Chapter 15: Shocking the Whole Village

"I'm dead." Xie Yuanyuan sat directly on the ground, not wanting to crawl up at all.

It was Xiangbei who brought out a bowl of warm water from the house and handed it to Xie Yuanyuan; Xie Yuanyuan gave a grateful smile.

She was dying of thirst, but she couldn't crawl up.

"Our little Xiangbei is still the best." Xie Yuanyuan was satisfied.

An Yinan pursed her lips and corrected her, "My family's."

"Don't be so stingy; your brother is my brother." Xie Yuanyuan stood up and also learned to shell chestnuts.

After shelling almost all the chestnuts they had brought back on the first day, An Yinan swept the courtyard clean, then turned over the chestnuts in the back.

"Stop joking around; take these to Zhang Qian, and keep these for yourself." An Yinan handed her two cloth bags.

She had divided the chestnuts into three equal portions, one for each person.

She couldn't take out the ones from her space, but the quantity was definitely not small.

Xie Yuanyuan looked at the two large cloth bags; she was the one who had contributed the least effort.

"I don't need the ones in the back; these are enough for me to eat, and I can even mail some back for the old man in my family to taste." Xie Yuanyuan didn't pour them out, but this one cloth bag was truly enough.

An Yinan nodded; when she made something delicious later, it would be fine to share some with them.

Xie Yuanyuan carried one bag and went to deliver it to Zhang Qian first; Zhang Qian was washing his face at the doorway, as he had just returned.

Men and women were divided into different small teams, responsible for different areas, and they got off work a bit late.

"These chestnuts were shelled by Nan Nan; she asked me to help you bring them over." Xie Yuanyuan placed the cloth bag by the door and said to Zhang Qian.

Zhang Qian looked at the cloth bag, "I'll shell more when I come back in the afternoon; you all should rest more at noon."

Shelling this stuff was also hard labor; although they could be stepped open, An Yinan's strength was hard to control, and Xiangbei's strength was too small, so the siblings just shelled them by hand.

"That's fine, I'll tell Nan Nan; by the way, how many Work Points did you get this morning?" Xie Yuanyuan asked in a low voice.

Zhang Qian took the chestnuts into the house and then replied casually, "Eighteen Work Points."

Likewise, he had also collected some.

"Two freaks..." Xie Yuanyuan felt deeply struck.

On An Yinan's side, she had already placed the rice on the table, then scooped the vegetables into a large ceramic bowl, subsequently washed the pot clean, put in some clear water, grabbed a handful of mung beans and put them in, added some firewood to the stove, and left it alone.

"Take the steamed dumplings to your sister Yuanyuan." An Yinan put four steamed dumplings in a bowl, enough for Xie Yuanyuan to eat; she reckoned she didn't have much energy to cook now anyway.

The siblings ate their meal, then lay on the kang to sleep for half an hour, and then heard the sound of the work whistle; An Yinan tidied up her things, poured the mung bean soup from the pot into a military canteen, and filled a small canteen for Xiangbei.

"Drink this when you and Huzi are cutting pig grass, don't get heatstroke."

"I know, sister." An Xiangbei carried the small canteen and went to work.

An Yinan carried the military canteen and also walked toward the edge of the fields.

"Educated Youth An is off to work." Auntie Li saw her from far away and called out.

An Yinan smiled and nodded, waited for everyone for a while, and then asked in Auntie Li's ear, "Auntie Li, is there any problem with me working like this? Will everyone have objections?"

There was only so much work; if one person did more, there would be less for others.

She was afraid that doing too much would make everyone have objections.

Auntie Li laughed, "Educated Youth An, our Quanshui Village has always believed that the capable should do more; even if you earn one hundred Work Points a day, no one will say anything, especially during the rush harvest. The snow in our great Northeast comes whenever it wants; the rush harvest is competing with the heavens for the harvest. If you do more, it's a good thing; we can store more grain and won't go hungry in the winter."

"However, after the rush harvest, there won't be mandatory work; you can rest more then." Auntie Li looked at An Yinan, her meaning subtly expressed.

An Yinan also understood; during the rush harvest and rush planting, one could work as much as one wanted, and no matter how many Work Points it was, everyone wouldn't have objections.

If a heavy snow fell, the grain in the fields would be ruined.

Whoever could work would get more Work Points.

But after the rush harvest, there would still be some small chores, like picking up grain or threshing; these could be done or not. These chores weren't that urgent; if she did them all, what would others eat?

"Thank you, Auntie Li." An Yinan smiled; with Auntie Li's reminder, she could let go and work.

Once she let go, it was no small matter; Team One originally had to borrow men from the men's team to carry grain, but this time, all the grain for Team One was taken on by An Yinan...

She shelled fewer corn cobs, but the job of carrying large burlap sacks earned her thirty-five Work Points in one afternoon, plus the five Work Points from shelling corn.

In one afternoon, she hit a new high, earning forty Work Points.

This news, once released, stunned the entire Quanshui Village.

Some of the news about An Yinan bringing a "drag" (burden) all vanished.

Instead, people started asking about An Yinan's age and so on.

Such a good hand at work—if one were to marry her into their own home, how many Work Points would she earn? Even if they had to raise a "drag," it wouldn't be an issue.

Sixty Work Points a day; on the first day of the rush harvest, she firmly took first place.

She had more than twenty Work Points more than the second place.

The great name of Educated Youth An resounded throughout Quanshui Village.

By comparison, Zhang Qian was much less conspicuous.

He earned eighteen Work Points in the morning and eighteen in the afternoon, which was quite a bit more than the average person, but the strong young men in the village could also get that if they gritted their teeth.

"Educated Youth An, many aunties in Team One came to ask me about you today." Auntie Li laughed happily; she didn't say anything else, but the meaning was clearly conveyed.

An Yinan wiped the sweat from her forehead; this Northeast weather was hot enough to wear a single shirt at noon, but one wished to wrap up in a cotton-padded jacket morning and night.

"It's fine, they probably won't ask anymore in the future." An Yinan smiled and poured a bowl of mung bean soup for Auntie Li.

The women who went to the fields would boil some water, and some wouldn't even boil it, just bringing some cold water to the fields.

Auntie Li smiled and took the bowl, drank the mung bean soup, and then put the bowl into her cloth bag.

Mung beans were also precious things; now that the harvest was here, every family didn't have much grain left in storage.

An Yinan carried the canteen in her left hand and a cloth bag in her right, which contained a towel and a bowl, and also walked toward the Educated Youth Point.

When she reached the fork in the road, she happened to see Xie Yuanyuan, who looked listless, as if she had just experienced some catastrophe.

Seeing this, An Yinan couldn't help but be amused, and Xie Yuanyuan happened to look up.

"You're still laughing at me, how do you look like nothing is wrong at all?" Xie Yuanyuan was almost crying; she knew going to the countryside was tiring, but she hadn't expected it to be this tiring.

An Yinan shifted her cloth bag to her left hand and supported Xie Yuanyuan with her right, letting her lean on her for some strength, "What were you after by coming to the countryside?"

She and Xiangbei had no choice; only by coming to the countryside could they turn over a new leaf and make use of the things in the space.

But one look at Xie Yuanyuan and it was clear she was the apple of her family's eye; her family would never have let her come to the countryside.

"Sigh." Xie Yuanyuan let out a sigh, her face full of worry.

Seeing this, An Yinan didn't ask any further and switched to another topic.