Kindwater Village

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

Shanshui Village. The auntie was quite the chatterbox. The moment she got on the train, she started asking this and that, talking without end. Even though the group only gave perfunctory replies, their mouths were dry from all the conversation, and they all wanted to fill their mugs with water.

Then, when the auntie saw them return with water, she slapped her thigh and said she had forgotten to bring her own mug and was feeling a little thirsty. It was clear she wanted to borrow one of their mugs for a drink.

To put it bluntly, when they were not close, what girl would want to share a cup with someone else? The female lead and Zhang Yanqiu both looked rather displeased. In the end, the male lead helped smooth things over by lending his own mug to the auntie. From then on, that mug practically became the auntie's personal property for the rest of the journey.

At mealtime, the auntie took out some scallions and soybean paste wrapped in unknown green leaves. What an extraordinary auntie. She dipped the scallions in the paste and ate them with corn bread, savoring every bite. The train already had a strange odor, and with the scallions and soybean paste added in, the female lead nearly gagged.

The book did not dwell much on the male lead's expression, but after they arrived at the village, the female lead and the others never saw the auntie use that mug again.

Lin Yuzhu looked at the auntie's plain, unadorned face. The auntie sat smiling as she squeezed onto the seat, while Li Xiangwan and Zhang Yanqiu sat pitifully on the inside. Lin Yuzhu rubbed her nose. So cool. Absolutely the coolest.

Sure enough, once the auntie sat down, she kept asking where they were from and where they were headed. Upon learning that they were Educated Youths, she asked where they were being sent.

Lin Yuzhu, who sat directly across from the auntie, could not avoid chatting with her a little. But this auntie was simply too talkative.

Lin Yuzhu had risen early that morning and was truly a little tired by then. Later, she found herself unable to keep up and stopped talking much.

But that was fine. The auntie began telling stories about her family all by herself.

The auntie was visiting relatives, heading to her elder brother's home. Then she began complaining that her sister-in-law did not know how to run a household and looked down on her for being from the countryside. She said her sister-in-law was nothing like these young people, who were so approachable, before adding, "They're all city folk, so why is the difference so huge?"

Lin Yuzhu smiled and seized an opening to pretend she was asleep.

Zhang Yanqiu was more honest. She kept the auntie company until noon. When she and Li Xiangwan became thirsty and returned from fetching water, the auntie indeed slapped her thigh. "Oh dear, I left my mug back home."

Lin Yuzhu nearly failed to hold back her laughter. She dared guarantee that the auntie had never brought a mug in the first place. Mugs required industrial coupons to buy, and where would rural families get industrial coupons? Even if they had some, they would spend them where they mattered most. Who would be willing to buy something as impractical as a mug?

When entertaining guests, they could simply serve water in bowls.

Li Xiangwan and Zhang Yanqiu exchanged glances, neither looking pleased. At that moment, they deeply envied Lin Yuzhu, who seemed to be sleeping soundly. Had they known, they would have pretended to sleep too. How nice that would have been.

Neither of them wanted to lend her mug to the auntie. For a moment, both tried to play dumb and muddle through, making the atmosphere awkward. Fortunately, the male lead took out his own mug to ease the tension and slowly offered it to the auntie. "Auntie, would you like to use this?"

The auntie did not mind that someone else had used it.

She accepted the mug with a smile and went to fetch water.

Then the auntie ate mouthful after mouthful of corn bread and scallions dipped in paste. She drank water as she ate, her lips smacking loudly.

Lin Yuzhu stopped pretending to sleep. "Oh, little sister, you're awake. Want some scallions?"

The auntie was unwilling to share any corn bread. The scallions had been grown by her own wall and cost nothing, but grain was a lifeline. The auntie was not that generous.

Lin Yuzhu glanced at the auntie's mug. There was not even any steam rising from it, so it was obviously cold water. Most trains did not provide hot water at the time, and having cold water to drink was already quite good.

Lin Yuzhu gave up on the idea of fetching water. After all, what Lin Mother had packed for her was cooled boiled water, so there was no need to go out of her way.

Watching the auntie eat so enthusiastically, the others were actually a little hungry too. But the smell on the train was truly unpleasant, and none of them had much appetite. It was also a long-distance train, and even going to the toilet was a trial. If they could avoid eating, they would avoid it for now.

Lin Yuzhu could now understand the extent of the female lead's psychological trauma at the time. To be fair, in her previous life, the female lead had traveled by plane and driven cars. When had she ever suffered like this?

By then, her face already looked somewhat listless.

Lin Yuzhu was doing better. When she had taken trains home from college during breaks, people with standing tickets would be so exhausted at night that they sat on the floor to sleep. If someone wanted to go to the toilet, they had to hold onto the backs of seats and hop their way forward. One wrong move, and they would step on someone sleeping on the floor.

Aside from the slow speed being torturous, everything else was actually not bad. The attendants were just not very diligent and rarely cleaned.

The train was filled with a strange smell, and the auntie's scallions were far too pungent.

Lin Yuzhu looked at the window. Their side could not be opened.

She sighed. Protagonists did not always have lucky halos. Sometimes, they had terrible luck too.

As expected, the auntie was full of mishaps. After eating, she wanted to use the toilet. She rummaged through her bundle for a long time, her expression darkening by the second as she muttered, "I clearly took some paper from home last night." Yet she searched and searched without finding any.

The auntie's face gradually turned ugly, with a faint hint of anger. "My sister-in-law must've taken it! So stingy!"

Unfortunately, toilet paper also required coupons to purchase. Such coupons were generally issued to workers' families. Lin Mother only let them use it during their periods; at other times, newspapers were enough.

Why use toilet paper at all?

For some families, toilet paper was a rare luxury.

With no oil or meat in one's diet, even going to the toilet could be difficult.

The auntie looked at the three girls and asked with a smile, "Girls, do you have any paper?"

The auntie wanted to relieve herself and symbolically rubbed her stomach.

Zhang Yanqiu's family circumstances were not particularly good. The toilet paper she had brought was reserved for that time of the month.

Normally, she used newspapers. But in front of everyone, especially the male lead, she did not want to reveal such a thing.

Lin Yuzhu was no better off than Zhang Yanqiu. Only then did she remember that she had forgotten to bring newspapers. She really could not bear to lend the auntie her toilet paper.

Seeing that neither of them spoke, Li Xiangwan furrowed her lovely brows. She suspected the auntie was deliberately trying to freeload, but still took several sheets of toilet paper from her pocket and handed them over.

At the time, toilet paper was sold by the stack, with some better and some worse, rather than by the roll.

How many sheets were in a stack depended on the Supply and Marketing Cooperative's rules.

Lin Yuzhu knew that the female lead's transmigrated family was rather bizarre—worse off than her own.

She had gone to the countryside in place of her younger brother, and her sister-in-law had always disliked her for being a burden. She had long wanted to drive her out.

Since the female lead could take out toilet paper now, it seemed she had gone to the Black Market to buy and sell goods.

The more skilled one was, the bolder one became. Even the worst modern toilet paper was several times better than what they had in this era, let alone the kind the female lead had used in her previous life.

After coming here, Lin Yuzhu naturally did not dare use the toilet paper in her space casually, not even for herself.

Lin Yuzhu rested her chin on her hand and thought that female Educated Youths could receive one toilet paper coupon a month. It definitely would not be enough for daily life.

She sighed. It truly was an era where eating, drinking, relieving oneself, and sleeping were all difficult. A vague melancholy rose within her.

To improve her quality of life, Lin Yuzhu was actually considering getting involved in the Black Market.

The auntie continued causing trouble. Once she got off the train, all four of them breathed a sigh of relief, though the strange smell inside the train was truly suffocating.

Fortunately, several windows had remained open for ventilation. Otherwise, it was hard to imagine what it would have been like.

When they finally got off the train, exhausted in body and mind, and breathed in fresh air, it felt as though they had been reborn.

They had arrived early in the morning. There was no need to rest at a guesthouse; they had to go directly to the bus station, take a bus to the county seat, and then transfer to the town.

Fortunately, people were simple and helpful at the time. After asking around, they found the bus station, then each used their letter of introduction to buy a ticket.

But once they boarded the bus, things were no longer easy. There was nowhere to put their luggage, and the small vehicle was packed with passengers heading to the county seat. The bus was crammed full. If the journey had been any longer, they might not have managed to endure it. There were no seats, so everyone could only stand.

The gasoline smell inside was overpowering, and the road was uneven.

When they reached the county seat, the three girls nearly vomited bile after getting off.

They had barely eaten on the train. Li Xiangbei looked alright, but the three girls were not doing well. Their faces had already turned waxy yellow.

Li Xiangbei only had two hands. Besides his own luggage, he could only help the female lead carry hers.

When away from home with no friends around, they could only rely on themselves.

Lin Yuzhu was extremely grateful for Lin Mother's foresight. It left her with enough strength to carry her own luggage.

Zhang Yanqiu, on the other hand, had quite a lot of luggage. She carried two large bags in her hands, another on her back, and an everyday cloth bag in front. Walking was rather difficult for her.

When she saw the male lead helping Li Xiangwan carry her luggage, her expression could not help but dim. But no one looked well at the moment, and the male and female leads naturally had no spare attention for her. Even if they noticed, they would probably pretend not to.

Seeing how difficult it was for Zhang Yanqiu to walk, Lin Yuzhu could not help saying, "I'll carry one of your bags."

She was not especially tired yet. This body had good physical strength, and she was young and strong—far better than in her previous life.

Lin Yuzhu was still feeling rather proud of herself then, unaware that once she went to the countryside, this little bit of strength would count for nothing.

Zhang Yanqiu smiled gratefully, and her expression finally improved somewhat.

After another transfer and another bus ride to the town, the group finally arrived at the local Educated Youth Office and breathed a sigh of relief.

The people from Shanshui Village had arrived long ago. A young man with glasses smiled and waved at them. Li Xiangbei quickened his pace toward him, and the two could not help embracing before exchanging a manly greeting.

Lin Yuzhu roughly guessed that this was probably the male lead's childhood friend, Comrade Wang Yang.

Wang Yang was also from a military family. It was just that his father had been affected by the turbulent times, leaving him with no choice but to go to the countryside several years early to help build rural areas.

The male lead had similarly gone to the countryside because circumstances had forced him to. Once they got through this era, however, both of their family backgrounds would naturally become untouchably prestigious.

Sure enough, when the young man introduced himself, he said, "Hello, my name is Wang Yang. Yang as in sunshine."

He truly had a sunny, cheerful temperament, like the boy next door.

The three girls introduced themselves in turn.