Chapter 24 024 is useless at everything

After locking the wooden box and placing the kang table on it, Qin Xiaoxiao looked up and realized that they were almost at the roof. Fortunately, the house was tall enough, otherwise the kang table wouldn't have been able to fit.

The older educated youths have gone out to work and haven't returned yet, and the new educated youths have all gone to the county town to buy what they need, leaving her alone in the educated youth compound.

Qin Xiaoxiao walked around the yard twice to stretch her body, and then the workday bell rang.

Qin Xiaoxiao didn't want to have much contact with the old educated youth, so she turned around and went back into the house.

A short while later, a commotion was heard outside; it must be the old educated youth returning.

Qin Xiaoxiao opened the doors and windows and listened to the noise outside. In less than half a minute, she heard angry curses coming from the front yard.

"These lazybones! They didn't even mention cooking before they left. They said they'd cook today, but they didn't. What are we going to eat for lunch?"

"Exactly. You promised to cook, so if you didn't want to, you should have said so earlier. But look what happened, after a long day, I can't even get a hot meal."

“Brother Jiang, you have to have a good talk with them when they get back. This is no way to do things.”

"Alright, alright, if they don't do it, we'll do it ourselves. They just arrived and are lacking a lot of things. They're going to the county town and won't be back for a while, which is understandable. It's also my fault for not thinking things through."

"No way, this has nothing to do with Brother Jiang. It's because they didn't prepare the food in advance. Why did so many people have to go shopping together? Are they all so rich? Couldn't they leave one person to cook? Or did they just not want to cook?"

...

Qin Xiaoxiao heard two more reprimands, probably from Jiang Xiaotian scolding the old educated youth. After that, there was no more noise. A little while later, smoke started coming out of the chimney in the front yard. It was obvious that the old educated youth had started cooking for themselves.

After closing the door and leaving only one window open for ventilation, Qin Xiaoxiao opened the blanket and fell asleep peacefully.

As soon as the afternoon work bell rang, Qin Xiaoxiao woke up. She was still a little dazed after waking up, and when she came to her senses, she heard someone knocking on the back door.

Qin Xiaoxiao quickly got out of bed and put on her shoes, asking as she walked outside, "Who is it?"

"Xiaoxiao, open the door, it's me."

Upon hearing Qin Ye's voice, Qin Xiaoxiao opened the door, only to find Qin Ye standing outside with a speechless expression.

Qin Xiaoxiao blinked. "What's wrong, brother?"

Qin Ye handed the straw mat and straw sandals to Qin Xiaoxiao, saying, "Grandma asked me to give these to you. I'm going to work now. If you don't know how to do it yourself, I'll come and set it up for you tonight."

Qin Xiaoxiao quickly waved her hand, "No need, I can handle this little thing."

Qin Ye looked doubtful. "Really?"

However, he had to carry the two-pound straw mat himself. Could she really hang it up?

Qin Xiaoxiao thought about the height of the roof and hesitated.

In Qin Ye's eyes, her hesitation meant she was incapable.

Qin Ye reluctantly snatched the straw mat and stepped into the yard. "Put it aside, don't bother. I'll come over after work tonight, hang it up for you, and then we can go home for dinner together."

Qin Xiaoxiao was unaware that from that moment on, a deep impression was etched into Qin Ye's mind: "My sister is delicate and frail and can't do anything." This impression was quickly covered by molten lead and then poured with molten steel, firmly imprinting itself in Qin Ye's heart.

From that day on, Qin Xiaoxiao never did any work in front of Qin Ye. Whenever she tried to do something, Qin Ye would take it from her. Moreover, whenever she made a move, Qin Ye would look at her with an expression that said, "You're so weak," which made Qin Xiaoxiao want to punch him.

With someone helping her, Qin Xiaoxiao was happy to have an easier time. After Qin Ye left, she locked the door and went into her spatial dimension.

After rummaging through the space, Qin Xiaoxiao finally found three ordinary-looking watches that were close to the style of this era. She planned to give them to Qin Ye, Qin Wei, and Qin Ming. Her third cousin, Qin Sheng, was not at home, so she would give them to him when he returned.

Then Qin Xiaoxiao took out a bag of braised peanuts, intending to take them to the Qin family that evening to add to the meal, as a reward for Qin Ye.

With nothing to do in the afternoon, Qin Xiaoxiao took out a wood-chopping knife and a basket from her spatial storage, preparing to go up the mountain to take a look and dig up some wild vegetables. She wouldn't eat them herself, but she could send them to the Qin family, dry them, and store them away for another dish in the winter.

In May, there were still many wild vegetables in the mountains. Qin Xiaoxiao stopped halfway up the mountain. She picked some wild vegetables along the way, but the amount was too small and she didn't even want to send them to the Qin family. She decided to save them to cook porridge in the morning.

After strolling on the mountain until 3:30 in the afternoon, Qin Xiaoxiao came down the mountain, washed up, and went to the Qin family home.

Dinner at the Qin family's house is ready. Today, Grandma Qin is in charge of cooking, and she even boiled two eggs for Qin Xiaoxiao.

Soon the workday ended, and shortly after, the Qin family man and Ma Dahua returned.

Seeing that Qin Xiaoxiao had prepared some braised peanuts on the table, Qin Feng and Qin Aiguo even had a couple of drinks.

After dinner, Qin Feng called Qin Xiaoxiao over.

"The food for the new educated youth has been distributed. Yours is at home. Take some rice back with you in a bit, and also get some flour. If you don't want to come over in the morning, you can eat at the educated youth station."

Qin Xiaoxiao smiled and replied, "I was going to bring this up, but the old man brought it up first. It's too early to start work, and it's too tiring to travel back and forth. It's more convenient to eat at the educated youth settlement in the morning, and I'll come over for lunch and dinner."

Qin Feng nodded. "Okay, then that's settled. Have your brother take you home."

Qin Xiaoxiao wanted to say no, it was only a five or six-minute walk, but seeing Qin Feng's insistence, she had no choice but to agree.

After taking Qin Xiaoxiao to the educated youth settlement, he helped her hang up the straw mat, told her to lock the door at night, and then went home.

After everyone left, Qin Xiaoxiao lay on the thick quilt, feeling a bit cold beneath her. She thought to herself that she should heat the kang (a heated brick bed) tomorrow morning to warm it up, so that it wouldn't be too cold at night and she wouldn't get sick if it stayed too long.

With her mind preoccupied, Qin Xiaoxiao slowly drifted off to sleep and woke up promptly at five in the morning.

After changing her clothes and getting off the kang (heated brick bed), she folded the quilt, went out to wash up, tidied herself up, lit a fire to heat the kang, and boiled a pot of water to fill a thermos. She let the remaining water cool down and then put it in her military water bottle. There was no time for her to come back for water while she was out in the field; it would be a waste of time.

As the first bell rang, Qin Xiaoxiao was almost ready. She found a straw hat in her spatial storage, and prepared sleeves and gloves. She was just waiting to have breakfast before starting work.

Breakfast was rice porridge, not the kind the team gave to the new educated youth, but the Qin family's own. They gave Qin Xiaoxiao ten jin (5 kg) specifically for her to use when cooking breakfast.

I washed and shredded the wild vegetables I picked yesterday and put them into the porridge. I added sesame oil, some chopped green onions and cilantro, and sprinkled some seaweed on top when the porridge was ready. The delicious wild vegetable porridge was done.

She then took out two vegetarian steamed buns from her spatial storage. The porridge and steamed buns were enough for her.

When the bell rang for the second time, Qin Xiaoxiao had finished making breakfast. After enjoying her breakfast, she had half a pot of porridge left. She put the rest of the porridge into her space so she wouldn't have to make it again the next morning. She could just take two vegetarian buns or heat up a few red bean buns.

(End of this chapter)