Chapter 26

Completely Locking Them Down

Xia Wanyang lay in her space for a while, then, when the time seemed right, she went to call Aunt Ding, who lived closest to the woods, to come along.

Aunt Ding was a key member of their village’s publicity team. With her spreading the word, tomorrow, even the dogs at the eastern end of the village would know about it.

Xia Wanyang casually hooked her arm through Aunt Ding’s as they walked toward the warehouse. When they reached the edge of the woods, Xia Wanyang stopped in her tracks. “Aunt Ding, did you hear that sound?”

Aunt Ding stopped too, looking confused. “No, I didn’t hear anything. Are you sure you didn’t mistake it?”

Just then, a woman’s scream echoed: “Ah—”

Xia Wanyang pretended to be startled. “Aunt Ding, I’ll go get someone! We can’t let anything happen!”

Aunt Ding nodded, and Xia Wanyang immediately began running. Not far ahead, she saw a few of their group of aunts. “Hurry, come see, there’s a strange noise in the woods! Aunt Ding’s over there keeping watch!”

As soon as they heard there was something strange, the aunts quickly called their husbands. Among them were Qiao Shuyun and Zhang Heping.

By the time they reached the edge of the woods, they saw Li Wenzhu and Fang Zhaodi trying to cover their most private parts and run away.

“Well, well, what’s this all about? How can they be so shameless in broad daylight?”

“Right? That Fang Zhaodi is even on her period, and this Li Wenzhu is so eager!”

“Look at all that dirt on them—what a fierce battle they must have had. They can’t even find their clothes!”

“Hey, Fang Zhaodi’s figure isn’t much to speak of—she looks like she hasn’t developed at all. If it weren’t for her face, I wouldn’t even be able to tell the front from the back!”

Zhang Heping had a dark expression on his face, looking enraged. Qiao Shuyun spat at them, “So, this is what city intellectual youth are like? We, country folk, would never do something so shameless!”

Li Wenzhu stammered, his hands covering his groin, his face pale with fear, and his glasses nowhere to be found.

Unlike Li Wenzhu, who only needed to cover his lower body, Fang Zhaodi couldn’t cover both her upper and lower parts, and was sweating profusely from panic. Just then, a man in the crowd yelled, “Just cover the bottom! Your top looks about the same as mine—nothing worth seeing!”

After that, everyone burst into laughter.

Fang Zhaodi, feeling extremely embarrassed, crouched down and curled into a ball, hugging her knees like a quail. What was going on? How was she still alive? Wasn’t there a huge tiger? Didn’t it eat them?

When Zhang Shiye arrived, he immediately spotted the little girl who was desperately trying to push her way forward but couldn’t, jumping up high in frustration. He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Xia Wanyang, come here!”

Xia Wanyang turned her head, her eyes red with anxiety as she ran over, saying, “Hey, I heard the noise. I went to gather people, but then I couldn’t get through. Can you help me get to the front?”

Zhang Shiye’s face darkened. “What are you going to the front for? Aren’t you afraid of getting your eyes dirty? You’re just a kid, spending all your time with a bunch of older women. Is that right?”

Xia Wanyang pouted. “What’s wrong with that? They all like me and tell me so many things I didn’t know. I actually find it fun. Please help me get to the front so I can see what’s going on! Otherwise, when they chat in the afternoon, I won’t be able to join in!”

Zhang Shiye shook his head. “No!”

How could the little girl be allowed to see such things? She might get a bad impression.

Aunt Qian GuiLan stood at the front and shouted, “You two making a scene? Should we throw you into the pigpen?”

Li Wenzhu, who had been crouching in the same position as Fang Zhaodi, immediately stood up in a hurry when he heard this, causing the crowd to collectively murmur in surprise.

“Li Wenzhu, with that little bit of dignity, you still dare to show up?”

“That little cow is about the same size as my third kid.”

The crowd burst into laughter. These men and women couldn’t care less about decorum. Finally, they had caught a juicy story, so they weren’t about to let it go. What would they talk about if they didn’t examine the details?

When the laughter started, Zhang Shiye instructed Xia Wanyang to cover her ears. He had initially wanted to step in, but since the biggest gossipers in the village were present, he didn’t dare. Instead, he let her cover her ears herself.

She obeyed so well. It was quite cute.

Li Wenzhu’s face flushed as he squatted back down. “Fang Zhaodi and I are innocent. We were just talking in the woods when suddenly, a big tiger appeared. Its mouth was huge, and its teeth were sharp. I got scared and fainted, and when I woke up, I was lying there with my clothes gone. I think that tiger must have done it!”

The crowd erupted in laughter again. A few exaggerated aunts even laughed so hard they sat down, clutching their stomachs.

Zhang Heping couldn’t hold back either, clearing his throat. “Stop laughing. Li Wenzhu, could you at least come up with a reasonable excuse? Don’t forget, there haven’t been any tigers in our Eastern Red Brigade for decades. Even if there were, would a tiger strip your clothes off? What, is the tiger a vegetarian now, just trying to frame you?”

Wang Jing pushed her way through the crowd with Li Jing and got to Zhang Heping. “Captain Zhang, I saw Li Wenzhu and Fang Zhaodi leave not long ago, and Xia Wanyang followed them. You should ask her if she saw a tiger!”

Li Jing shot a glare at Fang Zhaodi, thinking, “This shameless woman, even on her period, still tries to seduce people!”

Aunt Ding stood up and tugged at her clothes, then shouted to Wang Jing, “I spit! You little brat, that Xia Wanyang came to my house for a visit at noon. We came here together, and when she came to find me, there were even red marks on her face from sleeping. Are you saying she slept in the woods? What’s wrong with your eyes?”

Aunt Wang huffed, “What’s wrong with my eyes? You’re just trying to smear Xia Wanyang’s reputation! She’s a respectable young girl, and you’re calling her a gossiping eavesdropper. Isn’t that framing her?”

Wang Jing, covered in spit, started crying in frustration.

“Tsk tsk, you’re not a three-year-old. You’re crying like this at your age? I thought you were good at work and even considered introducing you to my sixth son. But if I had to live with you, we’d probably end up divorced!”

Aunt Wang looked disgusted, shaking her head.

Xia Wanyang raised an eyebrow at Zhang Shiye, looking for praise in a proud manner.

Zhang Shiye chuckled. “Alright, you’re impressive. You’ve made your way into the aunties’ circle. Quite the skill!”

“Of course, I’m a good friend with the aunts. We share secrets!” Xia Wanyang said proudly.

Zhang Shiye looked at her with gentle eyes, his affection almost overflowing. He silently thought to himself, “Such a sweet and obedient little girl. How wonderful it would be if I were worthy of her.”

Meanwhile, standing not far away, Li Yu was clenching her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms, but she didn’t feel the pain. Why? She had known Zhang Shiye since childhood, and her sister had even married his older brother. She had engineered numerous “coincidences” to get close to him, but none of it worked against this newcomer who had been in the village for less than a week.

Zhang Heping darkened his face and shouted, “The brigade is about to select the last year’s advanced worker. There’s been nothing happening in the past two years. If this issue gets out, we won’t be able to be selected. And those tractors we’ve been using for three years? They might be taken back! So, everyone needs to think about how to handle this!”

When the mention of the tractors came up, everyone was immediately concerned. The tractors were too important, and no one wanted them taken back!

“The brigade leaders are getting older. Since they did this, let them get married. That way, we can cover this up, and the award will still be ours!”

“Yes, let’s do it like that! We all agree!”

Li Wenzhu immediately refused when he heard he was being forced to marry Fang Zhaodi. He had no emotional connection to her; she was just someone who helped him with cooking and laundry. Marrying her would ruin his chances of returning to the city!

“I refuse. I’m innocent with Fang Zhaodi. If you don’t believe me, fine. But you’re not going to sacrifice me to save your tractors. If I don’t marry her, I’ll just wait for the new batch of female intellectuals coming to the village!”

Aunt Qiao was furious. “Li Wenzhu, has your head been caught in a door? If you don’t marry Fang Zhaodi, we’ll send you straight to the police!”

“You’re shamelessly acting like a thug in broad daylight, and there are dozens of eyes watching you! If we go easy on you, we’ll send you to the farm. If we go hard on you, you’ll be eating peanuts—don’t think you can talk your way out of this! If I’m giving you a way out and you don’t take it, you’re just spouting nonsense!”

“Go ahead and tell the police about the tiger helping you both strip your clothes. Let’s see if they believe you!”

As soon as the words were spoken, the crowd erupted into another round of laughter.

Li Wenzhu panicked. If he ended up in trouble, his parents and younger siblings would never be able to hold their heads up again. Marrying Fang Zhaodi wasn’t the worst option; he just wouldn’t get a marriage certificate, and he’d still get a free housekeeper!