Chapter 45: Inviting Comrade Song to See a Patient

These two people… What are they doing here?!

The older educated youths’ expressions changed as well. If they remembered correctly, these two were…

Lin He frowned as he looked at Lu Huaishen and Zhou Ye.

Liu Wei was excited. So these two were here too! And they were so good-looking…

Did she have a chance?

When Zhang Aiguo saw the two walking in, his gaze deepened, and his expression turned serious.

These two… They were definitely not simple.

The brigade leader was the first to speak. “Comrade Lu, Comrade Zhou, what brings you here?”

“Brigade leader, you’re here?” Zhou Ye looked surprised. “Huh? The branch secretary is here too?”

Lu Huaishen glanced at Song Yue.

Perfect.

Song Yue was also looking at him.

Their gazes collided.

Ten seconds later.

They looked away.

Zhou Ye continued speaking. “Brigade leader, branch secretary, since you’re both here, this makes things easier. We’re here to find Comrade Song. We heard that Comrade Song can treat illnesses.”

“We’d like to invite Comrade Song to come with us.”

The brigade leader and branch secretary felt their hearts skip a beat.

Zhou Ye sighed. “An old man in our area has been coughing badly these past few days. Brigade leader, branch secretary, you both know about this.

But since you won’t allow them to go out to seek treatment, we had no choice but to come here and ask Comrade Song to take a look.”

Zhang Aiguo turned to the branch secretary. “Comrade Li, why aren’t they allowed to go out for medical treatment?”

The branch secretary’s heart clenched, and he quickly stepped forward, lowering his voice. “Leader, may I have a word with you in private?”

“Hmm.”

Zhang Aiguo stepped aside, and the branch secretary followed closely behind.

Away from the crowd.

The branch secretary hurriedly explained Lu Huaishen and Zhou Ye’s background.

After hearing him out and considering the aura that Lu Huaishen and Zhou Ye carried, Zhang Aiguo more or less understood the situation.

He glanced at the branch secretary. “Comrade Li, they were sent down to undergo re-education.

As an advanced collective, your ideological awareness should be high. What do you think, Comrade Li?”

The branch secretary felt his heart tighten and immediately nodded. “You’re absolutely right, leader.”

“It’s getting late. I should head back now.”

Zhang Aiguo turned and called out, “Xiuying.”

Huang Xiuying looked at Song Yue. “Comrade Song, it’s getting late. We should go.”

“I’ll come visit you again when I have time.”

Song Yue nodded. “Alright.”

Huang Xiuying guided her child. “Say goodbye to Sister Song.”

The child raised a hand and waved. “Bye-bye, Sister Song.”

Song Yue responded, “Bye-bye.”

She didn’t follow them downstairs. Since the commune secretary, the branch secretary, and the brigade leader were all going, there was no need for her to join in.

Lu Huaishen and Zhou Ye stood nearby, waiting.

Not long after.

Branch Secretary Li Jianguo and the brigade leader returned.

Li Jianguo first glanced at Lu Huaishen and Zhou Ye…

It felt like these two had caught wind of something and deliberately came here to bring this up.

But since the senior leader had made things so clear, they had to comply.

The brigade secretary and leader watched Lu Huaishen and Zhou Ye.

Lu Huaishen didn’t even spare Li Jianguo a glance.

Zhou Ye, however, grinned at him.

Li Jianguo: “…”

He turned to Song Yue. “Comrade Song, you should come with us.”

Song Yue understood the situation but still feigned confusion. “Branch secretary, where are we going?”

Li Jianguo replied, “To Comrade Lu and Comrade Zhou’s place.”

“Alright,” Song Yue agreed readily. “Let me put my things away first.”

“Go ahead.”

Song Yue turned back into the house, tied several cloth bags together, securing them with different knots.

After making sure everything was in place, she stepped out and left with Lu Huaishen, Zhou Ye, Li Jianguo, and the brigade leader.

As soon as the five of them left.

The educated youth dormitory erupted into chaos.

Li Tao was the first to speak. “Who were those people just now?”

Chen Xue stared blankly, mumbling, “In times like these, anyone who can ride a small car and be addressed as ‘leader’ by the commune secretary must be a city official.”

A high-ranking leader had rarely set foot in the educated youth dormitory, and yet, here they were in the middle of an internal dispute…

And Lin He even complained to the commune secretary in front of the leader.

Not only did he get scolded, but he also utterly humiliated himself.

Niu Yifan muttered, “Did we just embarrass ourselves on a massive scale…?”

The older educated youths all fell silent. If they hadn’t started fighting over water tonight…

The leader would have probably praised them because of Song Yue.

But now… sigh…

Zhu Jing felt the others were overreacting.

She spoke up. “Why would a county leader come here?”

Lin He sneered. “Comrade Zhu, not only is your brain useless, but your ears don’t work either.”

“The leader said it very clearly—he came because Comrade Song saved his child.”

“Of course, with your character and morals, even if you stayed here for a lifetime, you’d never attract a leader’s attention.”

Zhu Jing was so furious she could barely breathe. “You—”

Lin He rolled his eyes and turned to head back inside.

Anyway, he had already announced that he was moving out of the dormitory. Now, he just had to wait for the brigade leader to approach him.

This matter wasn’t too big or too small, but it was certainly embarrassing to have it escalate to the senior leader.

And given Song Yue’s connection, who knew if the leader would visit again?

If another incident like this happened…

They had already embarrassed themselves once. They couldn’t let it happen again.

So…

Unless something unexpected happened…

By tomorrow, the brigade leader would come to discuss building new houses with them.

Lin He sat on the kang bed, deep in thought.

Zhao Zirui walked in. “Lin He, are you really moving out?”

Lin He looked up at Zhao Zirui. “From what you’re saying, you plan to stay?”

Zhao Zirui hesitated for a moment. “If you move out, I’ll definitely move with you. I just don’t know if the brigade leader will agree.”

“Don’t worry. He will,” Lin He smiled. “Just focus on deciding how you want to build your house.”

Zhao Zirui froze. “How I want to build it?”

“Of course.” Lin He nodded. “If you’re moving out, you’ll have to build a new house. There aren’t any vacant ones in the village.”

“…” Zhao Zirui said, “Wait, so if we have to build one, should we just add an extra room? I can live with you and pay for the extra space.”

Lin He chuckled. “No need for that trouble. Just follow my plan and build an identical one next to mine.”

Zhao Zirui stared at Lin He.

Something felt… different about him.

“…” Zhao Zirui took a deep breath. “Can’t you just build an extra room?”

Lin He grinned. “Zirui, you’ve been awake this whole time, haven’t you?”

Zhao Zirui’s body stiffened.

…

Meanwhile.

Song Yue followed the four of them.

No one spoke along the way. It was eerily silent, the atmosphere inexplicably strange.

After about twenty minutes.

Li Jianguo finally broke the silence. “Comrade Song, we’re almost there.”

Song Yue glanced at him and nodded.

Li Jianguo said, “At the moment, Comrade Lu and Comrade Zhou’s living conditions are rather poor.”