Chapter 002
After entering the kitchen in early summer, I put the dishes and chopsticks in the cupboard.
Because she heard Han Ting say that he had to go to a meeting, she stayed in the kitchen and did not go out.
After Lin Xiaohan came in and put down the sack, he did not leave. Now he was sitting at the table with a blank expression, waiting for someone.
Chuxia had no friendship with him, so she didn't sit at his table. Instead, she sat behind the stove.
Just two seconds after he sat down, Han Ting came into the room carrying a sack and a curtain.
His eyes swept behind the stove and paused for a moment on Chuxia.
Although Chu Xia didn't look at Han Ting, she could feel his gaze.
She tensed up a little, her eyes fixed on the ashes in the stove, treating herself as nothing but air.
Han Ting went to the wall and put down the sack.
When he straightened up and was about to go to Chuxia, Chaozi and Guogai came in again carrying sacks.
As soon as these two people came in, the originally dull atmosphere in the room became lively.
Chaozi put down the sack and said, "The weather suddenly changed. It feels like it's going to rain."
Guo Gai put the sack on his shoulder down next to Chaozi, "Didn't the fellow villagers say that today is the Waking of Insects, and there will be more rain and thunder in the future?"
Chaozi and Guogai came in and started talking, so Han Ting didn't go to Chuxia's side.
He and Chaozi Guogai sat down at the table nearby, chatting while waiting for others.
Chaozi and Guogai have been following Han Ting since they were young. Even after graduation and going to the countryside, they still followed Han Ting. The three of them are slick and uncouth, and they make trouble wherever they go.
The three of them chatted with each other for a while, and then the others arrived one after another.
When entering the room, everyone talked a little, making the atmosphere in the room more lively.
In addition to pots, stoves, cupboards, and small pots, the kitchen also has three old gray square wooden tables.
Chuxia sat behind the stove, and the remaining four girls sat at a table. The boys all squeezed towards Han Ting's table. If they couldn't squeeze in, they wouldn't go to Lin Xiaohan's table, so they just squatted somewhere randomly.
When everyone arrived and took their seats, Han Ting spoke first: "As you can all see, the brigade has distributed our food. Starting tomorrow, we will fire independently."
Everyone knew about this before coming here, and they were all very happy.
Li Qiao was the most active among the girls. She continued, "It's better to cook independently. We can decide what we want to eat. I haven't had a full meal in the past half month when I was eating at a fellow villager's house."
Others continued to reply, “Me too.”
Of course, they also need to discuss how to fire independently, after all, there are twelve of them.
After everyone finished speaking, Han Ting continued to express his opinion: "My personal suggestion is that we don't have to bother thinking about it, and just follow the educated youth point of Shazhuang Brigade. What do you think?"
They were a group of educated youth who went to the countryside relatively late.
A few days after arriving at Tanxi Brigade, the brigade leader took them to visit the outstanding educated youth site in the neighboring Shazhuang Brigade and asked them to learn from the educated youth in Shazhuang Brigade.
The educated youth from Shazhuang Brigade have been going to the countryside for several years.
They lead a communal life, sharing everything together, earning work points together, eating together, raising chickens, ducks, pigs, growing vegetables and doing side businesses together. They live a prosperous life, no worse than their fellow villagers.
According to the Shazhuang Brigade, there are naturally twelve people living together.
Since they were already living together, it seemed natural for them to live together. No one objected and they all agreed: "Okay."
Han Ting saw that everyone was willing to cooperate and planned to continue talking.
But before he could say anything else, Lin Xiaohan suddenly said, "I won't participate. I'll just live alone."
Everyone was very enthusiastic about the partnership, and the atmosphere in the kitchen was quite lively.
After Lin Xiaohan said this, the atmosphere suddenly became cold.
Of course, everyone was used to it and didn't find it surprising.
Lin Xiaohan is such a person. It would be strange if he was willing to be a partner.
In fact, everyone was not very willing to take him into partnership, did not want to live a good life with him, and did not want to see his arrogant and domineering face. It was just right that he brought it up himself.
Han Ting naturally didn't find it strange, and was also willing to share the food with Lin Xiaohan, so he looked directly at Lin Xiaohan and said, "Okay, then you can live alone, and Chaozi will share the food with you later."
After Lin Xiaohan finished speaking and the atmosphere in the room became cold, Chu Xia kept looking at Lin Xiaohan.
She had the weakest presence among the twelve people in the room. She always followed Han Ting's arrangements and never had her own ideas. Of course, no one cared about her ideas.
But at this moment, she had her own thoughts in her mind.
According to the content of the novel in her mind, after excluding Lin Xiaohan, there were eleven people left living together, and she was the one who suffered the most.
Because she is hardworking and down-to-earth, can do housework and cook, and takes Han Ting's words as the only guideline for action, and does not fight or compete and works hard without complaint after the partnership, so most of the things gradually fall on her shoulders.
At the beginning, other people would praise her for her ability, but after she did it more often, they got used to it and even took it for granted.
Sometimes I feel that she is not doing well and I criticize her verbally. If she doesn't take the time to do it, besides being scolded, she will also urge her to continue doing it.
In the novel, she, like everyone else, felt that Lin Xiaohan was lonely and pitiful for living alone. She felt that the meat and candy he ate were bitter and that he did not live as lively and happy a life as they did.
But now thinking about it, he actually lived an easier and more comfortable life than any of them.
The liveliness and happiness of the eleven of them were sacrificed by a stupid tool like her who had no personal thoughts.
Chuxia thought that she must not live like the ones in novels.
She would rather live like Lin Xiaohan than like herself in the novel.
After all, it was the first time that Chuxia expressed the idea of being unsociable and spoiling the fun, and she couldn't help feeling nervous.
She clenched her fingers, lowered her head, closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths. Then, as if she had given up everything, she said, "I don't want to join the partnership either. I want to live alone."
As soon as she said this, everyone in the room was stunned and turned to look at her.
They were not surprised that Lin Xiaohan wanted to live alone, and they were even very willing to do so. But they were extremely surprised that Chu Xia wanted to live alone, and they were very unwilling to do so.
Li Qiao laughed first, looked at Chu Xia and said, "Chu Xia, stop joking."
Chu Xia slowly opened her eyes, but still kept her head down, "I'm not kidding, I'm serious."
When Han Ting saw Chu Xia like this, his eyes were filled with deeper doubts.
In the evening, Chuxia took the noodles with soybean paste from him and ran away. He felt very strange. He wanted to follow her out to find her, but was called by the team leader to carry grain from the granary.
After carrying grain back from the brigade's granary, Chu Xia clearly saw him in the yard but pretended not to see him. Now she followed Lin Xiaohan's example and wanted to separate and live separately, which naturally made him even more confused.
He looked at Chu Xia for a moment and said, "Don't make trouble. How can I let you live alone?"
Once I started talking about something unsociable, it seemed easier to continue.
Chu Xia pursed her lips and raised her head, intending to continue to express her attitude firmly, but her eyes met Han Ting's. She didn't know what happened, but the words came to her lips but she couldn't utter them.
Chuxia became anxious.
But the more anxious I became, the more I felt like I was under a spell and couldn't speak.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Han Ting continued, "It's not easy to live alone, especially for a girl like you. How can you survive without someone to take care of you? Listen to me, don't just follow everyone else and do everything."
Hearing this, Lin Xiaohan sneered while sitting at the table.
When he smiled like this, no one else said anything in response, and the atmosphere in the room became even colder.
When Chu Xia heard Lin Xiaohan's sneer, she turned her gaze back to him.
He put on his signature arrogant and domineering face and said something extremely unpleasant, "Then please fool your people. I don't want to be imitated by a fool. It's bad luck."
After hearing this, Han Ting's face darkened and he slammed the table and stood up.
Chaozi, Guogai and Han Ting had the best understanding in this regard. They immediately slammed the table and stood up, standing behind Han Ting and exerting their full aura to attack Lin Xiaohan alone.
Lin Xiaohan didn't care, he even raised his arms and crossed them over his chest, staring at Han Ting.
Chaozi spat fiercely from behind: "You feel uncomfortable if you don't get beaten for a day, right?"
Lin Xiaohan glanced at him, then turned his gaze back to Han Ting.
In this atmosphere, no one dared to speak. It was Li Qiao who stood up, forced a smile, pulled Han Ting and Chaozi Guogai to sit down, and advised them, "Don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive."
Li Qiao is not a kind person.
But she knew that Lin Xiaohan was insidious. If a fight broke out, Han Ting, Chaozi and Guogai would be the ones who would suffer in the end. They had been in the commune's human security group before because of similar things.
Although Lin Xiaohan was not well-liked by everyone in their youth educated camp, in the eyes of the brigade cadres, he was the most recognized and praised among the twelve youth educated.
In the more than half a month since he went to the countryside, he was praised by the team every now and then.
On the contrary, Han Ting is enthusiastic, righteous, humorous and romantic. He is not bound by worldly rules and regulations. He is very popular among the educated youths, but he is a headache for the team cadres.
In the past half month, he has been criticized and educated by the brigade many times.
Therefore, whenever the two sides quarrel, the brigade cadres will side with Lin Xiaohan.
In the end, the ones who suffered were Han Ting and his friends. After all, they were the bad boys in the eyes of the team leaders, while Lin Xiaohan was an outstanding and progressive young man.
The reason why the brigade cadres like Lin Xiaohan so much is naturally because he is insidious, cunning and two-faced.
He had two different faces in front of them and in front of the brigade cadres. He was arrogant, mean, selfish and petty in front of them, but he behaved perfectly in front of the brigade cadres.
They are all 17 or 18-year-old teenagers who have just graduated from high school. They are still innocent, carefree, and passionate. They often do things based on their temperament, and it is common for them to be lazy and make mistakes.
For example, I was so hungry that I stole things from the production team.
At that time, it was also Han Ting who took the responsibility out of loyalty.
Compared with them, Lin Xiaohan has hypocrisy and cunningness that is inconsistent with his age.
Since arriving in the countryside, he has been trying very hard to show his performance. At the educated youth center, he is unwilling to help with even the smallest chores, but is willing to help his fellow villagers with their work.
He would not help his fellow villagers or the team without telling them, but would make sure all the team leaders knew about it.
He is also very good at boasting. If he does a little bit of work with his hands, he will say that he has contributed tenfold.
In other words, those villagers were stupid and were deceived by him and took him as a role model.
In fact, people like him are really bad to the core. They don't have any sincerity or true feelings in dealing with others. They always put their own interests first, and all their goodness is acted.
When there is no benefit to be gained, he will immediately reveal his true colors.
It is better not to conflict with this kind of villain who is full of tricks and calculations.
Li Qiao expressed this to Han Ting with his eyes, and Han Ting also received it.
He suppressed his temper and ignored Lin Xiaohan.
Just now, we were talking about Chu Xia going to separate and live on her own. Han Ting took over the topic and continued, "Chu Xia, I don't agree with you separating and living on your own. I promised Uncle Hai Kuan that I would take good care of you. You listen to me."
Chuxia sat behind the stove and watched the show.
In fact, she didn't care too much about what Lin Xiaohan and Han Ting said, because she had been wondering why she was like under a spell and couldn't say no.
Then she found that when she turned her gaze from Han Ting to Lin Xiaohan, this feeling of being cursed seemed to be alleviated a little.
So she looked at Lin Xiaohan and tried to say, "I don't need anyone to take care of me."
As expected, it was said out loud, and Chu Xia felt relieved.
Han Ting frowned as he looked at Chu Xia.
Chuxia had been following him around since she was a child, listening to him in everything, never refutating anything he said, and never causing him any trouble.
He was very uncomfortable with her sudden behavior today.
He looked unhappy, frowned, stared at Chu Xia and asked, "What happened to you today?"
Chu Xia didn't dare to look at Han Ting, for fear that once she met his gaze she would lose control and do whatever he said.
She didn't look directly at Lin Xiaohan, but only fixed her eyes on his fingers and said, "I'm fine, and I'm not imitating anyone. I just want to live on my own."
Han Ting frowned even more tightly, "Why?"
Chu Xia said without moving her eyes: "There are too many people, it's too troublesome."
Han Ting withdrew his gaze, held his breath and said nothing more.
Then he suddenly stood up, kicked over the bench, and walked out with a dark face.
One of the legs of the bench was broken by the kick, and Chaozi, who was sitting next to him, was caught off guard and fell to the ground.
Guo Gai hurriedly pulled Chaozi up, looked at Chu Xia and said, "Chu Xia, what are you doing?"
Without Han Ting around, Chu Xia felt much more relaxed.
She looked at Guogai and Chaozi and said directly: "Give me some of your food as well."
No one else can understand.
We have been together for such a long time, and everything has been fine. Except for Lin Xiaohan, everyone's relationship has always been good. Chu Xia is suddenly like this. Isn't she trying to draw a line between herself and them?
This is a hurtful thing, who can feel comfortable about it?
Han Ting in particular is a very sentimental person, and Chu Xia and he grew up together as childhood friends.
Li Qiao forced a laugh and said, "Chu Xia, please stop joking. Han Ting is angry."
Chu Xia looked at her and said, "I'm not kidding. Even if you are all angry and ignore me in the future, I will still separate and live alone."
In fact, even when they were in partnership, no one really cared about her or took her seriously.
Li Qiao: “…”
The smile on her face dried up and her throat also dried up.
Lin Xiaohan had a playful smile on his face. He crossed his arms and watched the fun leisurely.
***
By the stream.
The humidity in the air merges with the water vapor on the river surface.
Han Ting took out a matchbox from his pocket, lit a match, and lowered his head to light the cigarette in his mouth.
He threw the extinguished matchstick into the river and took two puffs of the cigarette between his fingers.
Just when he felt a little more comfortable, someone came over and sat down next to him.
He turned around and saw it was Su Yun.
Su Yun was the most beautiful among the five female educated youth in their educated youth site.
She learned dancing at the Children's Palace when she was a child. She has slender limbs, a slim waist and a very good temperament.
Su Yun took out a piece of candy from her pocket and handed it to Han Ting, "Eat the candy, smoking hurts your lungs."
Han Ting didn't take the candy. He smoked a cigarette and said, "If you don't live happily, it's useless to live a hundred years."
He has always been a free and easy-going person and hates rules and regulations the most.
"If you don't want to eat it, forget it."
Su Yun whispered, withdrew her hand, peeled off the candy wrapper and put the candy into her mouth.
Then she ate the candy without saying anything else and just sat there silently.
Han Ting finished a whole cigarette, crushed the sparks on a stone, looked at Su Yun and asked, "You girls live in the same room, do you know what happened in early summer today?"
Su Yun said while holding the candy in her mouth: "I don't know, she rarely speaks."
Han Ting said: "She has never been like this before. She has always been very well behaved and obedient."
Su Yun turned to look at him, "Do you like those who are very good and obedient?"
Han Ting looked at Su Yun and smiled, "What are you talking about? Chu Xia and I grew up in the same courtyard. She treats me as a brother and I treat her as a sister. We are closer than real siblings."
Su Yun knew that he only treated Chu Xia as a sister.
She also knew that Han Ting had someone he liked, his girlfriend in the city, named Tong Rui.
She reached into her pocket, pulled out a folded yellow envelope, handed it to Han Ting and said, "Here, this is a letter from someone you like. You weren't there when the postman came to deliver the letter, so I received it for you."
Han Ting reached out and took it, unfolded it and saw Tong Rui's name on the envelope.
He looked at the words on the envelope in silence for a while. Instead of opening it to read the contents, he crumpled it into a ball in his hands and threw it into the river in front of him.
"Eh? What are you doing?"
Su Yun screamed, and the paper ball fell into the river.
Han Ting said in a relaxed tone: "I have already clearly broken up with her, there is no need to keep in touch with her."
Su Yun looked at him, "You said break up, so what? What if she doesn't want to break up with you? She wrote to you, which means she can't let you go and doesn't want to break up with you. Are you going to throw it away without even reading it?"
Han Ting smiled, "What if I let it go? What if I can't? She's in the army and I'm in the countryside. There's no future for us. If we continue to have lingering feelings, it will only delay each other. There's no point. Since I broke up with her, I won't continue to be entangled with her."
Su Yunmo whispered after a while: "You are so cruel."
Han Ting defended himself: "I'm being realistic, and it's for her own good."
Su Yun didn't argue with him anymore. After looking at him for a while, she said, "You said you would break up with such a good girl, regardless of whether she was willing or not, and without any lingering feelings. I'm really curious about what kind of woman can conquer you and make you worry so much that you can't eat."
After hearing this, Han Ting suddenly became frivolous.
He moved closer to Su Yun, looked at her and said, "Why don't you try it?"
Su Yun's face felt hot because of him.
She raised her hand and pushed him away, "I have no interest in you."
Seeing Su Yun like this, Han Ting smiled happily.
Just as I was laughing, I suddenly heard a voice behind me: "Brother Ting!"
Han Ting looked back and saw the silhouette of a pot lid slowly emerging in the dark night.
Guogai ran to him, bent over and supported his thigh, panting, "Brother Ting, we have weighed out Lin Xiaohan's food and distributed it to him. Chuxia still insisted on dividing it and living on her own, and no matter how much we persuade her, she won't listen. What do you think we should do? Should we give her the food or not?"
After hearing this, Han Ting couldn't help feeling suffocated.
He held his breath and was silent for a moment before speaking: "She has never been like this before. Since you can't persuade her, let's give it to her first. She is alone and has no one to take care of her. She won't last a few days."
Guo Gai straightened up and said, "Okay, then I'll go back and give her the food."
After saying this with a sigh, he turned and ran away again.
Han Ting withdrew his gaze, but still felt unhappy.
He thought for a moment and said to Su Yun, "It's easier for you girls to talk to each other. Why don't you ask her for me when we get back to the dormitory to see what's wrong with her?"
Su Yun nodded at him, "Okay."
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