The male supporting character was actually myself.

That's why I always say that kid is very smart, but he just doesn't use his intelligence in the right way.

This was determined by the overall environment, not by Jiang Chen's spontaneous behavior.

In peaceful times, six years old is the perfect age for him to start reading, learning, and understanding the ways of the world. But he lost his parents, had no one to rely on, and no one to teach him. The school was on strike every day, and the teachers were even dragged to the cowshed.

In that kind of environment, it's no wonder a six-year-old would go astray.

Song Aiguo and his sister listened in silence, and upon reflection, it seemed to make some sense.

"A six-year-old child will either beg for food and get bullied, or follow the trend to bully others and live a life of luxury. People are naturally inclined towards self-interest, especially since he is helpless and has no one to guide him. He will definitely do whatever is profitable."

Jiang Chen is indeed a smart kid. Even in the midst of the distorted tide, look at which young man in Lijiazhuang is as daring and hardworking as him? Putting aside whether his methods are honorable or not, at least he can guarantee that he can eat his fill, stay warm, and survive.

Others might not be able to do it!

Moreover, I've seen him secretly learning to read in private. Despite his bossy attitude towards the teachers during the day, Jiang Chen would secretly take some food to the cowshed at night and have those old scholars teach him to write.

His cleverness lies in his ability to leverage his environment. Put yourself in his position; could you achieve the same success and influence, even overshadowing the local Li family?

Song Aiwan muttered under her breath, "Wasn't he learning to read and write so he could write big-character posters? Or did he do something wrong..."

"No wonder!" Song Aiguo's eyes lit up as he suddenly realized what Jiang Chen had said earlier. "No wonder he kept saying 'Go home and read your books' when he was kicking me out! Dad, do you think he knows something because he's so well-informed?"

Chapter Four: The System Makes Me Do Bad Things Again

"That's hard to say," Song Qingshan said thoughtfully, shaking his head. "Judging from the change in his attitude towards our family, could it be that this bad trend is about to pass?"

Song Aiwan's almond-shaped eyes widened in anger. "He took all the benefits from us, and now he's suddenly trying to play the good guy? He's really clever! But Jiang Chen is quite capable, being willing to use flour and lean meat as a favor."

"It's a good thing that Jiang Chen is willing to change his ways and stop targeting our family." Song Qingshan looked at the sun and felt that it was about time. He waved his hand and said, "Remember not to tell anyone about this. Hurry up and go to work. If you're late, someone will bring up class composition again, and it will be troublesome if work points are deducted."

The mountains have short hours of sunshine, and the farming methods passed down from generation to generation only allow for the cultivation of one season of dryland rice.

With a large population and barren land, if the weather is not favorable, there will be insufficient water for irrigation and poor harvest. The yield of spring planting and autumn harvest is not enough to fill people's stomachs. Therefore, some hillsides are planted with sweet potatoes and potatoes to make up for the food shortage.

It was early spring, and the team had to first turn over the land that had been frozen all winter and then apply well-rotted manure before spring planting could begin.

In Lijiazhuang, all several hundred households were dirt poor. Only the old Party Secretary had a confiscated watch with a broken strap. He didn't know if it kept the correct time; he had adjusted it by looking at the sun to estimate the time. Every day, when people went to and from work, he would have someone go to the big poplar tree at the village entrance to ring the bell.

The Song family's former courtyard was requisitioned to become the village committee. Now they are living in two dilapidated mud-brick houses in the most remote mountain valley. They are too far away to hear the bell, so they can only estimate the time by looking at the sun. Otherwise, they will be criticized and may have their work points deducted if they are late.

"Song Aiguo and Song Aiwan, you two siblings are in charge of chopping grass today; after you finish, go herd the cattle. If you do well, you can get full work points." By the time the Song siblings arrived at the field, Jiang Chen had already walked around and eaten his fill before starting to assign tasks.

The withered grass cut from the wasteland had to be chopped neatly and collected in the warehouse. This was the livestock's ration. In the days when food was scarce, the working animals relied entirely on it to fill their stomachs. Compared to turning the soil and carrying manure, chopping grass and herding cattle were easy jobs. Usually, the team leader would distribute the grass to his relatives and friends.

"Oh, okay." The siblings were a little stunned, never expecting such a good thing to happen to them.

Jiang Chen stopped paying attention to them. After assigning tasks, he waved to signal the dozen or so young men he had selected yesterday to hurry up and follow with their shovels.

"Brother Jiang, what big thing are we going to do?"

"I didn't sleep well last night, just thinking about what I should do!"

"It's definitely a good thing that Brother Jiang spoke up. Didn't he just select the most efficient young men?"

"Hehe, is there something good to eat if you finish cooking? Last time Brother Jiang gave me some special treatment, those cornbread pancakes were amazing!"

…………

A group of people chattered amongst themselves, asking questions in a flattering tone, as they followed Jiang Chen, who was leading the way, to a wasteland far from the main force of the land-turning team.

Jiang Chen glanced at the terrain, then casually poked the ground with a shovel. "Start digging right here."

"What are we digging for?" Li Jianshe was a little confused and asked cautiously, "Brother Jiang, is there any treasure down there?"

"There's a great treasure here!" He smiled and drew a large circle with his finger. "We'll dig a well right here, and then we won't have to go through the trouble of hauling water to irrigate the fields anymore."

If we have enough water, our village's crops will have a good harvest.

This is a great thing that will benefit everyone, let's get started right away!

The young men looked at each other in bewilderment.

The village had tried digging wells before, but after searching many places and digging many times without finding groundwater, they simply gave up. Now that Jiang Chen has brought it up again, everyone is obedient but not very hopeful.

"After all that effort, I probably won't get anything out of it," Li Jianshe muttered to himself.

However, since the leader Jiang Chen had already started digging, the underlings couldn't sit idle either, so the group of them buried themselves in their work.

This land had been abandoned for a long time. Underneath the sparse weeds and soil layer, there was sand and stones, making it difficult to dig. A dozen strong young men dug for a long time but only managed to create a large frame.

“Host, in the original story, the well that could irrigate most of the fields in the village was dug by the protagonist after he returned from his studies, using his professional knowledge to find its location.”

The little white cat perched on his shoulder, flipping through the script. "It took a lot of talking, and he was laughed at by many people. In the end, the protagonist succeeded entirely by digging for a long time on his own, and those who laughed at him in the village were proven wrong."

"Let's dig this well first. That might trigger changes to the plot, right? Is that alright?"

"The sooner we dig the well, the sooner these fields can be irrigated, so we won't go hungry in years of drought when there's no harvest," Jiang Chen encouraged everyone, wiping his sweat. "Work hard, everyone. Come to my place for lunch. Once the well is finished, I'll treat you all to a good meal!"

The little white cat flipped through the script with a rustling sound, "Oh, so this is the plot you're talking about, Host."

The male protagonist, through a series of unexpected events, was admitted to university and went to study in another city. In the summer of his second year, the village suffered a severe drought, and even the water level in the river dropped significantly. Without irrigation wells, everyone had to carry and haul water to irrigate their fields. However, for several months, the sun shone brightly but not a single drop of rain fell. In the end, the crops withered and died, and the villagers even had to fetch drinking water from a more distant place.

Under such harsh conditions, Song Aiguo's father starved to death at home.

Many families in the village couldn't withstand the disaster; many died from thirst, hunger, and disease. Of those who were resourceful, less than 30% managed to escape with their wives and children to beg for food and returned alive.

The drought severely damaged Lijiazhuang Village, and the harsh conditions only gradually improved after the protagonist, Song Aiguo, returned from his studies.

Although he cleverly read the script and stole the credit for the main character in advance, it was understandable that he was able to help everyone get through the drought and prevent so many people from starving to death.

With the authority to lead the team and the added incentive, Jiang Chen's ability to get people to dig wells is far superior to that of Song Aiguo, the lone commander in the script.

No one dared to laugh or slack off, and if things continued like this, it wouldn't be long before they dug up the underground water veins.

At noon, he led the small team to his two messy mud-brick houses, which he hadn't had time to tidy up. They had a big pot of meat stew with flatbread, and the dozen or so strong young men ate until they were stuffed and satisfied their cravings.

"You have to admit, Brother Jiang is really something!" Li Jianshe wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth, leaned against a barkless tree trunk under the window, basking in the sun, and said with a smug look, "He can even get his hands on something this rare to try, that's impressive!"

"I haven't had a white flour pancake in years! How can I afford white flour when I only earn a few dollars a year?"

"That's true. We don't even have wheat flour in this poor mountain village. We eat sweet potato noodles and potatoes every day. We're really tired of it!"

"Those pigs in the team don't fatten up much. The meat they slaughter for the whole family at the New Year probably wouldn't be as much as what Brother Jiang gives out in one meal. If you work for Brother Jiang, you'll live a life of luxury!"

"Brother, dear brother, can I come over for a special meal tomorrow at noon?"

The young men were chattering noisily around Jiang Chen when he suddenly paused, looked up at the street, and seemed slightly startled.

[Mission: Intercept and replace Song Aiguo's successful application for a position at the supply and marketing cooperative. Reward: One-time C-grade item.]

The moment the main system finished issuing the task, someone shouted at the gate, "Brother Jiang! Come quick, the postman delivered some good stuff!"

Chapter Five: Opening the Letter

The fluffy dumpling, which was squatting on Jiang Chen's shoulder and munching on dried fish, rubbed its face and shook its head, saying, "It's really a case of the emperor being far away from the capital. The original owner, a scoundrel, had quite a lot of power in the mountain village. He was able to impersonate someone else."

"Name, age, height, and physical characteristics—how could two people be identical?"

“As long as they are both around the same age and both are male, this can really work out.” Jiang Chen said in a low voice as he walked out, “Don’t even mention getting a job at a supply and marketing cooperative now, even years later, many people will impersonate others to go to university based on their college entrance exam scores.”

Those students had photos, student records, and solid documentation. Now, there's not even a photo; it's just a matter of a few words.

Little white cat: (．o_o)

How could such a thing happen in broad daylight?!

No wonder the scriptwriting team could write stories so recklessly; reality is even more surreal than fiction.

The well-digging incident may not have any impact on the male protagonist's future, as the script has not yet been updated.

In the story, Jiang Chen not only withheld Song Aiguo's letters, but also took the job offer letter and impersonated him. She even had an empty envelope sent to Song Aiguo to mock him.

Song Aiwan and her brother Song Aiguo were furious and went to confront Jiang Chen, but instead, Jiang Chen harassed them, and the older sister hit the younger brother.

Because he failed to get a job at the supply and marketing cooperative, which he had worked so hard to get into, Song Aiguo missed the chance to start working early. When summer came and all over the country began to promote the resumption of the college entrance examination, he stayed up late studying and finally his hard work paid off, and he and his sister were both admitted to university.

The current task is to get Jiang Chen to cut off the protagonist's path to employment.

Song Aiguo was able to work hard and determined to get into university and leave the small mountain village full of injustice.

"Brother Jiang, come and see!" Skinny Li Changgeng, who was in charge of receiving and sending mail, waved excitedly at him, holding a stack of newspapers and envelopes.

The town's postman had long since ridden away on his old-fashioned bicycle with green canvas bags hanging on both sides of the back seat.

Li Changgeng excitedly handed him a letter, grinning slyly, "It's from Song Aiguo! Look, it says it's from the town's supply and marketing cooperative. Brother, what do you think is inside?"

"The supply and marketing cooperative sent a letter to Song Aiguo? What could they possibly write about between these two completely unrelated places and people?"

"Hey, I heard the town's supply and marketing cooperative is recruiting inventory clerks. You have to take an exam. Did Song Aiguo go and take it?"

"Such a good thing?"

"How could someone as cowardly as him possibly pass the exam?"

"Hey, what's the point of guessing? Just open it and you'll know!"

…………

Hearing the shouts of Skinny Monkey Li Changgeng, everyone else, with their bellies sticking out, gathered around.

Without further ado, Jiang Chen tore open the envelope and pulled out a special letterhead with "Supply and Marketing Cooperative" printed on it. He glanced at it and saw that Song Aiguo had passed the interview and written test, and the company had issued a formal employment notice.

The group of young men watching were about the same age as Jiang Chen. Their upbringing meant that their families didn't insist on education, and given the special era, none of them had much schooling. They stared at the densely packed words on the letter, completely unable to understand anything.

However, the old village chief's grandson, Li Changgeng, who was somewhat learned, peeked out and exclaimed, "Wow, that kid Song Aiguo is something else! If he really passes the exam and gets a job at the supply and marketing cooperative, wow! That's a golden opportunity!"

These days, the most popular thing is the supply and marketing cooperative.

After all, during those special times, there were only a few places where the government officially allowed buying and selling. People had to buy all their necessities from the supply and marketing cooperatives. Anyone who could get a job at the supply and marketing cooperative could get internal discounts and purchasing privileges!

The young people of Lijiazhuang had heard more than once that there was a dark-skinned, fat, ugly old maid in the next village who couldn't get married. Her family used all sorts of connections to get her a job as a saleswoman at the supply and marketing cooperative. Overnight, matchmakers came knocking on her door so many times that they practically kicked down her doorstep.

This clearly demonstrates just how valuable this job offer letter is.

The Song family is about to turn their fortunes around!

"Tsk tsk tsk, Song Aiguo's family's ancestral graves are emitting auspicious smoke!" Li Jianshe shook his head and sighed with a mixture of envy and regret. "It's such a pity we didn't get to study properly for a few days, otherwise we could have given it a try too."

If someone like Song Aiguo, with his family background, could pass the exam, then we definitely can too!

Skinny Li Changgeng rolled his eyes at him, casually flicked him on the forehead, and mocked, "You? You can't even count more work points than you can count on your fingers, you'd have to take off your shoes and count your toes. And you think you're so great?"

"Skinny Monkey, after you finish work this afternoon, take this letter to Song Aiguo and tell him I opened it." Jiang Chen casually stuffed the letter into his shirt pocket, went back to his room to put the things he had prepared there, and then used tape to re-seal the envelope before handing it to Li Changgeng.