Chapter 45: Travel Together

Xia Zhizhi's entire body was as white as if she had a layer of filter on it, with delicate features, thick hair, and smooth skin. Although her figure now seemed a little thin, after all, times were tough back then, and having a lot of flesh on her body proved that she lived a good life, but it didn't mean that people had no aesthetic taste.

For a good-looking person, it doesn’t matter whether she is tall, short, fat or thin.

Her facial features are actually quite gorgeous, but the tail of her eyebrows droops a little. When she is relaxed, she doesn't look very aggressive and seems somewhat innocent. Just looking at her appearance, it is easy to feel pity for her.

Wang Lizhen's face suddenly turned ugly. She looked at Xia Zhizhi's face, then glanced at Cui Zijin covertly. Seeing that Cui Zijin was concentrating on eating and not paying too much attention to Xia Zhizhi, she felt better.

She ignored Wang Lizhen's gaze. She dressed so beautifully just to show off to others.

After all, the original owner had an appearance that could threaten the heroine. She has taken careful care of herself during this period of time. It can be said that from head to toe, not a single hair is not beautiful. According to her own aesthetic standards, she is the most beautiful woman in the world!

Seeing her take out her lunch box and prepare to eat, Cui Zijin considerately moved their lunch boxes to the side to make some space for her.

She doesn't eat fast. Unless there are special circumstances, she eats slowly and is very willing to enjoy the food.

Cui Zijin and Wang Lizhen finished eating quickly. They watched her chew the whole box of jelly slowly and then eat four steamed buns, which were not small in size.

Both of them were a little surprised. It's not uncommon for people to eat more than her, but her body was really not proportional to her appetite.

Wang Lizhen couldn't help but ask, "Do you always eat so much?"

"Yes." She was only about 60% full. She was not embarrassed to be accused of eating too much. She said boldly: "I have been in poor health since I was a child. I am especially weak. I need to eat more to replenish myself."

Wang Lizhen took a look at her small body and nodded in agreement: "You need to eat more, you are really too thin." There was not a trace of envy in her words, only pure disdain.

After dinner, Xia Zhizhi took the lunch box to wash. She was not willing to do it now, so she went straight to the toilet, threw the lunch box into the washroom, and asked Ah Ju to clean it. When she came out of the toilet, the lunch box was clean and shiny, without any greasiness at all.

Back in the carriage, Cui Zijin continued to read his magazine with an expression as if she was as beautiful as a jade in a book.

She looked at him as if he hadn't turned the page for a long time, and suspected that Cui Zijin didn't want to pay attention to Wang Lizhen and was deliberately holding the book to pretend.

Wang Lizhen was afraid of disturbing him, so she didn't dare to talk to him. She felt a little bored and couldn't help but start talking to Xia Zhizhi: "My name is Wang Lizhen, I'm eighteen years old, from Kyoto, and I went to Mudan City, Heilongjiang Province with Brother Zijin to support rural construction. What about you, comrade?"

"My name is Xia Zhizhi. I'm sixteen this year and I'm also going to Mudan City to work in the countryside." Xia Zhizhi said.

"What a coincidence?" Wang Lizhen was a little surprised: "How many brothers and sisters do you have at home? Why did they let you come?"

It's not a coincidence at all, she came here specifically to complete the mission.

Xia Zhizhi began to establish her character: "My eldest brother is working, my sisters have just married, and my younger sister is only 10 years old. Although I am a little weak, it does not affect my heart to serve the motherland."

After she finished speaking, she took out a small paper package from her bag. When she opened it, there were more than twenty small pills of various colors (rainbow candies) inside.

She poured it into her mouth three times and drank half a glass of water before she swallowed all the pills.

Wang Lizhen grimaced as she watched, and Cui Zijin also raised his head from the magazine and glanced sideways.

My goodness, Western medicine is so expensive these days. It’s the first time I see someone taking a handful of it. It really broadens my horizons.

After taking the medicine, she smiled shyly at the two of them and said softly, "I have had poor health since I was a child and have been taking medicine all the time. You won't look down on me because of this, right?"

"No, no." The two of them shook their heads repeatedly. Even if they really looked down on someone, they would not say it out loud to his face.

Originally, Wang Lizhen was somewhat hostile towards her. After all, no one would not care about the appearance of a beautiful person of the opposite sex around their loved one. But when she saw her taking handfuls of Xuanyao pills, her hostility was reduced a little.

It's not that Wang Lizhen is vicious, but looking at the amount of medicine she takes, it really looks like she won't live long...

The system doesn't understand.

Why do you take so many pills?

"Didn't you ask me to do something to attract the hero's attention, but not to arouse his interest?"

I didn't make you so attractive

"Just say you didn't attract his attention."

What else can the system say?

From the moment she took out the pill to the moment she swallowed it whole, the male protagonist watched her for a full three minutes.

No matter how mature and stable Cui Zijin is, he is just a 20-year-old boy, and it is inevitable that he is curious.

She chatted with Wang Lizhen casually. She felt that she probably wouldn't live long. Wang Lizhen didn't have any hostility towards her, so she just treated it as a way to kill time, and the two of them chatted for a long time.

Next to their carriage was a hard-seat carriage, where many educated youth went to the countryside.

Except for a small number of people like them who had ulterior motives, most of the educated youth went to the countryside with the mentality of serving the motherland and receiving re-education.

The atmosphere in the hard seat carriage was good, with warm applause and cheers erupting from time to time, and some people even organized singing of revolutionary songs.

Wang Lizhen tilted her ears and listened for a while. She was attracted and asked Xia Zhizhi, "It's so lively over there. Shall we go over and take a look?"

The hard seat compartment was not a good place to go. She shook her head quickly and fell on the berth with her heart in her hands weakly: "I won't go. I feel a little uncomfortable. I'll lie down first."

"Okay, I'll go take a look and tell you when I come back." Wang Lizhen went over to take a look out of curiosity, but was quickly discouraged by the environment.

Although most of the educated youth had good personal hygiene, it was summer now and people were sweating. A carriage full of people were pickled together like canned herrings. The smell was so intoxicating.

The passengers who had been staying there were probably drowned in the heat and had developed resistance, so they didn't feel it so obviously. Suddenly, when they passed by this side, a wave of heat hit them in the face, making them dizzy.

When Wang Lizhen came back, she held her chest as if she had motion sickness, staggered up to the bed, lay down, and quickly fell asleep.

Xia Zhizhi was too lazy to look at Cui Zijin. She sat in her seat, covering her face with a newspaper, as if she was absorbed in reading. Her mental focus went over there to see what was going on.

At this moment, two boys surrounded Choi Zi-jin's official partner Han Youran, competing for her attention. The two of them were talking to each other, openly and secretly belittling each other, which was quite interesting.

Han Youran is a time-traveling heroine. Before traveling through time, she was a rich, beautiful woman and a top medical student. After traveling through time, she also came from a cadre family. However, because her personality was too different from the original owner, she was afraid that her family would find out, so she went to the countryside.

Han Youran has a dignified appearance, an oval face, a high nose bridge, fair skin, a tall figure, and a good temperament and conversation. She attracted everyone's attention as soon as she got on the car.

After chatting for a while, everyone realized that they were all educated youth who had gone to the countryside, and the guys, both young and old, began to show their courtesy.

But looking at Han Youran's smile that didn't reach her eyes, you could tell that she had no interest in these noisy young men.

That's normal. She was already in her 20s before she traveled through time. She definitely couldn't pee in the same pot as someone who's only 17 or 18 years old.

She directed her mental power toward the front carriage.

The most eye-catching couple in this carriage is a man and a woman sitting facing each other. The man is tall, with a square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and dark skin, which is the mainstream aesthetic of that era.

Although he was a little unrecognizable due to his thinness and his clothes were very simple, he still stood out among the crowd in the carriage.

The girl was petite, pretty and gentle, with a calm and peaceful expression that did not match her age. The clothes she wore and the small leather shoes on her feet showed that she came from a well-off family.

The boy is named Tang Mingli and the girl is named Jiang Xiurong.

This is a reborn heroine, a heroine who was reborn with Xixi’s grocery shopping system.

Before my rebirth, I accepted my family's arrangement and went into marriage, and my life was quite depressing.

After her rebirth, she decisively kicked her blood-sucking family aside and went to the countryside to follow the male protagonist who had always been good to her in her previous life.

The two have not yet clarified their relationship.

Because Tang Mingli doesn't recognize Jiang Xiurong yet.

Jiang Xiurong secretly looked at Tang Mingli. Tang Mingli at this moment was very different from the impression she had of him.

Jiang Xiurong was secretly thinking about how to start a conversation.

The system arranged three pairs of men and women for her in total, and one pair had not yet been delivered.

She is a supporting actress and has to pair up with three pairs of protagonists. Even the breeding boars in the breeding farm are not as capable as her. She is so awesome.

Wang Lizhen lay there until the evening before waking up. When it was time for dinner, she struggled to get up, her face pale as she asked Cui Zijin, "Brother Zijin, what are we having for dinner?"

Cui Zijin said calmly, "I haven't done anything all day, so I'm not too hungry. I'll just eat something."

Wang Lizhen was about to rummage through the package when Xia Zhizhi couldn't help rolling her eyes and said in a sinister tone, "Oh, Comrade Cui Zijin is so lucky. Comrade Wang looked so uncomfortable, but she didn't dare to ask you to help her get a bowl of porridge. She had to get up and serve you. Oh, I don't know when I will be so lucky to find someone who treats me so well. Tsk tsk tsk, I'm so jealous."

Cui Zijin's face darkened. He was not really a bad person. He was just used to being served and didn't think he should take action. Hearing Xia Zhizhi say this, he felt a little embarrassed. He put down the magazine in his hand, picked up the lunch box, and said to Wang Lizhen, "You sit down and rest for a while. I'll go see if there is any porridge and buy you some."

Wang Lizhen was deeply moved: "Brother Zijin, you are so kind to me!"

Xia Zhizhi handed over the lunch box in her hand: "Oh, Comrade Cui is really kind and considerate, especially taking care of us female comrades. Come, help me get one too."

Cui Zijin went to the dining car with three lunch boxes in his pocket and a gloomy face.

Wang Lizhen was in a love-struck state. While opening the lunch box and arranging the dishes, she shared with her sweetly, "These dishes are what Brother Zijin likes to eat. I specially asked my mother to get up early and bring them to the car because I was afraid that he wouldn't have enough to eat in the car. Unfortunately, the weather is hot now, so I can't bring too much..."

"I know, I know..." Xia Zhizhi said perfunctorily.

She gets confused when she sees love, but she thinks that at least she has a childhood sweetheart, and she can cultivate him and make use of him. If there are some things she doesn't want to do, she can let Wang Lizhen do it.

She rolled her eyes and said with ill intention: "Comrade Wang, although you are very good to Comrade Cui, he is rather cold to you. I heard from my mother that men should be allowed to do more things, and you should act more coquettishly and not do everything for them. You should let them get used to taking care of you..."

Wang Lizhen rubbed her hands and said, "But I want to take better care of him, so that he will always see my good side."

"You know nothing." She leaned over and whispered in Wang Lizhen's ear: "Listen to me, we are both lesbians, I won't hurt you, you should do this and that more often... If you don't believe me, just try it first and see if it works."

Since I can't get him anyway, why should I serve him? I should treat him like an ox or a horse.

When Wang Lizhen was hesitant, Cui Zijin came back with a lunch box.

Thinking about Xia Zhizhi's words, Wang Lizhen looked at the lunch box in front of her, bit her lip, and said, "Brother Zijin, the lid of this lunch box is too tight, I can't open it..."

Cui Zijin didn't respond. He reached out to help her open the lunch box. She said, "Brother Zijin, I don't know what happened today. My chest feels stuffy and I have no appetite. I want to drink some sweet porridge."

After saying this, he raised his head and looked at Cui Zijin expectantly.

When they got on the bus, they took a lot of bags, but no sugar. Cui Zijin looked at her expression, paused, and said, "I'll go see if there's any sugar in the dining car."

Soon, Wang Lizhen drank the sweet white porridge. Her expression was so beautiful. After eating, she felt much better and wanted to wash the dishes, but Xia Zhizhi secretly kicked her.

She had no choice but to stop and watch Cui Zijin wash the dishes.

Xia Zhizhi continued to brainwash her: "See, I was right!"

Wang Lizhen nodded shyly. Who wouldn't like the feeling of being taken care of by the person they love?

The four days in the car were particularly peaceful. Cui Zijin took charge of the meal service during these days. Xia Zhizhi flattered me and was able to do the job. She asked me to bring rice when serving food and water when serving water. I had no idea and was embarrassed to write about it.

They said: "Comrade Cui is really nice. He took special care of us two female comrades."

Cui Zijin felt something was a little strange, but couldn't tell what was wrong. Bringing food and water was just a small matter, so he didn't say anything more.

In the past few days, they have also accepted her habit of eating a bowl of soup for every meal and taking a lot of medicine.

She even had the bad intention of sharing the fruit that had been touched by the children with Wang Lizhen: "We women should eat more fruit, so that we can have good skin and be more beautiful."

As for the male protagonist, I ignored him.

In the past few days, her relationship with Wang Lizhen has become much closer.

After taking the train for four consecutive days, when we got off the train, everyone looked like freshly pickled vegetables, sour, smelly and wilted. Those in sleeper berths were okay, but those sitting on hard seats were simply the worst. As soon as we got off the train, we were like opening a can of herrings, walking biological weapons.

When getting off the bus, Cui Zijin helped Wang Lizhen carry her luggage because she knew she was "frail and sickly", and Wang Lizhen lent a hand to help her carry the luggage.

The three of them left the station, asked someone, and walked to the local educated youth center. Fortunately, it was not too far from the train station, only about ten minutes' walk.

But Xia Zhizhi was petite and frail, so she had to rest after walking for two minutes. Plus, the sun was very strong at the moment, and even though she was wearing a hat, she didn't want to be exposed to the sun, so she walked around corners, which slowed her down even more.

Cui Zijin couldn't stand her dithering and procrastinating, so they all went along the way. Cui Zijin just left her alone and carried one of her bags, leaving the other one for Wang Lizhen to carry.

She walked behind empty-handed.

The place where she and the male and female protagonists went to work in the countryside was Zhongxing Village in Xinglong Commune, also known as Zhongxing Brigade. It was the closest to the urban area among all the brigades. The conditions in the village were good and they even had tractors.

The educated youth who were going to Zhongxing Brigade to work in the countryside quickly gathered together, a total of five women and six men.

The young man who came to pick them up was called Lin Hongyan, the second son of the team leader. According to him, most people in the village had the surname Lin, and almost all of them were related.

Their carriage was next to Han's, and everyone found the meeting point almost at the same time.

Cui Zijin had just put down the four large bags he was carrying, straightened up and stretched his stiff arms, when he saw Han Youran walking towards him leisurely carrying a box and a package.

She was tall, with light steps. Although she looked a little haggard after sitting on the train for several days, she did not look ugly. Instead, she looked a little fragile.

It's almost 360 degrees in line with Cui Zijin's aesthetic taste.

Han Youran also spotted Cui Zijin in the crowd at a glance. The calm aura around him made him look like something other than a 20-year-old boy. He had red lips and white teeth, and looked like a demon male protagonist. He was Han Youran's type.

They were both stunned for a moment.

It gives a profound interpretation of what it means when a turtle and a mung bean fall in love with each other.

"Brother Zijin, everyone isn't here yet and the weather is a bit hot. Let's go buy a bottle of soda." Wang Lizhen sensed a crisis and intuitively felt that something was not right between the two of them, so she stepped forward and tried to hold Cui Zijin's hand.

Cui Zijin turned sideways and didn't let her hold him.

The moment Han Youran appeared, the thoughtfulness that he had cultivated over the past two days disappeared, and he said, "I'm not thirsty. Go buy yourself a bottle."

"Forget it." Wang Lizhen felt a little disappointed and sad. She didn't really want to buy soda in the first place.

Han Youran withdrew her gaze when she saw a familiar girl appearing next to Cui Zijin. She thought Cui Zijin was of her liking, but if she already had a partner, she would not be in a position to interfere.

After a while, Jiang Xiurong and Tang Mingli also came over. Jiang Xiurong was carrying only one box, and Tang Mingli helped her carry the rest.

Xia Zhizhi didn't pay attention to them all the time, so she didn't know when they became familiar with each other.

But it's normal. As long as you start chatting for a few words, you will find out that when people go to the countryside, most of the people these days are still very enthusiastic. It is very common to lend a hand to female comrades and get some things.

Then a few more people came.

Seeing that everyone was present, Lin Hongyan took out a list from his trouser pocket and began to call out names.

In addition to her, there are two other female protagonists, Wang Lizhen, and another one named Liu Lin.

In addition to the two male protagonists, the other male actors are named Guo De, Shi Feng, Wu Qiyuan, and Fang Hong.

They are all background characters with few roles.

Everyone put their luggage on board. There was not much space on the tractor, and everyone had a lot of luggage. After all, when traveling, due to money restrictions, they had to bring everything they could, and each one had large and small bags.

After putting the luggage of 11 people on board, Lin Hongyan used the hemp rope to tie up the luggage several times, and there was no empty space left in the car.

The gay men suggested that the lesbians go up and sit on the edge of the tractor frame while they walked back, as it wasn't too far.

Lin Hongyan gave directions to the men: "Just keep going straight ahead. Turn in from the intersection with a big rock and you will reach our village. Walk faster and you will arrive in a little over an hour."

Agricultural tractors are used to pull fertilizer and plow the land, and there is no need to say much about hygiene. Don't think too much, just sit down with your eyes closed.

Some female comrades who brought handkerchiefs used them to pad their clothes, and those who didn't bring any could only make do like this.