The newly arrived educated youth, including Liu Liwen who had just been complaining about the coarse grains, were all dumbfounded at this moment.
Meat once a year?
Eating steamed buns with radishes and potatoes every meal?
Is this the life they will face in the next few years?
hard.
For the first time, this word weighed so concretely and heavily on the hearts of every new educated youth, giving them their first real and cruel feeling of the life they were about to begin as educated youth.
Lin Jianxue silently put his food bag back into the small storage room and locked the door with the small lock he brought with him.
She did not participate in outside discussions. When she decided to go to the countryside, she was mentally prepared to endure hardships.
She straightened her clothes and followed the crowd to the educated youth canteen across the yard.
The educated youth canteen was just opposite the dormitory, separated by a small adobe courtyard.
It was originally the living room of a local tycoon in the village. Now it has been requisitioned. A red silk cloth is hung crookedly on the wall with the words "Warmly welcome the educated youth to go to the countryside" written in ink.
There were several greasy round tables and long benches in the cafeteria.
A slightly plump middle-aged man wearing a greasy twisted apron was busy at the stove with a huge iron spoon.
Seeing the educated youth coming in one after another, he immediately shouted at the top of his voice:
"Are you all here? Hurry and find a place to sit! The food will be ready soon! We have steamed buns with sesame flour and stewed potatoes with meat! This is all thanks to the new comrade!"
Lin Jianxue had no intention of joining in the fun. She glanced around and found a relatively quiet spot against the wall to sit down.
As soon as I sat down, I caught a glimpse of two figures coming in from the corner of my eye.
They are Liu Liwen and Zhang Ruichen.
Liu Liwen seemed to have not recovered from the shock of "eating meat once a year". Her face still looked unhappy, but she held Zhang Ruichen's hand in a loving manner.
Zhang Ruichen looked normal. He looked around the cafeteria and soon his eyes fell on Lin Jianxue who was alone.
He lowered his head and said something to Liu Liwen, who immediately shook her head, pouting her lips, her face full of reluctance.
Zhang Ruichen whispered to comfort her a few more times, and finally pulled Liu Liwen, who looked unhappy, towards Lin Jianxue.
"Comrade Lin," Zhang Ruichen said with a friendly smile, pointing to the empty seat next to Lin Jianxue. "Is there no one here? Can we sit here?"
His attitude was quite polite, and he was much more polite than Liu Liwen.
Lin Jianxue raised her eyes to glance at him and said two words lightly: "Please do as you please."
Liu Liwen snorted heavily, pulled out the bench opposite Lin Jianxue, and sat down with obvious dissatisfaction in her movements.
Zhang Ruichen sat down next to Lin Jianxue. He didn't seem to care about his girlfriend's attitude at all. Instead, he turned sideways and said to Lin Jianxue in a very friendly tone, "Comrade Lin, we're all from Kyoto, so we're half-fellow villagers. How about the three of us form a team to work in the fields? There's strength in numbers, and we can look after each other."
Zhang Ruichen had just finished speaking when Lin Jianxue hadn't had time to respond. Liu Liwen, who was sitting opposite her, couldn't hold back any longer and spoke in a sarcastic tone:
"Oh, Ruichen, you're so kindhearted! Why do you care about this Miss Lin? She's a beautiful young lady from Kyoto, a daughter of a wealthy family. Maybe her parents have already arranged all the connections. Why would she have to suffer with us?"
"Besides, they're rich! We're working our asses off here for a living, and they can probably just snap a finger and pay someone to do the job! Why would you worry about that?"
As soon as these words were spoken, many old educated youth in the cafeteria who had been listening attentively to the noise over here looked at Lin Jianxue thoughtfully.
Zhang Ruichen frowned and interrupted her in a low voice: "Liwen, don't say that. We are all educated youth here together, so we should help each other."
Before he finished speaking, Lin Jianxue had already raised her eyes calmly, her tone calm and calm: "No need, I can do it by myself."
This attitude made Zhang Ruichen's prepared words for further persuasion stuck in his throat.
His eyes moved slightly, and a hint of strangeness flashed across them.
Unable to help it, his gaze fell on Lin Jianxue's exquisite and eye-catching face again.
Although she looked cold and lonely, her face was extremely beautiful, with incredibly delicate features and fair and smooth skin. She was totally out of tune with the rough environment of the northern border. She was like a cold magnet, firmly attracting the attention of those around her.
At this moment, the chefs in the cafeteria shouted and brought out a large basin of steaming hot food.
"Here it comes—pork stew with rice! Thanks to the new comrade, my son can eat as much as he wants!"
The rich aroma of meat mixed with the aroma of rice instantly filled the entire cafeteria.
The rice in the pot was soaked in gravy, each grain of rice had an attractive oily sheen, and was mixed with a fairly large piece of meat and potato cubes.
Next to it were a few plates of brightly colored, crispy-looking, and delicious pickled radish strips.
"Wow! Braised pork with rice!"
"Hurry, hurry, give me a big spoonful!"
The old educated youth, who had done hard work all day and were already starving, were so excited when they saw this real food.
They didn't even bother to look at the new educated youth. They all rushed forward with their own enamel bowls, fearing that they would be gone if they were too late.
The chef's cooking skills are obviously good. He presses a large spoonful of pork stewed rice firmly, and adds a handful of sour radish to relieve the greasiness. It is a rare delicacy.
The old educated youth took their bowls, found a place to sit down and began to eat voraciously. They ate in no time, their mouths full of oil, and they sighed with satisfaction.
Lin Jianxue queued quietly, got a meal, sat back at her original seat, and ate in silence.
Halfway through eating, he caught a glimpse of Zhang Ruichen sitting opposite him. He carefully picked out the few pieces of meat in his bowl and put them into Liu Liwen's bowl.
"Ruichen, you are so nice to me." Liu Liwen immediately showed a sweet smile, and her voice was so coquettish that it gave people goose bumps. She picked up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth, not forgetting to cast an extremely proud and showing-off look towards Lin Jianxue.
As if to say: See? My boyfriend loves me!
Childish and boring.
Lin Jianxue didn't even bother to lift her eyelids. She averted her gaze and continued to concentrate on the rice in her bowl, completely ignoring the young couple acting out in front of her.
The dinner ended quickly.
Lin Jianxue, holding an empty bowl, followed the crowd to the well in the corner of the yard.
There were several simple cement pools beside the well, with moss growing on the walls. Several educated youth were gathered there washing dishes.
The well water was icy cold, so she rolled up her sleeves and carefully washed the dishes.
Just as I put the washed dishes back to the sink to drain, a figure approached quietly.
"Comrade Lin."
Lin Jianxue turned around and saw Zhang Ruichen had come over at some point and was standing not far behind her.
He stood not far behind her, a smile on his face, and said gently, "Today the team is organizing us new educated youth to weed the cotton fields. I heard from the old educated youth that it's very tiring work, and the cotton stalks can easily scratch your hands. If you find it difficult, I'll come over to help you after I finish my share."
As he spoke, his eyes fell on Lin Jianxue's wrist, which was wet with well water and looked slender and fair. There was an uncomfortable scrutiny in his eyes.
Lin Jianxue glanced at him indifferently, feeling puzzled.
What's wrong with this person?
She had already definitely refused a team-up once, so now she was showing off again? What was she trying to achieve?
She frowned slightly and said in a cold tone, "Thank you, but no thanks. I can do it myself."
After saying that, without waiting for Zhang Ruichen to say anything else, he picked up the clean enamel bowl, turned around and walked towards the dormitory.
Zhang Ruichen stood there, the smile on his face froze for a moment.
He looked at Lin Jianxue's slender but straight back, and his eyes couldn't help but deepened a few degrees.
"Ruichen, why are you daydreaming here? What are you looking at?" Liu Liwen's dissatisfied voice with a hint of suspicion came from the side.
She had also finished washing the dishes and happened to see Zhang Ruichen staring blankly in the direction where Lin Jianxue had left.
Zhang Ruichen immediately came to his senses, quickly concealing the complex emotions in his eyes. He turned to her and gave her a gentle smile: "Nothing, just thinking about the weeding thing yesterday. Did you wash the dishes? If not, I'll help you."
He naturally changed the subject.
The unhappy look on Liu Liwen's face immediately turned sunny. She was so delighted by his gentle attitude that she gently hit him: "Oh, it's just a small matter of washing the dishes. Why do I need your help? I have already washed them myself!"
"It's just a piece of cake." Zhang Ruichen interrupted her, his smile becoming even more gentle and doting. "From now on, I'll help you wash the dishes every day."
Liu Liwen then smiled sweetly, and the unhappiness in her heart instantly disappeared. She took Zhang Ruichen's arm and said, "Ruichen, you are so nice!"
Zhang Ruichen smiled and patted her hand, but a dark light flashed quickly in the depths of his eyes.
*
Excessive Chapter~
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