Seeing that Su Li didn't seem to like her, Zhou Yuting felt wronged and didn't say anything more. She was just not used to traveling alone for the first time.
Ever since Su Li helped her retrieve her suitcase, she felt a strange sense of security towards her, and they started talking more frequently.
The woman opposite, however, had her eyes light up immediately when she heard there was White Rabbit milk candy.
"Hello comrade, I have low blood sugar. You just mentioned you have milk candy, could you share one with me?"
The woman stared intently at Zhou Yuting.
Zhou Yuting was very generous and handed her two White Rabbit candies.
Su Li did hear it, but she didn't even lift her eyelids. Sometimes, people have to pay a price for their saintly hearts before they learn their lesson.
"Thank you so much, comrade. You're such a good person."
Zhou Yuting smiled and said, "It's just two milk candies, it's okay."
In her eyes, they were just two candies, but Zhao Meilan rarely got to eat them.
She's definitely from a wealthy family; her words and actions exude extravagance.
She has two older brothers and one younger sister. She is the third child and is not loved by her parents. This trip to the countryside was to take the place of her second brother.
She had already found a good partner through her own efforts, but because of her second brother, her mother signed her up to go to the countryside without any explanation.
She didn't receive a single penny of the subsidy, so she exchanged the train ticket given to her by the neighborhood committee for a standing ticket, and the person gave her five yuan in compensation.
But once she boarded the train, she couldn't stand in the aisle at all. Seeing that no one was sitting there for a long time, she sat down.
When Su Li called her for the first time, she heard it, but having finally found a seat, she naturally refused to get up.
To her surprise, Su Li was a tough nut to crack and wouldn't let it go. Luckily, there was a fool who was willing to give up his seat for her.
Otherwise, the journey would take three days and two nights, which is unbearable to even think about.
As Zhao Meilan unwrapped the candy, she looked at Zhou Yuting and said, "Comrade, my name is Zhao Meilan. I'm also an educated youth who went to the countryside. What's your name? I just heard you say that you went to Lijiatun, right?"
"My name is Zhou Yuting, and the place I went to in the countryside was indeed Lijiatun."
Zhao Meilan concealed the smile in her eyes; "That's great, I was also sent to the countryside in Xingyang City, Xinhe County, Lijiatun. We can look after each other in the future."
Great! With such a rich and easily fooled idiot as a partner, if she's a little sweet-talking and gets along well with her, she'll never have to worry about food and drink again.
Zhou Yuting frowned. Compared to Zhao Meilan, she preferred to spend time with Su Li.
Although both of them were dressed in tattered clothes, Su Li had helped her and didn't smell bad. Zhao Meilan hadn't brushed her teeth in ages, and every time she spoke, she had an unpleasant odor. The carriage already smelled bad, and with her odor, it was truly unbearable for her.
So he gave an awkward laugh and didn't reply.
Upon hearing the name "Zhao Meilan," Su Li recalled a scene from the novel.
This woman went to the countryside penniless. At first, she survived by deceiving the original owner and Zhou Yuting. Zhou Yuting's family had a problem; her parents had published a notice in the newspaper severing ties with her and her brother before being sent to the farm, which saved the two of them.
Almost all the family's money went to Zhou Yuting. Her brother, Zhou Ziqing, was sent to the countryside in Jiangnan, one in the south and the other in the north. The novel vaguely suggests that this was intentionally done by those in power.
Zhou Yuting's ending was tragic. After being swindled out of all her money by Zhao Meilan, Zhao Meilan secretly let an old bachelor from the village into the village while she was sick and the other educated youths went to work.
They sold her for twenty yuan, squeezing out the last bit of value from her. By the time Zhou Ziqing finally found her, her sister had already been tortured to death.
At that time, Zhou Ziqing had already become a soldier in Jiangnan through his own abilities and had been promoted to battalion commander.
After learning how his sister died, he disregarded his status and beat the old bachelor to death in a fit of rage. On his way to find Zhao Meilan, he was arrested by the police and sentenced to death.
Zhao Meilan eventually returned to the city with a male educated youth from the same educated youth compound and lived a fairly good life. When she read this part, she thought the author was out of his mind.
The train started moving soon. Although Su Li was not asleep, she kept her eyes closed and rested.
Several times Zhou Yuting tried to strike up a conversation with her, but seeing that her eyes were closed, she remained silent.
On the other hand, Zhao Meilan on the opposite side kept trying to find topics to talk about with her, which she really didn't like.
Both were dressed in tattered clothes, but Su Li looked much more refreshed.
She disliked people who were unhygienic. Although Zhao Meilan was beautiful, she often smelled of rancidity, which made her feel nauseous.
Su Li had just started to doze off when, without realizing it, she fell asleep.
I woke up at noon, and the train conductor was selling meal tickets.
Using the package as cover, she took out the egg and chive dumplings that Aunt Wang had prepared for her that morning from her storage space.
Zhou Yuting spent a little over two yuan to buy a meal on the train, which even included a few pieces of braised pork.
Zhao Meilan, sitting opposite, swallowed a few times, her eyes fixed on the braised pork in Zhou Yuting's bowl.
After buying the food, Zhou Yuting saw that Su Li was awake and said with a smile, "Su Li, I bought braised pork. Would you like to try a piece?"
Just as Su Li was about to refuse, the meat was already placed in her bowl.
Several people in the car looked at Su Li and Zhou Yuting with envy. These days, eating meat is like celebrating the New Year; there aren't many people as generous as Zhou Yuting.
"Then I'll give you two dumplings." Seeing that the meat was already in her lunchbox, she didn't want to keep offering it back and forth on the train, which didn't look very nice, so she thought of giving her a few dumplings instead, so that she wouldn't be taking advantage of her.
"Okay!" Zhou Yuting said happily.
Su Li was eating dumplings when she heard a sudden voice from across the table: "Comrade Yuting, we're both educated youth sent to the countryside, we should look out for each other, could you... could you give me a piece of braised pork to try?"
"laugh..."
"You have such a big face," Su Li said without any politeness.
Hearing the laughter, Zhao Meilan glared at Su Li angrily; "What? You only allow Yuting to give you food, but not me? You're really being unreasonable."
"Just a moment ago she was calling me Comrade Yuting, and now she's calling me Yuting so affectionately. The shamelessness she's shown for a piece of braised pork is truly astonishing."
Zhao Meilan ignored Su Li and looked at Zhou Yuting with pleading eyes. "We are both educated youth who went to the countryside to support the country's development, and we even went to the same place. Yuting, please help me. I haven't eaten for two days. I promise that if you help me, I will do anything for you in the future."
She even started crying as she spoke. Zhou Yuting had never encountered such a situation before. She was also very shy, and she couldn't eat under Zhao Meilan's earnest gaze.
He then handed over the lunchbox.
Zhao Meilan quickly reached out and took it, her previous sorrowful expression completely gone.
He grabbed the lunchbox and started shoveling rice into his mouth like a starving ghost.
In no time, he devoured the lunchbox, licking it until it gleamed.
After finishing his meal, he thanked Zhou Yuting, saying, "Yuting, thank you. If it weren't for you, I would have starved to death on this journey. You are such a kind person."
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