When the meal was almost ready, Zhao Hu ran next door and called Zhou Yue and Gu An'an over.

"They have such a good relationship."

Hearing the noisy sounds coming from the backyard, Zhang Zhaodi couldn't help but feel envious.

"What's the use of being envious? If you're so capable, join them. If not, just shut up."

Since Zhao Hu and Chen Jianguo left the group, they have become a disorganized bunch, with different troubles every day and their own little schemes.

The empty stomach that was giving Li Yumei a hard time made her extremely irritable. She could only fill her stomach with food every day. Without food in her belly, she had even less energy to work and earned even fewer work points.

If this continues, it will definitely be a vicious cycle.

"Or do you look down on us and don't want to be with us?"

If you're unhappy, you should make others unhappy too; that's Li Yumei's principle in life.

"No, I wouldn't dare."

Zhang Zhaodi wanted to fit in with that group of people, but she knew even better that she wasn't liked by them.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I dare not. Zhang Zhaodi, you're something else!"

Li Yumei's words prompted the others to turn their angry gazes toward Zhang Zhaodi.

"Zhang Zhaodi, what do you mean? If you look down on us, then you should leave the group and build your own stove and cook for yourself."

"Exactly, you're the kind of person who eats from a bowl and then curses the cook. Only you would do something like that."

Zhang Zhaodi never expected that even though she had been careful enough, Li Yumei, that wretched woman, still managed to find something to say about her, and she felt a surge of resentment.

"No, I didn't."

The group berated Zhang Zhaodi for a while before stopping. Despite clearly bullying her, they acted as if it were a favor, saying, "We'll forgive you this time, but we won't tolerate it next time. Alright, hurry up and cook! We haven't had enough to eat for days, so we can't let this happen again today."

"If she dares to embezzle food again, I'll teach her a lesson."

Zhang Zhaodi looked at the grain she had hidden in the woodpile, thought for a moment, and then took it out.

While eating, Li Yumei smiled with satisfaction as she looked at the bowl, which contained a few more grains of rice than usual.

Trying to steal her food? Don't you even know if you're qualified?

But when the cheerful laughter came from the backyard, Li Yumei's face darkened again.

Of course, this little disturbance in the front yard wouldn't reach the back yard, especially not Xiao Yuheng, since he was already infatuated with the praise.

"Gu Zhiqing, have you improved the dishes you made tonight?"

Xiao Yuheng held back all night, but he couldn't help but ask the question before Gu An'an entered the hospital.

Gu An'an: ...It's only been one day, how could it possibly make such rapid progress?

Turning her head, she saw Xiao Yuheng's expectant little eyes, and the words she was about to say suddenly changed.

"Of course, there's been a lot of progress." That's just suspicious.

Xiao Yuheng only heard the first part and was so happy that he practically took off, saying, "I'll make it again tomorrow."

"Aheng, how is it? Has Gu Zhiqing accepted you?"

As soon as Xiao Yuheng arrived home, Wang Dashan jumped out, sniffing out the same old questions as always.

Xiao Yuheng deftly dodged Wang Dashan's attempt to put his arm around her shoulder, and didn't want to share his experiences with An'an with his cousin.

"Does your sister-in-law know how gossipy you are?"

Zhang Cuicui came out of the house carrying a basin of water for washing feet. She splashed the water on the ground and said with a smile, "I asked Dashan to ask."

Xiao Yuheng: ...This family is unbearable.

Before dawn, Xiao Yuheng ran around Xiaowang Village several times. Every time he passed a small courtyard, his eyes would keep looking inside, hoping that Gu An'an's figure would appear at the door.

It wasn't until the fourth lap that Gu An'an took a basin and washed her face in the yard.

"Good morning, Gu Zhiqing."

Gu An'an was brushing her teeth, with white foam still around her mouth, when she saw someone wearing a training vest, his fingers running through his wet hair.

Well, how should I put it?

It's just a surge of hormones.

"Good morning, Comrade Xiao is truly self-disciplined."

That's self-discipline, isn't it? Those arms, those legs, and those eight-pack abs that you can imagine even when they're hidden under his clothes. Gu An'an suddenly swallowed.

Honestly, Gu An'an regretted that this wasn't the apocalypse; otherwise, encountering such an exceptional person would have given her a carefree experience.

But it's not possible now, which is a real shame.

"I'm used to it. See you later."

As the villagers began to get up one after another, Xiao Yuheng decided not to continue his morning run, because the gazes of some of the older women were just too blatant.

He wanted to be seen by Gu An'an, not to be a monkey being watched.

"Hey hey hey~ People's already gone, why are you still looking?"

As Zhou Yue was leaving, she saw Xiao Yuheng's disappearing figure and Gu An'an looking over there, and couldn't help but tease her.

"When Zhao Zhiqing helped you block that fire last night, I don't know who was watching him for a full three minutes."

Gu An'an's jokes aren't exactly funny.

Zhou Yue's pale face immediately flushed red. "I, I didn't stare at him for three minutes, at most, at most two minutes."

That guilty little look of his is just so funny.

"Fine, two minutes it is. In the end, we were the third wheel. Next time something like this happens, I will definitely sneak away and make sure you stare at each other for a full three minutes."

Zhou Yue was so embarrassed by Gu An'an's words that she wanted to disappear into the ground.

"No, Zhao Zhiqing and I are completely innocent. An'an, you can't say such things."

Gu An'an didn't continue speaking, and took her toiletries into the house. Anyone can hurt each other.

While I was at work, the village chief's wife suddenly ran over excitedly and asked, "An'an, Auntie has something to ask you."

Gu An'an stopped what she was doing. "Auntie, you can just ask me anything. You don't have to be so formal."

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