Lu Chunping glanced at Xu Xinning and her brother, then looked at Mu Jingheng with red eyes and tears welling up, as if Mu Jingheng were a heartless man. Her appearance... if her face didn't look so incongruous, it might really arouse the pity of the onlookers.
Mu Jingheng got goosebumps all over from being stared at. He rubbed his arms exaggeratedly and moved a few steps closer to Xu Xinning and her brother.
Lu Chunping was already very jealous, and seeing Mu Jingheng's little tricks made her feel even more aggrieved.
Tears that were about to fall burst forth like a dam breaking, streaming down her face. Pointing in the direction of Xu Xinning and her brother, she accused them, "Poor and remote places breed unruly people, and I've seen it for myself today. We came to the countryside to build a better society in response to the country's call, not to be bullied by you. If you don't like us educated youth, you can just tell the educated youth office not to accept us. Is it necessary to bully people like this?"
Lu Chunping's remark, "Poor mountains and bad waters breed unruly people," angered the elderly onlookers. Although Lu Chunping spoke Mandarin, which the older folks didn't quite understand, fortunately, she was from Haishi. To show her superiority as a Haishi native, she mixed in Haishi dialect. Qinghai County isn't far from Haishi, and many dialects are quite similar, so the elderly people who couldn't speak Mandarin understood Lu Chunping's meaning through a combination of guessing and observing her expressions.
Lu Chunping was quite clever; she rallied all the educated youth to her side, transforming what was clearly a conflict between herself and others into a conflict between the villagers and the educated youth.
Mu Jingheng knows Lu Chunping better than anyone else. His stepmother is the same kind of person—stupid and wicked.
Mu Jingheng glared at Lu Chunping and said coldly, "How interesting. You're being pretentious and people are saying you want to drag all of us educated youth down with you. I think this younger brother is too lenient. Someone like you, who always acts like a capitalist's daughter, doesn't deserve to be sent to the countryside. Why don't you have the educated youth office re-examine where you should go?"
This label of "capitalist's daughter" is no joke; if Lu Chunping were to be labeled with it, her life would be over.
“If you don’t want to come, then don’t come. You don’t look like someone who can do the work. Our brigade’s food rations don’t come from thin air.”
"That's right, we can't waste our food on people like this. They look down on us and still want to eat our food. It's against all reason."
“Scarface, send this girl back. Our brigade doesn’t need this kind of person.”
"Old Xu's kid is so good. He could have been a leisurely barefoot doctor, but he insisted on finding work and doing the work of several people. This educated youth came and wanted to order people around. Does he really think that he has no temper?"
"Let's go, let's go. What educated youth or not? Our brigade doesn't need that."
Lu Chunping has successfully aroused public outrage.
Seeing that things were not going well, Wang Yaqin, although she also disliked Lu Chunping's behavior, decided to step in and mediate since they were all educated youth from the same place.
"Everyone, grandpas and grandmas, we're so sorry. We're new here, and it hasn't been easy for us. We haven't even had a proper place to stay yet, and we haven't even had a sip of water. Some of you have already gotten upset. Please forgive her because she's young and doesn't know any better. We're here to support rural development. Now that we're here, we'll definitely follow the team's arrangements and do our best to keep up. If there's anything we don't understand, please teach us. We'll definitely learn humbly."
Regardless, Wang Yaqin's attitude was quite good, and the emotions of the elderly people watching were also calmed down.
Scarface didn't want to escalate the situation, and his silence earlier was intended to dampen Lu Chunping's arrogance. He had long disliked Lu Chunping; she was unattractive and troublesome, and he had spoiled her rotten.
Scarface: "Alright, alright, hurry up and get ready. We're busy with work in the fields, and I don't have time to linger here. I still need to go record my work points later. Ningning will take you to collect your grain later. You can rest tomorrow. Go to the supply and marketing cooperative to get any subsidies you need. You'll start work the day after tomorrow. Don't say you didn't buy everything and need to ask for leave. Once you officially start working, you can't just ask for leave anytime."
Lu Chunping was quite docile at this moment; she was still a little scared after the commotion she had just witnessed.
Actually, Lu Chunping's family background wasn't good. Although her family wasn't well-off, they had a lot of connections overseas. So when they were in Shanghai, they kept a low profile, afraid that others would find out. Perhaps because they had been suppressing their feelings for too long, Lu Chunping suddenly felt that she had an advantage again when she came to the countryside. Moreover, she had taken a liking to Mu Jingheng, so she couldn't control her temper for a moment.
Xu Xinning sat on the tractor without saying a word. When the educated youth quieted down, she turned to Xu Laosan and asked, "You got out of school so early?"
When Xu Laosan saw that things were not going well, he wanted to run away. His parents were busy with work and might not find out that he was skipping class, but his sister was very shrewd!
Xu Laosan: "Sister, you're busy. I need to hurry up the mountain. The honey hasn't been harvested yet. I have to hurry and harvest it, or someone else might harvest it all."
Before Xu Laosan could finish speaking, he had already run off.
Judging from Xu Laosan's guilty look, Xu Xinning is sure he skipped class again.
Xu Laosan is someone who only learns from mistakes and never remembers them. He's always so inconsistent in his studies, which is ridiculous.
Xu Laosan was incredibly fast; he almost bumped into someone while squeezing out of the crowd.
Just as Xu Laosan was about to run away, someone grabbed him. When Xu Laosan stopped, he saw that the person who grabbed him was his second uncle's cousin, Xu Daya.
Xu Daya is the same age as Xu Xinning, but two months younger. However, the treatment she receives at home is vastly different from Xu Xinning's, simply because she has a mother who severely favors boys over girls. Because of this, Xu Daya is insanely jealous of Xu Xinning, to the point of being twisted.
Although Xu Daya disliked Xu Xinning intensely, she never showed it on the surface and usually acted as if they were close sisters.
Before Xu Xinning remembered her past life, she and Xu Daya seemed to have endless things to talk about every time she returned to her hometown. But since she regained her memories, she has matured and Xu Daya's little schemes have not escaped Xu Xinning's eyes. So after her whole family returned, Xu Xinning did not get close to Xu Daya, but they still maintained a polite distance on the surface.
Xu Daya knew that the educated youth coming to the city today, so she made an excuse about having a stomachache and came back halfway through her workday. She wanted to see if there were any eligible male educated youths. She was eighteen this year and it was time for her to get married.
What was Xu Daya jealous of Xu Xinning about? Besides the doting of her family, it was also the sixteen years she spent living in the military compound.
Xu Daya longed for this kind of life that she considered superior. She thought that if she married an educated youth, perhaps one day she could also become a city dweller, and then she could be better off than Xu Xinning, who was now living in the countryside.
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