CHAPTER 34: CHAPTER 34: I’M NOT WALKING, I WANT TO RIDE

"What, do you want me to carry you all?" The team leader puffed on his pipe, walking beside the ox cart. The carter was Dong Gensheng, the village’s cattle herder, who had joined the army early on, injured a leg, and then retired from the service.

"Team leader, we’re still missing two people. Yu Xiaomin and Xu Qinghuan aren’t here." Kong Lijuan felt that something was amiss, and only after a while did she remember that the one who had hit her was missing.

At that moment, a tractor puttered by, and Xu Qinghuan was sitting at the highest point of the load bed, looking the furthest out—who else could it be?

Staring blankly for a moment, the tractor moved away.

Her feet were blistering with pain, and Lu Nianying instantly broke down, angrily pointing at the tractor, "Team leader, isn’t this too unfair? We’re all educated youth sent to the countryside, so why can Xu Qinghuan and Yu Xiaomin ride the tractor while we have to walk on two legs?

No way, I’m not walking, I want to ride!"

She was simply too tired. Having walked only a short distance, her feet were sore already.

Having served as the team leader for so many years and been through many situations, Jiang Baohua calmly took a drag from his cigarette, exhaled, and said while squinting,

"I never said you couldn’t ride the tractor. Today, the team sent just one tractor and one ox cart to the commune. If you want to ride the tractor, that’s fine, but not the ox cart. The oxen are more valuable than people and only carry goods, not people!"

"Then I’ll ride the tractor!" Lu Nianying didn’t quite get it; she only heard that she could ride the tractor.

Jiang Baohua said, "Then go sit on it!"

He didn’t bother to respond further, continuing to walk unhurriedly behind the ox cart.

It was then that Lu Nianying realized she had been fooled. Where was she supposed to find a tractor to sit on? The tractor had gone far ahead, and even if she wanted to catch it, she had to be able to.

Kong Lijuan sensed something was off and asked nicely, "Team leader, how long until we arrive?"

"About twelve or thirteen miles. If you walk quickly, you’ll get there in over an hour," Jiang Baohua replied truthfully.

Everyone inwardly groaned; another hour was like a death sentence.

Xu Qinghuan also noticed the others were on foot. Although this old-fashioned, hand-operated tractor wasn’t fast, it was still much faster than walking.

"Xinyu, how did you know I was coming?"

If Qiao Xinyu hadn’t told her, she would likely be walking like the others today.

"I heard it from my mom. The day you arrived, Lanlan went to tell my mom. My mom called me and said she’d send us some money when you got here," Qiao Xinyu teased. "You signed up to go to the countryside but didn’t tell my parents. Were you afraid they’d want you to bring something for me?"

Xu Qinghuan knew her friend didn’t mean it that way. Sending things would indeed be more convenient than carrying them herself. Besides, even if she had mentioned it, Mr. and Mrs. Qiao wouldn’t let her help anyway, considering she had enough on her plate moving to the countryside.

"No, it all happened so quickly. There simply wasn’t enough time."

In fact, she was worried her series of actions would make the Jiang Family believe the Qiao Family was assisting her.

The Qiao Family were just ordinary workers. If the Jiang Family decided to act, the Qiao Family couldn’t withstand it.

She didn’t know how the Jiang Family would eventually react. That’s why she used the photos she had to negotiate the annulment instead of reporting them. It wasn’t because she wanted to let Father Jiang off but because she could leave, never to return. Meanwhile, what about the friends and elders who had looked after her in the city?

Qiao Xinyu found out from her mother that Xu Qinghuan had broken off the engagement with Jiang Chengxu. She felt heartbroken remembering how her friend once looked forward to marrying into the Jiang Family, only to end up like this.

However, a young woman’s reputation is so crucial that even the slightest rumor could be blown out of proportion and ruin her reputation. She had to suppress her curiosity for now.

"With this appearance, can she really work? I bet she’ll just end up enticing the young men in our team and causing trouble for us all. Tsk tsk tsk, she doesn’t look like someone who follows the rules!" Qiu Linghua peered disdainfully at Xu Qinghuan.

Yu Xiaomin also wasn’t up to her standards, but comparatively, she was much better than this educated youth Xu.

After Qiao Xinyu introduced Xu Qinghuan and Yu Xiaomin to the women in the truck, Qiu Linghua started spewing nonsense.

Qiao Xinyu was so infuriated that she wanted to kick Qiu Linghua off the tractor, but first, life is serious, and second, although Qiu Linghua wasn’t well-liked in the team, there was a divide between the team and the educated youth. They could bully their own, but outsiders couldn’t easily do so.

Xu Qinghuan glanced sideways at the woman, coldly saying, "I’m impressed with your husband. It takes some real skill to be able to stomach someone who looks like a deformed melon. Truly impressive!"

Pfft, haha! The women on the truck couldn’t help but laugh. No one expected this new educated youth, looking as pretty as a fairy, to have such a sharp tongue, like a little pepper!

"You little slut, what nonsense are you spouting?"

Qiu Linghua, flushed with anger, got up to slap Xu Qinghuan, but the tractor suddenly halted, causing her to sway and fall backward. Luckily, she quickly grabbed the edge, but she still ended up outside the truck bed.

Jiang Xingye got off the tractor, striding over with long legs, his face cold and sharp like frost on a winter morning. His eyes fierce, he kicked her off the ladder and tossed a backpack from the truck bed to the roadside, driving off without a word.

The backpack belonged to Qiu Linghua.

Stunned, Qiu Linghua hurriedly picked up her backpack and gave chase. Several times her hand reached the truck bed’s edge, but the tractor accelerated repeatedly, leaving her far behind.

"Jiang Xingye, you little bastard, you’ll die a horrible death..."

Qiu Linghua’s curses echoed from afar. Xu Qinghuan frowned, picked up a small stone from the corner of the truck bed, and flicked it out while no one was watching. It hit an acupoint beneath Qiu Linghua’s knee, causing her to stumble and fall face-first into the dirt.

Shangjiang Team faced mountains and rivers. Three large mountains stood in the north, forming a natural barrier for the production team. From afar, they resembled the screens behind an emperor’s throne. The winding river below looked like a jade belt encircling the village, making it a treasured piece of land.

The open fields of fertile black soil were used to grow rice one season and wheat the next. They also planted potatoes, sweet potatoes, sorghum, and corn. Although dependent on the weather, the harvest was usually sufficient, and in poor years, they could rely on the land and mountains. Rarely did people die of hunger, but in the bitter cold of winter, freezing to death wasn’t uncommon.

The Shangjiang Team consisted of eight smaller units, each with about thirty or forty households. During these years, families had numerous children, with some spanning three or even four generations under one roof. Having a household of twenty or thirty people was typical.

The youth camp and the team headquarters were one and the same, previously the mansion of a large landlord. The estate comprised two courtyards of blue-brick and tile-roofed houses. The larger courtyard served as the team headquarters.

Five rooms were opened up, with three sides featuring a heated kang. A vestibule stood outside the entrance. The headquarters held meetings, assigned tasks early each morning, handled administrative duties, and welcomed guests on behalf of the state, all in this location.

The east wing housed the team offices, while the west wing stored farming tools and supplies.

To the east, positioned further back, was a smaller courtyard acting as the youth camp. It had three main rooms, divided for cooking, dining, and living. The left housed the male youth, the right the female youth.

All featured three heated kangs, with chimneys on the roof.

The east and west wings also had three smaller rooms each, with built-in heated kangs.

The tractor stopped between the team headquarters and the youth camp, the load bed facing the youth camp’s gate. Qiao Xinyu jumped down first, calling to Xu Qinghuan, who was taking in the village’s appearance, "Huanhuan, we’ve arrived!"