Duan Yuyang smiled, his gaze towards the male educated youth inexplicably carrying a hint of coldness. Without making a sound, he threw a half-burnt incense stick into the thick snow outside the window, which was ankle-deep.
"Brother Yu, when are we going back?"
"Wait until the time is right, don't rush." At least he needs to know whether the Gu family's amazing treasure is real, and whether the treasure map is real.
Qian Yao lowered her eyes. How could she not be anxious? Her family had never agreed to her going to the countryside. If it weren't for Duan Yuyang, she would never have come to this remote mountain village. Last time, her older brother wrote to say that her mother was so upset about her that she was hospitalized. She wanted to go home. She missed her mother.
Gu Zuozuo didn't see the commotion at the educated youth settlement; at that moment, she was rolling out dumpling wrappers under Grandma Ma's patient guidance.
"Oh dear! It's too heavy! You've rolled the dumpling wrappers until they're almost transparent. We can't make dumplings now, but we can use them to make vegetable rolls for you and Ma Liang."
Gu Zuozuo blinked innocently, looking pitifully at Grandma Ma, who was full of disappointment.
"Can I have a cabbage roll?"
She really held back; otherwise, she could have crushed Grandma Ma's table.
"Never mind, I'll do it. You wrap them, and I'll teach you."
Next, Gu Zuozuo saw all sorts of fancy dumpling-making techniques, watching with wide eyes and amazement.
She couldn't cook, let alone make dumplings. The original owner's only skill was starting a fire and cooking porridge. The most difficult thing she could do was make noodles, which were often undercooked or overcooked, so bad that even a dog wouldn't eat them. So she had no idea that there were so many ways to make dumplings.
She, who was usually calm and aloof, was trembling with fear all night.
Looking at the appalling state of her dumplings, she blushed. What was even more speechless was that even little Ma Liang's dumplings were better than hers. After ignoring Ma Liang's ridicule, the frustration she felt over her cooking skills finally dissipated.
Tonight is her first Lunar New Year's Eve since she came into this world.
There were no fireworks, no Spring Festival Gala, no table full of rare delicacies, and no lively atmosphere.
In the simple mud house, a candle burned, and an old man and a young girl, who were not related by blood, sat on either side of her, their rough, sallow faces beaming with warm smiles.
The table was set with a simple six dishes and a soup, two meat dishes and four vegetable dishes. It looked simple, but the aroma filled the air and whetted one's appetite.
Looking at the plump dumplings in the rough porcelain bowl in front of me, and then at the tattered dumpling wrappers in Grandma Ma's bowl beside me, I felt a mix of emotions—a sense of being both touched and at a loss.
No elder had ever treated her so well; this was the first time she had ever felt such favoritism from an elder.
"Come on, eat quickly, it won't taste good when it gets cold."
Gu Zuozuo blinked away the moisture in her eyes, her eyebrows curving upwards, a smile she had never shown before so sweet.
Ma Liang was biting into a big, juicy chicken leg when he looked up and was stunned by the smile of Sister Gu next to him. He forgot to keep eating the chicken leg.
Grandma Ma was also stunned by the stunning beauty on her little face, and then sighed inwardly.
It's such a waste for such a good girl to waste her time in this remote place. Luckily, she's capable of standing on her own two feet, otherwise, with her attractive face, she would have suffered sooner or later in this remote area.
The New Year's Eve dinner was very enjoyable for the three of them, filled with laughter and conversation. It was a happy and warm experience that Gu Zuozuo had never had before.
In her past life, every year during the Lunar New Year, all the descendants of her family would return to the old house to celebrate, and that was when she was at her saddest.
Everyone else was a direct descendant, but she was adopted from outside the family.
The matriarch of the collateral branch looked down on her, feeling that it was because of her that the Gu family's traditional rules had been broken, and that she had helped an illegitimate daughter rise to power and trample on their legitimate children. Who could tolerate that?
Therefore, she didn't receive much kindness. If she hadn't focused on practicing martial arts, she probably would have been driven crazy by those people's cold words and emotional abuse long ago.
Inside the cowshed.
Xie Changzheng was coughing badly, his face was flushed, he was panting heavily, and there were traces of blood at the corners of his mouth from time to time.
His old problem has flared up again. In previous years, he had special medicine to take care of him, but now that he has fallen to this state, let alone special medicine, even common cold, pneumonia and cough medicine are hard to come by. Ordinary commune members can't get them, let alone someone like him who is considered one of the "Five Black Categories".
"Old Xie, how's it going? Are you alright? Is everything going smoothly?"
Li Aihua, the only woman among the five sent down, worriedly brought him hot water and gently patted Xie Changzheng's violently heaving back, trying to ease his shortness of breath caused by his violent coughing.
"No! If this continues, Lao Xie won't last three days; he'll cough himself to death. His lungs won't hold up for much longer."
As she spoke, Li Aihua's voice choked with sobs. There were originally eight people here who shared the same fate as them, but later, they all died, their eyes wide open in disbelief, a tragic and desolate end.
What's even more chilling is that after they had worked hard for the country and the people their whole lives, they were thrown out wrapped in nothing more than a tattered straw mat, without even a proper burial.
They never imagined that they, who were once top talents in various fields in this country, would fall to such a state.
No one cared, like the lowest of the low, living a life of subservience and having to watch other people's faces. If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't bear to see them suffer and secretly went out in the middle of the night to collect their bodies, those old friends would probably have been devoured by wild animals in the mountains long ago.
"Jinyu went to gather herbs and should be back soon. Let's wait a little longer. After all, Lao Xie is his great-uncle, and he won't just abandon him."
Hopefully, Xie Jinyu will get what he wants, otherwise Old Xie is truly beyond saving.
Just as we were talking about Xie Jinyu, Xie Jinyu, carrying a basket on her back and covered in snow, strode in with her head and shoulders covered in white snow.
Seeing his unpleasant expression, everyone knew that he had returned empty-handed again.
It's winter now, and this is the coldest place of the year. You can't even see a blade of grass, let alone dig up any medicinal herbs, unless there's a miracle.
"Jinyu, don't bother, cough cough... This is my... cough cough... fate, don't force it..."
"Boss! This is the medicine I got in exchange; give it to the commander!"
Zhou Bin's skis were gliding fast when he suddenly stopped at the entrance of the cowshed and handed over the bag in his hand.
Where did you get the medicine?
“I traded with a fellow educated youth! They were from the area at the foot of the mountain. Most of them came from bustling cities, and their families must have prepared plenty of medicine for them. I was just trying my luck, and I didn’t expect them to be so kind. As soon as they heard I wanted to exchange medicine, they gave me quite a lot.”
Xie Jinyu felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't remember what it was. With the current shortage of medicines, what kind of educated youth would be so generous as to give their life-saving medicine to a stranger?
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