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Ma Guoliang often looked over there, especially when he saw He Tiantian's rosy and fair face, he couldn't help but feel a little envious.
Yang Huihui's face was gloomy, and she lowered her head without saying a word.
Tang Xinxin's lips curled up, looking like she was watching a good show.
“Sister Tian, I noticed that person kept staring at you,” Qi Daniu said. “He’s obviously not a good person, and he’s rude.”
Qi Daniu is fifteen or sixteen years old this year, and she reminds He Tiantian like a little adult.
“Alright, we don’t know those people, we don’t need to pay attention to them.” He Tiantian said with a smile, “Here, you move this small piece, and I’ll move that big piece.”
"Sister Tian, you're so good to me," Qi Daniu said with a smile. She had always been the one taking care of her younger siblings at home, and only when she was with He Tiantian did she feel loved by her older sister.
He Tiantian smiled and said, "Because you're very good to me too!"
From that day on, He Tiantian and the others began to assist Director Yang and his team in their work.
They didn't know anything about archaeology; all they did was move stones and clear away the soil—simple tasks, nothing special.
He Tiantian received Huo Yingjie's letter again. She read it carefully several times, feeling sweet inside, but also a little strange. She wrote back to Huo Yingjie, but this time his reply was somewhat irrelevant.
He Tiantian was a little suspicious that someone else might be impersonating Huo Yingjie to write the letter, but after carefully checking the handwriting and the previously agreed-upon code, they were both correct.
The clever He Tiantian quickly thought of another possibility: the letter was indeed written by Huo Yingjie, but he had written it in advance and then had someone send it to her after receiving her letter.
What an idiot!
That's quite a lot of effort!
In her previous life, He Tiantian didn't know much about Huo Yingjie's work, but she knew that weapons research always valued secrecy. She guessed that he couldn't write to her, which was why this happened.
Forget it, I'll just pretend I don't know.
Although Ma Guoliang had taken a liking to He Tiantian, he knew it wouldn't be appropriate to approach her rashly. So, he would always chat with He Jingyu for a few minutes during meals. Through Ma Guoliang's deliberate efforts to befriend her, they quickly became acquainted.
As fellow intellectuals, He Jingyu and Ma Guoliang were able to get along well.
Yang Huihui was very anxious and angry when she saw that Ma Guoliang was either peeking at He Tiantian or chatting with He Jingyu.
"Oh dear, this time Ma Guoliang is serious," Tang Xinxin said. "Huihui, you should just give up, so you don't waste your time on Ma Guoliang. Besides, there are plenty of good men in the world, don't hang yourself on one tree."
Tang Xinxin offered her advice, half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Yang Huihui glared at Tang Xinxin and said, "Hurry up and eat your food, don't talk nonsense."
"Kindness taken for granted," Tang Xinxin rolled her eyes and said, "You don't appreciate kindness."
Work started in the afternoon, and Yang Huihui called out, "He Tiantian, come here and move all these things away."
"Okay," He Tiantian agreed, but when she saw Yang Huihui pointing at those big rocks, she became unhappy. If even men couldn't move them, she couldn't either!
Although she is very strong and can easily move 100 or 200 kilograms, these large rocks, which she estimates to weigh 200 or 300 kilograms, are too heavy for her to lift even if she works herself to death!
"Why aren't you coming to move it yet?" Yang Huihui thought to herself with a smug smile. What good is being good-looking if you still have to listen to her orders?
He Tiantian smiled faintly and said slowly, "I can't move it!"
He continued to move the small stones with Qi Danu, but never moved the big stones.
Without specialized machinery, it would be too difficult to move it manually.
"If you can't move it, then get out. Don't just take money here and do nothing," Yang Huihui said coldly. "From now on, work properly and don't gossip or delay our work."
Before He Tiantian could even get angry, Qi Daniu was furious. Pointing her finger at Yang Huihui's nose, she scolded, "Such a big rock, even men can't move it, and you want Sister Tiantian to move it? You're clearly making things difficult for people. Even Zhou Bapi isn't as mean as you. We come here to work, how can you say we're getting paid for nothing? It's money we earned through our labor."
"You've been sent by the village to assist us, so you must follow our instructions." Yang Huihui was even more furious when Qi Daniu, a young girl, pointed her finger at her and scolded her.
He Tiantian laughed from the side. This Qi Daniu was also a sharp-tongued person, just like Aunt Liu.
"You said it yourself, we were sent by the village, we're not your subordinates at all, why should we listen to you? Pay up, settle the bill now, we're not doing this anymore," Qi Daniu said. "You can't treat people like this. We're assisting, not doing this on a voluntary basis."
The commotion prompted Wang Lei, Zhang Qingshan, and others who were not far away to come over quickly.
"Da Niu, what happened?" Wang Lei asked, thinking that someone was bullying Qi Da Niu.
Qi Danu rattled off what Yang Huihui had said earlier.
At this moment, Wang Lei and Zhang Qingshan's expressions turned grim.
Putting aside the fact that they all received help from He Tiantian's family, Yang Huihui's imperious words and tone made them very unhappy.
They get paid to work here, but it's very tiring!
“Since you don’t think we’re good enough to do this work, then we won’t do it. We’ve worked for seven days, and we’re paid seven yuan each. Let’s settle the bill quickly,” Wang Lei said. He had long wanted to quit this job. Every day when he got home, he would take a shower and change his clothes to avoid bringing bad luck to his children.
After all, it's a tomb of the dead. Even though it's called archaeology, it's still digging up someone's grave, which is not ethical.
"Are you trying to rebel?" Yang Huihui took two steps back, not expecting that saying a few more words would provoke such a strong backlash.
“You’re not qualified to rebel.” Zhang Qingshan’s words were much harsher than Wang Lei’s.
The commotion attracted Ma Guoliang, Sun Aiguo, and others, who quickly came over.
After they found out what had happened, they all looked at Yang Huihui.
“The curator said those stones are fine to leave here, why bother moving them?” Ma Guoliang frowned. “You must not have heard what Curator Yang said this morning, right?”
This is to give Yang Huihui a way out.
This also made Zhang Qingshan, He Tiantian, and others very unhappy, as it was clearly bullying.
"Did the curator say anything this morning? I heard that they were moving these stones away?" Yang Huihui felt very guilty seeing everyone glaring at her. If this got to her second uncle, there would be no way to back down.
"You must have misheard. We all heard that it doesn't need to be moved," Sun Aiguo said, speaking up for Yang Huihui, after all, her uncle was Director Yang!
"Oh, I must have misheard you. I'm sorry!" Yang Huihui looked embarrassed. At this point, she had no choice but to apologize, though she was so angry that she wanted to slap He Tiantian twice.
He Tiantian smiled and said, "Since you misheard, then let it go."
Qi Daniu wanted to say something more, but He Tiantian stopped her. (To be continued.)
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