Chapter 33: Taking on a Job
Seeing that the matter was settled, Chen Miaomiao turned sideways and pointed in the direction of the private plot outside the door and said:
"The loofahs in the vegetable garden will become old if we don't eat them soon. I was thinking, why not pick them all? It just so happens that loofahs are part of the collective rations at the educated youth camp. We can ask the male educated youth to bring their rations over for dinner and eat together so we can bond."
"What are you looking at?" Chen Miaomiao asked gently.
Gu Ying nodded. "I think it's okay, but with more people, the workload will be greater. Chen Zhiqing, you may have to work hard."
Chen Miaomiao chuckled and shyly glanced at the people in the room. "It's okay, it's all my responsibility. Besides, don't we take turns cooking? It doesn't matter if we cook a day earlier or a day later."
Lu Miao rolled his eyes speechlessly, put his chin in his hand and turned his face away.
Chen Miaomiao called on the male educated youth to help pick loofahs. From time to time, the voices of idle chatter and the male educated youth praising Chen Miaomiao could be heard outside the door. Lu Miao felt annoyed and his slender brows furrowed.
"What's wrong? Are you still unhappy?" Ren Bingxin smiled and gently pushed her. "When it's your turn, I'll help you."
Lu Miao was a little unhappy, but not because of this.
She simply thought that Chen Miaomiao's words were disgusting. It would have been fine if she just wanted to show off, but she had to say this. Who was she blatantly pointing fingers at?
So she is the only one who is beautiful, kind-hearted and positive, while others are just taking advantage of the situation and being hands-off?
"Okay, don't be angry!"
"I'm not angry." Lu Miao sat up straight, shook his head and tossed his hair back, "But I probably won't be eating at the educated youth camp for many more meals."
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
Lu Miao said, "Didn't Gu Ying say before that we could discuss asking the members to cook for us? Instead of working hard and then having to listen to those sarcastic words, why not give them some money and food so that they can have some peace and quiet?"
Ren Bingxin nodded. "Chen Miaomiao is indeed exaggerating. Everyone has busy and idle times, so we can all take care of each other. Besides, there are only a few loofahs in the vegetable garden, and the other vegetables haven't grown yet. Our daily rations are either steamed or stewed, which can be done together with boiling water."
If the work is really arranged in shifts, the old educated youth who have too much work to do will be the first to be unable to handle it all, and conflicts and disputes are bound to arise sooner or later.
Lu Miao didn't care. He picked up a strand of hair and played with it unconsciously. "Let her be. As long as she is willing to take on the work and doesn't feel tired, it's fine. I can't control her anyway."
In other words, Chen Miaomiao should forget about interfering in her affairs.
"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. When you go find a team member to share a meal with, don't jump to conclusions too quickly. Look around to avoid being at a disadvantage."
Lu Miao nodded, "I know."
There was an extra dish of stir-fried loofah on the dinner table, plus a large bowl of loofah soup. There were so many people in the room that everyone had their own staple food, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, sorghum rice, etc. There was everything.
The male educated youth had been eating the dark dishes they made during this period, and it was rare for them to have a proper meal. They all looked at Chen Miaomiao as if they had seen a fairy savior:
"Chen Zhiqing, you finally saved us! I've been eating so much charcoal potatoes and charcoal sweet potatoes these past few days that I'm almost vomiting!"
Xu Yao jokingly said, "Is that a potato or sweet potato? If you hadn't told me, I would have thought I was eating carbon!"
"It's not that exaggerated..."
Chen Miaomiao really enjoyed the attention. She ate the steamed potatoes in small bites and took the opportunity to curry favor: "If you can't cook, you can bring your rations over when I cook. I'll make them for you as well. It's not a big deal."
"Really?"
"I'm good at working in the fields, but I'm really not good at cooking. I used to rely on Gu Ying and Yang Xiaojing, two female comrades. Now there are more people, and I feel a little embarrassed to trouble them again... Chen Zhiqing, if you could help, that would be great!"
Chen Miaomiao glanced at Lu Miao calmly, nodded shyly and said:
"I'm also very happy to be able to help everyone, as long as you don't mind my poor cooking skills!"
"How could that be?"
The dinner table was very lively, and the male educated youth begged Chen Miaomiao to help them cook while she was cooking.
However, none of this has anything to do with Lu Miao.
Lu Miao ate brown rice today. There are many types of rations, and the only way to prepare them that suits all of them is steaming.
She followed Gu Ying's instructions, washed the brown rice, soaked it, added a little water, and put it into the pot together with the lunch box to steam.
In the end, it was cooked through after steaming, but I don’t know if it was because the brown rice was too coarse or because it was not steamed well enough, but the rice grains were distinct and very hard.
After taking a bite, Lu Miao found it hard to swallow.
The male educated youth all boasted about Chen Miaomiao’s cooking skills, but the seasoning was just a little oil and salt, so how good could it be?
Lu Miao neither praised nor criticized. Although her rice was hard, she ate a lot of the salty soup mixed with loofah. She thought that Chen Miaomiao had done a good job on this meal.
After the meal, the male and female educated youth went back to their respective places. However, before leaving, the male educated youth mentioned the news they heard when they got off work today:
"The team leader said we'll have a day off tomorrow. The production team will be busy for a while, and the next day off will probably be after the busy farming and harvest season next month. The team leader wants us to buy anything we need while we have time tomorrow, otherwise even if we ask for leave later, the team won't approve it."
"Okay, let's go to town tomorrow."
Gu Ying thanked them. After the male educated youth left, the girls immediately became excited:
"So are you going? To town?"
"Of course I'll go! Even if I don't buy anything, I'll still go for a look."
"Okay, let's go too. We just got here and don't know the way around here!"
The girls chatted a lot and agreed to set off early the next morning, go early and come back early. The distance was not short, so they would not be exposed to the sun on the way there and back.
Be it money or tickets, Lu Miao has made sufficient preparations, just waiting to kill everyone and do something big, it would be best to buy back everything that is currently lacking, can be used, or can be purchased.
The same goes for other people. Whoever has extra tickets or needs them will exchange them with each other.
The next day, at dawn, everyone at the educated youth site got up and set off in the dew and mottled fog before sunrise.
Chen Miaomiao was the last one to come out of the house. It seemed that she got up late, but when she appeared in everyone's sight, she caused quite a bit of discussion.
Everyone looked at Chen Miaomiao, then turned to look at Lu Miao.
Lu Miao tilted his head in confusion, and when he turned back, his brows couldn't help but frown slightly.
Ren Bingxin couldn't bear it any longer, so she pushed Lu Miao and muttered softly, "Miao Miao, isn't she imitating you?"
Chen Miaomiao seemed to be imitating Lu Miao from the day before. She didn't braid her hair into a pigtail today, but instead tied it up into a high ponytail at the back of her head.
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