Chapter 38 This Is a Profitable Deal!

Just as Xu Lin set down her luggage and glanced around, her pupils suddenly contracted—a flash of surprise flickered in her eyes. Qin Fang? What is she doing here?

While Xu Lin was still caught off guard, Qin Fang’s gaze also landed on her. Compared to Xu Lin’s shock, Qin Fang’s face was cold and grim.

Seeing the hatred flicker in Qin Fang’s eyes, Xu Lin smiled. What right did this fraud have to hate her? After stealing her life and enjoying years of comfort, she still had the nerve to glare at her with such loathing. Xu Lin truly felt she had never met anyone as shameless.

But in her previous life, Qin Fang had never been sent down to the countryside. Why was she here in this life? Could it be a ripple effect from her own rebirth? If so, that was wonderful. Xu Lin silently prayed that Qin Fang would be assigned to the same production brigade as her—it would make it so much easier to deal with her.

“Brother Liang, I’m scared,” Qin Fang suddenly retracted her frosty expression and shrank into Su Liang’s embrace, putting on a pitiful, frightened look.

Her delicate, helpless demeanor broke Su Liang’s heart. He quickly shielded Qin Fang, and following the direction of her gaze, he spotted Xu Lin.

With a single glance, Su Liang recognized the thin, dark-skinned girl standing opposite them. He wasn’t surprised to see Xu Lin here—after all, she had signed up to go to the countryside even earlier than they had. But his impression of her was poor; he blamed her for disrupting Qin Fang’s peaceful life.

Looking down at the petite, lovable girl in his arms, and then at Xu Lin, Su Liang felt as if Xu Lin were the wicked witch straight out of a fairytale—ugly and malicious to the core.

Unable to restrain himself, Su Liang shot Xu Lin a vicious glare before lowering his voice to comfort Qin Fang.

Xu Lin, on the receiving end of that glare, felt a surge of anger. What was this? She hadn’t even done anything yet, and here the shameless pair were already provoking her. Well then.

Xu Lin had never been one to take things lying down—she believed in repaying a slight right away, or tenfold if not immediately. Right now, she wanted payback on the spot. So, as Qin Fang walked by, sniveling and sniffling, Xu Lin stealthily opened a spatial black hole beneath her foot.

A small hand reached out from the black hole and yanked hard at Qin Fang’s toes, pulling her backward. Qin Fang lost her balance and pitched forward. As she tumbled, she let out a shrill scream, arms flailing wildly until she managed to grab Su Liang’s arm.

Normally, Su Liang’s strength would have been enough to pull her upright. But for some reason, his own foot caught on something and he lost his balance too, and the pair crashed to the ground in an undignified heap.

Xu Lin was a kind person, after all. Considering that there would be work to do after arriving in the countryside, she didn’t go so far as to break their arms or legs.

After all, a broken limb in the countryside was an excuse to avoid labor—exactly what Xu Lin didn’t want to happen. But taking a hard fall in broad daylight was humiliating enough, not to mention painful. Qin Fang burst into tears on the spot—this time, genuinely sobbing, not just letting a few tears hang in her eyes.

Su Liang’s heart shattered at her cries. He longed to scoop her up and comfort her, but his luggage was so heavy he couldn’t even sit up. Struggling to get to his feet, he inadvertently put all his weight on Qin Fang, nearly suffocating her.

The sight of their miserable state thoroughly delighted Xu Lin—she felt she could stand to be glared at a few more times; after all, every glare seemed to earn another tumble. What a bargain!

With the help of the other educated youths, Su Liang and Qin Fang finally managed to stagger to their feet. Too mortified to glare at Xu Lin any further, they busied themselves with their luggage.

As more educated youths arrived, Lu Changqing, the person in charge of the Xiangyang Commune’s Youth Office, pulled out a list and began calling names, checking each person off as he went.

When he reached Xu Lin, Lu Changqing couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of his mouth. This girl had arrived early, and her name was pleasant enough, but she was so small and frail. Every time a team was assigned a girl like her, the team leaders would come to complain. But she was here now, and he had no choice but to assign her somewhere. He decided to send her to Wangzhuang Brigade, since it was one of the wealthier teams.

Unaware that Lu Changqing had already written her off as a freeloader, Xu Lin wouldn’t have cared even if she had known. She hadn’t come here to toil—she lacked for neither money nor food—so she’d leave the work points for others to earn.

Once all the names had been called, Xu Lin learned that Qin Fang and Su Liang were also assigned to the Xiangyang Commune. She wondered if they’d end up in the same brigade—if so, life was sure to get lively.

A radiant smile tugged at Xu Lin’s lips. Not understanding what Xu Lin had to smile about, Qin Fang rolled her eyes, thinking she must be an idiot—after all, she had money in hand, yet still chose to come to the countryside.

The thought of the five thousand yuan Xu Lin had wrung out of the Xu family made Qin Fang seethe with resentment. If only she knew that Xu Lin had extracted another five thousand from the Qin family as well! That would have been enough to drive her mad.

Five thousand yuan—though the Qin family doted on her, even Qin Fang never had that much at her disposal. Over the years, with careful saving, she had managed to squirrel away just over two hundred yuan. Compared to five thousand, two hundred was barely a drop in the bucket.

Qin Fang lowered her gaze, a calculating glint flickering in her eyes. That five thousand—she was determined to get her hands on it.

Lu Changqing finished calling names. This time, thirty-three educated youths had been assigned to the Xiangyang Commune. He tucked away his list and sighed. With more and more youths being sent down, the pressure on the commune was mounting, and there would be plenty of wrangling when it came time for further assignments.

With a sense of resignation, Lu Changqing led the thirty-three educated youths to the three tractors the commune had provided. Amidst the rattling and jolting, and clouds of dust, they rumbled toward Xiangyang Commune.

When the tractors finally ground to a halt, Xu Lin checked her watch—it had taken an hour from the train station to reach the commune by tractor. The distance was considerable. She realized that future trips to the county town would be troublesome; she’d better stick a speed talisman on her bicycle for such excursions. Yes, that would do—it didn’t seem so far after all.

Xu Lin stood among the group of educated youths, her gaze falling on a row of ox carts not far away. There were seven in all, an impressive sight.

In front of each cart stood several men, tall and short alike. Their features differed, but they all shared one trait—a deep, sun-darkened complexion. The older they were, the darker their skin, a testament to years spent beneath the relentless sun.

Lu Changqing called the brigade leaders over, and after a murmured discussion—punctuated now and then by muttered complaints—he completed the assignments and announced with a smile, “In a moment, each brigade leader will call out names. When you hear yours, go stand behind your brigade leader and follow him. Understood?”

A scattered chorus of “yes” answered him, weak and dispirited, making Lu Changqing shake his head in private. They were already out of energy, and there would be plenty more exhausting days to come.

Soon, the roll call began.

“Peng Xiaoming, Peng Xiaoming, over here.”

“Wei Yongliang, Wei Yongliang, right here—come on over.”

“Zhang Jinhua, Zhang Jinhua.”

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