Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

The "Three Same" initiative has begun.

They ate together, lived together, and worked together.

Actually, the communal eating only lasted for the first few days. The main issue was that in Yulin, the commune members didn't have much to eat at home. If they really had to eat together in those days, the commune members couldn't handle it. They were already eating bran and wild vegetables, truly eating bran. What more could you ask for?

They still lived in the educated youth settlement. Previously, some educated youth lived with commune members, but their different living habits caused a lot of conflicts. So in the end, those who wanted to live together could live together, and those who didn't could go to the educated youth settlement.

But the work involved real labor, which was done all day long, and work points were earned.

They started work at six or seven in the morning and finished when it got dark. Mu Wanqing and other newly arrived educated youth were assigned to the third production team, where they worked with several older women to combat desertification—digging holes, planting trees, and watering them.

The shovel handle was rough on her hand, so Mu Wanqing wrapped it with a strip of cloth. Although blisters still formed in the end, they weren't too serious.

Yang Yibai and the others suffered a great loss, their hands covered in blisters by the end of the day.

Several local women from the commune were surprised and asked Mu Wanqing, "Girl, you look so delicate and like a rich young lady, how do you know how to do farm work?"

Mu Wanqing smiled, offering no further explanation.

During the three years of natural disasters, Zhang Dabiao's small courtyard house was used for farming every day. How could she not understand these basic protective measures?

Zhao Weiguo worked on the terraced fields nearby, glancing at Mu Wanqing every now and then. This girl never complained, never said she was tired, and rarely spoke.

He felt a little uneasy.

Labor is a minor issue; the key problem is food.

Yang Yibai had long since finished all the "refined grains" she brought. Before she left, her mother had packed her two jin of wheat flour, a jar of lard, and a few pieces of cured meat, which she thought would last her a month. But when she arrived in Balasu, she had used them all up in just three days.

It wasn't that she could eat a lot—it was just that the bran buns were too hard to swallow, and she needed to eat them with some "good stuff" to get them down.

Now, the good stuff is gone.

The training in the county town gave her the illusion that "it's nothing special," but when she arrived in Balasasu, she realized what despair truly meant.

That evening, she secretly slipped into the home of the brigade leader, Ma Erjin, hoping to "buy" some food.

"Captain Ma, I'll pay you, just sell me some..."

Before he could finish speaking, Ma Erjin's wife rushed out of the kitchen and launched into a tirade: "You kids from Beijing, are you out of your minds? What will we eat if we're sold to you? Money and ration coupons are useless here!"

Ma Erjin's wife has a loud voice; half the village can hear her.

Yang Yibai's face turned so red it looked like it could bleed.

"If you want to buy food, go to the county town yourself!" Ma Erjin added. "The donkey cart goes there once a week to resupply supplies, and it takes four hours one way."

Some commune members came out of the door to join in the fun, and one even added with a laugh, "Coupons? What use are coupons in our brigade now? You need to be able to buy things, you have to go to the county to buy them yourself."

"Don't you even know where you are? What's the situation this year? Do you know it's a once-in-a-century drought? Nobody has any surplus grain!"

"I heard that these kids from Beijing ate all the fine food they brought in just a few days. What a waste!"

"Even if you eat all that, there's still bran cake left, right?"

"But they can't eat it, they're so dramatic, hahaha."

Yang Yibai slunk back home, tears welling up in her eyes the whole way.

But what she found even more unbearable was Mu Wanqing.

This girl seemed perfectly fine. She worked diligently, ate without being picky, and chatted and laughed with the other villagers. The older women in the production team praised her, saying, "This girl is good; she's not pretentious."

Yang Yibai felt a tightness in her chest.

Why? Why isn't she flustered at all?

That evening at dinner, Mu Wanqing took out a piece of compressed wild vegetable biscuit from her bag—it was prepared for her by Qin Jingru before she left.

Qin Jingru, that girl, is a chatterbox, but she's thoughtful. Knowing she was going to northern Shaanxi, she secretly slipped her a cloth bag containing, besides, specially made biscuits, slices of dried cured meat, a packet of milk candy, and even a small packet of seasoning.

With the recent heavy workload, Mu Wanqing was only eating one and a half bran buns per meal, and she couldn't take it anymore. She had to take out some compressed wild vegetable biscuits to eat to replenish her energy. The compressed wild vegetable biscuits from the "Mutual Aid Association" contained a lot of wheat flour, crushed peanuts, salt, and sugar.

According to Zhang Dabiao, three slices are enough to provide the calories and nutrients needed for a meal, making them an essential item for wilderness survival, home life, and travel!

As soon as Mu Wanqing started eating, her classmates couldn't help but stare at her without saying a word.

Mu Wanqing had no choice; they were all in the same class. In the end, she took out a small bag of cookies and gave each of them two cookies.

"Where did you get this? There are even diced cured meat in here?!" Zhao Weiguo took a bite, his eyes lighting up.

He had been eating bran buns for almost a week, and his mouth was full of the taste of bran. When he suddenly tasted meat, he almost cried.

"It was given to me by Qin Jingru, Da Biao's god-sister." Mu Wanqing took a small bite.

Liu Yuanchao, his mouth greasy from eating, could barely speak clearly: "Brother Da Biao... what a good person."

Yang Yibai took the compressed biscuits, hesitated for a moment, and then stuffed them into her mouth.

She was so hungry.

It feels like there's a fire burning in my stomach.

But once that started, it was out of control.

------------

Two days later.

Yang Yibai finished the last biscuit she had brought. It was one of those ordinary milk biscuits, the Golden Rooster brand, in a big tin box.

She sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), looking at Mu Wanqing's bag—the bag was bulging.

She knew that when Mu Wanqing left, her family and friends gave her a lot of food.

I used to look down on these handmade, rough foods, thinking they were cheap, low-class, and unclean.

Unlike the other children of high-ranking officials, who brought things like milk biscuits, milk candies, and a few pieces of chocolate, Yang Yibai's package was the most offensive. The most unpleasant item was the cured meat hidden in the oil paper wrapping, because it was greasy and smelled strongly. For a fashion-conscious child like Yang Yibai, this was unacceptable.

So they brought a lot of money and tickets, intending to resupply at the cultural propaganda team's base in Yulin County.

When they first arrived, they did receive some supplies, and Zhao Weiguo even bought a roast chicken to show off, but they finished it off in just a few days after arriving at the educated youth settlement.

Now, thinking back to all those things Mu Wanqing brought that she used to look down on—wild vegetable biscuits, pickled vegetables, and slices of cured meat…

She was insanely jealous.

What she found even more unbearable was that Mu Wanqing never slacked off when she worked.

Digging holes, planting trees, and watering—Mu Wanqing did it even more efficiently than she did. The other villagers all praised her.

Yang Yibai's hands were covered in blisters. She cried out in pain, but no one paid any attention to her. She complained of being tired, and Ma Erjin said, "Why are you resting? Time waits for no one."

On what grounds?

Why can she do everything? Why does she have someone who loves her? Why do I have to suffer here?

Yang Yibai's resentment grew deeper and deeper.

------------

That evening, Yang Yibai convened a "core meeting".

The eight of them were talking behind closed doors in the small kitchen.

"Comrades," she cleared her throat, "in accordance with the spirit of 'same country, same people, same land, same family, same property,' everyone's personal belongings should be distributed uniformly."

Mu Wanqing was sitting on a small chair sewing clothes, not even looking up: "What do you mean?"

"You should share your food with everyone."

Mu Wanqing raised her head, her eyes fixed on Yang Yibai: "I brought it myself."

Why should I give it to you?