Chapter 30: Director Zhao’s complicated mood.

Early in the morning, Wang Lao Er ran to Zhao Ke’s house in a panic, looking for someone.

This time, he wasn’t looking for Zhao Ke but for Zhao Jianguo.

The reason was that when Wang Lao Er woke up, he discovered his wife, Zhou Xiuli, had bled a lot, even staining the bedding.

At first, Zhou Xiuli claimed it was her period and didn’t think much of it. But when she noticed blood clots and mentioned it to Aunt Dong, Aunt Dong suspected it might be a miscarriage. That was when Wang Lao Er panicked and ran over.

Zhao Jianguo was a semi-trained rural doctor who had studied traditional Chinese medicine for two years under an old practitioner. He could handle minor ailments at the health station and prescribe some medication.

After taking her pulse, Zhao Jianguo confirmed it was indeed a miscarriage.

Although the bleeding had lessened, it hadn’t stopped. Since this was a gynecological issue, Zhao Jianguo found it inconvenient to examine further and lacked the expertise. He could only suggest they go to the commune health clinic.

Without much hesitation, Wang Lao Er borrowed an ox cart from the team and took Zhou Xiuli to the commune.

Because of this matter, Zhao Ke arrived late at the team committee office and was the last to hear that Fu Zhiqing had applied for a plot of land to build a house.

Zhao Ke noticed a hand-drawn map spread out on Zhao Xinshan’s desk and asked, “Can an unmarried educated youth get approval to build a house in our village?”

The village had two couples who were educated youth. After getting married, they moved out of the educated youth point and were now essentially settled locally.

But for an unmarried educated youth to build a house? That hadn’t happened before.

“Why not?” Accountant Niu walked over with a tea mug, smiling. “Fu Zhiqing can’t build it on his own. He said he’d hire members of our Production Team to help and pay them. Isn’t that a win-win?”

Deputy Team Leader Xu added, “Even if he returns to the city in the future, the plot can’t be taken with him, and the house will remain in the village. We’re not losing out.”

With that explanation, it was true the Production Team had no strict rules against it.

While it did feel like taking advantage a bit, no one was forcing Fu Zhiqing to build a house.

At that moment, Zhao Ke suddenly remembered something she had forgotten.

In the novel, Fu Hang seemed to have had a conflict with the older educated youth, prompting him to build his own house and move out of the educated youth point.

As for what the conflict was about, Zhao Ke couldn’t recall.

She had only read the novel once, and her memory was fuzzy. Let alone remembering specific details from a dream.

Still, if she forgot something important over time, it could cause trouble…

After all, being a prophet was her golden finger, and she couldn’t afford to lose it.

Zhao Ke didn’t ask where Fu Zhiqing planned to build the house. Instead, she turned to borrow the village map from Zhao Xinshan for a look.

Zhao Xinshan handed her the map and casually asked, “How’s Lao Wang’s Er Er Xi^[1]Er Er xi – second daughter-in-law?”

“They’ve gone to the commune. It shouldn’t be anything serious,” Zhao Ke replied.

Deputy Team Leader Xu shook his head and sighed, “They didn’t even have two cents saved up. This trip is going to stretch them thin.”

Zhao Ke said, “But medical care is necessary. If there are any lingering complications, they’ll face even bigger problems later.”

Accountant Niu nodded. “Exactly. Medical care is necessary.”

As Zhao Ke sat back down, she suddenly looked up and asked, “Should my father go for some advanced training? In case of emergencies in the village, his limited skills might not be enough.”

Deputy Team Leader Xu disagreed. “Our Production Team doesn’t have spare money for that. And even if someone has a severe illness, the conditions in the countryside won’t suffice. They’d still have to be sent to town.”

Zhao Ke felt this line of thinking wasn’t quite right. “While it’s true that rural conditions can’t handle emergencies or major illnesses, there are plenty of cases where inadequate medical skills delay treatment, turning minor ailments into serious illnesses.”

Accountant Niu chuckled. “Our little Director Zhao is quite responsible, even criticizing her own father impartially.”

“Who’s criticizing?!” Zhao Ke said, caught between laughter and tears. “Uncle, stop teasing me. I’m being serious.”

While the three of them were talking, Zhao Xinshan didn’t join in. He rolled himself a cigarette, got up, walked outside, and stood under the eaves to smoke.

Deputy Team Leader Xu shifted the topic from medical care, laughing. “With you around, this young lady, Lao Zhao doesn’t even smoke indoors anymore.”

He was also a heavy smoker.

Since Zhao Xinshan, the team leader, wasn’t smoking indoors, Deputy Team Leader Xu sat for a while before he couldn’t hold back and said, “I’ll step outside to smoke a roll too.”

With the two of them gone, the room felt emptier, and Zhao Ke’s proposal went unanswered.

Perhaps Deputy Team Leader Xu and the others thought she was just a kid playing house, doing unnecessary things and making a fuss over nothing…

Zhao Ke glanced outside at the two men, then brought out two stools herself and carried them over. “Uncle, Ge, have a seat.”

“Dragging stools back and forth is such a hassle,” Deputy Team Leader Xu said, though he still smiled and sat down.

Zhao Ke then fetched a small table that was usually used to hold the kettle near the stove in winter. She took it to the well, cleaned it with water, and placed it under the eaves.

“You can put your tea mugs on the table, so you don’t have to hold them the whole time.”

Deputy Team Leader Xu praised her, saying she was “thoughtful.”

After that, Zhao Ke returned to her seat inside.

In an office like this, whatever you did was bound to be noticed by others. To slack off effectively, one had to appear busy with legitimate work even while slacking.

Zhao Ke studied the village map for a while, then took a piece of paper and sketched a simplified version of the map.

How simplified was it?

The village’s hand-drawn map was scaled to show the shape and size of each family’s plot, but Zhao Ke just drew rows of circles.

The circles weren’t even uniform in size—she drew them as big or small as she pleased, as casually as could be.

She labeled each circle with the corresponding household’s name and then began thinking about plotlines.

After the male lead moved out of the educated youth point…

The female lead…

There was a plotline where Zhao Fangfang had a difficult labor. With no midwife in the village, it nearly ended in a tragedy of both mother and child dying.

Zhao Ke marked the circle representing Zhao Er Nai’s home with: [Midwife, Maternal Health Awareness]

When summer came, several village children went swimming in the river, and two of them drowned.

Zhao Ke marked the circle for the school with: [Drowning Prevention and Safety Education]

At the end of summer, a heavy rainstorm hit, accompanied by hail. It not only damaged the educated youth dormitory and several homes but also ruined much of the crops in the fields.

On the right side of the paper, Zhao Ke wrote: [Rainproofing and House Repairs]

…

Fang Jing Zhiqing was assaulted.

[Women’s Safety Education]

…

Zhao Ke hesitated, then crossed out the words [Women’s Safety Education]. Her pen hovered for a moment but never touched the paper again.

She was so focused that she didn’t notice someone standing behind her.

“This method isn’t bad.”

The sudden voice startled Zhao Ke, and she turned around. “Uncle?”

Zhao Xinshan looked at the map she had drawn. “Marking notes on the map like this makes it easy to see each household’s situation at a glance.”

Zhao Ke lowered her head and looked at her paper. Seeing what she’d written, she was at a loss for words.

What was all this?

She didn’t even realize she was taking her role as the women’s director this seriously.

Her emotions were complicated.

Accountant Niu came over too, glanced at the map, and chimed in, “It’s quite good.”

Zhao Xinshan instructed, “When you have time, make a bigger version of it and put it up on the wall.”

Zhao Ke: “…”

She hadn’t expected her casual circles to land her more work.

And yet, Zhao Xinshan and Accountant Niu were very serious about it. After looking around the office, they finally decided on the wall directly facing the door.

“Let’s hang it next to the picture frame. It’s opposite the window, so when we have meetings, even the team members sitting outside can see it.”

“Exactly. That wall’s empty anyway…”

Zhao Ke glanced at the wall they were referring to. It was about two meters wide and three meters tall. A small drawing would look out of place there, not to mention that their claim of “team members sitting outside can see it” was completely unrealistic.

Zhao Xinshan had already made the decision, so Zhao Ke could only agree.

…..

By midday, the news that Fu Zhiqing was planning to build a house in the village had spread like wildfire.

The women gathered under the old locust tree, chatting, with Fu Zhiqing as the center of the discussion.

“I always knew he wasn’t ordinary. Just look at his clothes—they’re tidier than any of the other educated youth.”

“How old is Fu Zhiqing?”

“Twenty? What kind of girls do you think he likes? My daughter’s seventeen; her age is just right.”

“Oh, give it a rest. You really think he’d look at a village girl?”

“Why not? My daughter’s beautiful.”

“As beautiful as Yu Xiulan’s daughters? Even if he’s into village girls, it’d have to be someone like them.”

“But I heard that the Team Leader’s family’s Yun Yun keeps going to the educated youth spot all day long.”

“I’ve seen it too…”

Hearing this, Zhao Yunyun felt a strong sense of crisis and rushed to the team committee office to seek Zhao Ke’s advice.

When she arrived, Zhao Ke was moving stones.

“What are you doing?”

“Boiling glue.”

Zhao Ke arranged three stones, placed a large ladle on top, and lit a bundle of dry grass underneath.

“What’s the glue for?”

“To paste paper. If you’re not busy, you can help me here.”

“I have something to do.”

Zhao Yunyun suddenly remembered her purpose, urgently saying, “Everyone’s noticed how great Fu Zhiqing is now. There must be a lot of competition for him. You have to help me this time.”

Zhao Ke raised an eyebrow. “You want my advice again? Have you finished the book?”

Zhao Yunyun fumed. “Is this the time to talk about books? Do you realize how serious this is?”

“Oh, so you haven’t finished it?”

Zhao Yunyun: “…Must we talk about the book?”

“We don’t have to.” Zhao Ke looked curious. “How’s your relationship progressing?”

Zhao Yunyun hesitated. “It’s… progressed to the dream stage?”

“What?” Dream stage?!

Zhao Yunyun covered her face. “He smiled at me in my dream, and I smiled back. Then I woke up.”

Zhao Ke: …Overthinking it.

“I meant in real life, not your dreams.”

Zhao Yunyun pouted. “If I could interact with him in real life, would I still need dreams? The words he’s said to me can be counted on one hand: ‘thank you,’ ‘no need,’ ‘please move aside’…”

“But Fu Zhiqing really is polite… totally different from the men in the village…”

Her tone gradually turned dreamy.

Zhao Ke raised her hand and flicked Zhao Yunyun on the forehead.

“Ow!” Zhao Yunyun clutched her head. “Why are your hands so heavy?”

“You might as well raise your pillow higher. Anything’s possible in a dream.”

Zhao Yunyun pouted. “You’re such a killjoy.”

Instead of daydreaming, Zhao Ke dragged out a pile of old newspapers and ordered, “Help me paste a cardboard backing.”

With the two of them working together, they finished the rough shape of the board by three in the afternoon, leaving it to dry.

“Thunk!”

A stone flew over, hitting the still-wet paper and tearing a hole.

Zhao Ke and Zhao Yunyun: “…”

“Who?!” Zhao Yunyun shouted furiously, looking up.

Chen San’er stood a few meters away, tossing another stone and catching it.

Zhao Yunyun was incensed. “Chen San’er, are you crazy?!”

Chen San’er smirked. “Come hit me, then~”

If someone had such a wish, Zhao Ke was more than willing to oblige.

She bent down, picked up the ladle, and weighed it in her hand.

Chen San’er’s scalp tightened, and he jumped back three steps, raising his hands defensively. “Let’s talk this out! I have a serious matter!”

Zhao Yunyun sneered. “What serious matter could you possibly have?”

Chen San’er, still eyeing Zhao Ke warily, slowly backed away while saying, “Does the women’s director handle stepmothers mistreating their children?”

Zhao Ke lowered the ladle and frowned. “What’s going on?”

Fifteen minutes later, Zhao Ke, Zhao Yunyun, and Chen San’er arrived at Liu Guangzhi’s house in the southwest corner of the village.

The courtyard gate was tied with a straw rope, suggesting the couple was out working.

Chen San’er, familiar with the place, climbed over the half-height wall and sat atop it. “From here—”

One glance from Zhao Ke silenced him.

Chen San’er awkwardly grinned. “Misunderstanding, really a misunderstanding. If I said I’ve never climbed this wall, would you believe me?”

Zhao Yunyun rolled her eyes. “Do you believe it yourself?”

Chen San’er shamelessly replied, “Of course I do.”

Not in the mood for his antics, Zhao Ke untied the straw rope and entered through the gate.

“Where?”

Chen San’er walked to a pile of bean stalks and nodded toward the back. “There.”

Zhao Ke approached, and her brow furrowed tightly at what she saw.

Beneath the pile of stalks, a hollow had been dug, no wider than a meter. Inside, a child curled up, hugging themselves, their face flushed red, eyes tightly shut.