Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 93: Don’t Lean on Me

As the elder brother and head of the Youth Corps Courtyard, Bai Chen began to speak before the meal.

Holding an enamel cup, he stood up and said, "With the passing of New Year’s Eve, it’s another new year. I hope we can be better than last year, united and loving!"

A simple blessing and wish.

He raised his cup, beaming with a smile, "Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Yi Chichi and the others, each holding an enamel cup, clinked cups with him and then drank a sip of water together.

That’s right, what’s in the enamel cups is water, warm boiled water.

After the prelude, it was time for joyful eating.

The presentation of the braised carp was really beautiful, and those who often talked big didn’t even think about leaving any fish behind, implying having surplus every year.

Food only becomes yours when you eat it.

It also gives a sense of security!

Rather than leaving the fish, they preferred having fish in their stomachs every day.

As a result, a complete braised carp was torn apart by each person taking a chopstick of it.

After a bite of fish, Zhou Qiuyu exclaimed, "This fish is delicious, not fishy at all."

Very surprised.

Zhou Yadong laughed, "The carp here in Northeast is different from the ones back home, due to the water quality and climate. The meat is very good, and the taste is exceptionally delicious."

"Indeed, it’s fresh."

Limited by the lack of condiments, though called braised carp, it was still different from what it would be in later generations.

There weren’t many condiments, just oil, salt, soy sauce, and sugar, plus a sprinkle of green onions when dished out.

No monosodium glutamate or oyster sauce, yet it was more than ten times fresher and tender than any braised carp Yi Chichi had ever had before.

Everyone ate while chatting, and in their chatter, Bai Chen started talking about how he was targeted by a wolf when he first came to Kao Shan Village.

"You wouldn’t believe it, I was almost scared silly back then. Thankfully, it was a lone wolf expelled from its pack, old, frail, and lame. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even know me today."

Recalling the risk back then, he sighed with emotion.

"Were you injured?"

Yi Chichi curiously asked.

"Wearing thick clothes in winter, I wasn’t injured much, but my cotton coat was torn."

Pointing to the patch on his cotton coat, where the color had faded considerably, he said calmly, "The tear under this patch was made by that wolf."

"Weren’t you afraid back then?"

"How could I not be scared? I was terrified to death, but being scared was useless. I had to toughen up."

He gestured with his hands, "Even though the wolf was old, it had a lot of meat, and I managed to gain a few pounds by relying on dozens of pounds of wolf meat that winter."

But come spring, the weight gained from wolf meat fell off again.

Yi Chichi was intrigued by the taste of wolf meat, "Is wolf meat tasty?"

With this question, Wang Nan and the others perked up their ears and looked over.

Obviously, they also wanted to know.

Bai Chen looked at the drooling crowd and shook his head.

"Not tasty."

"Don’t believe it!"

"It’s really not tasty, old and tough, with a strong gamey taste."

If he hadn’t experienced the feeling of hunger so severe that he ate grass roots and tree bark, even stuffing Guanyin soil into his mouth till his belly was bloated, he wouldn’t have had the courage to swallow that wolf meat.

"It really is awful!"

He emphasized again, with a serious expression.

Yi Chichi and the others believed him this time, but—

"Where is your wolf fur?"

"I gave it to Uncle Liu as payment."

No doubt he hunted the wolf all by himself, and the team leader was good enough not to take his wolf meat, but he didn’t know how to handle the wolf carcass. He had to take the team leader’s advice and ask Uncle Liu to help deal with it.

It requires payment to ask for help, and during that time, he was so poor that he had no money, so he could only use the wolf fur as payment.

"The wolf fur coat Uncle Liu has is made from the hide of that wolf."

Instantly, everyone thought of Uncle Liu’s coat, which was so smelly it could suffocate someone, and all thoughts vanished.

The smell was too intense; it was indeed a genuine leather coat they weren’t blessed to enjoy.

It was fortunate that the wolf fur was given to Uncle Liu; otherwise, they’d be stuck with the smell all winter, the thought of which was suffocating.

Amidst laughter and chatter, the bowls, plates, and pots on the table were emptied.

Everyone was stuffed, groaning with their bulging stomachs.

Yi Chichi had prepared in advance, handing out haw flakes one by one.

"Eat some for digestion."

"Chichi, you’re so considerate!"

Wang Nan cheerfully hugged her, wanting to be close to her, but Yi Chichi disdainfully pushed him away, "Don’t get close to me; boys and girls shouldn’t touch!"

That one line about boys and girls not touching made Wang Nan and the others laugh.

Before they had time to clean up the table and bowls, a noisy sound came.

"Uncles and sisters, we’re here to pay you New Year’s greetings..."

Dunzi’s elongated tone, like an opera, as he ran in, with a string of kids in tow.

Each had changed their clothes.

New clothes were out of the question; with resources so scarce, it was too difficult to save enough clothing coupons to make any.

In every home, the older ones would wear new clothes, and once they were old or small, they’d be passed down to the younger siblings.

Conscientious parents would wash the clothes clean and neatly mend them to keep them tidy and clean.

Careless ones would let them wear as long as there were no holes, regardless of dirt.

Kids just weren’t clean.

Among them, two grubby kids had chapped hands and faces looking alarming, with clothes shining like they were coated in lacquer.

Looking at the swarm of children rushing in, Yi Chichi and the others fell silent.

After a while, Ge Sujuan squeezed out a sentence—

"You’re paying New Year’s greetings way too early!"

Never seen anyone pay New Year’s greetings on New Year’s Eve.

"Early or late, it’s still the same greeting!"

Dunzi was eloquent, and Yi Chichi and the others found it very reasonable.

All right, since they were here to pay greetings, they couldn’t send the kids back empty-handed.

After exchanging looks, Wang Nan clapped his hands, "Come, come, line up to pay your New Year’s greetings!"

Dunzi and the others were familiar with this process; it took less than two minutes to line up.

Taking advantage of the gap while the kids lined up, Yi Chichi came out with a tray containing sunflower seeds, peanuts, and Cuban sugar.

The sunflower seeds and peanuts were pooled by Bai Chen and others, the Cuban sugar was Yi Chichi’s friendly contribution.

The name Cuban sugar makes it sound like an import, but it’s actually just a reprocessed product of sugarcane, popular and relatively affordable compared to candies like White Rabbit.

Seeing the tray Yi Chichi brought out, Dunzi and the others’ eyes lit up.

"Happy New Year, uncle and sisters..."

"Wait!"

Qi Yang, who belatedly realized something was wrong, interrupted them, "Why are they sisters and we are uncles?"

The age difference wasn’t that big, yet they were abruptly put in the older generation.

No one could hold it together.

Niu Niu raised her little hand, earnestly speaking in a childish voice, "The sisters are pretty, you are not!"

"How are we not pretty?"

Even though Bai Chen and the others didn’t care much about their appearance or image, they were pierced to the heart by Niu Niu’s words.

The bright smile on their faces vanished.

"The sisters are fair, you are dark!"

Yi Chichi and the others turned to look at Bai Chen and the others, bursting into laughter.

Indeed, they were darker; there was no denying the children’s sharp eyes.