People who eat melon are in 70 - Chapter 45

The plot could wait, but at the moment, Xu Accountant’s wife had to be stopped. After her first strike missed, another one came down immediately.

Jiang Yutao quickly grabbed the stick in Xu’s wife’s hand. “Auntie, let’s talk this through. There’s no need to hit anyone, right?”

Xu’s wife, also surnamed Xu, had been Xu Accountant’s child bride. After entering the Xu family, she took their surname.

At 62 years old, she hadn’t gone to the fields to earn work points for more than five or six years. She was content staying home as a revered elder. Rarely leaving the house, she didn’t recognize Jiang Yutao but could guess that she was an educated youth.

Squinting with her presbyopic eyes, Xu’s wife scrutinized Jiang Yutao from head to toe. “Young lady, let me give you some advice. Mind your own business. It’s better to keep to yourself.”

In the Xu family, Xu’s wife was a woman of absolute authority. In her entire life, apart from obeying Xu Accountant’s parents and Xu Accountant himself, she had never listened to anyone else.

Did Jiang Yutao think that telling her not to hit Xu Manqiu would make her stop? Who did she think she was?

Jiang Yutao, however, refused to let go of the stick in Xu’s wife’s hand. Her smile remained unchanged. “You’re absolutely right, Auntie. But since I saw it, I can’t just ignore it. It’s freezing cold today, and the river water is icy. Surely you know how cold it is. Asking such a young girl to wash clothes in this weather is a bit much, don’t you think? No one else in Liushu Village is doing laundry in the river at this time of year.”

Jiang Yutao was well aware that meddling in this way might not win her any gratitude from Xu Manqiu, and the villagers wouldn’t necessarily side with her either.

Sometimes, when people choose to do something, they don’t need a lot of reasons. Today, Jiang Yutao helped Xu Manqiu simply because she wanted to.

It reminded her of something an older sister figure, who often took care of her in her childhood, had once told her. That sister had warned, “Girls must take care of themselves. When you hit puberty, avoid touching cold water in the winter. Otherwise, when your period comes, the pain will be unbearable.”

Jiang Yutao had remembered those words. Ever since she started menstruating, she avoided cold water as much as possible in the winter. If something could be washed with warm water, she would insist on it. If warm water wasn’t available, she’d find a way to get it.

Xu’s wife stared at Jiang Yutao for a long moment before finally letting go of the stick. She shot a dark look at Xu Manqiu before turning and walking away.

Xu Manqiu trembled under her gaze, and it wasn’t until the sound of her footsteps faded that she finally looked up and said, “Thank you, Comrade Jiang.”

Jiang Yutao noticed then how beautiful Xu Manqiu really was. Her face was small and delicate, her eyes large and dark, but the timidity in her expression dragged her beauty down from a solid ten to barely a five.

Jiang Yutao had seen Xu Baozhu before. Though they were twins, they didn’t look much alike.

“You know who I am?” Ever since the day they had stripped corn stalks, Jiang Yutao had seen Xu Manqiu almost every day, but never once had she heard her initiate a conversation with anyone.

She was extremely timid.

Xu Manqiu pressed her lips together, almost as if smiling. “I know who you are. The wind is strong today; you should go back.”

Jiang Yutao glanced at the bucket of clothes beside her. “Are you still planning to wash those?”

Xu Manqiu struggled to lift the water-filled bucket to the side. “I have to wash them. If I don’t, I won’t get to eat today, and I’ll get beaten too.”

This was an answer Jiang Yutao had never expected. At her orphanage, children were never mistreated. No matter how poorly a child worked, they always had food to eat.

She had experienced hunger before, but only rarely.

Jiang Yutao was silent for a moment before saying, “The river water is freezing. Come with me to the educated youth dormitory. I’ll heat some water for you to wash with.”

Xu Manqiu still shook her head. “No need, Educated youth Jiang. I’m used to it. It’s nothing. You should head back.”

This was the second time Xu Manqiu had urged Jiang Yutao to leave. Her stubbornness and determination were evident in her tone. Jiang Yutao eventually left but, before walking away, she said, “If anything happens, come to the educated youth dormitory and find me.”

“Alright.”

Jiang Yutao left but kept looking back as she walked. Xu Manqiu, once Jiang Yutao was gone, bent down and resumed washing clothes as usual.

The river water was freezing, and within moments, her hands turned red and purple. But Xu Manqiu didn’t mind at all. At fifteen years old, she had been washing clothes in this river since she learned how to at the age of ten.

Over the years, she had grown used to it. This level of cold water wasn’t the worst.

When winter came, and the river’s surface froze over with a thick layer of ice, she would have to use a stone to break a hole in the ice to scoop water for washing. That was when the water was truly freezing.

Even so, she was grateful to Jiang Yutao. Ever since the villagers had labeled her a “jinx,” no one had been willing to get close to her. Jiang Yutao was the first person to help her.

Being helped felt wonderful, filling her heart with a sense of strength.

—

When Jiang Yutao returned to the dormitory, she was still in low spirits. Gu Nianwei was preparing breakfast—today’s meal was coarse grain steamed buns and corn porridge.

Seeing Jiang Yutao in this state, Gu Nianwei curiously asked, “What did you get up to so early in the morning? Why do you look so down?”

They shared a room, so Gu Nianwei had noticed when Jiang Yutao left. She had timed the breakfast preparation for when she expected Jiang Yutao to return.

Jiang Yutao pulled up a stool and sat by the stove. “I woke up quite early today, so I took a stroll up the mountain. On my way back, I passed by Accountant Xu’s house and saw their girl, Manqiu, carrying a big bucket of clothes to the river. She accidentally spilled some of the clothes, and then Xu’s wife picked up a big stick to beat her.”

Jiang Yutao gestured with her hands. “The stick was as thick as your wrist! Can you imagine how painful that would be if it hit someone?”

Gu Nianwei glanced at her own wrist and nodded. “It really would be. That old woman is truly awful. That second granddaughter of theirs is always getting beaten. Honestly, you shouldn’t get involved. If you don’t step in, maybe she’ll just take a few hits and that’ll be it. But if you help her and Xu’s wife loses face, Manqiu’s life might get even harder afterward.”

When Gu Nianwei first arrived in the countryside, she’d seen Xu’s wife beating Xu Manqiu several times. The old woman used all sorts of tools, striking viciously and mercilessly. One time, Gu Nianwei couldn’t stand it and wanted to intervene, but her teammates stopped her.

What they told her made Gu Nianwei hesitant to interfere.

Fortunately, Liushu Village was large enough that Xu’s family worked in a different area from her group. Out of sight, out of mind.

Jiang Yutao froze. “What should I do? I already stepped in.”

Gu Nianwei wasn’t surprised. She knew Jiang Yutao’s temperament well. As soon as Jiang Yutao mentioned the incident, Gu Nianwei had guessed the outcome.

“Let’s take a walk over there later. If we see Xu Manqiu, we’ll give her a jar of chilblain ointment,” Gu Nianwei said. The ointment was from Gu Nianwei’s storage, a star product from a major brand. She had repackaged a lot of it into small shell containers. When the weather started cooling down a few days ago, she gave a container to everyone at the educated youth dormitory—except Zhou Zhenfeng.

After distributing the ointment, she still had quite a bit left.

“That works,” Jiang Yutao said. “I also have some ointment for sprains and bruises. I’ll give her some of that too, and bring her a couple of steamed buns. She said if she doesn’t wash the clothes, she won’t even have food to eat.”

The ointment Jiang Yutao was talking about was something she had seen in the system’s marketplace. It cost twenty melon coins, but she hadn’t bought it before because she hadn’t had a use for it. Now, with over a thousand melon coins in her balance, she was practically a big spender.

Spending twenty coins didn’t bother her anymore.

“Alright.”

And that settled it.

After eating, Jiang Yutao went back to her room, took the bruise ointment she had bought from the system’s marketplace, and repackaged it into small medicine boxes she had purchased with melon coins. She dabbed a little inside, pretending it had been used, then cleaned up any scent before heading out to meet up with Gu Nianwei.

“I brought four boxes of ointment. I hadn’t used them before because I didn’t have any injuries, so I forgot about them in the cupboard. This one’s for you, it’s unopened, and it works really well.” Jiang Yutao hadn’t used the ointment from the system space herself, but that didn’t stop her from promoting it.

The system wouldn’t dare provide her with subpar products.

Gu Nianwei, who still had memories of her past self, didn’t recognize the bruise ointment either, and since she didn’t know the name, she just casually placed it in her pocket without thinking much about it.

At this time, the big popular brands that would persist to later years were few and far between. This particular brand was just one of many that had been lost to time.

The two of them walked from the back mountain toward Accountant Xu’s house. When they arrived, Jiang Yutao immediately spotted Xu Manqiu in the backyard, twisting hemp rope. She waved to her, and Xu Manqiu, unable to believe it, looked around in disbelief before pointing at herself.

When she saw Jiang Yutao nod, a wave of immense joy suddenly surged within her.

Since she became aware of things, no one had ever come to play with her. This kind of situation, she had only seen happen to people who came looking for Xu Baozhu.

Old Mrs. Xu was watching her from the window. If she left, she would definitely be scolded, and if Old Mrs. Xu was in a bad mood, she would certainly be beaten.

But Jiang Yutao was waving at her, and no one had ever come to find her like this. Xu Manqiu made up her mind, put down the half-woven hemp rope, grabbed the nearby basket and rake, and walked outside.

As soon as she moved, Old Mrs. Xu’s shouting came from inside: “You disaster-bringer, you lazy thing, you haven’t even finished weaving one hemp rope, where are you going to waste your time now?”

Xu Manqiu tightly gripped the rake in her hand and said, “I just saw Grandpa Wang driving the ox cart up the mountain. I’m going to pick up manure.”

Manure was extremely important to farmers in this era. Old Mrs. Xu, who was the type to hold her urine until she got home, stopped scolding her for being lazy when she heard Xu Manqiu’s excuse. Instead, she found another reason to scold her, her mouth never quiet.

Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei, listening from the back mountain, felt uncomfortable. They couldn’t even imagine how Xu Manqiu had endured such a harsh verbal environment for so many years.

Both Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei were kind-hearted, and they felt sorry for Xu Manqiu, this young girl.

Xu Manqiu ran to meet them.

Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei each grabbed one of her hands and walked with her toward the back mountain.

Once they were out of sight of Xu’s house, Jiang Yutao eagerly asked, “Manqiu, did your grandmother beat you after I left? Have you eaten?”

Xu Manqiu shook her head. “No, today my sister came back from school and brought her report card. She was ranked 10th in the class. My grandmother was very happy, so she didn’t beat me and even gave me half an extra steamed bun.”

Xu Manqiu’s greatest wish in life had always been to avoid being beaten and to eat a little more food.

Today, both of those wishes had come true, and she was very happy and content.

The satisfaction in her eyes, expressed through her words and demeanor, made the two girls from the future feel a pang in their hearts. Such a simple wish, yet it couldn’t even be fulfilled in the wealthiest family in Liushu Village.

Xu Manqiu was only a fifteen-year-old girl. How much could she eat? The Xu family had Xu Baozhu, their lucky star, and their little life was flourishing. Why did they have to treat Xu Manqiu so poorly?

Jiang Yutao held back her sorrow and pushed the frostbite ointment, sprain balm, and two fist-sized steamed buns into Xu Manqiu’s hands.

Her hands were as red and swollen as Jiang Yutao had imagined. It was just the beginning of autumn, yet she already had frostbite.

In that moment, Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei’s disgust toward Xu Accountant’s family reached its peak.

“This shell contains frostbite ointment, and this small white and blue bottle is for sprains and bruises. No matter what hurts, just rub it in, and it won’t hurt anymore. These are the steamed buns we made ourselves.”

Xu Manqiu looked at the things in her hands, and it seemed warmth surged in her heart and into her eyes. She didn’t refuse; she tightly clenched those items, not daring to speak, unwilling to push them away.

Xu Manqiu knew she shouldn’t take them because they were too precious, and she couldn’t repay them. Her family had frostbite and sprain ointments, but they had always been of no concern to her. Every time the children of her uncles and aunts got frostbite or hurt themselves, her aunts would rub those ointments on them while talking about how valuable they were.

The two steamed buns were large and orange-yellow with a hint of white, clearly made with white flour.

Such steamed buns were only ever eaten when her sister returned home, and she had never had the chance to eat them herself.

Jiang Yutao could tell what Xu Manqiu was thinking just by looking at her, so she said, “Take it. When you grow up, you can return it to me.”

Xu Manqiu had many hopes for her future. She thought that the future her would definitely be able to repay even two bottles of medicine and two steamed buns.

“Thank you, Educated youth Jiang . Thank you, Educated youth Gu.” The young girl’s voice was soft and delicate.

Gu Nianwei said, “You’re younger than us. If you don’t mind, you can call her Sister Tao Tao and me Sister Wei Wei.”

Xu Manqiu didn’t mind at all. She would never object. Xu Baozhu didn’t like her, and whenever she called her sister, Xu Baozhu would ignore her half of the time, and the rest of the time, she would impatiently scold her.

Many times, Xu Manqiu had the absurd illusion that Xu Baozhu wasn’t really her sister.

“Sister Tao Tao, Sister Wei Wei.”

Jiang Yutao patted her head. “Since you’ve called me sister, then if you need anything, just come to the youth station and find us.”

Gu Nianwei nodded as well. “If you can’t find us, you can look for others. They’ll help you too.”

Xu Manqiu nodded, indicating that she had remembered.

Jiang Yutao held her hand. “Let’s go. We’ll help you gather manure.”

Xu Manqiu had just made an excuse to come out, and they hadn’t forgotten it.

Xu Manqiu shook her head. “No, no, I’ve already picked up a lot of manure and left it on the mountain. I’ll just carry some back later. The wind is strong, you should head back.”

Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei exchanged a glance and nodded.

“Alright, we’ll leave then. If you need anything, come find us. If nothing’s wrong, you can still come and stay with us,” Jiang Yutao repeatedly reminded her.

Xu Manqiu watched them leave, then turned and walked into the mountains with her basket. She arrived at a cave where she kept many of the things she had gathered. Outside the cave, in a pile of grass, there was a heap of manure she had collected in her spare time.

Sitting in the cave, she carefully washed her hands with water, then took out the frostbite ointment Jiang Yutao had shown her.

The pale yellow ointment was evenly rubbed into her swollen, red hands. The hands, which were constantly itching and stinging, seemed to feel much better.

Xu Manqiu hugged her knees and cried.

This was the first time in her fifteen years that someone had brought her medicine. She had never experienced such warmth, nor had she ever imagined that one day someone would offer her such kindness.

Feeling touched, she was also filled with unease.

Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei returned to their dormitory, neither of them feeling like chatting.

Jiang Yutao half-lay on the heated brick bed and opened the third book on the bookshelf.

The cover of this third book was white, with lively images of koi fish in various sizes, swimming across the page.

Jiang Yutao opened the book to read the summary, then quickly skimmed through it, before summarizing and drawing conclusions.

The book began by describing the troubled year of 1959, a year marked by both internal and external crises. One day, a Taoist priest, dressed in a mysterious and ethereal manner, came to the Xu family asking for water. By chance, he saw the pregnant Xu Baozhu and Xu Manqiu’s mother. He stared at them, then began to calculate something in his hands.

Finally, he told Old Woman Xu that a great blessing would soon descend upon their family, but at the same time, a misfortune would be born alongside it. The fate of these two children would be interlinked, with their fortunes rising and falling in opposition to one another.

If the lucky star wanted to rise to power, it had to suppress the broom star completely, not allowing her the slightest chance to turn things around. With that, the old Xu family would be able to soar to great heights, riding on the lucky star’s fortune.

However, if the broom star gained power, the Xu family would fall into misfortune, and generations to come would be oppressed by her, unable to rise.

The method for distinguishing the lucky star from the broom star was simple: the first to be born was the lucky star, and the one born later was the broom star.

What left Jiang Yutao speechless wasn’t this part.

What left her speechless was that Old Woman Xu had been dreaming of a red koi fish entering her family ever since Xu Manqiu’s mother became pregnant, and after hearing the Taoist’s words, she firmly believed in it.

She pampered the firstborn, Xu Baozhu, to the skies, while trampling Xu Manqiu into the dirt.

What was even more extraordinary was that Xu Baozhu was a reincarnated being. Before her birth, she had been a koi fish that had cultivated for hundreds of years. The reason she was born into the Xu family was because she had calculated that being born there would help her cultivation reach a higher level.

After being reincarnated into the Xu family, she lost her past memories and believed herself to be truly Xu Baozhu. It wasn’t until the last chapter of the story that she regained her memories and realized she was a koi fish, which explained all her good fortune.

As for Xu Manqiu, while Xu Baozhu was achieving success and enjoying a happy family life, she had already been beaten to death by her abusive husband.

After reading this, Jiang Yutao couldn’t find anything to say in response.