CHAPTER 12: Forced to Attend

When Su Yuan walked in, her forehead was beaded with fine sweat. Ye Jie pulled out a handkerchief and, looking pained, gently wiped her brow. “Such hot weather, and you’re out in the cornfields working… you’ve had a hard day.”

“It’s not hard work. This is only the first day.” Su Yuan grinned foolishly, a warm feeling blooming in her heart.

In the past eighteen years, she had never been this close to Zhang Lanjun. It was both strange and addictive.

After wiping her sweat, Ye Jie picked up a palm-leaf fan and began fanning her while leading her back to the room.

What she was about to say could not be heard by the Jiang family.

Twenty minutes later, Su Yuan had a rough grasp of the situation. She hadn’t expected her aunt’s younger brother to be living in Qingshan City—it was a pleasant surprise.

“That man works either in the machinery factory or the automobile plant. It shouldn’t be hard to find him. As for Harbin, Su Jianguo will definitely send someone to keep watch there for a while. We don’t need to worry about it for now.”

“Mm, okay!”

Once the serious matters were settled, Ye Jie pulled a fountain pen from her shirt pocket and handed it over. “I heard from Second Sister that your pen’s broken. Here, take this for now.”

It was a Hero brand pen, almost new—clearly cherished by its owner.

Su Yuan hurriedly shook her head, planning to buy a new one herself in town one day.

But Ye Jie simply shoved it into her pocket. “Don’t stand on ceremony with me. This was a gift from someone else, and a rough person like me hardly ever uses it. If you don’t take it, I’ll be upset!”

Afraid she might refuse again, Ye Jie pushed her toward the kitchen for lunch and whispered, “I heard you have a boyfriend? Who is he? From a Beijing military compound?”

“…”

Su Yuan felt like crying. She almost regretted telling that lie—at this rate, she’d start believing it herself.

The Jiang family’s lunch was sorghum rice with dipping sauce, served with cucumbers and scallions from their own garden.

Simple but delicious.

After the meal, Ye Jie had to return to Xihe County. Once she left, Su Yuan found Ye Qin and handed her five yuan. “Auntie, this is my food money for you.”

She had asked the older educated youths that morning and learned how much they were supposed to pay the host family each month.

“No need. Your godmother already gave me money. Treat this like your own home—you can stay as long as you like.”

“…”

Su Yuan blinked, her eyes stinging slightly, her heart swelling with warmth.

After the noon break, it was back to the fields. On the way, she ran into Shen Qing, and the two began chatting again.

Shen Qing lived next door to the Jiangs, at the Wang household. Their living conditions were far worse.

“I’m so jealous you get to stay in such a nice house. Unlike us—we have to share a kang bed with others. There’s no privacy at all.”

In Baiyun Village, families that took in educated youths were usually those in poorer conditions who needed the five yuan food stipend to make ends meet.

Most others didn’t want to bring an outsider into their home.

Su Yuan truly felt fortunate—she had the best godmother in the world.

Without realizing it, they had reached the cornfields. The sea of green stretched as far as the eye could see, almost dizzying in its intensity.

Shen Qing nudged her with an elbow and pointed into the distance. “Hey? Isn’t that Jiang Song? Looks like he’s helping you weed.”

Following her gaze, Su Yuan saw the man bent over, pulling weeds at a rapid pace. In less than a minute, he had cleared a small patch.

Under Shen Qing’s amused gaze, Su Yuan walked over and spoke softly. “Brother Jiang, you should take a break. I can do it myself.”

Jiang Song straightened up at her voice, his tanned face breaking into a simple, honest smile. “It’s fine. My mom said you’ll need time to get used to things here, so I should help you more. This bit of work isn’t tiring.”

“Really, thank you so much.”

So much kindness in one day—Su Yuan’s eyes grew misty. But she wanted to be self-reliant; she couldn’t lean on others forever.

After much persuasion, she finally convinced Jiang Song to leave.

“This Comrade Jiang is really a good guy. Does he have a girlfriend?”

Watching him go, Shen Qing tugged lightly at the hem of her shirt, testing the waters.

Su Yuan had grown up surrounded by boys, with only Wen Yan as a female friend. She wasn’t very good at picking up on hints, so she answered earnestly, “I never asked. I’m not sure.”

“Why don’t you… ask him for me? I want to date him.”

“??”

Su Yuan was stunned.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to find a soldier for a boyfriend?”

She’d just said that in the morning—how had she changed her mind by the afternoon?

Shen Qing’s cheeks flushed as she explained, “People change. Compared to some endless daydream, something tangible feels more real.”

Su Yuan thought about it and found it reasonable. “Alright then, I’ll ask for you.”

After that, the two didn’t chat anymore and continued working.

The next few days passed in simple farm work—pulling weeds, feeding pigs.

But Su Yuan knew this was only temporary. Once autumn harvest came, the village leaders wouldn’t care if you were a newly arrived educated youth. If you wanted to earn work points, you had to do the same labor as everyone else.

Thinking of the not-so-distant future gave her a slight headache. She couldn’t help sighing—how nice it would be if she could find work in the village that actually used her skills!

That noon.

Just as everyone finished their shift, the village loudspeaker crackled to life with the voice of the village head, summoning everyone to the threshing ground for a meeting. Attendance was mandatory.

After working half the morning, some villagers frowned and muttered, “Every day there’s something—what’s he up to now?”

“Who knows? Maybe it’s about the big celebration.”

“You mentioning it reminds me—I wonder how many people will sign up this year?”

With chatter flying, everyone headed to the threshing ground. Su Yuan was among them.

Silently, she wondered—what exactly was this ‘big celebration’?

Ten minutes later, except for the elderly who couldn’t walk, the whole village had gathered, craning their necks toward the steps, waiting for the leaders to speak.

The head of Baiyun Village was Chen Manfu, in his fifties. He carried no airs of authority; when he smiled, he looked just like the God of Wealth in paintings.

“Today I called everyone here because I have good news! National Day is coming up, and the higher-ups have decided to select a few young people from our village to join the neighboring village in putting together a dance or choir performance for this year’s Military–Civilian Celebration. If anyone from your household wants to sign up, come to the village office to register. I hope you’ll all participate enthusiastically!”

As soon as he finished, someone shouted, “Still no work points this year?”

Expecting such a question, Chen Manfu replied calmly, “It’s about participation—no work points. But let me remind you, opportunities like this are rare. Back then, our village’s Er Ya signed up for the celebration and was recruited into the performing troupe by the higher-ups. Maybe the next chosen one will be from your family!”

“Village head, give me a break! That was five years ago. In the last four years, has any young man or woman from our village been chosen? Not just here—even the next village hasn’t. You’re just trying to trick us!”

Called out bluntly, Chen Manfu gave an awkward chuckle. “Well, maybe this year will be different. Having hope is better than having none.”

Unfortunately, no one was convinced. Before he could finish, the crowd had already begun to disperse, leaving him with no air of authority at all.

Su Yuan decided to follow suit and was about to leave when Shen Qing grabbed her arm and pleaded, “Comrade Su, come with me to the village office to sign up. I want to join the Military–Civilian Celebration.”

“You want to get into the performing troupe?”

“No, I just want to see some soldier brothers.”

“What about Jiang Song?”

Su Yuan was baffled. She really couldn’t figure out what this girl was thinking.

“I’m just curious. I still like Jiang Song, but he’s so cold to me—it’s depressing.”

“Maybe he’s just shy, that’s why he’s never dated anyone.”

The village office wasn’t far from the threshing ground—just a few steps away. When the village cadre Xiao Wang saw them, his face lit up. “You’re here to sign up?”

Su Yuan shook her head. “Not me—her.”

Xiao Wang looked disappointed. “Why not you? You’re so pretty—you might find yourself a soldier boyfriend.”

Shen Qing laughed and jumped in, “Her boyfriend’s already a soldier. She doesn’t need to find another.”

“Oh, a military wife? Then you should definitely join! The Military–Civilian Celebration needs you—military wives are the most selfless of all.”

With that, Xiao Wang not only wrote down Shen Qing’s name, but also Su Yuan’s.

Utterly baffled by this, Su Yuan widened her eyes and quickly protested, “Please cross my name out. I can’t carry a tune, I’m stiff as a board, and I get stage fright—really, I can’t do it!”

She’d heard of carsickness and seasickness, but this was the first time Xiao Wang had heard of “audience-sickness”…

Closing his notebook, Xiao Wang clearly didn’t believe her.

In any case, having a military wife participate meant the village had overachieved its quota.

Seeing she couldn’t talk him out of it, Su Yuan had no choice but to let it go for now. Once outside, Shen Qing asked in a low voice, “Are you really tone-deaf and stiff as a board?”

“Mm. I’ve had zero artistic talent since I was a kid.”

Kicking a pebble along the path, Su Yuan felt rather dejected.

Seeing her like that made Shen Qing feel guilty. “This is all my fault—if I’d known, I wouldn’t have asked you to come with me.”

“It’s fine. I’ll think of a way to get the village to cancel it.”

What way? Su Yuan hadn’t figured that out yet.

The next day was Sunday—a rest day.

The two planned a trip to town: Su Yuan wanted to get her fountain pen repaired, and Shen Qing needed to pick up a parcel at the post office.

It so happened that Jiang Song was going to the town’s middle school to bring his sister home, so he gave them a lift part of the way.

Sitting in the jolting cart, Shen Qing kept sneaking glances toward the front, then whispered to Su Yuan, “Don’t you think Jiang Song is really handsome? Tall, dark, strong—so healthy.”

Su Yuan looked over too—and honestly, she didn’t.

Back in the military compound, men like Jiang Song were common. She preferred fair-skinned men, best with single-lidded eyes and thin lips.

Put them in a green uniform—and that was truly handsome!

Just then, a vivid figure flashed into her mind, startling her.