Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 127: Cutting Losses in Time

"I’m not cheap!"

Wu Yongfei emphasized seriously, "Only those who think about taking advantage of others all day long, as if giving a great favor, are truly cheap!"

The implication of these words was very clear, making it hard for Ning Haitao to pretend not to understand.

He was so angry that he trembled all over, opened his mouth to retort, but Bai Chen didn’t give him a chance to speak.

"Hey, Ning Zhiqing, you’re blocking the light standing there."

"What light?" he roared furiously, "It’s already dark."

"The lamp’s light isn’t light?"

Ge Sujuan slammed her chopsticks on the table, stood up and rolled up her sleeves, "I just want to ask you, are you leaving?"

If not, we’ll have a fight.

She didn’t say this, but her actions fully expressed her thoughts.

Yi Chichi and the others silently put down their chopsticks, stood up in unison and looked at him.

Ning Haitao, facing nine pairs of glaring eyes, shivered and hurriedly ran out.

"I’ll go, you all eat!"

Better to retreat than face the risk of being beaten up by the group.

Watching his embarrassed departure, Wu Yongfei snorted, "Got the guts of a mouse, but as shameless as a dog."

"You weren’t much better than him before."

Wang Nan was straightforward, "The only difference between you and him is that you listen to advice."

"Who listens to advice?!"

Wu Yongfei, feeling heated, reflexively retorted.

After speaking, he realized it wasn’t right, but what’s said is said and can’t be taken back.

He could only pretend to be calm and act as if he was all ears.

"You wanted to live off Liu Lan."

Concise and to the point, hitting straight to the core.

Wu Yongfei was speechless, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Yi Chichi and the others burst into laughter.

"What’s so funny?"

He muttered softly, then said fiercely, "Tonight, you guys wash the dishes. I’m on strike and taking a day off."

"Sure."

The dishes weren’t his responsibility; cooking was his job. The others took care of the fields and other miscellaneous tasks.

Yi Chichi handled the heavy household tasks, occasionally supplementing them with some extra food.

The cooperation was quite pleasant.

They hoped it could always continue this way.

It was a nice plan, but in reality, Guan Mingyue was discharged from the hospital after staying for a week.

It seemed she completely fell out with Yan Wanwan and the others.

Because the day after she came back, she brought her rice and flour to join them.

This caused quite a stir, making even the delicious stewed fish less appealing.

After exchanging glances, Yi Chichi and the others looked at her.

"You used to look down on us, saying even dogs wouldn’t eat our food."

"I’m sorry, I was wrong, I was blind!"

Quick to apologize and admit her mistakes, Guan Mingyue was very sincere.

Wang Nan couldn’t continue, signaling to Ge Sujuan — it was her turn.

Understanding her intentions, Ge Sujuan stood up straight, cleared her throat, and said seriously, "You can’t do any work, not even wash dishes without breaking them. We’re afraid you’d sell all our bowls (break them)."

"...I, I can learn."

Guan Mingyue felt a bit guilty; she had never done any work at home, as there was always a maid.

If she hadn’t been instigated by Yan Wanwan and Ning Haitao to go to the countryside with blurred judgment, she should now be working at a department store or the Friendship Store, instead of in Kao Shan Village.

"If that doesn’t work, I can offer an exchange!"

Yi Chichi thought, this girl was actually quite quick-witted.

The key thing was that she knew when to stop and cut her losses.

Seeing Ge Sujuan at a loss for words, she asked with interest, "What kind of exchange are you proposing?"

"I can share snacks and candies with you, and I won’t clean the dishes; you can decide. Does that sound okay?"

She was cautious, with a touch of flattery in her tone.

Yi Chichi touched her nose, "You should ask them."

She was also someone who didn’t contribute much, doing things similarly to her.

Therefore, she wouldn’t make the decision for Bai Chen and the others.

Whether to accept her into the group was up to Bai Chen and the others.

So, Guan Mingyue’s hopeful gaze fell on Bai Chen and the others.

Wu Yongfei was shamefully tempted; he cooked for a bunch of people every day, so one more or less didn’t really matter to him.

Bai Chen and the others thought similarly; they were poor and not too proud. Even with some extra food from Yi Chichi, their stomachs were still lacking.

Besides her, Guan Mingyue materially had more to offer.

Another person contributing, even if it wasn’t lavish meals, a bit of food at night when usually their stomachs burned with hunger would still be good.

They were truly sick of eating sweet potatoes!

With that in mind, Bai Chen squinted slightly, "Guan Zhiqing, we need to discuss this."

"Sure, I understand, take your time, I’ll wait outside for your decision."

Guan Mingyue knew that joining a well-integrated group wouldn’t be easy, especially since her prior behavior hadn’t been good.

It was normal for Bai Chen and the others to hesitate, and she didn’t blame them.

Therefore, she sensibly left.

Then, the group huddled together whispering.

"Should we let her join?"

Yi Chichi smiled, "You guys decide, I won’t get involved!"

So she was excluded from the discussion, with each of them expressing their views.

Attitudes varied.

Wu Yongfei, Zhou Qiuyu, and Qi Yang were in favor.

Wang Nan, Ge Sujuan, and Zhou Yadong were against it.

The senior members, Bai Chen and Zhang Yunhao, were indifferent.

Adding in the non-participant Yi Chichi, the votes for accepting and against were tied.

No one could convince the other.

Eventually, the final decision fell to Bai Chen.

Feeling the pressure, Bai Chen pondered for a moment, then tentatively said, "How about letting her join on trial for a few days, and if it really doesn’t work out, we can refuse her? Does that sound feasible to you?"

Wang Nan and the others exchanged glances, after some struggle, agreed to a trial.

Upon hearing the news, Guan Mingyue quickly expressed her gratitude, "Thank you, truly, thank you all for willing to take me in, otherwise I wouldn’t know how to continue living."

Whatever came to her mind made her eyes turn red and tears started to fall.

"Why are you crying? From today, you’re starting anew, you should smile."

Wang Nan grumbled harshly, pulling her to sit on a stool, "Have you eaten?"

"No!"

"We didn’t cook for you. How about having Old Witch make you some noodles or something else?"

"That sounds good."

That was indeed great.

Wu Zhiqing was a good cook, even with simple common dishes, he could somehow make them delicious.

It made their mouths water.

She hurriedly handed over her grain bag, "All my food is in here, please let Wu Zhiqing decide what to cook."

Wu Yongfei took a look inside the bag, pulling out a handful of noodles, "I’ll cook some noodles for you."

With that, he got up to work.

The fire under the stove wasn’t out yet, and the water in the pot was hot, originally meant for washing dishes after laid-out food was done. Now, just by adding a few sticks of firewood and bringing it to a boil, he could cook noodles.

Quite convenient.

"Could I, could I have a fried egg too?"

Guan Mingyue raised her hand like an enthusiastic pupil, her eyes shining bright under the dim light.