He Min returned to work and even brought a camera with him.

The first thing he did upon arriving at the farm was to ask Chen Lina to take his picture in the grain warehouse.

Well, such a show-off, vain, always trying to steal others’ credit—Chen Lina was more than happy to oblige.

After taking the photos in the grain warehouse, He Min asked for Chen Lina’s Seagull camera and began taking pictures himself.

Yes, his photography skills were indeed unmatched.

Moreover, he specifically knelt down to take the photos, making the grain-filled bundles of wheat look like small hills, while his own figure was photographed as towering and grand.

“Miss Chen, how about we go to the Kanner Well and take a few shots in front of it? It’s one of the major projects that the leaders have praised this year,” he suggested.

“He, Secretary He, you’re my superior and also a work partner, but if you call me ‘Miss’ again, I’ll report you to the mining area for having serious capitalist tendencies,” Chen Lina responded, clearly not impressed.

“Yes, yes, I apologize, Director Chen. Let’s go to the Kanner Well,” He Min quickly agreed.

Upon arriving at the newly dug vertical shaft of the Kanner Well, He Min, with a shovel in hand, began posing for more photos.

San Dan followed her mother and, being bored, promised not to get close to the waterhole, and began picking up stones by the river to play.

” San Dan, come on, let’s play together,” a child who looked around seven or eight years old said from the riverbank.

When San Dan saw two older boys standing by the river, he, like most kids, was curious to join them, and asked, “Okay, but what’s your name, brother?”

“My last name is Li. Call me Li Daye.”

“Are you insulting me?”

“I’m not insulting you. Come here, let me teach you how to fish,” the boy replied.

“My brother said you shouldn’t get near the water if you can’t swim. You should stay away from the water too, okay?” San Dan, ever so polite, called out, teaching the older boys some manners.

Another boy said, “Hey, big guy, he looks hard to persuade. Should I pull him?”

San Dan, being clever, quickly realized they weren’t being friendly.

As soon as he heard their intentions, he spun around and ran off.

Chen Lina and He Min were standing by the cement channel at the riverbank.

The two boys dared not approach any further, but one of them picked up a stone, weighed it in his hand, and threw it.

The stone hit San Dan on the head, and he fell to the ground.

However, he quickly got up and, running as fast as he could, returned to Chen Lina’s side.

“Mom, someone hit me,” San Dan said.

Chen Lina handed the camera back to He Min, picked up her child, and walked to the riverbank to see.

There was no one there.

“Where did they hit you? Does it hurt?” Chen Lina thought it might have been some of the wild kids playing by the river.

San Dan, seeing his mother’s anxiousness, bravely replied, “It doesn’t hurt.”

Because she still had to accompany He Min, the leader, and walk around, she didn’t pay much attention to the bump on his head, which was hidden by his hair.

Back at the farm, a group of young intellectuals gathered around.

He Min sat with them, showing off the photos Chen Lina had taken of him. Meanwhile, the farm workers were still busy, but He Min, noticing there were only five or six frames left on the roll of film, insisted on taking more pictures of the intellectuals.

The young girls, being vain, stood in front of the jujube trees and poplar trees, striking poses to show off their figures.

“Director, you seem unhappy today,” Anna remarked.

Chen Lina, holding her child, was observing the workers drying grain.

In some areas, the grain was already dry, and she helped by pushing the piles to turn over the wet grain.

Under the blazing sun, all it took was flipping the grain to dry it completely.

“Anna, do you especially want a reprieve, to have your label removed?” Chen Lina asked.

“Director, I think everyone on this farm—those with all sorts of pasts—wants to have their labels removed. It’s a long-held desire, don’t you think? Who wouldn’t want to remove the big hat from their head?” Anna answered.

“There are many ways to get rid of a label, and every era has its own mark.

For example, in 1958 and 1959, the facts proved that the policy was wrong, so the central government made changes.

But now, so many people live under these labels, and one day, they will all be vindicated.

I think it’s the most foolish way to hope that a leader, who has an inflated style and talks big, can help you get rid of the label.”

“Secretary He has always been very sympathetic to my father. In fact, he personally promised that he could help clear my father’s name.

Director, here in the frontier, apart from you, he’s the only one who truly understands me.”

“That’s right. He’s always so kind and speaks to you from the heart, takes care of your daily needs.

Sometimes, in the morning, he would say, ‘An Na, you don’t look so good today. Did you not sleep well last night?’

Then, in the evening, he would give you two tablets of Anacin.

Such gentle care, doesn’t it make you feel that he is very approachable and values you?”

An Na didn’t speak, but indeed, He Min had done that.

“And he keeps an appropriate distance. No, actually, even when he was teaching the educated youth to dance, even if it was just ballroom dancing, his hands would only lightly rest around your body, completely different from someone like Wang Fusheng, right?”

“Yes, he’s very discreet.”

“Even when some of the female educated youth joked around a little, he would suddenly hug one of them, then quickly let go, saying,

‘Comrade, please don’t test my loyalty to the organization.’

It’s as if he’s battling inner desires, trying to resist the charm of women, like a proper gentleman.

This behavior makes a woman feel like she’s especially attractive.”

An Na blushed. “I did see him suddenly hug an educated youth, but he quickly pushed her away.”

So, a humorous, charismatic, approachable leader, who’s good to the educated youth but never crosses boundaries, weaves a large net, waiting for them to fall into it.

Compared to him, Wang Fusheng and Liu Jiefang’s level is truly too low.

“We all understand the reasoning, I won’t say much more.

Xiao Chen, the son of an automobile factory director, can fix large cars at the base and accompany you.

An Na, whether that label is removed early or late doesn’t matter.

If you really focus on your work, sooner or later, I can help you remove it. But I hope you see clearly who really wants to build a career.”

After hearing this, An Na felt more and more uneasy.

As she walked a bit further, she ran into He Min, who was holding a camera and said, “Come, Comrade An Na, the last roll of film, I want to take a picture of the most beautiful Katyusha in our frontier to preserve her grace.”

An Na took the camera and flipped through it.

Well, harvest season, grain has been stored in the warehouse, the director is still busy drying the wheat, but the secretary has taken so many staged photos for himself.

If these photos were shown to the mining area leaders, wouldn’t they attribute all the credit to him?

Just as Chen Lina said, he appeared graceful, but was actually extremely hypocritical.

“Secretary He, let me keep this camera for you. You haven’t recovered from your foot injury, so you should go back to the office and rest.”

An Na said, seriously taking the camera, and once He Min entered the office, she quickly removed the film and exposed it to the sun.

The 32 photos on the Kodak film, which was imported, were all ruined the moment they were exposed to the sunlight.

San Dan had fallen asleep unusually early today, and it wasn’t even noon yet when the child was already asleep.

Chen Lina, who never missed a thing, was heading home to cook.

She was carrying San Dan to the car when she reached the gate of the production area, only to see He Min riding a two-eighty bicycle, stopping right in front of the entrance.

This gate had always been where the members of Production Team One lived.

To be honest, ever since the Sun family was uprooted, they had been very badly excluded, and now they were scattered, most of them standing outside the gate.

“Director, in our production team’s fields, we’ve lost several large melons, what should we do?” Wang Guanghai, the leader of Production Team One, asked.

“Was there a witness who saw the melon thief?”

“No, there were over ten of them, and they were cultivated by experts. One of them weighed at least 20 to 30 kilograms, and we were going to send it to Urumqi for the exhibition. It was gone by the morning.”

“Tell the security team to search every household, and check all the poplar trees and meadows. Ask the kids if they’ve moved anything.”

“It’s not just the melons, Director, our grape vines have been destroyed as well. Several of the high-quality grape varieties, which only bore fruit this year, were all picked clean.”

“I smell grapes in Director Chen’s car,” a child suddenly shouted from the crowd.

Chen Lina had instructed Wang Hongbing to hide some of the items, but those were grown privately by the old professors, and stored in a designated warehouse.

Chen Lina herself had never taken a single grape from the farm.

She understood that only by maintaining her own integrity could she keep her reputation intact.

The people from Sun’s family, who had been bullied, were still too ashamed to lift their heads, and if anyone in the entire mining area disliked Chen Lina, it was probably these people.

He Min said nothing but was watching with interest.

Chen Lina understood.

This was likely the prelude to his power grab.

The farm lost some things, and the people from Sunjiazhai started the gossip.

He Min was involved, and they thought that since she came to the farm, she must be bringing home some vegetables or fruits for cooking.

Though it was a small matter, if the farm director herself started taking things home, it would open the door to stealing, making it harder for others to justify their actions.

After pulling the handbrake and getting out of the car, Chen Lina opened the trunk and turned to ask, “Why is no one coming over to look?”

“Well, Director Chen, no one said you stole anything, right? And it was just a child who yelled, so why get so upset?” He Min said.

“No. Secretary He, one should be honest and aboveboard.

If I hadn’t opened the trunk today, the grapes would have been thought to be stolen.

The school at Base No. 1 is free, yet these children, so big already, can’t go to school, so they roam around the farm all day.

Families should be cooking by now, and instead of going home to cook, they’re gathering here to look in my trunk.

Tell me, are you satisfied with what you saw?”

A few farm workers from Sunjiazhai quickly chimed in, “Director Chen is always working for the public good, we all saw it. Some kid yelled out, it’s their fault, they should get a good scolding.”

Others said, “Don’t be angry, Director. You’re the most approachable leader here. Some people are just naturally ill-intentioned and can’t stand to see others living well. They deserve a good lesson.”

After shutting the trunk, Chen Lina got back in the car.

Just as she was leaving the farm, He Min, riding a 28-inch bicycle, caught up: “Director Chen, I’m heading home too. Can you give me a ride for a bit?”

“What about your bicycle?” Chen Lina slowed the car and asked.

He Min quickly replied, “I’ll leave it at the farm, at Sunjiazhai. We can come back to work together this afternoon, how about that?”

Trying to take her power while hitching a ride, too?

“Secretary He, if you want to check my car for grapes, you’re welcome to do so. But if you’re trying to hitch a ride, I need to tell you that my husband, Old Nie, is very jealous. If I drive alone, he doesn’t allow me to give rides to other men.”

“I’m not a stranger.”

“Not even a public dog is allowed,” she said, slamming the gas pedal and speeding off.