Shen Heng always keeps his word, especially when it comes to his promises to Bai Jiaojiao.

That night, Bai Jiaojiao hugged Shen Heng's arm and rubbed against him like a kitten, making Shen Heng's teeth itch with desire.

He pinched Bai Jiaojiao's little face: "Are you deliberately teasing me?"

Bai Jiaojiao chuckled, leaned forward, pushed Shen Heng's arm away, and lay down. Shen Heng took the opportunity to put his arm around Bai Jiaojiao's waist: "Alright, alright, just torture me. You'll regret it if you suffocate me."

Shen Heng's expression was a mixture of helplessness and indulgence. He promised Bai Jiaojiao he wouldn't do that kind of thing, but he didn't promise not to take advantage of her in other ways. His hand, which was originally around her waist, moved down along Bai Jiaojiao's curves.

Bai Jiaojiao stretched out her leg and put it on Shen Heng: "Let's go to sleep, Heng-ge."

Shen Heng felt that being entangled by Bai Jiaojiao like a snake wasn't so bad. He pinched Bai Jiaojiao's soft flesh and closed his eyes.

The days spent at home in winter passed quickly, and once the Lantern Festival was over, the brigade notified everyone to go back to work.

At this time of year, your fingers are still freezing when you stick them out, but the work in the fields is already waiting.

The land that was planted with wheat last year will be rotated to grow something else this year. The two main vegetables in Shili Village are radishes and cabbage. Now, taking advantage of the cold weather, we're planting more radishes. This crop will basically supply the crops until the other vegetables are harvested in July.

Besides radishes, the most important thing is the kelp farming in Hushan Commune. The seawater is now icy cold, but it is at this time of year that people are needed to propagate kelp seedlings.

The kelp farming site is located in the neighboring Xiangyang Village, but because it is a farming site of the commune, people from all three villages of Hushan Commune have to go there. There is not much work to do normally, and there are fixed groups in charge, but extra people have to be assigned to plant and harvest.

Generally, only able-bodied men are allowed to go; young people really can't handle this kind of hardship. But each village at the same time needs strong laborers to cultivate and feed the land now, and each year, the three villages have their own ulterior motives regarding this quota.

Thirty people were needed from Shili Village, and Li Shiqing and Zheng Xu made the arrangements together.

“Let my second and third children go over there; my family definitely has to set an example.”

In the dead of winter, nobody wants to go into the water. If you accidentally fall into the sea, it's not a pleasant experience in such cold weather. Nobody wants to go, so Li Shiqing, the village chief, must set an example.

Zheng Xu objected: "If the two of them go to work in the village, won't we lose two good laborers? We should just find a few men in their forties or fifties to go, like before."

"We've been trying to find people to go, but they're all unwilling."

Previously, Li Lide didn't care about the consequences; other villages did the same thing, and their village didn't want to suffer any losses.

But Li Shiqing saw all of this and said he didn't want to do it anymore.

Zheng Xu frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "Then let's send a few more kids over. They're young and energetic, and they're not afraid of the cold."

In Shili Village, there are many young people aged fourteen or fifteen who don't go to school, but they can't keep up with the able-bodied laborers in terms of work.

Li Shiqing said, "How about we draw lots? Let everyone in our village between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five come and draw lots, and we'll draw lots too."

That's fair.

Zheng Xu had been working with Li Shiqing for several months and had long felt that this man was very different from Li Lide. He had good intentions, but he was too idealistic, which made things worse.

However, Zheng Xu didn't want to interrupt Li Shiqing's enthusiasm. After all, he could tolerate Li Lide, and Li Shiqing was at least acting out of good intentions. So he said, "Then I'll listen to you. But we have to allow for special circumstances, like your daughter-in-law, or the two of us. If we were caught and sent to Xiangyang Village for half a month, wouldn't the village be in chaos?"

Li Shiqing considered it for a moment and said, "If you really can't go, how about having a family member go in your place?"

"How about this, let each household send a representative to draw lots. Whoever draws the lot only needs to send one person from their family. Otherwise, having the whole village draw lots together is too troublesome."

Zheng Xu was experienced, and Li Shiqing immediately adopted his advice.

However, this also has a drawback: some families are large, with three generations living together, and about ten people, while others are small. But it's impossible to be absolutely fair in this kind of situation.

Shen Heng drew a lot with the word "Go" written on it and laughed in exasperation.

He had barely made it through half a month when he had to go out for another half month.

Bai Jiaojiao noticed that Shen Heng's expression was abnormal when he returned: "You didn't catch him and he's going to Xiangyang Village, did you?"

"Ah," Shen Heng threw the slip of paper he had been clutching onto the kang (a heated brick bed), "This is really terrible! Who came up with this ridiculous method, drawing lots instead?"

Bai Jiaojiao knew what he was angry about.

"It's alright, I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy you a pair of rubber shoes. Wear two layers of thermal underwear and socks inside the shoes, so you don't get cold."

Seeing that Bai Jiaojiao was pretending not to understand, Shen Heng could only helplessly flick her nose: "You really dote on your brother Heng."

"Of course."

"I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative myself in a bit. You stay inside; it's cold outside."

Although the coldest time of the year has passed, the northwest wind still blows relentlessly, sweeping across mountains and valleys every day.

Bai Jiaojiao knitted a pair of woolen socks for Shen Heng overnight using the leftover yarn at home, so he could wear them over his original socks. Otherwise, the icy temperature of the seawater would seep directly through his rubber shoes, and who could stand like that all day?

The next day, Shen Heng carried the small bag that Bai Jiaojiao had prepared for him and left with the temporary team formed by Shili Village.

Bai Jiaojiao's workday now consists of taking a stroll around the pigsty. However, Li Xiulian now lives in the pigsty, and she's always trying to glare at her to death. There's also Yu Wenli, who's gloomy and sinister. Bai Jiaojiao always feels that Yu Wenli's gaze is on her, but when she looks at Yu Wenli, he looks elsewhere.

Now the piglets don't need to nurse anymore. They're all very strong and healthy thanks to Lao Xu's care. As long as there's enough straw, there's no problem. Bai Jiaojiao has been taking a stroll around and leaving these past few days.

Shen Heng had been gone for two days, and Bai Jiaojiao really missed him, so she braised a pot of pork belly, steamed some rice, packed it in an aluminum box, and rode her bicycle towards Xiangyang Village.

The coastline of Xiangyang Village is shallow, making it unsuitable for docking boats, but it is more than enough for growing seaweed. Furthermore, due to the absence of pollution from boats, the sea here is exceptionally clear.

When Bai Jiaojiao arrived, it was lunchtime. The people who came to work were eating communal meals. In those days, even cabbage was a precious commodity. When Bai Jiaojiao arrived, she saw everyone sharing their food, one cornbread and one spoonful of stewed potatoes per person.

Shen Heng's tall figure stood out in the crowd. Bai Jiaojiao took a closer look and exclaimed, "Wow, this guy even managed to get two steamed buns!"

"Heng-ge!" Bai Jiaojiao called out from outside the house. Shen Heng thought he had misheard, but when he looked up and saw Bai Jiaojiao, it was like a dream.

He's been so annoyed these past few days. Sleeping in the dorm with a bunch of grown men, he's practically nauseated by the smell of their feet.