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

In mid-August, Xi Lang neither returned nor wrote back.

The corn and soybeans are ready to be harvested. Chen Zhi has to work every day and also take care of the three pigs at home.

She gets up early in the morning and cooks the pig feed for the day, feeding them once in the morning, once at noon, and once more when she gets back in the evening. Now that the weather is hot, the pigs can eat cold food, which makes things easier.

The family's well hadn't been dug yet, so Chen Zhi had to fetch water every day after work.

Nowadays, only the people in the educated youth settlement know that Chen Zhi raised pigs, and they see her busy with both work and household chores every day, and they have mixed feelings about it.

I thought such a demanding life would leave Chen Zhi looking haggard and worn out, but she seemed completely at ease. For example, when they went to fetch water together at night, Zhao Jinbao always had to exert all his strength to keep up with her.

What's even more outrageous is that while Zhao Jinbao was always panting heavily, Chen Zhi remained calm and composed.

One day, Chen Zhi told Zhao Jinbao that she was going to dig a well.

Zhao Jinbao was taken aback. "The ground here is all rock. Without tools, choosing a site is a problem. I'm afraid that we'll dig up rocks while we're digging, and not only will we have wasted our work, but we'll also have to fill the soil back up."

"I've already chosen a spot." To be precise, she's already dug six meters deep. She's dug a width of forty or fifty centimeters, just enough for one person to stand in, and hasn't encountered any rocks. Her next task is to enlarge the well.

Zhao Jinbao was stunned for a long time after hearing her words, and after a while, he gave her a thumbs up and said, "Little sister, you're amazing!"

Chen Zhi remained silent; she was simply looking for something to do to pass the time since she couldn't sleep at night.

As a result, he was too strong and dug to a depth of six meters, but it only took him two nights.

Chen Zhi can now earn nine work points a day. Part of her daily work involves carrying and lifting heavy objects.

"Zhizhi, take a rest for a while," Cai Hongmei said to Chen Zhi.

Cai Hongmei also earns nine work points a day and works extremely hard.

Chen Zhi stood next to Cai Hongmei, drinking water from a military green water bottle.

Cai Hongmei stood with her back against a pile of sacks, panting heavily, constantly wiping the sweat from her forehead and neck with her sleeve. She looked at Chen Zhi's upright posture; although her clothes were also soaked with sweat, she still looked energetic.

"Young people are just different; their physical strength is admirable," Cai Hongmei sighed. At this age, Chen Zhi is the only one in the whole village who can earn nine work points, even more impressive than she was back then.

A month or two ago, people were comparing Chen Zhi and Chen Xiuzhen. Both of them had married educated youth and were doing well. But now, looking at them again, Chen Xiuzhen is a worker at the supply and marketing cooperative, always clean and dressed up nicely, while Chen Zhi has to work in the fields, which is dirty and tiring. She can't compare to Chen Xiuzhen at all.

It's a pity about Chen Zhi. She's so beautiful. If she had finished high school, it wouldn't have been difficult for her to marry someone in town.

Xi Lang is the same; the autumn harvest is over and he still hasn't come back. How many work points will he lose? Unlike Li Zhou'an, who passed the teacher's exam. Because he was an educated youth sent to the countryside, his grain ration couldn't be transferred. When his children were in school, he would go to teach and get paid. During holidays, he would come back to work. At the end of the year, he could also get grain and money. He had two sources of income, which made the villagers very envious.

In contrast, Chen Zhi is now all alone at home and outside. At such a young age, she has suffered a lot.

If Cai Hongmei knew that Chen Zhi had to dig a well after finishing work and returning home, she would probably be even more disappointed.

In the following days, every day after finishing her work, Chen Zhi would pick up a few stones on her way home and take them with her.

After the corn harvest was finished, her well had also been dug and built, and it was ready to use.

At first, the water was a bit murky, and Chen Zhi used it to water the vegetables. After two or three days, the water in the well became very clear.

Chen Zhi scooped up some water with a ladle and drank a few mouthfuls, discovering that it was just as good as the mountain spring water.

That day, when Zhao Jinbao came to ask Chen Zhi to fetch water, Chen Zhi told him, "My well is finished, you can just come here to fetch water."

Zhao Jinbao was taken aback again. "When did this happen?"

Aren't they busy with the autumn harvest these days?

Every day after harvesting the crops, she couldn't wait to collapse into bed. When did she dig the well?

Zhao Jinbao carried two full buckets of water back to the educated youth settlement.

Yang Wenyu was the first to notice something was wrong. "Didn't you just leave?"

Zhao Jinbao: "This was fetched from next door. Chen Zhi dug a well, so we can just fetch water from there from now on. By the way, do you know when she dug the well?"

"Did she dig a well?"

"When was it dug up?"

How could they not know?

Logically speaking, living so close by, they shouldn't have been completely unaware of such a big undertaking as digging a well.

Moreover, Xi Lang wasn't home. How could she, a girl, have dug out the well?

The people at the educated youth settlement were curious and came over one by one to look at Chen Zhi's well and try to draw water.

"This is so convenient; it allows you to fill a bucket with water in one go."

"Although the place to fetch water isn't far, it's still different from having your own well. With your own well, you can use it freely without worrying about the cost."

"It also saves a lot of trouble; carrying water to rinse vegetables is time-consuming and laborious."

"Chen Zhi is very thoughtful."

They envied Chen Zhi's well, but no one suggested digging one themselves. Firstly, they were too busy to do so; secondly, wells were difficult to dig, otherwise the whole village wouldn't be carrying water by hand.

Too lazy to bother.

At the end of August, Li Zhouan and Chen Xiuzhen got married, and Chen Zhi went to help wash vegetables and dishes.

Li Zhou'an was dressed in a brand-new suit, while Chen Xiuzhen wore a red dress with a skirt and a red suit jacket. She also wore a red hair flower. The two women looked stunning.

There were many people attending the wedding; it was lively and very festive.

"Except for the fact that the food wasn't as lavish as what Xi Lang and Chen Zhi had eaten, it's one of the best in the surrounding villages," an aunt whispered.

"Hey, tell me, is Xi Lang's family better off, or is Li Zhou'an's family better off?"

"We don't know, we don't understand what those two families do."

"Xi Lang hasn't shown up for a long time. Why did it take him so long to go back and visit someone in the hospital? Weren't they supposed to send the educated youth back? He's been gone for over a month now, and he hasn't been sent back yet."

"Maybe they have connections at home and managed to keep him here."

"What will happen to Chen Zhi if he stays in the city and doesn't come back?"

"Shh, keep your voice down, don't let Chen Zhi hear this. Chen Zhi is also pitiful, she finally got married, but her husband ran away."

"Chen Zhi didn't lose out even though Xi Lang ran away. It's such a big brick house. She can live in such a big house by herself, without her parents-in-law or her husband's younger sister and brother-in-law. How carefree she is!"

"Without anyone to care for you, you have to carry everything on your own. It's not easy."

"..."

Chen Zhi didn't want to hear these words, but they still entered her ears word for word.

It's been forty-seven days, why hasn't Xi Lang come back yet?

Will he come back?

After the wedding, Chen Zhi helped clean up the dishes and then went home.

A moment later, Zhao Jinbao brought her a plate of leftovers. "These are the leftovers from today, don't mind them."

As he spoke, his gaze inadvertently fell on the stove above Chen Zhi, where he saw about a dozen strips of smoked meat hanging, each weighing about two or three pounds. In addition to the pork, there were also four or five large fish, which looked to weigh no less than forty or fifty pounds.

Zhao Jinbao was stunned. "How come you have so much meat on you?"

"It was a gift from Xi Lang's friend." The meat was sent to her by Shi Xin after he learned that she had worked hard during the autumn harvest. The fish was caught by her herself in the underground river in the cave. She also gave a few to Shi Xin, so it can be considered a reciprocal gift.

Whose friend sent so many gifts?!

Zhao Jinbao felt that his plate of leftovers was a bit too hot to handle. He had specifically chosen it, and it contained several slices of meat, but compared to the meat Chen Zhi had, it was indeed not presentable.

"If you don't want to eat it, you can use it to feed the pigs," Zhao Jinbao said, though he felt a pang of heartache.

Chen Zhi shook her head, "Such good food is a waste to feed to pigs."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jinbao breathed a sigh of relief. "By the way, how many pigs do you raise? We knew you raised pigs, but we've never seen them before."

"Three heads. They're in that room; you can go take a look."

Chen Zhi was preparing pig feed. She carried the feed over and poured it into the stone trough. The three pigs rushed over, burying their mouths in the feed and making smacking noises.

Zhao Jinbao stood at the door, looking on with envy. "This pig must weigh over 80 jin (40 kg), right? You only started raising it recently, didn't you?"

"They were about this size when I brought them back." Chen Zhi lied. They weighed fifty or sixty pounds when she brought them back, and now they must weigh at least eighty pounds. They gained twenty or thirty pounds in a month, which is obviously not right.

But she couldn't explain what went wrong.

Not only these few pigs, but the vegetables and crops in the field are also growing very fast.

Every time Zhao Jinbao came to fetch water, he would praise her vegetable garden.

"When the pigs are slaughtered at the end of the year, can I pre-order 20 or 30 jin (10-15 kg)?" Zhao Jinbao asked, swallowing hard.

Chen Zhi nodded, "Okay."

"It's settled then. I want thirty jin. Write it down," Zhao Jinbao instructed.

Chen Zhi: "I'll take a notebook and write it down in a bit."

She planned to keep one of the three pigs, give half to the Shi family, and sell the remaining half to a few households in the village with whom she had a good relationship.

After harvesting corn, soybeans, and peanuts, sweet potatoes and potatoes were planted. Next, rice was harvested. After the rice was harvested, dried, and weighed, it was time to hand over the grain to the state.

The men were responsible for delivering grain taxes; the women did not participate.

Several male educated youths from next door went.

As soon as Zhao Jinbao returned, he called out to Chen Zhi through the fence, "Chen Zhi, I have good news to tell you."

Chen Zhi was digging sweet potatoes in the field when she heard this. She stood up straight, turned around, and asked, "What good news?"

"The town is going to open a free market where we can buy and sell things without needing tickets," Zhao Jinbao said excitedly.

This was the first time Chen Zhi had heard of a free market. "You can buy and sell things freely, and the commune doesn't care anymore?"

"Of course they manage it! Not everything can be bought and sold. We'll have to wait for the commune's official document to find out exactly what can't be bought and sold. But what's certain is that agricultural products can be sold. We can sell the vegetables we grow, the chickens and ducks we raise, and the mountain produce and small game we hunt. Chen Zhi, aren't you good at hunting? You could catch a few pheasants and birds and sell them; you should make a good amount of money. Oh, and you're good at catching fish too; you could catch fish and sell them." Zhao Jinbao said enviously as he listed them off.