Chapter 9: The First Mission 9

Liu Xia received a letter from home, and looking at its contents, her face filled with pleasant surprise.

She had been at the farm for over a year, yet she still couldn't adapt, even though she received a monthly salary and the supplies in the farm's supply and marketing cooperative were decent enough that she didn't have to take money from her parents; as long as she liked something, she could buy, buy, and buy.

But there were downsides, namely that she had to work every day and only had one day off per week. If it coincided with the busy farming season, one shouldn't even expect a day of rest.

She was busy to death every day, and the food in the canteen was truly subpar, making her miss Liu Wen's cooking very much.

Furthermore, after being busy to death every day, she would return to the dormitory wanting to lie on her bed, but she couldn't; she had to wash her clothes, otherwise, clothes smelling of sweat and grime would be impossible to wear a second time.

Back home, as long as the weather was good, she would change her bedsheets once every two weeks. Since coming to the farm, for some unknown reason, she always felt like dust was constantly falling from the ceiling, so she had to change the sheets every week, and she had to wash all of them herself.

It could be said that during her year at the farm, Liu Xia felt very, very tired, and wished there was someone who could help her wash clothes and cook the food she wanted to eat.

And now, things were great—Liu Wen had actually come to the farm. This was wonderful news.

Liu Xia continued reading, wanting to know which company her younger sister was in, but after reading the letter several times, she simply couldn't find such information, and she was momentarily stunned.

The letter only mentioned that Liu Wen had come to the farm, but no further details were written. Liu Xia knew this definitely wasn't a mistake by her parents; they wouldn't fail to include such a thing.

The only explanation was that Liu Wen hadn't specified which company she was in. "This is going to be a problem."

The farm was huge, with ten companies, and each company had smaller squads under it. Trying to inquire about a single person was no easy task.

Liu Xia felt a bit annoyed. "This girl's wings have truly grown hard. She doesn't even think—if I became a sent-down youth, wouldn't she be one too?"

Liu Xia hadn't wanted to be a sent-down youth either, but there was no choice. With five children, someone had to go. They had originally intended for the eldest sister, Liu Li, to go and had already settled it with their parents, but unexpectedly, she had found a powerful in-law family.

There was no way around it; even though Liu Xia was extremely reluctant, she was the one who had to be the sent-down youth. Liu Liang was the treasure of the family and certainly wouldn't go to the countryside, and Liu Wen wasn't of age yet; even if the parents applied, the neighborhood committee wouldn't agree, as it wouldn't look good if word got out.

It was only natural that it was Liu Wen's turn this time. *Hmph, "that ungrateful brat needs to be properly educated."*

Liu Xia made up her mind; no matter how difficult it was, she had to track Liu Wen down and give her a good talking-to.

Liu Xia did a bit of mental calculation based on when Liu Wen had left for the countryside. After calculating the time, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "Fortunately, not many sent-down youths arrived during that batch."

Having stayed at the farm for a long time, Liu Xia knew a few people. Combined with her good looks and sweet talk, there were always "brave warriors" willing to help.

She would leak a little bit of information, such as how her sister was being unreasonable and her parents were worried sick, and that she wanted to find her sister to put her parents' minds at ease.

Once the male sent-down youths learned of the situation, they all said Liu Wen was too thoughtless and that Liu Xia was a good sister, even patting their chests and declaring they would definitely find Liu Wen.

Watching the male sent-down youths one by one express that they would help find Liu Wen, Liu Xia felt incredibly happy. See? Although finding someone in such a massive farm wasn't easy, for her, it really wasn't difficult at all.

Liu Wen, who was busy making money, had no idea that someone was mobilizing a crowd to look for her in the neighboring farm. Even if she knew, she wouldn't care.

She was already an adult and could support herself; why bother caring about the Liu family's thoughts?

Especially after going out with Lin Yuan to cook a few meals, not only had her meals improved slightly, but she had even obtained a thermos.

In addition to the thermos, Liu Wen had also earned a few yuan. She happily put the money into a small box and locked it, feeling especially happy just thinking about it. Although it wasn't much, at least it was increasing.

Seeing Liu Wen's beaming face, Wang Juan thought of how she would occasionally disappear for a few days lately. Although she didn't know what she was doing, Lin Yuan disappeared at the same time, so she assumed he was taking her to earn money.

Wang Juan was truly satisfied with this girl, Liu Wen; she wasn't a troublemaker and was a hardworking girl. "What happened to make you so happy?"

"Happy, truly happy!" Liu Wen rolled around on the bed. "I was originally wondering if I could be a good sent-down youth, since I'm so thin and small."

"I didn't know if I would get along well with the other sent-down youths."

"I also didn't know if the place where I'd be stationed would be easy to deal with."

Whether it was from reports seen in later generations or what the original host had heard from neighbors about their children's experiences as sent-down youths, it could be said that while some had it good, many had it bad—such as heavy labor, poor food, or unpleasant relationships with others at the youth hostel.

It could be said that this news had frightened both the original host and her quite a bit. "My luck is really quite good; I've met good older brothers and sisters."

"And the village chief and the secretary are also very good." Not everyone was kind to her, but they weren't overtly hostile either; they just ignored her, since she wasn't an expert at farm work.

Wang Juan's younger sister was also a sent-down youth, and they would occasionally exchange letters. Knowing that her sister's situation was good, she felt very fortunate as well.

"Yes, here, you only need to work hard. Don't overthink anything else."

"More importantly, we have more options here than others." The sent-down youths in other villages would cause trouble for various reasons.

"Instead of the sent-down youths here having time to cause trouble, they'd rather think about taking a trip over to the farm to find the youths there and strive to move over as soon as possible." Wang Juan was also quite relieved.

Liu Wen was no longer a little novice who had just arrived. Previously, she hadn't wanted to go to the farm because she wanted to avoid Liu Xia, but now she felt staying in the village was better; she could grow vegetables and soybeans on her private plot.

There were also people who took her out to earn money, which was much better than working at the farm. Although the farm paid wages on time, the people there lacked freedom and had to clock in and out punctually.

As for food, one either ate at the canteen, or if they were a married couple, they could apply for a room and cook independently.

It wasn't that Liu Wen hadn't eaten at a canteen before; besides the food being cooked, one shouldn't have high expectations. It wasn't like now, where she could eat whatever she wanted.

Occasionally, Lin Yun and the other men would go to the mountains to hunt wild rabbits and pheasants, which could greatly improve their meals.

"By the way, Sister Juan, why didn't you think about going to the farm?" Liu Wen remembered a few days ago when a male classmate of Wang Juan's from the farm came to see her; the way he looked at her definitely showed he was interested in Wang Juan.

"To the farm?" Without even looking at Liu Wen, Wang Juan knew this girl was surely full of curiosity.

"It's nothing that can't be said. He's my classmate, and you can tell he's interested in me."

Liu Wen nodded repeatedly. "Mm, I can tell."

(End of Chapter)