Chapter 8: The Landlord's Son
The houses at the youth education camp had not been occupied for several years. The moss on the ground needed to be removed, the uneven places needed to be leveled, and the cobwebs on the walls and roof needed to be cleaned...
By the time Lin Qi finished cleaning the entire house, the sun had already set. She had just taken a shower in the morning and was now covered in dust. Her clothes were soaked and dried by sweat, sticking to her skin.
She wanted to take a bath again.
So Lin Qi carried her bag and went to the river again.
Because someone almost died in the river that morning, when Lin Qi arrived at the riverside, it was very quiet and there was no one in sight.
It was convenient for her.
Lin Qi plunged into the water. After a busy day, she was too lazy to do anything herself, so she simply controlled the water plants in the river and let them help her wash her hair, rub her dirty clothes, and scrub her body.
When Lin Qi returned to the educated youth center, everyone else had also returned. She could smell the aroma of food in the air before she even entered the door.
"I came to invite you just now. Since you were not here, I brought the food here. There is nothing good in the countryside, so don't despise it." Uncle Luo smiled shyly.
"You're too polite. We were not the ones who saved Xiao Wei." Ming Kangjian looked as if he was unworthy.
Uncle Luo waved his hands and said, "You can't say that. There were so many people at the time, and you were the first to rescue people."
Even people from the same village were afraid, but these unrelated people stood up. Just for this kindness, he should be grateful to them.
"Besides, it was your female comrade who went to the middle of the river to get the hemp rope back. Otherwise, Xiao Wei——"
The rest of the words were not said, but everyone present knew what they were.
Uncle Luo was determined to thank them, and Ming Kangjian and the others could not refuse, so they had to leave the food.
Lin Qi came in and Uncle Luo went out. When Uncle Luo saw her, he bowed deeply to her and left without waiting for her to react.
"Corn tortillas and seven boiled eggs, Uncle Luo is really generous with this." Mo Mingyang sighed.
The disaster had just passed and the new season's crops had not yet been harvested, so people mostly ate wild vegetables, which shows how precious tortillas and boiled eggs were.
"Xiao Wei is Uncle Luo's old son and his only son. Xiao Wei has five older sisters. His importance in Uncle Luo's family is self-evident." Jian Tong said. He got the news when he went to collect firewood.
"Everyone has contributed today. Now, shall we share the food?" Zhao Yi looked at the tortillas and boiled eggs and swallowed.
"Fourteen tortillas, two per person, and one egg per person. Any objections?" Ming Kangjian asked.
"No." Everyone answered in unison.
Soon, everyone got their pancakes and eggs.
"Who is that boy holding the hemp rope today?" Mo Mingyang asked, "He is so brave and resourceful despite his young age!"
"His name is Xu Hexiao. He is not much younger than us. He is already sixteen years old. He is the son of a landlord. The place we live in now is the former Xu family's, a courtyard in the Xu family mansion." Jian Yitong said. This is what he found out today. "He has a bad background. He lives in the cowshed now. There is a straw shed there."
Ma Guizhi: "No wonder. I was wondering why there were so many thatched houses in the village, but we could live in a tiled house. It turned out to be a landlord's house."
"In this case, the boy's motive for saving people makes sense." Ming Kangjian said meaningfully.
"What do you mean?" Mo Mingyang was puzzled.
Jian Tongyi chuckled and exchanged glances with Ming Kangjian, "Do you want me to speak, or do you want me to speak?"
"You say." Ming Kangjian took a bite of the tortilla and said vaguely.
"Xu Hexiao has a bad background and is ostracized by the village. Only by constantly doing favors for the villagers can his situation in the village be changed." Jian Yitong said.
"So that's how it is." Mo Mingyang suddenly realized, "No wonder he was the only one who dared to rescue people. The villagers knew that there were aquatic plants in the middle of the river, and he must have known it too, but he had his reasons for going."
"This Xu Henian is a ruthless man." Jian Tong made the decision immediately.
"He is thin and small, and looks no more than ten years old. Maybe he saved people out of his heart. He is kind by nature and may not have so many calculations." Gan Tian expressed her opinion.
Several men looked at each other, and Jian Yitong reminded them, "He is the son of a landlord."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present fell silent.
Lin Qi silently peeled eggs. Born after the end of the world, she went to school, but only for three years. Before she could learn history, the base where she was located fell. For more than ten years after that, she was displaced, struggling on the brink of life and death every day. Just after she turned twenty, she lost her life.
So she only knew that this was the era before the end of the world, but she had no idea what this era was like.
She even learned the word "landlord" only after she came to this era.
"Lin Qi, stay away from Xu Hexiao in the future." Ming Kangjian suddenly said.
Lin Qi looked up in confusion. Why was she suddenly involved?
"She is just a fool. No matter who she is close to, would anyone make a big deal out of it?" Gan Tian asked back.
Ming Kangjian choked and said, "Forget it, just pretend I didn't say anything."
Lin Qi: “….”
You can say more.
The team leader only gave the educated youth two days to rest, and on the third day, they were assigned farm work.
"Weeding?" Ming Kangjian raised his eyebrows.
"You have just arrived, so start with simple work like weeding first. After you get used to it, we will arrange for you to reclaim wasteland." Luo Feng looked at the educated youth in front of him and nodded secretly. They were strong and healthy with ruddy complexions. They looked healthier than the people in their team, so they should be good at work.
The captain asked the deputy captain to lead Ming Kangjian and others to the field, and then walked towards Lin Qi, "As for you——"
Lin Qi straightened her body and looked directly at the captain with her clear eyes.
The captain frowned, "What can you do?"
Lin Qi scratched his head and said, "No, I don't know."
Captain: “…”
Finally, Lin Qi was sent to cut grass for pigs with a group of children, and was given three work points every day.
The skinny Lin Qi was mixed in with a group of children. Apart from the fact that her clothes were cleaner, there was an inexplicable sense of harmony between them.
"He is indeed mentally retarded, with the mental capacity of a few-year-old child." said the deputy captain.
"Her eyes are pure and innocent. She is such a good child. How could her family bear to let her go!" The custodian is a woman who has several grandchildren at home. She always can't help but feel soft-hearted when seeing the children.
"It's not bad. At least I didn't let her starve to death in the past few years."
Jiahe Brigade is backed by mountains. There is a river in front of the village, fields on both sides of the river, and further away are intermittent mountains and other brigades.
Lin Qi was assigned a backpack that was almost as tall as her. She carried the backpack and followed the children towards the mountains.
"They all say you are stupid, is that true?" The little girl in the lead asked Lin Qi with her head tilted.
"No." Lin Qi replied.
"Hongmei, you are stupid. Of course she won't admit it if you ask her like that. What you should ask is what is one plus two." A little boy said with a smile.
"Three!" Lin Qi never thought that one day she would be asked by a child about single-digit addition.
"Huh?" The little boy's eyes widened. "She can actually do arithmetic. Let me ask you another question. What is two plus three?"
"Five!" Lin Qi said again.
"No, it's six." The little boy corrected Lin Qi.
"That's five, Luo Jun, you're even worse than a fool, aren't you ashamed?" Another little boy made a face at Luo Jun.
Luo Jun's face immediately turned red. "Of course I know that two plus three equals five. I just tricked her. Since she got the numbers right, she's not stupid."
Lin Qi almost burst into tears. Finally someone believed that she was not stupid.
"I don't know if she's stupid or not, but she moves so slowly that by the time she reaches the foot of the mountain, the sun will be almost overhead. San Ya, you take your time with her. We'll go first." After saying this, Hongmei called on everyone else to speed up.
In a few minutes, the children disappeared.
Lin Qi looked down at the little girl beside her. Does this little girl named San Ya know the way?
"You are too slow." San Ya looked disgusted.
Lin Qi was ashamed, "I'm sorry!"
"Forget it, I don't blame you. This is not what you think. When I was little, I was often left behind by them, but then I grew up a little, and when they walked fast, I ran, and then I never fell behind again. If you work hard and eat more, you will definitely become faster." San Ya comforted Lin Qi seriously.
Lin Qi agreed with her words very much, "Yes."
As long as this body becomes stronger, her compatibility with this body will improve. Not to mention recovering her previous life's strength, it will definitely be no problem for her to be stronger than an ordinary person.
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