Su Xiaonan quickly said, “Sis, I’m going to sleep now. Can you come back tomorrow?” As she spoke, she hurriedly rolled up the letter she had been writing to report someone.

After all, it was just a tiny, run-down house, and the letter—already stamped and ready to be sent off first thing in the morning—was sitting out in the open.

She worried that Su Xiangwan might barge in and read it.

Hastily, she stuffed it into an envelope and placed it on the table among some official documents destined for the township.

“Xiaonan, open the door,” Su Xiangwan called again, knocking on it.

Of course, Su Xiaonan had no intention of opening the door.

Not only did she refuse, but she also began calling to the educated youth in the adjacent room. “Xiao Wang! Xiao Wang, can you check who’s outside for me?”

Xiao Wang, the male educated youth next door, had been trying to court Su Xiaonan recently.

She was stringing him along without giving him a clear answer.

Half-asleep, Xiao Wang rubbed his eyes and got up.

“Excuse me, comrade, who are you, and what do you need?” Xiao Wang asked, still groggy.

Su Xiangwan, who had a kitchen knife tucked into her waistband, held two large radishes she had plucked from a field on her way. “I’m her older sister, here to visit her,” she replied calmly.

“Director Gu, she says she’s your sister. Why won’t you open the door?” Xiao Wang asked Su Xiaonan.

“She’s not my sister!” Su Xiaonan thought angrily. Still, she refused to open the door, stalling as she spoke. “Just send her away. Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow.”

“Comrade, it’s the middle of the night, and I came here on foot. If I head back now, I might get stopped by the militia. Just let me stay the night,” Su Xiangwan said, her tone sounding perfectly reasonable.

Xiao Wang hesitated. “Director Gu, it doesn’t seem right not to open the door,” he said.

After a moment of hesitation, Su Xiaonan cracked the door open just a sliver.

Before she could react, Su Xiangwan pulled out the kitchen knife and stormed in.

“What are you doing?” Su Xiaonan exclaimed.

While she knew her cousin could be fierce, in their previous life, Su Xiangwan had always directed her ferocity at others, never at her.

She had never experienced this side of Su Xiangwan before.

“You live alone in this mess? Look at your bed—it’s chaos. And this cabinet—it’s like a pigsty!” Su Xiangwan scolded, holding the knife in one hand while rummaging through the cabinet with the other.

Finding a locked drawer on the desk, Su Xiangwan hacked at it with the knife, breaking the lock in one blow.

“Xiao Wang, call the police! She’s not my sister—this woman is crazy! She’s smashing my things!” Su Xiaonan shrieked.

Before her scream could even finish, Su Xiangwan had already yanked out a diary from the drawer.

Flipping through a couple of pages, she slammed it onto the table and said, “Su Xiaonan, why don’t you read this passage aloud?”

Su Xiaonan grabbed a knife herself. “Sis, aren’t you going too far? Your life isn’t easy, but do you think mine is any better? I work in the fields every day, just like you! I didn’t do it on purpose, and I’ve already moved on. Why can’t you let it go?”

“This is a chaotic and confusing time,” Su Xiangwan began, slapping her hand on the diary. “Especially for the educated youth. Each one of them acts like a lunatic, thinking they can find some grand purpose in the countryside. But in reality, how are they any different from laborers in the old society? And what about the Party? It’s the biggest bourgeoisie, the greatest capitalist. And the people? They’re nothing but exploited workers. I detest this place, this life, and these hypocritical people.”

Su Xiangwan knew all too well about Su Xiaonan’s pretentious ways.

She didn’t dare voice her true thoughts aloud, so she wrote them in her diary. Well, now she had been caught red-handed.

At that moment, the militia captain from the Red Flag Commune arrived, along with a crowd of other educated youth who had gathered outside.

“And this line here,” Su Xiangwan continued, reading aloud, “The leader’s words—are they really infallible? Won’t his deeds one day be judged as seventy percent good, thirty percent bad? A butcher who kills one is a murderer; a general who kills thousands is a hero. But isn’t he…”

Su Xiangwan paused for dramatic effect before turning to the onlookers. “Comrades of the Red Flag Commune, I dare not read any further. I just want to know—where are your brigade secretary and your captain? Are they aware that such a person exists in your commune? And if they are, what are they doing about it?”

All eyes instantly turned to Su Xiaonan.

“As for the brigade and the commune, what kind of disaster is this? How did I end up in such a place, working with such ignorant people? Just thinking about it makes me want to go crazy.” Su Xiangwan read from the notebook without any emotion.

The militia captain, the educated youth, and the villagers who had gathered were all staring at Su Xiaonan.

“How dare this girl write something like this?” Finally, an elderly woman spoke, “You can’t insult the leader like that.” She covered her mouth and added, “Young people these days… They look obedient on the surface but don’t even believe in the leader.”

In an instant, what Su Xiaonan had written—perhaps the most sober and rational words of the time—was exposed in broad daylight.

At that moment, no one—not even a deity or the leader—could save her.

Su Xiangwan waved the notebook in her hand, tore out two pages, and handed them to the militia captain.

She said, “I’ll turn in this notebook to the Revolutionary Committee tomorrow. As for Su Xiaonan, your brigade can handle her however you see fit.”

“Elder sister, elder sister!” Su Xiaonan tried to chase after her, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Su Xiangwan glanced back, waved the notebook, and walked away.

Su Xiaonan continued shouting, “Sister, you used to treat me so well. I just wanted to be good to you. Is that wrong? If you mess with me now, do you think you’ll have a good future? Don’t be foolish, okay?”

Gu Nan, originally, was a particularly kind woman. Her family had a strong background, with her parents and brothers working in excellent positions.

Offending Su Xiaonan was equivalent to offending a large group of people.

But Su Xiangwan was not one to fear trouble.

A sister like Su Xiaonan wasn’t worth more than a piece of barbecue pork. Su Xiangwan should truly thank this era and the country. Otherwise, if she had to deal with Su Xiaonan herself, she might have softened.

Regardless of being the daughter of a division commander, Su Xiaonan had committed a political error. At least three years of labor reform and public denunciation were inevitable.

As for whether Commander Gu would be implicated by Su Xiaonan’s actions, Su Xiangwan couldn’t care less.

At this moment, all she wanted was to vent her anger.

She started the tractor in idle, then ran as she exited the Red Flag Commune. After getting on the tractor and stepping on the gas, she didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, she felt particularly relieved.

This was how things should be done—straightforward and satisfying.

However, just as she was about to turn, she noticed a shadow standing in the middle of the road.

“You’re not sleeping at this hour just to come here?” Song Qingshan’s voice was deep and stern.

Su Xiangwan was startled, her heart pounding.

She quickly gave the tractor’s controls to Song Qingshan.

Let him drive the tractor.

When they returned home, they quietly checked on the three boys in the small bedroom, who were lying together head-to-head.

Only then did Song Qingshan pull Su Xiangwan back into the living room.

“Tell me honestly, what kind of grudge do you have with Gu Nan?” Song Qingshan asked.

She had driven a tractor straight to the Red Flag Commune, holding a kitchen knife, as if she was about to butcher a pig for its meat.

No, she looked more like she was going to slaughter a cow at the commune.

Su Xiangwan replied, “She’s my cousin, also someone who came from the same era as me.” She didn’t say more.

After all, in her past life, Su Xiangwan had been genuinely kind and caring toward Su Xiaonan, treating her as a close family member.

Family members causing trouble for one another was a private matter, not something to broadcast.

With a mindset of accepting anything, Song Qingshan quickly accepted that Gu Nan was also a time traveler.

Of course, if Gu Nan weren’t one, Su Xiangwan—usually someone who preferred keeping to herself and wouldn’t provoke others—couldn’t possibly harbor such deep hatred for her.

“So, what are you planning to do with her?” Song Qingshan asked.

Su Xiangwan, still fuming, replied, “What’s the poorest, most remote place you’ve ever been to? Send her there for labor reform.”

“I never realized how ruthless you are. Your own cousin, and you want to send her to the poorest, most remote place for labor reform?” Song Qingshan, unaware of the full story, was stunned.

Su Xiangwan sneered, “Of course. I’m someone who doesn’t recognize familial ties. If someone makes me happy, I’m willing to serve them. But if someone upsets me, I’ll chase them to the ends of the earth to ruin them. I have no sense of justice; even if I recite more leader quotes, it’s just a façade. I’m inherently wicked.”

She was the type of person you didn’t want to mess with.

“So, just now, did I make you happy or angry?” Song Qingshan slowly sat down, hands in his pockets, legs crossed, his sharp eyes gleaming like a hawk’s.

He couldn’t figure it out. Why did she subject him to such torment?

And he had to know whether she was happy or angry. Only then could he adjust his behavior in the future—maybe even earn her punishment again.

Su Xiangwan rolled her eyes at him without answering.

Song Qingshan pulled out a letter and solemnly placed it on the table. “You’re quite ruthless, but you didn’t clean up your tracks. This letter was slipped into the documents Gu Nan is sending to the township government tomorrow. If it gets sent, not only us but even Chengze will be done for.”

Su Xiangwan opened the letter and, sure enough, it was as he said.

In the letter, Su Xiaonan not only slandered Song Qingshan but also reported everything Li Chengze had done in Qingshui County to the military district.

If the military leaders received this, Song Qingshan’s rank would definitely be stripped.

Earlier, when she mercilessly exposed Su Xiaonan, Su Xiangwan had felt a twinge of bitterness.

After all, she was her cousin. No matter how justified, family feuds were always ugly.

But when Su Xiangwan saw the letter, she suddenly understood everything.

The bond between sisters was really something she had overthought.

However, Song Qingshan was quite capable—he followed her all the way to the Hongqi Commune, and she didn’t even know. In such a chaotic scene, how did he manage to find this letter, the one that almost killed her, a letter that slipped through the cracks?

In an instant, Su Xiangwan saw Song Qingshan in a new light, feeling delighted. She said, “You’ve saved our entire family’s life. Really.”

“As a soldier, if you don’t have this kind of intuition, you might as well not be in the military,” Song Qingshan said, pulling a lighter from his pocket and burning the letter.

After a pause, he added, “But the Gu family can’t be touched.”

It wasn’t that Song Qingshan was afraid of the Gu family, but rather, the Gu Brigade Commander was a person of high integrity.

This was also why Su Xiaonan didn’t report Li Chengze to her father but instead went straight to the provincial military district.