“I heard from everyone that he’s been sneaking out these past few nights. I’ve run into him once each time. He’s acting all mysterious and I don’t know what he’s doing.”

Several older women said he went out to have an affair, but I don't think so. He was probably secretly studying and didn't want to be seen in the dormitory.

After working on the farm for over a month, Liu Ruo had completely changed. What was stealing someone compared to studying? Zhou Han must have gotten some study materials he didn't want anyone to see, and was secretly studying outside.

It's no wonder Liu Ruo thought that way. Right now, everyone is clueless and can only find old textbooks. Some people have gone through a lot of trouble to find them, and naturally they don't want others to get them for free, so they secretly hide them. Only those who are very close to them can borrow them to copy.

"But he has study materials but doesn't share them with his girlfriend, tsk tsk."

Lu Ronghui didn't believe those scandalous rumors, and she certainly didn't believe Zhou Han would secretly study outside. Thinking of his serious expression as he looked at the bicycle, she remembered that in her past life, Zhou Han seemed to have amassed a large sum of money on the black market and became one of the first to go into business shortly after the reform and opening up.

Zhou Han was sent to the countryside in another place in his previous life, so it's impossible that he would restrain himself after coming to Northeast China.

Given how frequently he's been leaving lately, could it be that he's already gotten involved in the black market business? He truly is a shrewd businessman.

"Liu Ruo, could you keep an eye on Zhou Han for me and see when he goes out next?"

After Lu Ronghui finished speaking, she continued working. Anyway, she would make up for the work points later, so she did the same thing as usual today.

"Go and ask."

"Why should I go? If you want to go, you go."

A few female educated youths nearby were whispering among themselves, trying to get each other to talk to Lu Ronghui, whose sister-in-law worked at the textile factory.

However, these same people had made things difficult for Liu Ruo because of Chen Hong's matter. Liu Ruo was closest to Lu Ronghui, so they were too embarrassed to get close to her.

"Do you think Liu Ruo also knows the exam content? Why isn't she worried?"

It's understandable that Lu Ronghui wasn't in a hurry; she must have inside information. But Liu Ruo wasn't as focused on the exam as the others, leading everyone to suspect that Lu Ronghui had given her the information.

"Bai Rongjun, didn't you say you knew people from the Lu family? Did they tell you what the exam was about?"

Seeing that Zhou Han wasn't paying any attention to her, Bai Rongjun angrily went elsewhere, and her expression turned somewhat embarrassed when she overheard some educated youths talking.

Because of Chen Hong's incident, Bai Rongjun had a good relationship with several former educated youth for a period of time. During casual conversations, she mentioned her relationship with the Lu family. Song Qing knew people in Yanghe Village, and everyone respected her because of her.

She knew that if Lu Ronghui found out, she would definitely expose her, so she just said that she had a good relationship with the Lu family before, but there was some misunderstanding between her and Lu Ronghui, and that it would be fine after a while.

"No, my sister-in-law is not the kind of person who would harm the public interest. We all have to rely on our own efforts to get our degrees."

"Tch," one of the educated youths secretly rolled her eyes, certain that the other party hadn't told her that.

Zhou Shuyi looked a little embarrassed. She also felt that it was not good to inquire about this information, but the other educated youth pushed her forward. In addition, she also hoped to seize the opportunity to become a textile factory worker, so she did not refuse. After being told this, she suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

Lu Ronghui didn't look at the educated youth; she was secretly observing Zhou Han and noticed that he kept paying attention to that side.

The villagers who bought bicycles finally felt a sense of pride, pushing them back and forth in the field several times without leaving. The villagers watching were envious, their eyes red with envy, and they would occasionally reach out to touch them.

"This is a good bike. Look, it didn't make a sound when riding over bumps."

"Nonsense, I bought it at a higher price on the black market. If you want to buy it, hurry up and find out. Once this opportunity is gone, it's gone forever."

"No way, if someone reports this, I'll be stuck in jail." He just bought a car? He's been bragging about it for too long. If he had the money, he'd buy one too.

"Hey, even if we get caught and put in jail, it won't be us, it'll be those people selling bikes. Who knows where they got them? Anyway, if you want to buy one, hurry up and grab it. We farmers can't get bike tickets."

"Zhou Han, what are you looking at?"

Bai Jiamei put down her hoe and slowly moved to Zhou Han's side. She wanted to get close to this future richest man and absorb some of his wealth.

She was on the verge of collapse. It was only 1972, and the Cultural Revolution still had four years to go before it ended. The large-scale return of educated youth to the cities wouldn't be until seven or eight years later. If she stayed in this place for six years, she definitely wouldn't make it to the city.

She would definitely have looked down on the textile factory workers before, but after they arrived, state-owned enterprise reforms meant that these people with "iron rice bowls" would all be laid off.

But now she desperately wants to work as a factory worker to give her some breathing room. Unfortunately, she didn't do very well in school and has long forgotten the knowledge in her textbooks. She has no idea what textbooks are for in this day and age.

If you let her take the exam, she definitely won't pass.

She could only focus on other things. She had spent several tens of yuan of the few hundred yuan she had on her these past few days, which was money she had carefully budgeted.

Apart from the dry rations that could choke someone, the communal meals at the educated youth settlement consisted mostly of wild vegetables available at that time of year. Everyone was too tired to tend to their private plots, and when they got tired of the wild vegetables, they would trade their grain with the villagers for pickled vegetables.

The work in the fields was tiring and the food was poor, so Bai Jiamei had to spend money to buy things, but the money went by too quickly.

She desperately wanted to make money. In this era, the only way to make money was through the black market. Bai Jiamei wasn't familiar with it, but she remembered that Zhou Han was the future richest man. He had made a lot of money in the black market when he was young, accumulating his initial capital.

As her money dwindled, she wanted to improve her relationship with Zhou Han, hoping to get a share of his business earlier.

In truth, if she were to say, it would be even better if she could capture the heart of the richest man during his period of hardship and become his wife. However, Bai Rongjun is Zhou Han's true love in the novel, and the two are childhood sweethearts with a very close relationship, so she definitely can't interfere. Since that's the case, she should become the richest man's good friend.

The first step is to get to know him.

Zhou Han frowned as he looked at Bai Jiamei; he had a very bad impression of her.

Back in Xin'an, Bai Jiamei had always treated her younger sister Rong Jun very well, but for some reason she became unusually cold towards her later. When the two sisters arrived here, she treated Rong Jun like a stranger.

When those people in the educated youth dormitory were ostracizing Rong Jun, she also banded together with the others. Now what is she saying?

Zhou Han didn't answer and walked to the side. Bai Jiamei sighed. It turned out that the richest man was so difficult to approach at this time. There was still a long way to go.

It's also her fault for misunderstanding. She previously thought the Bai family was problematic and didn't want to get close to Bai Rongjun, but she forgot that the woman would become the wife of the richest man in the future.

People always learn from their mistakes. Bai Jiamei never imagined that life in the countryside would be so difficult. She still needed to maintain a good relationship with the richest man.

Zhou Han has been away from home a lot lately; he must be starting his career.