Chapter 20: with translation of chapter title

Li Shirou saw Qi Zhiyong's face darken, reached out and tugged at Chen Wei's sleeve, saying, "Weiwei, don't be like that; maybe they didn't do it on purpose."

Thus we need to include Li Shirou, Qi Zhiyong, Chen Wei, Weiwei (nickname). Also maybe Qi Zhiyong appears later.

Chen Wei immediately said, "How could it not be intentional? They clearly meant to do it, watching our quilt get soaked in the rain and doing nothing!"

Li Shirou put on a helpless look, apologetically gazing at Qi Zhiyong, and said, "Weiwei, it's just that the quilt got soaked in the rain, and I'm too upset to act otherwise; please don't take it to heart."

Qi Zhiyong nodded and said, "Feng Jing is straightforward, but she means no harm; don't take her words to heart."

Li Shirou immediately nodded obediently.

Qi Zhiyong's heart softened, his brows furrowed tighter, and a sense of dissatisfaction grew within him, which became evident as soon as he saw Feng Jing and Yao Jia.

He sank his face and said, "Yao Jia, Feng Jing, you are also old educated youths now; you should know the principle of helping each other."

Upon hearing this, Yao Jia stopped what she was doing, frowned, and looked at Qi Zhiyong.

For some reason, although Yao Jia's eyes showed no emotion, when Lin Zhiyong met her gaze, he inexplicably felt guilty.

He and Yao Jia grew up together in the same alley, later went down to the countryside together, and their relationship has always been good, making them an enviable couple among the educated youths.

Logically, Qi Zhiyong should be the one closest to Yao Jia; he knows that although she is somewhat aloof, she would never bully new educated youths.

But today he didn't know what came over him; seeing Li Shirou's bullied yet forbearing appearance sparked a sudden anger, so upon seeing Yao Jia he immediately confronted her.

Yao Jia remained silent, but Feng Jing beside her couldn't hold back, shouting angrily, "Qi Zhiyong, what do you mean? Speak clearly!"

Qi Zhiyong, the male educated youth in charge of the educated youth station, felt his face lose dignity when Feng Jing questioned him like that, and his slight guilt and unease vanished instantly.

He coldly said, "You and Yao Jia are the old educated youths here; you should be helping and caring for the new ones, yet you watched their quilts get soaked in the rain and remained indifferent."

Feng Jing didn't let Qi Zhiyong finish, burst out with profanity, hands on her hips, and said, "I say, why do you come at me like your nose isn't a nose and your face isn't a face? It turns out someone has been spreading rumors."

After saying that fiercely, Feng Jing glared at Li Shirou and Chen Wei.

Li Shirou, seeing the anger about to turn on her, whispered aggrievedly, "I didn't do anything; it's all a misunderstanding."

Feng Jing wouldn't buy it, snapping sharply, "Whether it's a mistake or not, you know it yourself! Stop playing the innocent victim here; your tricks might fool those clueless guys, but I won't fall for them."

Li Shirou's face flushed red with anger, but to keep up appearances she endured it, her nails digging deep into her flesh.

Li Zeyu shouted angrily, "What gives you the right to bully my sister!"

Feng Jing scoffed contemptuously, "Bullying your sister? I think you and your sibling are teaming up to bully people!"

First they tried to force-sell someone's house, and when refused, they rushed to cause trouble.

They even tried to exploit a leaky roof, feigning helplessness to move into someone else's home, but ended up gaining nothing, losing even their own quilt to the rain after being kicked out.

So now, just because you have pent-up anger with nowhere to vent, you want to pin the blame on us?

"And Qi Zhiyong—I never expected you to be so foolish, easily stirred up by a few words from others."

"You have time to confront us, but why don't you ask her where she was and what she was doing when the window was blown open by the wind?"

"Why do we have time to collect the quilts, but they don't?"

Feng Jing pouted, not giving anyone a chance to interject, leaving the person opposite her fuming with a flushed face.

Feng Zhiyong looked at Li Shirou and Chen Wei's faces, still not understanding, knowing he had made a mistake but unable to bring himself to apologize.

He then cleared his throat and said, "No matter what, we'll be living in the same place from now on, so we should still help each other."

But no one paid him any heed, and seeing that, Qi Zhiyong couldn't stay any longer and slipped away.

After Qi Zhiyong left, the room was filled only with girls; Li Zeyu also couldn't stay, returned to his room, and brought his own quilt over.

Li Zeyu comforted Li Shirou, saying, "Tonight I'll first share a quilt with them; you can use mine to make do, and we'll talk again after the rain stops."

Li Shirou had never shared a quilt with anyone since childhood; even though this one was her older brother's, she still felt a bit of disdain.

But there's no other option; if she doesn't share a quilt, she'll freeze, and in this cold weather spending the night like that would surely make her ill, so she suppressed her feelings and nodded at Li Zeyu.

The others saw Li Shirou come in holding a quilt and remained silent, and Feng Jing even gave her a harsh stare.

In her previous life, Li Shirou never lived with the female educated youths, and being good at disguising herself, she naturally avoided any conflict.

In this life, things have changed; although the other people at the educated youth station haven't said anything, after what just happened they secretly hold a grudge against Li Shirou and Chen Wei.

Li Shirou knows this, but she realizes that no matter how she explains now, no one will believe her, and she instantly feels a surge of annoyance.

Li Shirou laid the quilt on the bed with a stern face; since the bed was too small to fit eight people, they could only wrap themselves in the quilt and sit on the bed, making do for the night.

Chen Wei approached Li Shirou and said, "Shirou, my quilt got wet; can we share a quilt tonight?"

Li Shirou was naturally unwilling, but now the other people at the educated youth station already held a grudge against her, and the only person she could rely on was Chen Wei; unwilling to lose her, she forced herself to endure it.

Li Shirou concealed her disdain, smiled, and said, "All right."

Chen Wei immediately cheered, "Shirou, I knew you were the best!"

Then she promptly got into bed with the quilt ready and said, "Shirou, come over! It's warm inside the quilt."

Unlike Li Shirou's reluctance, Chen Wei was genuinely delighted; just thinking that this was the quilt Li Zeyu had prepared made her heart race.

Li Shirou had no choice but to get into bed unwillingly and unhappily.

The rain poured for several days, the female educated youths all crammed into a tiny room, watching the relentless downpour outside, their hearts filled with gloom.

Su Ruoze lay in a warm blanket, and aside from eating and sleeping, she devoted herself to studying medicine every day.

Because she knew that greater disasters awaited after the rain stopped, she was extremely eager to master medicine so she could save more people in future calamities.

Whether for the system's reward points or her own conscience, Su Ruo could not bring herself to act, watching those people die helplessly.

In addition to her nonstop medical studies, Su Ruo received another lottery chance, and after a system reminder she realized a week had passed.

This time the draw gave Su Ruo an auxiliary silver needle; upon seeing the prize, she couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

Su Ruo strongly suspected that the system awarded her the prize because it knew she was studying acupuncture.

But Su Ruo was still quite satisfied with the reward; at least she didn't have to spend effort looking for one, since silver needles are hard to come by in this era.

After obtaining the Silver Needle, Su Ruo began to study medicine more diligently, to the point of forgetting sleep and food.