The poor girl from the 1970s was forced to kiss by the damp educated youth.

Chen Zhi believed that she had no romantic feelings for Li Zhou'an, but the people around Li Zhou'an did not think so. One by one, they advised her to recognize her true feelings.

Li Zhou'an is excellent, but she doesn't think she's bad.

Chen Zhi ignored Yang Wenyu. Seeing that Chen Xiuzhen hadn't returned to work, she wasn't in a hurry. She lay on her back, took the slingshot from her waist, casually picked up a small stone from the ground, and aimed at the birds flying around in the sky.

These birds are too noisy and are affecting her mood.

One stone after another flew into the sky, but all of them missed.

"Tch, you think you can shoot birds with a skill level like that—"

boom!

It hit him; the bird landed on Yang Wenyu's head—it was a sparrow.

Yang Wenyu removed the sparrow from his head, his face darkening, and asked, "Did you do that on purpose?"

Chen Zhi looked at him in surprise, "You think too highly of me."

Yang Wenyu's face darkened further. He held onto the sparrow tightly, saying, "Whatever falls on me is mine."

Chen Zhi's eyes widened in disbelief. How could there be such a shameless person in the world!

"Chen Zhi, did he bully you?" Chen Da came over carrying a hoe and happened to hear Yang Wenyu's question.

Chen Zhi nodded. "The sparrow I shot down landed on his head, and he said it was his."

Upon hearing this, Chen Da looked at Yang Wenyu with a disdainful expression, his words tinged with disbelief. "Brother, can't we have any shame about stealing a woman's things?"

Yang Wenyu snorted coldly and tossed the sparrow in his hand to Chen Zhi, saying, "You're so skinny, I wouldn't even take you if you gave it to me."

After saying that, he left without looking back.

Chen Zhi frowned; she felt that Yang Wenyu was subtly criticizing her.

Chen Zhi glanced down at her chest; it was clearly more than two ounces, and it had grown even more in the past few days, making her clothes too small for her to fit into.

"Chen Zhi, you're amazing! You can even hit a sparrow in the sky!" Chen Da praised sincerely.

Chen Zhi felt a little proud. Wasn't she amazing? She had improved again.

What are you doing here?

"I'll help you with the work." Chen Da shouldered a hoe and went down to the field, huffing and puffing as he started working. "I'll help you for half an hour, you can rest for a while."

Seeing how hard he was working, Chen Zhi didn't bother to stop him and instead aimed her slingshot at the sparrows in the sky.

When Li Zhou'an saw Yang Wenyu return, he breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Xiuzhen was too enthusiastic, and he really couldn't handle it.

"Who made you angry? Why is your face so dark?"

"Who else but Chen Zhi?" Yang Wenyu said sarcastically. "Yesterday it was Xi Lang, today it's this Chen Da. So young, yet so fickle, so promiscuous—"

"Cultivate Culture!"

Li Zhou'an's expression suddenly turned serious. "Don't make such malicious assumptions about a girl."

Yang Wenyu pursed his lips, "I didn't say anything wrong. Chen Zhi has been seeing Xi Lang quite often, and now she has Chen Da helping her with chores, and she hasn't refused. Who would believe there's nothing going on between them?"

Li Zhou'an: "You saw it?"

Yang Wenyu choked, "Now I see."

Li Zhou'an: "In public, they were several meters apart, and there was no ambiguity between them. Moreover, in Sandong Village, all people with the surname Chen share the same ancestor, and they do not intermarry."

Yang Wenyu retorted, "What about Xi Lang? Chen Zhi has eaten at Xi Lang's place quite often."

Li Zhou'an: "That doesn't prove anything."

"Why do you always defend her?" Yang Wenyu was also annoyed with Li Zhou'an.

Chen Xiuzhen frowned. Why was Li Zhou'an protecting Chen Zhi?

Chen Xiuzhen looked at Chen Zhi not far away. She had to admit that Chen Zhi had become beautiful. But besides being beautiful, what else did Chen Zhi have to offer?

Li Zhou'an: "I'm just stating the facts."

Yang Wenyu put down the bowl in his hand and said, "Fine, I can't argue with you. I'm not going to say anything more."

Chen Zhi shot down another sparrow; her skill was getting better and better.

As she bent down to pick up the stones, she glanced at Li Zhou'an. Even from this distance, she heard every word Li Zhou'an and Yang Wenyu said, and her heart warmed slightly.

It's hard not to like Li Zhou'an like this.

Chen Zhi suppressed the slight unease in her heart and focused her attention on the sparrows in the sky.

Half an hour passed quickly, and the people who had finished lunch gradually returned to the fields. Chen Da, carrying a hoe, walked towards Chen Zhi. Seeing that there were a few more sparrows on the ground, he gave Chen Zhi a thumbs up and said, "Awesome!"

Chen Zhi smiled slightly and her attitude towards Chen Da improved a bit, "You don't need to come anymore."

"Why?" Chen Da asked, somewhat disappointed. "I apologize for what I said before. I don't ask for your forgiveness, I just ask you to give me a chance to repay your life-saving grace."

"I'm afraid your mother and grandmother will come and scold me," Chen Zhi said expressionlessly.

Chen Da's mother and grandmother were quick-witted and not the type to suffer a loss. When they found out that Chen Da had come to help them with chores, they would chase after her and scold her all the way home.

Chen Da's face stiffened. Thinking of his mother and grandmother, he also felt a headache coming on. He compromised, "Then I'll owe it to you for now."

Chen Zhi nodded indifferently and was in no hurry to go to work in the fields. Chen Da helped her with a few rows, and she went to work in the fields after Chen Xiuzhen caught up.

Chen Zhi aimed the slingshot at the sparrows in the sky again, and after another half hour, there were already more than a dozen sparrows on the ground.

She can still catch more than a dozen sparrows, which are small. What if it were pheasants or larger wild birds?

Chen Zhi couldn't wait to go into the mountains and experiment with it.

In the afternoon, Chen Zhi and Chen Xiuzhen each did their own thing, neither speaking to the other. Until they finished work, Chen Xiuzhen stopped Chen Zhi and asked bluntly, "You like Li Zhou'an too?"

Chen Zhi looked at her without saying anything.

"If you don't answer, I'll take that as a yes," Chen Xiuzhen said, a look of disgust rising in her eyes for Chen Zhi. "You have a bad reputation, you didn't even finish elementary school, Li Zhou'an won't be interested in you."

Chen Zhi countered, "He's got his eye on you?"

"That's only a matter of time," Chen Xiuzhen said confidently. "Once I graduate from high school, I'll go to town and work as a factory worker. Someone as outstanding as me has no reason for Li Zhou'an to look down on me. So you'd better be sensible and not try to get close to Li Zhou'an and embarrass yourself!"

Chen Zhi remained unfazed. "Is that so? Then I'll wait."

Chen Zhi used a straw rope to carry the sparrow back home. Suddenly, her expression froze, and she stopped moving.

Warm liquid flowed from her body; her pants were definitely dirty.

Chen Zhi is seventeen years old, but she hadn't had her period yet. She didn't expect it to come at this time. Chen Zhi recalled the scene when Chen Ye was in excruciating pain when she had her period, and her heart couldn't help but tremble.

Is she in pain like that too?

"Why did you stop?"

Li Zhou'an's voice came from behind.

Yang Wenyu scoffed, "You wouldn't be waiting for Zhou An on purpose, would you?"

Chen Zhi was too lazy to argue with them, so she took small steps to step aside and said, "You guys go first."

Yang Wenyu snorted and strode away.

Li Zhou'an's gaze fell on Chen Zhi's pants. The next second, his expression changed, and he quickly lowered his head, took off his shirt, and handed it to Chen Zhi, saying, "Cover yourself up."

"She doesn't need it." Xi Lang also arrived.

He walked step by step toward Chen Zhi and handed her his coat. Suddenly, two shirts appeared in front of Chen Zhi.

Chen Zhi was stunned for a moment.

Seeing that she didn't move, Xi Lang simply took matters into his own hands, tied the shirt around Chen Zhi's waist, and took the hoe from her hand, saying, "You go home first, I'll return the hoe to you."

As he spoke, he placed the lunchbox in Chen Zhi's hand as well, "I'll come to get my shirt from you later."

Chen Zhi nodded blankly, then said to Li Zhou'an, "Thank you for your kindness, I'll go back now."

Only after Chen Zhi had walked away did Li Zhou'an ask, "Xi Lang, do you have feelings for Chen Zhi?"

"What's it to you?"

Xi Lang sneered, "As for you, you have countless suitors. Stay away from her."

"She and I are friends," Li Zhou'an blurted out instinctively.

Xi Lang nodded. "That would be best."

The lunchbox contained scrambled eggs and rice, packed tightly together, and the portion was very large.

Chen Zhi chose a secluded path, eating as she walked, and finished eating just as she returned home.

She entered the house and discreetly hid the lunchbox behind her back.

"Auntie, what's that in your hand?" Chen Dongqing, with her sharp eyes, immediately noticed the dozen or so sparrows in Chen Zhi's hand.

Before the others returned, Chen Zhi handed the sparrow to Chen Dongqing and walked towards the water vat.

"Auntie, are these little birds?" Chen Dongqing poked the sparrows with her short fingers.

"Brother, it's a little bird," Chen Meihua chimed in.

Chen Zhi washed the lunchbox and hid it under the bed in the room. Then she took off the shirt from her waist. Fortunately, the shirt was not stained with blood.

She also hid her clothes under the bed.

Chen Zhi took a set of clean clothes and came out of the room. "Grandma, is there hot water? I want to take a bath."

"Why take a bath? Go water the vegetables first," Grandma said irritably.

"But I'm bleeding, and my pants are dirty." Chen Zhi stood straight in front of her grandmother, looking completely innocent.

Ding Fangfang: "......"

In the end, Ding Fangfang still let Chen Zhi go take a bath.

Chen Zhi took a shower and used toilet paper as a mat, which wasn't very comfortable, but she had no better option. She washed her dirty clothes and had just finished hanging them to dry when the others returned.

"Dad, Auntie caught a sparrow!" Chen Dongqing shouted, holding up more than a dozen sparrows in his hand.

"Wow, so many sparrows!" Chen Da exclaimed in surprise.

Sparrows are considered one of the four pests, and whoever catches one is responsible for it; no one will say anything if you kill a sparrow. The children in the village have been catching sparrows since they were little, but it is extremely rare to catch so many at once.

Chen Mu asked Chen Zhi, "Was it fired with a slingshot?"

Chen Zhi hummed in agreement, then turned to look at her mother. "Mom, I've started my period."

Mrs. Chen frowned. "But we're out of fabric. How could you be so inconsiderate, sending this at a time like this? What am I supposed to do?"

Chen Zhi: "..."

Is this also her fault?

"Use your sister's first," said Mrs. Chen.

"No, I find it dirty. Besides, how can we share something like that?" Chen Ye refused.

Chen Zhi pouted, "I dislike you too."

In the countryside, menstrual belts are filled with wood ash. They're washed when they get dirty and then reused. The bloodstains on them are so deep that they can never be completely washed clean.

Reusing items is frustrating enough, let alone sharing them with others.

"What can we do?" Mrs. Chen asked, her head throbbing. "I stopped having this last year. Forget it, just use toilet paper as a pad for now and get through this month."

Dinner consisted of spicy sparrow meat, cold bamboo shoot salad, and vegetable soup. Chen Dongqing and Chen Meihua ate until their little mouths were bright red, panting as they exclaimed how delicious it was. The others did the same, eating without even looking up.

Chen Zhi took a few bites; the small pieces of meat were very fragrant and spicy, indeed quite good.

However, she had a slight bloating and pain in her lower abdomen, so she shouldn't eat too much.

After finishing her meal, she went back to her room and lay down.

She had just lain down when Xi Lang's voice came from the window, "Chen Zhi—"

Chen Zhi turned her head and saw only a slender figure. She got up, took a shirt and a lunchbox from under the bed, and quickly went to the window. "How did you know it was me?"

"I saw it." He had been there for a while, and only spoke when he saw her come in.

Chen Zhi handed the shirt and lunchbox out the window, saying, "My mom and sister should be back soon, so we can't talk to you much."

Xi Lang grunted in agreement, took the shirt and lunchbox, and also stuffed a package into the box. "See if you can use the things inside."

Chen Zhi: "What is it?"

Xi Lang: "See for yourself."

In the darkness, Chen Zhi didn't notice that Xi Lang's ears had turned red.