Chapter 16: Falling Out

　　Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei looked at each other and walked in quickly. Zhao Yonglan was standing in the kitchen with her lunch box and chopsticks in her hands.

　　All the people at the educated youth site gathered here except Zhao Rongguang who had gone out again.

　　Li Yunying and Wang Shanxi, the two people in charge of the male and female educated youth, frowned at the same time.

　　They were the first batch of educated youth in Liushugou. When they went to the countryside, the educated youth settlement had not been completed yet, so the team leader assigned them to live temporarily with fellow villagers. The temporary stay was not long, only a month.

　　But the memories of that month left them are ones they will never forget in their lifetime.

　　The villagers are not that bad, but they always look down on young people who come here without any relatives or friends, especially since they can still receive food rations before the autumn harvest, which always makes some people feel uncomfortable.

　　As a result, bullying, isolation and ridicule became the norm for them.

　　Li Yunying still doesn't talk to the family she lived with at the beginning. Wang Shanxi is a little more friendly, but they just say hello when they meet.

　　Wang Shanxi said: "You have to think about it carefully. If you leave now, you can't come back in the future."

　　The Youth League Center is not a charity organization. You can't just join and leave whenever you want. Wang Shanxi has a bit of a good-natured personality, but he also has principles.

　　He would never accept back those who abandoned them. They also guessed why Zhao Yonglan wanted to live with the fellow villagers. Wasn't it because she felt that they were asking her to collect firewood and she was not happy?

　　But she doesn't know how to cook, and she doesn't want to learn. She doesn't want to work on the private plot with them after work. If she doesn't collect firewood, she still need to have food to eat? They're not her parents, so why should they spoil her?

　　Zhou Zhenfeng stood in the crowd, looking at Zhao Yonglan with an indescribable sinister look.

　　Zhou Zhenfeng is not young anymore. Seeing that his peers around him have started families one by one, his younger brother who was born in Chengli also got married last month. Seeing that there is no hope of returning to the city, Zhou Zhenfeng wants to get married.

　　There were many female educated youth who had a good relationship with him, and there were also many girls in the village who admired him, but he had high standards and he wanted to find a girl with a good family background and good looks.

　　When Jiang Youtao and the others came, the first person he fell in love with was Jiang Youtao. After all, Jiang Youtao's appearance was second only to Gu Nianwei, and she was younger. She also looked pitiful and easy to bully. However, he had just stretched out his hands tentatively when Jiang Youtao pushed them back.

　　Before he could recover, he found out about Zhao Yonglan's family background, and Zhou Zhenfeng immediately changed his target. Although Zhao Yonglan was a little stupid and not as pretty as Jiang Youtao, her family background alone could make up for everything.

　　Thinking of how he chased Zhao Yonglan out at noon and persuaded her for a long time, the tender and sweet words she said and Zhao Yonglan's gratitude to him, Zhou Zhenfeng clenched his fists.

　　Women's mouths are deceiving. Zhao Yonglan didn't say at noon that she was going to live with others!

　　Zhao Yonglan didn't take Wang Shanxi's words to heart at all: "Don't worry, I will never come back to eat with you again."

　　Zhao Yonglan was not stupid. The family she lived with was the village party secretary's family. Her family was one of the richest families in Liushugou. Her son and grandson were both high school students in the county, and her eldest grandson had a job in the county. They didn't want her food at all.

　　She lived with the Su family, and only had to pay a few dollars a month for food, firewood, and water. She brought her own food, and as for everything else, she ate whatever the village party secretary's family ate.

　　Zhao Yonglan felt that no matter how poor the village party secretary's family was, the food they ate couldn't be worse than that of the educated youth at the educated youth site.

　　After Zhao Yonglan finished speaking, she took her lunch box and left. Her back was exceptionally straight. She was clearly going to the village party secretary's house for dinner, but she walked out with a heroic and proud posture.

　　No one spoke in the kitchen for a long time.

　　Finally, Jiang Youtao said, "Let me light the fire and cook. Everyone must be hungry, right?"

　　"I'll help you." Gu Nianwei rolled up her sleeves, and Li Yunying followed suit: "I'll go pick the vegetables."

　　With the concerted efforts of the three, the meal was prepared quickly and well. With one less person at the table, a lot of seats were left vacant, and no one felt uncomfortable.

　　There was even a hint of smile on the lips of Zhang Huihui and Liu Yingjun.

　　Every time Zhao Yonglan took out a little less food, she would ask them for more. Every time she asked for less, she didn't get much. It would be okay if they didn't give her once or twice, but if they didn't give her every time, Zhao Yonglan would definitely write a letter back to complain.

　　Now that Zhao Yonglan has gone out to live with her fellow villagers, their food rations can be saved. Who wouldn't be happy?

　　Not long after they finished their meal and lay down in the dormitory, Zhao Yonglan came. She had a faint smile on her face and was obviously very satisfied with the lunch.

　　She looked at the people lying on the kang, pretending to be indifferent and began to tell them the Su family's lunch menu.

　　Stir-fried shredded potatoes, stewed cabbage, and tomato and egg soup were large in quantity, filling, and extremely delicious. Most importantly, she didn't have to collect firewood.

　　That boastful tone left people speechless.

　　Li Yunying said, "This is your first day there, the Su family must have cooked some delicious food. If the food is still the same in a few days, come and tell us. Okay, it's getting late, and we have to go to work in the afternoon. Go to bed quickly."

　　The butcher knew to feed the pigs well and make them plump before slaughtering them. In the eyes of that family, what was the difference between Zhao Yonglan and a pig?

　　Besides, what's so great about stewed cabbage with shredded potatoes and tomato and egg soup? What kind of good dishes are they? Except for the fact that they didn't make egg soup, aren't the rest the same things that the educated youths eat every day?

　　What's there to brag about?

　　Zhao Yonglan didn't get the feedback she wanted and was a little unhappy, but she still kept her mouth shut because countless experiences before told her that it was useless for her to lose her temper, so she didn't waste the effort.

　　The dormitory became quiet, and Jiang Youtao finally calmed down to check the system.

　　She looked at the backpack first. The fruits, candies, meat buns and melon seeds were all neatly placed inside. She opened the mall and took a look. The 1 behind the balance in the upper right corner looked particularly pleasing to the eye.

　　The nameless anxiety that Jiang Youtao had been feeling in her heart for some time had dissipated a little bit without her noticing.

　　With 1 melon coin, can 10 melon coins be far behind?

　　Jiang Youtao closed the system mall and opened the bookshelf. There was an extra white frame on the book belonging to Gu Nianwei at the top of the bookshelf, and the progress bar of 0.5 was almost invisible to the naked eye.

　　Jiang Youtao called the system and the melon-eating system immediately came online.

　　It has not been blocked from this morning till now, which is very unfamiliar to the melon-eating system. It is particularly uncomfortable with it, and its nerves are always tense, waiting for the host's call at all times.

　　Jiang Youtao didn't have any thoughts on this. After all, it was the first system to respond when she called on it before.

　　Jiang Youtao asked the melon-eating system: [ What does awakening progress mean? ]

　　The melon-eating system was shocked: [ The system will perform calculations after monitoring each collapsed small world. In this world belonging to Gu Nianwei, the system has calculated countless times. No matter how Gu Nianwei is with Lin Jianzhong, the result is the same. After research and discussion, it was decided to solve the problem from the root that make Gu Nianwei and Lin Jianzhong a CP. ]

　　Jiang Youtao thinks this melon-eating system is quite fashionable, it even knows what CP is.

　　The melon-eating system continued: [ The will of the small world has a certain degree of control over the main characters, which the system cannot interfere with. ]

　　Jiang Youtao understood what the melon-eating system meant, which coincided with her thoughts: [ Will Gu Nianwei be harmed by awakening all her consciousness?]

　　The melon-eating system said: [ No, after the small world merged with this world, it's consciousness could not override the consciousness of this world. ]

　　Jiang Youtao understood. This was just like a dragon cannot defeat a local snake. When the general manager of a branch company arrived at the head office, he had to look at the head of the head office. As long as Gu Nianwei did not cause any harm to her body after awakening, Jiang Youtao would be satisfied: [ Okay, I get it. Kneel down. ]

　　Melon-eating system: .....[ Huh. ]

　　Jiang Youtao burst out laughing, and she suddenly felt that the melon-eating system was actually quite cute.

　　When they went to work in the afternoon, there were more things to discuss, and everyone in the village was discussing the Lin family's affairs.

　　After discussing the Lin family's affairs, Xu Dazui, Aunt Zhang Er, and Aunt Jiang Si asked Jiang Youtao about Zhao Yonglan living together at the village party secretary's house.

　　Fourth Aunt Jiang's family and the village party secretary's family are neighbors. Fourth Aunt Jiang said to Jiang Youtao, "This Miss Zhao is quite brave. She actually dared to go to the village party secretary's house to share a meal. Zhu Yuemei is not a good person. If she goes to share a meal with them, I'm afraid she will be eaten up to the last drop left."

　　The village party secretary's family is indeed one of the wealthier families in the village, but their family situation is also very complicated.

　　Zhu Yuemei, the wife of the village party secretary, does not get along with her eldest daughter-in-law Sun Xiaojuan. The two quarrel at home every day but if they have similar interests, they will form a united front on anything that is beneficial to their family. At the same time, Zhu Yuemei loves to take advantage of small things, so the people in the village can't wait to avoid her house.

　　But Zhao Yonglan just bumped into it head-on.

　　"That's right. This Miss Zhao is really carefree. The village party secretary's family has two young men of the right age. She is not afraid of anything going wrong!"

　　Jiang Youtao interrupted at the right time: "But isn't one of them getting married?"

　　When Xu Dazui and the others were used to gossiping, Jiang Youtao also joined the discussion. Aunt Zhang laughed at Jiang Youtao's naivety: "You are a child who doesn't know the dangers of the world. Why do you care about getting married? If a man really wants to take advantage of a woman, what's the point of getting married or not? Just like the widow Liu at the head of our village, how many married men pass by her door every day!"

　　Jiang Youtao knew about Widow Liu as she had seen her from a distance several times. She was widowed without having children, and her in-laws and her own family would not allow her to remarry over the years. After a while, she gave up the idea of remarrying. Ten years ago, she made a scene and moved out of her in-laws' house, building a two-room house at the head of the village. She has had men all these years.

　　Her mother-in-law made a fuss about it, but it was of no avail; Widow Liu continued to do as she pleased.

　　Everyone loves to discuss such sexual matters. Xu Dazui whispered, "I woke up last night and saw someone coming out of Widow Liu's house. I saw that person looked like Lin Laozhuang."

　　A single stone caused a thousand ripples. Both Fourth Aunt Jiang and Second Aunt Zhang were shocked.

　　Jiang Youtao moved forward calmly, moved closer to Xu Dazui, shook off the dirt on her hands, took out a handful of melon seeds from her pocket and shared them with Aunt Jiang Si and the other two.

　　Aunt Jiang gave Jiang Youtao an appreciative look, put the melon seeds in her mouth, and started crunching them.

　　Aunt Zhang spat out the melon seed shells, a little unbelieving: "No way, Lin Laozhuang is an honest man, and Zhao Chunhua is watching him so closely, how dare he have such a shady mind?"

　　Many people in the village went to look for Widow Liu. For example, Aunt Zhang's husband went to look for her several times. When Aunt Zhang found out, she hung him up and beat him up. Since then, he has not dared to do such evil things again.

　　Fourth Aunt Jiang's husband is still a frequent visitor to Widow Liu's house, but she had been heartbroken by him. They separated after giving birth to a little girl. He can find whoever he wants, and Fourth Aunt Jiang doesn't care. She herself had a lover before, but she broke up with him when she got older.

　　Xu Dazui has a good relationship with her husband, and they have never had a quarrel so far.

　　Aunt Jiang Si said, "You don't understand this, right? The more strictly he is controlled, the more he wants to break free. Zhao Chunhua controls Lin Lao Zhuang like a grandson. Who wouldn't feel upset about it? It's normal for him to find someone outside!"

　　"If there is one thing to say about Widow Liu, she is really gentle." After no longer taking the man to heart, Fourth Aunt Jiang felt that she had been sublimated. She could treat Widow Liu, a woman who had an affair with her man, with a normal attitude.

　　Second Aunt Zhang was not as advanced as Fourth Aunt Jiang, and she was very displeased with Widow Liu: "She is not afraid of getting sick either."

　　Xu Dazui recited a line from an opera she had heard in a very literary way: "To die under the peony flowers, even as a ghost one can be romantic."

　　The three of them looked at each other and laughed obscenely.

　　Jiang Youtao lowered her head and pretended to be busy, with the corners of her mouth almost reaching her ears.

　　Being with Xu Dazui and the others every day, Jiang Youtao no longer feels bored.

　　After Aunt Xu finished chatting, she felt like something was missing, so she nudged Jiang Youtao's arm and said, "Youtao, come on, tell us about the latest news in your city."

　　Since they heard the magic version of Temptation of Going Home last time, they were particularly curious about the new things in the city, but Jiang Youtao didn't say much because of the policy of hunger marketing. The question was that she was a grown-up girl, and it was not good to talk about these family matters all day long, which kept Xu Dazui and the others' appetite high.

　　She was in a good mood today, so Jiang Youtao thought for a moment and then told a story about a single father who helped his neighbor raise three children.

　　The three of them were dumbfounded.

　　Xu Dazui even said, "Youtao girl, tell me the man's home address in detail. Our little fourth son looks quite smart and promising. I'll think of a way to send him there..."

　　"Bah, shameless. Your little Sizi looks like his mother, with a ugly face. He's not even as good as our little Shitou. He looks like me, and everyone will praise him for his good looks when he goes out." Aunt Jiang was unhappy when she heard Xu Dazui say that. She didn't forget to put down Xu Dazui's grandson while recommending her own grandson.

　　Aunt Zhang was not to be outdone: "What's the point of being good-looking? He's already seven years old, he can remember things, and it's hard to raise him. Our Xingzi is still the best, she's pretty and lovely, who wouldn't say she looks like a city girl?"

　　The three people who usually seemed to be as close as one person suddenly started fighting, and Jiang Youtao was stunned watching from the side.

　　The three people who were arguing in the end all looked at Jiang Youtao in unison: "Youtao, tell me, which of the children from our three families should we send?"

　　Jiang Youtao was scared and didn't dare to speak.

　　This was something she made up based on the TV series she watched in her previous life. Where could she find such a person for the three of them?

　　Who will save her?!

　　Jiang Youtao was in tears. If she could travel through time again, she would like to go back to the time where she had talked nonsense ten minutes ago.

　　The melon-eating system has never seen Jiang Youtao get humiliated, and the data has become garbled with joy...