Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 368: No Paying Lip Service

It took the three of them several minutes to successfully get Grandpa Zhang Xiuwen onto the door plank and into the tractor trailer.

They were panting with exhaustion.

Under the condition of not causing a secondary injury to the injured leg, getting him into the trailer was truly exhausting.

Uncle Yaozi wiped the sweat off his forehead, "Chichi, you and Xiao Jiu go back. I’ll go to the hospital with your team leader to take the elderly man."

Yi Chichi originally didn’t plan to go along but still asked, "You and the team leader can manage?"

"We can manage."

The team leader felt underestimated and said loudly, "Besides, if the two of us can’t handle it, neither can you. You can’t perform surgery, and there’ll be doctors responsible when the elderly man arrives at the hospital."

The implication was, there was no need for her to worry.

Yi Chichi understood and simply waved her hand, "Be careful on the road, drive safe."

"Got it."

Before the words were finished, the team leader grabbed the crank and began starting the tractor.

With the rumble of the engine, the vehicle started moving.

Uncle Yaozi quickly settled down and pressed the old man, who wanted to get up, back, "The patient should know they’re a patient, just lay there quietly."

The tone was quite unkind.

The old man was both laughing and crying, "I just wanted to thank Comrade Xiao Yi."

"You can thank her when you’re better."

Yi Chichi nodded in agreement, "I don’t need your thanks, you being well is better than anything else."

The old man was about to speak when the vehicle suddenly took off.

So, he had to swallow his words, changing to, "This girl has potential."

"She must have potential; otherwise, she couldn’t become one of our Kao Shan Village’s daughters-in-law."

Uncle Yaozi felt honored, then said with some annoyance, "I just regret not having a son, otherwise that rascal Wen Shi wouldn’t have had it so easy."

The old man, "..."

There was no way to respond to that.

He could only change the topic, "Will my leg become crippled?"

"If healed properly, it won’t be crippled. Maybe, taking this surgery opportunity, we can remove the shrapnel from your leg."

Indeed, the old man had shrapnel in his leg, lodged in the bone seam. There were no delicate surgical conditions during the old wartime troubled era.

After the war victory and the founding when surgical conditions improved, the shrapnel had shifted and connected to nerves, increasing the difficulty and risk of surgery.

The surgery was consequently shelved.

Now, after all these years, maybe the shrapnel has shifted again for surgery.

In this view, it’s somewhat fortunate.

The old man wasn’t very hopeful, sighing, "I’m already old, haven’t got many years left to live. As long as I don’t spend my remaining years bedridden and unable to take care of myself, keeping the shrapnel is fine."

He feared being bedridden after surgery would be worse than death.

Uncle Yaozi sighed, "Don’t think too much, listen to the doctors once we get to the hospital."

He puffed up his cheeks and said, "I’m telling you, once you’re in the hospital, listen to the doctors. Don’t just pretend to comply."

The old man didn’t like this topic and shut his eyes as if pretending to sleep, even feigning a snore.

Seeing him like this, Uncle Yaozi’s mouth twitched in exasperation.

Just then, the old man suddenly said "Oops," startling him to ask what was wrong.

It turned out that the old man said, "I forgot my bucket and fish."

Uncle Yaozi was silent for two seconds before angrily saying, "At this time, you’re still worried about your fish and bucket. After all, Chichi helped you once; giving her your fish doesn’t matter."

The old man, feeling wronged, justified, "I didn’t say she couldn’t eat it; I just worry the young girl forgot."

It wouldn’t be forgotten, nor could it be.

Simply because Qin Jiu already collected the bucket and fish.

Yi Chichi stood watching the tractor leave, then mounted the bike, "Xiao Jiu, come on, let’s go back."

"Oh, okay."

Qin Jiu hopped onto the back seat and suddenly noticed the bucket left aside, exclaiming, "Aunt, we forgot to give Grandpa Zhang’s bucket and fish."

Yi Chichi thought for a moment and realized it truly wasn’t brought along.

"Bring it back first; once Grandpa Yaozi and the others return, we’ll send it to the old man."

"But the fish are dead. If we don’t eat them soon, they’ll stink before Grandpa Yaozi takes them back."

"Then let’s eat them first, and later replace them with two similar-sized fish."

After all, we can’t let good fish go to waste.

If it were Yi Chichi from the original world, she would discard any food slightly off, not eating it at all. She didn’t lack money.

However, in this world with material scarcity, as long as it didn’t stink, even dead fish would be eaten.

Holding onto meat, despite spoilage, is common.

Health and food safety are concerns for prosperous, resource-rich future, not suitable for this era.

So, bring it back.

Qin Jiu responded, hopping off the bike to pick up the bucket, "Aunt, where will you get fish later?"

"Ask Grandpa Yaozi for fish. He often catches a few, so borrowing two won’t be a problem."

Qin Jiu giggled, "Aunt, you aren’t shy at all."

Yi Chichi sighed, "I’d like to be courteous,"

But being courteous only resulted in scolding, so why bother.

"Grandpa Yaozi and Grandma Yaozi treat me like a daughter. Being too courteous would make them uncomfortable."

Indeed.

Grandpa Yaozi always thought of his aunt when he had something good, and his aunt also returned the favor.

"I want to be good to Grandpa Yaozi and them."

"Don’t worry too much; children should be happy and grow up with joy, studying hard to become useful to society later. The social connections are for me and your grandpa."

Qin Jiu replied, "I’ll listen to Aunt."

Aunt wouldn’t harm him; Grandpa also told him to listen to Aunt. He was a good child, determined to follow Grandpa’s orders.

But, "Aunt, what kind of people are useful to society?"

"It depends on how you define useful."

Yi Chichi pedaled her bike swiftly, explaining, "On a small scale, simply not violating laws or causing harm is being useful."

"On a large scale, it’s contributing to the country, like making planes, ships, developing technology, improving people’s lives, stuff like that."

She then asked Qin Jiu, "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

Qin Jiu thought carefully but found he couldn’t answer.

He said in confusion, "Aunt, I don’t know."

"My parents contributed to the country, but I don’t remember what they look like or where they are."

"Grandpa..."

He hesitated, "Aunt, is Grandpa useful?"

"Of course, he is."

Without Grandpa and his generation fighting the wars for three generations, who knows what this vast land would be like.

Because of their dedication and sacrifice, later generations live without war’s suffering and enjoy a carefree, peaceful life with enough food and clothing.