Good Person Card

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

Episode 23: Good Person Card.

Lin Yuzhu looked at Wang Xiaomei speechlessly. So after scheming all day long, she had gotten nowhere. No wonder Wang Xiaomei had lost such a temper today.

From Wang Xiaomei's perspective, Zhang Yanqiu was being rather ungrateful. Wang Xiaomei was someone who counted every last penny, and it was already impressive that she had endured until now. Fine, Zhang Yanqiu did not send it away—but then she even criticized Wang Xiaomei's cooking. Wang Xiaomei had not added chili because of Zhang Yanqiu's wife, and only put in a little after seeing that Zhang Yanqiu had recovered. Yet Zhang Yanqiu was still finding fault with everything, as if Wang Xiaomei owed her something.

How was she supposed to put up with that?

What use was it for Zhang Yanqiu to tell Zhao Xianglan about the grain? She was using Wang Xiaomei's grain. Shouldn't she have told Wang Xiaomei? Now things were great—she had ruined Wang Xiaomei's week for nothing.

At that, Wang Xiaomei burst into tears, tears streaming down her face.

Resting her chin on her hand against the table, Lin Yuzhu got a better sense of Wang Xiaomei. She looked hot-tempered, but her heart was not particularly hard. If she had a bit of calculation in her, it only meant she was shrewd. She liked taking small advantages when it came to her own food and clothing, but it was not a major problem.

When they had built their house, Wang Xiaomei had made a few snide remarks, but she had still worked hard when it was time to help. She had not harbored any crooked thoughts, unlike Zhang Yanqiu, who had approached her and openly and secretly wanted to move in with them. When asked to contribute money to the construction, Zhang Yanqiu had cried poverty.

She was utterly beneath contempt.

Putting it that way, Wang Xiaomei was, well, not such a terrible person.

"The day we arrived, the commune said another batch of educated youths would be coming before the autumn harvest."

Lin Yuzhu spoke slowly.

Wang Xiaomei was so startled that she forgot to cry. "Another whole batch? One batch is already enough to wear us thin, and more are coming? Are they trying to kill us?"

"It's already so late in the season. Even if they come for the autumn harvest, they can't earn a year's worth of work points. The villagers can still be paid in grain according to their labor, but us educated youths need money to settle accounts. If more penniless ones come, won't us old-timers have to take them in again?"

Lin Yuzhu shrugged. If the commune wanted to send educated youths over, even the village chief could do nothing about it.

When everyone ate from the same pot, there was no way to watch someone starve with open eyes.

This era advocated unity, friendship, mutual aid, and a spirit of sacrifice.

If the new educated youths truly had no money or grain, the older ones sharing the same pot would have to support them somewhat. If someone really starved to death, everyone eating from that pot would definitely take the blame.

Wang Xiaomei looked despairing. Not everyone knew how to repay what they borrowed. She understood that principle all too well. "You like spicy food, and you can't get along with them anyway. Why not take this chance to split off and eat separately?"

Lin Yuzhu thought it would be best to split off. That way, Wang Xiaomei might even recover some of her reputation in the village. Otherwise, there would be plenty more trouble ahead.

"If you don't eat from the same pot, you won't need to worry whether other people have enough grain. Keep your own grain put away, and as long as you don't go softhearted, you can pretend not to know."

Wang Xiaomei hesitated. "But if I split off, won't it look like I have bad relationships and got pushed out? How humiliating."

"You seem to have a rather unclear understanding of something. You do have bad relationships. The whole village knows it."

Lin Yuzhu felt this girl needed to face reality.

Huang Xiaomei was speechless.

Lin Yuzhu gave her a gentle smile. "I'm only talking to you because I'm afraid you'll brood over it and copy others by jumping into the river. Otherwise, why would I leave chicken soup untouched to talk to you about life? Is the chicken soup not tempting enough?"

Exactly. Lin Yuzhu knew Wang Xiaomei well enough. This girl had a reckless streak; she might really jump into the river, thinking that would make everyone even.

Wang Xiaomei had no reply. "Besides, aren't you lazy about cooking because you want to slack off?"

"Then it's even better to eat separately. You only have to cook for yourself, it saves effort, and no one can criticize you. What a bargain. You might waste some time waiting in line, but at least you'll be free."

"The key is, you can ask Zhao Xianglan for help."

Lin Yuzhu felt that with another batch of educated youths coming, the future looked worrying.

Given Wang Xiaomei's intelligence, Lin Yuzhu would not expose Zhao Xianglan's true nature in front of her.

Everyone had to walk their own path in life. Only when it hurt would they understand that they had misjudged someone. It was not something others could teach them.

Besides, the two of them were not close enough for that. There was no need to invite trouble when Wang Xiaomei might not even trust her.

If it ended with Wang Xiaomei seeing her as a petty person stirring up discord, it would disgust her to death.

Wang Xiaomei's eyes darted around before she stood and headed outside.

"Mm, I need to think about it."

Lin Yuzhu stood as well. She wanted to close the door and drink her chicken soup.

"Um, thank you. I knew you were a good person." So she had just been handed a good person card?

The rich, delicious chicken soup nearly made Lin Yuzhu swallow her tongue. She had not expected chicken soup with nothing added to taste so good. It thoroughly satisfied her appetite.

After comfortably finishing dinner, Lin Yuzhu lay down beneath the covers and sighed. She was someone who could afford to eat chicken now.

Ever since arriving in the seventies, Lin Yuzhu had not slept in once. It was even worse after coming to the countryside—she felt as though she had barely slept before it was time to get up for work.

If not for the chimney, Lin Yuzhu truly would not have wanted to light a fire and cook. It would have been so much better to use the fuel in her space directly.

But details determined success or failure, so she could not cut corners on this.

She did not particularly like boiled eggs. After getting up in the morning, she decided to make egg soup. She stole two small scallions from Wang Xiaomei's vegetable patch, chopped them up and sprinkled them in, then warmed a steamed bun. A simple breakfast was ready.

It looked like quite a nice breakfast. She wondered how Wang Xiaomei and Zhang Yanqiu were doing now.

A tiny spark of curiosity rose in Lin Yuzhu's heart.

Although Zhang Yanqiu had been rescued, she had caught a chill. Her body had only just recovered and could not take it, so she fell ill again. She developed a fever in the middle of the night. If not for the two fever-reducing tablets left from her last illness, she might have burned herself senseless by now.

Wang Xiaomei felt a little guilty. She took out some of her millet and cooked Zhang Yanqiu a bowl of porridge, feeling that she had done her duty. At the Educated Youth Dormitory.

The atmosphere was extremely delicate. Usually at this time, everyone was either arguing loudly or laughing and joking around. Today, everyone was unusually quiet. No one spoke; after breakfast, they each went to their own work.

As soon as Lin Yuzhu reached the fields, Aunt Wang came over with gleaming eyes and asked curiously, "Lin Zhiqing, what happened in your courtyard yesterday? Tell me."

Lin Yuzhu looked at Aunt Li behind her, who was also listening intently, and could not help smiling. "I don't know. I'm not clear on it."

Aunt Wang had an expression that said, You're all in the same courtyard—how could you possibly not know?

Watching her, Lin Yuzhu raised her hoe and loosened the soil.

"Aunt Wang, did you forget? We don't live in the same room. How would I know what happened between them?"

Aunt Wang nearly got hit by the hoe Lin Yuzhu had raised and hurriedly retreated two steps. Seeing that Lin Yuzhu did not seem willing to say more, she curled her lips and stopped pestering her, instead going over to chat with Aunt Li.

As they talked, the two women brought the topic back to Lin Yuzhu. Aunt Wang raised her voice and said, "If you ask me, Lin Zhiqing really has a good life. You built yourself such a big house—how impressive. Which girl in our courtyard has a life as good as yours? People really are different."

Lin Yuzhu grinned and, like Aunt Wang, stood in the field without doing any work as she said,

"Aunt Qiao said that if mine counts as a big house, then yours must be a mansion."

"What? Wang Huahua is still sharing a room with her brothers? That won't do. She'll be fourteen after the New Year, won't she? She's already a grown girl. Aunt Wang, you really should pay more attention. You can't neglect her just because she's a girl. No matter what, you should clear out a room for your daughter."

Aunt Wang's father-in-law was Wang Erzhu, whom everyone in the village called Wang Lao'er. As long as Wang Lao'er was still alive, the Wang Family could not divide up. He had three sons, and only Aunt Wang had given birth to a daughter, Wang Huahua. The others all had boys. With only one flower in such a large family, how could they not dote on her?

After Wang Huahua turned ten, they had already partitioned off a small room for her.

Afraid that her daughter's reputation would be harmed, Aunt Wang hurriedly explained, "Our Huahua has slept in her own room for ages."

Only after saying that did she understand what Lin Yuzhu meant.

"Ah, honestly, you little girl are really petty."

Lin Yuzhu smiled sweetly, looking soft and harmless.

"Same to you."

Aunt Wang was speechless. She had to admire this about young girls—they smiled while insulting you. If you started a fight with them, they would still be smiling, and if you kept pressing the issue, it would seem as though you were bullying them.

Aunt Li rolled her eyes. Knowing Aunt Wang could not outtalk Lin Yuzhu, she pulled her old friend away and said quietly, "Get back to work. We're not like those city people with money to buy grain."

Wang Xiaomei, on the other hand, was not having such an easy time. Since no one could see Zhang Yanqiu, they could only bother her instead.

That entire morning, Wang Xiaomei endured plenty of mockery.

"What?"

"You bullied Zhang Zhiqing into jumping into the river?"

"What?"

"How did Zhang Zhiqing offend you?"

"What?"

"Didn't you bully Zhao Xianglan like this before too?"

"I heard you and Zhang Zhiqing both fancied the same male educated youth. Who is it?"

Some even directly asked whether Lin Zhiqing and Li Zhiqing had also been bullied away by her.

Wang Xiaomei was so angry that her lungs nearly exploded. In this village, she was practically about to become a savage tyrant.

After work in the afternoon, Wang Xiaomei practically ran back to the Educated Youth Dormitory. Lin Yuzhu had only just entered her room when Wang Xiaomei followed in behind her.

Lin Yuzhu looked at her with a face full of question marks.

"What are you doing here at noon?"

"How much did it cost you to build this room?"

Wang Xiaomei got straight to the point.

Lin Yuzhu froze. Did that mean Wang Xiaomei wanted to build one too?

She could not help being surprised. There was still an empty plot beside her house. Another room could be built there.

She had always thought Li Xiangbei would claim it, because in the original plot he had moved out later as well. Less than fifty yuan was no small amount, and money was truly valuable at this time. She had thought Wang Xiaomei might be reluctant to spend it, meaning the house might not get built after all.

To her complete surprise, Wang Xiaomei was decisive. Though she had left Lin Yuzhu's place hesitantly at noon, she resolutely went to find the village chief that afternoon.