When Tang Zhan and Wen Guoer arrived at the village entrance, there were already six or seven people on the ox cart. Usually, few people went out of the village, so there were only a few people on the ox cart. As the year was coming to an end, more people came.
Old man Wang, who was driving the ox cart, saw Tang Zhan leading his wife over and said,
"Tang family boy, come up quickly, we are leaving now."
"Good morning, Uncle Wang, I'll be right there."
Tang Zhan said as he helped Wen Guoer onto the ox cart, tightened her scarf, and sat at the back of the cart himself.
"Come, sit next to auntie. I haven't seen you for a few days. Guoer is getting prettier and prettier." Aunt Wang from the team leader's family took her hand.
In addition to the four aunts from the village, there were three girls in their twenties who were dressed neatly and wrapped tightly. All three were educated youth from the village. They all looked at Wen Guoer with scrutiny in their eyes.
"No matter how pretty she is, she is still a country girl."
One of the female educated youth muttered something in a neither-good-nor-bad tone.
Tang Zhan had very sharp hearing. He turned his head and fixed his sharp eyes on her.
Wu Xiaoling didn't expect that the man would hear her. Meeting his cold gaze, she pretended to turn her head away casually.
"Have you heard that the stupid son of the old Ge family at the village head is getting married?" Aunt Cuihua, the famous loudmouth in the village, gossiped to Aunt Wang in a low voice.
"So Sun Zhiqing really accepted her fate and married him?" Aunt Liu interrupted.
"What can you do if you don't admit it? You've given your body to that idiot." Aunt Cuihua said contemptuously.
"The Ge family is really lucky. Their daughter-in-law is so eager to marry into the family..."
Wen Guoer listened silently to the gossip of the aunts, but the three educated youths next to her looked unhappy.
"If it weren't for that old Ge family's underhanded trick of drugging her, how could Sun Zhiqing have married that idiot?"
One of the educated youth, Han Qing, suddenly retorted in grief and anger.
Wen Guoer looked at her and saw that her big eyes were red. She must have cried before and was panting angrily.
Meng Yu, the educated youth next to her, quickly pulled her arm to prevent her from offending the villagers.
"By the way, wasn't it Wu Zhiqing who shared a meal with the Ge family? Why didn't she marry Wu Zhiqing, but married Sun Zhiqing instead?" Aunt Liu and Aunt Cuihua continued to mutter.
"What's wrong with sharing a fire? Does sharing a fire mean I have to marry into their family? We're here to build the countryside, not to marry peasants!"
When Wu Xiaoling heard the aunts associating her with a fool, she instantly became furious.
"How can you talk like that, girl? Who is the peasant? You look down on people. Why did you go to their house to eat for free? When you asked them to help you with the work, why didn't you call them peasants?"
Aunt Cuihua was irritated by what she called "mud legs". These educated youths always called the villagers mud legs behind her back, and she didn't like hearing it!
Just as Wu Xiaoling was about to explode, she was stopped by Meng Yu next to her. She could only turn her head away angrily and sulk.
Wen Guoer has a general understanding of this period of history. The educated youth did not have an easy life in the countryside, especially the female educated youth.
They were all spoiled girls from the city. Some of them could not bear the heavy labor and had to find other ways out. The most convenient way was to marry local farmers. Therefore, during this period, many female educated youth compromised for survival and finally had to stay in the countryside forever.
Wen Guoer knew that the college entrance examination would be resumed in just over a year, and she couldn't help but sigh for the fate of some educated youth.
The winter in Heilongjiang Province is so cold that the exhaled air is covered with ice. Everyone covers their mouths tightly, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed, and huddles together on the ox cart to keep each other warm.
The ox cart was driving in the white snow and ice. What met the eyes was an endless expanse of white. The old ox occasionally exhaled, and Tang Zhan jumped off the cart from time to time to help push it. Two hours later, they finally arrived at the commune.
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