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Gu Nan turned around and met Su Niannian’s bright, clear eyes, causing an involuntary tremor in his heart.
Seeing Gu Nan turn back, Su Niannian waved at him and flashed a radiant smile.
She seemed to glow, drawing the man’s gaze toward her.
Gu Nan’s eyes darkened slightly, but he remained indifferent, turning his head away without any reaction.
Su Niannian’s waving hand stiffened for a moment, but she quickly adjusted herself.
Neither of them had spoken much, so his reaction was completely normal.
If he responded to every woman who approached him, wouldn’t that make him a walking central heater for everyone?
Su Niannian consoled herself with this thought.
“This is the new female Educated Youth? She’s so beautiful!” A man in his thirties, who had yet to marry, brightened upon seeing Su Niannian’s face, his eyes filled with amazement.
“What’s the use of being pretty? Just look at her—she’s clearly someone who can’t lift or carry anything. How many work points could she even earn?” A middle-aged woman nearby scoffed, glancing at Su Niannian with disdain.
“What do you mean ‘what’s the use’?” A lecherous grin spread across the face of a man in his thirties, an old bachelor. “If I had a wife like that, I’d rather keep her at home on the kang, waiting to serve me. I’d make sure she couldn’t even get off the bed, let alone earn work points.”
The words slipped out before he realized it.
Hearing this, Gu Nan shot him a sharp, icy glare.
The old bachelor shivered involuntarily and turned his head to look at Gu Nan.
That glance alone was enough to send a chill down his spine, making him feel as if he had been plunged into freezing water.
Not long ago, just as winter had begun, two wild boars—likely starving—descended from the mountains.
They injured several people, one of whom had his stomach torn open by a boar’s tusk and nearly died.
The village brigade organized a group of strong laborers to deal with the beasts. More than a dozen men struggled against the wild boars for a long time, yet they couldn’t take them down. Instead, four more villagers ended up wounded.
If Gu Nan hadn’t appeared—wielding a sickle in one hand and an axe in the other—to kill both wild boars, no one knew how much worse the situation could have gotten or how many more people would have suffered.
He still remembered the sight of Gu Nan after he single-handedly killed two wild boars, each weighing nearly 150 kilograms. His entire body was drenched in blood—his face, his neck, all stained a deep crimson.
He looked like the King of Hell emerging from the underworld or a battle-worn general who had fought his way through a bloody war.
That single battle was enough to make the entire village both respect and fear him.
Even though Gu Nan’s family background was unfavorable, even though his mother was in poor health and his eldest brother was disabled, no one dared to say a word to his face.
They might whisper behind his back, but he wouldn’t know—or even if he did, those gossiping would never dare admit it.
Gu Nan remained unaware of the discussions happening around him, and Su Niannian, on her side, couldn’t hear much either. However, she could keenly feel the burning gazes directed at her from several people nearby.
Before long, the village chief, seeing that everyone had arrived, began assigning tasks.
It was already mid-April, and most of the crops had been sown.
What remained was weeding and fertilizing.
The work itself wasn’t too exhausting. The stronger laborers were assigned to the rice fields since working there required standing in water, which was still quite chilly, and the mud was particularly filthy.
The educated youths were mainly assigned to the sorghum fields for weeding and fertilizing.
Some of the younger ones were sent to the back mountain to cut pig grass. The newly arrived female educated youths, however, were given relatively better treatment and were assigned to the pig grass-cutting team.
Su Niannian felt a slight pang of disappointment. After all, if she was sent to cut pig grass, she wouldn’t be working alongside Gu Nan.
Gu Nan was considered strong labor, after all…
At that moment, the village chief’s youngest son leaned in and whispered something in his ear.
The village chief’s eyes lit up as he glanced in Su Niannian’s direction.
Gu Nan’s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and his steps paused for a moment.
He was well aware of Li Jinbao’s character. Usually, he relied on his status as the village chief’s son to act recklessly in the village. It wasn’t uncommon for him to bully and harass young women.
Now that he had voluntarily asked to go to the back mountain, Gu Nan couldn’t help but feel a sense of vigilance.
“Brother Nan?” Li Ergou noticed Gu Nan’s silence and couldn’t help but nudge him.
Gu Nan snapped out of his thoughts and said coldly, “Keep an eye on him.”
Li Ergou nodded, immediately understanding his meaning.
Gu Nan didn’t say anything, but his deep, dark eyes grew even colder.
Li Jinbao led the female educated youths and a group of half-grown children toward the back mountain.
As they walked, at some point, he unknowingly ended up right beside Su Niannian.
“My name is Li Jinbao. My father is the village chief. You’re the new educated youth, right? What’s your name?” Li Jinbao asked while walking, his eyes scanning Su Niannian up and down.
Su Niannian felt extremely uncomfortable under his gaze, as if something was crawling over her skin.
Noticing this, Song Zhaodi quickly stepped between them, inserting herself between Su Niannian and Li Jinbao.
Song Zhaodi was used to hard labor and had plenty of strength.
There was no way she would let Su Niannian be bullied. If Li Jinbao dared to act inappropriately, she wouldn’t mind teaching him a lesson.
“Comrade Li, you should keep some distance from female comrades!” Song Zhaodi said firmly as she walked between the two.
Li Jinbao glanced at Song Zhaodi, immediately feeling irritated.
Why was she butting in? So annoying!
But with so many people around, he couldn’t afford to make things difficult for the new educated youth—not yet, at least.
Li Jinbao shot Song Zhaodi a glare before striding forward in large steps.
“Thank you,” Su Niannian said to Song Zhaodi.
“What are you saying that for? You’re good-looking and kind to me—of course, I have to protect you!”
“If anything happens, just call me loudly. That guy is as weak as a little chick—I can take him down!” Song Zhaodi patted her own shoulder as she spoke, exuding a confident “don’t worry, I’ve got your back” attitude.
Su Niannian couldn’t help but smile and nodded in response.
When they arrived at the foot of the back mountain, the children had already scattered to collect pig grass.
Zhao Sulan felt a bit uncomfortable watching someone try to curry favor with Su Niannian.
Even though that person didn’t seem like much, he was still the village chief’s son. If he had tried to get close to her instead, Zhao Sulan certainly wouldn’t have refused.
However, she had no intention of finding a partner in Kaoshan Village. Even the village chief’s son wasn’t good enough in her eyes.
Moreover, when she saw Gu Nan’s attire at the drying field that morning, she realized he wasn’t an educated youth sent to the countryside but just a rural farmer. That meant that even if Gu Nan were interested in her, she wouldn’t be interested in him.
Zhao Sulan’s mind was quite active, but… perhaps she didn’t have a mirror on her to take a good look at herself.
When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, Su Niannian stayed close to Song Zhaodi. Seeing that there was no chance to get close to her, Li Jinbao gave up.
Finding a cool and comfortable spot, he leaned against a wooden post, lazily chewing on a blade of wild grass he had picked from who knows where, enjoying the shade.
Zhao Sulan, not daring to venture deeper into the mountain, lingered at the very outer edge, half-heartedly cutting pig grass without putting in much effort.
Seeing that Li Jinbao had remained outside and hadn’t entered the mountain at all, Su Niannian and Song Zhaodi no longer paid much attention to keeping their distance from him.