stingy; she used all the brown sugar she had brought to make drinks and shared some with everyone. With many hands making light work, the chores at home were finished in no time. The older women also shared some of their life experiences with them and, incidentally, complained about the older educated youth, blah blah blah.

When we were heating the kang (a traditional heated bed), we explained to them how it was heated. We also brought them some firewood since they didn't have much. This time, they refused to accept money, saying that if they had known they were like this, they wouldn't have charged us for firewood and vegetables the first time. This incident caused quite a stir, and the crowd didn't gradually disperse until it was time to cook.

After seeing the person off, the three of them lay there, not wanting to move. Jiang Yue mainly didn't seem very tired because she had taken some pills. After resting for a while, the others were hungry.

"I bought a block of tofu and some glass noodles. We also have some cabbage at home. Should we make a stew of tofu, glass noodles and cabbage? I was thinking of buying some meat, but we only have two meat coupons, so let's save them."

"Okay, I have no objection, but I don't know how to make this dish. Let's see who can do it."

Seeing that none of the three seemed to know how, Jiang Yue could only step forward and say, "I'll do it."

A stew of tofu, vermicelli, and cabbage was a piece of cake for Jiang Yue. Today was the first day of cooking over a fire, and the group even took out some refined grains to make a few steamed buns. However, they weren't made with pure white flour; they added some cornmeal to make a mixed-flour steamed bun. When the pot was opened, the aroma wafted out immediately, and when they ate it, they devoured it, exclaiming how delicious it was.

Actually, it wasn't that delicious. The ingredients were there, but the main problem was that we hadn't had a proper meal yesterday, and we hadn't eaten all day today. After being hungry for almost two days, what wouldn't taste good? After the meal, the group didn't rush to wash the dishes. Instead, they went back to their rooms to lie down and rest for a while. Jiang Yue wasn't that tired, so she washed the pots and bowls after lying down for a bit.

They tried to help along the way, but Jiang Yue refused. She wore and used Yao Ling's clothes, and ate and drank what the three of them shared. Jiang Yue had never been so poor. In other worlds, at least she had something to eat. She had never been so strapped for cash in the apocalyptic world. She felt embarrassed to accept other people's food if she didn't work hard.

There weren't many entertainment facilities back then, and even lighting a kerosene lamp was considered a waste of oil, so they chatted for a while and then went to sleep.

In the following days, she followed the group to cut down trees. In the first few days, blisters formed on her hands, and she was too tired to move when she got home at night. It took Jiang Yue several days to get used to this intensity, since she hadn't done such heavy labor for a while.

Despite being exhausted, the four of them didn't rest. They took the opportunity to stack up the firewood in the yard, which should be enough for this winter. At the same time, Jiang Yue and her group also changed the villagers' attitude towards the educated youth. People who didn't like to talk to them before were now willing to talk to them after seeing how hard they worked.

It wasn't until the heavy snow arrived that things calmed down, and Jiang Yue finally had a chance to rest. It was only then that she remembered something: she hadn't yet arranged the precognitive dream for Yao Ling. It was December now, and Jiang Yue and the others had been here for half a month. Jiang Yue remembered that Liu Xiaoyi would be arriving after the New Year, so she should arrange it as soon as possible.

Jiang Yue was just thinking about arranging things for Yao Ling when there was a knock at the door. The group of people dressed and went out to see Hu Zi. After inviting him in, Hu Zi took out several letters and handed them to them. The other three people each received a letter, while Jiang Yue received two. She took her letters and felt them. Both letters were quite thick, so there should be money notes inside.

"Your packages are still at the brigade headquarters. They were brought back by the village as a group. The brigade leader wants you to go and pick them up when you have time."

"Okay, thanks Tiger. I'll treat you to candy after I buy it."

It's not that they won't give it to them now, but that none of these people have any left. They've already eaten all the food they brought, and all they have left at home is pickled cabbage and sorghum. After seeing Hu Zi off, the group planned to read the letter before going to get the package.

Jiang Yue opened the envelope and emptied its contents. She saw that there was more than twenty yuan inside, which should be Jiang Yue's subsidy for being sent to the countryside. The rest were some receipts. Jiang Yue frowned and opened the letter. They wouldn't think of returning what was originally hers. She decided to pretend that this matter was over.

After reading the letter, she learned that her brother had accidentally taken the wrong things, and that the items had been replaced for her. He was worried that the money might get lost since it was all in the envelope, so he had also sewn 100 yuan and some receipts into the quilt, telling Jiang Yue to be frugal when spending the money. He also mentioned that his family was currently facing difficulties and that he could no longer provide her with assistance, and that she should take good care of herself.

After reading the first letter, Jiang Yue opened the second one. This letter was written to her by her stepsister. It contained very little information, mainly stating that she was unaware of the matter. She had saved up a little over 30 yuan in secret money and borrowed some national grain coupons from a friend, which she then sent to her.

After Jiang Yue carefully put away the money and the letter, she burned it. These were worthless. She knew she would never agree to sever ties with her family, since if one person from each family was sent to the countryside, wouldn't her family have to send another person if she cut off ties? Jiang Yue had originally hoped that they wouldn't give her anything at all, so she could use it as an excuse to cause trouble. Unfortunately, her stepfather and stepsister were not stupid.

While Jiang Yue was looking at the receipts, Yao Ling had also finished reading the letter. Jiang Yue saw that Yao Ling was teary-eyed and that it must have been a letter from home. Jiang Yue thought to herself, "Look at their family relationship, this is what a normal family relationship looks like. With such a complicated background, Jiang Yue felt like she was the protagonist herself."

The wizard tower was put down a while ago, and the new cotton-padded coat was also made. We just need to find an excuse to take it out and return it to Yao Ling. Now that everyone has money, some people will definitely go to the county town in the next few days. We need to find a way to separate from Yao Ling. The downside of living together is that without a reasonable excuse, it's not easy to take things out.

"Should we go get the package?" Wang Liang knocked on the door and called out from outside.

"Go, we'll be right there after we get dressed."

"Okay, I'll sweep the snow in the yard first, don't worry."