Chapter 19: The Second World: The Chronicles: The Innocent Educated Youth Who Was Deceived 1…
In 1977, Lushuiwan was the most backward and remote rural village in the south. In response to the country's call to go to the countryside, it would accept a group of educated youth from the city every year, who lived and ate with the villagers and redeveloped the rural wasteland.
"I don't know what the higher-ups were thinking, but they kept sending a bunch of educated youth who couldn't do anything to us. They couldn't do anything, and they just wanted to feed a few more people."
The person who spoke was the leader of the third production team, who was sitting on the edge of the field with a sad face, biting his pipe.
The harvest was poor this year, so the city assigned a new group of educated youth to his team. Four of them were assigned to his team, three of whom were girls.
Thinking of the girls' thin arms and legs, Captain Three sighed again.
Liu Dazhi and Shen Xiannian, who were working in the fields, happened to hear the third team leader chatting with several older men in the village.
Liu Dazhi listened to the captain's complaints for a long time and found it a little funny. He put down his hoe and said to Shen Xiannian who was working hard at the side:
"Now, did you just hear Captain Three say that more educated youth are coming to our place? We hope there will be more female educated youth to feast our eyes on."
The girls from the city are all very pretty.
Hearing this, Shen Xiannian straightened up, picked up the towel around his neck and wiped the sweat from his forehead. His deep eyes turned slowly, and he raised his eyebrows playfully without saying a word.
Liu Dazhi continued, "I have a different opinion from the team leader. What's wrong with not being able to work? It's enough to be pretty. We can also have the energy to work just by looking at it, hahaha."
Shen Xiannian chuckled from his throat and said nonchalantly, "We don't care whether she's pretty or not. She can't make a living."
He didn't have any thoughts about this group of educated youth. It didn't bother him anyway. If they couldn't work, that was the team leader's concern.
Liu Dazhi knew that he was a pragmatic person and looked down on the delicate educated youth. He would avoid him when he saw him.
"You're right. The educated youth from the city are only pleasing to the eye. If you want to make a living, you'll have to find a girl from our village."
Shen Xiannian didn't respond. He picked up the kettle and gulped down a mouthful of water. He had no interest in talking about this group of educated youth.
The team leader had already left, and when he heard that the educated youth had arrived at the village entrance, he went to meet them. The two of them sat on the edge of the field to rest for a while, and then planned to go back for lunch.
The sun is scorching and the work is tiring. Even the strongest person can't stand not taking a break at noon.
It took Qiao Yin more than an hour to ride on a wobbly ox cart to reach Green Water Bay. The unpleasant smell emitted by the ox cart along the way made her feel a little nauseous. Her face was pale and her brows were slightly furrowed. It was obvious that she was not used to the bumpy ride of the ox cart.
The three educated youth who were traveling with her also looked pale and miserable. In comparison, Qiao Yin only looked a little haggard, but her beauty remained undiminished.
Jiang Yan, who was sitting opposite her, saw that her face was still as fresh and tender as ever despite all the trouble, and her heart was filled with jealousy.
She had just found out everything in the car. Among the four educated youth here, her family background was the best. She had two older brothers, and her parents and brothers doted on her. In addition, she was good-looking, and when she wore a white waist-tied dress, she looked particularly quiet and pretty.
However, her personality was completely different. Instead, she was spoiled and arrogant. She seemed to have been spoiled and didn't understand the situation. After getting on the ox cart, she started to find faults and belittled everyone along the way, which made the captain's son, who was driving the cart in front, look unhappy.
However, she seemed to be interested in the only male educated youth, Zhou Wenquan, and asked a lot about his family situation on the way.
Zhou Wenquan's family is from the provincial capital. Both his parents are working and have attended high school. He has two older sisters who are both married, and a younger brother who is only 9 years old. He is the only one in the family who can go to the countryside.
Along the way, Jiang Yan kept talking to him, but although Zhou Wenquan did not reject her advances, he did not respond in particular. Instead, he paid close attention to Qiao Yin.
Speaking of Qiao Yin, even the always conceited Jiang Yan had to admit that Qiao Yin was indeed a rare beauty.
Her black hair falls softly on her shoulders, her almond-shaped eyes are watery and clear, and her fair and delicate skin is as smooth as a baby's.
Even in the city, she had never seen such a delicate girl, and her cool and gentle temperament made it hard not to notice her.
This made Jiang Yan, who thought she was good-looking, feel a sense of crisis.
In addition to them, there was another female educated youth named Nie Hongxia, who looked honest, dressed ordinary, and had a dark complexion. She was the most inconspicuous among them, and Jiang Yan didn't even take her seriously.
But Nie Hongxia was unexpectedly attentive to Jiang Yan, and always praised Jiang Yan in her words.
Although Nie Hongxia was a city dweller, her family was large and their life was relatively difficult. She had an older brother and an older sister, and a younger brother. She was the least valued one. No matter how she made a fuss, the quota to go to the countryside finally fell on her.
Even if she had the chance to return to the city in the future, there would probably be no place for her at home. This time, she could only take very little with her when she went to the countryside.
So when she saw Jiang Yan's food, clothing, and other daily necessities along the way, as well as her picky and disdainful look, she knew that this was someone who had never experienced hard times.
Any food that slipped out of her hands were all good things that I couldn't normally eat. As long as I held her in high esteem, I could always get the advantage.
With this thought in mind, Nie Hongxia was particularly attentive to Jiang Yan along the way.
The group of people, each with their own thoughts, staggered to the village entrance and prepared to get off the bus.
Shen Xiannian had finished his farm work and was about to go home. When he passed by the village entrance, he glanced over there and saw the slender figure on the ox cart.
Qiao Yin's appearance was so attractive that it was hard not to notice her. He had good eyesight and could see how white her palm-sized face was and how rosy her lips were in the sunlight.
Several other educated youth got off the ox cart tremblingly. Zhou Wenquan wanted to help Qiao Yin after getting off the cart, but Jiang Yan got off the cart before Qiao Yin and said that she felt a little uncomfortable. She asked Zhou Wenquan to help her sit on the side and rest. Zhou Wenquan couldn't refuse and had to miss the opportunity to help Qiao Yin.
If Qiao Yin knew, she wouldn't let him help her.
At this time, she was holding the edge of the ox cart with her hands, facing outwards and carefully stepping on the pedals to get off the cart. However, because her steps were weak, she stepped on empty air and almost fell down.
Qiao Yin's heart suddenly lifted, and she subconsciously let out a short "ah" and closed her eyes, ready to face the embarrassment that followed.
But the imagined fall did not happen. A pair of strong hands passed under her waist, hooked her legs and lifted her up in the air, and then gently put her on the ground. The whole process took only a few seconds, and before Qiao Yin could react, she was standing steadily on the ground.
Shen Xiannian frowned: Why is this woman so thin? He can't even feel her weight.
Qiao Yin looked at the young man in front of her. He had deep eyebrows, strong facial features, a high nose bridge, and wheat-colored skin. He was wearing a patched shirt and loose coarse cloth pants, a typical farmer's outfit.
Qiao Yin was a little surprised, because she didn't expect to see a man who met her aesthetic standards so well in the countryside. At this time, his sleeves and trouser legs were slightly rolled up, revealing smooth and beautiful muscle lines.
"Thank you."
Qiao Yin's voice was clear and clean. Shen Xiannian suddenly remembered the scream of fright he heard when he hugged her just now. The volume was not loud and the tone was soft, like a feather brushing across his heart, making him feel itchy.
Shen Xiannian felt relieved when he saw that her smiling face did not show any disgust or displeasure.
He was impulsive just now. He had done a lot of farm work and his body was covered in mud. If it got on her snow-white shirt, it might cause her to complain. These delicate female educated youth were the most troublesome.
Thinking of this, he frowned and blamed himself for being nosy. He didn't know what was going on, but when he saw her about to fall, he reflexively went up to catch her.
"fine."
He replied stiffly, his tone was not very good, and his slightly furrowed brows made him look even colder and harder. He was completely different from the usual relaxed and teasing attitude he showed towards the village girls and aunties.
Qiao Yin wanted to say something, but she heard him suddenly say "clumsy". Qiao Yin blinked and was stunned for a moment, thinking she had misheard.
After Shen Xiannian finished speaking, he didn't care about Qiao Yin's reaction and walked towards home with the hoe.
Qiao Yin looked at his back, doubts appearing in her watery eyes.
It took her a while to realize that he disliked her. She opened her mouth to say something, but he had already walked away.
After a long while, she hummed softly, kicked the pebbles on the road with her toes, and whispered:
"Who is that..."
*
Since three days ago, Qiao Yin has felt that everything happening around her is out of place, as if the past 18 years of her life were not her own, and she only began to truly live from this day.
She didn't have any special feelings about her stepfather and her nosy stepmother asking her to go to the countryside. After all, her father treated her as if she were no daughter since he married this stepmother.
Going to the countryside is also a good thing for her. There is no point in her staying in this family, especially in recent years, the cheap stepbrother brought by her stepmother seems to have bad intentions towards her, and the way he looks at her always makes her very uncomfortable.
Even this time he didn't want her to go to the countryside, but instead wanted Qiao Yin's stepsister, his own sister, to go to the countryside.
Fortunately, her stepmother did not let her down. In the end, it was still her, the "outsider", who was thrown into the countryside to live a hard life.
Going to the countryside was what she wanted, but ever since the day she decided to go, she had been dreaming intermittently about things that would happen in the future.
It was like she dreamed of being assigned to Green Water Bay, meeting Zhou Wenjun, Jiang Yan, and Nie Hongxia, and being tricked into marrying a second-rate guy in the countryside, where she would be tortured by his family until she died in childbirth...
Thinking of this, Qiao Yin frowned again. It was heartbreaking to see Furong's pitiful face even when she showed displeasure.
"Comrade Qiao Yin, are you okay?" Zhou Wenquan asked.
Just now they were resting on the side and didn't see Shen Xiannian carrying her down. When they turned around, Qiao Yin had already gotten off the ox cart. At this time, they thought Qiao Yin was not feeling well after sitting in the ox cart for too long, so they asked with concern.
"I'm fine."
Qiao Yin didn't have a good impression of Zhou Wenquan. She dreamed that this man said he liked her, but when she was framed and forced to marry a second-rate guy, he became a coward and even mocked her for not loving herself.
Since they just knew each other, she couldn't get angry and thought it would be better to keep her distance from him in the future.
"Hello everyone, I am the production team leader here. From now on, you will all be in this brigade. Now I will take you to the educated youth site."
The captain's eyes swept across the faces of the four of them, and he was surprised for a moment when he saw Qiao Yin.
How come this girl is so pretty? Why would her family be willing to let her come to this remote place like Green Water Bay?
Among the four educated youth, she is the most eye-catching. With those thin arms and legs, how can she be capable of working?
The author has something to say:
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I was reminded by the comment section that the name of a supporting character has been blocked. Although I don’t know what’s wrong with this name [rolling eyes] I can only change it to a new one. The author seems to have compromised, but in fact he has no other choice [melted]
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