Chapter 23 But I just happen to like arguing, or else…
After walking over, Su Tangtang and the others inquired and learned that the large stage was set up because an elderly person in the village was celebrating their 90th birthday, and their children had specially invited the performers to put on a show to celebrate.
"How many days will the opera last?" Su Tangtang then asked a smiling old man.
The old man replied, "For three whole days!"
Su Tangtang responded and turned to Zhou Yan, saying, "Let's come and listen then."
Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Okay."
They joined in the fun for a while, then continued walking along the path leading to the fields, chatting and laughing as they went, enjoying themselves leisurely.
-
The next day, Su Tangtang was awakened by the sound of firecrackers. She squinted at the time and realized it was about time to get up.
She got up and went into the yard. The persimmon tree in the yard was full of green fruit, hanging heavily on the branches, full of vitality.
Su Tangtang pumped some well water to wash her face. The water splashed up, and the coolness hit her face. Washing with this water was especially refreshing in the summer.
Just as I finished tidying up, Huo Yizhou returned.
As usual, he was covered in sweat, but he was carrying breakfast, watermelon, and white melon seedlings.
"You bought watermelon and white melon seedlings?" Su Tangtang asked as she walked to his side.
Huo Yizhou replied, "Yes, you said you were going to plant it in the cotton field, so I saw it in town and bought it."
Su Tangtang said, "Then we'll go plant them in a bit."
Huo Yizhou responded and handed her the breakfast he was holding.
She took the still-warm breakfast and ate it in the courtyard, while Huo Yizhou turned around and went to the program crew's accommodation to take a shower.
Around eight o'clock, Su Tangtang also headed towards the program site. She had only taken two steps when she heard the opera starting up from the village stage. The melodious opera music drifted into the morning air.
She rarely listens to opera, but at this moment, she found it particularly moving.
She walked to the main road and found a large crowd gathered at the intersection ahead, mostly elderly people. Some elderly people rode bicycles carrying small stools past her. On a whim, Su Tangtang also went over to join them.
She walked quickly to the edge of the crowd, stood and listened to the opera for a while before turning to leave. On her way back, she saw a row of food stalls set up along the roadside, their aroma filling the air. She bought several items and carried them to the production crew.
When we entered the house, everyone was already there.
She held up the snacks in her hand and said with a smile, "I just bought them, everyone should try them," as she placed the snacks on the table.
Lin Lang was the first to walk over, picked up a skewer of grilled gluten, and exclaimed, "It smells so good!" She took a bite and nodded repeatedly, "It tastes really good."
Zhou Yan also took a skewer, tasted it, and praised it, "Delicious, I'll buy some later too." Others also came over to take some to try.
Seeing everyone enjoying their meal, the director couldn't resist joining in. However, Shen Yingying, Wu Xiaojia, Zhao Zhiyi, and Gu Qingke didn't touch the food.
Since they didn't come to take it, Su Tangtang didn't make a point of offering it to them.
They ate and chatted for a while, after which the boys continued building houses, while the girls went to the weaving factory.
Su Tangtang didn't go with them, but went to the field with Huo Yizhou. She planted watermelon and white melon seedlings, watered them, and then rode her electric bike to the town's weaving factory.
-
At 5:30 p.m., the busy day finally came to an end.
When Su Tangtang and the others returned, the performance had ended, but the crowd had not yet dispersed, and people were still gathered in twos and threes around the roadside stalls buying things.
She pulled Huo Yizhou toward a ring toss game stall. The prizes were lively chickens, ducks, and rabbits. Many people watched, but very few actually tried to play.
"Shall we try this?" Su Tangtang looked at Huo Yizhou, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
Huo Yizhou nodded and replied softly, "Okay."
With his permission, Su Tangtang turned to the stall owner and asked, "How do you play this?"
The shopkeeper, holding a long stick specifically for collecting rings, quickly replied upon hearing the voice, "Twenty yuan a set."
Su Tangtang thought about it and felt the price was acceptable, so she said to Huo Yizhou, "Shall we start with a hundred yuan?"
Huo Yizhou nodded readily, "Okay."
He paid quickly, and Su Tangtang took the five rings, then aimed at a little rabbit with great interest and threw them.
Unfortunately, the ring bounced on the ground and eventually rolled down next to the rabbit cage.
She sighed in disappointment, and was about to try again when she heard a smug voice drift over, "You're so stupid."
Su Tangtang turned around and saw Zhao Zhiyi and his group standing not far away.
She smiled faintly, not intending to pay any attention, and turned around to aim at a chicken this time.
The moment she sold the item, she silently chanted in her heart: "Good, good, good."
The ring landed and spun around a few times, and it actually caught a little duck!
Su Tangtang jumped up excitedly, "I got it!"
Huo Yizhou smiled slightly, "Impressive."
Zhao scoffed dismissively and turned to the boss, saying, "Boss, give me ten laps."
Wu Xiaojia chimed in, "We'll share it."
Zhao Zhiyi took the rings and handed a few to her.
He didn't forget to raise an eyebrow at Su Tangtang, then struck what he thought was a cool pose and casually tossed the ring away.
The ring bounced a few times on the ground and actually caught a duck.
Zhao Zhiyi's face immediately showed a smug look, and he glanced at Su Tangtang and the others.
He was about to continue when he suddenly turned to Huo Yizhou, "How about we have a competition?"
Huo Yizhou responded calmly, "No comparison."
"You wouldn't dare, would you?"
Huo Yizhou paused for a moment, then asked, "What if we lose?"
"The loser gives the winner a thousand dollars."
"make a deal."
The boss beamed with joy when he saw the two making a bet.
A crowd gradually gathered to watch the spectacle, and some even placed bets privately, guessing who would win.
“Each person gets five rings, and we’ll see who gets the most,” Zhao Zhiyi announced the rules.
Huo Yizhou simply nodded. "Okay."
After saying that, he asked the boss for five more rings.
The shop owner beamed with joy and quickly handed it over.
Each of them held five rings in their hands.
Zhao Zhiyi looked at Huo Yizhou, her tone carrying a hint of arrogance, "I'll go first."
Huo Yizhou nodded slightly and raised his hand in a "please" gesture.
Having just landed a perfect shot, Zhao was full of confidence.
He focused his aim, raised his hand, and threw the ball. The ball rolled once on the ground before missing its target, and the smile on his face froze instantly.
“It’s your turn,” he said somewhat awkwardly to Huo Yizhou.
Huo Yizhou calmly replied, "Okay."
He picked up the ring, not aiming at it, but just tossing it casually. The ring landed perfectly on the rabbit cage that Su Tangtang had been trying to catch.
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd: "Amazing!"
Zhao Zhiyi's face darkened, and he couldn't help but feel nervous. He threw the next round more cautiously, but still missed, and he became impatient.
Didn't win again!
When it was Huo Yizhou's turn, he turned to Su Tangtang and asked, "Which one do you want?"
Su Tangtang paused for a moment, then pointed to a black rabbit in the last row, "That one."
Just as Huo Yizhou was about to make a move, Zhao Zhiyi said sarcastically from the side, "Still picking and choosing? Let's see how you handle it when you fail to catch her."
Huo Yizhou seemed not to hear, his gaze focused on the target, and with a slight flick of his wrist, the circle drew an arc and landed steadily on the black rabbit cage.
Someone in the crowd cheered, "Awesome!"
The boss stood to the side, his face growing increasingly dark. If things continued like this, his business was going to suffer huge losses.
Zhao Zhiyi was still unconvinced and threw again. This time he finally caught the target. His expression relaxed slightly, and he glanced triumphantly at Huo Yizhou. As long as Huo Yizhou missed the target later, he would still have a chance.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and Huo Yizhou hit the target again.
At this point, Huo Yizhou had already caught three, while Zhao only had one.
Seeing this, the boss quickly announced, "This one wins!" Then he turned to Zhao Zhiyi and said, "You lose."
Zhao Zhiyi's face turned completely dark.
“A thousand yuan gone…” Wu Xiaojia muttered to herself.
Zhao Zhiyi glared at her fiercely, lost interest in the ring toss game, and turned to leave, saying, "Let's go back."
Huo Yizhou spoke up to stop them, "Zhao Zhiyi, are you trying to renege on your promise?"
Wu Xiaojia quickly tried to smooth things over, "It's just a game, why take it so seriously..."
Su Tangtang looked at her, her tone calm but sharp, "You didn't have this attitude when we made the bet. If we had lost, would you still have said 'it's just a game'?"
Shen Yingying chimed in, "Xiaojia and the others aren't that kind of people. They were just having fun. As long as everyone's happy, why bother making a fuss?"
Su Tangtang burst out laughing, "But I just love to haggle. Why don't you pay for them?"
Shen Yingying immediately shut her mouth.
Gu Qingke frowned. "Su Tangtang, don't be so unreasonable. It's just a game."
Su Tangtang's temper flared up as well; she couldn't stand this kind of person.
“Shut up,” she said coldly. “Either you pay them, or you shut up.”
Gu Qingke wanted to argue, but Shen Yingying quietly pulled him back. There were so many villagers watching, and if things got out of hand, it wouldn't look good for anyone.
Zhao Zhiyi interrupted impatiently, "I didn't say I wouldn't give it to you! I don't have any money on me right now, I'll go back and get it for you, okay?"
Su Tangtang snorted, "Fine, we'll go with you."
Zhao Zhiyi gritted his teeth and said, "Do as you please."
The group left dejectedly.
Before leaving, Su Tangtang didn't forget to take the rabbit and chicken she had won, and Wu Xiaojia quietly took the duck they had caught.
As the excitement subsided, the villagers who had been watching gradually dispersed, and the once noisy intersection quickly returned to tranquility.
On the way back, Su Tangtang carried the little black rabbit, looking at it with increasing delight. "It's so cute! Huo Yizhou, you're amazing!"
She couldn't help but keep praising it the whole way.
These words reached Gu Qingke's ears as he walked ahead, making him feel suffocated.
Soon they arrived at Zhao Zhiyi and the others' place. Wu Xiaojia reluctantly went inside, took out a thousand yuan, and handed it to Su Tangtang. It was the money they had saved up from working hard these past few days. Giving it to them made them short of money again.
Su Tangtang reached out to take the money, but Wu Xiaojia held onto it tightly. Su Tangtang pulled the money away with a little force, counted it carefully, and said with satisfaction, "Then we'll be going now."
After saying that, she and Huo Yizhou turned and left.
Wu Xiaojia stared at the two people's backs and muttered curses under her breath for a while.
Back home, Su Tangtang looked at the thousand yuan in her hand and felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction. "They really shot themselves in the foot! It's so satisfying to see them get their comeuppance."
Huo Yizhou glanced at her and said softly, "Stop showing off." His tone carried a hint of doting affection that even he himself didn't realize.
-
About ten days later, the wheat in the fields gradually turned yellow, and some villages had already begun harvesting their fields.
That day, the production team gathered everyone together.
The director announced, "Major mission: harvest wheat! The production team has rented four combine harvesters, one for each person with a driver's license, at a rental fee of fifty yuan per day. You can help the villagers harvest wheat without charging them; the production team will give you eighty yuan per acre."
Upon hearing this, some people were excited, while others were worried.
Wu Xiaojia bit her lip and muttered in dissatisfaction, "Then aren't we who don't have driver's licenses at a huge disadvantage?"
The director replied, "What's the loss? Anyone can take the harvester driver's license test. If you yourselves haven't passed, don't complain about whether it's fair or not."
Wu Xiaojia: "..."
She was so angry she couldn't speak, and she increasingly felt that this show and the people on it were simply her nemesis.
Lin Lang turned to Zhou Yan and said, "Sister Yan, we're entrusting our land to you. We'll pay as usual."
Zhou Yan laughed heartily, "No problem, I'll give you a discount!"
Lin Lang smiled too, "Thank you, Sister Yan!"
Zhao Zhiyi chuckled and interjected, "You guys are such good friends, and they still charge you money? Unlike us and Brother Qingke, they definitely wouldn't charge us!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Qingke's face immediately turned ugly.
If he were to ask for money now, wouldn't he seem stingy? He could only force a smile, but his teeth were clenched tightly.
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