CHAPTER 164: CHAPTER 164: THE BEAUTY OF IGNORING OTHERS’ FATE

"Lanlan brought this over, eat it while it’s hot."

Yi Chichi was immediately moved to tears, "Uncle, have you eaten?"

"I ate before I came back."

Now she could eat without worry.

The pig’s trotter was small, mostly bones apart from the skin, so she gnawed it clean in less than two minutes.

Uncle Yaozi’s mouth twitched, "Are you really that greedy for meat?"

"I am!"

How could she not be?

In her original world, she was a genuine carnivore, with beef and pork being her favorites.

And also roast goose, roast duck, etc.

She always believed that a life without meat was incomplete.

However, since arriving in the ’70s, she hadn’t had a proper meal with meat.

"Why don’t we go set a trap in the mountains?"

"No way."

Meat is important, but life is more important.

With this kind of weather, setting traps in the mountains might not catch any snow hares, but we’d run into hungry wolves or wild boars blocked by the snow.

Too risky.

"Uncle, don’t even think about going up the mountains during this time, or I’ll tell Aunt Yao on you, and you won’t even be able to climb the bed tonight."

Uncle Yaozi was furious, feeling that this troublesome girl didn’t deserve his affection.

She didn’t realize that he was setting traps in the mountains for her benefit, yet she intended to report him ungratefully.

"Get out of here quickly, I don’t want to see you now."

He pointed to the inner room, angrily asking her to leave.

Yi Chichi chuckled, implying she wasn’t needed.

"I’ll go do some embroidery then."

"Close the door, and if the lighting isn’t good, light a candle."

For the Guanyin Statue project, Uncle Yaozi cleared out a spare room for her as a studio, even connecting the heating bed.

With the bed heated, the room was warm.

To protect her eyes and safety, the couple forbade her from taking the embroidery back to the Youth Corps Courtyard, both to avoid her ruining her eyesight with night work,

and to prevent Yan Wanwan and the others from acting foolishly and reporting her.

After all, the Guanyin Statue was different from other embroideries, and a report would cause a lot of trouble.

"Okay."

She responded, then went inside, closed the door, and sat cross-legged on the heated bed.

With the bed heated, the room was very warm.

She took off her thick cotton coat, changed into a lighter one, moved the embroidery frame from the floor to the bed, adjusted its angle, and then took the purple silk thread, ready to start working.

Her slender, delicate fingers nimbly maneuvered the needle and thread on the silk,

using techniques like fictive-real stitches, rolling stitches, and flat stitches... the needlework was neat, dense, and smooth as if flowing along, a small piece of purple robe gradually took shape.

With Uncle Yaozi stationed outside, Yi Chichi immersed herself completely in her embroidery work.

Time passed second by second, and suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Chichi, it’s getting dark, come out for dinner."

Yi Chichi was startled by Mu Da’s voice, raised her head to relieve her stiff neck from long hours of bending, then looked at her wristwatch. Wow, it was almost six o’clock.

It was indeed dinner time.

"Coming!"

She tidied up the needle and thread, put the embroidery frame back on the floor, and then cheerfully opened the door to go out.

"Aunt, when did you get back?"

"Came back a bit past two."

Liu Lan is getting married tomorrow, so she adjusted her work schedule in advance and would only return to work tomorrow afternoon.

Yi Chichi hummed in response, locked the door, and handed the keys to Mu Da, "Aunt, you and Uncle go have dinner, I’ll head back first."

"Eat at home."

"No way, Old Witch already cooked my meal. I can’t waste it."

Who eats with others at their house these days? Every bite she takes means less for Uncle Yaozi and his wife.

This couldn’t be done.

"When fine grains are abundant, I’ll stay for a meal."

Mu Da, who was about to persuade her, fell silent upon hearing this.

Abundant fine grains were a luxury they couldn’t afford at the moment.

Her grain registration was with the commune hospital, where her share determined the grain and vouchers she received. The village’s grain distribution was none of her concern.

Old Liu...

Forget it, he lived very crudely, his criterion for food was just to stave off hunger.

During grain distribution, he always chose more coarse grains and less fine grains.

Let alone Yi Chichi, even she didn’t like eating it.

But this couldn’t be said aloud.

So, she could only advise, "Be careful on the road, watch out for slips."

"Got it."

Yi Chichi put on her thick cotton coat again, wrapped her head and face with a hat and scarf, and left under the couple’s watchful eyes.

The wind and snow raged on, but fortunately, it was only a few hundred meters from the medical room to the Youth Corps Courtyard.

Halfway there, a familiar voice called from ahead.

"Old Bai."

She called out.

Hearing the voice, Bai Chen stopped and asked with concern, "Why so late today?"

Yi Chichi felt a bit guilty and couldn’t tell the truth, so she made an excuse.

"Got busy with medicine and lost track of time."

Bai Chen didn’t doubt her, "I thought it might be that."

"Have you all eaten?"

"We lost track of time while wrapping matchboxes. Old Witch cooked dinner late, and when I was sent to fetch you, he was just preparing the last dish."

This meant she would be just in time for a hot meal when she got back.

"Let’s hurry back then."

With that, the two of them quickened their pace back to the Youth Corps Courtyard.

As soon as they entered the kitchen, Wang Nan already set the table and greeted them, "Just in time, let’s eat."

Yi Chichi grabbed a bowl and chopsticks, served herself some food, and started eating. Tonight’s meal was a mixed grain rice made from a ratio of rice and cornmeal, similar to the ’two-mi rice’.

But ’two-mi rice’ used rice and millet. They had run out of millet and only had a bit of rice and cornmeal.

Not particularly tasty, nor outright bad, just not as good as pure rice.

Not as good as pure flour foods either; the cornmeal was a bit rough, and mixing it with rice resulted in a texture Yi Chichi found unappealing.

Yet Wang Nan and others ate it heartily.

Ten minutes later, after eating and cleaning up, the group moved to the big room, where Yan Wanwan and Ning Haitao were also present.

Thanks to her earlier advice, after Guan Mingyue and Yan Wanwan’s talk, Ning Haitao suffered.

Yan Wanwan didn’t have it any better; whenever Guan Mingyue was upset, she liked to find trouble with the two of them.

They didn’t dare retaliate because Guan Mingyue had their IOUs and a lot of dirt on them. Truly angering her would only bring them more misery.

So, they had to endure it.

As the saying goes, silence either leads to breakdowns or bizarre outbursts.

Yan Wanwan seemed to be heading toward bizarre tendencies, whenever Guan Mingyue found trouble with her, she’d go trouble Ning Haitao.

Ning Haitao also wanted to deflect his emotions but didn’t dare mess with Bai Chen and the others, let alone Yi Chichi and her friends.

Therefore, he could only spar with Yan Wanwan.

The quarreling wasn’t pretty, for Guan Mingyue would fan the flames and offer a helping hand too.

But she was fickle; she’d help whichever side seemed to be losing to maintain balance,

principally demanding they end in a draw; otherwise, she’d find more trouble for them.

A hint of beauty lay in her disregard for Yan Wanwan’s and Ning Haitao’s struggles...