Transmigration: On the Gossip Front

Zhang Yu walked quietly on the road back to the village, listening to the footsteps behind him, knowing Zhan Min was right behind.

This person had caused a commotion all day, bringing out the entire commune staff, but ends up having to return to the village.

Zhang Yu didn’t know what she was thinking, but he thought she must have grown resentful towards them. If they had decided to stay, she would have stayed too, allowing the commune leadership to think the village head was at fault.

Now, they all return to the village, and how would the commune leaders view her? Would they think she’s just a troublemaker?

Thinking about this made Zhan Min unhappy, she angrily glared at the backs of Zhang Yu and the others.

Zhang Yu looked at the sky slowly turning dark, feeling he could curse Zhan Min to death. This fool, since they all had to return to the village anyway, why create such a fuss in the first place?

Now they have to walk at night, listening to the wolf howls from the mountains. Saying he wasn’t scared was a lie. Even though Wang Ji said the wolves are deep in the mountains and wouldn’t come out, Zhang Yu didn’t dare be careless.

In the original memory, these wolves had emerged before, perhaps two or three times. Though they hadn’t appeared in the village, they did show up in places where villagers often cut firewood and picked mushrooms, frightening the villagers greatly.

After all, those are wolves. Once they set their sights on you, no one can escape.

"What a fool," Zhao Yadong thought. They hadn’t even reached the village yet, but they could hear wolf howls. Various fears surfaced, along with distaste for Zhan Min.

Qian Hao didn’t say a word, but his quickened footsteps showed he wanted to get back to the village quickly. After all, more people meant more safety there.

Zhang Hui was also quite frightened. Earlier she had complained about not reaching the village, muttering about being tired. Now, hearing the wolf howls, she dared not complain, accelerating her pace so as not to fall behind.

She truly worried that if she fell behind and a wolf appeared, she wouldn’t stand a chance.

She hadn’t yet reunited with her parents. She hadn’t lived the life of a wealthy young lady. She absolutely couldn’t die in the Northeast; her good days hadn’t been enough.

This belief kept Zhang Hui persisting, surprising Zhang Yu, who glanced at her. That was impressive. She somehow managed to keep going.

Given the original self was a fool around, she certainly could be spoiled because the original self would help out.

At that moment, Zhan Min suddenly sped up to catch up, and everyone was surprised.

Wasn’t she upset, wanting to keep her distance from them? Why would she catch up now?

"Scared me to death," Zhan Min said sheepishly.

No one responded. The sun had already set, and hearing the wolf howls made everyone even more nervous, unwilling to fall behind.

Wang Ji originally thought they would reach the village by six o’clock, but thanks to the wolf howls, these six intellectual youths managed to keep going without slowing down, which eased his worries.

After walking a bit further, the wolf howls finally decreased, which relieved everyone. It indicated they were far from the wolf pack.

At this moment, Zhang Yu thought of something, "Village head, I want to ask, is there the easiest work in the village?"

According to regulations, they could rest tomorrow and start activities the day after. Instead of waiting until tomorrow to approach the village head and run into Zhan Min’s targeting, it was better to ask now.

"There is, with the lowest work points." The village head simplistically explained the work points standards for various time periods. He wasn’t surprised Zhang Yu asked this.

Don’t be fooled they managed to walk this far. The village head knew it was thanks to the wolf howls; otherwise, who knows where they’d end up.

Zhan Min looked at Zhang Yu displeased, "What’s wrong with you? We’re here to develop a new rural area. If you haven’t tried, how do you know you can’t do it?"

Zhang Yu couldn’t be bothered with her ranting, "I can’t do farm work. I know my abilities. Since I can’t do it well, the least I can do is not cause trouble for the village. If the work needs to be redone, wouldn’t that be a delay?"

"Furthermore, I didn’t ask the village head for the easiest work and demand full work points. I’m simply asking for work points proportional to the work I do. Village head, is that possible?" Zhang Yu directly asked Wang Ji.

"Of course it is," the village head responded contentedly to Zhang Yu, seeing him as someone well aware of his abilities.

"The village head has no objections, so what’s your fuss about? You’re capable, you want full work points, that’s your matter. I don’t envy or resent you; you’re the capable one."

"I won’t ask you to give me some of your work points."

"Oh, village head, if by the end of the year I haven’t earned enough work points to exchange for food, can I use money with the villagers to trade?" Zhang Yu inquired further.

"In that case, the village won’t exchange much; you can trade with villagers." Typically, the village reserves a portion of grain, but not much, to prevent villagers from pre-allocating early.

"By the way, intellectual youths are not allowed to pre-allocate food. That’s the rule," Wang Ji remembered to mention a stipulation.

"You intellectual youths can pre-allocate some food initially according to regulations, but later it must be based on work points." Wang Ji explained the rules first, "You’re aware, don’t keep saying villagers can pre-allocate food when you can’t."

Wang Ji realized that while the girls with Zhang Yu and two quiet boys didn’t speak up, they weren’t troublemakers. He worried Zhan Min might cause problems, so he explained to her specifically.

Upon hearing it again differentiated between intellectual youth and villagers, Zhan Min was unhappy, wanting to accuse Wang Ji of being unreasonable.

"Don’t accuse me of being unfair or discriminatory. If you youths pre-allocate food and then head home, suddenly transferring back to city work, what’s the village supposed to do about pre-allocated food?"

"Villagers pre-allocate, but at least there’s family back home. You youths decide to head back to the city when you want." Wang Ji held little goodwill towards the intellectual youth before, and this afternoon’s chaos made it worse.

"It’s not just this village; this rule is the same if you ask any other commune." Wang Ji knew these youths would share information, but he honestly didn’t care.

"Of course, if you decide to report it to the commune, county, city, or province, I also don’t care," Wang Ji scoffed coldly.

Though he didn’t name names, Zhang Yu knew it was referring to Zhan Min’s previous actions.

Zhan Min understood the meaning behind the words, feeling various discontent. Though it seemed like she had won the ordeal at the commune, did the village head really lose?

Zhan Min knew those commune leaders were quite annoyed with her, yet she carried on boldly, her stride unyielding.

Despite Zhan Min’s nonchalant demeanor, her mind was indeed anxious. Only now did she recall she’d be living under Wang Ji’s leadership for years, and dealing with her would be a trivial task for him.

Zhan Min grew very cross, glaring at Zhang Yu fiercely again, knowing this person was the worst.

Being stared at without reason once more, Zhang Yu felt quite helpless. Being targeted by someone with a troubled mind was truly exasperating.