The Educated Youth 05

Because of Fang Zhiyi's mental attacks, Wei Xiangyang's work progress slowed down significantly. He wasn't fast to begin with, and now he was completely doomed. When others finished their work, he was still puffing and panting with effort. Fortunately, Fang Zhiyi had long since dusted off his hands and gone home.

But the thought of having to pull the dung cart after finishing his work made him feel entirely miserable.

The first thing Fang Zhiyi did upon returning home was head to the kitchen to cook. There was nothing fancy, just boiling some rice and making a soup. However, Fang Zhiyi was not a frugal man. He reached out and took down the cured sausage that had been hanging there for the New Year, carefully sliced off a small piece, and hummed a little tune.

There was a knock on the courtyard door. Fang Zhiyi frowned and looked toward the door through the kitchen window. Zhang Qingqing's face appeared there.

It had to be said, this Zhang Qingqing was indeed very pretty.

"Team Leader Fang, may I come in?" Although she asked, she had actually already stepped one foot inside.

"Is something the matter?" Fang Zhiyi walked out of the kitchen.

"I was just passing by, and suddenly remembered I still have some milk candies here, so I thought I'd share some with you."

She took out the candies Wei Xiangyang had given her. Fang Zhiyi narrowed his eyes, smiled, and reached out to take them. At the moment he took the candies, Zhang Qingqing casually brushed her fingers across his palm.

A bachelor who had been single for years would definitely overthink being touched like this, but he was a different person now.

Fang Zhiyi smiled faintly. "Then thank you."

Zhang Qingqing looked at Fang Zhiyi. After a moment, she sniffed and smiled playfully. "What is that smell? It smells so good."

Fang Zhiyi chuckled. "It's nothing. Do you need anything else?"

Seeing that Fang Zhiyi had no intention of asking her to stay, Zhang Qingqing cursed inwardly but tactfully left.

She hadn't expected this Fang Zhiyi to be so stingy!

Fang Zhiyi, meanwhile, returned to the kitchen to continue preparing his dish. Calling it a dish was a stretch; it was really just slicing up that piece of cured sausage and putting it into the soup.

Not long after Zhang Qingqing left, Fang Xiaoxia returned. She was frowning deeply, constantly muttering something under her breath. Fang Zhiyi went up to greet her, but looking at her father's smiling face, Fang Xiaoxia couldn't bring herself to feel happy at all.

"Dad, it's too hard. I don't understand it."

It wasn't that the agricultural technician surnamed Wang was bullying her; on the contrary, he took special care of her. But suddenly making a young girl who spent all day doing farm work learn how to drive a tractor was indeed a bit too much to ask of her.

Fang Zhiyi wasn't in a hurry. He first called her to eat, and then reached for the small notebook to flip through it. It was obvious that Fang Xiaoxia was trying very hard to take notes, but her handwriting was quite ugly, and there were many typos.

Fang Zhiyi sighed silently. He still had a long way to go before he could comfortably rely on his daughter to support him.

After eating, Fang Xiaoxia took the initiative to wash the dishes, and then leaned close to her father to look at the notebook in his hand. "Dad, maybe we should send someone else. I don't think I can learn this well..."

"Nonsense, who can learn it well right from the start? Is everyone a genius?" Fang Zhiyi said, and then took out a pen.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

"Before learning anything, practice your handwriting first! It looks like chicken scratch."

"Dad, you..."

"You what? To think of my lifelong brilliant reputation, and my daughter can't even write properly?"

Watching Fang Zhiyi put pen to paper, Fang Xiaoxia's eyes widened. She had seen her father write before, but it was mostly just writing slogans or his own name. Today, however, Fang Zhiyi truly shocked her.

She saw Fang Zhiyi rewrite exactly what she had written. Every character was vigorous and forceful, and he even corrected her typos. However, it was obvious that Fang Zhiyi seemed to have added quite a few things.

"Dad..."

"Shut up. First copy what I wrote once, and then memorize it."

Fang Xiaoxia looked at the contents of the notebook in surprise. Was her old man this amazing? He hadn't even gone to the site, yet he could actually fill in all the details the agricultural technicians had talked about on his own? No, it was even more detailed than what that Technician Wang had explained!

Fang Zhiyi went back into the room and brought out an oil lamp. "Hurry up, don't waste time!"

Fang Xiaoxia's strong suit was her obedience. That night, she sat by the small table, copying and memorizing the whole time.

When she finally memorized it, she turned her head and saw her father holding a handful of milk candies out to her.

"Dad, where did these candies come from?" Fang Xiaoxia was a bit surprised. She had seen this kind of milk candy before; that smelly hooligan always had some in his bag earlier.

"Someone gave them to me. It'd be a waste not to take them."

"Dad, you're accepting gifts, aren't you? That's not good."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Fang Zhiyi didn't say much more. He just unwrapped one and popped it into her mouth.

Fang Xiaoxia closed her mouth.

It was really sweet.

Thinking that if she learned how to drive a tractor, she could earn twelve work points a day, Fang Xiaoxia felt that there was hope for the future.

Having accepted a gift, one naturally had to do something in return, and Fang Zhiyi was no exception.

The next day, Fang Zhiyi began his inspection work. This was a good thing for Wei Xiangyang. Yesterday, he had only returned to the educated youth spot in the middle of the night and almost fainted from exhaustion. If Zhang Qingqing hadn't left him some food, he probably would have had to sleep on an empty stomach.

At least today, Fang Zhiyi didn't come to cause him trouble.

Fang Zhiyi first went to the livestock shed to check on the female educated youths who were working. Among them was Zhang Qingqing. He even specifically greeted Zhang Qingqing, acting very enthusiastic. Zhang Qingqing was a bit surprised and also a bit excited. It seemed she had left a good impression on Fang Zhiyi yesterday.

"How can this grass be piled up like this?" Fang Zhiyi walked over to the place where the forage was stacked and said with a frown, "Um, Zhang Qingqing, you are very outstanding, but you need to take your work a bit more seriously."

Zhang Qingqing looked over. Piling up the forage wasn't her job, but with her personality, she wouldn't go out of her way to offend anyone, so she smiled, nodded, and agreed.

"Mhm, this attitude is good! From today on, you are in charge of the work here," Fang Zhiyi's tone carried a joking manner. "If you don't do it well, your work points will be deducted."

Zhang Qingqing was pleasantly surprised. Did this mean she was being promoted?

She completely failed to notice the expressions of the other female educated youths.

Fang Zhiyi left, and Zhang Qingqing was clearly a bit excited. She hadn't expected her first proactive move to be so effective. It seemed that Fang Zhiyi's serious appearance yesterday was all fake. Hah, men!

When Fang Zhiyi returned to the fields and looked at Wei Xiangyang again, Wei Xiangyang felt extremely uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Fang Zhiyi just clapped his hands, asked everyone to gather around, and then announced a new regulation on his own.

"Based on my observations, over the past two days, the educated youths have basically understood the essentials of this farm work. So from now on, there's no need for everyone to guide the educated youths while working," Fang Zhiyi said. "At the same time, to improve enthusiasm, I've decided to divide the educated youths into three groups. Each group will be responsible for one field. We should have a little competition, right? Hahahaha."

The educated youths looked at each other, and no one objected.

Wei Xiangyang's heart bloomed with joy. Could he finally be free from this devil?