Chapter 10

According to the rural system of that time, Gu Yinyin was supposed to go to work.

Without going to work, she would not earn any work points, and at the end of the year, she would not receive a share of money. That meant the family would lose an income.

But in reality, ever since Shen Guo’an married Gu Yinyin, he had repeatedly told her that if she did not want to go, then she should not. The work in the fields was exhausting, and what he earned alone was already enough to feed them.

Shen Guo’an did indeed earn a lot. A month or two of his salary was almost equal to what others could get from a whole year’s worth of work points.

Yet Li Ailian refused to let the matter go. From time to time, she hurled insults at Gu Yinyin, and when Gu Yinyin could no longer endure it, she would go work once in a while.

These past few days, Li Ailian had been slightly more restrained. She only dared to mutter curses under her breath. If Gu Yinyin refused to go, she had no real way of forcing her. But Gu Yinyin still went.

Early in the morning, she stewed two eggs and soaked two pieces of peach crisps in boiling water. The three of them ate together, then Da Wa went off to school, Xiao Wa stayed home to play, and Gu Yinyin set out for the production team.

She was not looking to suffer, but she was genuinely curious about the collective labor of this era and wanted to see for herself what it was really like.

It was late September, just in time for the autumn harvest. At the threshing ground, several men were pulling a stone roller to crush and level the ground. Once it was flattened and dried, they could lay out the grain to be sun-dried.

Some people carried sickles and hoes to harvest the corn and sesame that had ripened earlier. When Gu Yinyin looked around, she saw vast stretches of cornfields. The corn grew tall and healthy, taller than people, and the sight indeed lifted one’s spirits.

When she reached the place where the production team divided up the work, she came across Mei Qing.

The heroine of the novel was at this moment dressed in a pale yellow long-sleeved Terelyne blouse with tiny floral patterns. Her skin was fair, her features delicate. Though she was a village girl, she carried a certain elegance. A trace of coldness flickered in her eyes, but soon after, she offered Gu Yinyin a gentle smile.

“Gu Yinyin, you came to work? There’s a lot to do today. At first, I wanted to assign you something light, but now there isn’t really anything easy left. You’ll just have to go clean out the manure pit.”

Something light? Cleaning the manure pit?

Gu Yinyin kept silent, while Mei Qing smiled faintly as she studied her.

The woman before her wore a light elm-white short-sleeved blouse, with a bit of lace at the collar. Her twin braids were neat and pretty, giving her a pure and charming air. Yet her exquisite features were bright and vivid, her eyes like a spring-fed pool sprinkled with starlight. Even when silent, she carried an endless allure—partly tender, partly radiant, but never showy. She was like a simple peach blossom on its branch, blooming fervently with her own beauty.

To say Mei Qing did not envy her was impossible. She dreamed of having such a face.

She thought, if Gu Yinyin refused, that was fine too. After all, there were others in the village who were lazy and unwilling to join in collective labor. If word spread and ruined her reputation, that would be Gu Yinyin’s own fault.

Gu Yinyin, in fact, had intended to refuse. Was she out of her mind to go clean a manure pit? If even the slightest bit splattered on her, what then?

But then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Mei Ling approaching from not far away, and a plan formed in her mind.

In the original book, this Mei Ling was best at enduring humiliation for the sake of survival. No matter how big the conflict had been before, if it was for her goal, she would always humble herself.

That was why she spent decades currying favor with Li Ailian, until she eventually married into the Shen Family.

Even though Shen Guo’an never liked her from beginning to end and always looked down on her, under Li Ailian’s urging, she still managed to become part of the Shen Family.

Given her nature, she would definitely pretend to be close, like an inseparable sister, before long.

“Fine, then I’ll go clean the manure pit.” Gu Yinyin agreed, then turned and walked away.

Sure enough, not long after, Mei Ling came chasing after her. “Yinyin! Yinyin! Are you still angry with me? I really know I was wrong! Please forgive me. These past few days haven’t been easy for me either. I couldn’t sleep at all. I really don’t want to lose you as a friend!”

Gu Yinyin stopped and turned to look at her. “Really? I thought you never considered me a friend.”

“Who says that! Yinyin, these past few days I’ve been wanting to ask you to go pick autumn pears with me at the mountain top. You don’t know—my brother found a pear tree up there, it bore so many pears, and they’re all so sweet! We could pick some and bring them back for Da Wa and Xiao Wa to eat.”

Climbing mountains? Ha. The very thought of climbing a mountain made Gu Yinyin feel disgusted.

She said lightly: “Climbing a mountain, huh? Sure. But right now, I have something I’d like to ask you for help with. Mei Ling, since we’re such good friends, you won’t refuse me, right?”

“What is it?”

“I’d like you to help me clean the manure pit.”

Mei Ling froze, then immediately shook her head. “No, I can’t. I have to go cut corn!”

Gu Yinyin gave a cold laugh. “So that’s how it is. Our relationship isn’t really that close after all. Why bother climbing a mountain together then? Forget it, let’s just stop contacting each other in the future.”

How could they stop contacting each other? If that happened, how would she ever get a chance to act?

Mei Ling swallowed her anger and finally nodded. “Fine! I’ll help you clean the manure pit. With the kind of friendship we have, cleaning a manure pit is nothing.”

The two of them arrived at the production team’s cesspit. A wave of foul stench hit them, and Gu Yinyin almost vomited. She stepped back in disgust. “Go on, hurry up, Mei Ling. Good Mei Ling, I’m begging you.”

Mei Ling clenched her teeth. The only way she could gain Gu Yinyin’s trust was to earn it step by step, and only then would she have the chance to get rid of Gu Yinyin and enter the Shen Family.

What was cleaning a manure pit compared to that? She would do it!

Suppressing the urge to retch, Mei Ling picked up the ladle and scooped the manure one spoonful at a time into the bucket. Gu Yinyin stood far away with her arms crossed, watching coldly.

She knew very well that Mei Ling’s desire to marry Shen Guo’an was firm and unshakable.

Before Shen Guo’an ever divorced her, Mei Ling would definitely want her dead—once she was dead, everything would be over. But Gu Yinyin did not want to die.

The original owner had been beaten to death, and Mei Ling was one of the instigators who pushed the situation to that tragic end.

The money and goods had indeed been returned, but what about the life that was lost? Step by step, Gu Yinyin walked forward and kicked Mei Ling straight down!

The cesspit was not deep. When Mei Ling fell in, her entire body was instantly covered in manure. She quickly stood up, but the overwhelming stench made it impossible for her to breathe. Inevitably, her mouth swallowed a good amount of filthy water, and she let out a miserable scream.

Gu Yinyin immediately shouted: “Mei Ling! What happened to you? How could you fall in?”

She quickly ran off to call several people. But this was a cesspit—who would dare to go down to save someone?

In the end, everyone used long sticks to drag Mei Ling up, but no one dared to touch her. Even her own elder sister, Mei Qing, did not dare.

At first, Mei Qing thought it was Gu Yinyin who had fallen. Her heart was secretly filled with joy.

The reason she had assigned Gu Yinyin to clean the cesspit in the first place was because it was too revolting. Once anyone got that stench on them, others would naturally stay far away. So what if Gu Yinyin was the village beauty? Once she did the work of scooping manure, who would still like her?

But when that human-shaped mass of filth had her face wiped clean and began to wail bitterly, Mei Qing froze. That was her own younger sister!

Mei Qing rushed forward. “Why are you so foolish, Lingzi!”

Mei Ling vomited while crying, pointing at Gu Yinyin as she accused: “It was her! She pushed me down!”

Gu Yinyin hurriedly waved her hands in flustered denial. “No, I didn’t! This job of cleaning the cesspit was arranged for me by Comrade Mei Qing. Mei Ling insisted on helping me. I told her it wasn’t necessary, but she followed anyway. I was grateful to her—I would never push her!”

Educated Youth Lin had also arrived by then. He suddenly asked: “This cesspit has always been handled by male comrades. Why was it assigned to female comrades today? The work is filthy and heavy, and it’s much easier for women to make mistakes. Falling in by accident is entirely possible.”

He believed Gu Yinyin was not the kind of person to do such a thing.

But this made Mei Qing feel deeply uneasy. Her eyes turned red, and she bit her lip. She wanted to say that she had been careless, that in fact, she had also assigned a male youth to the task, but somehow Gu Yinyin had gone in her place.

Before she could speak, Gu Yinyin acted swiftly. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she cried out: “Please, everyone, don’t blame Comrade Mei Qing! She didn’t deliberately assign me to clean the cesspit. It’s just that everyone was so busy today, and all the other jobs were taken. She really had no choice but to give me this task.”

Mei Qing opened her mouth, but Gu Yinyin grasped her hand and said: “Don’t say anything. This isn’t your fault. I know you’re the kindest of people!”

Perhaps the others could not see through it, but Educated Youth Lin understood perfectly. Since when were all the jobs taken except for cesspit cleaning?

What exactly had Mei Qing been thinking?

Gu Yinyin looked at Mei Qing’s conflicted expression and sneered inwardly. She had no interest in Educated Youth Lin at all. But if someone tried to stab her in the back in secret, she would make sure to stab them right back.

Wasn’t everyone just a delicate little girl? Cleaning a cesspit? If she liked it so much, then she should clean it herself!

In the end, with Educated Youth Lin’s persuasion, Mei Ling went home to bathe and rest, while Gu Yinyin dusted herself off and went to watch the villagers harvesting their autumn crops.

As for Mei Qing, her eyes remained sorrowfully fixed on Educated Youth Lin. When everyone else had left, Educated Youth Lin looked at her coolly and asked: “Comrade Mei Qing, are you perhaps jealous of Comrade Gu Yinyin?”