Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 243: Chill to the Core

Time flew by, and the busy autumn harvest came to an end.

Zhang Xiaoqin and Qiao Jun had to leave, reluctantly bidding farewell to Yi Chichi before their departure.

"Sis, we’re heading back tomorrow."

Yi Chichi was drawing new embroidery patterns for Liu Lan and replied without looking up, "Safe travels!"

"Is that it?"

Qiao Jun wasn’t satisfied with this reply, feeling that Yi Chichi was being too perfunctory.

Yi Chichi paused for two seconds, put down the pen, looked up, and smiled, "You’re welcome to come back next year to work for free."

That statement was sincere enough; it was up to them whether they could accept it.

Unable to accept it, the two who heard this were not moved but looked dejected and sighed.

"We can’t come; we have to work once we’re back."

This incident infuriated their parents; not only would they get scolded after returning, but they would also lose their freedom and become honorable workers.

"I don’t want to work."

Zhang Xiaoqin murmured, while Wu Yongfei, who was having a muscle strain treated by Uncle Yaozi, grimaced in pain and gasped.

"You don’t want to work even though you have a job?"

He couldn’t believe it; how could anyone not want to work?

"I don’t want to!"

Zhang Xiaoqin shook her head, every cell in her body expressing her aversion to working.

Wu Yongfei felt an itch to hit someone, unable to understand why his poor life acquainted him with such a person.

Others found it extremely difficult to get a temporary job, let alone a permanent one; having someone in the family even with a temporary job would make the whole family proud and neighbors envious.

But for Zhang Xiaoqin and Qiao Jun, they didn’t want to work despite having a job.

This unjust life is truly unfair.

"I want to work."

He was dispirited, "If I had a job, I could return to the city."

"What’s so good about the city? A whole family lives in such a small space. It’s nowhere near as spacious as living in the countryside. The food isn’t great; even buying a clove of garlic costs money, and many things require coupons. It’s not the same in the countryside; there’s a vegetable garden. As long as you diligently manage it, apart from fish and meat, you don’t need to buy anything else."

She meant it genuinely, expressing her appreciation for the countryside in and out of her words.

Yi Chichi had no doubt that if she could, she would quite like to stay.

"But can’t work; the moment you work, all the beauty vanishes."

She added, full of regret, wondering why it couldn’t be the best of both worlds.

Uncle Yaozi, infuriated by her words, had his blood pressure rising and couldn’t bear it, angrily shouting, "Get back to your room and pack your bags!"

She shouldn’t stay here spouting nonsense and disturbing the youths’ emotions.

Shocked by the unexpected reprimand, Zhang Xiaoqin froze for a moment, seeing Uncle Yaozi’s fierce eyes seemingly wanting to slice her apart, she was so frightened that she hurried back to her room.

Qiao Jun clicked his tongue and slowly stood up, "Dad, don’t lower yourself to her level; most of the time, Xiaoqin isn’t thinking straight."

Only occasionally does her brain function normally.

A girl like her truly shouldn’t be expected too much from.

Yi Chichi blurted out, "Her brain doesn’t work well; you’re not much better either."

Qiao Jun felt as though a knife had pierced through his chest, exquisitely cold.

He looked at Yi Chichi in disbelief, "Is this really how you see me?!"

Yi Chichi gave him a fake smile, "Pretty much."

Both kids are exasperating; neither should despise the other.

Qiao Jun was visibly discouraged, as he always believed he was much better than Zhang Xiaoqin, but now he sought confirmation from Uncle Yaozi and Wu Yongfei.

"Dad, Mr. Wu, is that how you see me too?"

Filled with hope, his eyes sparkled, fully believing in them.

But both Uncle Yaozi and Wu Yongfei dealt him a fatal blow simultaneously.

"Sometimes, you’re even worse than Xiaoqin (Mr. Zhang)."

In unison, the only difference being how they referred to her, their words were nearly identical.

Qiao Jun instantly wilted like a frostbitten eggplant.

He trudged towards the room in despair, "I’ll go pack my luggage."

Time to go home.

Though his father and them might despise him upon returning, it’s better to be despised by family than by godparents here.

After all, his father and they are his own; no matter how much they resent or dislike him, they could ignore it as if nothing happened.

Godparents aren’t blood-related, and though their relationship is good, one must be tactful in life.

They care about appearances!

Thus, the two who cared about appearances left Kao Shan Village with Uncle Yaozi and his wife, heading back to Yangcheng by bus the next day.

Yi Chichi saw them off at the village entrance.

"Listen to your parents when you get back, don’t sneak off like last time."

It’s too dangerous. Although the ideal target for traffickers is children, they wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of gullible teenagers.

Greed drives people; the profit from human trafficking is too irresistible to them.

If they genuinely encounter such people, Yi Chichi doubts their capability to see through the traffickers’ deceit with their limited intelligence and perspective.

They might even naïvely help count the money for the traffickers and worry whether they got sold for cheap.

The two nodded obediently and agreed.

Zhang Xiaoqin opened her arms to hug her, "Chichi, when you visit Yangcheng next time, remember to see us."

"Sure."

Yi Chichi agreed readily, and if time allowed, she truly could visit them.

As the saying goes, a wider circle of friends opens more paths, and with Uncle Yaozi’s connection, maintaining this relationship has no downsides.

"When you come, I’ll have my mom make a nice soup to treat you; I’ll buy you roast goose."

Qiao Jun promised solemnly, and Yi Chichi smiled and agreed.

Mu Da checked the time and urged, "Hurry up or you’ll miss the bus."

Upon hearing this, no matter how reluctant Qiao Jun and Zhang Xiaoqin were, they had to bury it in their hearts, board the bus, and wave goodbye to Yi Chichi as they left.

Not until the silhouette of the four completely disappeared from her sight did she return to the team clinic.

It was another day of needing to staff the station for at least two days; hopefully, everyone stays healthy and doesn’t fall ill.

Perhaps her prayers worked, for in those two days, not only were there no patients, there wasn’t even anyone needing iodine tincture.

Since there were no patients, apart from daily inventory and restocking of medicines and getting busy once for the morning sanitation meeting, she managed to complete the embroidery patterns she had prepared for Liu Lan in the spare time.

Since the embroidery patterns were somewhat complicated with many colors, worried about Liu Lan handling it poorly, Yi Chichi also created a separate guide chart for her.

The embroidery designs were given first, but the guide chart wasn’t hurriedly handed over.

Seeing the design, Liu Lan was silent for a long time before finally swallowing hard and squeezing out a difficult sentence from her teeth, "Isn’t this too complex and the colors too many for the pattern?"

Wang Nan, who was stitching shoe soles beside, heard and grew interested, "Let me see."

"Here."

Liu Lan handed the pattern to her, and Wang Nan’s eyes widened immediately; it was genuinely complex, and the colors truly were numerous.

"Chichi, are you sure Lanlan can embroider such a complex design?"

"She did well with the Spring Bunting."

Besides, this design isn’t difficult at all.

She handed over the structural analysis chart, "Check this out, evaluate if you can do it well, and if not, I’ll give you another pattern."

She would embroider this one herself when she found the time.

"I’ll take a look first."