He is now one of those who have been demoted. Until the mission is completed, it is impossible for him to contact Gu Zuozuo. There are many people watching her, the only living member of the Gu family on the surface. If his relationship with Gu Zuozuo is discovered, the people watching him will probably target her as well. After causing trouble for her, he will probably be skinned alive by Professor Gu.

"Oh dear~ Has the team leader been smoking too much and blown his brain out like a smoke ring? Why did he bring back so many educated youths? Look at their weak bodies, what can they do?"

However, one or two of the educated youths were quite good-looking, with fair and delicate skin. Do city people eat white rice eight meals a day? How come they are all so fair-skinned?

"What nonsense are you spouting! Be careful the captain hears you and tells your man to do something."

No sooner had the words been spoken than the captain's powerful voice rang out.

"Ma Tian! Come here and take these educated youths to the educated youth settlement!"

The man named Ma Tian glared at the gossipy woman beside him who was cowering and grinning, then reluctantly got up and led the group toward the educated youth settlement. His back looked so resentful it was practically billowing black smoke.

No one in the village liked to associate with the educated youth. Except for those young men and women who were not thinking straight, everyone else wanted to stay far away to avoid getting into trouble. Today was just his bad luck, because the brigade leader had to call him up!

After watching the excitement, Gu Zuozuo and the other two took Ma Liang home. Grandma Ma was picking beans in the yard. Her white hair was neatly combed, and she was wearing a dark blue jacket and black trousers with bound feet.

Hearing the noise, the old lady looked up and vaguely saw several familiar figures reflected in her squinting eyes.

"Zuo girl, what brings you here? Oh dear, what happened to Liangzai?"

The old lady hurriedly put down the winnowing basket in her hand, tiptoed over to greet her, her face showing some panic, and her hands, covered with wrinkles and age spots, began to tremble.

Gu Zuozuo lifted Ma Liang off Meng Tian and placed him on a chair by the door, still talking about the scene when she saw Ma Liang, pretending not to see Ma Liang, who was trying to wink at her.

The old lady, her eyes red, was furious upon hearing this. She slapped him hard, cursing and crying as she did so.

"You brat! How many times have I told you not to go into the pine forest? There are too many traps there. One wrong move and you'll fall in and be dead! And you still went..."

Ma Liang didn't dare to utter a sound when he was beaten; he just lowered his head and silently endured it. He was wrong; he shouldn't have acted rashly and entered the pine forest after listening to a few provocative words from others.

Gu Zuozuo handed the medicine to Grandma Ma and explained how to take it, and Grandma Ma nodded repeatedly.

Carrying the two pieces of tofu given to them by Grandma Ma, the three of them carried firewood back to the educated youth settlement. Before they even entered the house, they could hear a commotion inside.

"Why do you male educated youth occupy three rooms, while we female educated youth only have two, one of whom is a child, so only three of us can live together!"

A shrill female voice came from behind the courtyard wall, causing Gu Zuozuo to frown slightly. It seemed that trouble was about to break out among the female educated youth.

Sure enough, before they even had lunch, the new educated youth arrived and, barely warmed up, started arguing with the older educated youth. Neither side would give in, and they glared at each other like black chicken eyes.

The three of them stood quietly at the door, watching the battle between the new and old educated youth, marveling at it.

Ye Hua sneered, looking at the two men and three women opposite him with extremely unfriendly eyes. Gu Zuozuo was too strong and had a sharp tongue, so he couldn't out-argue or beat her. But these three women were a different story. Judging from their decent clothes, they were spoiled at home, so he could be more casual with them.

"If you don't like it because it's small, then don't live here. If you have the money, you can move out. Nobody's begging you to stay, so what's with the fuss?"