Chapter 11: The Kindhearted Villagers

“Ye Fan, tonight I went to deliver medicine to Sister Haiying, but on my way back, I ran into Wang Dahua. She seemed to have lost her mind—she lunged at me and tried to strangle me… If it weren’t for Sister Haiying and the others coming out to find me, you might never see me again…”
“Just now, Wang Dahua’s husband came over and cursed me in the yard, calling me cruel and heartless, like a landlord or rich peasant. He said I’d rather sell food than share it with them…”
“I don’t understand. We clearly brought grain to the village and saved everyone’s lives, so why are some people still dissatisfied? It’s as if those instant noodles should all belong to them, and if they don’t get them, it’s our fault…”

The deeper Li Yaoyao wrote, the colder her heart felt. Tears fell in the candlelight, blurring the paper.

Outside, the noise gradually died down. Li Yaoyao quickly tossed the letter into the chest. Afraid that Ye Fan might reply and the chest’s lock would shine, she covered it with a quilt.

Yang Haiying and several village officials returned inside. Behind them, more villagers quietly came to visit her.

The small room soon filled with people.

“Li Zhiqing, Wang Dahua’s family is just a small minority—you mustn’t take it to heart!”

Village chief Yang Dachang rubbed his hands anxiously, unsure how to comfort her.

Yang Haiying’s father, Yang Kairen, wrinkled his aged face and said, “Little Li, you came from the city to help us, and we’re already very grateful!”

Neighboring Mrs. Liu, carrying a basket, stepped forward, “I still have some wheat bran at home. Li Zhiqing, if you don’t mind, please take it…”

“Those folks won’t eat your coarse grain!” Wang Sao from the village entrance pushed Mrs. Liu aside and proudly held up a rough porcelain bowl. “These are eggs from my old hen. They were meant for my pregnant daughter-in-law, but she can skip a few meals. You need to nourish yourself more…”

Everyone chimed in warmly, filling Li Yaoyao’s heart with warmth. Most villagers were truly grateful to her!

At that thought, her tears of grievance turned into tears of gratitude.

“Uncle, Auntie, please take these things. I have food here.”

“I came to the countryside as a sent-down youth to lead everyone to a better life. How could I take your things?”

Li Yaoyao urged everyone to return the food. She knew the village was starving and people barely had enough to eat.

But the villagers refused, insisting on leaving the food with her.

“How about this!” Li Yaoyao raised her voice to quiet everyone down. “Take today’s food home. I truly don’t lack anything here, and leaving it to spoil would be wasteful!”

“But how could we feel right about that?”

Hearing this, Li Yaoyao raised her hand again. “I still need your help with something!”

She thought, since Ye Fan wanted antiques, why not have the villagers search for them? That way they wouldn’t feel indebted.

“Those instant noodles before were sent by a friend of mine. He actually wants to trade for old items. So if anyone has silver dollars, copper coins, or old porcelain at home, you can come to me and trade them for food!”

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at each other in surprise.

What good are old things? Who would make such a strange request?

Fortunately, the village chief’s face lit up with understanding.

“I thought so! There’s no such thing as a free lunch! Yaoyao, your friend must be a wealthy city dweller. When I went to a meeting in the county, I heard that rich city folks nowadays love collecting antiques. He’s probably looking for rare items in our village to sell back in the city!”

Village chief Yang Dachang laughed heartily. “That’s easy then! We have plenty of old things here no one wants. Li Zhiqing has found us a market!”

Yang Dachang, worldly and persuasive, helped Li Yaoyao explain things convincingly.

Wang Sao added, “I’ll go home and look around. I have an old table and some old pickling jars—I’ll bring them all to Li Zhiqing!”

Mrs. Liu shot Wang Sao a sideways glance and retorted, “Those broken things are heavy and useless. When I got married, I had a jewelry box that looked nice…”

“Oh? A jewelry box? Why don’t you just bring out your gold and silver jewelry then?”

Wang Sao was from Henan and spoke in a hearty accent. Her playful teasing made everyone laugh heartily.

After the banter, it grew late, and the villagers left one by one, leaving Yang Haiying to care for Li Yaoyao.

“Yaoyao, these eggs came from Wang Sao’s family. I gave them to her, but she refused!”

Yang Haiying held the rough porcelain bowl awkwardly as she saw off the last visitors.

“Well… then I’ll bring her a few more packs of instant noodles later!”

“That sounds good!” Yang Haiying giggled and magically produced some steamed buns and vegetables. “These are from the village, these from Old Yang’s family, and these from Old Zhang at the village entrance…”

“Ah? You…” Li Yaoyao was startled, then realized from Yang Haiying’s mischievous smile: “Alright! You’re in cahoots with them!”

“Of course! We can’t treat you unfairly! Eat up!”

As she ate, Li Yaoyao’s thoughts drifted to Ye Fan. She glanced toward the corner where the wooden chest was hidden, planning to distract Yang Haiying so she could talk with Ye Fan.

“Ye Fan must have read the letter and must be anxious. I need to explain everything to him soon. The villagers truly care about me… I was just worried the chest’s lock might shine. Luckily, I covered it with a quilt beforehand…”

She thought this while hastily eating.

But Yang Haiying refused to leave, insisting on staying with her tonight and even began tidying the room.

“It’s cold at night. One quilt isn’t enough. I’ll get you another to cover you…”

Yang Haiying walked to the corner to fetch the quilt covering the wooden chest.

“Haiying!”

Li Yaoyao hurriedly stopped her.

“I think… my stomach feels a little uncomfortable! Could you please step outside for a moment? I need to use the bathroom…”

In the countryside, toilets were outside in the yard, and going out at night was very cold. So every household had a chamber pot.

Li Yaoyao pretended to be weak and inconvenient to go out, pointing to the chamber pot under the bed, signaling Yang Haiying to leave.

Yang Haiying stopped reaching for the quilt without any embarrassment. Since everyone had chamber pots, she just asked with concern, “Can you get up? Do you want me to help you take off your pants?”

“Oh no, no need!”

Li Yaoyao quickly waved off Yang Haiying’s enthusiastic offer.

“In that case, I’ll go return the bowls and chopsticks to everyone!”

After Yang Haiying left the bedroom and closed the door, Li Yaoyao immediately sprang out of bed like a fish leaping from water!

She had actually recovered long ago!

Quickly rushing to the corner, she pulled back the quilt—the chest’s lock did not shine at all.

“Huh? Didn’t he leave me a note?”

Looking out into the pitch-black night, Li Yaoyao thought perhaps Ye Fan had already gone to sleep and hadn’t left a note.

She took another piece of paper and wrote down the villagers’ concerns for Ye Fan, hoping he would see it first thing in the morning.

After struggling to lock the chest inside the cupboard, Li Yaoyao lay back down on the bed.