Around four o'clock in the afternoon, it was time to finish work, and the group of people dragged their heavy steps back to the educated youth settlement.
Today it was Ye Chen'er and Li Ping's turn to cook, but they had already used up all the firewood this morning when they were boiling water and cooking.
The two men picked up their machetes and ropes and headed towards the mountainside, with Ye Chenming and Li Qiang following behind with buckets of water.
Liu Limin glanced at Zhang Dali, then got up and went out to help Li Ping and the others gather firewood.
After the group had filled the water tank and gathered enough firewood, it was already getting dark. Li Ping quickly lit a fire in the stove.
Ye Chen'er also took out the vegetables and meat she bought yesterday, as well as everyone's coarse grains, and started cooking rice and dishes.
When the aroma of food wafted out, the three people came out of the room with their lunchboxes.
Ye Chen'er divided the food equally, and Wang Yan and Tian Fang took their lunchboxes back to their rooms to eat.
Li Ping pouted: "Chen Ming, you said that everyone has to go and collect firewood every day, but how can they accumulate firewood like this?"
Ye Chenming frowned. He didn't like people calling him Chenming; that was what his family called him.
But now, at this critical juncture, he couldn't afford to cause trouble. He could only suppress his displeasure and say calmly:
"Let's wait and see for two more days. If they're still like this, we'll break up with them."
Zhang Dali quickly said, "Liu Limin, I won't take a break tomorrow at noon to make up for today's portion."
Liu Limin nodded. All he wanted to do right now was wash up and go to bed. His hands hurt, his feet hurt, and his whole body ached.
Ye Chenming glanced at them and said, "Let's boil some water and soak our feet to relieve some fatigue."
The group perked up. Li Ping and Ye Chen'er went to boil water and washed the dishes, while Liu Limin helped pour the water.
Li Qiang and Ye Chenming checked how much firewood they had left, enough to at least cover their needs for tomorrow morning.
Two pots of water were boiled, one for the two girls and one for the four men. The conditions were tough, so they had to make do.
By the time they had cleaned themselves up, they were too exhausted to even take a step. They didn't want to do laundry or even say a word.
Ye Chenming didn't let them off the hook. Everyone had blisters on their palms. They had to pop the blisters tonight and apply medicine powder so they would feel better tomorrow.
Tomorrow I'll ask the village chief if he has any farm tools like hoes or shovels; I can buy or borrow them.
After Wang Yan and Tian Fang finished eating, they planned to wait a while before washing the lunchbox, but they ended up falling asleep while waiting. When they woke up the next day, the mud on their clothes had fallen onto the blanket.
I hurriedly got up and shook the blanket, but when I touched it, I felt a sharp pain. It turned out that some blisters had broken and, without any medicine, they were already red, swollen, and inflamed.
The two of them didn't even bother to shake out their blankets and ran out to clean themselves up, only to find the other educated youth eating their breakfasts from their lunchboxes.
The two women blushed, realizing they had overslept, as it was their turn to cook today's meal.
Just as she was about to say something, Li Ping took the lunchbox from Ye Chen'er's hand, put all the remaining breakfast in the pot into the lunchbox, and then efficiently washed the pot and dishes.
Tian Fang couldn't hold back any longer: "Li Ping, what do you mean? Are you trying to prevent us from eating by packing breakfast in lunchboxes?"
Ye Chen'er smiled: "We didn't cook breakfast for you today. Your food and vegetables are already in that room."
Wang Yan sensed something was wrong and quickly grabbed Ye Chenming's hand, saying, "Ye Chenming, we didn't mean to yesterday. We just wanted to rest for a bit, but we fell asleep right away."
Ye Chenming quickly shook off her hand. How could this woman be so handsy? She was so annoying.
Li Ping immediately became furious: "Wang Yan, you can talk, but why are you getting physical?"
Wang Yan glanced at Li Ping sideways: "I didn't do it on purpose, why are you so nervous? Ye Chenming isn't your boyfriend."
Li Ping is so angry!!!
Ye Chen'er glanced at the two of them, silently took the lunchbox to her room, and locked the door with a click.
Li Qiang followed suit, locking the door and grabbing the only wood-chopping knife before heading out.
Tian Fang quickly washed her face and brushed her teeth. She didn't have a watch and didn't know how to tell time, so she decided to go early to avoid being late and losing points.
Wang Yan originally wanted to dawdle, but seeing Tian Fang's appearance, she knew her plan had failed, so she could only follow along to wash her face and brush her teeth, though she used cold water.
Fortunately, it's only late September, so the cold water is still usable.
The two rushed to the field, where everyone had already started working. Ye Chenming found the village chief and asked to buy farm tools.
The village chief was stunned for a moment. The villagers' farm tools all belonged to their own families, while the farm tools for the educated youth should have been distributed by the village. The village chief had forgotten about it because of the piglets.
He led Ye Chenming and a few young men to the village committee warehouse, unlocked it, and found some farm tools inside, but they were all quite old and worn.
Ye Chenming and the others were very happy. Even if it was old and worn, it was better than using their own hands. So, they took some hoes, shovels, and even machetes and sickles.
The village chief didn't say anything, just let them take it. It would just gather dust here anyway, so it would be better to let the kids do the work.
They were asked to write down the details in the register and sign their names. As for the four female educated youths, Ye Chenming signed on their behalf.
With the help of farm tools, weeding was done much faster today. Before noon, Ye Chen'er and Li Ping rushed back to cook, while Ye Chenming and the three boys went to chop firewood.
They needed to stockpile enough firewood before winter arrived, since they had learned from the villagers yesterday that the winters here were particularly cold.
The quilts he and his sister brought were for spring and autumn, so they needed to find a way to get two more quilts, since they had money and ration coupons.
Tian Fang and Wang Yan were furious. It was just one instance of laziness; was it really necessary to be so serious about it?
"Wang Yan, let's just work together from now on. You go gather firewood, and I'll cook."
Wang Yan nodded and walked towards the mountainside, but in her heart she was thinking about how to get along with Ye Chenming and the others.
I remember being stunned by Ye Chenming's beauty when I was waiting for someone to pick me up at the train station. I couldn't believe there was such a handsome man in the world—no, I should say a boy.
Everyone was around fifteen or sixteen years old; even Liu Limin, the oldest, was only eighteen.
However, if she rashly tried to please Ye Chenming and the others, Tian Fang would definitely be unhappy. If Ye Chenming didn't appreciate it, she would be left isolated and helpless.
Sigh, life is tough, but you can get through it if you just tough it out. But living in constant fear and anxiety is the real hardship.
Ye Chen'er had eaten all the vegetables and meat she had bought, and apart from a dozen or so eggs, they had no vegetables left to eat tonight.
Should we buy some more from the villagers? But we're new here and don't know anyone. Maybe we should buy from the Yan family instead?
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