Chapter 19 The Deceived Girl in the 1970s: Fake vs. Real Daughter Story (19)

That afternoon, Lu Chuan and Feng Qingqing continued to slack off, so naturally, they didn’t finish their assigned tasks.

“Feng Qingqing, one work point.
Lu Chuan, three work points.
Lu Ze, eight work points.
Zhang Yumei, five work points.
Li Wenli, six work points.
Wang Xiuxiu…”

As Ma Xiaojun read out the points, everyone cast looks of contempt at Lu Chuan and Feng Qingqing.

“Pfft. One work point? That’s straight-up laziness. Even a five-year-old could do better.”

“And that guy—tall and strapping—only got three points? Even kids in the village could outwork him. What a disgrace.”

“Yeah! And isn’t he supposed to be the older brother’s sibling? His brother earned eight points!”

“Exactly. Sure, he’s no match for the best farmers who rake in ten points a day, but among the educated youth, that’s already impressive. Even the veteran educated youth only get around eight.”

Their faces flushed red with embarrassment under the villagers’ taunts. Humiliated, Lu Chuan and Feng Qingqing fled back to the educated youth housing.

Once there, Lu Chuan exploded, looking for someone to take it out on, and who better than Lu Ze? He didn’t even think about cooking dinner. Once again, it was Li Wenli who ended up doing it.

Meanwhile, Lu Chuan ranted, “Brother! What’s your problem? You said you’d finish early and help me and Qingqing! You saw how embarrassed we looked—were you happy about that?”

Lu Ze’s face darkened. “Oh, so you know you embarrassed yourself? You lazed around all afternoon and didn’t do your share. You expect someone else to clean up after you? I could barely finish my own tasks!”

Lu Chuan argued back, “But you said you’d help! That’s why I didn’t stress about it. If you weren’t going to, you should’ve said so! You agreed, then backed out just to make me look bad in front of Qingqing—just to show off!”

Lu Ze couldn’t hold it in anymore. “There’s seriously something wrong with your head. When did I ever agree to help?”

“You didn’t say no!” Lu Chuan shot back. “You heard me and didn’t object—that’s the same as agreeing! Don’t forget you promised Mom you’d look after me!”

“I said I’d keep you out of trouble and not do your work for you. I’m tired too. You want help? Do your own damn job and stop embarrassing yourself.”

And with that, Lu Ze stopped responding altogether—any more and he might actually explode.

Feng Qingqing, who had been dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief, saw that the two were too busy arguing to notice her, so she finally piped up. “Brother Chuan, don’t fight with Brother Ze anymore. He didn’t mean to make things worse.”

Lu Chuan snapped, “Don’t defend him! He’s the reason we were humiliated today. Or do you just like him that much?!”

Feng Qingqing looked hurt. “How can you say that? I don’t! It’s just… working in the fields is too hard. Can we ask the team leader to let us switch to a different task?”

Lu Chuan perked up. “You think we can? Like what?”

Feng Qingqing lowered her lashes. “Ye Xiaoxiao switched jobs, so why can’t we? I heard picking peanuts is easy. You get to sit and do it in the village.”

Lu Chuan asked, “How many work points can you earn?”

Feng Qingqing replied, “I heard at least four to six. That’s better than toiling in the fields. My hands are all torn up.”

“Let’s go ask now,” Lu Chuan said, standing up.

Lu Ze finally spoke up, though he didn’t want to get involved. “Now? It’s dinnertime. Let them finish eating first.”

Meanwhile, Ye Xiaoxiao had managed to earn six work points using a little trick she learned in her past life. Not bad at all, considering how untrained her body was. The team leader definitely wouldn’t be embarrassed by her performance.

While she avoided the back-breaking fieldwork, her arms were sore from swinging a stick to beat the peanuts off their stalks, as it was faster than picking them by hand. Someone that day even managed eight points. Normally, the max was six, so it was clear her method worked, but boy, did it work her arms.

At that moment, Xiaoxiao once again felt incredibly lucky to live alone.

She always made a little extra food when she cooked and stored it in her space. Tired and starving now, she could simply pull it out and eat without having to cook from scratch.

To avoid suspicion, she boiled some water to make it look like she was cooking. Later, she’d use the hot water for a relaxing bath.

If she were living at the educated youth point, she’d have to cook and eat with everyone else. It would be nothing but wild vegetable porridge and coarse grain cakes. Just thinking about it made her want to cry.

Instead, she took a big bite of her preserved meat rice bowl. So good.

After dinner, she soaked in the bath, then lay down early. She could even go into her space to read for a bit. The kerosene lamps outside barely gave any light. Nothing beat the brightness of her own private sanctuary.

It was so hot outside too, and there were no fans—plus mosquitoes! She’d much rather sleep in her space, even on a chair, than on the big bed outside.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt like a genius. If she were still at the educated youth point, she’d be eaten alive by mosquitoes by now.

She also noticed something strange—despite having a new body, her quirks and sensitivities from her past life seemed to have followed her.

Living alone truly was the best.

The only downside was that she couldn’t watch the drama unfold in person. Sure, she’d find out what happened later, but nothing beat seeing it live.

Thinking about that, she dozed off. These past two days had really worn her out.

While Xiaoxiao drifted into sleep, over at the team leader’s house, everyone had just finished dinner and was relaxing in the open yard, chatting about the harvest and sharing gossip.

That was when Lu Chuan and Feng Qingqing showed up. Lu Ze didn’t really want to deal with it but followed anyway. Zhang Yumei and Li Wenli came too—if there was a chance to switch jobs, they wanted in.

The veteran educated youth saw the newcomers and came along too—partly to watch the show, partly to make sure nothing got out of hand.

To the villagers, all the educated youth were a group. Only Ye Xiaoxiao, who’d moved out on her own, was seen as separate.

“What did you just say?” the team leader asked. “Say it again.”

Lu Chuan said clearly, “I want to switch jobs.”

The team leader raised an eyebrow. A guy who barely earned two or three work points had the audacity to ask this?

“What kind of job do you want?” he asked.

“Same as Ye Xiaoxiao’s,” Lu Chuan replied.

The team leader rejected him immediately. “No.”

Lu Chuan shouted, “Why not? Is it because I’m a man? Then at least let Feng Qingqing switch!”

The team leader studied him. This kid was definitely a troublemaker.

Still, he didn’t want people saying he was unfair. So he turned to Feng Qingqing. “You want to switch?”

Feng Qingqing bit her lip and softly replied, “I’m sorry, team leader. I really can’t handle fieldwork. I was hoping to do something like Ye Xiaoxiao. I’m sorry… My body’s weak, and I’ve caused trouble for you.”

The team leader looked her up and down. She looked delicate and demure and didn’t say a single harsh word—but why did something feel… off?

He didn’t mind letting people switch jobs, but it couldn’t be too easy—especially for work meant for the elderly, children, or pregnant women.

After a long pause, he finally said, “You can switch—but there are conditions.”

Lu Chuan jumped in, “What, you want a bribe? Whatever Ye Xiaoxiao gave you, we’ll pay double.”