Chapter 16

“Did you hear? A few wild wolves ran down from the mountain last night and broke into our village. Oh dear, all the pigs at Old He’s place were killed!”

“How could I not hear? They were howling all over my area last night—chaos everywhere, chickens and dogs flying all over the place…”

“I heard it was pretty bad near the educated youth compound. Someone got hurt, and the brigade leader and the secretary rushed over early in the morning… Looks like there’s going to be a big meeting tonight!”

“He Nian, He Nian.”

Jiang Henian was dozing off while listening to the village gossip, but someone gave her a push, waking her up. She wiped the corner of her mouth. “What is it?”

Wang Yueniu tossed some wheat aside and asked, “Did you sneak out to steal chickens last night or what? You’re that sleepy?”

“Mm… Didn’t sleep well.”

“They’re all saying they saw wolves last night. My house is far away, so I didn’t hear anything. Say, hasn’t it been over a decade since we last saw wolves around here? I think I was like five or six the last time anyone mentioned it.”

Jiang Henian rubbed her face to stay awake as she listened to Wang Yueniu chatter.

Wang Yueniu was the only person the original Jiang Henian still talked to. She lived at the edge of Huagou Village, a talkative girl who didn’t seem to have much of a filter.

When Jiang Henian opened her eyes this morning to daylight streaming in, she had jumped up in fright.

She’d actually fallen asleep in the straw hut, wrapped around He Jinshan like a warm teddy bear—and even worse, she’d bear-hugged him! Her leg was slung over his thigh! So humiliating!

Fortunately, she hadn’t caused him to bleed again. He seemed to be breathing steadily, and the fever had broken.

She had darted out of the hut like a bolt, clutching her chest in relief. Thank goodness no one saw her coming out. If someone had—

Alone man, unmarried girl! Disheveled clothes! Sharing a bed! Hugging and snuggling!

If that wasn’t “improper conduct between men and women,” what was?

In this era, her fate would either be a forced wedding… or a stint behind bars. And if things got serious—she could end up eating a bullet! Not unheard of at all.

She was originally heading to the Jiang household, but ran right into a work crew from Huagou Village carrying sickles and hoes. Before she could think, Wang Yueniu had dragged her into the group—and right into the line of fire from Wang Chunfang’s death glare up ahead.

Sigh… Open your eyes or close them, it’s always work, work, work.

What a life. Exhausting.

Jiang Henian weakly tossed another handful of wheat behind her, then shook out her hand. For some reason, she felt like she was lacking strength today.

“Hey, hey! He’s here!”

Wang Yueniu nudged Jiang Henian with her hip in excitement.

Jiang Henian lost her balance and landed on her butt in the wheat pile. “…”

They both froze.

“…Wait, Henian, are you injured or something? Why are you so weak?” Wang Yueniu looked down at her own hips in disbelief.

“Don’t tell me I gained weight?!”

Jiang Henian rubbed her forehead and shook her head. “I’m fine. Who were you talking about?”

“Of course I meant Comrade Song!”

Jiang Henian followed her gaze and saw Song Wenqing limping over with the help of others.

…Ugh. What bad luck.

She turned away without hesitation, grabbed her sickle, and walked off.

Wang Yueniu hurried after her and whispered, “You’re not going over? He got injured saving someone from the wolves—they say his leg got trampled.”

“I don’t hang around bad luck.”

Wang Yueniu stared after her in shock as Jiang Henian went to the far end of the field and crouched down to slowly cut wheat, not even glancing back.

“Am I still dreaming or what?”

She slapped her own face, then followed after Jiang Henian, shaking her arm as she whispered fiercely, “Wait—you liked him, didn’t you? Was I wrong?!”

Jiang Henian pulled her arm back and said bluntly, “You were wrong. I don’t like him.”

On the other side, Song Wenqing was being helped to sit on a ridge by Yang Chuanlin, while a female educated youth brought over a pile of straw and placed it near his injured leg.

“Comrade Song, prop your leg up. You don’t want to worsen the injury.”

“Yeah, you didn’t have to come today. Captain Wang even said you could rest at home. We’re all covering your workload to make sure your work points are counted.”

Looking at the group of concerned faces, Song Wenqing gave a standard gentle smile. “Thank you, everyone. But since the entire brigade is rushing to harvest, I can’t be the one to fall behind, can I?”

He patted his own hands and smiled modestly:

“My hands still work. I can help load the corn. As long as you all don’t think I’m dragging you down.”

“Wenqing, what nonsense! You got hurt protecting everyone from a wolf—you’re a hero!” Yang Chuanlin declared loudly.

“Right, everyone?”

“Right!”

The other educated youths responded in unison.

Zhang Yaya nudged the silent Si Yuzhen. “Yuzhen, what’s wrong?”

Si Yuzhen twisted her hands and kept staring at Song Wenqing’s bandaged leg, her emotions tangled.

Last night, wolves had suddenly stormed into the youth compound. Everyone panicked and scrambled outside in a daze.

She’d been too slow and nearly fell into a ditch when one of the wolves came charging—but Song Wenqing had rushed up with a broom and shielded her, driving the wolf away. His leg had nearly gotten broken and was now swollen like a pig’s trotter.

They were both educated youths from Wushi, sent down to Huagou Village. Si Yuzhen had never thought much of Song Wenqing—always found him a bit pretentious, too smooth.

Turned out she’d misjudged him. She felt guilty.

“Comrade Si, are you still shaken?”

Song Wenqing’s gentle voice brought her back to reality.

Looking at him sitting calmly by the field ridge, still graceful despite the injury, Si Yuzhen silently scolded her own narrow-mindedness and said sincerely:

“…No. Comrade Song, thank you for last night.”

Her words sparked another round of admiration and gratitude from the other educated youths.

Song Wenqing only shook his head with a modest smile, brushing off the praise.

The whole scene resembled a model youth commendation rally.

Meanwhile, Jiang Henian wordlessly dug her finger in her ear, her lips pouting so far she could hang an oil pot off them.

What a performer!

Wang Yueniu looked at her vivid little expression—lively and full of disdain—and nearly dropped her own jaw.

“He Nian… are you okay?”

Was she… traumatized?

She’d known Jiang Henian for over ten years, but never once seen her make this kind of face. It was like she was a totally different person.

“I’m fine,” Jiang Henian said, confused.

Wang Yueniu squinted and stared at her face like she was trying to uncover a secret. But the more she looked, the stranger Jiang Henian’s expression became.

It was making Jiang Henian uncomfortable.

“What are you doing? You’re creeping me out.”

“He Nian!” Wang Yueniu cried, shocked. She grabbed Jiang Henian’s cheeks with both hands and studied her up close. “Why are you so much paler?! Are you sick?!”

Jiang Henian recoiled, pulling away from the girl who was practically nose-to-nose with her. “You’re the sick one. Back off.”

Wang Yueniu looked like the sky had just fallen. She grabbed her head and gasped ten times in a row:

“WHAT— You scolded me?! Oh my gosh!!”

“I must still be dreaming! Comrade Jiang Henian just scolded me!”

“You even rolled your eyes at Comrade Song! You never let me say a single bad thing about him before!”

“Oh no oh no! You’re talking so much today! Something’s definitely wrong! And wait—why do you look so pretty now?! My eyes must be broken…”

Jiang Henian’s face burned with embarrassment. She leaned over, yanked the towel from Wang Yueniu’s neck, and stuffed it straight into her mouth before she could scream even louder.

“Mmmph! MMMMPH!”