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

Chen Ye craned her neck to look into Chen Zhi's bucket and found only snails. Dissatisfaction immediately appeared on her face. "Why are there only snails? Where are the fish?"

"Didn't catch any," Chen Zhi said calmly. "If you want fish, go catch them yourselves."

Chen Ye gritted her teeth. If they could catch fish, would they need her?

Chen Mu couldn't help but feel disappointed. "Go catch fish again tomorrow, and give us the snails."

"Why should I?" Chen Zhi placed the snail behind her back. "It's my stuff."

Chen Mu frowned. "You were born of our mother. Can't she even eat a little bit of your snails?"

Chen Zhi sneered, "Who wants to eat it, you or Mom?"

"Of course Mom wants to eat it. If you don't believe me, come home with us and ask Mom." Chen Mu said confidently.

"Only a fool would go with you." Her mother wouldn't side with her anyway, so going would be pointless.

"Then hand over the snails in the bucket." Chen Mu reached out to grab them.

Chen Zhi slapped his hand away, "I said I won't give it to you, don't force me to hit you."

"You can try," Chen Mu said, rolling up his sleeves. "I don't need you to hit me; I, as your older brother, will deal with you first, you disobedient little sister."

Chen Zhi put down the bucket. "It's still uncertain who will clean up whom!"

The two were on the verge of fighting, and the people nearby couldn't help but gather around, their faces filled with excitement at the spectacle, and not one of them tried to stop them.

"What happened?"

Xi Lang took the shirt and walked towards Chen Zhi, draping it over her shoulders as if no one else was around, covering her shapely figure.

She was so oblivious that she didn't notice the men's eyes scanning her up and down.

Xi Lang wanted to kill someone. He thought he wouldn't let her come tomorrow, but if she insisted on coming, he would accompany her.

"They tried to steal my snails," Chen Zhi complained. She hadn't felt wronged before Xi Lang arrived, but as soon as she saw him, she inexplicably felt aggrieved, her nose stung, and she wanted to cry.

"Why did you ask us to steal your snails?" Chen Mu said, displeased, looking at Xi Lang. "Brother-in-law, my mother said she wanted to eat snails, and Chen Zhi happened to have so many in the bucket. It's not unreasonable for us to share some, is it?"

My mother-in-law just wanted to eat some snails; it wasn't an unreasonable request. Besides, you have so many, she only wanted to share a little. How could you refuse her?

The onlookers looked at Chen Zhi with accusatory eyes, thinking that she had raised this daughter for nothing.

"This bucket isn't enough for us," Xi Lang said calmly.

Chen Mu's eyes widened. "How could so much not be enough!"

"There's not much meat in snails to begin with, and we have big appetites, so it's naturally not enough for us." At this point, Xi Lang's expression turned strange. "If your mother-in-law wants to eat snails, then you're here for her. You're Zhizhi's older brother and sister. If Zhizhi can find so many snails, why can't you? If you can't find any, then wait another day. I'll find some after work tomorrow and bring them to your mother-in-law."

Chen Mu gritted his teeth, "No need, we'll find it ourselves."

Xi Lang nodded, "That works too."

He picked up the bucket and said to Chen Zhi, "Let's go, let's go home."

On the way back, Chen Zhi looked at Xi Lang's tall figure and felt inexplicably at ease.

It feels so good to be protected by someone.

"Are you really going to collect some river snails and bring them to my house tomorrow?"

"Okay, I'll go collect some river snails and deliver them to your house, just like that."

If he doesn't give his mother-in-law the food, people will talk about Chen Zhi behind her back, and he can't bear to see her being gossiped about.

"Then I'll go with you."

Chen Zhi thought for a moment and told him about Chen Ye asking her to catch fish. She said in a dissatisfied tone, "It's not like I'm getting married. Why should I go catch fish to entertain her? I'm not going."

"Then we won't go." Xi Lang couldn't help but feel sorry for her. How much injustice had she suffered over the past ten years?

"If they ask you to make the arrest, don't agree. Just say you can't."

"Hmm, I won't catch them."

On their way back, the two ran into people from the educated youth settlement. They were also carrying buckets of water, but they all had long faces and looked unhappy.

Chen Zhi looked into their bucket and saw a fishing net and a few small fish, each about the size of a finger.

Li Zhou'an, Zhao Jinbao, and the others also saw Chen Zhi. When they saw that Chen Zhi's bucket contained snails, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Chen Zhi hadn't caught any fish today, otherwise they would have been even more depressed.

"Zhou An—"

Chen Xiuzhen was carrying a net bag containing several oranges.

"Oh my, Xiuzhen is bringing fruit to Zhou'an again." Yang Wenyu said with a suggestive smile.

Chen Xiuzhen blushed slightly. "Today, the supply and marketing cooperative brought two baskets of oranges. I used my quota to buy two jin (1 kg) and brought a few for Zhou'an to try."

She only bought two jin (1 kg), but Chen Xiuzhen had five or six in her net bag, showing how generous she was to Li Zhou'an.

"They always think of Zhou'an when they get good things. Tsk tsk, Zhou'an is so lucky." Yang Wenyu said with envy.

Li Zhou'an rolled her eyes at him. "Are you done? If you're done, you can get lost."

"Get lost, I'm leaving now, I won't bother you anymore." Yang Wenyu walked away with a grin.

Zhao Jinbao and the others also left.

Chen Zhi glanced at Chen Xiuzhen, then at Li Zhou'an, and thought to herself that the two were quite a good match.

"Shall we sit under the banyan tree?" Chen Xiuzhen suggested.

Li Zhou'an nodded and took the lead in walking under the banyan tree.

The two sat down under the banyan tree, about thirty centimeters apart.

"Zhou'an, do you want to go to town to be a teacher?" Chen Xiuzhen asked.

Li Zhou'an looked at Chen Xiuzhen, "Is the town hiring teachers?"

"Yes, we need to hire two primary school teachers. But there's an exam, and you have to pass both the exam and the background check to be eligible." Chen Xiuzhen was a little smug when she saw that Li Zhou'an was interested; she had put in a lot of effort to find out this information.

Li Zhou'an: "Can anyone take the exam, or are there any requirements?"

Chen Xiuzhen: "We don't recruit from outsiders; everyone recommends relatives and acquaintances. My uncle has some connections, so we can use his connections. But it will require some money for bribes, about a hundred yuan. With Zhou'an's abilities, you'll definitely stand out and get first place without any problem. If you can't come up with a hundred yuan, I'll have my dad pay for it for you."

Li Zhou'an: "No need, you've already helped me a lot. I'll pay the hundred yuan. I'll go home and get the money for you in a bit."

"Okay." Chen Xiuzhen was very happy. "Once you pass the teacher's exam, we can go to work in town together and come back together after get off work. I have a bicycle, you can give me a ride on it."

These days, the villagers keep talking about Chen Zhi, their tone full of envy. Chen Xiuzhen, however, doesn't care. It's just a brick house, what's so great about it? Once she and Li Zhou'an become workers and get government-subsidized food rations, who will care about that country house!

Li Zhou'an nodded, feeling a surge of joy at the thought of becoming a teacher in town.

"Zhou An—" Chen Xiuzhen's face suddenly turned red, and her eyes looked at Li Zhou An with a moist look.

Li Zhou'an looked at her, his Adam's apple bobbing, his voice suddenly hoarse, "What's wrong?"

"Let's get married once you pass the teacher's exam," Chen Xiuzhen said.

Li Zhou'an paused for a moment, then nodded after a long pause, "Okay."