Chapter 8

Ma Zhiming clutched his chest. “Captain, I want to ask for leave today.”

After exaggerating everything that happened last night, he added, “Captain, you must stand up for me. You have to find out who did this.”

Su Father raised an eyebrow. “Comrade Ma, you’re not faking sickness here just to avoid work, are you? Yesterday you were already being picky, and now you put on a show like this for me to see.” His voice was loud, and instantly everyone nearby looked over, murmuring to each other.

Ma Zhiming rolled up his sleeve, revealing bruises clearly visible on his arm. “Captain, look, someone really beat me last night.”

Su Father said, “Just this little injury? That’s no reason to skip work. You’re just being lazy. In our whole team, no one is like you. Go ask around—in other brigades, they wouldn’t just punish you with carrying manure, they’d send you to a farm.”

People around chimed in: “Exactly. Which brigade captain is as kind as ours? It’s only you educated youths who cause trouble. Captain should just send him to the farm already.”

Unable to reason with these uneducated peasants, Ma Zhiming was about to retort when a village rascal spoke up:

“Even kids fighting in the fields don’t go crying to their parents. You expect the captain to care about you getting bullied? Is he your dad or your mom?”

The crowd burst into laughter.

Ma Zhiming’s face flushed red instantly.

Su Father raised his brow, glanced at Wang Biao, then turned back to Ma Zhiming. “Go ask around what kind of person Biaozi used to be. Now he works every day and behaves well. If you don’t work today, fine—tomorrow you’ll carry manure for a month. Otherwise, if everyone acted like you, how could we get anything done?”

Wang Biao puffed out his chest proudly at the captain’s praise and gave Ma Zhiming a smug look.

Hearing this, Ma Zhiming was aghast. How could a scholar like him carry manure? He would rather starve for a few days than do that for even one.

Enduring his aches, he picked up his tools and went to the wasteland.

Last night he had asked all the educated youths—none had seen who attacked him. It was as if the person wasn’t from their point at all, which only deepened his suspicion.

That day, Su Heng had deliberately asked his father to transfer him from the western cornfield to the eastern one, just to watch how Ma Zhiming fared at land reclamation. If it didn’t look miserable enough, he planned to beat him again that night.

Meanwhile, Xie Beishen went to the western cornfield, just barely missing Su Heng. If Xie had seen him even once, he would have recognized him.

Ma Zhiming had never suffered like this before. At least in the cornfield there was some shade, but reclamation was under the blazing sun. After just a little work, blisters formed on his hands. Brambles tore the backs of his hands—his palms looked pitiful.

Other educated youths had gloves, but he hadn’t thought to prepare any. His body hurt more and more, and when he sat down for barely a minute, Wang Biao’s loud voice came from the cornfield ahead:

“Comrade Ma, are you slacking off again?”

His voice was so loud that everyone around looked at Ma Zhiming.

Grinding his teeth, Ma Zhiming could only get back up and keep working. Finally, at noon, Wang Biao came over and said:

“Comrade Ma, you just didn’t work enough. This afternoon I’ll supervise you again. I won’t let you be a drag on the team. I’ll turn you into a model worker and cure your pampered sickness.”

With that, Wang Biao strode home. Was it his fault he looked so pale and delicate, always in white shirts, liked by both village girls and female educated youths? And he himself couldn’t find a partner—how could he not be angry?

Ma Zhiming’s face twitched in fury as he hobbled back to the youth spot.

Su Heng passed by him and said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “Comrade Ma, work hard this afternoon. You did well today. I’ll put in a good word for you with my father, and you’ll be transferred soon.”

Ma Zhiming looked at him suspiciously. Did this man know what he’d done to his sister or not? Enduring his pain, he said, “Then thank you.”

Only then did Su Heng go home, grumbling inside. With a brain like that, how dare he bully his sister?

Back home, he found his sister sitting blankly in the courtyard, staring toward the chicken coop.

These days, he had clearly sensed she was different. This expression he’d never seen before—his sister had never looked so desolate.

All because of that bastard. She must have taken a heavy blow.

Seeing his father in the hall smoking, worry etched on his brows, Su Heng stepped forward. “Dad.”

Su Father took a deep drag. “You took care of him last night? No one saw?”

Su Heng hadn’t expected his father to know so quickly. He rubbed his nose. “No.”

Even if someone had seen, Su Father could clean it up. “Go on, comfort your sister,” he said. Seeing his daughter like this tore at his heart.

Su Heng moved a chair beside his sister. “Sis, what are you thinking about?”

Su Wanwan glanced at her second brother. “I’m planning what to do with my future.”

She had been here two days now, sad for two days, and it seemed she couldn’t go back to her old world. Since she was here, she had to settle and make the best of life ahead.

In this time of material scarcity—where you needed letters of introduction to travel, ration coupons to buy things—what could she do? Raised in luxury, she couldn’t do farm work. She had to plan another path.

Judging by the timeline, the college entrance exam would be restored next year. With reform and opening up, opportunities to make money would come too.

Business wasn’t possible now—it would be branded as speculation, and getting caught could mean farm exile if lucky.

So first she needed a diploma. She’d been a top student in her old world, a key university graduate, always winning scholarships. She was sure she could get into college here.

Su Heng frowned. “Sis, don’t scare me. What planning? Let me tell you, I gave Ma Zhiming a good beating yesterday.”

He described what he’d done last night, and what he’d seen at reclamation that morning.

Su Wanwan was happy to hear it. In the book, that man had destroyed the original host’s whole family—she definitely had to act, and she wanted him sent to a farm.

Thinking of her brother’s ending, she said, “Brother, do you know Liu Caixia? She’s entangled with many educated youths, especially Ma Zhiming. When you find a wife, don’t you dare pick someone like that, understand?”

Su Heng poked her forehead. “What’s in that head of yours every day? I’m only 18, not rushing to find a wife.”

Su Wanwan rubbed the sore spot. “Second brother, have you thought about your future? Do you want to be a soldier like our elder brother?”

Su Heng said, “Never thought about it. Farmers like us can only dig food from the ground.”

“But I can’t dig food from the ground.” Su Wanwan said, “I had a dream. In it, the college entrance exam was restored next year. Let’s take it together, and aim for the city where big brother’s stationed.”

She was just making it up for now—otherwise she had no excuse to persuade her brother.

“Hahahahaha…” Su Heng laughed until tears came. “Sis, are you trying to kill me with laughter? Even if your dream were true—you didn’t even finish primary school, and you’re talking about college? Do you even know our big brother is in the capital? Do you think that’s a place we could ever reach?”

Su Wanwan: “!!!”

Of course he didn’t believe her. The original host had never even finished primary school. Who would believe her? Much less if she said it came from a dream. How could she convince him?

Her eyes rolled, lips curling in a smile. “Then how about a bet?”