Characterization Gone Off Course

This program was produced by Tomato Listening. Episode 19: Characterization Gone Off Course.

Huh? Why would Zhao Xianglan be unhappy about them moving out?

If she remembered correctly, Zhao Xianglan and Li Xiangwan had gotten along extremely well later on. As the plot developed, Li Xiangwan had even intended to set Zhou Nan up with her. Not caring whether Lin Yuzhu wanted to hear it, Wang Xiaomei continued whispering in her ear.

Actually, the main thing was that while Li Xiangwan had not moved out, Zhao Xianglan had benefited somewhat from him. Whenever he stewed meat, hadn't Zhao Xianglan always gotten to mooch two or three pieces? Even aside from meat, she could occasionally get an egg or some pickles in the morning.

Now that they had moved out, she could no longer mooch anything. How could she possibly feel good about that?

Although they had eaten separately before, whenever Li Xiangwan made something tasty, she would symbolically serve a bowl to the other side. It was not as though she had deliberately fed only Zhao Xianglan and Wang Xiaomei; everyone had eaten quite a bit. During this period, because of the house construction, the Educated Youths' meals had improved considerably.

Li Xiangwan had lived a very different life in her previous life, so she naturally did not care about such food. That was where misunderstandings could easily arise. Among the Educated Youths at the Educated Youth Dormitory, some people were bound to develop certain thoughts. After all, once someone got used to holding out their hand, they took it for granted. If you suddenly cut off the benefits you gave them, they might instead turn around and bite you out of resentment. There were quite a few people like that.

Logically speaking, the original Li Xiangwan had been very close to Zhao Xianglan, and Zhao Xianglan did not seem like someone petty or shortsighted.

Lin Yuzhu glanced sideways at Wang Xiaomei, unable to help making some guesses about her words. Whether they were true or not, there was no point telling him. He was not someone who liked spreading gossip.

Well, she was a little gossipy. Among the female Educated Youths now, Li Xiangwan appeared to be closest to her and Zhao Xianglan. But Lin Yuzhu knew that she and Li Xiangwan only had a superficial relationship. They could help each other with small matters, but neither should ask the other for help with anything major. The two of them did not even have the affection of plastic sisters.

The reason they appeared close was probably because Li Xiangwan had deliberately distanced herself from Zhang Yanqiu and Wang Xiaomei.

Compared with those two, did that not make their relationship seem much better?

Lin Yuzhu had no intention of becoming deeply involved with Li Xiangwan. The locals of this era did not know what rebirth, transmigration, or a Golden Finger was, but could Li Xiangwan, a transmigrator with such a powerful cheat, possibly not know?

Her way of thinking was bound to be wildly unconventional. Lin Yuzhu feared that if they interacted too deeply, she would see through him. No matter how much the original assistant had praised the female lead as kind and generous, Lin Yuzhu was unwilling to gamble on another person's nature, much less put himself in danger.

Besides, Lin Yuzhu increasingly felt that his current life was not merely a book. He was flesh and blood, and so were the people around him.

The longer Lin Yuzhu lived here, the more faded the original novel's plot became in his mind. Every now and then, one or two plot points would only flash through his thoughts like sudden inspiration.

Some vague instinct kept telling him that he could not rely too heavily on the plot.

That being the case, he could not judge Zhao Xianglan according to the plot either. The original Zhao Xianglan had seemed like a pretty decent girl.

Seeing Lin Yuzhu look at her with displeasure, Wang Xiaomei protested, "Hey, what kind of look is that?"

Lin Yuzhu grinned. "The more I listen, the more I think the person you're talking about sounds like you."

"How could you see me that way?"

"I'm not shameless enough to snatch someone else's eggs. I may have eaten plenty of the meat she stewed, but she also worked hard when helping with the construction!"

Wang Xiaomei looked at Lin Yuzhu with some hurt.

Her question left Lin Yuzhu speechless. He took a breath, thinking, Girl, ever since I stepped into the Educated Youth Dormitory, you've been a thorn in everyone's side. Don't you know that yourself?

Still, although Wang Xiaomei had some minor flaws, Lin Yuzhu's extremely poor impression of her should not have been warranted. Over the past half month, whenever help was needed, she had been the most reliable one.

But Wang Xiaomei's reputation at the Educated Youth Dormitory truly was awful.

After turning it over in his mind, Lin Yuzhu's eyes darkened. The more he thought about Zhao Xianglan, the more he realized that whenever Wang Xiaomei did something bad, Zhao Xianglan would always be nearby, murmuring softly and invisibly magnifying Wang Xiaomei's bad behavior.

Over time, Wang Xiaomei had truly come to seem awful in the eyes of the newly arrived Educated Youths.

Then again, Wang Xiaomei had also relied on her own ability to give people something to use against her.

Lin Yuzhu stroked his chin. This was interesting. He needed to keep an eye out and observe Zhao Xianglan more closely.

If that girl really was black-hearted, then he would have to reassess the characters in the original novel.

Wang Xiaomei left Lin Yuzhu's side, deeply hurt and aggrieved.

"I told you that girl was no good. Look, she even bullied Wang Xiaomei into this state. Who is Wang Xiaomei?"

"She's the famous firecracker."

"She goes off at the slightest spark." Aunt Wang's words to Aunt Li drifted over lightly.

Lin Yuzhu was speechless.

If you asked whether Lin Yuzhu had adapted to farm work over the past half month, his answer would definitely be no. In the villagers' eyes, he was still a useless good-for-nothing who could neither carry loads on his shoulders nor lift things with his hands.

The highest work points he had earned over the past half month had probably been on his first day of work. After that, he had basically remained at six work points a day, sometimes earning only five.

The little scorekeeper's expression when he looked at him was quite meaningful.

Lin Yuzhu had thick skin and was not flustered in the slightest. Even eight- or nine-year-old children could earn three or four work points a day cutting pig grass. The little scorekeeper was truly afraid that this rather good-looking young Educated Youth would eventually earn less than a child.

Lin Yuzhu could not be bothered to think too deeply about it. Every day, with his face to the earth and his back to the sky, his waist was nearly breaking on this black soil.

This body truly was not suited for farm work. After work every day, he felt as though his entire body had fallen apart.

Thinking about having to do farm work for another thirty-four years made Lin Yuzhu's vision go black.

If not for his dream of becoming rich supporting him, he might have collapsed on the kang like Zhang Yanqiu.

Over the past half month, Zhang Yanqiu had been physically and mentally exhausted. Two days ago, she had finally been unable to hold on any longer and fallen ill.

The Production Team Leader gave her several days off. Fortunately, it was not the busy farming season, since taking leave during the busy season meant having work points deducted. Li Xiangwan was not doing much better either—or rather, she was even closer to breaking down than Lin Yuzhu. She was merely holding on through sheer determination, and she could not do much work herself.

If Li Xiangbei had not helped her, she estimated that she would only earn six work points a day. Usually, Li Xiangbei would finish his own tasks before coming over to lend her a hand. Over time, this had stirred up plenty of gossip.

Li Xiangwan looked at Lin Yuzhu. Although the villagers mocked him endlessly for earning just six work points a day, he wore an unconcerned, breezy expression. He was truly carefree. As expected, thick skin made one invincible.

With Lin Yuzhu as an example, Li Xiangwan also let go of her concerns. It was not as though she lacked food rations, so why work herself to death?

So she stopped letting Li Xiangwei help her.

Li Xiangbei thought she was avoiding suspicion because of the gossip around them, and he grew even more disgusted with those gossiping village women. Although he no longer helped her directly, he felt sorry for Li Xiangwan's increasingly thin body—or perhaps it was just an illusion—so after finishing his farm work early, he would head up the mountain to wander around.

Coming from a martial family, how could he not have a few skills? Basically, two out of every three trips up the mountain, he could bring back some small game to nourish Li Xiangwan's body.

This deeply stimulated Zhang Yanqiu. His contribution to her falling ill this time might not have been small.

It was rather interesting. With Li Xiangwan accompanying him in earning low work points, hardly anyone said anything anymore.

Perhaps people found it too tiring to criticize two people at once. Everyone's attention completely shifted from Lin Yuzhu to the sickly Zhang Yanqiu.

But no matter how much gossip people spread, Zhang Yanqiu, lying on the kang, knew nothing of it. Lin Yuzhu was even afraid that once she recovered, the villagers would anger her into sickness again. At last, the day had come for them to close the door and cook for themselves.

After work, Lin Yuzhu hurried home excitedly. Wang Xiaomei watched his swiftly departing back and pouted.

There was already polished rice in the space, neatly stored inside the Warehouse.

Speaking of this, he had to praise the system.

Rice processing could be divided into rough processing and fine processing, depending on how many Contribution Points were spent.

Naturally, he ate the finely processed kind himself.

He had taken out rough-processed rice before. It was about the same as the polished rice from the grain station, without much advantage.

This greatly relieved Lin Yuzhu. He planned to sell rough-processed rice at the Black Market, which was safer than selling finely processed rice.

Once he put the rice on to cook over the stove, the eggplants in the space were ready to harvest.

He picked two eggplants, washed them, and placed them on the steaming rack. Once they were steamed, he sprinkled on some salt and minced garlic, added two drops of sesame oil, and mixed them together. They tasted quite good too.

Speaking of sesame oil, he had to praise his little system again.

The oils unlocked in the non-staple food shop included all kinds of cooking oil, sesame oil among them.

After buying the sesame oil, Lin Yuzhu deliberately took it out of the Warehouse to inspect it. It was a small transparent glass bottle with the words "sesame oil" engraved on it, without any other packaging.

Later, he found the words "200 milliliters" on the bottom of the bottle.

Although it was somewhat more expensive than cooking oil, it smelled truly fragrant after the cap was opened. The only problem was that he could not leave it out in the open and had to quickly put it away after every use.

There were also many types of other ingredients in the Warehouse. The most delightful surprise was soy sauce, which came in many varieties and tasted especially fresh.

Lin Yuzhu sat happily beside the stove, shaking his leg as he waited for his rice. With his brows raised, he thought triumphantly, At last, I have freedom to eat rice whenever I want.

The space produced premium summer-refreshing goods. Eating the springy, tender rice with sweet and delicious steamed eggplant, Lin Yuzhu unconsciously ate two big bowls of plain rice. When he came back to his senses, he could not help touching his nose. Well, with all this farm work every day, he probably would not get fat, right?

But seriously, the crops grown in this space were truly excellent.

Rice tasted like rice, and eggplants tasted like eggplants. It might sound strange, but people from later generations would naturally understand.

A meal like this at noon counted as living well in the village.

Some families could not bear to steam pure white rice more than a few times a year. As for filling themselves up on rice, that was even more impossible.

Families who loved their children might give them a little more to eat. In selfish families, people could fight until their heads split open over a single meal of rice.