◎ Careful Thought ◎

Yuan Xiucai also told her son Taosheng to go with his sisters. It was not safe for two young girls to walk in the dark.

Song Xunzhou left together with them.

Xue Guoshu wasn’t asleep at that time. In the middle of winter, jumping into the river at night to rescue someone—it would be impossible to fall asleep immediately even with the strongest nerves.

After pulling the person out of the river, he returned straight to the dormitory, changed into clean clothes and pants, and lay under the covers with his hair still wet. His body couldn’t stop trembling—it was simply too cold.

Later that night, Cen Wei had also gone to the river to take a look. After seeing that the person had been rescued, he didn’t go to Tang Niu’s house but returned directly to the dormitory to lie down.

Xue Guoshu and Cen Wei shared a bed, but they didn’t use the same quilt or pillow. Cen Wei simply lay in his own bedding with his back to Xue Guoshu, and didn’t mind that he was lying down with wet hair.

If he minded, he would have shown it earlier. No need to wait until today.

The three siblings knew that Educated Youth Song was right behind them. When they arrived at the educated youth dormitory, Qi Yuzhen asked Song Xunzhou to bring the remaining brown sugar ginger tea into the room.

Between the two rooms in the educated youth dormitory was a semi-open kitchen. Qi Yulian knew the educated youths did not cook, but she still asked Educated Youth Song to wait—she wanted to find a bowl.

There wasn’t a single bowl in the kitchen!

She couldn’t find one at all—completely couldn’t find one.

An Lin had returned about ten minutes ago. She had gone straight under the covers after coming back. Upon hearing movement, she quickly put on her cotton-padded clothes and pants and came out of the room, asking Qi Yuzhen what was in the enamel mug in Song Xunzhou’s hand.

“It’s brown sugar ginger tea to warm up Educated Youth Xue’s body.” Qi Yuzhen replied with an uneasy feeling.

And her premonition came true.

“After all this fuss tonight, I feel like I’ve caught a chill too. Share a little bit of the brown sugar ginger tea with me. Not too much, just two or three sips will do.” An Lin went back to her room, brought out a small bowl, poured herself half a bowl of brown sugar ginger tea, then went back into her room and shut the door behind her.

Qi Yuzhen was not angry that Song Xunzhou had handed the enamel mug directly to An Lin. If it had been any of the other three of them holding it, they wouldn’t have been able to refuse either. Things had already been said to this point. If they didn’t share a bit, it would seem impolite.

Seeing that her younger sister was still trying to find a cup or bowl, Qi Yuzhen told Educated Youth Song to just bring the enamel mug inside. They would wait for Educated Youth Xue to finish drinking and then take the mug back.

The brown sugar ginger tea was no longer piping hot. Less than two minutes later, Song Xunzhou came out.

He handed the enamel mug to Qi Yuzhen and gently reminded her, “It’s very dark at night. Be careful on your way home. Don’t fall.”

“Mm, we’ll be careful… There wasn’t enough brown sugar ginger tea to share with you or the other educated youths. It’s too cold, go get some rest and warm up in bed.” If An Lin hadn’t suddenly come out and taken a share of the tea, Qi Yuzhen wouldn’t have said these words.

It wouldn’t be right to favor one person over others, so she had to compensate with a few extra words.

Song Xunzhou said, “You all head off first. I’ll shut the door and go lie back in bed.”

Qi Yuzhen left with her younger siblings.

What had happened that night was too shocking. Qi Yulian didn’t even notice the “married couple” tone between her sister and Educated Youth Song. “Good thing you thought it through and went home to boil brown sugar ginger tea. I heard the clean clothes Tang Niu was wearing came from several neighbor aunties and big sisters who gathered them for her to borrow.

When our family arrived, no one had thought of bringing Tang Niu a bowl of hot water. She was trembling all over. Her lips were white and completely bloodless.”

Qi Yuzhen said, “Even if Tang Niu had drunk some hot water, I still think she should have had a bowl of brown sugar ginger tea. Brown sugar ginger tea warms the body and helps promote sweating.”

She had also seen Tang Niu’s condition vaguely from the back of the crowd. Tang Niu clearly did not want to live anymore, but after jumping into the river, she must have hesitated.

If she had been truly determined, she wouldn’t possibly still be sitting in the house right now.

Wearing summer clothes and jumping into the river in the middle of winter was unrealistic. Winter clothes absorb water and become extremely heavy. Tang Niu’s mother-in-law had likely gone to call for help after Tang Niu jumped in. The time it took the educated youths to wake up and rush over upon hearing the news was more than enough for Tang Niu to drown or suffocate. Even if she didn’t die, she should have been unconscious.

The river was not very deep, so when Tang Niu jumped in, she definitely regretted it and hesitated.

Even in summer, Qi Yuzhen found the well water too cold to bathe with. She needed to mix it with hot water. No matter what, Tang Niu had soaked in freezing river water for quite a while, so she wanted to boil some brown sugar ginger tea to warm her up and regain her senses.

The three of them returned to the courtyard of Tang Niu’s house. This time, there were fewer people left in the courtyard. Yuan Xiucai had no intention of returning home just yet and told the children to go home and sleep first.

On the way home, Qi Yulian asked her third brother, Qi Taoming, how the discussion went.

When they returned from the educated youth dormitory, there were far fewer people in the courtyard, and their mother’s tone had also calmed down a little.

Qiaogu was the women’s team leader, and her full name was Qi Qiaogu. The adults knew her name and called her Qiaogu. Some children, not knowing her name, thought “Qiaogu” was a form of address like “aunt” or “auntie,” and followed the adults in calling her that. Qiaogu herself did not correct them and let everyone call her that.

Qi Yuzhen and the others knew that Qiaogu was the real name of the women’s team leader, but they also directly called her Qiaogu.

Qiaogu’s daughter got married a few months ago, leaving an empty bed at home, which could temporarily be used for Tang Niu to sleep on.

Qi Taosheng couldn’t help but say, “Fang Qiang’s mom was cursing nonstop at night, saying Tang Niu was a jinx, that her life was worthless, and that if she ended up killing Educated Youth Xue who went to save her, even Tang Niu’s life plus her two daughters’ lives wouldn’t be enough to pay for it… I think Fang Qiang looked like he agreed not to hit her, but after everyone leaves at night, he’ll still beat Tang Niu. So Mom and Qiaogu discussed it and decided to let Tang Niu go to Qiaogu’s place. Tang Niu’s two daughters will also go with her.”

Their house had empty rooms and beds too, but this matter needed to be handled by the women’s team leader, Qiaogu. All of Qiaogu’s children were already married, so it was more convenient for Tang Niu to stay at her house than at theirs.

In theory, wouldn’t it be less convenient to stay at Qiaogu’s house?

Qiaogu had sons and daughters-in-law. If Tang Niu’s family of three moved in, the daughters-in-law might start grumbling.

That wasn’t the point. What they were most worried about was Fang Qiang making trouble. Qi Yuzhen and her younger siblings were not good at dealing with rascals. Qi Hongjun and Yuan Xiucai, the couple, couldn’t stay at home all day to watch over things and prevent Fang Qiang from making trouble either.

Besides, Tang Niu and her daughters were only staying temporarily. The team would soon make proper arrangements for her.

Qi Yulian said, “Daqiu is four, and Erqiu is only two, still at the age where they just cry. Fortunately, Qiaogu is helping take care of them. Tang Niu now looks like she’s lost her soul… Could she really have lost her soul? Maybe her soul was taken by a water ghost! Who in our commune knows how to call back a soul? We’ll have to perform a ritual.”

After hearing her sister’s words, Qi Yuzhen told her not to be superstitious. “Tang Niu has been like this for a while now. I noticed it. It felt like something was going to happen, but there was nothing we could do, just watching helplessly.

She tried to commit suicide, and I wasn’t surprised at all. I just didn’t expect her to do it in the middle of the night. Luckily, her mother-in-law is a light sleeper and followed her after hearing a noise. Otherwise, never mind Educated Youth Xue, even an immortal wouldn’t have been able to save her.”

When Tang Niu jumped into the river, she hesitated, maybe thinking about climbing back ashore. But her mother-in-law’s loud noise forced her back onto the path of no return. After all, if she returned, it would only be another round of beatings and curses.

The educated youths coming over gave her a sliver of hope.

Qi Yulian said, “Tang Niu is really pitiful. I’ve long wanted to call her ‘Ku Niu’^[1]Bitter Girl, but I was afraid she’d feel even worse if she heard it. Those people criticizing Tang Niu are truly sick in the head. Her mother-in-law and Fang Qiang are the worst. For Tang Niu to choose to secretly die in the middle of the night shows that she’s not all bad, maybe even a good person. Fang Qiang is just disgusting, marrying such a good woman and not cherishing her!”

Tang Niu had an even lower presence than Sister Feifei. Every time they heard something about her, it was always about her being beaten by her husband or cursed and hit by her mother-in-law. The women’s team leader had visited several times but hadn’t been of much help.

Qi Yuzhen said, “We’ll go to Qiaogu’s house tomorrow to check on Tang Niu. Hopefully, she won’t try to take her life again.”

…

They still had to work the next day. Vegetables had already been planted in the fields, and since it rarely rained heavily in the local winters, they didn’t need to tend to the crops. They did other kinds of work instead. Jobs like road construction and digging canals were mostly assigned to the men, while the women made brooms and pasted matchboxes.

Today, Tang Niu went on working as usual. Qiaogu had told her to rest for a day, but she didn’t. She just worked in Qiaogu’s courtyard.

Because of what had happened last night, many people crowded into Qiaogu’s courtyard today.

Some educated youths who had been in the team for less than three months only learned of Tang Niu’s existence because she jumped into the river.

“This kind of life is worse than death; no wonder Tang Niu wanted to die.” An Lin came to work at Qi Yuzhen’s home with Tang Sui and Erya.

Besides the three of them, there were several other girls in the Qi family courtyard, all unmarried young women in their teens or twenties.

“Tang Niu isn’t from our county. I heard her hometown is in another province, very far away. She doesn’t have the money to buy a ticket, and she can’t get a letter of introduction either. She can’t leave our county… If it were me, I might jump into the river too. Life really isn’t worth it.” One of the girls said.

Tang Niu had already lived in the team for many years. Nobody knew how she had come, only that it would be very difficult for her to leave now.

“Then kill off the whole Fang family before committing suicide. Just listening to her mother-in-law talk makes me speechless. Is a woman’s life not a life? Isn’t she a woman herself? Saying three lives aren’t worth one educated youth’s life—if Educated Youth Xue heard that, he’d probably jump out of bed to shut her up.” An Lin had also heard the brainless words from Tang Niu’s mother-in-law last night.

There had been many people cursing Tang Niu’s mother-in-law in the courtyard last night. She hadn’t joined in, but everyone else cursed her well enough.

They said everything she had wanted to say.

Qi Yuzhen worked diligently, just listening to their conversation, not joining in.

Her younger sister was chatting along with the others, which made her hands move more slowly, but she didn’t urge her sister to hurry up with the work.

She wasn’t someone cold-hearted. If her sister wanted to talk, she let her.

An Lin said, “Last night, Educated Youth Xue was probably the last one to wake up. I ran into him this morning on the way to the toilet before work and asked him a few things. He said last night it was Cen Wei who shook him awake and told him someone had jumped into the river and that he should go quickly. He was half asleep when he got out of bed and ran out without even putting on his coat to see what was happening. After that, the rest of us gradually went to the riverside. Don’t blame us for not helping—before this, I didn’t even know who Tang Niu was.”

Cen Wei had already figured out Xue Guoshu’s personality. He knew he wasn’t clean, was careless and sloppy, but still had a decent character.

Even though Xue Guoshu had a good personality, Cen Wei still wouldn’t lecture him. But when something happened, he would unhesitatingly push him forward to take the lead.

Qi Yulian had never thought deeply about Tang Niu’s mental state after jumping into the river. She only knew Tang Niu was so desperate that she attempted suicide: “Educated Youth Xue has a warm heart. He deserves praise for saving her. It’s normal that you all didn’t immediately run out to help. It was too dangerous last night. If it had been you or Educated Youth Tang who went into the water, you’d definitely get sick for a long time—maybe even die along with Tang Niu.”