Chapter 25

Zhu Qinghan never expected her dream to come true so quickly—the torrential rain from her dream had, in the end, flooded the educated youth camp.

Her roommates, Sun Fangfang and Li Zhenzhen, both perished in the disaster.

She had planned to move out of the camp today and pack her things together with Sun Fangfang.

But the catastrophe struck too fast.

Fortunately, the militia captain, Feng Zhijun, had brought strong men from the village to rescue them.

At this very moment, hiding downstream of the dam, Zhu Qinghan personally witnessed the tearful farewell between Deng Zhilan and Wei Yanzhen.

A sharp pain surged in her heart again!

It felt like something deeply important to her had been lost—completely and irretrievably.

But the strange thing was, neither Wei Yanzhen nor Deng Zhilan were close to her. They were practically strangers. Why should they matter so much to her?

Moments later, Luo Yisen arrived with a team to escort the survivors away.

Deng Zhilan didn’t want to leave.

She still hoped to wait a little longer for Wei Yanzhen.

But then, she noticed—she wasn’t the only one hiding downstream by the dam. There were other survivors from the youth camp too.

In that case, she couldn’t treat herself as special.

So she simply said, “Alright, I’ll go with you.”

…

Exhausted and drenched, Deng Zhilan finally returned to the main brigade. Only then did she allow herself to relax.

The saboteurs were concentrated around the river dam, so at least for now, the brigade itself was safe.

Just as she reached the entrance to the alley, she ran into Song Yitao.

“Well, well—heard you went looking for Wei Yanzhen!”

“The dam flooded the youth camp—probably lots of casualties. I used to think Wei Yanzhen was invincible, but turns out he’s just so-so.”

“So what if he was in the army? He’s just a brute, not a hydraulic engineer!”

The way she said it—so cold, so detached.

Her sarcastic tone quickly attracted attention. Neighbors around the Wei household poked their heads out, curious about the commotion.

Deng Zhilan reached into her pocket. Earlier, she had been knitting with Qin Ping, and she still had a pair of scissors meant for cutting yarn.

Now… they’d come in handy.

“Say that again if you dare!”

“What? If Wei Yanzhen bit off more than he could chew and drowned—serves him right!”

Without hesitation, Deng Zhilan raised the scissors and charged forward, chopping off Song Yitao’s hair cleanly.

Song Yitao hadn’t been much of a beauty to begin with—she relied on atmosphere and grooming. Without her hair, she couldn’t take it at all.

“Aaaaah—my hair!!”

Handfuls of thick, black hair fell from her scalp.

Deng Zhilan was quick and ruthless. In just a few snips, she turned her head into a patchy mess—short here, long there, and uneven all over.

“Say one more word, and next time I won’t cut your hair—I’ll cut your tongue!”

Then she turned toward the crowd gathering nearby, speaking with righteous indignation:

“Right now, the brigade is on edge after the dam incident. People like Comrade Song, who stir up trouble and sow discord, are a threat from within—”

Song Yitao immediately lashed out in anger:

“I’m not a troublemaker! Deng Zhilan, you’re disgusting, slandering me like this!”

Deng Zhilan’s eyes narrowed sharply, and she raised the scissors again.

Song Yitao instinctively flinched and backed away, terrified that those blades might stab her in the chest the next second.

“You’re hoping the dam fails. You’re hoping my husband dies. You’re thinking vile thoughts—rotten to the core!”

“If you’re not a backstabbing traitor, then what—are you a reactionary spy?”

Spy. Traitor.

Those words pierced Song Yitao like knives. Her heart was already guilty—after all, that package she had buried beneath the big tree on the back hill was dangerously incriminating.

She had grown up in the compound. How could she tolerate being accused of espionage?

Furious and on the brink of exploding, Song Yitao shouted:

“Deng Zhilan, say another word and I’ll claw your face off!”

At this point, preserving her reputation was her top priority.

She straightened her back, ready to fight Deng Zhilan right then and there.

But at that moment, Wei Jinyue, hearing the noise from outside, ran out of the house.

Seeing her sister-in-law and Song Yitao about to fight, the young girl rushed into the center of the crowd—and bit down hard on Song Yitao’s arm, yanking her away.

“You wicked thing! How dare you bully my sister-in-law! Do you think I, Wei Jinyue, am dead?!”

The atmosphere quickly shifted.

People began to stand behind Deng Zhilan in support.

“Protect Comrade Deng!”

“Don’t let the reactionary agitators manipulate us!”

Luo Sangsan’s voice rose above the rest. She had long disliked Song Yitao, and now seized the chance to kick her while she was down.

Once she spoke, the other onlooking aunts and older sisters joined in enthusiastically.

“Down with the reactionaries! Down with the internal saboteurs!”

One particularly fired-up woman even ran back home, returned with rotten vegetables and spoiled eggs, and began pelting Song Yitao.

“You foul-mouthed menace! My husband’s out fixing the dam too, and you sit here cursing people to die? Clearly you’ve got a wicked heart—you’re probably one of those reactionaries!”

“Exactly! Stirring up discord at your age? You’re destroying the spirit of the Dongfeng Brigade!”

This was, without a doubt, the most humiliating moment of Song Yitao’s life.

Surrounded by the brigade, pelted with rotten eggs and cabbage leaves, she was a complete mess.

No one came to rescue her. No one showed her an ounce of sympathy.

They were all just watching her downfall, as if she were a joke.

Somehow, in the midst of the chaos, she recalled her past plans. In her perfect scheme, Deng Zhilan was supposed to be the one disgraced and cast out by the Wei family, mocked by the whole compound.

Deng Zhilan was meant to elope with some weak pretty boy, and eventually die in some faraway place.

But now…

She and Deng Zhilan had completely switched roles.

And just then, near the Wei family courtyard, someone shouted—

“The dam repair crew is back!”