Chapter 75: The Big Liu Team Is About to Boil Over!
Outside her little kitchen, Ning Xiyue heard Chen Yechu and Xia Zhipeng talking.
Ning Xiyue tiptoed closer to the wall, ready to eavesdrop. You can’t just ignore gossip that’s delivered straight to your door — and you can’t blame her for listening in. She was simply following the will of heaven by overhearing it.
Little Turtle stood on top of his host’s head. Seeing that his host was once again preparing to eat melon and watch drama, he resigned himself to his fate and helped shield her presence so the people outside wouldn’t notice. He even dampened the surrounding noise a little, allowing her to hear everything more clearly.
Ning Xiyue suddenly realized she was hearing things far more clearly than before — it was like someone had turned on a TV at full volume right outside the wall, and the voices were drilling straight into her ears.
“System, was that you?” she asked with her mind.
The little turtle complained gloomily, “Host, I’m basically becoming your melon-eating bodyguard at this point. Why don’t we just rename me the ‘One-Stop Gossip & Sign-In System’?”
“Calm down, calm down. No matter what kind of system you are, you’re the best one — I love you the most. Let’s focus. Without internet or phones in this era, your host’s only entertainment is watching drama and eating melons.”
After soothing her system, Ning Xiyue focused on the voices outside again.
A voice a little farther away called out to Chen Yechu — it was Xia Zhipeng.
“Yechu, I’m telling the truth. I heard it myself — the captain and the Party secretary were talking.”
Ning Xiyue wondered what big news Xia Zhipeng might have overheard.
Chen Yechu was unmoved and replied coldly:
“What’s that got to do with me? And what’s it got to do with you? Stop pestering me, or I’ll throw you into the manure pit again. Maybe that’ll knock some sense into your brain.”
Wait… was Xia Zhipeng the one Chen Yechu pushed into the manure pit? Now that’s juicy gossip! Chen Yechu was more ruthless than she looked. But then, how had Li Jiandang ended up falling in?
Ning Xiyue kept listening.
“Yechu, how about— Xia Zhipeng, why are you here? What do you want? Have you even washed that stench off? I can still smell piss and shit — it’s disgusting.”
A man’s voice spoke — cheerful at first, but immediately switching to guarded and then viciously mocking when he saw Xia Zhipeng.
Isn’t that Yu Zhiyu’s voice? The ex-husband and the current male lead were both present now.
Who would have thought that the usually quiet bookworm Yu Zhiyu had such a sharp tongue?
After exchanging a few words, Xia Zhipeng left, clearly upset.
Only Chen Yechu and Yu Zhiyu were left outside, still talking, so Ning Xiyue kept listening.
“Don’t listen to what Xia Zhipeng says. He must’ve misheard something. And even if he heard Comrade Ning Xiyue’s name mentioned, that kind of thing is impossible.”
Inside, Ning Xiyue almost dropped her melon. Why is my name involved in this?!
She’d been minding her own business, and now the melon was about her?
“Xia Zhipeng’s talking nonsense. Even if there isn’t a slot, even if the team wins the Advanced Collective award and gets a worker-peasant-soldier university recommendation, it has nothing to do with us. Do you really think old educated youths like Wu Guifang and Zhao Jianshe are just going to sit back and do nothing?”
Chen Yechu let out a mocking laugh.
“We just came to the countryside. We haven’t contributed anything to the team, and we’re always causing trouble and annoying the captain. And we still think we can get a recommendation spot? Dream on.”
“Even though Xiyue has contributed to the team, she hasn’t been here long. It’d still be difficult for her to get it. If there’s a spot, the captain will definitely give it to a local member first — and if not, then to one of the old educated youths. Xia Zhipeng’s daydreams are ridiculous.”
Ning Xiyue remembered that in her previous life, their team hadn’t even won the Advanced Collective award — they’d narrowly lost to another team that had started a side business. Whether they’d win this time was still uncertain.
Besides, even if they did win and get a recommendation to a worker-peasant-soldier university, she wouldn’t fight for it. The college entrance exam would be reinstated in just two years — wouldn’t it be much better for her to get into university on her own? Competing for a recommendation with no real prestige? What a waste of energy.
From Chen Yechu’s words, Ning Xiyue had already pieced together the situation.
She had to admit, the male and female leads were bold — talking about all this in such a crowded place like the educated youth compound. Perfect for a gossip-loving spectator like her.
They talked a bit more.
Putting everything together, Ning Xiyue figured out the full story:
Today, Xia Zhipeng had accidentally overheard the captain and the Party secretary talking. They’d mentioned that if their team won the Advanced Collective title, they might get a worker-peasant-soldier university recommendation.
Going to university was the ultimate dream for this group of educated youths. Once they graduated, they’d be guaranteed a job assignment, they could leave the countryside, return to the city, and become admired college students.
Even though Xia Zhipeng’s family was well-off, the chance to go to university was still extremely tempting for him.
He was very interested.
Later, he heard the captain mention Ning Xiyue’s name. In reality, he had misheard — the captain had said that her award could increase the team’s chances of winning the Advanced Collective title.
But Xia Zhipeng thought the captain had a soft spot for Ning Xiyue and felt threatened.
When work ended and everyone was delivering their harvested grain to the dam, Xia Zhipeng saw Chen Yechu ahead and tried to pursue her again. He wanted to share the news with her, got a little too excited, and started speculating that Ning Xiyue’s chances were very high. When he tried to grab Chen Yechu’s arm, she dodged — and he nearly fell into the manure pit.
Unfortunately for him, Li Jiandang saw it and tried to play the hero, hoping to win Chen Yechu’s favor. He ran over and shoved Xia Zhipeng, and the two started scuffling.
Just then, another male lead — Yu Zhiyu — appeared. He happened to be nearby, saw the scene, and rushed over to protect Chen Yechu, pulling her away from the chaos.
Somehow, the two men shoving each other both fell into the manure pit.
Ning Xiyue suspected that maybe Chen Yechu had helped things along a little — pushing the scumbag into the muck — but no one noticed. After all, he was the scumbag who’d wasted the heroine’s youth.
If it were her, she’d make sure to pay back every bit of the suffering the scumbag caused in their previous life, regardless of whether he’d done anything wrong in this one.
Little Turtle nodded silently, admitting that his host’s deduction was basically accurate. The whole thing had indeed happened pretty much as she guessed.
After the two people outside finished talking, they left and returned to the main part of the educated youth compound.
Ning Xiyue sat beside Little Grey Wolf’s nest, resting her chin in one hand while absentmindedly petting Little Grey with the other.
“Host, aren’t you going out?”
Ning Xiyue gave Little Turtle a you just don’t get it look.
“Go out for what? If I go out now, I might as well have ‘I heard everything you just said’ written across my face. No rush — I’m not on cooking duty today anyway.”
“Then are you thinking about the worker-peasant-soldier university quota?”
“Mm. If this is real, then things are going to get fun. The entire Big Liu Team is about to boil over. And you know there’s no way I’m missing a front-row seat to all that drama. Who knows — maybe this whole year will be one big show.”
Tapping her cheek with her finger and staring into the air with an expectant smile, she said:
“I heard from Aunt Yangliu that once the autumn harvest is over and the grain’s been handed in, the results for the Advanced Collective evaluation will be announced. That’s only a few days away now. The team’s about to get lively!”
