Wealthy Beauty in the 60s
Chapter 94 - 93 Xia Xiao Has Grown Up (Monthly Ticket 150+)

Chapter 94: Chapter 93 Xia Xiao Has Grown Up (Monthly Ticket 150+)

Sun Yuhua had just mentioned this, and Xia Xiao realized that Secretary Li Zhenchuan indeed kept a polite but distant attitude toward the female educated youth, so many women who wished to get closer to him never got the chance.

Xia Xiao chuckled, "Maybe Secretary Li thinks that I don’t have that intention."

Wang Aihua laughed, "That’s true. Xia Xiao is innocent-minded and also the youngest among us female educated youth. Secretary Li sees no need to be on guard around Xia Xiao."

Feeling a bit embarrassed by the laugh, Xia Xiao thought to herself that the phrase "innocent-minded" made her blush.

"However, after the typhoon struck, everyone realized they had misjudged Secretary Li and surely regretted it," Wang Aihua said.

Sun Yuhua now fell silent, and Xia Xiao said, "Yes, although the past few days have been tough, our Production Team has suffered the least. The hardship was worth it."

Wang Aihua nodded. No matter how hard the work was, it was worth it if the crops were saved; otherwise, everyone would be even more exhausted from the remedial work that had been going on since the previous night, and they might not even be able to save the harvest.

When the typhoon really hit, there was nothing more to say. Some sincere people even apologized to Li Zhenchuan for complaining about him earlier.

The Guangming Production Team’s efforts to harvest before the storm paid off, as the damage was minimal and the rice was gathered in. Only the sweet potatoes and corn in the fields remained.

Although no one had gone to the fields to see for themselves, they knew that if even large trees could be knocked down, the sweet potatoes in the ground might be fine, but the seedlings and the corn would likely not fare well.

The typhoon raged for three days before departing, and even Xia Xiao felt that her dormitory had seemed to sway in the wind and rain at night. Once the storm passed, the earthen houses of the dormitory needed to be repaired.

After the typhoon, some production teams experienced minor losses thanks to early harvesting, but others, like the Red Star Production Team, suffered greatly. Having harvested only half of their crops and not anticipating the storm’s arrival, they lost a significant amount.

Following the storm, Xia Xiao went to check on Black Bear and his family and, seeing they were all well, she breathed a sigh of relief.

With Xia Xiao’s intervention, the contact between Li Zhenchuan and Yang Xuehua increased, and a few days later, Xia Xiao gave Li Zhenchuan more of the Spiritual Water, completely curing his illness.

Once the typhoon had passed, everyone resumed harvesting sweet potatoes and corn. The aftermath of the typhoon made for a very busy autumn. After the harvest, planting of robust growing crops like sweet potatoes and cassava followed, to compensate for the losses caused by the storm.

The Guangming Production Team welcomed five new male educated youth, but no females this time.

This year, the Guangming Production Team was still recognized as an advanced collective and a model production team. The county even encouraged other production teams to exchange experiences and learn from Guangming.

As a result, the Guangming Production Team became even busier, and Xia Xiao had no chance to have a proper conversation with Gao Jiaxing until after the New Year. After that day, Xia Xiao’s relationship with Gao Jiaxing became distant; she would still visit the Gao family and meet Zheng Xianghong, but she no longer knew how to speak to Gao Jiaxing.

As Gao Jiaxing was not one to initiate conversations either, both felt awkward, leading to even fewer encounters.

Everyone grew a year older. Yang Xuehua, Wang Aihua, Sun Yuhua, and Feng Ying were now twenty-one or twenty-two, and Dong Meihua was nineteen.

In the production team, apart from those in Xia Xiao’s dormitory, everyone else either had a significant other or was married, making the women in Xia Xiao’s dormitory stand out notably.

The single male educated youth often expressed their hope for more female educated youth to arrive, finding the women in Xia Xiao’s dormitory rather unapproachable.

However, the villagers hoped for more male educated youth, as men were stronger and could work harder, while women had less physical strength.

There was only so much land available to the production team. With too many educated youth, not only would work be done, but more food would be needed; thus, Gao Guoqiang led everyone to clear more land for farming in the mountains.

Thanks to Shitou, Xia Xiao always found something in the mountains, such as wild ginseng and herbs, which were not too hard to locate. Moreover, when visiting Black Bear Cave, she found pheasants, wild rabbits, and even goats or deer, which were given to her as game.

Xia Xiao simply raised them in her special space. With her relationship with Gao Jiaxing strained, she did not seek Gao Jiaxing’s help in selling them but decided to keep them for now.

After all, the plants in her space grew quickly, and there was enough for the pheasants, wild rabbits, goats, and deer to eat; Xia Xiao was not worried about sustaining these wild creatures.

"Ge Lai and Liu Haihua are getting married, are you going?" Gao Jiaxing asked.

Xia Xiao shook her head, "I’m not going." She wasn’t exactly friends with them; she barely acknowledged Ge Lai with a nod when they crossed paths, and she had a direct dislike for Liu Haihua. If Ge Lai wasn’t marrying Liu Haihua, Xia Xiao might have considered getting to know him better, but not with Liu Haihua.

Gao Jiaxing pursed his lips and left without saying more, and Xia Xiao didn’t add anything either.

The relationship between Xia Xiao and Gao Jiaxing had become polite but distant, not as close as before. Xia Xiao would be lying if she said she felt no regret, but some things simply couldn’t be forced.

Moreover, Xia Xiao was no longer the ’little one’ from before. She had grown taller and more beautiful, her whole presence vibrant with life. Even standing next to Sun Yuhua, she was in no way inferior.

This was also thanks to the nurturing from her space. As a result, Li Shengmei kept a close watch on Xia Xiao, as if looking for a stain on her character.

Xia Xiao began to avoid suspicion. She had no desire to date anyone now, as getting close to anyone never led to anything good. The gossiping women didn’t just talk for the sake of it; at times they spoke with such detail and assurance, it was as if they’d seen and known it all firsthand.

When Ge Lai and Liu Haihua got married, Xia Xiao didn’t attend, but many from the production team did. It was said that Liu Haihua was forced into the marriage by her brother and was very reluctant, to the point that she wouldn’t even let Ge Lai touch her post-marriage, and their marital relationship was very tense.

Wang Xiumei personally sought out Gao Jiazhi, but seeing no hope there, agreed to date Gao Jianhua and even made it a point to often return to the production team with him. Lin Xuebi was delighted, boasting in the village as if her son had been chosen to be the consort of a princess.

During the New Year, Gao Jianhua brought Wang Xiumei back to the Gao Mansion, and Lin Xuebi specially invited Gao Guoqiang and his sons Gao Jiazhi and Gao Jiaxing to join them. Gao Guoqiang showed up briefly before returning, while Gao Jiazhi and Gao Jiaxing didn’t go at all.

And Gao Yongfang started making frequent trips to her childhood home, though particularly to the old mansion, all in the effort to ingratiate herself with Wang Xiumei. One would think Gao Jianhua was her own brother, given the fervor of her efforts.