CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 40: SO DELICATE, NO WONDER SHE’S ALWAYS BULLIED

He Yuzhen was frightened, her eyes reddened with grievance.

She had given birth to two sons for the Jiang Family, while the eldest sister-in-law had only given birth to two daughters. After getting physically injured during her second childbirth, she hadn’t been able to conceive for years. Yet, the father-in-law and mother-in-law acted oblivious, never recognizing her contributions, and treated the eldest sister-in-law like a treasure, fearing she might do something irrational.

Why is that!

Tian Jinhua heard everything clearly from inside the room. She held her two daughters in her arms. Upon hearing her sister-in-law’s words about throwing bowls, she too was enraged, but it was a fact that she couldn’t give birth to sons.

She felt ashamed towards the father-in-law and mother-in-law.

Both daughters, Big Ya and Second Ya, also felt uncomfortable at heart. Even though their grandparents never showed any prejudice towards them, their second aunt always felt that Big Dan and Second Dan deserved to be more valued than the sisters. Influenced by the village, the sisters couldn’t help but feel self-conscious at times.

Yet, grandma said with conviction that both boys and girls at home are the same!

Quickly, smiles appeared on the sisters’ faces. Big Ya hugged her mother’s neck and softly said, "Mom, when I grow up, I’ll earn high work points to support you and dad!"

Second Ya echoed, "Mom, I can do it too; I’m really strong!"

Tian Jinhua’s nose tingled, almost tearing up, "Yes, Big Ya and Second Ya are both good children."

Once the commotion outside settled down, Tian Jinhua got up and went out, saying, "Mom, I’ll go cook!"

He Yuzhen glared at her fiercely, thinking she hadn’t said anything about cooking earlier. Waiting for the mother-in-law to lose her temper before offering to cook, it was obviously meant to spite her.

Tian Jinhua pretended not to see.

Zhou Guiying, however, did see, "It’s not your turn to cook today. Go comb through Big Ya and Second Ya’s hair; I noticed they seemed to have lice a few days ago."

Tian Jinhua was taken by surprise, hurried back to the room, and grabbed a comb to go through the kids’ hair.

Jiang Xingye carried some noodles and meat, went to check on his grandparents in the back house, and pulled out two slices of cake from his pocket for the elderly before intending to return.

He deliberately took a long way, passing by the educated youth point. He only saw Zhang Tieshan standing under the tree at the door, looking at Jiang Xingye and was greatly startled, like seeing a wolf, backing away, then sticking along the wall and darting inside.

Coward!

Jiang Xingye cursed internally, hearing inside a female educated youth’s voice, "Huanhuan, I’ll go with you to the county for your checkup tomorrow!"

"Aren’t you supposed to be working tomorrow? Would that delay you?"

It was that soft, delicate voice, no wonder she’s always bullied.

Jiang Xingye frowned, unknowingly slowing his pace.

Another female educated youth said, "I’ll go with Qinghuan, I don’t have work tomorrow, and I need to go to the county to buy things anyway."

The educated youth point’s dinner was the worst Xu Qinghuan had ever had, supposedly prepared to welcome them, the new educated youth, with fewer wild vegetables and more coarse grains.

Yet it was still a mix of black flour and cornmeal made into a steamed bun. Xu Qinghuan took a bite, nearly choking.

Her neck lengthened from choking, and it was only Qiao Xinyu’s sharp eyes and quick hands that offered her water. After drinking twice, she managed to swallow it down and breathe again.

If she didn’t eat, she’d starve to death, but eating could mean dying even faster.

Xu Qinghuan had never imagined she’d one day live like this.

However, she wasn’t panicked at all, treating this as experiencing life. After all, besides having money, she also had a space, which, although mainly filled with herb fields, still had some land for growing spirit rice.

Moreover, when it came to farming, she didn’t need to operate it herself. Inside, there was a wooden puppet, which only needed a spirit stone placed into its heart to follow commands and work.

Laundry, cooking, tidying up the house, managing crops and herb fields, it could basically do it all.

If it weren’t for the fear of causing unnecessary trouble, Xu Qinghuan even considered having the wooden puppet help her in fights.

After wandering in her thoughts for a while, Xu Qinghuan continued struggling with the adult fist-sized steamed bun in hand, which she really couldn’t eat. During these times, wasting food was considered a grave sin.

In the end, she compromised, broke off more than half of it, and handed it to Yu Xiaomin, "Do you want it? I’ve eaten enough and can’t finish it!"

"You’ve only had two bites!" Yu Xiaomin found it delicious since what she ate at home had far more black flour in it.

So, she never considered that Xu Qinghuan was being picky about this food.

After all, Xu Qinghuan’s clothes and bedding were quite shabby, not much better than hers.

And precisely because of this, when Lu Nianying mentioned her mom giving Xu Qinghuan twenty-five yuan per month as living expenses, she thought it was utterly ludicrous.

"I’m full, eat up!" Seeing Yu Xiaomin slightly hesitant, Xu Qinghuan pushed the steamed bun into her hand, getting up to return to her room.

She needed to boil water for bathing later.

The place for bathing was a small room right next to the west wing’s back, with a hole the size of a baby’s fist on the wall. She had previously stuffed it with a clump of earth, but before eating, she found it poked away by someone.

Xu Qinghuan didn’t think this was an accident.

So, with more people and more coming at the educated youth point, she found it increasingly hard to distinguish people from ghosts, and she really disliked such communal living. A solution to move out and live independently was what she needed.

Even though the west wing was right in front, just moving there was no better than not moving.

What she wanted was to leave this educated youth point.

Thinking about this, Xu Qinghuan opened the cabinet and took out a packet of brown sugar and a pack of Phoenix cigarettes, packing them into a small cloth bag.

Qiao Xinyu and Yu Xiaomin returned after eating, with Yu Xiaomin still holding half of the steamed bun, "Qinghuan, are you really not eating?"

Xu Qinghuan shook her head, "Go ahead, I’m not hungry."

Qiao Xinyu furrowed her brows, "Huanhuan, you’ve eaten too little."

Kong Lijuan stepped in and exclaimed, "Hmph, some people just engage in capitalism, even disdain steamed buns, opting to starve rather than eat. Those should be picked for reform!"

Xu Qinghuan clutched her abdomen, "My stomach is injured, it hurts terribly when I eat, so I really can’t eat."

Kong Lijuan was stumped, her face instantly turning pale.

Qiao Xinyu clenched her fist and swung it, "If anything happens to Huanhuan, I won’t let you off, you deserve to be imprisoned!"

Yu Xiaomin was also very concerned, "Qinghuan, are you alright? If not, should we go see a doctor now!"

"No need, I can still manage, it’s okay, don’t worry."

She grabbed each one’s hand, digging into their palms, and they understood her signal, secretly relieved.

After Kong Lijuan left, Xu Qinghuan whispered about going to the captain’s house, and Qiao Xinyu said, "I’ll go with you, I know the way."

"I’ll go too; it’s safer with one more person." Yu Xiaomin didn’t know what Xu Qinghuan was going to do, didn’t ask, but decided to do what she could.

Xu Qinghuan was grateful. She picked up the items, and the three of them left the educated youth point together.

Outside, Xu Qinghuan then said, "I want to move out of the educated youth point. I don’t want to live here anymore. See if the captain has a house available, and if so, could it be rented to me."