"Are you alright?" He was fine after being hit, but the person who hit him almost fell to the ground.
Zhou Sui quickly reached out to support her and also recognized who this person was.
Zhang Xiaoqing, a girl from the same village, was my classmate in high school, but we didn't talk much during those three years.
"No, I'm fine." Zhang Xiaoqing seemed relieved to see Zhou Sui and steadied herself by supporting herself on Zhou Sui's arm.
Zhou Sui noticed that although she said she was fine, her complexion wasn't good; she was probably startled by the sudden bump into someone.
In the past, the conversation might have ended there, but Zhou Sui's mindset had changed drastically, and she took the initiative to speak.
"You've already gathered pig feed?" Zhang Xiaoqing's bamboo basket on her back was already more than half full of pig feed.
"Hmm." Zhang Xiaoqing was an extremely introverted person, and her voice was even softer than Zhou Sui's. She glanced at Zhou Sui's back and asked, "Are you going to gather pig feed too?"
"Yes, I think your pig feed is pretty good. Where did you get it?"
There are several hills along this road, and Zhou Sui, who hasn't cut pig feed for many years, has almost forgotten where the pig feed is the fattest.
"I just hailed a taxi anywhere down the hillside," Zhang Xiaoqing said, her head slightly lowered.
Seeing that she spoke so vaguely, Zhou Sui did not press further. Although it was worthless pig feed, everyone would want to give the best to their own family.
"Okay, I'll head over now." Just as Zhou Sui was about to leave, Zhang Xiaoqing suddenly called out to her again.
"Zhou Sui".
"The right side, that hillside on the right, the pig feed there is good."
Zhou Sui was momentarily surprised, but she still smiled and thanked Zhang Xiaoqing, "Okay, thank you."
"No need." A hint of unease flashed across Zhang Xiaoqing's face, and then she lowered her eyelids again.
Zhou Sui waved to her and walked towards the hillside on the right. Zhang Xiaoqing watched her departing figure, her eyes flickered, her mouth opened slightly, but in the end, she didn't say anything.
Her hand, hanging by her side, unconsciously gripped her trouser leg, a faint red mark appearing around her wrist. Zhang Xiaoqing withdrew her gaze and quickly left the place as if fleeing.
She hadn't gone far when someone called out to her, "Zhang Xiaoqing, Zhang Xiaoqing."
She turned around and saw her younger brother, Zhang Guangzong, who was treated like royalty at home.
Zhang Guangzong walked with four or five boys of similar age, some from his own village and others from other villages. These boys, like Zhang Guangzong, looked like hooligans.
As Zhang Guangzong drew closer, Zhang Xiaoqing's eyes were filled with disgust.
"Zhang Xiaoqing, give me some money." Zhang Guangzong said to his companions and ran towards his sister.
The first thing she asked for was money, and Zhang Xiaoqing said calmly, "I don't have any money." But she sounded unsure of herself.
"You're lying. You've been working in town, how could you not have money?" Zhang Guangzong clearly didn't believe him. He had already told his good brothers that he would take them out to eat as soon as he got the money from his sister.
Going back empty-handed now would only make him a laughingstock among his brothers.
"We haven't paid the workers yet," Zhang Xiaoqing said, trying to sound calm.
“You’re lying.” Zhang Guangzong clearly knew his sister very well. “Are you going to give it to me or not? If you don’t, I’ll go back and tell Mom and Dad that you secretly hid your wages and didn’t give them to the family.”
Zhang Guangzong's words made Zhang Xiaoqing raise her head in disbelief. How could he know that she had been so careful?
"See, you do have it, but you still tried to fool me." Zhang Guangzong was very happy that he had succeeded in his trick and stretched out his hand to Zhang Xiaoqing.
"Hurry up, or I'll go back and tell my parents right now, and they'll definitely beat you to death."
"Zhang Guangzong, you!" Zhang Xiaoqing couldn't express her anger in words, so she could only glare at Zhang Guangzong, but he didn't take it seriously at all and instead urged her impatiently.
"Hurry up, are you going to give me a word or not?"
Zhang Xiaoqing really didn't want to give away this money. It was money she had worked hard to earn with her own labor. Giving it to Zhang Guangzong would only result in him squandering it without her any appreciation.
But if she doesn't give it to him, and he really goes home to complain, then her fact that she's working two jobs outside will be exposed, and she won't be able to keep a single penny of her wages from now on.
Left with no other choice, Zhang Xiaoqing carefully took the money out of her inner pocket. Zhang Guangzong saw the money and snatched it from her hand.
“You can’t take it all.” Zhang Xiaoqing grabbed his arm quickly. “If you take it, I won’t have any use for it when I get back to town.”
"If the restaurant doesn't provide food and lodging, what else do you need?" Zhang Guangzong curled his lip, complaining that the money here wasn't enough; it was barely enough for a meal.
"Leave some for me." Girls always have things they need, and Zhang Xiaoqing couldn't say it directly, but she stubbornly held Zhang Guangzong's hand to prevent him from leaving.
Just then, his companion called Zhang Guangzong's name from not far away. "You stingy guy!" he snorted heavily, pulled out some loose bills from the neatly arranged banknotes and threw them out, then shook off Zhang Xiaoqing's hand and ran away.
Zhang Xiaoqing hurriedly squatted down and picked up the 10-cent coin, carefully putting it into her inner pocket to hide it, afraid that it would be discovered when she got home.
When Zhang Xiaoqing caught a glimpse of her slightly swollen wrist out of the corner of her eye, tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.
She looked back at the path she had come from, but her eyes were blurred with tears and she could no longer see clearly.
At this moment, Zhou Sui had already arrived at the halfway point. After leaving the village in her previous life, she had lived a rather repressed life. Now, just standing on this halfway point, looking at the flowers, plants, and trees, she felt so refreshed and relaxed.
"It's good to be alive," Zhou Sui murmured, taking a sickle from her basket and starting to work.
The pig feed here is indeed as lush and delicious as Zhang Xiaoqing described.
Seeing the pig feed, Zhou Sui couldn't help but laugh. Who would have thought that this feed for pigs would become a dish on the dinner table more than ten years later, and at a price that wasn't cheap?
This simply means that people from different eras pursue different things.
As she was pondering this, Zhou Sui vaguely felt a gaze upon her. She turned around suspiciously and glanced back a few times, but found nothing.
Zhou Sui straightened up and looked around again. She could vaguely see the villagers working not far away, but the people below her position might not be able to see her.
For some reason, Zhou Sui suddenly felt uneasy, and that unease strongly reminded her to leave!
Before Zhou Sui could think, she bent down to gather the grass on the ground when a shadow fell over her. "Zhou family girl, gathering pig feed?"
Zhou Sui turned around and saw a scaly face smiling at her. The eyes, which were as big as mung beans, were squinted into slits because of the smile, making it look somewhat frightening.
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