With three superpowers at his fingertips, he could dominate the 1970s.

As darkness slowly descended, a heavy weight pressed down on the rooftops of Kaoshan Village. The barking of dogs rose and fell, mingling with the chatter of the villagers, until the group finally arrived at Kaoshan Village.

Under the old locust tree at the village entrance, several elderly men and women, wrapped in thick cotton-padded coats, craned their necks, their eyes openly scrutinizing each other.

"Another group of educated youth? This is the third batch, isn't it?"

"With such delicate skin and tender flesh, what kind of farm work can she do? She's just here to get her share of the food rations."

"Those guys from the past two years, always thinking about going back to the city, slacking off at work, have made the village girls and boys wild, thinking about all sorts of unrealistic things..."

Listening to these whispers, Jiang Zhiyu roughly understood the situation—the relationship between the former educated youth and the villagers was probably not very harmonious. She lowered her eyes and followed Captain Chen towards the educated youth settlement without stopping.

The educated youth settlement consisted of a row of adobe houses, divided into men's and women's sections. Zhang Qing, the male educated youth leader, and Li Hongmei, the female leader, came out to greet them. Seeing the large group, Li Hongmei frowned: "Captain Chen, why are there so many? The men's section can barely fit three men, and the women's section can only squeeze in four at most, and now five more... there's simply no room!"

Jiang Wenwen panicked upon hearing this, her eyes welling up with tears again: "Then where will we stay?"

Jiang Zhiyu's heart skipped a beat, and she spoke up at the opportune moment: "Captain Chen, are there any vacant houses in the village? Or... is it possible to build a house yourself?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at her. Captain Chen paused, then smiled wryly, "In the past, some male educated youth complained about the crowds and found their own places to live, but you're the first female educated youth to do so. Living outside isn't convenient; there are some good-for-nothings in the village and neighboring villages who just loaf around all day..."

"I'm not afraid of this." Jiang Zhiyu bent down and picked up a fist-sized stone from the ground. Amidst the gasps of the crowd, she squeezed her five fingers together—with a "crack," the stone was crushed into pieces!

Captain Chen's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and Jiang Wenwen shrank back in fright, a chill running down her neck—those slaps at the train station were definitely a mercy!

"I've been strong since I was a child, and I've even practiced military boxing. I can handle five strong men without any problem." Jiang Zhiyu patted the dust off his hands and said in a calm tone, "If anyone is blind and wants to lose an arm or a leg, feel free to come and get it."

Zhang Chong watched in astonishment and secretly gave her a thumbs up.

Captain Chen finally came to his senses, looked her up and down for a long time, and sighed: "Alright. You can squeeze into the educated youth settlement for the night. There's an old hunter's yard on the way into the mountains. The house is fairly tidy, but no one has lived there for two or three years, so it's very dusty. Besides... that place is too close to the mountains, and sometimes animals come down from the mountains and pass by. Are you really willing to stay there?"

Jiang Zhiyu was overjoyed. Close to the mountains? This was practically tailor-made for her! Her wood-type abilities would be perfect in the mountains, wouldn't they? And being far from the village made it easy for her to visit her parents at night—it was simply perfect.

"I'm willing to live here." She nodded. "I'm not afraid of these things. How much is the rent per month? I'd like to rent for two years."

"Two years?" Captain Chen was even more surprised. "Two yuan a month, twenty-four yuan a year. You really want to rent it?"

Jiang Zhiyu took out fifty yuan from her canvas bag and handed it over: "This is the rent for two years. Please use the remaining two yuan to have someone clean up. I'll go to town to pick up my package tomorrow, and I can move in this afternoon."

Captain Chen looked at the money, then at her, and finally took the money: "Okay, I'll take care of this for you."

The other educated youths were envious, especially Jiang Wenwen, whose lips moved but ultimately dared not say anything—let her live in the mountains? She wouldn't dare even if she had ten lives.

The female educated youth dormitory was a large communal room, already occupied by six older educated youths. Adding the five new women and Li Hongmei, there were a total of twelve people, so crowded that it was difficult to even turn over. Li Hongmei urged everyone to hurry up and tidy up, saying they could discuss other matters tomorrow.

Jiang Zhiyu chose a corner spot, quickly took out a sheet from her bag, and laid it out neatly. 0047 clicked its tongue in its mind: [Host, this environment is terrible! Thank goodness you're moving out!]

Jiang Zhiyu responded in her mind, then lay down and closed her eyes, but didn't actually fall asleep. Once everyone's breathing had evened out, she excused herself to go to the bathroom and slipped into her spatial dimension.

She ate a piece of compressed biscuit, rinsed her mouth with the spring water, and then returned to her dormitory. Perhaps she was too tired, or perhaps she felt at ease, but she slept exceptionally soundly that night, until she was awakened by the noise of the older educated youth in the early morning.

As dawn broke, the veteran educated youth were already carrying their farm tools, ready to go to work. The new educated youth also quickly got up and followed them to the brigade headquarters to collect their rations.

Captain Chen pointed to the grain in the corner: "Take twenty jin for now, fifteen jin of coarse grains and five jin of refined grains. If you want all refined grains, you can only take ten jin."

Except for Jiang Zhiyu, everyone else chose coarse grains—refined grains are precious, and they wanted to get as much as possible.

"I want ten catties of fine grains," Jiang Zhiyu said.

Captain Chen wasn't surprised and nodded, "Okay." He knew that those who could afford to rent a house certainly wouldn't be short of food.

After collecting her grain rations, Jiang Zhiyu returned to the educated youth settlement to put them down, then went back to the brigade headquarters. Brigade Leader Chen was waiting with a middle-aged woman and a young woman. Upon seeing her, he introduced them: "This is your Aunt Wang, my wife; this is Qiuyue, my eldest daughter-in-law."

"Hello Aunt Wang, hello Sister Qiuyue." Jiang Zhiyu greeted them with a smile, took out a pound of brown sugar and a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes from her bag, and stuffed them into Aunt Wang's hands. "It's a small token of my appreciation, thank you both."

Aunt Wang's eyes lit up, but she declined, saying, "This is too expensive..."

"Take it." Jiang Zhiyu smiled sincerely. "I live alone and don't need these. It just so happens that Aunt Wang's family has a happy occasion, so I'll share in the joy."

Qiuyue smiled and said, "Mom, it's a kind gesture from Xiaojiang, the educated youth, so please accept it. We promise to clean the house spotless!" She weighed the brown sugar in her hand, her heart filled with joy—this was a rare treat, enough to nourish her second brother's wife who was in postpartum confinement.

Seeing this, Captain Chen stopped refusing: "Then I'll thank you on behalf of your aunt. Don't worry, you'll definitely be able to stay when you come back this evening."

The three walked towards the courtyard at the foot of the mountain. The courtyard wall was indeed higher than the others, a good two and a half meters high, exuding a sturdy feel. Captain Chen unlocked the door, pushed it open, and a whiff of dust hit them.

The courtyard wasn't large, but it was quite compact. A walnut tree grew crookedly in the middle, next to a well covered with a stone slab. There were two main rooms, with a small kitchen in the corner; the chimney was blackened, clearly indicating that it used to be a place where cooking was done.

"The shed on the left is for storing firewood," Captain Chen pointed to the shed next to the door. "There's water in the well, so we need to clean out the sludge."

Jiang Zhiyu looked at the courtyard, becoming more and more satisfied: "It's quite good. Could you please have the brigade leader find someone to clean the well? You name your price."

She took out twenty yuan and handed it over. Captain Chen returned half of it: "Ten yuan is enough. It's just cleaning up sludge, not digging up new soil."

Jiang Zhiyu didn't refuse again and agreed with a smile. Her gaze swept across the west side of the village, where there was a row of houses that looked a bit like shacks, different from the houses where the villagers lived.

"Captain, what's that place over there?" she asked, seemingly casually.

Captain Chen followed her gaze and sighed, "That's a cowshed, where some...bad elements live." He lowered his voice, "Actually, they might not be bad people, just what the higher-ups said. Don't go near it; the Revolutionary Committee comes to inspect from time to time, and you'll get into trouble."

Jiang Zhiyu's heart skipped a beat, but she remained outwardly calm: "Is this the only place in our village?"

"Just two couples, they're quite law-abiding." Captain Chen didn't think much of it. "Alright, you should go to town now. Uncle Zhang's house is at the east end of the village, it's easy to find."

After thanking Captain Chen, Jiang Zhiyu walked towards the east end of the village. But a turmoil was brewing in her heart—could her parents be in those houses?

When Jiang Zhiyu found Uncle Zhang's house, the old man was sitting on the doorstep smoking a pipe. Jiang Zhiyu explained her purpose and handed him a dollar: "Uncle Zhang, could you please take me to town to pick up a package?"

Uncle Zhang's eyes lit up, and he stubbed out his pipe: "Great! Let's go now, I guarantee I'll bring you back!"