Chapter 02: Encountering Danger

After Lin Yingying said that, Ye Manman immediately burst into tears, sobbing pitifully.

Lin Yingying lifted her chin at Ye Zhitian and gave a cold snort. Miss Lin was certainly not a well-behaved young lady. She was arrogant and willful, and of course, pampered and lazy as well. She could not even be bothered to hold grudges, so she simply exposed Ye Manman’s little scheme, saving herself from whispered complaints behind her back that would make Ye Zhitian think she was bullying Ye Manman.

Ye Zhitian glanced at her but said nothing, only offering comfort to Ye Manman.

He actually did not scold her? Looks like that delicate little white flower had already tattled to him. Hmph, traitor!

She was far too tired to be angry. Squatting there made her feel dizzy and her legs numb, so she took out a handkerchief, spread it out, and prepared to sit on the ground. She really could not hold on any longer. It seemed she would have to take a few days off to get through the flare-up of her illness.

Ah, she had made countless wishes to Heaven, saying that if anyone could cure her illness, she would be willing to marry him on the spot.

Unfortunately, Heaven could not hear her.

She took off her hat, fanned herself twice, then quickly put it back on. “Brother Ye, go tell the team leader that I’ll use money to make up for my labor. I really can’t go on. I’m going to die.” Her body swayed as if she were about to fall face-first to the ground.

Ye Zhitian quickly reached out to steady her, but when he caught sight of the sly smile tugging at the corner of her lips, his temper flared again. He immediately let go of her. “You can forget that idea. Using money to make up for labor? That’s a bourgeois attitude, and you’ll be criticized and struggled against for it!”

Lin Yingying’s peach blossom eyes flew wide open. She glared at him angrily. “Go ahead and criticize, go ahead and struggle against me! Isn’t this just you taking revenge? Go on, try pushing me over.”

Her skin was fair and delicate, now flushed pink from the heat, making her bright eyes and white teeth all the more striking. The light in her eyes rippled like autumn waves, a vivid, living picture of wealth and beauty, incomparably exquisite.

All of a sudden, Ye Zhitian felt that her dazzling face carried an invisible force of attack, making his heart tighten for a moment. Instinctively, he leaned his body back to put some distance between them.

“Stop making trouble. Anyway, you can give up on the idea of spending money to escape labor.” Ye Zhitian grabbed her canteen, poured out the sugary water with a few gulps of sound, then ran off to fill it with cooled boiled water. When he came back, he tossed the canteen to Lin Yingying and handed an enamel mug to Ye Manman.

Lin Yingying started in again with her biting sarcasm. “The two of you are sharing one enamel mug. Aren’t you afraid of catching Helicobacter pylori?”

Her mother had clearly prepared a canteen for Ye Manman. It was Ye Manman herself who had forgotten to bring it when she left, yet that fool Ye Zhitian insisted she had thrown it away out of spite to get back at her.

Hmph!

“You three, stop cutting and hurry over to load the cart!” The brigade leader strode over and waved at the three of them. Faced with these cadres’ children, he was truly at his wit’s end, and wished he could send them back where they came from.

Loading the cart was certainly easier than bending over to cut wheat. Lin Yingying instantly felt a surge of energy. She slung her own little canteen—which was ten thousand times more loyal than Ye Zhitian—onto her back, tightened her hat, and followed along to load the cart.

Up ahead, people were cutting wheat with sickles. Behind them, others were tying the bundles, and then someone would drive the livestock cart over to haul them away. Their job was to do the loading.

But Lin Yingying had overestimated her abilities. Chasing after the cart like this, squatting to pick up a bundle of wheat and then straightening up again, back and forth, made her head feel like it no longer belonged to her. Inside, her brain felt as if it were turning into mush.

It was truly both hot and dizzying. Ah, she might as well just faint.

But the wheat field, after being harvested, had three-inch-high stubble left behind. The slanted ends of the stubble were especially sharp, and with her skin so delicate and tender, if she were to fall, she would surely end up covered in cuts and blood.

Gritting her teeth, she dismissed the thought. Looking again, hey! She was actually much more capable than Ye Manman!

That drama queen was just sticking close to Ye Zhitian, taking advantage of him.

When the cart was loaded high, the commune member driving it told them to send one person up to receive the bundles of wheat and place them properly so they could stack the load higher.

Lin Yingying, not having the strength to toss bundles up from below, chose to climb up and receive them instead.

Once again, she felt grateful for her cleverness in tucking her pant legs into her socks so her ankles would not be scratched. She was also wearing long sleeves with protective cuffs and gloves, so her arms would not get scratched either. Her neck was wrapped with a light scarf, so it would not be hurt. The only unprotected part was her face—when the wheat awns brushed against it, it was both itchy and painful, and when the sweat stung the spots, it was simply unbearable.

Once the cart was loaded, the carter personally checked the tied bundles, then told the three of them to go together to the threshing ground to unload the wheat.

The wheat had to be dried quickly after being brought back. There were also commune members in the yard driving donkeys and mules to pull stone rollers over the wheat to thresh it.

On the way back, Lin Yingying lay atop the high pile of wheat, staring at the blinding sky and praying. Oh, Mother, Father, how could she possibly get out of doing labor?

Originally, both of her older brothers had gone off to join the army, and as the youngest child, she should have been allowed to stay with her parents. But her father insisted she needed tempering, and instead left Ye Manman at home. Her mother had even thought of simply letting her join the army together with Ye Zhitian. She could paint, dance, and sing, so becoming a literary soldier would have been a very easy life.

Who could have guessed… that the old man would be so stubborn?

Because of his stubbornness, her mother, in a fit of anger, had her eldest uncle send Ye Manman down to the countryside too. If there was hardship to be endured, they would endure it together. No one was to think they could escape.

Who knew what complaints that delicate little white flower was telling her father back at home now.

When Father Lin and Father Ye were children, they lived in neighboring villages. When Father Lin was eight years old, he fell into an ice hole and was pulled out by Father Ye, and the two became close friends. Later, when Father Lin joined the revolution, he wanted to bring Father Ye along as well, but unfortunately, the two got separated on the road, and Father Ye took a different path. In 1960, Father Ye was sent down as part of the Y faction, but on the way, he met with an accident, fell off a cliff, and left no remains. His wife then took her daughter to seek refuge with her husband’s closest friend.

From the moment this mother and daughter appeared in front of Lin Yingying, her hidden illness was aggravated into a flare-up. No matter what, she could not stand the sight of that delicate white flower, and she went from a well-behaved young lady to a short-tempered, pampered miss, to the point that Father Lin had considered punishing her harshly several times.

But that delicate white flower put on a pitiful and well-behaved act in front of Father Lin, while in front of Mother Lin, and especially Lin Yingying, she carried herself as if she were a savior, repeatedly saying that without her husband, Lin Yingying would not have any of what she had now, so she must treat Ye Manman like a real younger sister.

Thinking of the past, Lin Yingying gave a cold snort. That delicate white flower had first wanted her daughter to try to seduce her elder brother, but thankfully her mother’s sharp eyes saw through it and snuffed it out quickly and bluntly. As a result, that delicate white flower then had her daughter get close to Ye Zhitian, saying something about how all those with the surname Ye were like one family, and telling Ye Zhitian to take good care of Ye Manman.

Ye Manman was petite, delicate, and pitiful, which easily won Ye Zhitian’s sympathy.

Heh, only a fool like Ye Zhitian would treat that little white flower like a treasure!

She was both exhausted and sleepy. With her sun hat covering her head, the gentle swaying beneath her lulled her into falling asleep.

She dreamed that her father was about to throw her into the harshest great furnace for tempering, and that furnace wobbled precariously before suddenly tossing her out.

Lin Yingying jolted awake, only to find that the ox cart was wildly charging forward.

She quickly grabbed hold of the rope tying the bundles of wheat and shouted, “Uncle, what’s going on?”

No one responded. There was only a strong and irritable big black ox pulling her and the load of wheat in a mad dash.

From far off, Lin Yingying could hear the commune members shouting “The ox is spooked!” in panic, mixed with Ye Manman’s voice calling “Yingying, Sister Yingying—” in a tone she could not tell was wretched or gleeful.

What were the chances of a strong big black ox pulling a cartload of wheat suddenly going mad? Lin Yingying had no idea.

She only knew that wearing a seatbelt in a car accident increased the survival rate by ninety percent, and if she let go and was thrown off now, she would most likely break her neck from the fall.

All she could do was cling tightly to the rope, yet she was still being tossed around. Soon, the rough rope rubbed her palms raw, the pain making it almost impossible to hold on.

At this moment, she actually forgot to be afraid. She just clenched her teeth hard—she was already in so much pain, so she could not let it be for nothing.

“God of Transmigration, please bless me. I’ll never look down on you again. Just don’t let me break my neck…”

To distract herself from the fear, she kept trying to let her thoughts run wild, giving herself little pep talks.

From an outsider’s view, she was like a frail kite swaying this way and that with the jolting of the ox cart, about to be flung off at any moment.

“The spooked ox is heading for the cliff!”

“Stop it, quick!”

“Educated Youth Lin, Educated Youth Lin is still on it—”

The panicked voices of the commune members, the screams, the shouts—all of it seemed to have nothing to do with Lin Yingying anymore.

Bystanders stared in horror at the spooked big black ox. If it fell into the ravine ahead, 23 to 27 meters deep, then… she would be doomed without a doubt.

Just then, someone came galloping up from behind on a fast horse. The black steed was so swift its four hooves seemed to kick up smoke. The man on its back leaned low over the horse’s neck, the wind whipping his military uniform so that it snapped and fluttered.

As the steed raced forward, he began tearing at his own clothes. With a sharp rip, all the buttons popped off, and he pulled off his jacket.

In the midst of flying dust, he urged the horse close to the big black ox, keeping pace with it. Lifting his arm, he threw the green military jacket over the ox’s head.

At the same moment, he suddenly sprang forward, leaping onto the shafts of the cart with the agility of a leopard. Before his body even landed, a flash of cold steel in his hand severed the rope of the yoke. The big black ox lunged out of the shafts, the cart instantly collapsing. The momentum spun the spooked ox around, and with its head covered by the jacket, instead of charging off the cliff, it broke free of the yoke and bolted away in another direction.

“Ah—” The mountain-like pile of wheat straw collapsed, and Lin Yingying could no longer hold onto the rope. In an instant, she was thrown off.

The man on the cart shaft kicked off with explosive power in his taut thigh muscles, leaping forward like a leopard. Stretching out his arms, he hooked them around Lin Yingying’s slender waist.

One arm clamped around her waist like an iron band, while the other hand shielded the back of her head, pressing her against his chest. With a heavy thud, the two of them slammed into the ground. The momentum sent them tumbling over each other twice more before the man finally caught a protruding rock with his foot, stopping their roll and preventing them from falling into the ravine beside them.

The hard clods of earth and jutting stones there were clearly raised. With Lin Yingying’s delicate skin, if she had fallen, she might not have died, but she would have been disfigured.

Lying sprawled on his solid, broad chest, Lin Yingying’s lashes trembled as her gaze caught the dark, gaping ravine below. Jagged stones jutted like the teeth of a devil. Frightened, she let out a soft whimper and buried her head back into the man’s chest, where it felt so much safer.

Huo Qingshan: “…………”