This arrest incident sparked a wave of gossip in Anle Village, with the male educated youth in the educated youth compound being far more frantic than the female educated youth.

Why?

Of course, it was because the two men who committed the crime were staying in the room of the male educated youth, and had much closer contact with him, which made it easier for them to become suspects.

Especially in the last few days, the police came again and conducted a detailed investigation into the words and actions of the three people who lived in the educated youth compound, which made the male educated youth even more anxious.

After several days of deliberation, the educated youth in the educated youth compound made a new rule: from now on, no one other than the educated youth is allowed to live in the compound. If any family member or friend wants to visit, they must find their own accommodation.

Meanwhile, some people in the educated youth compound also blamed An Moxue, complaining that she knew but didn't tell them.

If An Moxue knew, she would just chuckle at them.

Where's your face?

Why is your face so big?! Do I have to tell you this? If I tell you this, will you still arrest the criminals?

Many of the villagers are elderly people who lived through the War of Resistance Against Japan. They are more concerned about not letting their guard down and giving the enemy an opportunity. So they gave the younger generation in a lesson on how they fought against the enemy during the war and how to guard against criminals now, for fear that the children might be careless and soft-hearted and help bad people do bad things.

These past few days, An Moxue has been hearing similar conversations all over the village—

"If a stranger comes to the village and asks you something, how do you answer?"

"Grandpa, I'm still young, of course I'll say I don't know."

"Yes, I don't know. So what should we do?"

"Find an adult in the village and tell them that strangers have come to our village."

"Yes, that's how we'll do it. Make sure you remember that."

Well, the whole village is now an investigator.

As the weather grew colder day by day, An Moxue became too lazy to go out. She would only leave the house if necessary and practiced martial arts in her spatial dimension. Usually, no one would come over, so she would stay in her space, reading, practicing martial arts, and tidying up the space. She would only light a fire under the stove on time.

It's getting cold; the water on the ground has frozen, and the soil is covered with a layer of ice. Fewer people are visiting each other, and even when they do, they prefer to go to warmer homes, making it even more convenient for her to stay in her space.

That day, after finishing her studies at the educated youth compound, she was walking back when she saw a group of people busy with something on the threshing ground. She went over and asked Accountant Chen curiously, "Uncle Chen, what are you doing?"

Instead of answering her question, Accountant Chen chuckled and asked, "Never seen it before? First time seeing it?"

She nodded honestly and replied, "Yes."

"This is a drying ground. It will take several days to prepare. As it gets colder day by day, the drying ground will freeze solid, making it easier to thresh the grain."

An Moxue looked at the field and saw several large animals, each pulling a stone roller, walking back and forth on the field, with people following behind them occasionally filling in the soil and finding the balance.

"Uncle Chen, why don't we go to the threshing ground and thresh the grain right after the autumn harvest? Why wait until now? It's getting cold, and it's not convenient to work!"

Uncle Chen gave her a knowing look and said, "You just don't understand! We could do it back then, but rice and corn were hard to thresh, and many grains would break. Now that it's cold, they've dried a lot and frozen solid. Look at the ground now, we not only have to flatten it, but we also have to pour water on it every morning and then roll it down again. We repeat this for several days, pouring water every morning to let a layer of ice form on it. When it gets even colder and the ice on the field doesn't melt, we can thresh the grain on it, and there won't be any mud or sand on it, making it cleaner. If we thresh the corn and rice immediately after harvesting in the fall, then more or less sand will be mixed into the grain, and it won't be clean."

An Moxue suddenly realized, "Oh, I see. This is the first time I've ever seen this. It's really enlightening. How many days will it take to finish?"

"It should take about five to seven days. If it gets cold quickly, we'll be threshing the grain soon. If it gets cold slowly, we might have to wait a few more days."

"Uncle Chen, how long will it take us to finish all this grain?"

"It won't take more than a few days, maybe eight or ten. We have plenty of food, but we also have a lot of people. If everyone works together, we'll finish in a few days. Adults and children can all do this job. With so many people, we can finish quickly, so it won't take long."

"Oh, I see." I've learned something new. I thought the autumn harvest was the end of it.

"Then why not wait a few days? Wouldn't the ground be frozen even more solid then?"

"Firstly, there were time requirements for delivering grain to the state, and secondly, it was too cold to work. This was just the right time." The wisdom of farmers is evident in all aspects of life and should not be underestimated.

"This is quite interesting. There's wisdom in everything we do here. I need to learn from it."

An Moxue chatted with Accountant Chen while watching everyone drying their food at the threshing ground, finding it quite interesting and watching with great interest. Accountant Chen was also amused by her.

This was the first time he had heard a former educated youth say that farm work was interesting. That's why they say you can see things based on the kind of person you are.

Look, An Zhiqing's awareness is different, and what she sees is different. She sees the wisdom and hard work of the farmers.

Then look at the other educated youth. As soon as they heard that they would have to work in a few days, they would glare and look bitter and resentful. It was unbearable to look at!

She watched for a while and then asked Accountant Chen, "Uncle Chen, can I try it out? Just a few strokes, I want to get a feel for it." She thought it would be quite fun.

Accountant Chen readily agreed: "Okay, go ahead."

Then he waved to Da Kuizi on the field and called out, "Da Kuizi, come down and rest for a while. Let An Zhiqing go up and do it. She wants to learn."

Da Kuizi's simple, honest voice rang out: "Hey, all done." He walked towards An Moxue as he spoke.

Accountant Chen said to An Moxue, "Go ahead."

An Moxue took the shovel from Da Kuizi and followed behind the livestock roller, digging and filling in the gaps every now and then.

Accountant Chen and Da Kuizi watched from the side. Da Kuizi said to Accountant Chen, "These educated youths from the city are really different. They've even found something new and exciting in pressing down a roller. Look, we're doing hard work, but she's treating it like a game and having a great time. She's quite a strange person. We've had enough of this farm work. What's so great about it? It's exhausting."

Accountant Chen smiled but didn't say anything. He thought to himself, "It's only because of An Zhiqing. No one else would act like this. It just depends on the person!"