Transmigration: On the Gossip Front

Zhang Yu saw the group of aunties getting ready to head back home for lunch, so she quickly stood up and left too.

The team leader, seeing Zhang Yu leave with the crowd, was speechless, "You’re leaving just like that?"

Previously, upon hearing that two young people were assigned to their group, the team leader was genuinely excited, thinking that at least they could do some work.

But who would have thought these two were really like two seasoned slickers, working about the same amount of time as those aunties next to them, leaving work at about the same time.

Every day they earned between three to four points in work credits, and the team leader really didn’t know how to describe it.

After thinking for a long time, the leader still pulled Zhang Yu aside, "Xiao Zhang, I know you get along well with those aunties."

Obviously a city girl, obviously young, yet she could really mingle with those village aunties, listening to the gossip they shared.

Come on, she rarely went to the village, and even if she did, she only visited a few specific aunties’ houses, not recognizing all the villagers at all; how come she liked listening to gossip.

Zhang Yu understood from the aunties’ descriptions that the team leader had high expectations for her, so all she could say was, "I know, leader, you mean I can’t compare with those aunties."

"Their families have laborers; they are the main earners of work credits, I know that."

"But my parents send me money every month," Zhang Yu stated that she also had parents.

Oh well, the team leader recalled that by mid-month, there would always be money orders arriving, although every month it was just 15 per person, with the other girl getting a little more, but over a year, it was enough to live in the countryside.

Sigh, the team leader sighed inside, how could it be like this, clearly a young girl, clearly looking like she could work well, yet not working seriously.

Zhang Yu quickly slipped away, as she had said, there was really no need to do farm work; going up the mountain a few times during breaks, if you could find ginseng, you’d really hit the jackpot.

Last weekend, Zhang Yu went for a walk on the mountain, wandering around until she wandered deep into the mountain, where she then discovered a ginseng plant. It didn’t look big, but if someone else pulled it out, wouldn’t that be a loss?

Of course, better safe than sorry; Zhang Yu swiftly took it in. Knowing she came to this era, knowing the original owner was an intellectual youth in the Northeast, she had thought about whether she could find good stuff on the mountain, like ginseng or lingzhi.

For safety’s sake, she specially spent gold coins to learn how to process it; of course, some said ginseng is best fresh, since during processing some nutritional parts could be lost.

Zhang Yu decided, for older ginseng, fresh is definitely better, for younger ones, process them, because taking out all fresh ginseng at once would easily raise suspicions.

Thinking back to the fifty-year-old ginseng she harvested that time, it was great, now worth maybe a hundred bucks; it would be more valuable in the future.

Honestly, she really wanted to stash a large amount, after two or three decades, it would definitely be valuable.

But this thought was suppressed as soon as it emerged, because ever since these two months of regular money orders arriving, those who used to say how lazy she and Zhang Hui were all shut their mouths.

After all, with a stable monthly income, they wouldn’t want to work either if given the choice.

Because of this, the two of them had transformed from the girls whom villagers didn’t like to become potential bride material, which of course was something Zhang Yu heard while chatting with the aunties.

Zhang Yu guessed that perhaps they were actually quite tempted, so she straightforwardly stated that the money sent was because their family worried they wouldn’t do any work, and worried that after getting to the countryside, young lads might charm them away under the guise of helping with work, hence the money was specially sent.

She added that once they got married, whether to an intellectual youth or someone from the village, the remittances would stop.

Zhang Yu had discussed this with Zhang Hui; otherwise, if they told different stories, someone would definitely be suspicious.

Compared to Zhang Yu, Zhang Hui actually didn’t want to get married even more, so she definitely supported Zhang Yu’s suggestion.

Since she said so, someone indeed went to ask Zhang Hui to confirm, and after getting a definite response, fewer people eyed the two of them, though some were still unwilling to give up.

Zhang Yu knew what those people were thinking, "at worst, get married without registering it, wouldn’t that be the same."

Afraid the other party would inform her family? That’s easy too, just win over the sisters, and there would be no one to tip them off?

Zhang Yu knew their little schemes, and she was prepared for them; at work times, no one would make a move, as everyone was watching.

As for letting her know where someone was waiting for her, she would just not go, and Zhang Yu worried Zhang Hui might fall for it, but she reminded her again and again.

With no other choice, if something happened to Zhang Hui, if that girl decided to take drastic action, what would be done?

Any dissatisfaction Zhang Hui had should be directed at the people of the Zhang Family, waiting to deal with them in the future, not to be taken out on her.

When Zhang Hui heard Zhang Yu’s examples, she was really startled, but it’s good that at least the girl listened, otherwise Zhang Yu would not have bothered with her.

Zhang Yu hurried to the intellectual youth’s base, first knocking on Zhang Hui’s room door, which was soon opened by the latter.

Zhang Yu, seeing her dazed look, knew she’d just woken up, "Feeling better?"

Zhang Hui hummed, "A bit better. By the way, I took a leave today, the leader didn’t say anything, right?"

"What could they say? The usual copy-paste line: ’So young, how can you not work hard’, " Zhang Yu mimicked the leader’s way of speaking.

"Don’t worry, the leader has long gotten used to it. Before us, the group was already at the bottom, and now with us, well, still at the bottom, no big deal." Zhang Yu would only say, being the leader of a perpetually bottom-ranked group, one should just lie flat and not expect to have competent members suddenly appear.

Zhang Yu truly couldn’t understand, "Alright, yesterday Zhao Yadong got a rabbit, let’s make braised rabbit cubes, shall we?"

"After we wrap up work today, I’ll wander over to Xiao Xi’s stream to see if I can catch some fish. If I can, I’ll get some tofu and we can make tofu and fish stew, plus we’ll add the mushrooms I picked on the mountain last weekend for the soup."

As Zhang Yu spoke, her mouth was literally watering.

Zhang Hui was also drooling, "Just thinking about it makes me hungry."

"By the way, sis, how did you learn to cook so many dishes? You never cooked back home," Zhang Hui asked casually.

"Did our family have these ingredients?" Zhang Yu had already thought about how to respond, "And even if we had those ingredients, if the food was good, would I get my share?"

"If it wasn’t good, I wouldn’t get to eat much of it; if it was good, would I still even get a taste?"

"Here, as the main cook, I never lack food and drink. Right, about that fabric I asked for from the package your family sent a few days ago." Because Zhao Yadong and the others shared meals together, and if costs were split evenly, Zhang Yu would lose out, so Zhang Hui gave her some extra stuff monthly.

Zhang Hui thought Zhang Yu had already forgotten, and had no choice but to reluctantly give Zhang Yu the fabric.

"Next time, be more proactive, or else with our money, we’ll only be able to eat vegetables, or you can buy your own meat if you want it." Zhang Yu took the fabric and walked away.