Chapter 16: Sun Xiaoqin Looks for Trouble

"Don't cook tonight, Zhang Qian; you and I will cook, and you two can process the chestnuts."

Xie Yuanyuan nodded hurriedly, "I'll provide the grain."

Looking at this, there was no sign of being unable to walk.

The two of them walked to the Educated Youth Point laughing and talking, and An Yinan scooped a basin of water to wash up first.

She lit a fire in the pot, then took a few fruit candies and went to Auntie Li's house in the village.

"Educated Youth An is here. Let's see what to eat tonight; the vegetables in this garden need to be eaten quickly, or they'll be ruined once the frost hits." Auntie Li smiled happily.

"Alright, I'll see what to pick; I certainly won't stand on ceremony with you, Auntie." An Yinan also smiled.

There was still one small cucumber left, which could serve as a snack for the child, so she showed mercy and left it.

She picked some green beans, a small winter melon, some eggplants, and took two potatoes.

"Auntie, if you have extra Chinese cabbage this winter, please save some for me. I want to pickle some sauerkraut." An Yinan looked at the large Chinese cabbages Auntie Li had planted and felt quite envious.

Each one was incredibly sturdy, lush, and green; just looking at them made one want to eat them!

Auntie Li smiled and poured some water, "Done, I'll save them all for you. Do you have enough jars for pickling sauerkraut?"

An Yinan patted her forehead; she had been busy for a few days and only thought about the sauerkraut, completely forgetting about the sauerkraut jars.

"I really don't have enough. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten. I need two sauerkraut jars and three or four smaller crocks of this size."

An Yinan gestured to show the size; she didn't have money on her now, otherwise, she could have paid directly.

"I'll have someone send them to you when the time comes, and I'll have the cabbage hauled over too, so you don't have to worry about it," Auntie Li replied.

"Done, then I'll wait for it."

After chatting with Auntie Li for a bit more, she hugged the vegetables and returned to the Educated Youth Point.

She had originally wanted to run into An Xiangbei and go back together, but she didn't know where the two children had gone; they hadn't returned yet.

In the Erjin Yuan, Zhang Qian and Xie Yuanyuan were already stepping on chestnuts. An Yinan greeted them and began to wash the vegetables and cook.

A dish of vinegar-glazed cabbage, a dish of stewed potatoes and green beans, and another of minced meat with eggplant.

She steamed a pot of two-grain rice.

"Mmm, fragrant." Xie Yuanyuan smacked her lips.

It smelled fragrant just from the scent.

Zhang Qian also nodded; he could only barely manage to cook rice until it was done, and as for the taste, he could only say it was hard to describe.

Just then, An Xiangbei walked in from the First Courtyard, and Xie Yuanyuan waved her hand.

"Xiangbei."

"Sister Xie, Brother Zhang," An Xiangbei greeted with a smile.

He placed his special small basket under the window, then went into the room to greet his sister.

"Sister, I earned two Work Points this afternoon." His small face was filled with smiles and satisfaction.

An Yinan placed the freshly stir-fried dishes on the table and gave a thumbs up, "Beibei is truly amazing."

An Xiangbei fetched a basin of water, washed his small hands and face clean, and then helped An Yinan tend the fire.

"Oh my, this fragrance—truly the work of someone used to eating alone."

Xie Yuanyuan had originally been leaning against the wall stepping on chestnuts, but she stood up immediately upon hearing the voice.

"Did we eat your rice?"

Sun Xiaoqin took a step back, then looked at the people behind her and took another step forward.

"Everyone is rushing to harvest, yet you lot eat alone and still have the nerve to talk? Let everyone judge this—is there anyone who acts like you?"

The old Educated Youths had originally returned together; hearing the words at the entrance of the Erjin Yuan, they walked over. Educated Youth Zhang frowned upon hearing Sun Xiaoqin's words.

As more and more people gathered, Sun Xiaoqin felt even more emboldened.

"Returning early and not working—couldn't you have finished the chores? You have no sense of collectivism at all! I'm talking about you!"

Sun Xiaoqin put her hands on her hips and thrust her chest forward.

Wang Chunmei, who was beside her, pulled at Sun Xiaoqin.

"They are working too, why are you getting angry?"

Once the words were out, given Sun Xiaoqin's train of thought, she couldn't be bothered anymore, "Working? They are eating alone."

Li Xiue and Zhao Qiu Hua exchanged a glance, "Who is cooking today? Are we still eating or not?"

The female Educated Youths took turns cooking, and the male Educated Youths took turns fetching water; every day, one man and one woman returned early to do chores.

Hearing Li Xiue's words, Sun Xiaoqin shrank back a little, but then took another step forward, "Why should we take turns while they eat alone? We are all Educated Youths; we should eat together and work together."

That way, she would get to eat so much more meat; she had smelled the meat scent plenty of times over the past two days.

Xie Yuanyuan was not going to indulge her; she tidied up the chestnuts she had stepped on and then walked in front of Sun Xiaoqin.

Seeing Xie Yuanyuan's actions, Zhang Qian hurried to follow, fearing that Xie Yuanyuan might come out on the losing end.

After all, the tall and sturdy Sun Xiaoqin could easily overwhelm Xie Yuanyuan...

"Sun Xiaoqin, you don't know when to quit, do you?"

"Since everyone is here, let's talk it out. Did you pay for the money we used to build the kang? Is the grain we eat yours? Or did you gather the firewood and fetch the water we burn and use?"

"How can you have such thick skin to accuse others of eating alone?"

"Isn't the one eating alone actually you? Since it's a collective mess hall, why did you steal cucumbers and persimmons from the vegetable garden in the middle of the night?"

"Oh, right, it seems that the day you cooked, you didn't bring your own grain bag. So where did that portion of rice come from?"

An Yinan, who had originally intended to come out, stopped caring about the commotion outside after hearing this; with Zhang Qian there, Xie Yuanyuan would certainly not suffer.

It wasn't that the relationship between Zhang Qian and Xie Yuanyuan was particularly good, but mainly that their small trio was relatively stable.

Hearing Xie Yuanyuan's words, everyone turned suspicious gazes toward Sun Xiaoqin.

Everyone's grain bags were running low, and they had been depleting especially fast these past few days. They hadn't thought much of it before, but hearing Xie Yuanyuan's words, everyone automatically found a reason.

"You, you're talking nonsense, framing people; I used my own rice." Sun Xiaoqin stuttered a little; when she put the rice in, there was clearly no one around.

Seeing her guilty look, how could everyone not understand?

Zhao Qiu Hua gave a cold snort, "It's unclear about the rice, but the cucumbers and tomatoes were indeed stolen by quite a lot; I didn't expect it to be a case of a thief guarding the loot."

"I didn't take them, don't listen to her nonsense, it was the three of them who stole them, they are framing me."

That look of hers, with little tears about to fall, really made the male Educated Youth Zhao Jiang soften his heart.

"Alright, bringing up things that aren't certain, isn't this disrupting the unity of the Educated Youth Courtyard?" Zhao Jiang said pointedly.

"Heh, disrupting unity?" Zhang Qian had been standing to the side, paying no mind to the female Educated Youths' quarrel, and besides, Xie Yuanyuan hadn't suffered any losses.

But, Zhao Jiang's words were going too far.

"Isn't it the person who is jealous of others and wants to take advantage who is disrupting unity?"

"Isn't it the person who says others are cooking private meals who is disrupting unity?"

"Or, isn't it the person who comes over to stir up trouble who is disrupting unity?"

"If speaking the truth is disrupting unity, then I really don't know how to face those four words."

Zhang Qian either didn't speak, but the words he said made the Educated Youth Courtyard fall silent for a long time, with no one reacting.

"You..." Zhao Jiang was just about to step forward.

Zhang Zhihe glared at him, "Whoever is supposed to cook, go cook; it'll be dark soon. Did you give them anything? How can you have the nerve to sponge off their meal?"

After saying this, he went straight back to the First Courtyard.

"Break it up, break it up." Li Xiue patted the dirt off her body.

The farce ended on a sour note.