How About We Share Meals?

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

How about we share meals?

He Yuanfang more or less understood what Li Xiangwan meant. The village was only so big, and he had heard plenty of gossip.

Lin Yuzhu silently mourned for the heroine. She had absolutely no desire to get involved.

In the original plot, Li Xiangwan later brought Zhao Xianglan into their meal arrangement, and only then did the gossip lessen somewhat.

It did not stop completely. Two men and two women just happened to make pairs, and people would talk no matter what. It was better not to wade into this muddy water.

The key was that the heroine's cooking was... not very good. If she had to cook for so many people, then heh. "My meal's already done. It's hot out, and it'll spoil if I don't eat it. I won't join in your fun."

Lin Yuzhu said it with a smile.

Li Xiangwan looked at Lin Yuzhu's smiling face. She did not seem to be merely being polite, and Li Xiangwan could not help thinking more highly of her. She was someone who could resist temptation, and that made her feel even more uneasy.

Unfortunately, she had actually wanted someone like Lin Yuzhu, someone who was not greedy, to join them.

"All right, then. Once I'm done cooking, I'll bring you a bowl."

Lin Yuzhu hurriedly shook her head. "Ah, no, please don't. I can't come up with anything tasty to return the favor." She liked to speak plainly.

Li Xiangwan froze, then quickly understood. Lin Yuzhu only earned so few work points a day. It was already good enough if she could feed herself; how could she afford anything for social reciprocity? Their food was good, so she could send some over when there was meat today, but if there was no meat tomorrow or the day after, she would not send any.

Once was fine, but too many times would only add pressure to the other person.

"Then I'll go in and get busy."

Lin Yuzhu nodded and cheerfully agreed.

Heh.

Watching Li Xiangbei, who had already tidied up his things and was getting up to head inside, Lin Yuzhu felt that the male lead seemed rather superfluous no matter how she looked at him.

The heroine did not actually lack meat. With the male lead around, things were instead more inconvenient.

She had to eat poisoned food and cook for those two grown men. No matter how she looked at it, it was not worth it.

More importantly, the male lead brought the heroine quite a lot of trouble. Once a girl's reputation went bad, all kinds of monsters and freaks would dare to swarm around her.

Lin Yuzhu leaned against the back of her chair, looking up at the clouds drifting through the sky. Being single was still the best—easy and carefree. She really wanted to shake a leg.

She had not even enjoyed herself for a few minutes before arguing broke out in the front yard.

Listening closely, Lin Yuzhu figured Wang Xiaomei was arguing with someone again. It was nothing unusual. It would have been strange if they went a day without arguing.

Before long, Wang Xiaomei came dragging Zhang Yanqiu toward the back yard.

Lin Yuzhu's eyes lit up. What was this fuss about now?

She had to admit, with Wang Xiaomei around, life was never boring.

Wang Xiaomei furiously dragged and pulled the gloomy-faced Zhang Yanqiu into the back yard. She let go, planted her hands on her hips, and shouted, "I cook a meal, and you complain about this and that. Then don't eat with us anymore! Go ask whether someone else wants you. Anyway, I don't want you anymore!"

"Every single day, either you're sick today or uncomfortable tomorrow. You do nothing, yet you still have the nerve to complain. Is anyone obligated to serve you, or do they owe you something?"

Perhaps because Wang Xiaomei was making such a huge scene this time, several Educated Youth from the front yard hurried over as well. Even Auntie Chen next door stopped cooking and ran to her own back yard to peer over at them. She was truly an unmatched busybody.

Zhang Yanqiu had recovered from her illness, but she had become so thin that she was little more than skin and bones. Standing there, she looked so frail that Wang Xiaomei appeared like a tyrant by comparison.

Zhang Yanqiu was clearly furious. Her entire body trembled, her eyes were bloodshot, and she glared at Wang Xiaomei as she roared, "Why should I move out just because you say so? Who do you think you are?"

"Why?" Wang Xiaomei scoffed. "Because I cooked the vegetables, and I bought the pot!"

"What part of the things used for eating has anything to do with you?"

"The vegetables weren't grown by you alone, and the pot wasn't bought by you alone either. What you say doesn't represent everyone. Why don't you ask whether they're willing to take you in?"

After saying that, Wang Xiaomei pointed at the Educated Youth behind her.

Angry and aggrieved, Zhang Yanqiu looked at the older Educated Youth who had followed them over, hoping someone would speak up for her.

Zhao Xianglan's eyes flickered. Like a peacemaker, she said, "Xiaomei, stop saying things in anger. Where can she go to eat by herself?"

Lin Yuzhu raised an eyebrow. She felt there was something implied in those words. "Hasn't she always thought she came from Beijing and looked down on those of us from small cities?"

"Does she think no one can see through that little scheme of hers?"

"Who has she been putting on a sour face for every day?"

"Pfft. I don't even know what she's hanging around with us for. Go on, hurry up and beg those people from the big cities to take you in. You all came from the same place, so why don't they want you?"

Wang Xiaomei stood with her arms crossed, her face full of sharp malice.

Wang Yang could not stand listening any longer. "Comrade Wang Xiaomei, what kind of thing is that to say?"

While the others argued, Li Xiangwan had acted as though she could not hear them and never came out of her room.

Because of Li Xiangbei, Wang Yang, who was standing outside, could not help being dragged into it. Wang Xiaomei's words left him extremely embarrassed.

Lin Yuzhu, who came from a small place, wanted to pull out some sunflower seeds and start snacking.

Zhang Yanqiu felt deeply humiliated. Gasping for breath in anger, she shrieked, "Wang Xiaomei, you've gone too far!"

Wang Xiaomei snorted coldly and continued mocking her without yielding. "I've gone too far? Why don't you say that what you did was too much?"

"Tell me, how many times have you washed the dishes since you got here?"

"Your grain is almost gone, yet you won't go borrow any. You just want to mooch off us. Have you no shame?"

"Seeing that you were seriously ill, I only put one chili pepper in the dish. Yet you still weren't satisfied. So you do nothing and just sit there picking faults?"

"I truly don't understand how you have the nerve. Are you some young lady from a wealthy family? Then go home and act like one! No one here is going to pamper you, feed you, give you drink, and wait on you at every turn. Are we supposed to work ourselves to the bone just to be your maids?"

"Even landlords do not dare act like this now. If you think I'm bullying you, fine. Then let's go to the threshing ground and talk it out properly. Let the village chief and the four commune cadres hear who's in the right."

"Am I really bullying you?"

Wang Xiaomei rattled off a whole barrage of words, practically going on a rampage. Lin Yuzhu looked at her in a new light, while also understanding why Wang Xiaomei had made such a scene. One possibility was that Zhang Yanqiu's nitpicking had finally annoyed her enough that she wanted to kick her out. Another was that she felt sorry for the grain and feared Zhang Yanqiu would keep mooching like this. Zhang Yanqiu turned pale at Wang Xiaomei's final words.

No matter what, she could not let herself be dragged to the threshing ground today. How could she ever hold her head up afterward?

Her tears came quickly, streaming down her face as she said in a trembling voice, "My hand got scraped while I was working, and I lost a layer of skin. Washing dishes hurts terribly. Sister Lan couldn't bear to watch, so she told me to go back to my room."

"I was too sick to get out of bed, so I didn't go borrow grain."

"I already told Sister Lan that once I was fully better, I would immediately go borrow grain from the team leader. How can you slander me like this? Are you trying to force me to die?"

Seeing Zhang Yanqiu's pitiful appearance and hearing her explanation, the people present began to feel that Wang Xiaomei was making a mountain out of a molehill.

One was weak and frail, crying as though she had been driven into a corner. The other stood there with a fierce face, aggressively pressing her. Visually, the weaker party was naturally more likely to draw sympathy.

"Look at me, I forgot about that. I didn't tell you all."

"Yanqiu really did say that she would go borrow grain from the team once she recovered."

"Xiaomei, stop making a fuss. If this goes on, people will laugh at us."

"We haven't even finished eating yet. Let's hurry back. If we don't, the food will get cold."

Zhao Xianglan spoke softly and gently. No matter how one listened, she seemed to be soothing both of them.

He Yuanfang rubbed his stomach. Hearing all that, he suddenly felt hungry.

Zhou Nan stood to the side as a mere backdrop, his brows and eyes cold and detached.

Wang Xiaomei sneered repeatedly. "Hmph, you're the only one who knows how to play the good person, while I'm the villain. Fine, I don't care. Anyway, I'm not going to wait on her. If you love being the good person, then you wash this bowl, scrub this pot, and provide her grain."

"And don't keep muttering this and that in my ear. If you're willing to put up with it, you can put up with it yourself. But I'm making this clear today: if she stays, I go; if I stay, she goes. Either she moves out, or I move out."

"Half the vegetables in the garden are mine, and half the private plot is mine too. Divide the pots, bowls, and utensils for me as well. I get to use that pot first to cook, or I'll smash it outright and nobody will eat."

The scene fell silent. Zhao Xianglan said nothing, her expression unchanged, but her eyes flashed with hostility.

He Yuanfang looked from one side to the other, then suddenly stepped forward. Walking up to Zhang Yanqiu, he said in an honest, simple manner, "How about you and I share meals? The two of us can split off and eat separately."

Zhang Yanqiu even forgot to cry. As though struck by a bolt from the blue, she stared at He Yuanfang, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

Wang Xiaomei nearly threw back her head and howled with laughter.

Lin Yuzhu was speechless. The atmosphere became even more unpredictable.

Zhang Yanqiu's face went from white to green, from green to red, and then from red to purple. Her eyes were bloodshot, and with a face full of hatred, she shoved past He Yuanfang and ran away.

With one of the main characters gone, the crowd immediately dispersed, everyone heading home.

Wang Xiaomei left like a victorious rooster, head held high and chest puffed out.

Lin Yuzhu looked up at the sky in speechless resignation. She had no idea what that girl was feeling so proud about. She had mocked everyone in the neighboring room, yet not a single problem had been solved.

Watching Zhao Xianglan's unhurried retreating figure, Lin Yuzhu's gaze turned distant. I'd better keep away from that girl in the future. She doesn't seem like a good person.

Li Xiangwan had hidden in her room and never come out. Only after everyone had dispersed did she emerge and shake her head.

She had not listened too closely to their quarrel. She had only noticed Wang Xiaomei mocking people from big cities as being somehow superior, which made her dislike Wang Xiaomei even more. She silently decided to keep far away from people like that in the future.

She had thought the matter would end there. No matter how much they argued, could it really stir up any bigger trouble? Could they truly drive someone out?

Who would have thought that half an hour later, the village chief would lead villagers carrying the soaking-wet, unconscious Zhang Yanqiu as they rushed noisily into the Educated Youth Dormitory?

In no time at all, the yard was packed with people. Zhang Yanqiu had been unable to bear it and jumped into the river to kill herself.

This was truly unexpected. No one had thought such a small matter would blow up so badly. Even Lin Yuzhu had not expected her to do this.

She had read so many novels. It was always the heroine who jumped into a river, reincarnated, and returned to punish scum. She had never seen a supporting female character jump into a river to kill herself.