Hearing these comments, Lin Yue felt a pang of unease. She didn't know how to face the villagers, so she simply lowered her head and walked quickly forward. She walked along the dirt road, passing the village's threshing ground and livestock shed. In the threshing ground, several villagers were drying grain, spreading it out with wooden rakes, their movements practiced and powerful; the golden wheat grains shimmered in the sunlight. In the livestock shed, several cows and donkeys grazed leisurely, occasionally mooing and hissing, the air filled with the mixed scent of hay and livestock.
As Lin Yue walked, she came to the small river at the edge of the village. The water wasn't clear, a pale yellowish-brown, but it still shimmered under the sunlight. Several women were washing clothes on the riverbank, laying them on a stone slab and beating them with wooden sticks while chatting about everyday matters. The "thump, thump" sound of the sticks hitting the clothes echoed along the river.
Lin Yue approached them, wanting to greet them. "Hello, aunties and sisters-in-law." She tried to make her smile look natural, but she was still a little nervous inside.
The women stopped what they were doing and looked at her. One of the kind-faced older women smiled and said, "Isn't this the Chen family's daughter-in-law? What brings you here?"
Lin Yue smiled a little shyly, "I came out for a walk and to take a look around."
Another woman looked her up and down, her eyes scrutinizing her. "Chen family daughter-in-law, you're different from those city girls. Your clothes are better than ours. But in our countryside, it's not just about looking good; you have to be able to work."
Lin Yue nodded. "I know, I will try my best."
The women started washing clothes again, chatting with Lin Yue as they did so. They asked Lin Yue questions about the city, such as whether all the houses in the city were made of stone as they had heard, and whether city dwellers didn't need to farm and could eat white rice every day. Lin Yue patiently answered their questions, and from their words, she sensed the longing for the outside world and the helplessness of life felt by people of this era.
After chatting with the women for a while, Lin Yue said goodbye and started walking back. Along the way, she saw several children playing by the roadside, drawing on the ground with twigs and humming unknown nursery rhymes. Although their faces were dirty, their innocent smiles cheered Lin Yue up. One little boy drew a crooked house and excitedly told his friends, "Look, this is the big house I'll live in someday, bigger than everyone else in the village!" The other children gathered around, their eyes filled with envy.
Back home, Lin Yue sat on a small stool in the yard, trying to organize her thoughts. She knew she was now living in the 1970s, a sent-down youth's wife, and had to adapt to this identity and this harsh environment. But a sliver of hope lingered in her heart—a hope that one day she could return to her own time. At the same time, she realized that her modern ideas and knowledge might cause some trouble in this era, but they might also come in handy. Looking at the messy pile of firewood in the yard, she thought, perhaps she could try to tidy it up and make life a little more organized.
Just then, Chen Yu returned. He saw Lin Yue sitting in the yard and asked, "Where did you go? I didn't see you when I came back, and I thought something had happened to you."
Lin Yue looked at him and said, "I just wandered around the neighborhood and chatted with the villagers."
Chen Yu nodded. "If you go out in the future, you'd better let me know. I'm afraid you're not familiar with this place and something might happen to you."
Lin Yue felt a warmth in her heart; she could sense Chen Yu's concern. "Okay, I understand."
That night, Lin Yue lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. Listening to Chen Yu's even breathing on the other end of the line, her mind was filled with a multitude of thoughts. This unfamiliar era, this unfamiliar husband, and this harsh life all made her feel lost and uneasy. She thought of her family and friends back in the modern world, and the familiar colleagues and patients at the hospital, wondering how they were doing. She didn't know how she was supposed to survive in this era. Would her medical skills be of any use here? Would the people here accept modern medical knowledge and technology? And what about her relationship with Chen Yu? They were only husband and wife in name, but in this special environment, how should their relationship develop?
In the quiet of the night, Lin Yue drifted off to sleep, her heart filled with complex emotions. Her story in this extraordinary era was just beginning. She didn't know how many difficulties and challenges awaited her, but she had a premonition that this small village would change because of her arrival, and that she herself would find new value and meaning in life along the way.
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