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

Chen Zhi didn't know when these five people had arrived. The place where she was standing was surrounded by tall water plants on three sides, and one side faced the downstream river, so she couldn't see a single person.

No one can help me!

"If you dare to steal my things, I'll go to the commune and the Revolutionary Committee to report you!" Chen Zhi shouted.

The five boys laughed after hearing her words. "Do you have any proof? Who saw it?"

They looked completely uninhibited.

Chen Zhi bit her lip. She didn't recognize these five people. They were obviously not from Sandong Village, but probably from the next village.

"Hand over the bag, or we'll have to take action!"

Chen Zhi, of course, refused to hand it over. It was the fruit of her labor over several hours; it was meat. She was unwilling to give it up.

Chen Zhi made a snap decision and ran in one direction. Unfortunately, the water resistance was too great, and she hadn't run more than a few steps when someone grabbed the bag around her waist.

"If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences! Brothers, grab it!"

"You dare steal my things? I'll kill you!"

Chen Zhi made a tough statement. She had been beaten, but she had never fought. The few moves she knew were learned from watching the women in the village fight. The first move was to grab their hair, but their hair was too short to grab. The second move was to scratch their faces, and her nails were just right to be sharp. The third move was to pick their noses, which was disgusting. The fourth move was to gouge their eyes, which she liked.

Chen Zhi used all her strength, first scratching the boy's face on the right, then ramming her head against the person on the left, her hands flailing wildly, but she was quickly caught. Undeterred, she opened her mouth and bit the person grabbing her—

She heard a cry of pain and was extremely pleased with her masterpiece.

However, she didn't fare well herself. She was slapped in the face, punched several times in the stomach, and her straw hat fell into the water. Seeing her rat-gnawed head, the boys immediately burst into laughter, calling her an "ugly monster!"

Chen Zhi became even angrier and kept banging her head against the ground. With a strength she didn't know she had, she managed to break free from the two boys' grasp.

"Give me back my bag!" Chen Zhi's eyes reddened with anger.

But then the boy holding her bag poured the fish from it into his own fish basket, casually tossing the bag back to her, saying, "Here you go!"

Her fish was taken away!

Chen Zhi lost her temper and her eyes turned red. She lost her reason and lunged at the boy with such force that they both fell into the water.

Chen Zhi pushed the other person underwater, acting as if he didn't care about his life, which scared the other four people.

"Help! Save them!"

The four men rushed to rescue their companion.

Chen Zhi was grabbed again and made to drink water while being submerged. He was pushed down and lifted up repeatedly, until his whole body was soaked.

"She's a stubborn little girl!"

"Besides being stubborn, she's also reckless!"

"It's a pity she's too ugly, otherwise I wouldn't mind disciplining her."

"Damn it! All the fish in the basket escaped, all that work for nothing!"

Snapped!

Chen Zhi was slapped again on the face, making her head buzz and blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

But she didn't give up and kept her eyes glued to the five people.

Chen Zhi was unaware that her eyes were glowing with a ghostly green light, giving off an eerie and sinister aura. But the five people opposite her did see it, and their expressions changed drastically.

A secluded section of the river, an ugly woman, eerie green eyes... all these things combined caused the five people who were smug just a second ago to turn around and leave without a word the next second. Their panicked backs even gave the impression of fleeing in disarray.

Seeing that they left in a hurry, Chen Zhi thought someone had arrived. She turned her head and looked around, but saw nothing.

Her burlap sack floated on the water, slowly drifting away with the current. Chen Zhi first retrieved the straw hat that had sunk to the bottom, and then went to pick up the sack. The moment she bent down, her eyes widened suddenly—there was a large fish at the bottom of the water!

The hands reacted before the brain could react, quickly and accurately pinching the fish's head downwards!

So she's that fast!

Chen Zhi herself was surprised.

This is a grass carp, it's very long and weighs about eight or nine pounds.

Chen Zhi gripped the fish tightly, and only after successfully placing it in the bag did she breathe a sigh of relief. As she relaxed, exhaustion, pain, and cold washed over her, causing her to shiver. She then began to walk towards the shore.

On her way back to shore, she discovered two more blackfish, each as thick as her arm. Chen Zhi, of course, wouldn't let them go, chasing after the two fish for five minutes before successfully catching them.

Chen Zhi was now completely exhausted.

She dragged her heavy body ashore and was greeted by Xilang wearing a straw hat.

A gust of wind blew by, and Chen Zhi sneezed. Chen Zhi saw Xi Lang frown.

Chen Zhi turned her face away, her eyes showing some embarrassment; she looked so pathetic.

"Do you have any fish in your bag?" Xi Lang asked.

Chen Zhi gave an irrelevant answer, "I'm going home."

She's too cold; if she doesn't go back, she'll get sick.

"I'll buy it from you with money." Xi Lang stared at Chen Zhi's bag; its shape suggested it was a large fish.

Chen Zhi was somewhat tempted, but she refused; she didn't even have a place to hide the money.

"I'll trade you some multigrain cakes, twenty multigrain cakes for the big fish in your bag." Xi Lang didn't give up.

Chen Zhi couldn't help but swallow hard when she heard about the multigrain pancake. Xi Lang's multigrain pancake was delicious. It was made with various bean flours, corn flours, and wheat flours, without rice bran, so it wouldn't hurt her throat. It also had oil and salt added, making it especially fragrant!

"Give me two pancakes every day!" Chen Zhi said.

Xi Lang nodded. "No problem."

Chen Zhi smiled. "Deal."

Chen Zhi opened her bag and showed Xi Lang her big fish, "This grass carp is big, isn't it? You got a good deal."

Large fish are rarely seen in the river of Sandong Village, and fish as big as the ones in Chen Zhi's bag are extremely rare.

"Hmm, not a bad deal." Xi Lang agreed with Chen Zhi's words. He also had his eye on the two blackfish. "I'll take both blackfish too. Ten pancakes for each fish."

"no."

Chen Zhi refused without even thinking.

"If you think it's not enough, I can add more," Xi Lang said.

"It's not that I think it's too little. If I come out to catch fish and don't bring any back, it will be difficult for me to go into the water again next time." Chen Zhi wants to come again tomorrow. Only if she catches fish will her family agree to let her go into the water.

Xi Lang asked with some regret, "What time are you coming tomorrow?"

Chen Zhi shook her head. "I don't know."

She can't make her own decisions.

Xi Lang gave her a deep look. "If you catch any fish, you can trade with me. I'll trade you anything except for grain cakes."

Chen Zhi asked curiously, "What do you have?"

"Cloth, sugar, grain..." Xilang listed many things, finally emphasizing, "No meat."

Chen Zhi's eyes widened in surprise; she hadn't expected Xi Lang to be so "wealthy"!

I really couldn't tell!

She assumed the other person was just like her, so thin because they weren't getting enough to eat. Turns out, they not only had food, but also precious fabrics and sugar!

Chen Zhi readily agreed, "If I catch a fish tomorrow, I'll definitely trade it with you. I want some candy!"

Xi Lang: "Okay, I'll bring candy tomorrow."

Chen Zhi returned home soaking wet.

Grandma is cooking the lotus roots she dug up yesterday. After cooking, she'll dry them so they can be stored for a longer time.

My eldest sister-in-law was sewing clothes in the corridor, while her little nephew and niece played around her.

"Holly, plum blossom, Auntie brought back fish, quickly bring a basin over," Chen Zhi said.

My three-year-old nephew immediately ran towards Chen Zhi upon hearing the word "fish." My one-and-a-half-year-old niece still walks with a wobbly gait, lagging behind her brother by a few steps.

"Zhizhi, you caught a fish?" The eldest sister-in-law thought that the fish Chen Zhi was talking about were some small fish and shrimp, but even if they were just small fish and shrimp, it was still very shocking, after all, Chen Zhi did not bring any tools.

Moreover, at this time of year, the fish and shrimp in the river have been slaughtered countless times by the villagers, leaving almost nothing.

"Yes, we caught him."

Chen Zhi said with a hint of pride, "We're having fish tonight."

She took a wooden basin, poured the fish from the bag into the basin, and then added water to the basin.

"Wow, a big fish!" My little nephew exclaimed, his mouth agape in surprise.

My eldest sister-in-law was also stunned. "What a huge blackfish!"

Grandma heard the noise and came out of the kitchen. When she saw the two large black fish in the basin, her eyes lit up. "I haven't seen such big black fish in ages!"

As she spoke, she looked at Chen Zhi and noticed that Chen Zhi's lips were a little swollen. She frowned and asked, "What happened to your face?"

"I got hit by the fish's tail," Chen Zhi blurted out, a reason she had come up with on her way back.

Grandma rolled her eyes. She had never seen a fish beat her up like this before in all her years of life.

"There's still some warm water left in the pot, take it to bathe. Your clothes are all wet, don't get sick, we don't have money for medical treatment or medicine."

"Okay, I'll go take a shower and change my clothes now."

After taking a bath and changing into clean clothes, Chen Zhi went to the yard to sunbathe.

Grandma didn't expect her to come back at noon and didn't leave her any lunch.

Chen Zhi was not surprised at all.

While her grandmother wasn't looking, she secretly slipped out of the house and headed towards the educated youth settlement.

The educated youth settlement was located at the east end of the village, where the house used to belong to a village landlord. After the landlord was overthrown, the house was also taken over by the brigade.

Perhaps the landlord wasn't very wealthy; although the roof of the house was covered with blue tiles, the walls were made of rammed earth, and there were many rooms. The village allocated five rooms for the educated youth, one room served as the brigade office, and the remaining three rooms were used as the brigade's warehouse, storing farm tools and grain.

The autumn harvest had just ended a few days ago, and some of the educated youth were resting while others were turning over vegetable plots and drying vegetables.

When Chen Zhi came over, two educated youths saw her, but they only glanced at her, didn't say anything, and continued with their own business.

Chen Zhi was unpopular in the village, and also at the educated youth settlement.

She walked around the five rooms of the educated youth settlement and headed to the back, where there was a separate, even smaller room where Xi Lang lived.

Xi Lang initially lived with other educated youth, but later, for some reason, rumors spread that he had a mental illness and was acting strangely, so no one wanted to live with him and he moved out.

He lived alone in this house and paid three yuan in rent to the brigade every year.

Chen Zhi had been here before, but she hadn't been since Xi Lang moved here.

Xi Lang set up a stove in front of the house. He cut the grass carp into pieces, used the head to make soup, and salted the rest to eat tomorrow and the day after.

He was somewhat surprised to see Chen Zhi approaching.

"I've come to get my share of cakes for today," Chen Zhi said. She wondered if it was just her imagination, but the closer she got to Xi Lang's house, the lower the temperature seemed to be.

This Xi Lang is indeed somewhat sinister.

"Wait, I'll go get it for you."

Xi Lang turned and went back into the house, bringing out two multigrain pancakes in a rough earthenware bowl. "I made these this morning, they're already cold."

Chen Zhi swallowed hard. "It's nothing."

She was so hungry that her stomach was practically touching her back; she could accept anything, even raw, let alone cold food.

Xi Lang handed her the bowl, and Chen Zhi took it, walked to the steps to the side, and sat down to eat.

Really fragrant!

It's also chewy!

Chen Zhi chewed quickly, and the two pancakes were gone in less than five minutes.

Chen Zhi felt she was about 60% full.

"The fish soup is ready, would you like a bowl?" Xi Lang asked.

Chen Zhi's eyes lit up. She turned to look at the casserole dish that was emitting a fragrant aroma and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, thank you."

The fish soup was milky white, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and looked very appealing.

Xi Lang filled a bowl to the brim for Chen Zhi and placed it on the flat ground in front of her. "It's very hot, be careful."

Chen Zhi looked up and met a pair of dark eyes, deep and unfathomable, like the starry night sky.

Such eyes, when they look at people, can make people feel afraid for no reason.