Su Xiaonan covered her face with her hands. “At first, he wasn’t like this. He talked to me about many things, and I thought he was a deep person. I didn’t know he would turn so heartless.”

“Have you heard of the saying ‘a scholar is of no use’? You even write novels, and you didn’t know that the most deceitful men are the ones who talk sweetly?” Su Xiangwan couldn’t help but laugh.

Su Xiaonan, looking disheveled and filthy, hadn’t bathed for who knows how long.

After sweating, her neck was covered with streaks of dirt, forming small brown streams as sweat washed over them.

Her hands were full of cracked, wind-chapped skin, and the bloodstains from her struggles the night before were still visible.

A young girl in such a pitiful state was indeed very sad.

“Will you get me out of here? I’ll tell you, the future tycoon Zhao Guonian is here too. If we take him with us, we won’t have to worry about getting rich. Sister, look, I’m telling you such a secret, just trust me this time, okay?” Su Xiaonan pleaded.

At this moment, she thought that as long as Su Xiangwan could take her out of this place, she would be willing to work hard, no matter what.

Su Xiangwan responded, “You think too highly of me. I can only stop them from parading you through the streets and send you to the relatively less harsh Seventh Team. But getting you out of Haixi, Xiaonan, I really don’t have that ability.”

Su Xiaonan had once been naïve, but now she had come to realize a bit more about the situation. Indeed, in this era, many times a family could create a tragedy, but a single wrong step or a poorly chosen word could lead to a ridiculous fate.

After thinking for a while, she slapped herself and squatted in a corner.

Su Xiangwan, meanwhile, had to wait.

While waiting, she gave Su Xiaonan the leftover flatbread from her lamb soup, sat down on a clean patch of brick ground, and leaned back as Li Chengze snuggled up to her.

The two of them took a nap.

They napped under the shade, resting peacefully as the sun slowly moved west.

At 5:30 PM, Song Qingshan arrived in the county town by truck from the Civil Engineering Bureau and found Su Fufu waiting outside.

He learned that Su Xiangwan was waiting for him at the Revolutionary Committee.

Thus, Liu Zaiye’s wish to see Su Xiangwan and her husband together, asking him for help, was finally realized.

“How come you’re sleeping on the ground?” Song Qingshan entered the Revolutionary Committee and saw Su Xiangwan and Li Chengze sitting on the floor together, sleeping. His brows furrowed.

Su Xiangwan rubbed her eyes and yawned, “Is it already 5 PM?”

“Of course!” Su Fufu said. “You’ve slept so deeply, I thought you were going to start snoring.”

On the way here, Su Fufu had already told Song Qingshan about Su Xiaonan’s situation.

The story was that she had gotten involved with a man and ended up being reported as a bad woman.

It was a funny situation, and Su Fufu couldn’t help but laugh when telling it.

Song Qingshan, however, was serious about this matter. “Where did this young man come from? In situations like this, not protecting the woman is one thing, but how can he report her?”

Su Xiangwan glanced back at Su Xiaonan.

Su Xiaonan bit her lip and said nothing.

She mechanically chewed on the dry biscuits that Su Xiangwan had given her at noon, trying to swallow them with great effort.

Finally, Liu Zaiye had woken from his long nap.

He stretched, yawned, and said to Xie Tianming, “Xie, let Song Qingshan and Su Xiangwan in. I want to see what they’ll ask of me.”

Xie Tianming nodded and quickly left.

Before long, Su Xiangwan and Song Qingshan entered.

But what Liu Zaiye didn’t expect was that Song Qingshan, standing there with a cold expression, asked, “Zaiye, do you still remember how your spouse died?”

Liu Zaiye wiped the spit from his mouth, stood up, and combed his always-stiff hair: “What does this have to do with you?”

“Your family member has hepatitis B. This disease is contagious, so it’s highly taboo in the military. For the sake of your own reputation, you deliberately did what was wrong, even though you knew that scientific treatment and controlling the virus replication would have been enough.

But instead, you searched everywhere for all sorts of folk remedies and kept forcing her to take all kinds of medicine. We all know that medicine is poisonous to some degree.

Who knows if those quack doctors gave her anything good? You let her take everything, and in the end, you killed your family member. You killed her,” Song Qingshan said, his anger boiling over.

His voice wasn’t loud, but each word pierced Liu Zaiye’s heart.

The death of his family member was a deep wound for Liu Zaiye, and he knew full well that the worsening of her illness was linked to the pressure he put on her and the excessive amount of medicine she took.

So, he snapped.

He pulled out a gun and pressed it to Song Qingshan’s forehead, veins bulging as he yelled through gritted teeth, “What the hell does that have to do with you?”

“If you dare to make things difficult for my family again, I can say even worse things. It’s the middle of summer, and you’ve kept Su Xiangwan sitting outside for half the day. Do you really need to do that?”

Before Su Xiangwan could fully comprehend what had just happened, Song Qingshan had grabbed the gun from Liu Zaiye’s hand and pressed it to his own forehead.

Outside, the local revolutionary committee director, Xie Tianming, was knocking on the door, probably curious to find out what kind of battle was happening inside.

Liu Zaiye was so furious that his hair stood on end. Song Qingshan held the gun with a gaze colder than his. Both men were at a standoff, ready for a deadly confrontation.

At this moment, the third person in the room, Su Xiangwan, was leisurely pouring herself some tea.

“Liu Zaiye, Song Qingshan is about to make a mistake. Didn’t you see? If he pulls the trigger, he’ll immediately be kicked out of the military. If he dares to hit someone, once he’s back in Qinzhou, I’ll report him to the military headquarters. Aren’t you going to stop him?” Liu Zaiye was the first to back down. He glanced sideways at Su Xiangwan and said.

The tea was ready, but it was too hot to drink just yet.

Su Xiangwan sat down in the chair that Liu Zaiye had just vacated and said slowly, “Let them fight. I’d be happy if one of you dies. If you die, people in Qinzhou will probably cheer. If Song Qingshan dies, I’ll remarry immediately, without a second thought. So what? Why stop them from fighting?”

Fighting needs someone to fan the flames; without that, it won’t happen.

So, Liu Zaiye deflated first. “Song Qingshan, look at you. Your family member isn’t even a good person. Even before you’re dead, she’s already thinking about remarrying.”

Song Qingshan lowered the gun, his face still unreadable.

Eventually, the three of them calmed down.

At this point, Su Xiangwan finally spoke, “Liu Zaiye, haven’t you always wanted to get your sister into the labor and agricultural university but couldn’t find a good teacher to help her prepare?”

“Yes, but so what? I have the money. Finding a teacher isn’t hard,” Liu Zaiye replied, not particularly concerned.

Su Xiangwan said, “Sometimes, people with knowledge aren’t necessarily good teachers, and a good teacher doesn’t have to be someone with a lot of knowledge. Nowadays, people with even a little bit of education are all sent to rural areas. But I know someone who is a born teacher. He can help your sister prepare for her cultural courses, and he’s even in Qingshui County, so he might not even charge you.”

“Who is this person? I’ll ask him three or four times, even offer him three to five hundred yuan a month. I’ll definitely get him to come.”

Indeed, there were many teachers, but few good ones who could teach well, and Su Xiangwan’s words had struck a chord with Liu Zaiye.

Su Xiangwan paused before saying, “Alright, I’ll beg you. Don’t be too harsh on Gu Nan. Let her go back to the Seventh Team to work. Don’t parade her through the streets. If you agree, I’ll tell you who that person is.”

Since Liu Zaiye wanted her to beg him, she would go ahead and do it. It wasn’t a big deal.

Su Xiangwan thought to herself, if she could bring Zhao Guonian back to Qingshui County, she would consider it a win.

“Who is that person?” Liu Zaiye asked.

Su Xiangwan replied, “His name is Zhao Guonian. He studied abroad before the liberation and is now working in the Seventh Team at Baiyang Labor Reform.

The reason I say he’s a good teacher is because he can explain things in a simple and understandable way.

The entrance exams for the labor and agricultural universities are now based on cultural courses and Party history.

My younger brother, Su Fufu, is one of his students. If you don’t believe me, after we get back, I’ll have Fufu take the entrance exam for the labor and agricultural university and show you.

If he passes, then you can invite Zhao Guonian back to tutor Liu Minli. How does that sound?”

Liu Zaiye pondered for a long time before replying, “I’ll think about it. But since you’ve begged me, I won’t make a big deal out of Gu Nan. I’ll transfer her to the Seventh Team. It’s not a big problem for me.”

“What about Gu Nan?” Su Xiangwan asked.

“Just take her away!” Liu Zaiye waved his hand carelessly.

He still hadn’t realized he had been played.

When they left the revolutionary committee, Su Xiaonan was untied and following closely behind Su Xiangwan.

It was already evening, and the weather had finally cooled down.

Su Xiaonan tried to grab Li Chengze’s hand, but every time she reached for him, he pulled away. When she tried again, he pulled further ahead, leaving her behind.

“How strange! I raised him for six months, but he’s an ungrateful wolf. Now that he’s with you, he doesn’t even recognize me anymore,” Su Xiaonan said.

Su Xiangwan didn’t say much to her, as Su Xiaonan still needed to go to the Twelfth Team to pack her things, so she walked off with the militia.

As for Su Xiangwan, she and Song Qingshan took advantage of a big truck from the Civil Engineering Bureau and headed back to the Seventh Team.

When Li Chengze got home, he solemnly placed the light green blouse on the kang (a traditional heated bed).

Su Xiangwan wasn’t unaware of his intentions; he wanted her to see how beautiful the dress he had bought was, but Su Xiangwan deliberately ignored it and didn’t even glance at it.