country bumpkin

Chapter 359 "Friendship"

Once, Xuanmei had a cold and a headache, so Yunya helped her ask the team leader for leave and went to work herself.

After lunch, Yunya brought back food from the cafeteria for Xuanmei. When she returned to the dormitory with the food, she saw that Liu Jing had already bought a chicken leg rice bowl to take care of Xuanmei.

They were all from the same hometown and were colleagues in the same dormitory, so this concern was nothing special; everyone thought it was normal.

Yun Ya and Xuan Mei knew each other even longer than Liu Jing, so it's more reasonable for her to take care of Xuan Mei.

However, with someone offering to help take care of her friend, Yunya was much more relaxed. Naturally, she was very happy and didn't think much of it.

At this moment, Liu Jing handed the food to Xuan Mei. Since it was inconvenient for Xuan Mei to eat while lying down, Yun Ya took her own quilt and placed it behind Xuan Mei so that she could lean against it and eat while half-sitting.

Seeing this, Liu Jing was anxious. She grabbed Xuan Mei's chopsticks, picked up a chicken leg, and put it to Xuan Mei's mouth.

Xuanmei was caught off guard and paused for a moment before realizing that Liu Jing wanted to feed her.

She said somewhat embarrassedly, "It's okay, it's not that serious. I can take care of my meal by myself."

Liu Jing didn't give her a chance to argue and started feeding her. Xuan Mei was weak and didn't want to make a pointless struggle, so she let Liu Jing feed her bite by bite.

After she ate a few bites of meat and rice, Liu Jing thoughtfully fed her some soup. The other girls in the dorm looked on with envy.

Seeing Liu Jing taking such meticulous care of Xuan Mei, Yun Ya felt a little uneasy. She didn't know why she felt this way, as if these were things that she should be doing, and Liu Jing had taken them away from her.

Yun Ya didn't understand why she felt this way, but since someone was taking care of her friend, she didn't have to worry about it anymore.

After finishing lunch, around 1 p.m., Yunya went to work. She reminded Xuanmei not to forget to take her medicine, and then went to the workshop with her sister.

Liu Jing took leave. When Yun Ya and the others came back from get off work, they found out that Liu Jing had spent the whole afternoon with Xuan Mei, taking care of her every step of the way.

Xuanmei was sleepy, so Liu Jing sat quietly by her bedside, watching her silently. When Xuanmei woke up, Liu Jing poured her water and fed her.

He would ask her if she was thirsty, then ask if her head still hurt, and then touch her forehead to see if it was hot.

The concern was so meticulous and heartfelt. Xuanmei felt indescribable emotions at being treated like this. She wanted to express her gratitude properly, but didn't know how to do so in a concrete way. She could only repay her kindness later, when Xuanmei was feeling unwell.

All we can do now is express ourselves verbally.

"Liu Jing, thank you! Thank you for caring about me and taking care of me so much," Xuan Mei said in a hoarse voice.

Liu Jing's gentle eyes were almost overflowing with affection. She smiled and replied, "I'm willing. It's all my own choice. You don't need to be so polite with me."

Xuanmei didn't understand what she meant, but she could tell that she treated her as a good friend and family member, so she smiled gratefully at her.

Liu Jing tossed her braids behind her back and gently pulled the thin blanket up a little higher for Xuan Mei.

Just then, people who had just finished get off work came back and saw this scene. Everyone felt that Liu Jing was being a bit too nice to Xuan Mei. Even sisters wouldn't be this exaggerated!

The villagers looked at Sun Limei and Yunya, implying that when Yunya was unwell last time, her older sister Sun Limei hadn't taken time off to be with her, let alone provide such gentle care.

After looking at the Yun sisters, they looked at another sister in the dormitory, and realized that she wasn't this exaggerated.

An idea suddenly popped into their heads. They exchanged glances, understanding each other without saying a word. Their expressions changed, and they looked at Liu Jing and Xuan Mei with meaningful glances.

Liu Jing, of course, had no idea that everyone had seen through her little scheme, and Xuan Mei naturally took it all as just the feelings between good friends.

Yunya suddenly felt that her best friend was about to be taken away by someone else, and she felt a little uncomfortable and kept feeling sour and angry.

But I don't know who to be angry at, so I can only bear it all by myself.

About two weeks later, another batch of new employees arrived. This time, the new workers were all assigned to the new factory.

They lined up to visit and learn from the old factory. Among them, Yunya saw several familiar faces.

Among them were Zhang Haiyan, her sister-in-law; Bai Yan, her cousin; and Zhang Haiying.

Yunya greeted them happily, and they were also happy to see a familiar face, chatting and laughing with Yunya.

Bai Yan saw Xuan Mei from another village and greeted her with a smile. Xuan Mei smiled back.

Sun Limei, busy with her work in the distance, could only wave as a greeting. They also raised their hands in response.

Yunya asked Zhang Haiyan curiously, "Haiyan, Baiyan, how did you all get together?"

Bai Yan rolled her eyes at her and said jokingly, "You don't call me 'sister' when you see me, you just call me by my name!"

Yunya chuckled, "I feel closer to you when I call you by your name. Calling you 'sister' always feels like there's a generation gap. Look, my sister-in-law always calls me by my name, and I'm used to it."

Zhang Haiyan then spoke up, "Exactly, what difference does it make what you call it? Why be so serious?"

Oh, by the way, Yunya, when I came, your mom asked me to bring you some pancakes. Remember to pick them up from my dorm after get off work.

Yun Ya nodded, "Okay, I understand."

After exchanging only a few words, the group leader came over, and Yun Ya automatically shut up and went back to her work.

Zhang Haiying was assigned to another group, where she learned to operate an electric sewing machine in the adjacent team.

I saw Yunya earlier and she waved to greet me, but because we were a bit far apart, I couldn't hear her. Yunya waved back in kind.

Bai Yan was assigned to learn how to use the overlock machine. Xuan Mei happened to be teaching her; they were already familiar with each other, so learning was easy and teaching was enjoyable.

Zhang Haiyan was learning the work of an ironing worker, but her calves ached after standing for a while. So she went to the team leader and said that she wanted to learn how to use an electric sewing machine, not how to iron.

The team leader was clearly unhappy, looking at her with a dark expression, but he still changed her job position.

He turned around and called over another strong girl who looked like she could endure hardship, and asked her to come and learn how to iron.

The new employee learned here for one day, but didn't come back the next day. Instead, he went to his new workshop to practice his skills.

The old factory sent a few experienced employees over to mentor and train them. They'll come back after they've trained their apprentices.

I only taught for a week before coming back. If any problems arose during that time, the old factory would send someone over to help.

The workshop director and several group leaders in the new factory were all selected from the veteran employees.