Reborn in 1979, with a female educated youth lying next to me.

"Akiko, run! If you're too late, your butt will be in for a beating!"

Liu Jia joined in the fun from the sidelines.

Wang Liqiu replied with a mournful face, "Third Brother, I can't leave. I need to ask the team leader for leave. I need to go to the city to buy medicine for my mother today!"

As he spoke, Wang Liqiu was already bracing himself for a kick in the butt.

Seeing Wang Liqiu so cowardly, Zhou Fengshou finally smiled.

"You still remember how I used to kick your butts when you were kids? Looks like you still have some memory. As long as you're not always thinking about becoming the captain, I definitely won't kick you."

"Captain, the captain I'm talking about isn't your captain..."

Before Wang Liqiu could finish speaking, Zhou Fengshou interrupted him.

"Stop grumbling. I'll write you a letter of introduction. Hurry up and get your mother the medicine so she won't suffer."

Once they started getting down to business, Wang Liqiu became serious.

Wang Liqiu's mother suffers from chronic leg pain and has to go to the city to get medicine every few days. Especially in recent years, as she has gotten older, she has been getting medicine more and more frequently.

At this moment, Liu Jia also chimed in, "Qiu Zi, you can get there faster by riding your bicycle."

"Third Brother, your bicycle is brand new. Are you going to let me ride it to the city?" Wang Liqiu looked at Liu Jia in disbelief.

Liu Jia didn't care at all. "What does it matter if it's new or old? A bike is meant to be ridden. Have fun here. I'll go back and push the bike for you."

After saying that, Liu Jia turned around immediately.

Wang Liqiu pursed her lips forcefully, tears welling up in her eyes.

About ten minutes later.

Wang Liqiu rode Liu Jia's bicycle away, stumbling and bumping along.

As usual, Liu Jia went to work in the fields with the other commune members.

But the way everyone looked at Liu Jia had already changed.

Envy, flattery, fawning, and even a hint of jealousy.

Liu Jia didn't pay much attention to this.

There was one last plot of land in the production team that hadn't been weeded, and Zhou Fengshou divided it up between Liu Jia and Liu Jianye.

Liu Jia was overjoyed when he saw the work assigned to him.

This kind of physical work doesn't require much brainpower; you can think about other things while you're working, so it's a win-win situation.

Taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't too hot yet, Liu Jia sped up his weeding.

Liu Jianye, who was standing next to him, did the same, but he would still glance at Liu Jia from time to time.

"Brother, what are you looking at?"

Liu Jia didn't even raise his head, but he noticed Liu Jianye's strange behavior just from the corner of his eye.

Liu Jianye put the hoe aside and asked in a low voice, "Sanzi, you've been going to the city a lot these past few days. Have you seen Xiaoyan?"

"No."

"Really? The city is such a small place, is it really that hard to find one person?"

Liu Jianye was somewhat incredulous.

Liu Jia frowned, a hint of doubt appearing in his eyes.

Liu Jia bent down and rolled up his trouser legs, then began to look at Liu Jianye seriously.

"Second Brother, is something the matter? Just say what you have to say. I didn't know you were here on official business, not to see Guo Xiaoyan. Besides, this isn't the kind of question you should be asking, is it?"

Ever since Liu Jianye started inquiring about Guo Xiaoyan, Liu Jia knew that Liu Jianye was asking questions on behalf of his mother.

How could she not see that her mother couldn't let go of Guo Xiaoyan?

She didn't say it, but ever since Guo Xiaoyan left, she hadn't let go of Guo Xiaoyan for a moment. Otherwise, why would she have specially prepared a jar of pickled vegetables?

It must have been her idea to send Liu Jianye to her side to inquire about information.

Liu Jianye looked embarrassed as he was exposed so quickly.

Liu Jianye kicked a clump of grass to the side before speaking.

"Sanzi, tell me the truth, are you just going to let Xiaoyan go like this?"

"Oh, the marriage is over, why isn't it over yet?"

"It's not a matter of whether it's over or not, it's just that so much time has passed, you have to see her eventually, right?"

Liu Jianye didn't know how to express this. In Zhang Guilan's words, it meant that even though they were divorced, they couldn't completely cut off all contact.

But Liu Jianye was afraid that he might say something wrong and change the meaning of the message.

"There's no need. Once we're divorced, we'll have no relationship anymore. I'll talk about myself, and she'll talk about herself. We'll both start our own lives."

Faced with Liu Jia's calm demeanor, Liu Jianye's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

If Liu Jianye hadn't heard Liu Jia say this with his own ears, he would never have believed that these words came from Liu Jia's mouth.

"Back then, everyone in the village knew how determined you were to pursue Guo Xiaoyan. Why are you making such a clear distinction now?"

To make his words more convincing, Liu Jianye even added, "Back then, you said you would take care of Guo Xiaoyan for the rest of your life."

"I was young back then, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. I can't always be this...immature."

Unable to think of a suitable word, Liu Jia had to use "immature" instead.

Upon closer reflection, that makes sense.

Thinking back to his entanglement with Guo Xiaoyan in his previous life, Liu Jia felt it was all too irrational.

I did have feelings for Guo Xiaoyan, but the price of that feeling was too high.

"You're getting all sentimental now. You've really matured, but I feel like you're losing your humanity. Even if you're divorced from Xiaoyan, you can't be enemies, can you?"

"No matter what, she stayed in our family for three years. Her decision to divorce you and return to the city is not something that one or two people can decide."

“I think you should go see her when you have time, and lend a hand if she has any difficulties.”

Although Liu Jianye said a lot, he was very careful with his words.

Liu Jia suddenly grinned.

"Alright, Second Brother, you've spread the word enough. I've remembered it all. Tell Mother that her son isn't the kind of heartless person. I just don't have a chance to see Guo Xiaoyan right now, not because I want to be her enemy."

Liu Jianye was stunned.

I had already been very subtle in my words, so why did Liu Jia still immediately sense that something was wrong?

Actually, I had this thought in my heart too.

But most of them were still helping their mother relay messages.

Never mind, Liu Jianye felt relieved after hearing Liu Jia's words.

Looking up again, Liu Jianye noticed that Liu Jia was staring blankly at the cornfield next to them.

"What are you looking at? What's so interesting about corn leaves?"

Liu Jia's lips curved into a smile again.

“Brother, do you remember when the group of educated youth from our village first arrived, they couldn’t tell the difference between corn seedlings and grass, which really annoyed Li Dabashi.”

Liu Jia spoke and laughed, and Liu Jianye next to him laughed along.

"You can't blame anyone else. The team leader had already made arrangements for our dad to take those educated youth to study, but Li Danian had to stand out. Who's to blame!"

Liu Jia's smile deepened.

The village took the arrival of the educated youth very seriously.

Preparations for the welcome began a few days in advance.

So when the educated youth arrived in the village, all the villagers welcomed them with gongs and drums.

At that time, team leader Zhou Fengshou specially assigned Liu Yutian a task: to teach the educated youth how to weed.

Liu Yutian was very interested, but when they finally met in person, Li Danian found Zhou Fengshou.

No matter how much I pleaded, I insisted on teaching them myself.

Considering that Li Danian was also a seasoned veteran, Liu Yutian didn't want to put Zhou Fengshou in a difficult position, so he agreed.

As it turned out, the educated youth confused the corn seedlings with the aquatic plants that are very similar to corn seedlings.

That year there was very little rain, and the corn seedlings in the fields were already sparse and turned a sallow yellow.

Unfortunately, after the educated youth's efforts, not a single corn seedling remained, but most of the weeds in the field were left.

Seeing the fruits of the educated youth's labor, Li Danian slapped his legs until they were swollen.

Even now, Liu Jia clearly remembers what Li Danian said at the time.

"I told you to protect the corn seedlings, but what are you protecting?"

The educated youth's faces grew increasingly grim, and eventually, no one spoke.

No one expected that their first time participating in labor would end like this.

From then on, Li Danian never gave the educated youth anything again, for fear of losing face again.

Many of these thankless tasks were done by the educated youth, including Guo Xiaoyan.

However, unlike other educated youth, Guo Xiaoyan was not called an enemy or ancestor.

The main reason is that Liu Jia has always been helping Guo Xiaoyan.

Thinking back to the old days, Guo Xiaoyan's image flashed through Liu Jia's mind again.

Liu Jia knew in her heart that even if she wanted to keep Guo Xiaoyan out of the picture in the future, the things that had happened in the past and the fact that Guo Xiaoyan had existed in her life could not be changed.

As it approached noon, Liu Jia wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered, "By now, Qiu Zi should have already bought the medicine, right?"

First Hospital.

Wang Liqiu had just finished preparing the Chinese medicine when he sneezed.

Wang Liqiu rubbed his nose vigorously and frowned. "That's strange. Could it be that someone is missing me?"

No sooner had the words been spoken than a clear, crisp voice rang out.

"Akiko, what are you doing here?"