"Song Zhiqing, are you home?"

"I'm at home, the door is not locked, just come in."

She was embroidering a key part and couldn't let go for the time being.

"Hurry up and take a seat. I'll get up and make tea for you once I've finished my work."

"It's okay, just go ahead and do your thing. We just came to see you."

"Why are you working as a maid again? Are you feeling well?"

Wang Menghan and Xia Lan knew that she had returned, but she had not gone to work for the past two days. After asking the team leader, they learned that she had taken three days off, so they came to see if she was feeling unwell.

Tong Youyou, who lives next to her, is not at home now. If something happens, they are close by and can look after her.

"I'm in good health~"

"I'm glad you're okay. The captain said you were not feeling well and asked for leave. We thought you were sick."

"No~~ I just felt a little tired after sitting on the train for a few days. Anyway, there isn't too much work to do in the village right now, so it doesn't matter if I'm missing. I might as well take a few days off and adjust myself."

"That's right. There isn't much work left in the village. I can only work for another half a month at most."

"How was your meeting with your partner's parents this time? Did it go smoothly?"

"It went smoothly. We already got the certificate, just the day before yesterday."

"Yeah, that's great, congratulations!"

"Thank you~"

After Song Fuyu finished embroidering, she placed the things in the cloth basket beside her, then stood up and took out a bag of wedding candy from the cupboard for each of them.

"Give you sweet mouth~"

"I have to keep this wedding candy and try to find a good partner."

Xia Lan held the candy happily in her hands. Among the people who moved out, she was the oldest and had spent the longest time in the countryside. As a result, she was the only one who was still single.

Seeing them all so happy, I suddenly want to find a partner too.

"Sister Xia Lan, I think the captain's third child seems to be interested in you."

When Song Fuyu heard this, he immediately started to watch the show.

I had never heard of this matter before. It has only been half a month since she left, and Xia Lan has made some progress.

"Don't talk nonsense, I have nothing to do with him."

"Then we went to collect firewood, and he put aside his own and went out of his way to help bring yours back first?"

"It's because I was carrying too much. We're from the same village, so I just helped out."

"I was there at the time, so why didn't I see him helping me?"

"This...I..."

Xia Lan was both embarrassed and annoyed. She didn't know what to say in rebuttal and her face turned completely red.

"Why do I remember the captain's third son working in a fertilizer factory? Has he returned to the village?"

"I think he took two days off. I'm not sure about that. Maybe Sister Xia Lan would know. But he went to the mountains to chop wood for those two days, and also delivered something to someone he didn't admit to, twice."

Wang Menghan and Song Fuyu looked at each other and then laughed.

"Stop laughing!"

Xia Lan raised her hand, pretending to hit her.

"I admit that he expressed his feelings to me, but I am still hesitant."

"Why?"

"Since you like him too, why are you still hesitating?"

"I just thought that if I stayed with him, I wouldn't be able to go back to the city if I had the chance in the future."

"You still want to go back to the city?"

Xia Lan nodded.

Although she had been in the countryside for nearly four years and her hope of returning to the city had been fading, there was still a spark in her heart that she didn't want to stay in the countryside forever, but she had never told anyone before.

Song Fuyu did not respond. She could understand Xia Lan's thoughts, but she would not judge her easily.

In her opinion, returning to the city or staying in the countryside each has its own advantages.

According to the current situation, unless someone in the family transfers their job or you retire due to illness, there is almost no possibility of returning to the city, after all, your household registration has already been transferred.

But now it is the end of 1974. If I can hold on for another three years, I can pass the college entrance examination and return to the city. Even if I fail, I can still return to the city if the policy is relaxed later.

It was also because of this that many educated youth abandoned their families and children in order to return to the city.

Xia Lan might not necessarily become such a person, but precisely because she knew how the future would turn out, she could never say anything to persuade them to be together.

..........

After his leave was over, Song Fuyu returned to work as normal.

She had been feeling a bit lethargic these days, as if she had been infected by Jin Kai. She ate very simply every day, either cooking noodles or making stewed rice, for no other reason than not wanting to wash too many dishes.

Suddenly she hoped that the system could unlock supermarket shopping permissions, as she urgently needed to buy a dishwasher.

For those who don’t want to wash dishes, or even hate washing dishes, even if there is only one bowl and a pair of chopsticks, it will be extremely troublesome.

On November 5th, Jin Kai and Tong Youyou returned to the village carrying large and small bags.

"Sister Fu Yu, come here quickly, I brought something back for you."

Song Fuyu was tidying up the closet at this time. When he heard Tong Youyou's voice, he hurried out of the room.

"Did you two go to Heng City to move? How come you brought back more things than you originally planned to bring."

"This is after we strongly urged my mother to wear less."

Looking at the smiles on their faces, you can tell without asking that Jin Kai's visit to Youyou's home to meet her parents had a very good outcome.

"There's another bag in there that my mother prepared for you."

"Give me?"

"Um!"

"My mother said that you often take care of me, and then asked me to bring some things here to thank you."

"Next time you write back, please thank your mother for me."

When she and Tong Youyou first got along, she did help her a little, but that was only a small part. After that, she has been working hard, growing, and striving to do her best.

Most things that require two people to work together, such as growing vegetables, cooking, and tidying up the yard...are almost always done half each.

Rather than saying it was her one-sided help, it would be more accurate to say that they were helping each other.

After all, she is not stupid. It is impossible for her to keep giving without hesitation and without seeking any return.