Zhou Chang'an looked at his wife and the woman with a great headache.
That day, after Zhou Ruilan suggested that Qin Hanshu might be Zhou Weiguang's girlfriend, Zhou Chang'an thought about it seriously for a long time.
Given that Zhou Weiguang was in the army and had no opportunity or means to meet female comrades, he deduced three possible identities for Qin Hanshu.
First, Qin Hanshu is the sister of Zhou Weiguang's comrade-in-arms.
Second, Qin Hanshu was the object of Zhou Weiguang's comrade-in-arms's affections.
Third, Qin Hanshu was introduced to Zhou Weiguang by his comrade-in-arms.
Naturally, Zhou Chang'an had already written a letter to Zhou Weiguang to get to the bottom of things.
But all three possibilities exist before a reply is sent.
Regardless of his identity, given Zhou Weiguang's telegram, Zhou Chang'an must listen to his son and take good care of Qin Hanshu.
Zhou Chang'an also instructed Zhao Chunmiao and Zhou Ruilan to keep a close eye on Xiao Qin's situation in private, but not to be too enthusiastic.
But those two didn't listen at all.
To avoid making a fool of himself later, Zhou Chang'an quickly stood up, blocking Zhao Chunmiao and Zhou Ruilan's view, and said to Qin Hanshu, "Little Qin, I understand your request. I'll find someone to lay the floor and curtains for you later, and send them to you after your aunt has finished cutting them."
"You should go back now."
Qin Hanshu stood up, feeling dizzy.
"We haven't eaten the watermelon yet!" Zhao Chunmiao wanted to persuade him to stay, but gave up after receiving a look from Zhou Chang'an.
She handed Qin Hanshu a plate of sliced watermelon, saying, "Take this home and eat it."
And so, Qin Hanshu, carrying a plate of watermelon, was seen off by the Zhou family as they left through the gate.
It wasn't until the scorching sun beat down on her that she came to her senses, looking at the plate of watermelon in her hand and shaking her head helplessly.
When she arrived, she hesitated about whether to bring something with her. In the end, she remembered what Zhang Yao had said: Zhou Chang'an was a person who cherished his reputation very much. If she brought a gift and was seen by others, it might backfire, so she gave up on bringing a gift.
To everyone's surprise, in the end, she took a plate of watermelon from the Zhou family instead.
However, I've already incurred this debt, and I'll have to find a chance to repay it later.
Qin Hanshu ate watermelon as she walked back, and by the time she finished walking, she had almost finished the watermelon.
She ate the last piece of watermelon and walked into the courtyard of the educated youth settlement, only to find it bustling with activity.
"I specifically saved that toilet paper... what am I going to do if you use it all up?!"
"It's just a little bit of toilet paper. Look at how stingy you are."
"I'm stingy? You used my things without permission, and you're calling me stingy?!"
The two people arguing were Zhao Ru and Liao Yujie.
Liao Yujie was among the first group of educated youth to be sent to Haowan Village. Before that, she lived in the homes of the villagers. She had only been in the educated youth settlement for a few days, and Qin Hanshu had only met her once before, without ever speaking to her.
Liao Yujie and Zhao Ru shared a cave dwelling. Apart from Zhao Ru buying an iron pot and bowls, they hadn't bought anything else. When Liao Yujie entered the cave dwelling, she was carrying a box of clothes and personal belongings.
The educated youth had all heard of Liao Yujie's reputation beforehand. It was only a matter of time before the two had a conflict.
Upon closer inspection, Liao Yujie is quite pretty, with delicate eyebrows and eyes that give her a classic and elegant look. However, her roguish and mean expression completely ruins her beauty.
On the other hand, Zhao Ru was crying and sobbing, looking like she had been bullied badly, which made her even more pitiful.
Qin Hanshu glanced at it and then looked away—it was none of her business.
Ignoring Zhao Ru's pleading gaze, Qin Hanshu went straight into the cave. However, she couldn't shut her ears; she could still hear the sounds outside.
Liao Yujie's disdainful voice rang out.
"Look at your shabby appearance. You make a fuss over a little toilet paper as if you've lost gold and silver. Even the beggar under the overpass outside my house is more generous than you."
Zhao Ru cried in anger, "Yes, I'm poor, so if you're so generous, don't use mine!"
Liao Yujie was thick-skinned and said confidently, "I'm doing you a favor by using your services! I wouldn't even bother using other people's services if they begged me."
Zhao Ru looked left and right, wanting someone to help her, but the male educated youths were keeping their distance, and Qin Hanshu completely ignored her...
Fortunately, Zhang Kangmei and Zhang Yao, who had gone out to dig for wild vegetables, returned.
As if she had found a savior, Zhao Ru rushed over and pulled Zhang Kangmei and Zhang Yao aside to complain.
Zhang Yao frowned slightly but didn't say anything.
Zhang Kangmei, however, was a person with a sense of justice, and immediately said to Liao Yujie, "You despise Zhao Ru for being poor? Liao Yujie, what is your social class? How dare you look down on poor people?"
Liao Yujie, however, remained unfazed. "Which ear of yours heard me say I look down on poor people? You believe everything she says?"
"You, you..." Zhao Ru pointed at Liao Yujie, too angry to speak.
Liao Yujie, on the contrary, got excited and imitated Zhao Ru's crying and sobbing manner, slapping her thigh and shouting:
"Oh God, why is my life so miserable? Everyone seems to want to bully me! They just open their mouths and start accusing me, how am I supposed to live? Waaaaaah..."
This was the first time Zhang Kangmei had ever seen someone act so shamelessly, and she was momentarily stunned.
Liao Yujie, however, went even further, and seeing that the other party was not good at arguing at all, she got even more into cursing.
"What's wrong with you three? You think you can bully me just because you outnumber me? You sons of bitches, daring to accuse me! I, Qing'er, have never been afraid of anyone. Do you know how many people I smashed with bricks during the Wu-Double War?" Liao Yujie raised her palm proudly and said, "These hands have seen blood!"
Seeing that she had also been insulted, Zhang Yao retorted, "So what if you've seen blood? Do you want to give us a taste of it too?"
Liao Yujie glanced at Zhang Yao disdainfully and deliberately said, "What are you saying that I don't understand? Are you speaking Mandarin?"
Zhang Yao speaks with a strong Yizhou accent. It wasn't a big deal when she was in her hometown, but after being sent to the countryside, she encountered people from the capital. Compared to them, she couldn't help but feel a little inferior about her accent.
It has to be said that Liao Yujie has a knack for pointing out people's weaknesses. Zhang Yao immediately felt too embarrassed to speak again.
Liao Yujie was smugly proud of her fighting prowess.
None of them are good enough to fight.
Just then, Qin Hanshu came out of the cave dwelling and went to fetch water from the urn by the courtyard.
The brigade placed two large earthenware jars by the courtyard of the educated youth settlement. One jar contained rainwater, which was used for daily water use, and the other contained well water, which was used for drinking, which was carried by the educated youth themselves.
Qin Hanshu uses a lot of water from her spatial storage, but she still needs to fetch some water from it occasionally.
Liao Yujie sized up Qin Hanshu and saw that she was soft-bodied, fair-skinned, and delicate, and looked like someone who was easy to bully.
Lost in the act of killing, Liao Yujie spat on the ground as Qin Hanshu passed by, only to accidentally spit it into the bucket Qin Hanshu was fetching water from.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Liao Yujie said with a cheeky grin. "I didn't mean to."
"Didn't you do it on purpose?" Qin Hanshu turned to Liao Yujie, and suddenly, picked up the half-bucket of water in his hand and poured it over Liao Yujie's head.
Then he said slowly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
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