The Small Matter of Kicking the Door

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The small matter of kicking the door. Lin Yuzhu shot her a glance and said disdainfully, "Tch. Other than spicy, there's no flavor to your cooking. No wonder Zhang Yanqiu nitpicks you."

"Hey!"

The moment Wang Xiaomei heard that, she refused to take it lying down and shouted, "If I had oil and soy sauce, even if I were worse at cooking, I could still make something decent!"

Lin Yuzhu nodded. That wasn't entirely without reason. Then she rolled her eyes again. "Could you at least knock next time before coming in?"

"Isn't it a little too arrogant to just kick the door open and walk in?"

Wang Xiaomei bit into her cornbread, blinked at Lin Yuzhu in bafflement, then added, "What needless fuss. Don't waste my good intentions."

Lin Yuzhu rolled her eyes.

The two spent the entire meal bickering. The next day, Wang Xiaomei kindly made food for both of them again.

Her habit of kicking the door and barging in whenever it was convenient remained unchanged, leaving Lin Yuzhu gritting her teeth with no solution in sight.

On the last evening of the holiday, Lin Yuzhu made dinner early.

She had deliberately mixed plenty of white flour into the cornbread, steaming it soft and fluffy. It looked delicious.

There was nothing particularly new about the dishes: eggplants and green beans picked from the garden, stewed together in one pot. Still, she had used plenty of oil, and the soy sauce from her space enhanced the flavor. It tasted quite good—at the very least, several levels above Wang Xiaomei's cooking.

After keeping the food warm in the pot, Lin Yuzhu sat on a small stool, drumming her fingers endlessly against her leg as she waited for Wang Xiaomei to return from work.

Ever since Wang Xiaomei had begun living on her own, she had been remarkably eager to return to the Educated Youth Dormitory after work. She came back not long after clocking out.

Once Lin Yuzhu heard the neighboring door opening and closing, she immediately picked up the pot, marched out with her head held high, and went to kick the door.

It was quite a coincidence. After Wang Xiaomei changed out of her work clothes, she turned to open the door just as Lin Yuzhu kicked it. Before she could react, the door smacked her right in the forehead.

It wasn't that Lin Yuzhu was petty. She simply wanted Wang Xiaomei to experience having a door kicked open for once—and, well, vent a little frustration while she was at it.

Naturally, she hadn't kicked lightly. The point was to have presence. Luckily, she wasn't very strong, or Wang Xiaomei might have ended up with more than just a bump on her forehead.

With a huge lump on her forehead, Wang Xiaomei glared furiously and opened the door, cursing, "Which bastard did that?"

When she saw Lin Yuzhu standing there awkwardly with a pot in her hands, the raging fire in her chest flared even hotter. Wang Xiaomei unleashed a string of curses in her heart, and the scene became extremely awkward.

Relying on the huge red bump on her forehead, Wang Xiaomei extorted a full twenty hard candies from Lin Yuzhu before the matter was finally settled.

As Wang Xiaomei happily ate the fragrant meal, Lin Yuzhu's gaze drifted once more to her forehead. The bump seemed to have swollen another little bit. Although she had paid quite a lot of candy in compensation, why did she still feel such an urge to laugh?

Losing twenty candies did teach Wang Xiaomei a lesson. From then on, she never kicked Lin Yuzhu's door again. Whenever she came looking for her, she knew to open the door, stand outside, and call for her.

That was already quite good. Not to mention the countryside, even in towns, few neighbors knocked before dropping by. Those with some manners would at least open the door, stand outside, and call out. Those closer to the household would greet them as they walked straight inside.

If Lin Yuzhu truly made a fuss over it, others would only think she was making a mountain out of a molehill and being unreasonable.

Wang Xiaomei was her friend now, and Lin Yuzhu didn't want to hurt her feelings too badly. More importantly, she had to stay alert around the female lead and watch for any clues. Getting this result was good enough.

Life settled back into calm, and Lin Yuzhu resumed her routine of working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

But gradually, she noticed that the villagers' gazes toward her seemed somewhat different than before. She couldn't figure out why, so she didn't take it to heart for the time being. By the time she learned what was going on, a month had already passed.

The villagers looked at her differently because everyone believed that anyone who could deal with Auntie Li Si without suffering a loss was probably no saint. And anyone close to Wang Xiaomei at the Educated Youth Dormitory was most likely no good person either.

There was no need to mention Auntie Li Si. She was a notorious scoundrel. If she latched onto someone, they would lose a layer of skin even if they didn't end up covered in trouble.

Not only had Lin Yuzhu emerged unscathed, she had even made Auntie Li Si part with two eggs. Clearly, she was a ruthless person.

People like that were best kept at a distance. Lin Yuzhu, who had not even caught sight of an egg, felt that this conclusion was a bit hasty.

Then there was Wang Xiaomei. What kind of person was she?

Ask around the whole village—who had ever gotten even the slightest advantage from her? That girl was so spoiled and overbearing, a downright little shrew. She could drive people to jump into a river. Could anyone who hung around with her possibly be a good person?

And then there was Lin Yuzhu herself. Look at how outstanding she was at farm work in summer—she couldn't carry anything on her shoulders or lift anything with her hands. Such a useless person might be no good at work, but she ranked first in fights. Whoever married her into the family would be asking for trouble. Any household that took her in would be doomed to bad luck.

Of course, some held opposing opinions. Educated Youth Lin had been in the village for so long, and judging by her complexion, it was obvious she had never gone hungry. Her family must be quite well-off.

Just like that, the villagers went from discussing how Lin Yuzhu was not a good person, to saying she was unsuitable for marriage, then to talking about her family's circumstances. Finally, they concluded that even if her family was well-off, once she got married, what family would continue supporting their daughter? Marrying her would still bring misfortune upon her husband's family!

Therefore, Educated Youth Lin was absolutely not someone to marry. Whoever brought her home would inevitably have their household turned upside down.

Lin Yuzhu had lived honestly and properly, yet she never imagined her reputation could become this terrible. For a moment, she found it hard to accept.

Wang Xiaomei was used to it and even comforted her. "None of the female educated youths at the Educated Youth Dormitory have very good reputations in the village. Just look at Zhao Xianglan. She's such a gentle person, right?"

"Yet the villagers say she has a timid personality, that she's weak and submissive and not fit to be seen in public. They say that any son who marries her will be bullied."

"Some are even more outrageous. They say a woman with such a weak personality won't be able to bear sons."

Lin Yuzhu was utterly speechless.

Wasn't there something seriously wrong with these aunties' understanding of people? Then, in an instant, she understood. The village women were probably deliberately slandering the female educated youths. The reason was actually quite realistic: they were afraid the village's good young men would take a liking to them.

Thinking about it carefully, nearly every village received one or two female educated youths each year.

These female educated youths had all received some education. Elementary school graduation was the bare minimum, middle school graduation was common, and high school graduates were not all that rare. They were also fresh-faced and pretty, completely overshadowing the village girls.

There were only so many capable, marriageable young men in each village. How many could resist the temptation of beauty?

Young people who had never achieved anything had no idea about life's twists and turns. Filled with passion, they believed they could support an entire family on their own. They could not see life's hardships, but the elders could. Whenever two or three female educated youths arrived in the village, the young men would become fired up, each one acting as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

To the parents of both the men and the women, that was a signal full of danger.

In an era that believed in parental orders and matchmakers' words, the aunties had all independently begun slandering the female educated youths in order to stop the village boys from marrying them.

Having earned such a reputation, Lin Yuzhu found it both ridiculous and absurd.

As for whether to change it, Lin Yuzhu felt there was no need to waste the effort. Deep-rooted ideas could not be changed much, and it would only cost time and energy. Her stage in life was not this tiny village. In other words, her target was not the village's young men, so there was truly no need to change anything.

Over the course of that month, Lin Yuzhu went to town only once. The rest of the time, she obediently worked in the fields to earn work points.

She went to town with the other educated youths. Wang Xiaomei had nothing left to sell, so she did not go.

Other than Wang Xiaomei, Lin Yuzhu had only average relationships with the other female educated youths. If she had to name someone she was closer to, it would probably be the female lead.

Li Xianglan found an excuse to wander off alone. Afterward, Zhao Xianglan began making vague, suggestive remarks. Lin Yuzhu was naturally not foolish enough to walk into her trap, so she found an excuse to go off on her own as well.

Zhao Xianglan then took Zhang Yanqiu by the hand, shaking her head with a sigh. "The three of you came here together. Logically, you should have been the closest. How could those two be so heartless? I really feel sorry for you. When Wang Xiaomei bullied you before, we couldn't take sides, and I thought they might at least help you. Who would have thought they would all be so indifferent to other people's suffering?"

Zhao Xianglan said a whole lot more, leaving Zhang Yanqiu's eyes warm and her heart full of comfort.

Zhang Yanqiu simply regarded Zhao Xianglan as a confidante. Naturally, Lin Yuzhu knew nothing about this.

At that time, she had already entered her space, disguised herself, and turned into a dark, skinny little boy again. This time, she did not plan to go to the Black Market. The Black Market was unsettled because of the female lead. Anyone without plot armor needed to know their limits, so it was better not to wade into those muddy waters.

Thanks to the connections she had built while going door to door last time, Lin Yuzhu sold another batch of goods. This time, she sold a larger quantity, and the income was considerable.

Afterward, she used the same method and sold quite a few goods while going door to door.

In summary, as long as one had goods on hand these days, there was no need to worry about being unable to sell them.

After earning another pocketful of money and ration coupons, Lin Yuzhu returned to her space in satisfaction and did the math. She had actually made more than a hundred yuan more than last time. That was a very good result. Since she had come to town, it would seem strange to leave without buying anything.

When the educated youths gathered again, Lin Yuzhu's basket was half full. Zhao Xianglan and Zhang Yanqiu kept glancing over at it. Once they realized it was half full of grain, their expressions toward Lin Yuzhu became somewhat complicated, with a trace of unwillingness mixed in. Their thoughts were not hard to read.

Lin Yuzhu had never intended to hide the grain in her basket. She had done it somewhat deliberately. She was no good at farm work, so how could she possibly get by without visibly buying some food?

It was a form of disguise. As for what others thought, that was none of her business. As long as no one tried to snatch it from her, it had nothing to do with her.