After leaving the brigade office, Ruan Xianxian swayed back to the educated youth settlement, where people were still waiting for her to harvest.

"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous! She keeps calling me 'Mom' all the time. Who does she think she is?"

Watching Ruan Xianxian walk away without looking back, the old village chief was so angry that he was panting heavily. He glared at the brigade leader, who was puffing on his pipe and watching the show with a smug look on his face.

The latter remained unmoved, exhaling thick smoke, "You! Instead of wasting your time, why don't you go check on Pei Lanhua at the sanitation station?"

Xiang Hongjun could see clearly that Ruan Xianxian was no longer the educated youth who didn't dare to ask for leave when she first arrived and only dared to act first and report later. This child's good fortune was yet to come!

Educated youth settlement—!

The atmosphere was oppressive; the once bustling educated youth settlement after work was deathly silent, with suppressed sobs occasionally emanating from the girls' dormitory.

Thinking he had escaped a calamity, Ye Guo got up to find a drink of water. Just as he brought the chipped teacup to his lips, he heard a demonic call.

"You thieves, come out here! It's time to settle accounts!"

Ye Guo's hand trembled, and the teacup crashed to the ground, cracking open in the already damaged teacup.

Even if he was unwilling, he knew that what was coming couldn't be avoided. He pushed open the door with a gloomy face, followed by the Jiang brothers, who were also gloomy.

The door to the girls' dormitory opened, and Liu Xiatian, biting her lip and with her eyes swollen from crying, saw Ruan Xianxian sitting on a long bench in the courtyard with her legs crossed and a half-smile on her face. She immediately started to complain.

“Ruan Zhiqing! I saw Wenrou hiding money as soon as you left.”

Ruan Xianxian clicked her tongue and looked Wenrou up and down with her beautiful eyes, her expression slightly changing. "Then find the money she hid, and the debt will be deducted by five cents."

"Really?" Liu Xiatian was overjoyed and turned around to undo Wenrou's belt.

Five cents is a lot! In Ping'an County, one work point is generally worth two cents. A strong laborer can earn ten work points a day, which is equivalent to earning two mao (0.2 yuan).

Work points in Pingtou Brigade are worth more; one work point is equal to three cents. The five cents that Ruan Xianxian deducted from her account were worth her a whole morning of hard work in the fields. How could she not be happy?

"What are you doing? Let me go!" A gentle yet sharp shout came from beside her as Liu Xiatian dragged her into the room and pulled down her pants.

Wenrou's approach is somewhat of a fake innocent type; she always tries to trick the strong men in the village into working for her for free. She's not as physically strong as Liu Xiatian.

In no time at all, the other party found the money that they had deliberately hidden.

The three men opposite him looked gloomy. Why hadn't they thought of separating the money earlier? Otherwise, the villagers wouldn't have taken it all from them.

Compared to boys, girls are more thoughtful. They separated the money and placed it in different locations so that Wenrou could secretly keep some. Unfortunately, Liu Xiatian found it all.

Her eyes were red and her face was full of resentment. When she looked at Liu Xiatian's jubilant back, her eyes were like those of a venomous snake.

Liu Xiatian happily handed over a large ten-yuan note and some loose bills to Ruan Xianxian, who then realized that the money had probably been hidden in Wenrou's crotch...

He gestured to the long bench next to him, indicating that he should put the money on it.

She looked up at the sky; the sun was slowly setting, and the evening glow painted the horizon red. She then looked back at the five people and said...

"In the afternoon, we found 31 + 7 + 98 at your residence, plus the 16 yuan on the stool, totaling 152."

Regardless of who owes more or less, or whether we split the debt equally at 400 each, I've recorded this 152. That means you still owe me 1848.

"I disagree with sharing the debt. Wenrou and Ye Guo are the masterminds, they should take the lion's share," Liu Xiatian shouted.

With nothing left and now completely stripped bare, he gave a gentle, cold laugh: "I'm begging you to participate?"

If it weren't for you guys who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, perhaps nothing would have happened. You blame others for your own wicked intentions.

I also think the three of you who did the dirty work should get the lion's share.

This statement earned Ye Guo's approval, but the disapproval of the Jiang brothers.

The five of them looked ready to start a fight at the slightest provocation.

Ruan Xianxian, who was watching the show from the sidelines, fiddled with her nails. Look, with just a little guidance, the bad guys started fighting amongst themselves again!

"Alright! You can discuss how to allocate the accounts yourselves when you get back."

152 is too little. I need to scrape together at least 200 yuan by tonight, no matter what it takes. If I can't, I'll call the police.

"Ruan Xianxian! Don't go too far!" Jiang Wenming's eyes blazed with anger. If he weren't outmatched, he would have loved to tear the woman's mouth apart.

Is this going too far?

In her past life, they withheld her food, and when it ran out quickly, they forced her to sell her belongings at a low price.

Even though the Ruan family wished she were dead and far away, she still had some pride, so she brought a few nice things with her when she went to the countryside: clothes, a lunchbox, a thermos...

These things hadn't been used for three months, so they were forced to sell them cheaply to educated youth in exchange for grain. Even after receiving the grain, they continued to embezzle it.

Recalling her past life, a coldness crept into Ruan Xianxian's eyes.

"Even if you don't have money, you can still have food; even if you don't have money, you can still have some belongings, right? Go to the village and trade with people. No matter what method you use, get me 200 yuan after dinner. You won't be able to wait until then."

After saying that, Ruan Xianxian returned to her room in the backyard and began to think about what to eat that night.

I've been rummaging through my things online. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll make a pot of Northeastern stew. Just thinking about the glass noodles soaked in broth, and then there's that lamb offal from my online space, paired with a couple of ounces of liquor...

Sha sha...

Ruan Xianxian, whose mouth was practically watering, suddenly remembered that seasonal vegetables like eggplants, green beans, and tomatoes weren't ripe yet.

She hadn't gone into the city, nor could she conjure up a pot of pork ribs out of thin air. She was struggling with this decision when a knocking sound came from outside the door.

Upon hearing the noise, Ruan Xianxian realized that her goose had returned. Ruan Xianxian opened the door, and the goose, with a large grass carp in its mouth, waddled in.

Without even glancing at Ruan Xianxian, he flapped his wings and flew onto the shelf, placing the grass carp in a basin on the shelf.

"Gah!"

It's so annoying to have to feed this two-legged creature that can't hunt every day!

Ruan Xianxian took the basin in one hand and hugged the goose in the other, kissing the goose's smooth, black head.

"I'm going to get some soybean sprouts; we'll have boiled fish fillets for dinner."

The goose nestled in her arms and tugged at her with its tiny pink beak, "Quack!"

I don't want to eat fish, but I want to eat some delicious little meatballs.

Ruan Xianxian understood and took out a few cornmeal and vegetable dumplings made with spiritual spring water from her waist pouch. "Eat up!"

The black goose was very happy. It spread its wings and cawed a few times at the two-legged creature it kept. It lowered its head and ate a small meatball one after another. Ruan Xianxian watched it finish eating with a smile, then carried the bowl into the kitchen.

Mu Xia was cooking in the kitchen. Her dinner consisted of tender wild vegetables she had picked from the mountain that day. She simply blanched them in water, added seasonings, and stirred them together.

Ruan Xianxian watched helplessly as Mu Xia, standing by the stove, took a bite with her chopsticks, revealing a mask of pain. Mu Xia turned around, her smile more painful than tears.

"Xianxian! Baby! Don't cook, I'll treat you to dinner tonight."

Should I offer her grass? Ruan Xianxian was so frightened that she turned and ran away. This guy definitely has bad intentions!

She ran to Aunt Zhong's house next door to exchange soybean sprouts. She knocked on the door with a smile on her face, but the person who opened the door was Feng Bai, who was several times colder than when they had met before.

"What's up?"