◎ Unexpected ◎

Erya had been fooled, but An Lin hadn’t let go of her anger. Two days later, today, she complained a lot to Qi Yuzhen. In the end, she said, “You can tell your family, but don’t let them spread it around. If word gets out and I get retaliated against, it’ll be your fault.”

When Qi Yuzhen heard this, she thought she’d better not accept anything from Educated Youth An again. It was too risky: “I won’t tell my family.”

An Lin said, “You can tell your parents, let them know how terrible Cen Wei’s character is. Before, it was really hard for me to catch any dirt on him. This time, I finally caught him. In the future, during busy farming seasons, feel free to assign him the hardest and most tiring tasks.”

Although she often scolded Xue Guoshu, the person An Lin hated the most was Cen Wei.

Luckily, he was male and lived in the male-educated youth dormitory. If he were female and ended up being her roommate, the daily life in the educated youth dormitory would absolutely be a chaotic mess with no peace.

And it would not take long before she would voluntarily request to move out of the educated youth dormitory.

So that was the hidden thought Educated Youth An had been harboring. Qi Yuzhen could not agree with her words: “The work in the team is not arranged solely by my father. It requires a meeting and discussion among several cadres to make a decision.

You also know Educated Youth Cen is petty. If my parents targeted him, and he reported them…”

Everything went without needing to be said.

An Lin was not stupid. She could understand the unspoken meaning behind Qi Yuzhen’s words: “Might as well let me die of anger. Don’t tell your parents. Your family is indeed overly cautious, but very fair. You don’t favor anyone or make things hard on anyone. Let your father continue being the team leader. If your family is reported, Tang Sui and I will speak up for your family. I will also have Song Xunzhou and Xue Guoshu speak on your parents’ behalf.”

Qi Yuzhen’s father remaining as the team leader was the best situation for now. If someone biased took over, these educated youths who came from other regions would suffer greatly.

So it was better to maintain the current situation.

Qi Yuzhen said, “You are very kind, willing to speak up for my parents.”

After saying so much, An Lin finally felt a bit better. Before leaving, she stared straight at Qi Yuzhen.

Qi Yuzhen almost wanted to ask if there was something dirty on her face. Finally, Educated Youth An spoke, “If I were a man, I would marry into your family and be your husband.”

If it were her little sister saying this, Qi Yuzhen could have joked. But since it was An Lin, after thinking it over, she said, “Even if you married into our family, you would still have to work. There would be no difference.”

Her family still had to labor hard in the fields.

“How could there be no difference? There are so many benefits… Never mind, I’m going back. Be careful of that unlucky man. First step, he becomes a teacher at the commune’s middle school. Second step, he might try to become the team leader’s son-in-law. Don’t let that sinister man fool you.”

An Lin left. Qi Yulian immediately walked up to her older sister and asked what had happened.

This matter no longer needed to be completely hidden from the family. Qi Yuzhen told her younger sister and also shared what Educated Youth An had “threatened” her with.

After hearing everything, Qi Yulian said, “I won’t say anything. Neither Educated Youth Cen nor Educated Youth An are easy to deal with. Sigh, why did a bunch of demons and monsters come here?”

It felt like good people always encountered bad people. It was just too tragic.

“How can you say the educated youths are demons and monsters? I think each of them is quite normal. You can see their shadows among the commune members too.”

There were many honest and kind commune members, and also many sharp-tongued and mean ones.

“This group of people coming together really brings no peace.” Qi Yulian walked home with her sister, her head aching a little.

She could suddenly understand how mentally exhausting the cadres’ work usually was.

Qi Yuzhen wanted to say that Educated Youth Song and Educated Youth Tang were both quite nice. These two had mild tempers and did not seem like people who would harbor bad intentions.

Looking at her younger sister, she remembered how her sister had been constantly talking about Educated Youth Song recently. She decided not to bring it up.

No need to stir up her sister’s sad memories. Feeling gloomy just for a few pieces of candy.

…

In the middle of the night, the whole family was sound asleep when the courtyard gate was suddenly knocked on. They did not even need to open the door and ask what had happened before they heard someone shouting that Daqiu’s mother had jumped into the river to commit suicide.

All six members of the Qi family were awakened by the commotion. Hearing someone had jumped into the river, they got out of bed and quickly put on their cotton coats to go check on the situation.

The one delivering the message was Erya.

While leading the six members of the Qi family, Erya explained the whole incident.

Daqiu’s mother’s name was Tang Niu. Daqiu was her eldest daughter, four years old this year. Tang Niu herself was only in her early thirties. She could not think it through and jumped into the river but was rescued by Educated Youth Xue.

The person had been saved, but Erya had still come to call the team leader because the matter was not over yet.

The river where Daqiu’s mother jumped was not far from the educated youth dormitory. Educated Youth Xue had been sleeping soundly and was woken up to rescue her.

It was quite absurd. The one who shouted for the educated youth to save her at night was her mother-in-law, who had always disliked Tang Niu.

Tang Niu had thought she could end her life quietly in the middle of the night without anyone knowing. But her mother-in-law was a light sleeper. When she heard movement, she thought her daughter-in-law had gone out to meet a man.

She did not know which man it was, so she secretly followed her, planning to catch them in the act once she identified the man.

Unexpectedly, her daughter-in-law had not gone to meet a man but was carrying a kerosene lamp to the river to commit suicide.

Even though she usually tormented her daughter-in-law, Tang Niu’s mother-in-law had not wanted her to die. Not daring to jump in and save her herself, she ran to the nearest educated youth dormitory and called for the educated youths to help.

Xue Guoshu was the first to come out and rescue her. The other educated youths followed to help.

Erya led the six members of the Qi family to Tang Niu’s house. By then, Tang Niu was already home.

When they arrived, they could hear Fang Qiang’s cursing and the voices of a few aunts and older women, either persuading or scolding.

Seeing the team leader’s family arrive, the people gathered at Tang Niu’s house automatically made way.

After entering the house, Yuan Xiucai did not speak to Tang Niu first but directly scolded Fang Qiang and his mother.

Qi Taosheng and Qi Taoming, the two brothers, were afraid Fang Qiang would get physical, so they stood behind their parents. If Fang Qiang dared to act, the two of them were ready to fight back.

The two sisters stood at the back of the crowd. Qi Yuzhen stood behind her younger sister, still holding the sleeve of her sister’s cotton coat. Now that it was dark, she worried her sister might wander off and get into an accident.

After standing for a while, Qi Yuzhen suddenly smelled a faint scent of soap and felt someone standing behind her. After thinking about it, she turned to look, and sure enough, it was Educated Youth Song.

The two met eyes, and she could only open her mouth to ask Educated Youth Song whether Educated Youth Xue was now resting in the dormitory.

The small courtyard was noisy with voices. Qi Yuzhen’s voice was too soft. Song Xunzhou seemed not to hear what she said and replied that he didn’t hear clearly, then bent down and leaned in closer to her ear.

The distance was too close. At that distance, it was no different from speaking right next to his ear.

Qi Yuzhen really wanted to move away, but she felt that avoiding him would seem too deliberate, so she had no choice but to brace herself and repeat what she said.

This time, Song Xunzhou heard her clearly. He did not lift his head, but remained in that position as he replied to her. Only after answering did he straighten up and look into the house.

As if nothing had happened.

The “small interaction” between the two of them wasn’t even noticed by Qi Yulian, who was standing in front of her older sister. At the moment, Qi Yulian’s attention was entirely on their mother scolding Fang Qiang.

Song Xunzhou did not leave and continued to stand behind Qi Yuzhen. Fortunately, he was now standing at a normal distance.

Qi Yuzhen gently tugged at her younger sister’s sleeve. It took three or four pulls before she managed to draw her attention.

The courtyard was indeed noisy. She spoke to her younger sister in her usual volume, close to her ear, and Qi Yulian heard her clearly and had no objections. She loudly told their parents that she and her sister were going home first. After speaking, she left with her sister.

The two sisters left with a kerosene lamp. Song Xunzhou remained where he was and did not leave.

About twenty minutes later, the two sisters returned. There were fewer people in the small courtyard now, but it was still lively.

“Mom, my sister and I went home to boil brown sugar ginger tea. Let’s pour a bowl for Tang Niu so she can warm up. The rest we’ll bring to Educated Youth Xue.”

Yuan Xiucai didn’t mind using their own brown sugar and ginger. She went straight to Fang Qiang’s kitchen cupboard, took a bowl, poured a full bowl of brown sugar ginger tea, and told her daughter to quickly bring the rest to Educated Youth Xue. In the middle of winter, they had to prevent him from catching a cold.

Qi Hongjun, as the team leader, asked his daughter to pass a message to Educated Youth Xue, letting him know he didn’t need to report for work the next day and should rest well in the dormitory for the day.