Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 90: Sharing Joy, Not Worries

They were not favored at home, and their relationship wasn’t that good.

It’s different for Yi Chichi.

You can tell from the things she learned, girls from non-favored families couldn’t possibly learn these.

She was surrounded by heavy household chores and farmwork all day long.

Moreover, she used to be quite sickly, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she was never far from medicine.

Yet, she wasn’t abandoned and was well cared for and grew up just fine, to say she wasn’t favored is impossible.

Yi Chichi didn’t know what they were thinking, once inside she donned the military coat and started stuffing things into it.

The original owner wasn’t short, even severely malnourished, she was 165cm tall, and since Yi Chichi came to the countryside she never deprived herself, not only had she gained some weight.

She had also grown a bit taller.

But Yi Yong’s military coat was still quite large on her, so even with all the things she stuffed inside, it was hardly noticeable.

Then, she lowered her head, looking sad and dejected, and walked out the door.

It would be New Year’s Eve in a few days, aside from children around Niu Niu’s age who had nothing to do and could wander around freely, the older kids and adults were busy preparing food and cleaning for the New Year.

Thus, she managed to reach the cowshed without encountering anyone.

She then saw Qin Jiu and Old Mrs. Song with their red, frostbitten faces and hands squatting together washing sweet potatoes.

She gently called out to Xiao Jiu.

Upon hearing her, Qin Jiu looked up, and upon seeing Yi Chichi, he almost called her "Aunt", but quickly covered his mouth, his eyes forming crescent moons.

Yi Chichi smiled, this kid was sharp.

She pointed at the door and signaled with her eyes that she wanted to go inside.

Qin Jiu nodded, turned to whisper something to Old Mrs. Song, and the old lady patted his head, smiled at Yi Chichi, and then continued with her work.

Then, Yi Chichi saw Qin Jiu sneaking over to her like a little thief.

"Aunt!"

His deliberately hushed voice couldn’t hide his excitement, and his eyes were bright.

"Aunt is here."

Yi Chichi picked him up in a big hug, touched his little hands and face, they were icy cold.

"Are you cold?"

"No, I’m wearing the thermal clothes Aunt made me."

The sensible little one only gave the good news, understanding Yi Chichi felt pained.

"Where do we go in?"

"I’ll show Aunt the way."

This kid had already familiarized himself with the area around the cowshed, he knew exactly where to walk to avoid being seen.

Under his guidance, Yi Chichi entered the house through the side door.

The old man and the others weren’t there, but there were many things added to the room.

Seeing those things, she raised an eyebrow, "Did someone bring these things to you?"

"Team leader grandpa and Party secretary grandpa brought them at night."

Upon hearing this, Yi Chichi understood, someone from the commune had sent supplies to the old man and the others.

That’s good.

"Where are the grandmaster and the others?"

"They went trapping to gather firewood."

Yi Chichi, ... In this weather, trapping is understandable, but the gathered firewood would be wet and unusable for burning.

"Are you out of firewood?"

"Some, but not much."

Qin Jiu, acting like a little adult, poured her some water and explained, "Grandmaster said we have the very old and very young, we should gather more firewood during the winter, otherwise, we won’t have time to collect it in spring while working."

That makes sense.

"How long have they been gone?"

"For a while."

He wasn’t sure exactly how long.

Yi Chichi responded with an "oh", "Which room do you and grandmaster sleep in?"

"Grandmaster Song and Grandma Song share a room, we have another room."

Pointing to the kang by the wall, he said, "This is our room."

As long as it’s Qin Jiu’s room, it works.

"Can you hide things?"

Qin Jiu understood instantly; Aunt had brought things again.

The child wasn’t particularly happy, instead, he was worried and held her hand with a little adult’s air and said, "Aunt, can you sustain yourself?"

"I can."

Yi Chichi pinched his little cheek, "Don’t worry; Aunt will only help you and grandmaster when I can sustain myself, understand?"

"I understand, my aunt is the best!"

The child gave her a thumbs up, which made Yi Chichi laugh.

"Aunt can’t stay long here, hide the things and tell grandmaster when he returns."

Before the words were finished, she started to take things out of her clothes.

First, she took out a cake soaked with oil, she had bought a pound in total and ate two herself, the rest she brought here.

Cakes from this era were delicious, made with real ingredients, none of that artificial stuff.

But they didn’t quite suit Yi Chichi’s taste.

She unwrapped one and stuffed it into Qin Jiu’s mouth, "Eat it quickly."

Suddenly having a cake shoved into his mouth, Qin Jiu instinctively took a bite, surprise lit up his eyes, but his next actions made Yi Chichi’s heart ache.

After swallowing it, he offered the small cake to her, saying, "Aunt, you eat. I’ve had a taste, it’s good."

"Aunt has already eaten, Xiao Jiu, you eat it."

Pointing at the remaining ones, she said, "Look, Aunt bought a lot, there are more at the Youth Corps Courtyard, these are for you and grandmaster."

"Really?"

"Really!"

Only then did the child eat without worry.

When he saw the malted milk, he adamantly refused, insisting Yi Chichi take it back.

Naturally, Yi Chichi wouldn’t take back what she had brought.

"This is for you and grandmaster to nourish yourselves, you can’t get sick, Aunt only has you and grandmaster left, you must stay well, otherwise, Aunt will be bullied to death."

"... Okay."

He must grow up quickly to protect grandmaster and Aunt, to keep them from being bullied.

When he saw the No. 51 Station comic, his eyes lit up.

"Comic book!"

"Yes, Aunt bought it for you, once you’ve read it, Aunt will swap it for a new set."

The child eagerly flipped through it.

Today’s comic books were truly great, both the story and the illustrations.

Last night, she had curiously flipped through and got engrossed, if not for her strong self-discipline and thinking about embroidery work, she could have spent the whole evening on the comic book.

Soon everything was out, Qin Jiu, seeing that she wasn’t taking anything out anymore, knew it was his turn to act.

Then, Yi Chichi watched him start hiding things like a little hamster.

In the kang holes, the walls, the beams, and the like, all were good places to hide things.

Especially the spot on the beam, the old man and others had actually rigged a contraption, the rope for placing baskets was outside the window, shabby and inconspicuous.

If not for Qin Jiu opening the window to pull this frayed rope, she wouldn’t have noticed a basket on the beam.

Once everything was hidden, Yi Chichi was about to leave when she saw a tattered piece of clothing on the kang.

She picked it up and found it was children’s clothing. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

She hadn’t seen it before, so it was likely brought by the team leader and others.

"Yours?"

"Yes."

The child nodded, "Grandma Song said she could patch it up for me to keep wearing."

Yi Chichi was silent for two seconds, "Do you have needles and thread?"

"Yes."

"Go get it, Aunt will patch it for you."

The child turned and ran, soon returning with needles, thread, and scraps of fabric.