Chapter 24: People in the Cowshed

An Yinan then continued, "The people in the Cowshed have problematic backgrounds, but that doesn't mean they are problematic as people. Some are ambitious individuals who studied abroad wanting to serve their country, some are Traditional Chinese Medicine families who healed the world, some are loyal and good people framed by villains, and some are lovers who wanted to share weal and woe with their families."

"Beibei, we must trust our own eyes, trust the judgment in our hearts, instead of repeating what others say or following the crowd."

"The people in the Cowshed are not all bad people, but they are not all good people either."

"Good and bad are actually not very easy to distinguish; you will understand this when you grow up."

An Yinan ruffled his slightly long hair, "Since you've made your choice, then get along well with them."

An Xiangbei's eyes sparkled upon hearing his sister's words.

"Sister, I'm so happy." An Xiangbei jumped on the ground before standing up straight; as someone with a reserved temperament, he rarely had such an uninhibited moment.

His sister did not refuse, and she did not look down on his friend or make him cut ties just because his friend was a child from the Cowshed.

Sister told him to believe in himself.

He felt acknowledged in his heart, moved by this validation; his only relative had acknowledged him.

"Sister is very happy too." An Yinan smiled gently, though she left a few words unsaid, "How fortunate I am to have such a relative."

The conversation between the siblings ended there, yet their hearts felt even closer.

An Yinan returned to her room, locked the door, and entered the space.

She had already finished the junior high textbooks she found at the Waste Recycling Station, leaving only two high school textbooks.

She read the high school textbooks for an hour, and only after feeling she understood them did she take out the English magazine. After deliberating over every word and sentence, she wrote them down on paper one by one. With no one around, she didn't suppress her translation speed; she only had to glance at the English material, and a sentence would leap onto the paper.

It took less than an hour to translate one book, and after a rough calculation, the translation fee for this book was about thirty yuan.

She put down her fountain pen, organized the translated manuscript, and rubbed her neck; keeping her head down for a long time made her neck ache.

Afterward, she took a hot shower. Now that the weather outside was turning cold, it was inconvenient to fetch water for a bath; outside, she could only wash once a week, but in the space, she could wash every day.

Moreover, the space followed some unknown rules; the time ratio was the same as outside, but the water for bathing appeared from nowhere, and the wastewater disappeared to nowhere. Water and electricity were fully supplied, and the trash can was automatically cleared at midnight.

An Yinan gave up on thinking about the rules she couldn't figure out.

In the evening, she simply heated up meat buns. She sent two buns directly to Xie Yuanyuan, and Xie Yuanyuan handed over the six she hadn't finished. For the next month, she could mooch meals without worry, and there was no point in keeping the buns herself, right!

An Yinan couldn't be bothered to deal with this little lazybones and ate with Beibei instead. After the meal, Beibei went back to his room to read, and she returned to the space to continue translating the magazine. The other magazine was slightly thicker, and it took a full two hours of translation to finish all the content.

After putting away the translated manuscripts for both magazines, she exited the space, took off her clothes, covered herself with the quilt, and began to sleep.

Ever since she transmigrated, An Yinan had never slept in the space. The space had her Simmons mattress, soft quilts, and a comfortable temperature.

But it was precisely because it was too comfortable that it made her panic; if one day the space were gone, would she have the ability to support herself and Beibei?

Ever since she took on the translation work, she felt more at ease.

Her great strength could be exchanged for enough coarse grains, and her translation wages were enough for the two of them to live a very good life.

The space was the icing on the cake, but it was not indispensable.

Early the next morning, an unexpected person came to the Educated Youth Station: Aunt Li.

People in the village would never come to the Educated Youth Station unless necessary, and this was Aunt Li's first time. After asking the Captain that the female Educated Youth lived in the Erjin Yuan, she walked straight into the Second Courtyard without ceremony, but then how was she to find her?

"Educated Youth An, which room are you in?" It must be said, Team One's Aunt Li had a loud voice; separated by a door, it was as if there were no obstruction at all.

An Yinan quickly opened the door, "Right here."

The whistle for work had already blown, and the other people going to work had already gone to the fields.

The people currently at the Educated Youth Station were either resting or busy, and upon hearing it was someone looking for An Yinan, they went back to doing whatever they were doing.

"I haven't been to the Educated Youth Station before, so I didn't know which room you were in." Aunt Li laughed and walked toward An Yinan.

"Your vats have been delivered. I brought them over so they can be set up for you directly." That time they talked about pickling sauerkraut, An Yinan had ordered large and small vats, and they were delivered together this time.

"That's great. I was just thinking that with this weather, it's almost time to pickle sauerkraut. The large vats hadn't arrived yet, but they're here today." An Yinan smiled, nimbly throwing a few pieces of wood into the stove to boil half a pot of water.

"I think, put them here." Aunt Li looked at the room's layout and pointed to a spot.

An Yinan looked; that was indeed the most spacious area. Other places had shelves, and on the shelves were ceramic jars for rice and flour, as well as some white cloth bags, all containing mountain goods.

"It has to be Aunt Li; you thought of the same thing as me." An Yinan laughed.

Outside, two men carried in the two large vats, then moved in three small vats and set them in place.

An Yinan only needed to scrub the vats clean to use them directly.

An Yinan took three bowls, put brown sugar in them, and then ladled the boiled water into the bowls.

"It's so early in the morning and I've made you all work hard. It's been tough; drink a bowl of water to warm up."

Fearing they wouldn't take it, she handed them over bowl by bowl, finally handing the last one to Aunt Li. Aunt Li was all smiles; doing things for Nan Nan was prestigious. Which family would let you drink a bowl of brown sugar water when delivering vats? Looking at how dark red the water was, she definitely hadn't skimped on the brown sugar.

"Auntie, here is three yuan for you." An Yinan said secretly to Aunt Li, handing her the money.

She had agreed on three yuan with Aunt Li at the time; as for how Aunt Li told the delivery men, that was none of her business.

The three of them drank the brown sugar water and left with smiles on their faces. Before leaving, Aunt Li said the Chinese cabbage had been cut yesterday and had been drying in the yard for a day; if she wanted to pickle sauerkraut, she could put them in the vats this afternoon.

Moreover, Aunt Li specifically emphasized that she didn't need to go over to get them; she would have her eldest son bring them over with a pushcart when the time came.

An Yinan took advantage of her free time to wash all the vats clean. She went to the water well outside three times to fill the water vat for cooking and drinking, and then went to the space to fill the vats for washing and cleaning vegetables.

The current water was unpolluted and tasted sweet, but fetching water was very tiring. The well was in the Yijin Yuan, and one had to lower a wooden bucket, pull it up bucket by bucket, and pour it into one's own water bucket.