Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 130: The More You Explain, the Worse It Gets
"As expected of you!"
Yi Chichi gave her a thumbs-up, feeling a strong curiosity about her family and parents.
But she didn’t ask.
The biggest taboo in relationships is to speak deeply when the bond is shallow; their relationship wasn’t close enough to probe each other’s family situations.
So, she chose to approach indirectly, "Didn’t your parents hit you?"
"No, but they scolded me!"
She sighed with a bit of melancholy, "It proves that ginger gets spicier with age, I can’t compete with the older generation in judging people."
"Do you regret it now?"
Zhou Qiuyu patted the pillow, discovering that it was knotted, and the stuffing likely needed replacing.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to sleep.
"Regret it!"
She gritted her teeth, "But regret is useless, I’m already here in the countryside."
At this point, she changed the subject, "ε=(´ο｀*))) Sigh, I can only telegraph my mom and ask her to send more money and coupons, or I worry I won’t survive."
This was a sensitive topic, and the few poor folks didn’t want to chime in, so Zhou Qiuyu said, "Tomorrow, I’m going to the swamp to gather cattail fluff, anyone wants to join?"
"What for?"
"To refill the pillow stuffing."
Raising her pillow and patting it, Zhou Qiuyu was gleeful, "If it’s free fluff, we should make use of it."
This was a good idea.
So, they arranged to collect cattail fluff after coming back from the field the next day.
It’s also a medicinal ingredient—sweet in taste, neutral in nature, with properties to astringe and stop bleeding, promote blood circulation and resolve stasis, beneficial for symptoms like coughing up blood, traumatic bleeding... and difficulties urinating.
However, the clinic had stored plenty, so Yi Chichi was indifferent about it.
But for the sake of camaraderie, she followed along the next afternoon and collected a lot of cattail fluff.
She didn’t waste it, sending half to the clinic and sneaking the other half to the cowshed.
After spending half an hour playing with Qin Jiu and promising the old man to make two sets of summer clothes for Old Mrs. Song, she discreetly left.
Just as she turned from the path onto the main road, a gentle voice called from behind.
"Chichi!"
Yi Chichi turned around, smiling, "Hello, Aunty."
It was Wen Shi’s mother, holding a package.
"This is from Xiao Shi for you."
Upon approaching, she handed over the package, along with a letter.
Yi Chichi, "??? For me?"
Wen Shi wrote her a letter and sent a package? Was their relationship this close?
Full of questions, she hesitated to accept it.
"Yep."
Wen’s mother nodded, "I don’t know what’s written, you can read it."
Originally planning to send it to the Youth Corps Courtyard, she now conveniently handed it over directly upon meeting her.
Yi Chichi pondered for two seconds, "Aunty, can I read the letter first?"
Wen’s mother quickly understood, realizing she wanted to see what was in the letter before deciding whether to accept the package.
She nodded kindly, "Sure."
Yi Chichi breathed a long sigh of relief, took the letter, and opened it in front of Wen’s mother. She meant to pull out the letterhead but ended up with five banknotes and twenty pounds of national grain coupons.
Only then did she find the letterhead underneath. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
Seeing the amount of money and coupons, Yi Chichi had a hunch that Wen Shi was asking for medicine again.
She glanced at Wen’s mother and found her watching her.
In an instant of eye contact, Wen’s mother smiled, "You read the letter, I won’t peek."
"I know, young people don’t like adults interfering too much, you all are developing well on your own."
Yi Chichi was stunned, realizing Wen’s mother misunderstood.
Explain?
Forget it, the more you say, the worse it gets.
Wen’s mother already had preconceived notions, anything she said wouldn’t be as strong as letting her see the letter once it was read.
Thinking this, she smiled, "Aunty, I’ll read the letter first!"
Wen’s mother was filled with curiosity about her son writing letters and sending packages to Yi Chichi, but she remained composed, looking elsewhere with feigned indifference while her mind kept pondering what was written—she really wanted to know ㄟ(▔,▔)ㄏ
Unaware of her thoughts, Yi Chichi skimmed through the letter, breathing a sigh of relief; it was indeed about asking for medicine.
Besides, he hoped she could provide more detailed instructions on hypnotism.
Someone on their team had potential, but their previously recorded methods were slightly off.
They could only scratch the surface, unable to delve deeper.
No one dared to randomly experiment, fearing issues might arise.
He hoped she could lend a hand.
Of course, Wen Shi made it clear in the letter that it was entirely up to her; if she didn’t want to, she could skip it and just send the medicine.
The package contained seafood he and He Yunsong gathered during their breaks at the sea, saving enough to divide into two parts and send back.
One share was for Wen’s mother, and one was for her.
To thank her for previously teaching practical tips for treating diarrhea, fever, and preventing snake, rodent, and insect bites, and how to handle venomous bites.
He said it had greatly helped them.
Now, it had been compiled by the stationed doctor and distributed to the entire base.
Having read the letter, Yi Chichi sighed. The content was as normal as it could be, without any hint of ambiguity, though it mentioned hypnotism.
This made it unsuitable to show Wen’s mother.
So she awkwardly smiled at the eagerly-eyed Wen’s mother, folded the letterpaper, and pocketed it, "Aunty, I can’t show you this letter!"
"I won’t look; you two can just chat!"
Wen’s mother chuckled as she handed the package over, "Will you accept this?"
"Accept!"
Seafood! It was her first time seeing seafood since she arrived.
Even if it’s dried, she liked it.
Wen’s mother handed the package over with a smile, "Want to come over and eat with your aunty?"
"No, I need to go to the clinic."
Since she received the goods, she naturally needed to prepare his package quickly.
Otherwise, she’d feel guilty holding onto the money.
It felt like she was indebted.
"Then visit your aunty when you’re free?"
Her face teeming with expectation, Yi Chichi couldn’t hold it in, was the misunderstanding growing bigger?
Unable to directly refuse, she could only deflect, "If I have time."
As for when she’d have time, she decided to deal with it later.
Never expecting, upon returning home, Wen’s mother immediately penned a letter to Wen Shi and mailed it out at the commune the following morning.
Then, in late August, Yi Chichi received yet another letter from Wen Shi.
Perplexed, she wondered why she got another one.
Wasn’t the medicine and detailed version supposed to have arrived already?
Did the detailed version, written as an acrostic poem, cause confusion that required clarification by letter?
Politely thanking the postman out the door, she took the letter into the house, where Uncle Yaozi was grinding Sanqi powder, and upon seeing her staring blankly at the envelope, he casually asked, "Who is it from?"
"Wen Shi!"
"Who?"
Uncle Yaozi snapped his gaze up, and Yi Chichi nodded at him, making Uncle Yaozi laugh, "Go on, see what it says."
Yi Chichi nodded, tore open the envelope, pulled out the letter, took a sip from her teacup on the table, but hadn’t swallowed when what she saw on the letter made her spit water all over the place.
