When Shen Yuying arrived, the educated youth that had been working in the field had gone back and the people who were taking a nap were up.
Wang Xiayun screamed as soon as she saw her coming back and ran towards her. "Yuying where have you been, we were looking for you, we weren't there when we woke up." She asked her.
Wang Meiyun also ran after Wang Xiayun once she heard Shen Yuying had returned. But she noticed right away that there was something wrong with Shen Yuying.
She was stunned to see her soaking wet from head to foot.
"Shen Yuying why are you soaking wet, You, you didn't go for a simple swim, did you?"
"Don't worry, I'm okay, it's a long story." Shen Yuying said, but the other educated youth came out of the house one by one when they heard the commotion except Li Xiaomei who is busy cooking in the kitchen.
Fang Roulan sneered as soon as she saw Shen Yuying and made a snide remarks. "Hmph! Look at that troublemaker, she just arrived today and she had to make trouble already. "
She didn't like this group of female Educated youth that arrived today, especially this one and the one that bickers with her in the afternoon.
Just looking at her face makes her so upset. Why is she needlessly beautiful and white. Even better looking than Bai Xiuyun.
Bai Xiuyun also took a look at her, she was also a little uncomfortable with this new educated youth's appearance so she wants to subtly make her life difficult.
"You can't be like this comrade Shen Yuying, you can't cause trouble for everyone." saying these words softly made Shen Yuying's hair stood up.
Why is she talking like this?, it feels like someone is always bullying her. Her talking this way to Shen Yuying sounds like Shen Yuying is bullying her and made her life difficult.
To avoid confrontation, the Educated youth leader Song Jiaxing cane forward to ask Shen Yuying "Comrade Shen Yuying, the others were worried about you, you just arrived here after all and we all thought that you got lost. Now looking at your appearance, were even more worried. What happened to you? Why are you looking like this?"
Shen Yuying looked at Song Jiaxing, she was grateful to him. He stopped the impending altercation between educated youth.
Shen Yuying didn't want trouble, it's just that, she came home later than she had expected. So she responded to Song Jiaxing calmly.
"Comrade Song Jiaxing, I went to the mountain to pick up firewood and some wild vegetables and when I was about to go home, I came across a river, I had wanted to check if I can catch a fish but I saw a girl being pushed into the river and drowning, so I jumped into the river to save the girl. I was late because I went to the village clinic to check her condition." Shen Yuying explained everything, a shorter version of what happened.
As soon as they heard the reason, all of them looked at her with awe except Fang Roulan and Bai Xiuyun who were too embarrassed to even say anything.
They all know that the river current is quite strong , so for them who came from the city, it's almost impossible to swim in the river near the foot of the mountain. They could only stay in the edge and tried fishing.
Looking at Shen Yuying's appearance, her build was small, she looks weak and delicate. How could she swim in the river, they were almost doubtful but she came home soaked, there's no reason not to believe her.
It's not only them, Fang Roulan and Bai Xiuyun was also doubtful about her story. We all know the river current, and how can someone like her save a drowning individual, it must be a lie.
Thinking about how she embarrassed them, they feel even more hateful of her.
Not only them but also Gu Yao on the side. She hates that Shen Yuying gets the attention. So she sneered and went back inside the house.
Fang Roulan and Bai Xiuyun also followed behind quietly to avoid getting the attention from others. They don't want to be embarrassed more.
"Comrade Shen Yuying, you must be a good at swimming . The river current is quite strong." Su Cheng said, he was truly amazed by her capability.
Shen Yuying showed and shy smile and responded "I learned swimming when I was young, we used to live near the river and my father used to teach me how to swim." She explained.
This much is true, the original owner used to live in the countryside and her father had taught her to swim, although the original owner wasn't very good at it.
Then she turned to look at everyone who are still somewhat stunned about what she did and said
"Then Ill go first, I need to wash up and change clothes ". Shen Yuying told everyone politely.
A male educated youth Huang Min came forward and said "Comrade Shen Yuying, we already fetch water, you can just go ahead and wash up. Give me your back basket and I will take it to the kitchen." He said politely while maintaining his distance.
Shen Yuying was grateful at their attitude towards her.
"Thank you Comrade Huang Min" and warmly smiled at him.
"Comrade Shen is quite capable , look at this many firewood." Liu Wenbin suddenly commented.
"I just got lucky and found a lot of dead branches." Shen Yuying responded readily then added.
"I'll go ahead and wash up, I feel a little uncomfortable "
She turned her back under the amazed gazes of many people.
Shen Yuying went to the bedroom to get a change of clothes, and ignored the people inside, and just focused on doing what she needs to do and hurriedly left the room.
The people in the bedroom were particularly upset about what happened. They saw how Shen Yuying ignored them when she came in the room to get her things that made them more upset.
Shen Yuying didn't care what they feel and she just proceeded to wash up. Since there are many people outside, she didn't go to space.
But she didn't want to use all the water they fetched so she got water from the space.
She needs to atleast use her soap and shampoo or else she won't be able to get comfortable.
After taking a shower, she directly put on her clothes and went out with a towek on her head.
She also didn't forget her clothes that got wet from the river and hang it outside to dry. It's not good to do laundry now, and she'll let it dry first and wash it together with her other clothes.
In the main hall, others have already taken their seat in the dining table while a few others are still in the bedroom.
Just when Li Xiaomei came out from the kitchen to tell them that the food is ready to serve, a loud voice calling from outside the house gate.
Everyone looked at each other for awhile, and a confused face was visible.
The village people didn't like them very much so in the two years they stayed in the village the times that villagers came to the door can be counted in one hand.
Then suddenly they remembered something and turned to look at Shen Yuying.
Shen Yuying just shrugged her shoulders.
They all went outside to look, only to find few people standing at the gate.
Song Jiaxing as the leader came forward and asked.
Although he stayed in the village for 2 years, but he wasn't able to know and talk to many people. Most of the villagers didn't like them and thought they were getting free food from the village so they don't have good attitude towards them.
They always avoid confrontation, and although they don't talk to many people, as the leader he made sure to remember important people's faces in the village to avoid getting into trouble.
The visitor is someone he recognized, although he hadn't had any interaction with them, he knows that this family is someone they should avoid having confrontation with.
They were known for being noisy and unreasonable, its not exaggerated to say that this is a family of bullies from elders to youngsters.
But they're also one of the families on the village that is considered well off.
Song Jiaxing didn't know what they want from the educated Youth, so he politely asked.
"Good evening Comrade, what do you want from the Educated youth?"
A big man in his 50s came forward and said "I am Gu Dazhu, I'm looking for 3 new educated youth surnamed Gu that arrived today."
Everyone turned to look at Gu Kai who was with them and is standing in the back.
Gu Kai came forward and introduced himself.
"My name is Gu Kai, my 2 other siblings are still inside their rooms." He said politely.
The middle aged man named Gu Dazhu showed a big smile and said.
"I am your first uncle, I am your father's eldest brother. This is my wife, your Aunt Gu, and this your second Uncle Gu Erzhu, we came to pick you up." Gu Dazhu said.
Gu Kai called them politely which made their smile bigger. It seems like this nephew from the city is not difficult to get along with.
"Your father Gu Yongjun had written a letter to us that you three siblings will come here as an educated youth and to let us take care of you. We came here to pick you up. Your father has a house here, we have already prepared your beds and you siblings can stay there." Gu Dazhu explained to Gu Kai.
The others that were listening were shocked except Shen Yuying, Wang Meiyun and Wang Xiayun who already knew this news from Gu Kai himself.
Song Jiaxing who recovered from his shock was first to invite the visitors inside the house.
"Comrade it's getting dark outside, we should get inside the house to continue your conversation." said Song Jiaxing.
Everyone followed inside the house and Gu Kai went to call his brother and sister.
They have not opened the things they brought from home and they also did not bring many things so they moved quite fast. They also brought with them the ration they got from the captain earlier.
In the main hall, they offered chairs for the visitors while waiting for the 3 siblings to get their things.
And even asked them to join them for dinner, since they are about to eat.
But they declined saying the food at home is already prepared and just waiting for the siblings to go over.
Gu Dazhu used this time to talk to the rducated youth that the three Gu siblings won't live in here and instead stay in the Gu house. And even their food relationship will be moved to the Gu household.
Song Jiaxing and the others have nothing against it, in fact this is good for them since the number of educated youth is getting more and more each year.
When the 3 siblings came out, they only briefly said their goodbyes since they were not close to anybody here except Gu Kai who has bonded with the 3 women Shen Yuying, Wang Meiyun and Wang Xiayun.
Anyway they still live in the same village and will have to work together everyday. Although they will stay in the Gu house, their work is connected to the Educated youth so they will still see each other.
After their brief goodbye the visitors and the 3 Gu siblings left the house in a hurry.
All the remaining members were in the main hall, so when Li Xiaomei told them that the dinner is ready they immediately took their bowls and chopsticks and sat down.
Before they started eating Song Jiaxing made a short speech.
"Although we don't have much, I would like to welcome our new Educated youth. Let us take care of each other from now on."
The dinner was wowotou, winter gourd soup that is a little bland and the leftover pickles from lunch. Very simple meal, Shen Yuying thought.
The seasoning is particularly expensive and rare, no wonder the food taste bland.
The educated youth has a spot just outside the house for planting vegetables. The size is not big and because none of them were good with plants when they first arrived in the village, the area wasn't fully utilized.
When the next batch of Educated youth arrived last year, they tried their best to plan better, so the vegetables produced will be enough for 7 people. But it's barely enough for consumption.
This year 6 new Educated youth arrived, and even if the 3 Educated youth moved out, having 3 more people will be hard.
Usually when the population in the household becomes bigger, the village will allow a family to open a new plot of land for them to plant for consumption.
But since the educated youth were not viewed positively in the village they were not given this opportunity. But now that new batch arrived, they could talk about it with the captain. There's really no choice, they have to eat.
The vegetables they planted and harvested will be all used for consumption, and since it's impossible to plant in the winter, they also need to dry some vegetables and pickled some for the winter or else they will all be hungry.
But things as of now is really difficult, so they can only foraged food in the mountains. They prioritize drying vegetables and pickling them, and ended up eating more and more wild vegetables.
If they're lucky they can find more foods in the mountains but most of the time they can only bring home few as none of them are experienced. They're all people who grew up in the city.
Looking at the sad table, everyone sighed. This time of the year is the hardest. Their ration is running out and there's still few months left till the next grain distribution.
It's already past spring so there's not much food to find in the mountains. The vegetable garden can't keep up with their consumption, the heat is scorching and they work in the field is overwhelming.
Despite that everyone moved their chopsticks and started eating. The wowotou is very hard and choking, even Shen Yuying is having hard time swallowing.
She had no choice but to drink soup to help the food go down, and even the soup taste bland. There's not much vegetable added but there's a lot of water and clearly not much salt is added.
What a sin to suffer in the countryside, Shen Yuying thought.
Because she is really not used to the food, she only ate a little and made up a reason that she feels a little tired and uncomfortable.
The original owner was an only child and pampered by her parents while growing up, so it's impossible to feed her like this.
Shen Yuying in the previous life, although she had a difficult life, and always got hungry while living with her parents and brother, after she left, she made sure to eat well.
No matter how poor she was, the food she had wasn't this bad, so she could only sigh. And looked at the others eating well.
Apparently, this type of food is very common and even better than cooking wild vegetable soup that is very bitter. Shen Yuying became depressed, she really want to prepare her own food.
Wang Meiyun and Wang Xiayun had no problem eating this type of food, in fact they are happy to have such good foods.
They are used to eating wowotou as they have a big family and very patriarchal too. So all the good things in the family will be left for the elders and their brothers, and they can only eat whatever is left. No wonder they are very thin.
'I guess I'm the only one who's not used to it' Shen Yuying thought. But she didn't say anything and just ate slowly.
It didn't take long for the group to finish all the foods on the table. Despite how it taste it is still important to have a full stomach. Only then you'll have energy to work hard.