Chapter 13: No Better Than a Cow

Guo Hongying witnessed with her own eyes how the beautiful Gu Xiaoru turned into a listless person in just two days.

Seeing this, Guo Hongying became even more afraid of Yu Wanqing.

She was afraid that she would use such means on herself and she would not be able to withstand the torture.

When the train pulled into the station, Gu Xiaoru finally breathed a sigh of relief. God knew how she had managed to get through the past two days. This old lady was simply crazy, demanding food and drink. Once she refused her, she would sit in the aisle and cry.

She was almost driven crazy by the torture.

Yu Wanqing and others took their luggage and walked outside. Among the four people, Guo Hongying had the most luggage. She had three large packages and could not carry them by herself. In the end, the other male educated youth helped her carry them out of the car.

After being squeezed on the train for three days, when Yu Wanqing breathed the fresh air outside, she finally felt like a living person.

Zhang Hongqi walked up to her and said, "Yu Zhiqing, it's already night time. We need to find a guest house to stay overnight and then take the train to Nanfu County tomorrow morning."

When they arrived, the people from the Youth League Office had already told them to stay in the guesthouse next to the train station for one night and take the 8 a.m. train to Nanfu County the next morning.

Yu Wanqing nodded: "Let's go then."

There were more than 30 educated youth going to Nanfu County. Yu Wanqing walked in front. When she entered the guesthouse, she took out the letter of introduction and booked a room.

Because there are not enough rooms in the guesthouse, people who walk slowly can only share a room with two or three people.

While they were still discussing outside who would sleep with whom, Yu Wanqing had already closed the door and entered the space. The first thing she did was to take a shower. Fortunately, there was a space. She would go into the space to take a shower every night when she went to the bathroom. Otherwise, she would have smelled bad after staying on the train for three days in the hot summer.

After taking a shower in the cubicle in the rest area of ​​the supermarket general manager's office, she threw her clothes into the washing machine, then boiled water and made a bowl of instant noodles.

After eating and drinking, I rested for a while, changed into dried clothes and returned to the room in the guesthouse.

It’s not that I don’t want to sleep in the space, but I’m worried that someone will come to check on me in the middle of the night.

The next morning, a group of people boarded a train to Nanfu County. It was already past three in the afternoon when they arrived at the Nanfu County Railway Station. As they walked out of the train station, they heard someone shouting in unstandard Mandarin: "Youth who are going to Ningshan Commune, gather here."

"The educated youth from Ningshan Commune, come here."

They were met here by a young man and a middle-aged uncle. Both were commune officials, responsible for picking up and dropping off educated youth between the county town and the commune.

After the roll call, when everyone was present, the middle-aged man said, "It's still more than 20 kilometers from the county town to the commune. We need to walk faster."

Guo Hongying's eyes widened when she heard this: "We have to walk to the commune?"

Many educated youth were stunned by the news. Without a car, they had to walk?

It’s more than 20 kilometers. How long will it take?

The middle-aged man nodded: "Do you still want to take a bus like in the city?" He smiled and shook his head: "Little comrade, forget it, we can only walk back."

"Go, go, hurry up and put all your packages on the bullock cart outside."

The young male clerk glanced at them and said, "This is the condition. If you don't want to go to Ningshan Commune, go to the Youth Office and try to change places or go back to the city."

Don't act like we really care about you.

Since last year, educated youth have been assigned to their commune. It is considered good if three out of ten of them are capable.

Yu Wanqing looked at the uncle: "Uncle, where is the ox cart? Let's go now."

The uncle laughed when he heard this: "Let's go, let's go."

Seeing that the two of them were following the uncle, Ou Jianguo followed them carrying his luggage. He heard Guo Hongying's voice from behind: "Help me carry my luggage."

She was so anxious that she almost cried.

Ou Jianguo and Zhang Hongqi still couldn't bear to see it, so they turned around and helped her carry a large package. Yu Wanqing sighed and took the luggage bag from Zhang Hongqi: "Let's go."

She didn't understand what Guo Hongying's mentality was. She was afraid of herself after being beaten, and couldn't help but come forward.

Are you complaining that I haven't beaten you enough?

Still have masochistic tendencies.

The rest of the educated youth knew that making a fuss would not change anything, so they could only accept their fate and follow.

Outside the train station, there was a man waiting with a bullock cart. When he saw the people coming, he said in Cantonese, "Put the luggage on board, and follow the bullock cart."

This group of educated youth were all from the north, and except Yu Wanqing, no one could understand Cantonese. They all stood there in a daze.

Yu Wanqing put her and Zhang Hongqi's luggage on the platform, then said to the grandfather in Cantonese: "Thank you, uncle."

In her previous life, she was a Hakka from Guangdong Province and could speak both Cantonese and Hakka.

She was not worried about being exposed at all, because when the original owner was a child, she did learn Cantonese from the neighbor's Hegong. The Hegong couple were both from Cantonese. When the original owner was interested, she pestered the couple to learn for a long time, but she was not good at pronunciation, so she gave up after a while.

She has always been smart and learns things quickly, but she has no idea how to speak Cantonese. She was worried that she would be embarrassed if she told others about it, so she kept it a secret.

Except for the Hegong couple who had been transferred for work reasons, no one knew that she had given up halfway.

The grandfather and the two commune officials were a little surprised. They didn't expect that an educated youth from the north could speak Cantonese: "Little comrade, you speak Cantonese quite well." The grandfather couldn't help but compliment him.

Because of this, the master's eyes were much softer when he looked at her.

Yu Wanqing smiled and said, "My neighbors are from Cantonese. I pestered them to teach me Cantonese since I was a child. I never thought that I would find it useful one day."

The uncle said: "It's a good thing to learn more. We only learned Mandarin after the founding of New China, but it doesn't sound good."

He was relatively okay, but what the other old guys in the commune said was even funnier.

"It's good as long as you can understand it. Language is used for communication. If there is no barrier in communication, it proves that it is successful." Yu Wanqing stood beside the carriage and chatted with the grandfather. Zhang Hongqi also came over and said a word or two from time to time.

After the educated youth's luggage was put away, the master drove the ox cart forward.

After walking for an hour, the road became increasingly difficult to walk on, with potholes everywhere, and one could easily sprain his ankle if he was not careful.

Yu Wanqing and Zhang Hongqi were still following the old man and the young clerk. Even though Ou Jianguo was very tired, he could still keep up with the two of them. Guo Hongying and several other female comrades were left alone several times, causing everyone to stop and wait for them.

The ox cart stopped and the young clerk looked at them and said, "It's already six o'clock. Eat something quickly and continue on your way."

"We must try to get back to the commune before 10 p.m."

"It takes that long?" Guo Hongying was about to cry. Gu Xiaoru was not much better. She looked delicate and weak. She looked at the young official timidly: "I, we really can't walk anymore. Can we sit on the ox cart?"

The young official glanced at Gu Xiaoru and said, "What are you thinking about? The ox cart is already very heavy with so many packages on it. If you are added to the cart, the ox will be exhausted to death."

He said calmly: "Ten of you are not as capable as a cow."