Characterization Gone Off-Script

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

Huh? What was Zhao Xianglan unhappy about if they moved out?

If she remembered correctly, Zhao Xianglan and Li Xiangwan had become extremely close later on. As the plot progressed, Li Xiangwan had even tried to pair Zhou Nan up with her. Wang Xiaomei kept whispering in Lin Yuzhu's ear, whether she wanted to hear it or not.

Actually, while Li Xiangwan had still been living there, Zhao Xianglan had benefited somewhat. Whenever he stewed meat, didn't Zhao Xianglan always manage to get two or three pieces? Even if there was no meat, she could occasionally scrounge an egg or some pickles in the morning.

Now that they were moving out, she would no longer be able to get anything. How could she possibly feel good about that?

Though they had eaten separately before, whenever Li Xiangwan made something tasty, he would symbolically serve a bowl to the others. So it was not as though he had only given food to Zhao Xianglan and Wang Xiaomei; the others had eaten plenty too. During this period, with the house being built, the educated youths' meals had improved quite a bit.

Given the life Li Xiangwan had lived in his previous life, he naturally did not care about such little bits of food. That was where misunderstandings could easily arise. Among the educated youths in the Educated Youth Dormitory, some were bound to develop certain thoughts. After all, once people got used to holding out their hands, they began to take it for granted. The moment you suddenly stopped giving them benefits, they might instead resent you and want to take a bite out of you. There were quite a few people like that.

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

Lin Yuzhu shot Wang Xiaomei a sidelong glance, unable to help speculating over what she had said. True or false, there was no point telling Lin Yuzhu. He was not someone who liked spreading gossip.

Well, though he was a little gossipy, among the female educated youths, Li Xiangwan appeared to be closest to him and Zhao Xianglan. But Lin Yuzhu knew that his relationship with Li Xiangwan was merely superficial. They could help each other with small matters, but neither should ask the other for anything major. They did not even share the bond 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 that, didn't their relationship naturally seem much better?

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

Her thinking was bound to be highly erratic. Lin Yuzhu was afraid 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 someone else's humanity, much less place himself in danger.

Besides, Lin Yuzhu was increasingly less convinced that his current life was merely a book. He was flesh and blood, and so were the people around him.

The longer Lin Yuzhu lived here, the more faint the plot of the original novel became in his mind. Sometimes, he could only recall one or two plot points in sudden flashes of inspiration.

A vague instinct kept telling him not to place too much trust in the plot.

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

Huang Xiaomei saw Lin Yuzhu looking at her unpleasantly and said indignantly, "Hey, what kind of look is that?"

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

"How could you see me that way?"

"I'm not shameless enough to snatch someone else's eggs. Sure, I've eaten plenty of the meat he stewed, but when he needed help with work, I worked hard too!"

Wang Xiaomei looked at Lin Yuzhu, somewhat hurt.

Her question left Lin Yuzhu choking. He took a breath and thought, Girl, ever since I entered the Educated Youth Dormitory, you've been a troublemaker. Don't you know that yourself?

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

But Wang Xiaomei's reputation in the Educated Youth Dormitory truly was terrible.

After mulling it over, 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, muttering quietly and invisibly magnifying Wang Xiaomei's misdeeds.

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 abilities to give others material to smear her with.

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

If this girl was truly black-hearted, then he would have to reevaluate 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, even Wang Xiaomei was bullied into such a state by her. And who is Wang Xiaomei?"

"She's the famous firecracker that 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 working life 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 anything with his hands.

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

The Production Team Leader's expression when looking at him was particularly 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 by cutting pig grass. The little scorekeeper was truly afraid that this rather good-looking young educated youth would eventually earn fewer work points than a child.

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

This body really was not used to farm work. Every day after finishing work, he felt as though he had fallen apart.

When he thought of doing farm work for another thirty-four years, Lin Yuzhu's vision went black.

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

Over the past half month, Zhang Yanqiu had been exhausted in both body and mind. Two days ago, she had finally been unable to hold on and fallen ill.

The Production Team Leader gave her several days off. Fortunately, it was not the busy farming season. Taking leave during the busy season meant having work points deducted. Li Xiangwan was not doing much better either—or rather, she was even more on the verge of collapse than Lin Yuzhu. She was merely forcing herself to endure with sheer determination, and she could not actually do much work.

If Li Xiangbei had not helped her, she estimated that she would only earn six work points a day as well. Normally, Li Xiangbei would finish his own tasks before coming over to lend her a hand. This inevitably stirred up plenty of gossip.

When Li Xiangwan looked at Lin Yuzhu, although the villagers mocked him plenty for earning six work points a day, he remained calm and indifferent, utterly unconcerned. He was truly carefree. Li Xiangwan thought, As expected, thick skin makes one invincible.

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

So she stopped letting Li Xiangwei help her.

Li Xiangbei thought she was avoiding it because of the gossip around them. He came to dislike those meddlesome village women even more. Although he no longer helped her directly, he felt sorry for Li Xiangwan's increasingly thin body—though that might have been an illusion—so he would head into the mountains to wander around after finishing his farm work early.

Born into a martial family, how could he not have a few skills? Of every three trips up the mountain, he could usually bring back some small game twice, giving Li Xiangwan something to nourish her body.

This deeply provoked Zhang Yanqiu. Her falling ill this time might have had something to do with him.

Interestingly enough, 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 shifted completely from Lin Yuzhu to the bedridden Zhang Yanqiu.

Yet no matter how much gossip there was, Zhang Yanqiu knew none of it while lying on the kang. Lin Yuzhu was even afraid that once she recovered, the villagers would anger her into falling sick again. At last, the day came when he could close the door and cook for himself.

After work, Lin Yuzhu hurried home excitedly. Wang Xiaomei watched his rapidly departing back and pursed her lips.

There was already husked rice in his space, neatly stacked in 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 one paid.

Naturally, what he ate himself was finely processed.

He had taken out rough-processed rice before. It was about the same as the refined rice from the grain station, not much worse.

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

Once the oyster sauce was simmering and the rice was cooking, the eggplants in the space were ready to harvest.

He picked two eggplants, washed them, and placed them in the steamer. Once they were cooked, he sprinkled on a little salt and minced garlic, added two drops of sesame oil, and mixed it all together. It was quite delicious.

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

The oils unlocked by the side-goods store included all kinds of cooking oils, 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 and no other packaging whatsoever.

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

It was a little more expensive than cooking oil, but once he opened the cap, it was truly fragrant. The only problem was that he could not leave it out in the open, so he had to put it away immediately after each use.

There were also many other kinds of ingredients in the Warehouse. The most delightful surprise was soy sauce: there were many varieties, and it tasted exceptionally fresh.

Lin Yuzhu sat happily beside the stove, shaking his leg as he waited for his rice. Feeling triumphant, he thought, At last, I have rice freedom.

The space's products were truly premium for beating the summer heat. As he ate the chewy, tender rice with sweet and tasty steamed eggplant, Lin Yuzhu unconsciously ate two large bowls of plain white rice. When he came back to himself, he could not help rubbing his nose. Well, with all this farm work every day, he probably would not gain weight, right?

But really, the crops grown in this space were excellent.

The rice tasted like rice, and the eggplants tasted like eggplants. That might sound strange, but people from later generations would naturally understand.

A meal like this at noon counted as a good life in the village.

Some households would not even bear to steam pure white rice a few times a year, much less eat enough rice to fill themselves up.

Families who cherished their children might give them a little more to eat. In selfish households, people could fight until their heads cracked over one meal of rice.