Bai Yao: Sorry, I'm Face-Blind

For the villagers of Unity Village, every arrival of new educated youths brought plenty of excitement to the village.

The most common excitement, especially, was when someone's child took a fancy to one of the educated youths.

So quite a few people had been secretly watching Bai Yao and the others ever since they appeared.

Seeing a young woman walk toward the educated youths, several older women gathered as usual and began to gossip.

"Eh? Isn't that the village chief's wife's niece, Zhou Lan? Why's she here again today?"

"She must be here for Dazhuang. Let me tell you, she went on a blind date with him yesterday. Looks like it worked out."

"Dazhuang, huh? It's about time he got married, but his family's situation..."

"Don't make it sound like his family's badly off. They've got several sons, and every one of them is a strong worker."

"That's true, but how much debt has the family racked up over the past few years marrying off Dazhuang's older brothers one after another? What girl wants to be up to her neck in debt the moment she gets married?"

"Can't the girl just be interested in Dazhuang himself and not mind his family's situation at all?"

"Ha! Do you believe that yourself? If it were you, would you agree to it?"

"I certainly wouldn't."

The group whispered among themselves, but their eyes never wandered for a moment.

At that moment, almost everyone thought Zhou Lan had come for Dazhuang. Even Bai Yao thought the same.

Only...

"Hello, Educated Youth Bai. We meet again," Zhou Lan said, blushing as she greeted him with a show of confidence.

Bai Yao was stunned. Wasn't this girl supposed to have taken a fancy to Hu Yang? How had she set her sights on him?

Feeling the curious, gossip-hungry gazes around him, Bai Yao knew he couldn't get too involved with her. If rumors like that spread, they could only harm him, not help him.

So...

"Huh? Who are you? Do I know you?" Bai Yao replied, playing dumb.

That one sentence stunned everyone watching.

What was going on?

Could it be... a woman pursuing a man?!

At the thought, their gossip-hungry gazes grew even more intense.

Zhou Lan hadn't expected Bai Yao to answer that way either, but she replied, "We met yesterday at my uncle's house. I even asked whether you had a partner."

Bai Yao couldn't help rolling his eyes inwardly. How could this girl be so thoughtless?

With that one sentence, she had dragged her aunt and uncle in to vouch for her. And by leaving things unsaid like that, even an ordinary conversation would look like something was going on between them.

In any case, the others didn't care whether it was true. What mattered to them was that one of the people involved had said it; they could make up the rest themselves.

"Oh, I see. Sorry, I'm face-blind. Apart from my partner, everyone looks the same to me," Bai Yao replied politely.

His answer was already fairly tactful. If the girl's uncle weren't the village chief, he could have put an end to the rumors in just a few words, though the girl would probably have cried her heart out.

With that, Bai Yao had no intention of talking to her any longer. He called Kong Wu and went elsewhere.

As for Hu Yang and the others?

Seeing this, they hurried after them. Even Dongfang Dazhuang quickly followed.

They weren't fools. How could they not know how powerful the village rumor mill was?

They were happy to hear gossip about other people. But gossip about themselves? No, thank you.

As the group hurried away, Zhou Lan's attention shifted from Bai Yao to the others.

And when she looked at them, she found that each of the men was more handsome than the last.

Two in particular were dressed in a way that made it obvious they were wealthy.

Tempted as she was, however, she didn't chase after them.

There were plenty of days ahead. There was no rush.

Seeing her leave, Bai Yao and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Then it was Bai Yao's turn to be the subject of gossip.

Hu Yang said, "Bai Yao, how did you meet her yesterday? You even went to her uncle's house?"

Gu Yang and Jiang Rou didn't speak, but their eyes were full of curiosity too.

Bai Yao rolled his eyes and said, "Her uncle is the village chief. I went to trade for vegetable seeds yesterday and paid him a visit while I was at it."

"Her uncle is the village chief?!" Hu Yang was somewhat surprised.

"You'll have to ask Dazhuang about that. He knows best, since she was his blind date," Bai Yao said, passing the trouble off to someone else.

Dongfang Dazhuang was eating the last two sunflower seeds in his hand. Hearing this, he answered.

"Yeah, Zhou Lan's uncle is Uncle Village Chief, but she's from the next village over and doesn't usually come here. Bai Yao just happened to run into her yesterday."

"Oh, I see." Then Hu Yang thought of something else. He leaned closer and asked quietly, "Bai Yao, did you bring a gift when you visited yesterday?"

"I did. Who visits someone empty-handed?" Bai Yao didn't hide it.

Everyone also knew what that "visit" was really about, so there was no point hiding anything.

Hu Yang said, "Then did your visit go smoothly?"

"Yeah, very smoothly."

The things he had given were just what the village chief wanted.

"Huh? But the three of us didn't have any luck with our visits last night," Hu Yang lamented.

Bai Yao: ???

Seeing Bai Yao's confusion, Gu Yang stepped forward to explain.

"The gifts the three of us brought were all sent back with us."

"What did you bring?"

Hu Yang said, "A tin of malted milk powder."

Gu Yang said, "A bag of milk powder."

Jiang Rou said, "Three chi of red cloth."

Bai Yao: ...

"Why didn't you give the village chief some chemical fertilizer, or a tractor while you were at it? He definitely wouldn't have sent those back," Bai Yao quipped.

The things he had given yesterday might have looked like a gift from him alone, but what he had talked about concerned two people, so it could also be said that he and Kong Wu had given them together.

And even then, what he had given couldn't compare to the gifts from those three.

"How was that giving a gift? You were clearly testing whether the village chief was a corrupt official."

Malted milk powder, milk powder, and red cloth—of the three, only the red cloth wasn't particularly precious. But the problem was that it was a brilliant scarlet, something hard to find even with money and ration coupons.

Those three, honestly...

Hearing Bai Yao's words, the three of them understood what mistake they had made.

Seeing them fall silent, Bai Yao's mouth twitched. "You three aren't thinking of preparing a more modest gift and taking it over tonight, are you?"

Though the three didn't answer, Bai Yao had already seen the answer in their eyes.

At that moment, he couldn't help feeling sorry for the village chief.

Good grief, "testing" him again and again—they really were worried his heart was too healthy.

"You'd better save yourselves the trouble. Try another way: instead of giving him things, trade them. Don't you want to cook for yourselves? Take something to the village chief and trade it for vegetables. If that doesn't work, trade it for Aunt Cuihua teaching you to cook."

Even when people from his own village gave him things, he had to worry about being reported. These outsiders openly giving him gifts were bound to frighten him.

Bai Yao asked, "Understand?"

The three nodded.

Dongfang Dazhuang was a beat slower, but he nodded along too.

He had learned something. So that was another way to do it.

Just then, Kong Wu spoke up. "The village chief and the brigade leader are here."

"Huh? The brigade leader? Kong Wu, you know the brigade leader too?"

As Bai Yao asked in confusion, he looked over and understood why Kong Wu recognized him.

Dongfang Dazhuang had told them that the village chief and the brigade leader were brothers, and the two men approaching now looked very much alike. No wonder Kong Wu had guessed the other man was the brigade leader.

"All right, everyone, stop chatting. Come get your tools, then hurry out to the fields and finish the work."

After Village Chief Zhao Jianguo finished shouting, he had his younger brother Zhao Jianshe, the brigade leader, distribute the farming tools.

As for him, he assigned work to the new educated youths. After all, he had promised Bai Yao and the others simple, easy jobs.

The reason they had arrived so late today was that he, his younger brother, and the other team leaders had discussed the matter, and only came over after they finished.