RIRW – Chapter 11

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Zou Dan turned at the sound and saw Su Xue’s weary face. Among the four girls, Su Xue and the one called Liu Lili were undoubtedly the prettiest.

Unlike Liu Lili’s delicate charm, Su Xue’s beauty was bright and striking. Her fair skin and large eyes made her particularly appealing, especially by today’s standards.

If it weren’t for witnessing Su Xue’s spoiled and willful behavior during an argument last time, even Zou Dan might have liked someone like her.

But now…

“Our village folks are nice; what’s so strange about that?” Zou Dan replied perfunctorily before turning back to her work.

She had no interest in engaging with Su Xue and didn’t have a clear answer to the question anyway.

In the original owner’s sparse memories, the impression of Zou Village was vague. Because of the Li family’s background, the original owner believed her family’s social standing was poor. Influenced by her mother, Li Hui’s submissive attitude, the original owner had also become reserved over time. Even though she harbored resentment toward her mother, she never voiced it, keeping everything buried deep inside.

The original owner had always thought the villagers ostracized her, but their behavior suggested otherwise.

Take Li Hui’s situation, for example. Despite her poor background, marrying into the family should have still caused some stigma. Yet apart from Zou Hongjun losing his position as team leader, there seemed to be no other impact. Life went on as usual.

Even Zou Dan noticed that Zou Shuisheng, the current team leader, hadn’t specifically targeted their family.

Zou Dan found this odd. If the villagers didn’t care about Li Hui’s background, why did Zou Hongjun blame the Li family for losing his leadership role? Why did the old lady dislike both Li Hui as her daughter-in-law and Dandan as her granddaughter?

Even Li Hui herself had lived with low self-esteem, accepting everything without resistance.

Su Xue, dissatisfied with the vague answer, frowned slightly but persisted, remembering her purpose. She said, “Zou Dan, even though your family has a bad background, it doesn’t seem to affect your life in Zou Village. In fact, it looks like your family is doing quite well. Just look at you—you’re in much better shape than most people here.”

A person’s health often reveals a lot. Without waiting for Zou Dan’s response, Su Xue concluded in her mind that the Zou family must be living comfortably in the village.

Zou Dan, noticing Su Xue’s probing questions, couldn’t figure out her exact motives but knew they weren’t good.

With a faint smile, she said, “Good health comes from physical activity. So, Comrade Su Xue, you’d better hurry up and work. The more you get done, the more grain you’ll receive, and your life will improve. Look at Comrade Li Hongbing—she’s already threshed a large pile of wheat.”

She motioned toward Li Hongbing with her chin.

Li Hongbing’s face was drenched in sweat, yet she was working with determination, her sleeves rolled up as she labored energetically.

Despite Zou Dan’s dislike of her aggressive personality, she couldn’t help but admire Li Hongbing’s practicality and grit—qualities that made her more competent than the other three girls.

Now this was what an educated youth should be like.

Su Xue glanced back at Li Hongbing, biting her lip. Hmph, I’d never want to end up like her, working myself to the bone.

After all, working more or less wouldn’t change the end result.

The morning’s labor quickly came to an end.

As the sun climbed higher, people began delivering food to those working in the fields. Each household brought breakfast to their workers so they’d have the energy to continue.

At the Zou family’s end, it was Zou Grandma who brought the food. Carrying a large basket, she wore a proud smile on her face.

For someone her age not to have to work in the fields meant the family had plenty of labor and filial younger generations—a source of pride.

Perhaps feeling pleased that it had been Zou Dan who suggested she cook at home, Grandma Zou even boiled her an egg.

Looking at the lone egg, Zou Dan felt both surprised and amused.

However, apart from giving her the egg, Grandma Zou didn’t say a single word to her. With a stern expression, she simply carried the basket away.

Meanwhile, the female educated youths were eating the cornmeal buns distributed to them by the team. Seeing Zou Dan with a pancake in one hand and an egg in the other, they couldn’t help but swallow their saliva subtly.

Although they were from the city, the chance to eat eggs was rare even for them.

Seeing Zou Dan eating an egg left them feeling somewhat resentful.

Li Hongbing, biting into her cornmeal bun, muttered through gritted teeth, “Such bourgeois behavior.”

Su Xue, however, stared at the egg in Zou Dan’s hand with a gleam in her eyes.

That morning, Li Hui had been absentminded, almost cutting her hand while harvesting wheat. Zou Dacheng, noticing her fatigue, felt concerned. “Go rest for a while. It’s all collective work anyway—we just need to finish on time.”

“I’m fine. There’s still so much left. How could you manage alone?”

“You don’t look well. Go rest, or you’ll end up hurting yourself.”

Li Hui gripped the sickle, hesitating. “Dacheng, I’m not tired. I’m just thinking about something. Earlier… I saw Xiao Xue.”

“What?” Zou Dacheng was momentarily stunned at the name. “You mean Big Brother’s…”

Li Hui nodded, visibly agitated. “She’s changed a bit since she was young, but her features are still the same. This child looks just like her mother. I remember it clearly. It’s been so many years, and I never thought she’d come to Zou Village too.”

When Zuo Dachen heard this, he said happily, “This is great! Didn’t Big Brother always worry about her? If he knew she had come to Zuo Village, he would definitely be happy.”

When the Li family faced hardship, Li Hui’s sister-in-law, Zhang Mingyu, didn’t hesitate to divorce and take the children, and soon lost all contact. Over the years, the Li family had been worried about the mother and daughter’s situation.

Although Zhang Mingyu’s choice to divorce wasn’t admirable, the Li family didn’t blame her. If the whole family had to suffer together, it was better for one person to leave if possible.

Moreover, Li Xue was Li Wenqian’s only daughter, so naturally, they wanted her to avoid suffering.

When Li Hui saw Su Xue earlier, her feelings were complicated. She wanted to recognize her family but was also concerned about causing trouble for Su Xue.

“I need to find an opportunity to talk to Big Brother about this. We should see what he thinks. For now, let’s not go looking for Xue. We don’t want anyone to know about our relationship.”

Zuo Dachen, considering the current situation of his in-laws, also felt that it wasn’t the right time to speak up.

From morning until around 2 PM, Zuo Shuisheng finally struck the work gong, two loud rings.

When the gong sounded, everyone cheerfully ran back to their homes from the fields.

“Little Shen is really good. On his first day of work, he did just as well as us old hands,” several uncles praised as they walked back to the village with the male intellectual youths.

“It’s all thanks to you, old uncles. We still need to learn more from you,” Shen Yiming smiled warmly. He was handsome and tall, and his friendly demeanor made him very liked by the farmers.

The group chatted and laughed along the way, with other male intellectual youths chiming in.

Li Chenliang, who was a bit impulsive, spat out a straw from his mouth, “Pretentious.”

“Liu Ge, I think this guy is actually pretty good. Even if he’s pretending, he must have some skill,” Gao Wei said sincerely. He lived in the same yard as Li Chenliang, and their relationship was good.

Li Chenliang snorted but didn’t argue further. As they saw the others ahead getting further away, he exchanged a look with Gao Wei, and the two slowed their pace, deliberately creating distance from the others.

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, they ran toward the threshing ground.

“Liu Ge, what are we doing?” Gao Wei asked, confused.

It was almost mealtime—who would go to the threshing ground now? Besides, they were already exhausted from the morning’s labor. Gao Wei would much rather lie down for a nap.

“Shh—” Li Chenliang narrowed his eyes and motioned for him to follow. “There wasn’t enough food earlier. I was starving this morning.”

“Then why didn’t you go eat?” Gao Wei was even more puzzled. “Why run over there?”

“We’re going to get some food. There were corn cobs at the threshing ground, besides the wheat. Let’s grab some and roast them over the fire later. We’ll have something to eat tonight. And I’ve figured it out—the food ration after the harvest won’t include us. The grain borrowed from the commune is not even enough for us. Once the harvest is over, we’ll starve. If we don’t stock up now, we’ll be gnawing on tree bark later.”

“…!!” Gao Wei’s eyes widened.

They were going to steal food!

At this time, there was no one left at the threshing ground.

No one expected anyone would steal anything. In fact, the security had been excellent over the years, and at night, they didn’t even need to lock the doors. The grain at the threshing ground belonged to the public, so no one would dare to steal it. It wasn’t like the famine times when people starved to death. As long as they weren’t starving to death, no one would risk their reputation in the village for a mouthful of food.

Seeing the corn cobs spread out on the threshing ground, Li Chenliang’s eyes lit up. He jogged over, nimbly grabbing a handful and stuffing them into his pocket.

“Hey, you two comrades are still working here? Oh my, you’re not even eating, just running around working. No wonder you’re from the city, your consciousness is so high, and your thinking so proactive,” a crisp voice suddenly came from behind.

The two froze abruptly, Gao Wei shivering.

Li Chenliang cleared his throat, naturally putting the corn back in place. He turned around to see Zuo Dan standing there with a straw hat, arms crossed, watching them with a half-smile.

Zuo Shuisheng had arranged for Zuo Dan to keep watch at the threshing ground, worried about the grain being eaten by birds. Naturally, Zuo Dan wasn’t slacking off. After quickly getting some food for herself, she hurried over to keep an eye on things. She didn’t expect the intellectual youths to be so bold as to try to steal grain on their first day.

If they got caught, it would be a big deal.

Li Chenliang narrowed his eyes, staring at Zuo Dan, who stared back at him.

Beside them, Gao Wei was sweating.

Guilty of stealing and caught red-handed, not knowing what punishment might await them, made him anxious, “Uh… Dandan, right? We met yesterday.”

Zuo Dan smiled, “That was yesterday. I just saw you two…”

“No, we didn’t do anything!” Gao Wei quickly waved his hands.

Li Chenliang glanced at Gao Wei, disapproving, and pushed him aside, glaring at Zuo Dan, “Hey, girl, what do you want?”

Although he usually acted rashly, he wasn’t dumb. If she intended to expose them, she would have shouted by now. Why would she still be talking so calmly?

Zuo Dan hadn’t expected these intellectual youths to have such guts. They had been caught red-handed trying to steal and yet were still so confident.

But she didn’t want to make a big fuss about it. She thought for a moment and then said seriously, “Do you have money?”

Gao Wei’s eyes widened, “What, you want us to give you money?”

Zuo Dan rolled her eyes, “I’m not like you. What I mean is, I’ve saved some food. If you need it, I can trade some for you.”

Zuo Dan had been worried for the past few days. Even though money wasn’t important here, not having any made her feel insecure.

Especially with so many uncertainties at the Zuo family’s place. It felt better to have some money on hand.

Hearing her words, Li Chenliang and Gao Wei exchanged glances. Li Chenliang narrowed his eyes, “Are you serious?”

“Do I have any benefit from lying to you? Will you trade or not?”

“Trade, of course!” Li Chenliang immediately replied. Who would be a fool to turn down food?