Was That a Bit Too Much Bullying?

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Was That a Bit Too Much Bullying?

Lin Yuzhu nodded but said nothing.

What was in the package?

Wang Xiaomei looked curious again. "Your family treats you pretty well, don't they?"

"What did they send you?"

Lin Yuzhu drew in a sharp breath. She really was unbearably curious. After a quick turn of thought, Lin Yuzhu asked cheerfully, "Why don't you tell me?" Before she could even finish, Wang Xiaomei turned and left as though someone were chasing her from behind.

During the autumn harvest, they could only take a brief break at noon, unlike before, when they had time for a proper nap.

Lin Yuzhu had planned to doze off on the kang for a while to relieve her fatigue, but before she could lie down, she heard someone calling for her at the door.

Puzzled, Lin Yuzhu thought the voice sounded like Wang Yang's. When she stepped outside, it really was him. What was he doing here?

Seeing her confused expression, Wang Yang hurriedly asked, "Do you still have enough grain to eat?"

"A lot of people in the village are borrowing grain from the production team right now. The new Educated Youth are getting ready to go borrow some too. Do you want to come with us?"

Lin Yuzhu saw that Li Xiangwan had already come out carrying a cloth sack, so she nodded as well. "I'll go get my bag." There was no helping it—this was money she could not save. Fortunately, if she did not like the grain she exchanged for, she could still sell it to the system.

Once all the Educated Youth who wanted to exchange for grain had gathered, they realized they were all newcomers from this year.

The older Educated Youth still had grain left and did not need to borrow any. Wang Yang was only taking them there out of kindness.

Zhang Yanqiu followed behind the group with a gloomy expression. After everyone left the courtyard, she limped over to Lin Yuzhu and asked quietly, "Yuzhu, do you still have any money on you?"

"Lend me some. I... I don't have money to buy grain anymore."

Lin Yuzhu blinked and studied her carefully. Zhang Yanqiu's sun-darkened face no longer had the softness it had when they first met. She was so thin that she was nearly nothing but skin and bones, and she looked much more mature now.

Seeing her limp, Lin Yuzhu thought to herself, There probably wasn't another supporting female character as unlucky as her.

Zhang Yanqiu saw Lin Yuzhu looking her over and thought she was hesitating about whether to lend her money. She hurriedly said, "Don't worry. Once the autumn harvest is over and the grain is distributed, I'll repay you with grain."

In the village, people who could not repay loans with money used grain to settle their debts. Saying that only made things more awkward.

Seeing the flicker of unease on Zhang Yanqiu's face, Lin Yuzhu said, "After building my house, I don't have much money left either. I heard from the villagers that if you have no money, you can borrow grain from the production team and have this year's work points deducted instead."

"Don't worry. You'll definitely be able to borrow grain."

Perhaps Lin Yuzhu really was too cold-hearted. The moment she heard Zhang Yanqiu wanted to repay her with grain, she had no intention of lending money. She was not short of grain herself, and the grain they were borrowing from the production team was all coarse grain. It would not fetch much at the Black Market, and selling it came with risks. It was not worthwhile to sell it to the system either.

If she lent money once, it would be hard not to lend it a second time. If it happened too often, people would take it for granted, and she would become the bad person if she refused later.

She might as well not open that door in the first place and refuse outright.

Zhang Yanqiu lowered her head, looking deeply disappointed, but her face was filled with hatred.

She had money to buy food and necessities, yet no money to lend her when her life depended on it. How could someone be so selfish?

When she raised her head and looked at the people before her, she committed every one of them to memory.

They were all the same. Not one of them was a good person.

Her gaze gradually settled on Li Xiangbei. There was a trace of infatuation in her eyes. Without Li Xiangwan, he definitely would not have been so heartless.

Zhang Yanqiu thought no one could see the hatred on her face when she lowered her head earlier.

But Lin Yuzhu saw it all from the side and sneered inwardly. Hmph, she actually hates me now!

When they reached the grain storehouse, it was incredibly lively. There were quite a few villagers there to borrow grain. Thinking about it, Lin Yuzhu understood why. The autumn harvest meant more labor, so everyone ate more. With over a dozen mouths in a household, one could imagine how much grain each meal consumed.

There were naturally more households that had run out of grain.

At that moment, not only was the Production Team Leader there, but the village chief, accountant, and scorekeeper were there as well.

Wang Yang led everyone over to the village chief and said with a smile, "These are the Educated Youth who arrived this year. They've run out of grain, so I brought them over to collect some."

The village chief nodded, his old face wrinkling into a frown.

The Production Team Leader did not look pleased upon hearing this and muttered something to Accountant Li beside him.

The place was noisy, and the Educated Youth did not pay attention to them. Only Lin Yuzhu noticed the Production Team Leader saying something to the person beside him when he saw them come to borrow grain. It was probably nothing good.

Zhao Aidang stood at the very front, and it was already his turn when several villagers suddenly came to borrow grain.

Accountant Li glanced at those villagers and immediately called out, "You don't need to line up. Come here and register first."

Zhao Aidang's expression stiffened at once. He asked unhappily, "Accountant Li, we were lining up properly. How can you just let people cut in front of us? Isn't that a bit too much bullying?"

Accountant Li looked up at Zhao Aidang and said in a strangely sarcastic tone, "The villagers grew this grain, so naturally they get it first. Got a problem with that?"

Zhao Aidang was left speechless.

Wang Yang hurriedly tried to ease the tense atmosphere and said ingratiatingly, "Hey, Accountant Li is right. We'll wait until the villagers are done first."

Accountant Li snorted coldly.

The several villagers who had just arrived smugly squeezed Zhao Aidang and the others aside.

None of the Educated Youth looked pleased.

Lin Yuzhu shook her head. They would probably have to go straight back to work after borrowing the grain. What rotten luck.

While the Educated Youth were borrowing grain, another two or three households arrived sporadically to borrow some as well.

When it was Zhang Yanqiu's turn, Accountant Li was perhaps tired and asked rather unfriendly, "There's also sorghum and buckwheat. What are you borrowing?"

"How much do you want?"

Zhang Yanqiu answered timidly.

"Are there no more corn kernels?"

"No."

There had clearly still been several sacks of corn kernels when the villagers borrowed grain earlier. The accountant was deliberately refusing to lend them to her.

Zhang Yanqiu was unhappy. Her eyes brimmed with aggrieved tears as she said with a hint of a sob, "Accountant Li, I have no money. Can I use work points to borrow the grain?"

Seeing that the young woman was about to cry, Accountant Li felt uneasy and stopped making things difficult for her. "Fine. Little Zhao, check how many work points Educated Youth Zhang has earned this year."

Upon hearing this, the scorekeeper flipped through the notebook specially used to record work points, found Zhang Yanqiu's page, and handed it to Accountant Li.

Accountant Li took it, looked it over, and said slowly with a frown, "Educated Youth Zhang, you don't have many work points."

Zhang Yanqiu's expression froze, and she said awkwardly, "I haven't been here that long."

Accountant Li shook his head. He remembered that this batch of Educated Youth had been here for two or three months already, yet Zhang Yanqiu had only earned a little over three hundred work points. If she wanted to eat her fill next year, she could only exchange for coarse grain. Forget about getting any money.

After calculating it, Accountant Li came to a decision. "You can only borrow twenty jin of coarse grain for now. Do you want sorghum or buckwheat?"

Lin Yuzhu stood right behind Zhang Yanqiu and happened to catch a glimpse of the work-point notebook Accountant Li had placed on the table.

Zhang Yanqiu seemed to have even fewer work points than she did.

Lin Yuzhu felt that the villagers were not very shrewd. They had actually said she earned the fewest work points among the Educated Youth.

Now they could see who really had the fewest.

Once Zhang Yanqiu had registered, she carried her cloth sack over to be weighed out with the scorekeeper.

Lin Yuzhu stepped forward and said directly to Accountant Li, "I'll take ten jin of sorghum." She was only putting on a show and had not planned to exchange for much.

"Work points or money?"

"Work points." She had just said she had no money.

Accountant Li lowered his head to register it.

Lin Yuzhu stared at the grain storehouse in boredom. Just then, she saw the scorekeeper hand Zhang Yanqiu her bag of grain and casually grope her hand.

Lin Yuzhu's expression darkened though her face remained serious. This scorekeeper had some nerve!

When Lin Yuzhu entered the grain storehouse and handed her sack to the scorekeeper, she stared straight at him with a stern expression.

As he weighed and filled her grain, the scorekeeper's heart trembled. Seeing Lin Yuzhu's grim face and hostile demeanor, he could not help feeling uneasy.

He had heard that this young Educated Youth looked soft but was ruthless, not someone to be trifled with.

Looking at her now, even the part about her looking soft did not seem true. Why did it feel like she had not come to borrow grain?

She looked more like she was here to fight.

He obediently handed the grain sack to Lin Yuzhu, not daring to make a single unnecessary move.

His obedience left Lin Yuzhu slightly disappointed. She was such a lovely young woman—how could he lose all interest just because she had a stern face?

Could it be that she was not as attractive as Zhang Yanqiu?

The Educated Youth who had received their grain did not leave. Wang Yang feared that the village leaders would continue making things difficult for them, so everyone stayed to bolster their presence. Though it was not much use, Lin Yuzhu could only wait with them for the remaining Educated Youth.

Zhang Yanqiu's expression was particularly strange at the moment, constantly changing. Lin Yuzhu thought it would be best to stay farther away, so she stood beside Zhou Nan and watched.

Zhou Nan took out a newspaper and began reading it, and Lin Yuzhu glanced over it as well.

The newspapers these days were basically all current affairs. The page she glanced at did not even have a single joke. Boring, far too boring!

When it was Li Xiangwan's turn, she too used work points to exchange for grain. As she entered to collect it, she politely smiled at the scorekeeper.

The scorekeeper looked her up and down, thinking of the village rumors. Full of mockery, he thought, She really is the type to seduce people everywhere she goes.

Seeing her smile just now, the scorekeeper handed her the grain and similarly took the chance to grope Li Xiangwan's tender little hand. This hand is really soft. I wonder whether other places are soft too.

He stared at Li Xiangwan with a lecherous expression, thoroughly vulgar.

The sudden move frightened Li Xiangwan badly. She immediately pulled her hand away, scattering grain all over the ground.

Li Xiangbei, who stood behind her in line, lunged forward. He punched the scorekeeper in the face, then kicked him to the ground, mounted him, and gave him a vicious beating.

Lin Yuzhu nearly wanted to applaud from the side. Her eyes were full of admiration for Li Xiangbei. Damn, what a man!

Without thinking, she knew the scorekeeper must have taken advantage of Li Xiangwan again. If she had a boyfriend like that, she would not want some supporting male character either!

Standing to the side, Zhou Nan stared at the scene in shock, clearly having no idea what was going on.