Time Travel: Volume 1! Starting from a Small Mountain Village

"This is all thanks to Lifan; I couldn't have made these things myself," Hu Lili explained to the two with a smile.

"How can you say that? This meal was prepared by the three of us together. I couldn't have made it without you!" Long Lifan said with a serious expression.

She really couldn't do it alone, and besides, it's not something worth publicizing, making it seem like she's doing something to reward someone for their contributions.

"By the way, we were just saying we were going to the educated youth settlement to call people. Now that you're back, why don't you help us make the trip and ask everyone to bring stools and bowls/chopsticks?"

In rural areas, unless a family has a large number of members, no one would prepare so many chairs and benches. If a family wants to hold a banquet, they would borrow them from their neighbors.

"no problem!"

Looking at the white steamed buns and food, Liu Pan immediately agreed and then pulled Lin Yue away to go to the educated youth settlement to call for help.

"I'll go to the brigade leader's house!" Although she had said it yesterday, she felt that she should go again to invite them to show that they were sincere.

When she was halfway there, she spotted the brigade leader, who was accompanied by two other people: the brigade secretary, Miao Dashan, and the accountant, Zhou Yuhao.

"Captain, Party Secretary Miao, and Secretary Zhou!"

Long Lifan greeted the group with a smile.

"You, Long Zhiqing, why did you come all this way?" The brigade leader smiled and said, "Well, as soon as I finished work, I called over Secretary Miao and Secretary Zhou."

Zhou Huiji smiled and said to Long Lifan, "Little Long, I heard from the brigade leader that you're planning to build a wedding house, so I came along to share in the joy!"

"welcome!"

Party Secretary Miao, however, remained silent. He disliked these educated youths from the city, feeling they were incapable of working and prone to causing trouble!

They're all always thinking about how to cheat and shirk responsibility. Take these guys who're hosting us today, for example; they immediately got a job cutting pig feed. Although these guys clearly come from wealthy families, I think that since these educated youths have come to the countryside, they should work hard in the fields to earn work points.

Who knows if this is a trap? They're bound to be indebted to those who offer help, and if these educated youths come to them with trouble, they might just stand by and do nothing. Therefore, he always felt that these educated youths had invited them with some kind of ulterior motive.

But when he thought about how his grandson had learned quite a few characters from several educated youths, his expression softened considerably. He nodded to Long Lifan without saying anything more.

Long Lifan didn't mind. The fact that they came was already a favor to her, and she couldn't very well demand anything from them! She then led the three of them toward the new house.

When Long Lifan reached her small courtyard, she heard a chattering sound coming from the side, which meant that the educated youth had arrived. She immediately invited the three of them into the house.

The educated youth, upon noticing the three people following behind Long Lifan, fell silent. For a moment, everyone became somewhat reserved, knowing that these three held the most power in the Dongwan Brigade. They hadn't expected Long Lifan and her group to have invited these brigade cadres as well.

"Oh dear, don't be nervous. I'm a guest invited by Long Zhiqing, just like you. Please make yourselves at home," said Captain Lin Guodong as soon as he saw the expressions on everyone's faces.

Hearing this, everyone felt much relieved.

"Is everyone here? We'll start eating when everyone's here!" Long Lifan glanced at everyone, who were all gathered together. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, so she asked.

"It seems my cousin isn't here?" Chen Wei asked, somewhat puzzled, from the crowd.

Her cousin was naturally Chen Hongjie from the educated youth settlement. Long Lifan might have worried about not being notified of others, but it was different with Chen Hongjie, as she had said it herself.

"Did you see Comrade Chen just now?" Long Lifan asked Liu Pandi and Lin Yue.

"I saw him, and I even told him about it!" Liu Pandi seemed to remember something and continued, "Oh, I remember now, he just said he needed to wash up and asked us to move our things over first. I thought he had arrived!"

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but complain about Chen Hongjie. They could have started eating right away, but she had to dawdle like this, making it impossible for them to begin their meal.

They were supposed to wash up, but none of them returned to the educated youth settlement without washing up first.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry I'm late!"

Just then, Chen Hongjie's voice came from the doorway, and he appeared to be apologizing to everyone with a look of remorse. However, when he turned around and saw that the three brigade cadres were also there, he froze on the spot.

He deliberately arrived late. As the head of the educated youth settlement, he increasingly felt that his status was being affected. That's why he arrived a little late, just to assert his position.

Who would have thought that the brigade cadres were here too? Long Zhiqing didn't mention inviting them yesterday, isn't this just setting them up for trouble?

Will the captain and the others think he's unreliable? Will they let someone else take his place as station chief? Chen Hongjie's mind was filled with countless thoughts, and his previous smugness vanished instantly.

"Now that everyone's here, let's get started! Everyone, eat as much as you want, there's plenty of steamed buns today!" With that, Long Lifan invited everyone to take their seats, showing no displeasure at Chen Hongjie's lateness.

They even went to the kitchen and brought out a large pot of mixed meat dishes and a soup, which shocked everyone even more. When they arrived, there were only white steamed buns on the table, and they thought that was all.

After all, even white flour steamed buns these days are made from refined grains. What kind of family would host a dinner party where people can eat as many steamed buns as they want? They never expected there would even be vegetables and soup; they probably'd never been treated like this before!

You should know that the welcome banquet they prepared for the newly arrived educated youth was nothing more than cornbread, and the cured meat was provided by the newly arrived educated youth themselves.

When Secretary Miao saw the large table of food, he felt a pang of heartache. He had come from a life of hardship, so he thought that Long Zhiqing and the others were being a bit extravagant.

Just as he was about to give a lecture, Lin Guodong quickly grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear, "Old Miao, we're here to help at He's house!"

Upon hearing this, Secretary Miao also came to his senses. Yes, today was the day for several educated youths to celebrate their housewarming. If he were to speak up at this time, wouldn't it make everyone feel awkward?

However, seeing the large table of food, Secretary Miao still felt sorry for them and thought it necessary to talk to them privately about the spirit of hard work and frugality.

So he channeled his grief and anger into his appetite and began to eat voraciously. While others were busy eating and might not have noticed the little incident, Long Lifan did.

Actually, she really wanted to know what Secretary Miao had to say. But today was the day the three of them celebrated their housewarming, and it would be awkward if he said something that made everyone unhappy.

Therefore, Long Lifan was genuinely grateful for Lin Guodong's little trick just now.

One cannot expect everyone around them to like them, so he didn't care much about Secretary Miao and Long Lifan. Although he would have to stay in Dongwan Brigade for a few more years, he only needed to maintain a good relationship with the brigade leader, since he was familiar with him and had even saved his grandson.

As for Party Secretary Miao, Long Lifan wouldn't fawn over him; maintaining the status quo would suffice.