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That slight reluctance couldn't compare to the temptation of going home. Yezhi got up feeling refreshed, thinking this was the last time she would prepare a lunchbox for Xiaobinzi. She truly showcased her skills by cooking fragrant rice with mixed mushrooms and salt, then shaping it into triangular rice balls. She made an omelet with eggs and scallions, cutting a piece to pop into her mouth—it was delicious! After that, she arranged steamed meat patties with dried bamboo shoots and stir-fried corn with pine nuts in the metal lunchbox, creating a vivid contrast of yellow and green that made one's mouth water.
For breakfast, Yezhi slacked off, finishing off last night's leftover pickled shredded pork with the extra omelet. She left a note for Xiaobinzi: "Remember to take the lunchbox; breakfast is self-service!" Then she slung her cloth bag over her shoulder and headed to class.
Today was the last day of training, and it was also the earliest Yezhi had ever arrived. In the classroom, apart from her and Qian Jiazhen, there was no one else. The empty classroom felt extremely cold. Yezhi thought that Northeastern people had a better tolerance for the cold; even Qian Jiazhen wasn't afraid of it. Unlike her, who lit the heater and clung to it, not wanting to leave.
Gradually, more people filled the classroom. Zhang Ling pulled Yezhi aside to chat, saying, "Sister Ye, your alcohol tolerance is really poor; don't drink anymore!" Yezhi covered her face—had she acted foolishly while drunk? She wanted to ask but felt embarrassed, so she could only nod honestly and say, "I won't drink anymore!"
The ringing of a bell echoed as Teacher He walked into the classroom. He distributed the exam papers one by one. When Yezhi received hers from him, Teacher He smiled slightly at her and said, "Student Ye, you scored 198 points and ranked first in the class!"
There was an uproar behind Yezhi; 198 points! The second-place Lu Xiaoli only scored 170 points—28 points lower! It was astonishing! Yezhi was naturally very happy to have achieved first place in the class.
"Sister Ye, that's awesome!" Zhang Ling exclaimed excitedly. Lu Xiaoli's face turned sour; she was determined to step on Yezhi and couldn't accept that 28-point gap. "How could it be so much higher? I want to see!" Lu Xiaoli snatched two of Yezhi's exam papers and flipped through them repeatedly before returning to her seat defeated.
Teacher He offered some encouraging words, summarizing that this group of new private teachers would have specific job arrangements come spring next year.
"Sister Ye, did you know there's a job opportunity in town for our training class?" Zhang Ling whispered excitedly to her. Yezhi wasn't interested; staying in town might be a chance for other rural kids to transform from a mountain chicken into a phoenix, but it held no appeal for her. She had plenty on her plate already; come spring, things would only get busier as she needed to develop the barren hillside back home and plant peach trees!
Seeing that Yezhi was quickly packing up without caring about her own job arrangements, Zhang Ling hung her head in disappointment. What good was it if only she cared? "Sister Ye, I won't let you go!"
"What nonsense are you talking? I'm going home; you should be happy for me! Come on, smile!" It would be surprising if Zhang Ling managed to smile. Sighing, Yezhi thought about how relationships between people often depended on fate. She felt just as reluctant as Zhang Ling did. "Sister, I'll wait for you to come play in Zhoujiatun!"
Zhang Ling took out a white handkerchief embroidered with "Winter Beauty" and handed it to Yezhi. "Here! I will definitely come! Sister Ye, this is for you."
Yezhi accepted the handkerchief, picked up her bundle, said goodbye to Zhang Ling, and walked away without looking back.
……
Aunt Zhou saw Yezhi coming home late again under the stars and scolded her angrily. This girl just wouldn't listen; night roads were so unsafe!
Niu Niu rushed into her arms and rubbed against her affectionately while gazing at her without blinking. Black Treasure behaved unusually; instead of enthusiastically rushing over, he turned his back on her.
Yezhi deliberately kissed Niu Niu with a smacking sound and pressed down on the Pet Communicator sweetly saying, "Good children are loved! Niu Niu, you're the best listener; your sister loves you most!"
Niu Niu received countless warm kisses from the owner and felt very happy! Black Treasure was pitiful, turning its back to Yezhi, tears welling up in its eyes, sobbing, "Mama Bear, don't want me anymore!"
At this moment, Black Treasure, despite its large size, appeared small under the candlelight. Hearing Black Treasure's heartfelt voice, Yezhi unceremoniously kicked its chubby backside, saying, "Black Treasure, haven’t you seen your sister come back? Come here, let’s hug."
Black Treasure let out a low growl and pounced into Yezhi's embrace. With a big grin on its face, it smiled happily. The feedback from the "Pet Communicator" left Yezhi stunned; Black Treasure said: children with mothers are like treasures.
After a simple meal, Yezhi lay down on her own bed and chatted casually with Aunt Zhou about things in the city. As they talked, she unconsciously drifted off to sleep.
……
Yezhi kept brushing the snow off her Cotton Padded Jacket, and Black Treasure mimicked her, making a loud sound as it patted itself. "Sister Ye, do it again!" One Egg shouted excitedly and proudly. Yezhi formed a snowball without hesitation and threw it at One Egg. The snowball missed the laughing One Egg, scattering everywhere. Yezhi was in tears; she never expected that having a snowball fight would require skill. She had just played several rounds of snowball fights with One Egg, Er Zhu, and the dog, but she was no match for these mischievous kids. She lost terribly, not only did she hit Black Treasure, turning it into a polar bear, but also buried Niu Niu in a snow pit where it couldn't move. With no skills to counterattack, Niu Niu almost exploded in anger, but Yezhi managed to calm it down after much effort.
"I'm done! You little brats are teaming up to bully me!" Yezhi trudged away from the battlefield step by step.
At that moment, Brother Zhang, Xiao Cheng, One Gun Brother, and Uncle Zhou passed by. "Yezi, what's wrong?" They asked with concern upon seeing Yezhi puffed up with anger.
Yezhi shamelessly pointed at the kids to complain: "They bullied me! I'm not playing with them anymore!"
One Gun Brother glared fiercely at One Egg. "You little rascal dare to bully your Sister Ye? Are you itching for trouble?" One Egg looked extremely wronged. "I didn’t do anything…!"
"Still talking back! I heard you yelling from far away!" Taking advantage of the moment, Yezhi packed a large snowball and threw it at One Egg. He got hit and ended up with snow all over his face, wide-eyed in shock as he exclaimed: "Sister Ye, you can't do that!"
The dog chimed in: "Sister Ye, that's not fair."
Yezhi chuckled: "Doggy has learned some good idioms! Xiao Cheng, why didn’t you teach the kids that all is fair in war?" Called out by Yezhi, Xiao Cheng was left speechless; this girl had a ton of twisted logic. "One Egg, remember what the teacher said about being magnanimous? Don’t argue with your childish Sister Ye." As the teacher of the kids, he firmly stood by their side.
Uncle Zhou watched with a smile as Yezhi, Xiao Cheng, and the kids engaged in a verbal battle. One Gun Brother laughed heartily. "With Yezi back, there’s more laughter in the village." Brother Zhang nodded in agreement.
Amidst the chaos of voices from Xiao Cheng and the kids attacking her verbally, Yezhi wrinkled her nose and lamented: "I’ve only been gone for a few days; how could people's hearts scatter so quickly!" Just as she finished speaking, there were startled cries from Xiao Cheng and the kids. It turned out that Black Treasure had built a snow fort and was waving its paws to send snow flying everywhere. The kids and Xiao Cheng were caught in a snow ambush.
Curious about how such an honest creature like Black Treasure came up with this idea—and then ran away right after—she soon understood when she saw Niu Niu perched on top of Black Treasure. This little one had quite the vengeful spirit. Sharing knowing smiles, Uncle Zhou, One Gun Brother, and even more exaggeratedly laughing on the ground was Brother Zhang. They all felt that there was no one smarter than this bear-like creature.
After some fun playing around, they returned home just after dinner when the Village Uncle came to visit her family. "Yezi, you've been back for four days now; we’ve only managed to build a small wooden cart. Before Spring Festival, I’m afraid we won’t make it. Besides, we haven’t received the loan money yet." The Village Head had run around tirelessly but had only managed to secure 7,000 yuan; the other 3,000 yuan was pooled together by villagers to finally reach 10,000 yuan. At that time when it happened, since she wasn’t around to know about everyone pooling money together, if she had known earlier, she definitely wouldn’t have let them do it. However, she had already discussed with Village Uncle about selling all the fish and ducks from the rice fields before Spring Festival so that everyone could have a prosperous New Year.
"Village Uncle, I actually don't want to build the workshop before the Spring Festival. I just want the villagers who don't raise pigs at home to not worry about oil."
Zhou Village Head stared at Yezhi and laughed heartily, "Yezhi, are you talking about yourself?" Yezhi pretended to be angry and said, "Village Uncle, I didn't expect you to think of me this way. Am I that narrow-minded? I truly care for the people in the village." Zhou Village Head stroked his precious beard but remained silent with a smile.
That night, heavy snow fell all night, blanketing the mountain village in white. Yezhi, wearing fur-lined boots, trudged through the snow, panting. The snow was thicker than yesterday, crunching underfoot and requiring considerable effort to walk.
"Niu Niu, can you get down and walk by yourself?" With a dogskin hat on her head and Niu Niu added to the mix, Yezhi felt like her neck was about to break.
Niu Niu reluctantly jumped down with a "Woof woof," its small body instantly buried in the soft snow. It let out a roar, and suddenly a crackling sound echoed as the snow melted into water. Wherever Ciliu went after transforming, the snow automatically parted. Yezhi followed behind Niu Niu, walking much more easily.
Yezhi was heading into the mountains to gather firewood. Who told her she was afraid of the cold? This year there was no corn or tangerine peels for heating, and all the straw at home had already been used up. At this moment, there was hardly any firewood left for cooking.
Yezhi deeply appreciated the convenience of life in the county town; Coal Balls were incredibly useful.
Fortunately, she didn't have to walk too far and found some dry branches in a small grove. Niu Niu continued its snow-melting work while Yezhi's basket filled up with more and more dry branches. Suddenly, a rabbit's desperate scream caught her attention. Niu Niu stood on the melted snow, while a clumsy rabbit twitched beside it.
"Oh~! How tragic!"
Yezhi called out to Niu Niu and picked up a plump rabbit weighing five pounds, smiling with squinted eyes. In her heart, she sang: We have meat to eat now! Niu Niu, praised by Yezhi, happily dashed around.
Suddenly, Niu Niu kept barking "Woof woof," "What prey is it after again?" Yezhi looked excitedly in that direction and saw bright red where Niu Niu was standing after the snow melted away.
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