In the early morning, the clear crows of roosters broke the tranquility of the countryside and woke up the sleeping villagers. Wisps of smoke and the aroma of rice wafted from the courtyards.
Chu Jingqiu took Jiang Jiang to exercise in the space early in the morning. They ran five kilometers, then practiced military boxing for a while. After washing up, they had breakfast in the mall. She didn't leave the space until there was a knock on the door.
Chu Jingqiu opened the door and saw Shi Aihong and Qin Yilan waiting for her outside to have dinner together.
The three of them walked into the kitchen. On the long table was a basket of steamed buns, a plate of pickled vegetables, and sweet potato and millet porridge so thin that you could see your reflection in it.
Chu Jingqiu had already eaten her fill. Even if she wasn't full, she would have lost her appetite after seeing the meal.
Everyone at the educated youth site also sat down at the dining table one after another. After taking their own portion, they started eating in silence.
Chu Jingqiu took the steamed bread and nibbled it slowly. She couldn't wait to eat, as this would arouse everyone's suspicion. In fact, she planned to wait until everyone had almost finished eating before secretly putting it back into the space.
She always felt that someone was secretly looking at her. She looked in the direction of the gaze, but Zhang Pingping hurriedly avoided her sight.
Zhang Pingping is from Hunan Province in the south. She is a typical graceful southern beauty with a tall figure, an oval face, willow-shaped eyebrows, and phoenix eyes. She has a bit of the charm of a classical beauty and looks pleasing to the eye.
Chu Jingqiu thought about the dream she had. In the dream, she and Zhang Pingping were abducted together, but this time only she was kidnapped, and Zhang Pingping was fine, thus changing her fate of being trafficked.
Is this the change brought about by my time travel, or did Zhang Pingping already know about it? She just secretly looked at me, did she know something, or was I overthinking it?
"Everyone has finished eating, let's have a simple meeting." Jiang Qingzhou's words interrupted Chu Jingqiu's thoughts.
"We new educated youth have been working in the countryside for a month now, and we're all familiar with the processes of cooking, chopping wood, and fetching water. We plan to redistribute the work. There will be five male educated youth, divided into two groups, taking turns chopping wood and fetching water; there will be six female educated youth, divided into three groups, taking turns cooking." Jiang Qingzhou paused and looked around. "Everyone can freely form their own opinions. Of course, if you have any different opinions or better ideas, you can also raise them."
Everyone agreed, and Lin Zishan was the first to propose to be in a group with Hu Mingyue.
Seeing this, Qin Yilan hurriedly grabbed Shi Aihong's hand, but Shi Aihong blurted out: "Jiang Zhiqing, I want to be in the same group with Jingqiu." Qin Yilan withdrew her hand embarrassedly.
Chu Jingqiu glanced at Qin Yilan, smiled, and patted Shi Aihong on the shoulder to indicate that he had no objection.
Soon, everyone found their own partners. Hu Mingyue and Lin Zishan were in one group, the boys Zhou Weidong, Zhao Xuemin, and Zhang Yuanchao were in one group; Jiang Qingzhou and Li Ziqiang were in one group.
The only girls left were Zhang Pingping and Qin Yilan. Zhang Pingping took the initiative to hold Qin Yilan's hand and said affectionately, "Qin Zhiqing, let's be a group." Qin Yilan could only give her a stiff smile and nodded in agreement.
"If everyone has no objections, Hu Zhiqing will post the duty roster later, and we'll follow it starting tomorrow."
After the meeting, Qin Yilan took the lead in pulling Zhang Pingping out of the kitchen, and Shi Aihong followed them out heartlessly.
Chu Jingqiu hurriedly pulled her back and whispered, "Don't go. Didn't you see she's angry?"
"Why is she angry? We didn't provoke her." Shi Aihong muttered softly.
"She just pulled you and wanted to be in the same group with you, but you shouted that you wanted to be in the same group with me. How could she not be angry?" Chu Jingqiu thought Shi Aihong was innocent and cute.
"I don't want to be in the same group with her. This month she is in the same group with Lin Zishan. Although Lin Zishan is not nice with her words, she is hardworking. Haven't you seen how lazy Qin Yilan is? She does nothing, but she is very good at flattering. She flatters Lin Zishan so much that she doesn't know what to do and is willing to help her." Shi Aihong rolled her eyes and said dissatisfiedly.
Chu Jingqiu said jokingly, "You are not really stupid, even though you are pretending to be a pig and trying to eat the tiger!"
"You still say I'm stupid, but I think you're even dumber than me. If there was no other way, who would be willing to go to the countryside? You were fooled into going to the countryside by her. When I heard that you were going to the countryside, I was shocked. I felt like you were kicked in the head by a donkey." Shi Aihong looked at her exaggeratedly with a look full of pity.
Chu Jingqiu choked and was speechless.
Well, what she said was indeed the truth. The original owner was really soulless and was easily fooled.
"You are her cash cow. When she needs something, just shake it." Shi Aihong added.
It is true that those involved are often confused while bystanders can see things more clearly. After searching the original owner's memory, I found that in this month, Qin Yilan took 20 yuan, 10 kilograms of food coupons, and a kilogram of brown sugar from her for various reasons. She also borrowed two sets of bras from the original owner and has not returned them. This does not include the fact that she lived in the original owner's house every day and took away food and drinks.
Although Qin Yilan's parents are both working, there are five children in her family, and her grandmother and her family often come to her house to beg for money, so Qin Yilan's family is struggling to make ends meet.
Since she was a child, her mother didn't like her to associate with Qin Yilan. It wasn't that she disliked Qin Yilan's poverty, but Qin Yilan always said how pitiful she was and how difficult it was for her, and hinted to Chu Jingqiu to give her something. When Chu Jingqiu gave her something openly, she pretended to be angry. Only when she saw Chu Jingqiu was angry did she reluctantly accept it.
From childhood to adulthood, Qin Yilan had coaxed a lot of good things from her.
This was another farce between Mr. Dongguo and the wolf, and the Qin family ended up being destroyed. When Chu Jingqiu thought of this, his hands unconsciously clenched into fists.
"Let's go to work. Why are you standing there like an idiot?" Shi Aihong saw Chu Jingqiu in a daze and pulled her forward.
"However, you two are relatives, so it's okay if you help her a little, just don't go too far." Shi Aihong seemed to feel that what she said just now was a bit blunt, as if she was trying to sow discord between the two of them, so she carefully made up for her slip of the tongue.
"What relatives? When did we become relatives?" Chu Jingqiu asked in confusion.
"Qin Yilan said that you two are relatives, and a very close one. Could it be true?" Shi Aihong also felt confused.
"Maybe there's something you don't know. Otherwise, how could she make such a lie? Or is she afraid that others will laugh at her for constantly taking your things, so she's making up an excuse for herself?" Shi Aihong shook her head. "Oh, forget it, forget it. You can write to your mother and ask. Let's get back to work."
The sun was high in the sky, and the bell for work had already rung several times before people began to arrive at the production team headquarters. The educated youth had arrived relatively early. Qin Yilan's eyes sparkled when she saw Chu Jingqiu. She walked over, warmly took Chu Jingqiu's hand, and said with a smile, "Jingqiu, you twisted your ankle yesterday. I thought you weren't going to work today, so I didn't wait for you. Don't blame me, will you?"
Chu Jingqiu naturally withdrew her hand and said, "How could that be? We are all going to the brigade headquarters anyway. It's just a few steps away. Aren't we companions again?" Chu Jingqiu gave her a standard polite smile.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
