Perhaps it's because she's been spoiled too much at home, so her level of willfulness is a little... excessive?

Su Qiaoqiao is an only child, the only girl among her generation, and the youngest child.

She can be described as being showered with love and affection.

Normally, there's no way she would be chosen to go to the countryside.

But by a twist of fate, something happened to her family.

Grandpa fell from power, Dad was imprisoned, and the little princess had to go to the countryside.

Zhong Misu felt that this might be the test of this life. He would accept his lover, good or bad, completely.

Seeing that he seemed lost in thought, Su Qiaoqiao asked, "Comrade Zhong, what about you? What does your family do?"

Zhong Misu answered frankly, "I am an orphan."

Being an orphan is the best cover for one's identity.

Naked and unattached, with nowhere to be found.

He had the same identity in his previous five lives.

Su Qiaoqiao looked at Zhong Misu with a hint of heartache in her eyes: "It's alright, Comrade Zhong! The educated youth are one big family! From now on, we're all one family!"

Zhong Misu looked at her and smiled gently.

During the three days and three nights on the train, they sat facing each other and chatted, but they only became close friends who could talk about anything.

until……

Because Ding Daguo was arrested, the new captain has not yet been appointed.

Acting brigade leader Ding Liming was preoccupied with the upcoming harvest in his Qingshan Second Team and had a lot of things to do, so he completely forgot about the new educated youth who arrived on the 25th.

Besides Zhong Misu and Su Qiaoqiao, there were two other new educated youth.

Two men and two women met up and found themselves stranded at the Tieshi Railway Station.

The male educated youth named Feng Hui was tall and strong, and came from Beijing.

The female educated youth named Li Wenjuan came from a province in central China. She spoke softly and was very pretty.

The two had obviously been sitting together on the train and were quite familiar with each other.

After waiting for thirty minutes, the two looked at their luggage, and Zhong Misu led Su Qiaoqiao to ask a staff member in uniform for information.

The man was an old man. He took the notices for the group to go to the countryside and squinted at them for a long time: "No one is going to pick you up? How is that possible?"

They both nodded.

The old man thought for a moment and said, "You all wait here! Don't wander off! The people who are supposed to pick you up haven't arrived yet! Dingjiatun is quite far. If they come by oxcart, you'll have to wait until at least noon! If you don't want to leave the animals behind and walk, you might have to wait all day!"

The two returned to the luggage area and relayed the old man's words to the other two.

Well then—we can only wait.

So the four of them waited foolishly at the train station for a whole day.

When they were hungry, they would eat some dry food; when they were thirsty, they would drink cold water from the tap.

Fortunately, it was summer, so apart from being a bit sunny, it wasn't too unbearable.

The four of them waited until dark, when the old man who had told them not to wander around went home.

At this moment, ignoring Zhong Misu's attempts to stop her, Su Qiaoqiao rushed into the duty room and questioned the night shift staff who were tidying up their belongings: "Why hasn't the person who was supposed to pick us up arrived yet? Is this how you treat educated youth sent to the countryside?"

The staff member was a plump woman in her forties. She was already full of anger from working the night shift all year round, and seeing this aggressive young girl only made her angrier: "Go find the educated youth office if you're an educated youth, what business is it of yours to talk to us?!"

Su Qiaoqiao put her hands on her hips and said, "It was one of your old men who made us wait here! You have to take responsibility!"

The plump woman held out her hand: "Identity!"

Several people handed over their notices to be sent to the countryside.

The plump woman glanced at them and gave a disdainful smile: "I've seen plenty of people like you! You're just staying at the train station to avoid being sent to the countryside, aren't you? Are you trying to hide from the people who are supposed to pick you up, and then lie and say you weren't picked up after they've left? You think you can avoid going to the countryside like that?!"

Su Qiaoqiao angrily shouted, "You're talking nonsense!"

The plump woman wasn't going to tolerate her; she slapped her hard across the face: "You little brat, you dare to curse!"

"Wah!" This was the first time Su Qiaoqiao had ever been hit in her life, and she immediately burst into tears.

Seeing Su Qiaoqiao being beaten, Zhong Misu instantly lost her temper, rushed over and shoved her older sister to the ground: "Why are you hitting people?!"

"The little brat launched a sneak attack?"

The chubby woman wasn't one to be trifled with either; she immediately rolled on the spot, knocking Zhong Misu down with her.

But she was no match for Zhong Misu's strength and was quickly pinned to the ground.

The eldest sister quickly stretched out her mouth to reach the whistle on her chest, puffed out her cheeks, and blew it.

Three beeps, "beep-beep-beep".

Short and long, very rhythmic.

Suddenly, seven or eight people in bright blue railway uniforms appeared out of nowhere and ran toward them from a distance.

Feng Hui grabbed Zhong Misu and picked up their bundles at the same time: "Run!"

Li Wenjuan, who was behind her, also picked up her and Su Qiaoqiao's bags and rushed towards the exit.

Zhong Misu got up, first picking up the four rural assignment notices that the fat woman had thrown on the ground, then grabbing Su Qiaoqiao, who was still crying with her mouth open: "Run!"

Su Qiaoqiao realized what was happening and immediately ran towards the exit.

The four rushed out and ran for several hundred meters. Seeing that no one was chasing them, they put their luggage on the ground and sat on it to catch their breath.

Su Qiaoqiao started crying again, her face flushed: "I've never been hit by anyone before, not even when I was little..."

Zhong Misu sighed, "Stop crying, let's quickly ask where the state-run hotel is, we need a place to stay tonight!"

Li Wenjuan said breathlessly, "Let's stay here tonight and go to the Tieshi Educated Youth Office tomorrow morning to ask why no one is answering our calls!"

Feng Hui was breathing the hardest: "This is truly... an inauspicious start!"

The four asked for directions and headed towards the state-run hotel in a grand procession.

Because they didn't have a letter of introduction, the receptionist at the state-run hotel held their notices for going to the countryside in her hand and looked at them over and over for a full three minutes. While looking at them, she also glanced at the four of them, and her gaze lingered on Su Qiaoqiao's face for a longer time than on the others.

It was only after Zhong Misu shoved a ten-yuan note into her hand that she reluctantly took down the huge key tray on the wall: "There are only two rooms left in the back!"

The four of them followed with their luggage and discovered that this "over there" was more than ten meters away from the hotel's two-story building. It was a strange detached building, also two stories high.

It was pitch black.

The receptionist pulled the light cord in the hallway, but the light didn't turn on.

She turned on her flashlight and cursed, "Damn it, the power's out again?"

After saying that, he looked at the group and asked, "No electricity, do you want to stay here?"

The group quickly said, "Stop!"

Unable to find any other relatives or friends in this deserted city, where could they possibly spend the night?

The receptionist continued walking forward and went up to the second floor.

It turns out that the "remaining two rooms" were located at the end of a long corridor, separated from all the other rooms.

In the middle of summer, this place was strangely gloomy.

The people behind the eldest sister felt a chill run down their spines.