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“Commander, I’ve investigated the matter!”
“The female comrade you encountered at the gypsum mine is indeed an educated youth recently sent to Qingshan Brigade, Red Flag Commune.”
“Her name is Lin Ting, from Nancheng.”
The man standing with his back to him had a cold and sharp face, his features well-defined. His dark, bright eyes seemed as if they could pierce straight through to a person’s soul.
When he heard the report that Lin Ting was from Nancheng, his expression shifted ever so slightly—but then returned to its usual impassive state.
The subordinate asked again,
“She seems pretty close with the brigade leader. Should we look into that too?”
Ling Xian turned around. His voice was cold and distant,
“First, investigate her background in Nancheng.”
“And I want to know how she knows to use lime as fertilizer.”
“Yes, sir!”
After his subordinate left, Ling Xian still couldn’t stop thinking about that name:
Lin Ting…
He felt like he’d heard it somewhere before, but couldn’t recall where.
And the reason he suspected Lin Ting in the first place was because of her suspicious reaction when he asked why lime turns blue when it meets water.
He had immediately seen through her lie.
She clearly knew the answer—but deliberately hid it.
Why lie?
Ling Xian couldn’t figure it out, and could only hope his subordinate would uncover something useful.
—
Meanwhile, Lin Ting had no idea the military man still hadn’t dropped his suspicions.
Ever since the brigade leader and Aunt Tian successfully used her plant ash solution to kill pests in the vegetable garden, Lin Ting had been tasked with making more for all the households in the brigade.
Meat was rare—so vegetables were their lifeline.
And Lin Ting, committed to protecting everyone’s food supply, took the job without hesitation. She worked overtime to make several buckets of the ash-based pesticide.
When she ran out of ash, she organized people to go sweep up fallen leaves in the forest to use as raw material.
Before, when the gardens had pest problems, no one knew what to do. Now that someone was helping solve it, the villagers naturally began to feel grateful.
Lin Ting noticed that now, whenever she went out, people greeted her warmly.
The earlier attempts to isolate her had collapsed completely.
The older educated youths, who had tried to get others to ostracize the newcomers, were now seething in secret.
“How does Lin Ting—who’s from the city—know how to make plant ash pesticide?”
Wen Chunlan had a thousand question marks running through her head.
They were all educated youths, but none of the others knew how to do this.
Zhao Weidong boldly speculated,
“Could it be she’s actually an agriculture expert, and volunteered to come to the countryside to avoid being forcibly reassigned?”
“These days, it’s not unusual for highly educated people to be sent down to the countryside or farms.”
“Volunteering is better than being forced.”
Tan Hongxia couldn’t help but chime in:
“But Lin Ting’s only 18—how early would she have to start studying to become an expert?”
“And she looks so delicate and clean—nothing like someone who’s spent time laboring in the fields.”
The group fell silent. No one could explain how a city girl like Lin Ting had learned to make plant ash pesticide.
Because Lin Ting had helped solve the pest issue, the villagers were now even more eager to help her.
They built her kitchen and garden wall in just five days.
And that was after hours, once they finished their farm work each day. Their efficiency was incredible.
To express their gratitude, Lin Ting, Zhong Shuhe, and Yu Mo pooled their money and bought a hen from the brigade leader. They planned to cook a meal for those who had helped.
They also planned to go to the commune on their day off to buy some pork belly to make red-braised pork, and get candies or snacks for everyone as thanks.
The next morning, Yu Mo woke up her two roommates.
“There’s only one ox cart to the commune—don’t miss it!”
Lin Ting got up right away, but Zhong Shuhe was still half-asleep, mumbling,
“Got it…”
“That hen at the brigade leader’s place didn’t sleep all night—it kept squawking and kept me up.”
Yu Mo and Lin Ting had slept so soundly they hadn’t heard a thing.
Still, they couldn’t figure out: why was the hen noisy all night?
When Lin Ting went out to rinse her mouth, she casually checked the chicken coop—
Only to find it completely empty.
Not even a feather was left behind.
“Something’s wrong!”
“The chicken’s been stolen!”
Zhong Shuhe, who had been too sleepy to move, immediately woke up.
“What did you say?!”
She ran out barefoot.
Sure enough, the coop was empty.
No wonder the hen had been so loud—it was screaming for help!
But she hadn’t thought anything of it at the time…
Yu Mo checked the wall around the courtyard.
“There’s a footprint here. The thief must have climbed over the wall.”
Lin Ting stared at the print for a moment before saying,
“Good. That means we have evidence.”
“Let’s finish washing up and go find the brigade leader.”
—
The brigade leader, still groggy from lack of sleep, was annoyed at being woken up. He hadn’t had a proper rest in days due to farming season.
His tone showed his irritation.
“What is it now?”
Lin Ting called out from the gate:
“Captain, something bad happened!”
“The hen we got from you yesterday was stolen last night!”
“The thief climbed over the wall. Our wall is newly built from mud bricks, still soft, so the footprint was left behind.”
“Xiao Mo and Xiao He are guarding the footprint right now—come quick!”
Now the captain was fully awake.
There hadn’t been a theft in the brigade for a long time—probably because everyone was too poor to steal from.
And people always locked up their livestock tightly at night.
He had forgotten to remind the new educated youths to lock up the hen…
By the time the captain arrived at the educated youth compound, the place was already packed with people.
Nothing stayed secret in this brigade.
He pushed through the crowd and studied the footprint carefully.
The solution wasn’t complicated:
Have everyone take off their shoes and compare footprints.
Even if they couldn’t catch the thief, they could at least narrow down the suspects.
He cleared his throat and announced:
“Everyone line up. Take off your shoes and match them against the print.”
He went first, removing his own shoes. His feet were clearly bigger than the print.
The three new educated youths also removed their shoes—all smaller than the footprint.
A line formed at the entrance, and the villagers started participating one by one.
Lin Ting handled the registration, noting who had matched already and who hadn’t.
But when it was Yao Jian—one of the older educated youths—his turn, something suspicious happened:
When he pressed his shoe against the wall, the tread of his sole completely covered the original footprint…