Holding the forty-eight yuan, Xu Keke gave eight yuan to Ma Yuying in front of the whole village. "This is for my food and lodging at your house."

How could Ma Yuying accept it? But Xu Keke decisively and forcefully shoved it into her hand. Xu Keke whispered in her ear, "Take it, otherwise too many people will be eyeing it."

Ma Yuying glanced at the villagers around her, and at the few educated youths whose eyes were blazing with anger. She nodded and accepted the money.

Xu Keke gave the remaining forty yuan to Chen Jianguo. "I donated this money to the village in front of everyone. I didn't want this money originally. But since it was lost and found, let's use it for Chenjia Village. Many children in our village stay at home when they are of school age because the road to school is too far, or they have to wait until they are older to go to school in town. The children are idle in the village, and the adults don't have time to take care of them. I know that the village has always wanted to build a school. I will give this money, as well as the money that Chen Hong will pay me back later, to the team so that the children can go to school."

Chen Jianguo held the forty yuan and stared at her for a long time. "Building a school doesn't require this much. We can just cut down a few trees from the mountain to make the desks and chairs."

"Then let's raise a few pigs and distribute the money to everyone at the end of the year." Xu Keke looked at Chen Jianguo impatiently. Why couldn't this man understand the situation? He was always going against her. She didn't want the money. Didn't he understand?

Chen Jianguo understood, of course; that wasn't what he meant. But given Xu Keke's attitude towards him, he figured he wouldn't say anything nice. Oh well, he'd just give her the money for now.

"I'll hold onto this money for you for now. Our brigade needs to discuss it further and report to the commune. I'll tell you when we have a plan."

Finally, it was all over, and she could go back and rest. Xu Keke walked back without a care in the world. All she wanted to do was get back and rest. For some reason, she felt incredibly tired.

Xiuzhi was alright; she hesitated several times before speaking, but seeing that Xu Keke was too tired to talk, she left her alone in the room and went to help her mother cook.

Chen Baocai wasn't so understanding. As soon as he got home, he asked Ma Yuying for money, but she ignored him. He then started causing trouble, shouting so loudly that even though Xu Keke was lying in the room, it felt like his voice was exploding right next to her ear.

"I gave you money, why are you still eating this?"

"What time is it? By the time the meat is bought, will we even have time to eat? Besides, when you buy meat at the commune, you can just pay with money, you don't need coupons."

"That's why I'm telling you, give me the money. I'll go buy it; there are people secretly selling pork over at the commune."

"Don't cause trouble. If you bring meat into the village now, you'll be in luck. If someone reports you, you'll be cured of your illness."

Xu Keke was lying in bed and didn't hear what Chen Baocai said. She only heard Chen Baocai howling and screaming, as if Ma Yuying had hit him with something. She beat him all the way into the yard.

“If you keep spouting nonsense like this, don’t come back to this house. Stop talking nonsense to me outside. What’s wrong with running a school? Xiumei can benefit from it too. Raising pigs is even better; at least the whole village can have meat during the New Year. If we really gave you all the money, you’d just squander it.”

"Ouch!"

The last blow didn't seem to be very hard, and Chen Baocai's shout this time didn't have the same genuine emotion as before.

Xu Ke could use this as an excuse to run away from home, only to return late at night. Unexpectedly, Chen Baocai strolled back during dinner that evening.

That evening, Ma Yuying made spicy noodles with cabbage and also specially fried a plate of golden eggs, placing them next to the pickled radishes.

As Xu Keke ate the noodles in her bowl, she felt Chen Baocai staring at her with a strange look in his eyes.

Chen Baocai asked Xiao Xiumei to bring him the wine, and poured himself a small cup.

"Then Wu, the educated youth, also went to the brigade and said he wanted to move out of the educated youth compound."

Chen Baocai took a sip of wine. "She even specifically asked to stay at Widow Wang's house. Widow Wang was overjoyed."

Chen Baocai picked up another egg with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed it for a long time, swallowed it, and then said, "Who knew, just now Widow Wang went to the old village chief's house, crying and making a scene. She said that our educated youth Bai gave us eight yuan, so educated youth Wu should at least give us five yuan. But it turns out she didn't give Wu any. Sigh, what do you think about this..."

Chen Baochai shook his head for a while, but everyone kept their eyes down, eating their rice and no one responded to him. Chen Baochai didn't mind, took another sip of wine, ate some eggs with his chopsticks, and then said, "He's comparing this to our family? How can you compare? He doesn't even look at his family's feng shui..."

"Stop spreading feudal superstitions. I can't shut you up while you're eating." Ma Yuying tapped the rim of her bowl with her chopsticks. She then glared at Chen Baocai.

Chen Baocai chuckled sheepishly, then patted his mouth with his good-natured hand, "Hey, I'm just talking nonsense, I'm just talking nonsense, guess what happened in the end."

Rarely did anyone take his word for it, Chen Baocai said to Ma Yuying with great enthusiasm, "That silly boy Chen Xichun dragged his mother back home. Hey, why don't you listen to me? Not only did he drag his mother back home, but he also told the old village chief and many other people that he and Wu Zhiqing were going to get their marriage certificate and get married in just half a day."

"Do you think this kid's a fool? That educated youth from the city, she actually fell for a good-for-nothing like him. His family's so poor you could turn their pockets upside down. Last time, he was completely fooled, almost married to her..."

Chen Baochai seemed to remember that the person involved was sitting right there, and quickly stopped talking. He then recalled what he had said when he left home.

"If you ask me, Bai Zhiqing, you should take the money back and spend it on yourself. You could buy something nice, and we'd all eat and drink well with you. If you gave it to the village, those people would remember your kindness."

Ma Yuying slammed her chopsticks on the table. "You call them stupid? You're the stupid one! You just can't understand anything I'm saying. If that child had that money now, do you think he'd still be staying in our house? He'd be robbed long ago. Forget eight yuan, you wouldn't even see eight cents. When we were poor, we all got through the hardship together; now that we have money, all we think about is who gets more and who gets less. These people in the village, they'd never let you get away with it. Even without them, these educated youths alone wouldn't let it go."

"What can they do? Do they dare to rob me?" Chen Baocai retorted defiantly. "Let them try robbing me. I'm a poor peasant. I'm not afraid of them."

"Then you'll see, this is definitely not over yet." After saying this, Ma Yuying gave Xu Keke a special look.

Xu Keke knew that she was reminding herself.

However, Xu Keke didn't need this reminder. She fell ill the very next day. The reason she felt so unwell the day before was because there was something wrong with her body.

While Xu Keke was lying in bed, the investigation team sent by the commune arrived. It was said that someone had reported to the commune that the brigade was biased towards certain educated youth, suppressing, mentally abusing, and mob-like inflicting violence on the others.

Needless to say, the person who reported this was Gao Zhe and his group.

Before the Lunar New Year, there were nationwide reports of abuse and violence against educated youth in some areas. The relevant officials were sentenced. Therefore, the commune took this report very seriously and sent an investigation team. They visited villagers and even made a special trip to Ma Yuying's home to see Xu Keke.