This time, Ye Chen'er didn't want to go to the Yan family. She had seen that village girl herself; she had made herself look like a ghost, all filthy.
Liu Limin and Zhang Dali volunteered, saying they had never really seen a rural family before and would like to take a look.
Ye Chenming took out a dollar and suggested that everyone take out a dollar to buy more at once, otherwise they might not find it troublesome, but others would complain.
Liu Limin's lips twitched slightly. His family wasn't well-off, and he had a lot of younger siblings. When he came, his family only gave him ten yuan.
Zhang Dali was also having second thoughts; if they continued eating like this, how much money would they be spending each month?
Ye Chenming realized his mistake and quickly tried to smooth things over: "We're new here and don't know anything, so I want to get through this difficult time."
Li Ping nodded: "Chen Ming is right. Once we're familiar with the place, we can plant some vegetables and raise a couple of chicks in the back."
Liu Limin spoke up: "Ye Chenming, I only have ten yuan in my pocket. I spent one yuan and twenty-five cents the day before yesterday, and two yuan on the train. Now I only have six yuan left. How am I going to live?"
Ye Chenming took out five yuan from his pocket and handed it to Liu Limin: "Keep it for now, and pay me back when you have enough points. If you think it's too wasteful to eat together, you can split the bill."
Liu Limin pushed Ye Chenming's hand away: "I know you mean well, but I still have some surplus food. I'll ask you for more when I need it."
Li Qiang said, "How about I get some vegetables? People in the countryside all have their own pickled vegetables. We've had meat these past few days, so let's have it once a month from now on, and eat vegetables the rest of the time."
Zhang Dali nodded: "That's good. My family usually eats pickled vegetables, and we only have meat during festivals like Chinese New Year."
Ye Chenming nodded. Every family has a different life, and we can't use our own standards to judge others.
If I crave meat, I have some braised meat in my bag. I can ask my sister to cook it for me, and I'm sure no one will say anything.
As a result, Zhang Dali and Li Qiang went to the Yan family's house. Cuihua opened the door for them and frowned slightly when she saw that they were two newly arrived educated youths.
"Auntie, we'd like to exchange some pickles or vegetables. We're new here and not familiar with the area, so we'll have to trouble you."
Li Qiang greeted them immediately, his words incredibly sweet. Grandma Yan came out and glanced at them.
"Cuihua, give them a jar of the pickled cabbage you gave them last time. Poor thing, they left home at such a young age."
Cuihua "..."
I charged them two cents for a jar of pickled vegetables and told them to bring the jar back to exchange it after they finished eating it.
Grandma Yan also gave them some sweet potatoes and potatoes from her home. They were all children, and they looked about the same age as Bei Nan. Then she left home.
Li Qiang almost burst into tears. Grandma Yan was such a kind person, much better than his own biased grandmother.
Liu Limin was even happier, because this way, the money he had on hand should be enough to cover his work points by the end of the year.
Liu Limin and Li Qiang returned to the educated youth settlement with a large pile of things. When everyone learned how kind Grandma Yan was, they were all extremely grateful.
Looking at their slightly red eyes, Ye Chenming sighed inwardly, realizing that different environments require different things.
Just like now, people can feel happy as long as there is a little bit of love.
Liu Limin asked Ye Chen'er to peel the sweet potatoes so he could make steamed sweet potato rice for everyone, served with pickled cabbage. He said it would be enough to eat two big bowls.
The sweet and soft sweet potato paired with cornmeal actually tasted quite delicious, and the pickled cabbage I scooped out was so tasty!
Wang Yan looked at Tian Fang and said, "Look how much they're enjoying their food. Why don't we go and apologize?"
Tian Fang and Wang Yan did not cook; they ate the dry rations they had brought with them.
But how much dry food could they possibly have? It would only last a week. Tian Fang was tempted, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.
"You go if you want, I won't go if you do."
Wang Yan was waiting for Tian Fang to say those words, so she quickly ran out. This time she was smarter and went straight to find Ye Chen'er.
"Chen'er, we're all educated youth, wouldn't it be a laughing stock for the villagers if we split into two teams like this? Why don't we stay together? I'll finish the work I missed."
Ye Chen'er was caught off guard when Wang Yan approached her, and could only look around at the people around her.
Liu Limin did the math: two cents divided among eight people would be less than three cents, while divided among six people would be more than three cents. He decided to put them together.
Zhang Dali nodded in agreement. It was a waste of firewood to cook twice for just a few people. It was fine for a day or two, but it would get awkward and pointless if it went on for too long.
Ye Chenming nodded in agreement. They were all children who had traveled thousands of miles from home, so there was no need to be so serious.
Wang Yan bowed to them, took out her and Tian Fang's grain, and poured it into the collective rice bag.
Then he took out his lunchbox, filled it for himself, filled it for Tian Fang, and got some pickles before going back inside to eat.
Actually, Wang Yan wanted to eat with everyone, but she was worried that Tian Fang would get angry. The two of them lived in the same room, and if they kept suffocating each other, they wouldn't be able to live together. Sigh, she was exhausted.
The farce has temporarily come to an end. Although Tian Fang did not apologize, she demonstrated her sincerity through her actions.
When it's her turn to cook, she takes it very seriously. Although the taste of the food is not exactly flattering, do you really expect it to taste like steak when it's low in meat and oil?
She didn't neglect chopping firewood either; the amount of firewood she collected and chopped was no less than that of several male educated youths.
On the other hand, Wang Yan always speaks the sweetest words, but when it comes to work, there are always subtle signs of her shirking her duties. You really want to find out, but you can't bring yourself to say it.
Liu Limin and Zhang Dali also sowed some vegetable seeds in the courtyard of the educated youth settlement. These seeds were given to them by Grandma Yan.
It was only because Yan Xiaonan secretly told Grandma Yan: "Grandma, these educated youths will live here for at least ten years, and if they get married, they will live here for a lifetime."
Grandma Yan was so surprised. She thought she would never see her family again. Heaven help her.
October arrived in the blink of an eye, and it was time to sow winter wheat, so the villagers began to get busy again.
Yan Xiaoqiang and Cuihua were busy in the fields all day long, and Xinan, Tang Xiaoling, Beinan and Yan Xiaonan also joined in the sowing.
The group of educated youth finally saw Yan Xiaonan's true colors. Ye Chen'er even dropped her work and ran up to Yan Xiaonan to take a closer look.
The more I look at her, the more I like her. How can this girl be so beautiful? Her skin is so fair and smooth that you can hardly see any pores.
“I am an educated youth from Shanghai. My name is Ye Chen’er. I am fourteen years old. And that is my brother Ye Chenming. He is fifteen years old.”
Yan Xiaonan froze. Shanghai, his hometown from his previous life.
Following Ye Chen'er's finger, Yan Xiaonan looked at Ye Chenming. Her heart pounded, and she knew she was doomed; she had developed a face-obsessed syndrome.
When Ye Chenming saw Yan Xiaonan, he was also shaken. She was just like a fairy in a fairy tale. He wanted to hug her.
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