The Educated Youth 08

Listening to those sent-down youths leave full of complaints, Fang Zhiyi knew Wei Xiangyang was finished.

Even though he was the one who had handed down the punishment, they would still put the blame on Wei Xiangyang.

A little later, Fang Xiaoxia was gesturing excitedly, telling Fang Zhiyi how she had driven the tractor. Then she complained, "It's all because that machine is too old. I could have driven it twice, but it broke down. The technician is repairing it, so I came back."

Fang Zhiyi was just about to speak when he heard a knock on the door. Fang Xiaoxia went over to open it and saw Zhang Qingqing standing there. The look she gave Fang Zhiyi as she turned back was full of suspicion.

Fang Zhiyi coughed. "Is there something you need?"

"Hello, Xiaoxia. Captain, I've thought it over." Zhang Qingqing tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with her right hand.

"Thought what over?"

"About the job of drying the rice in the sun."

"Oh, right." Fang Zhiyi nodded.

Little Hei said, "I bet she's definitely going to take it for herself. Only a fool would pass up such a good opportunity."

Fang Zhiyi shot it a subtle glance, the look in his eyes clearly saying he was looking at a fool.

"Let Feng Jingya do it. She's a bit physically weak."

Fang Zhiyi knew of this Feng Jingya. She was quite short, always kept her head down when speaking to others, and had poor health. The other educated youths took good care of her.

"That's not right, is it? Is she a transmigrator?" Little Hei suddenly leaped up and landed on Zhang Qingqing's head, trying to find evidence of transmigration.

Fang Zhiyi ignored it. "Oh? You decided this?"

Zhang Qingqing nodded, then shook her head, smiling somewhat shyly. "We all discussed it together. Since her health is poor, we should let her have this opportunity."

"By the way, you and Wei Xiangyang are pretty close, right? I heard the two of you are often together," Fang Zhiyi asked suddenly.

Zhang Qingqing froze for a moment, then answered somewhat cautiously, "We all came here together. He's quite generous..."

Fang Zhiyi nodded. "Alright, got it." He had to admit, Zhang Qingqing could absolutely dominate in this era; it turned out that manipulative 'green tea' girls existed in every generation.

After Zhang Qingqing left, Little Hei scratched its head. "Why on earth did she do that?"

"Because she's smart. She knows she can't stick her neck out for this kind of thing, otherwise she'd offend everyone."

"So that means your plan failed?"

"Failed?" Fang Zhiyi smiled. "Whether it's a failure or a success is up to me to decide."

Little Hei pondered for a moment. "You're a bit too wicked."

"Thanks for the compliment."

Zhang Qingqing chatted and laughed with the other female educated youths while occasionally glancing outside. She was very satisfied with how she had handled things. She had shown her selflessness to Fang Zhiyi while simultaneously winning the favor of the other youths.

Amidst her anticipation, Fang Zhiyi arrived just as expected.

He once again looked at her with a smile, which made Zhang Qingqing puff out her chest proudly.

Immediately after, Fang Zhiyi didn't waste any words: "Starting today, the task of drying the rice will be handed over to..."

His eyes swept over the crowd, finally landing on Wei Xiangyang, whose face was still covered in injuries. "Wei Xiangyang."

Everyone unanimously turned to look at Wei Xiangyang. Zhang Qingqing's expression also changed. That wasn't right; that wasn't what they had discussed yesterday!

Then she saw Fang Zhiyi wink at her, revealing an 'I understand' expression.

With Zhang Qingqing's brain, she quickly caught on. She suddenly understood the intention behind Fang Zhiyi's question yesterday. Had he misunderstood her?

Wei Xiangyang was initially shocked, but then looked at Zhang Qingqing with profound gratitude. Meanwhile, the other female youths who had been gathered around Zhang Qingqing stepped back a bit, the smiles fading from their faces.

No one was a fool. Everyone had seen Zhang Qingqing and Wei Xiangyang frequently going out for walks together at night.

"Qingqing, thank you!" Wei Xiangyang was thrilled. He finally didn't have to work with those other male youths!

Zhang Qingqing, who had wanted to argue, had her words blocked right in her throat by his statement. If she confronted Fang Zhiyi now, she would definitely offend Wei Xiangyang. Her brain was starting to short-circuit.

The male youths all glared at Wei Xiangyang with hostility, but he didn't care. The female youths all distanced themselves from Zhang Qingqing, leaving her head buzzing.

Where exactly did things go wrong? But seeing Fang Zhiyi's chuckling demeanor, she didn't suspect that he was intentionally messing with her. After all, they had no grudges against each other and got along quite well. Could it be that he knew about her delicate relationship with Wei Xiangyang and made the decision on his own?

Although she was furious inside, she couldn't show it. In the end, she could only smile awkwardly at the people around her.

As soon as Fang Zhiyi left, Zhou Qiaoyun, who was standing nearby, said sarcastically, "Oh, so after all that, you were just seeking personal gain for your little lover. And here you were, going on and on about taking care of your sisters. Bah."

"It's not like that, really, I..." She tried to explain, but a deeply moved Wei Xiangyang had already walked up to her, grabbing her hands without any hesitation. "Qingqing, I knew you treated me the best. Thank you!"

Any explanation Zhang Qingqing had was completely cut off. Looking at Wei Xiangyang's battered and bruised face, a trace of disgust rose in her heart.

Even Feng Jingya, who had the best temperament, ignored her, silently picking up her tools and walking out the door.

As Zhang Qingqing humored Wei Xiangyang, she cursed Fang Zhiyi dozens of times in her heart. Who told him to take matters into his own hands?

However, Fang Zhiyi couldn't hear any of this. He had other things to busy himself with today. In the rural areas of this era, aside from accumulating work points, some ration coupons were also distributed. But for the farmers, these coupons were of little use. After all, work points could be exchanged for grain, and when the brigade slaughtered pigs at the end of the year, every household would get some meat. As for sugar coupons and the like, everyone was too reluctant to spend money on them.

Fang Zhiyi, on the other hand, had no such reservations. He went from door to door, proposing to the villagers that he could help them exchange their coupons for goods. Since he was the brigade captain and had a good reputation, the villagers of Xiashan Village agreed almost without a second thought.

Turning around, Fang Zhiyi took the coupons to the town. To avoid trouble, he specifically disguised himself. Though it was called a disguise, it really just meant smearing some dirt on his face, making him look exactly like a vagrant.

His goal was very simple: exchange the coupons for money, then buy some things that didn't require coupons to take back, and pocket the price difference in between.

At this time, the policies had loosened quite a bit, but many people were still afraid of violating them. This gave a bold madman like Fang Zhiyi plenty of room to operate.

Because of his thick skin and the large number of coupons in his hands, Fang Zhiyi's business went very well. It was just that a single town didn't have that many buyers, so he simply turned around and sold all his remaining coupons in bulk to a middleman.

Today, Fang Xiaoxia was still studying diligently. In truth, everything that needed to be taught had already been taught. It was just that the tractor was incredibly precious, and every village had to wait in line to use it. After finishing her studies, she turned around to head out, bumping right into her old man at the entrance.

Fang Xiaoxia was pleasantly surprised, but was startled when she saw the things Fang Zhiyi was carrying in his hands.