Chapter Twenty-Two: This girl is too kind
After Wang Liping held the meeting, the educated youth became much calmer. Because of Shen Yuzhu's example, the educated youth no longer rashly intervened when they encountered things they couldn't stand.
After a long day at work, Shen Yuzhu took advantage of the evening to visit the old educated youth settlement.
This place has indeed been uninhabited for a long time. The yard is overgrown with weeds, the mud walls are black and moldy, and the thatch on them has been removed and piled on the ground, swarming with flies and insects. The smell is also extremely unpleasant.
Shen Yuzhu covered her nose and walked over. Lü Guangzhi found five people to help with the work.
Although building houses could make money, people were only willing to come to work at night, since work points could be exchanged for food, which was the more important thing.
"It's all messed up here, why did Shen Zhiqing come here?"
"Brother Zhang, you've worked all day and still came over to help me repair my house and haul adobe bricks. I feel really bad about it, so I came to bring you a pot of cool tea to help you beat the heat."
"Oh, that's too kind, Educated Youth Shen."
Shen Yuzhu smiled and handed over the water bottle in her hand. She had taken it from her spatial storage when she came in. Relationships between people are built through interaction. Since there wasn't one, she would build one through interaction.
Zhang Shuai poured himself a bowl of herbal tea and drank it first. It was refreshing as soon as it went down his throat, making him feel cool even in the hot summer. "Er Shun, Hong Fa, you two should come and have a bowl too. The herbal tea that the educated youth sent us is delicious and it cools you down."
"Hey, here they come, hehehe..."
Lu Guangzhi found honest people who were very efficient at their work. In just two nights, they had already hauled more than a thousand adobe bricks. They were doing manual labor, and this couldn't go on for long.
Shen Yuzhu's eyes darted around, and she looked at the group of people drinking herbal tea and said, "Brother Zhang, everyone, I'm new here and not familiar with this place. I'm worried that you all have to earn work points every day and work for me. I'm afraid your bodies won't be able to handle it in a long time. So, tonight I'll ask Qiao Zhiqing to help make a stew so you can fill your stomachs."
Everyone was stunned. They were going to be given dinner again?
Some people were already salivating just listening to it; they wanted to nod, but shook their heads and refused.
“Shen Zhiqing, we’ve already gotten a good job repairing your house. We get seventy cents a day. If we have to eat on top of that, it would be shameless of us.”
“Yes, Shen, we know you mean well, but you’ve also left your hometown. If you have any money, you should save it. Don’t worry about building a house here; we brothers will definitely do our best to build it for you.”
"Yeah yeah!"
Just by looking at the wages they paid, you can tell that Shen, the educated youth, is a kind person. Today, they even brought me a pot of herbal tea. If I were to ask for a meal from them as well, wouldn't that be bullying them?
When the educated youth first arrived, they only received a subsidy of 200 jin of grain, which wasn't even enough for them to eat. They weren't going to be like those heartless people.
How could that be? The reason for inviting them to dinner was to befriend them so they could help me when I need to save my sister in the future.
“If you’re not going to eat, then I’ll go to the brigade leader and tell him I need to find someone else to do the work.”
Her fierce expression was actually quite intimidating.
Zhang Shuai and the others were reluctant to give up such a good job, but seeing how serious she was, they didn't know what to say for a moment.
"It's decided then. I'm not going to feed you too well. You need to be able to work properly if you have enough to eat. I also want to fix the house. Look how dilapidated this house is. It basically needs to be rebuilt. I want to use sandstone from the mountain for the foundation. I also want to build two more rooms and a kitchen. I want to make the yard more spacious so that we can live here for a long time. There are still many things I need to do for you. I would feel bad if I didn't feed you."
After she said that, everyone had no choice but to nod, but they felt really guilty and embarrassed to accept the food and gifts.
After the matter was settled, Shen Yuzhu told Zhang Shuai her general idea. They were all bricklayers, and when the production team wasn't busy, they would go out to help people repair houses. She explained it simply, and Zhang Shuai and the others knew what to do.
After she left, Zhang Shuai and the others kept talking even while they were working.
"This new educated youth is too kind-hearted. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing."
"When Shen Zhiqing and Zhang Li got into a fight yesterday, I thought he was really fierce. But now I realize that this girl is kind-hearted and can't stand seeing Ma Daya get beaten up."
"Who says otherwise? We owe Shen Zhiqing a favor, so let's all be careful and not let Zhang Li make things difficult for her."
"Zhang Li is right, why am I so annoyed with him lately...."
...
Back at the educated youth settlement, Shen Yuzhu told Qiao Wangshu about it.
"How about it? I'll give you seventy cents for a meal, the same price as the villagers. I'll ask Captain Lü to help me buy some meat tomorrow, and I'll exchange it with some vegetables from the villagers. Is that alright?"
“Yuzhu, you’ve only been here a short time and you’re already spending money like crazy. If someone with ulterior motives takes notice, you’ll be in trouble. Listen to me, you shouldn’t cook anymore. You’ve already paid your wages, so no one will gossip.”
Shen Yuzhu shook her head and said, "I know what I'm doing, don't worry!"
Qiao Wangshu: "..."
Even if I were to fart, someone could crush me with a single finger!
The next day, Shen Yuzhu found Lü Guangzhi, gave him two yuan and two jin of meat coupons, and said that if she was going to do this, she had to do it openly and honestly.
"What? What did you say? You're going to provide meals for the people fixing the house?"
"Yes, Captain Lü, they have to work every day and come over at night to repair the house. If they break their health from exhaustion, who will take responsibility? I'll just provide one meal, not anything fancy, just something with a little oil in their stomach."
Lü Guangzhi: "..."
If you had told me earlier that you would pay wages and provide meals, I would have signed up too!
“You don’t need to worry about me, Captain Lü. When I went to the countryside, my parents said they would send me money every month, so I won’t go hungry.”
Lü Guangzhi: "..."
Where did you get the idea that I'm worried? Is it too late for me to register now?
The news that the newly arrived educated youth in Xiangyang Production Team were going to provide meals for the people who were building houses quickly spread throughout the village. Zhang Li looked at Ma Daya, who was squatting on the ground feeding her son, walked over and slapped her on the head.
"Ah~!"
"What are you yelling for, you bitch? It's all because of your father that we lost a lot of money. That new educated youth is an idiot. Go to her with your child and cry your heart out. Maybe you can even get something out of her!"
Ma Daya didn't say anything. The girl had helped her, and she didn't want to deceive people.
Seeing that she didn't keep quiet, Zhang Li's anger flared up.
When Granny Zhang saw his face darken, she rushed over and hugged Ma Daya, and the maids beside her followed suit.
"Son, stop hitting Daya. Look at her now. Do you want to beat her to death before you're satisfied?"
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