The next day, Ji Zhaoxi woke up early.
As soon as she stepped out the door, she saw Qin Du fixing a hoe at the entrance. Frightened, she immediately ducked back inside the house.
Ji Zhuxin gave her a baffled look. Upon stepping out and seeing Qin Du, she snapped in annoyance, "Running into bad luck first thing in the morning."
"You Qin boy, our family must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to end up living next to yours. Ever since you moved here, we sisters haven't had a single day of good fortune."
She sat down on the stone block by the door, her face full of impatience. "With your family's class background being what it is, you still don't try to get on the villagers' good side. Do you still think you're the young master you used to be?"
Passing villagers also stopped to throw in a few sarcastic remarks. "He's quite arrogant. Educated people sure are different."
Ji Zhuxin rolled her eyes. "Reading books, what's the use of reading books? He read books and still ended up like this."
In Xinniu Village, everyone could mock Qin Du a bit. They were just an orphaned son and a widowed mother; even if they were scolded, what could they do? Who would stand up for them?
Ji Zhuxin glanced at Ji Zhaoxi sitting inside the house and warned, "Stay away from him in the future, you hear me? His background is bad."
Ji Zhaoxi obediently nodded.
Qin Du remained as calm as if he weren't the center of the conversation. He finished fixing his hoe and walked into his house.
Mother Qin lay on the bed, looking at him with red eyes. "Son, it's your father and I who have ruined you. Mother is so sorry."
Qin Du sighed. "Mother, don't overthink it."
He was already used to it. Being scolded a few times wouldn't make him lose a piece of flesh. Let them scold; he couldn't gag everyone's mouths.
Almost every household in the village was short on food, but Ji Zhuxin had a good relationship with the village chief's wife. Although she couldn't get a lot of distributed goods, she could still scrape up a little extra profit.
Ji Zhuxin made some flatbreads and asked Ji Zhaoxi to deliver them to Educated Youth Xie in the village.
Ji Zhaoxi muttered softly, "We don't even have enough to eat ourselves, yet we still have to give him food."
Furious, Ji Zhuxin slapped her on the back. "Stop nagging and hurry up and go."
Ji Zhaoxi let out a wail and left, clutching the flatbreads.
Ji Zhuxin watched Ji Zhaoxi's retreating back, frustrated by her failure to meet expectations. She acted like a child all day long, completely clueless about matters of the heart.
She had found out clearly that this Educated Youth Xie was just here in their village for a month or two to go through the motions. His family had some background, and he was refined and well-spoken; at first glance, he seemed like a reasonable person.
Ji Zhuxin felt that this Educated Youth Xie and Ji Zhaoxi were a perfect match, and she always tried to set them up, both openly and secretly.
Once the two of them hit it off, wouldn't Educated Youth Xie take Ji Zhaoxi with him when he left?
Ji Zhaoxi walked along the narrow path between the fields. One moment she squatted on the ground to look at the leeches in the paddies, and the next she chatted with passersby. Dawdling all the way, she finally arrived at where Educated Youth Xie lived.
"Zhaoxi, please thank your sister for me, but there's really no need to go through this trouble next time. You should keep it for yourselves to eat."
Standing under a tree, Educated Youth Xie spoke softly, and then went on to talk about some other things.
As Ji Zhaoxi listened, her mind began to wander, and she watched the village's big yellow dog scurrying around everywhere.
Qin Du was carrying his hoe, heading toward the hilltop. As he looked up, he happened to meet Ji Zhaoxi's gaze. The two of them quickly looked away.
"Zhaoxi, I saw you following them to the West Mountain yesterday. You..."
Ji Zhaoxi was already annoyed by his talking but was too embarrassed to show it. "Educated Youth Xie, I'm heading to the fields. I still have work to do."
Educated Youth Xie paused for a moment and nodded.
Ji Zhaoxi immediately ran off.
This Educated Youth Xie was like a blockhead, even more long-winded than her dad used to be when he was alive.
There wasn't actually much work to do in the fields, so Ji Zhaoxi ran to the nearby pond to catch fish for fun. Qin Du's field was right next to her family's, and he would occasionally come to the pond to wash his hands and feet.
When there was no one else around, Ji Zhaoxi never dared to provoke Qin Du. She only had the guts to scold him a little when she was tagging along with others.
Qin Du was the male lead of this world, starting off with a tragic background.
His father died when he was very young, and the little money left in the family was scraped clean by the village chief and those relatives. Even their previous house was seized by the village chief.
His mother was frail and lay in bed every day. Qin Du not only had to support himself but also save money to treat his mother's illness—a complete "beautiful, strong, and tragic" character setting.
The people of Xinniu Village didn't hate him that much at first, but the village chief disliked Qin Du, so the others had to follow suit. They were afraid of being suspected by the village chief of having ulterior motives. After all, being targeted by the village chief was no small matter.
Qin Du's adolescence was miserable. It wasn't until he left Xinniu Village that he finally had the room to spread his wings, eventually becoming the Master Qin that everyone revered and feared.
And those who had bullied him in the past were dealt with by him one by one.
The sun was about to set, and Qin Du was getting ready to head down the mountain. Ji Zhaoxi, who was catching fish, glanced at him, kept a long distance from him, and also went down the mountain.
Ji Zhuxin was carrying a bamboo basket back home when she spotted the educated youths gathered in the courtyard. She quickly walked up to them.
"Hey, everyone's here! Come, come, I just bought some snacks, let me share them with you all."
The educated youths' conversation was forced to a halt. They exchanged glances, a bit of helplessness in their eyes.
Ji Zhuxin couldn't read the room at all. She enthusiastically shoved the items into their arms, regardless of whether they wanted to eat them or not.
In her mind, having something to eat was good enough. How could anyone have things they didn't want to eat?
Ji Zhuxin walked up to Educated Youth Xie, her face full of smiles. "Educated Youth Xie, my sister came to find you today, right? How was your chat?"
The surrounding educated youths had a hint of mockery in their eyes. Educated Youth Xie was incredibly awkward and didn't really want to take the things from her hands.
Ji Zhuxin shoved the items into his arms and said enthusiastically, "You and my sister have known each other for a while now. What are your thoughts on her?"
Educated Youth Xie lowered his head in embarrassment. "Sister Zhuxin, it's a bit too early to talk about this."
Seeing his flushed face, Ji Zhuxin thought he was just being shy. These city folks were just bashful, she understood. "It's fine, it's fine, don't be shy. I'm just asking."
"Eat up, this is really delicious."
Educated Youth Xie nodded and popped a snack into his mouth.
As soon as Ji Zhuxin left, a few educated youths started to laugh at him.
"Old Xie, are you really going to get together with a woman from this village? Can she even be on the same wavelength as you?"
"Exactly. That Ji Zhaoxi probably doesn't even know how to read. If your dad finds out you married a village girl, he'll definitely beat you up."
"This Ji Zhuxin is really something else. Or maybe all the women in this village are like this—throwing themselves at any man with good conditions. I can't stand it."
The educated youths laughed together, chatting about the way Ji Zhuxin walked just now, and then talking about the rustic snacks she had given them.
"That's enough," a voice interrupted them.
The girl frowned and closed her book. "Eating other people's food and talking bad about them behind their backs—this kind of behavior is no better than theirs."
The educated youths gave an awkward smile.
"Yitang, we're just joking."
"Yeah, just joking, just joking."
Lin Yitang ignored them and went into her room alone.
