Shen Zhiyi didn’t hesitate for a second and immediately chose to invite her friends.
The next moment, her parents appeared right in front of her.
“Dad! Mom!”
“This is great! Now we can see each other every day!”
She was beyond excited, but her parents were busy as could be.
Mother Shen: “Talk later—I need to take a bath first!”
Father Shen: “Wait for me, I need to shave!”
Shen Zhiyi: “…”
Fine, then.
At five o’clock the next morning, Shen Zhiyi was woken up by her mother.
“Zhizhi, get up. Your father has already prepared breakfast.”
Shen Zhiyi, with her hair sticking up like a bird’s nest, let out a big yawn. “Mom! It’s only five o’clock!”
“Oh dear, it’s not early anymore.” Mother Shen was equally helpless—after all, times were different now.
Buttered toast, boiled eggs, and milk—that was their breakfast.
Leaving her room, Shen Zhiyi grabbed a piece of flatbread and ate a few bites in the courtyard.
She’d have to find someone to block off this side and open a new door as soon as possible—it was way too inconvenient otherwise.
Even just the meals alone would be hard to explain away.
Besides, she still needed to wash up again!
Watching Shen Zhiyi wash her face with plain water, Zhou Hong was practically gloating.
“Sumei, can you even get your face clean with plain water? Here, use my soap too.”
This Zhang Sumei—surely she wouldn’t be that shameless.
Zhang Sumei grinned widely. “Sure, then thank you kindly.”
If you don’t take advantage of a freebie, you’re a fool!
Zhou Hong’s mouth twitched. Pfft! Always so eager to mooch off others—why don’t you just mooch yourself to death!
Not long after breakfast, the gong for starting work rang out.
Everyone left the small courtyard together, and Zhang Sumei frowned as she looked at He Zhiyi.
These past two days, the other woman hadn’t eaten with them. She didn’t believe for a second that she’d only eaten some dry flatbread.
She must be secretly cooking for herself!
Canned meat or malted milk powder?
She smiled and chased after her. “Zhiyi, want me to help you with your work later?”
He Zhiyi had always been this easy to fool before—just help her a bit and say a few nice words, and she’d be moved to tears.
Shen Zhiyi sneered. “You help me?”
Zhang Sumei let out an “oh dear.” “We’re classmates after all—helping each other is only natural.”
Shen Zhiyi smiled. She reached out and patted the other woman’s cheek a few times, not too hard, not too soft.
“Pat—”
“Pat—”
The sound wasn’t loud, but the humiliation was immense.
The male educated youths watching all clenched their buttocks involuntarily. Yikes.
This Youth He—beautiful she truly was, but her temper was truly vicious too!
Shen Zhiyi sneered coldly. “I gave you face, didn’t I? You just won’t stop. Do you really think I wouldn’t hit you?”
Zhang Sumei felt deeply humiliated, her molars nearly grinding to dust. “You wouldn’t—”
“Smack—”
A heavy slap landed, and Zhang Sumei’s face swelled up instantly.
She was stunned. “You actually dared to hit me?”
Shen Zhiyi didn’t say a word and swung another slap across her face.
“Smack—”
Even harder than the last one.
Shen Zhiyi withdrew her hand, slowly blew on her palm, and said airily, “I hit you. So what?”
Zhang Sumei was so enraged she lost all reason and charged straight at Shen Zhiyi.
“Ahhhh, you bitch! Bitch! I’ll beat you to death! Beat you to death!”
Everyone: “!”
So they’re actually fighting now?
At first, it looked like a mutual brawl, but within seconds it turned into Shen Zhiyi beating Zhang Sumei one-sidedly.
Zhang Sumei was beaten into begging for mercy. “Ah, stop hitting me!”
“He Zhiyi! It’s my fault, stop hitting me!”
“I’m wrong, isn’t that enough?”
The commotion was so big that the Brigade Leader soon rushed over.
“What’s going on here! Causing trouble, are we?”
Seeing this, Li Yanqiu hurried over, ostensibly to break up the fight. “Hey hey hey, come on, stop fighting!”
“Whatever it is, talk it out properly.”
In reality, she rushed in and quickly messed up Shen Zhiyi’s hair, then yanked open her collar.
Smart people only need a single glance—catching her meaning, Shen Zhiyi immediately raised her hand and scratched several red marks on her own neck and arm.
She used a bit too much force on her arm though—three bloody scratch marks stood out starkly against her snow-white, jade-like skin, glaringly conspicuous.
Shen Zhiyi burst into loud sobs and threw herself in front of the Brigade Leader. “Brigade Leader! Look at what she did to me!”
“There’s no justice!”
Zhang Sumei: “?”
Is this right?
Those were supposed to be her lines!
“Brigade Leader, don’t listen to her nonsense! She’s the one who hit me!”
“I’m the victim here!”
Aunt Yinju rushed over. “Pah! You’re the victim?”
“Look at your claws—what did you do to Youth He!”
Several aunties and older women chimed in agreement.
“Exactly! Look at those bloody scratches—her heart is truly vicious!”
“Looks like an honest one, but who knew she’d be like this.”
Zhang Sumei: “?”
She screamed at the top of her lungs, “It was her! She’s the one who hit me!”
“Can’t you all see what my face looks like now?!”
Aunt Yinju spat at her without hesitation. “Pah!”
“You scratched her up like that, and you won’t even let her fight back?”
Li Yanqiu quickly added, “That’s right, it was Comrade Zhang who struck first.”
Wang Xiaoxia gritted her teeth and stepped forward as well. “Yes, I can testify to that too!”
The Brigade Leader shot Zhang Sumei a glare. “Causing trouble on your very first day of work! As punishment, you’re cleaning the pig pens today!”
Zhang Sumei froze. “No… I don’t…”
The pig pens?
How filthy would that be?!
Shen Zhiyi warmly linked her arm through Aunt Yinju’s. “Auntie, thank you.”
Aunt Yinju patted the back of her hand. “What’s there to thank? If anyone dares to bully you again, you come straight to me.”
“I’ll slap that face of theirs right off!”
The task Shen Zhiyi was assigned that day was weeding the cornfield, working alongside Aunt Yinju and two other aunties.
Working on and off, though tiring, the days felt fulfilling, and the aunties were all down-to-earth people, so she felt quite happy inside.
But Zhang Sumei at the pig pens had it rough. The pens were already foul-smelling, and now with it being summer, the stench was beyond imagination.
After a full day of work, she felt like her sense of smell had nearly given out, and she was on the verge of throwing up from exhaustion.
“Ugh—”
The older woman working alongside her rolled her eyes at her. “Look at you, all high and mighty!”
“Still think you’re some young miss from the city, do you? Out here in the countryside, you deal with shit and piss every single day!”
Zhang Sumei leaned against a tree trunk, vomiting uncontrollably, and in her daze, she looked up.
“Huh?”
Weren’t those He Zhiyi’s parents?!
In that instant, her nausea vanished, and she rushed straight to the brigade headquarters.
It was just at the end of the work shift, and the villagers were all at the supply shed registering their returned tools.
Zhang Sumei ran over at that moment and shouted at the top of her lungs:
“Brigade Leader! I want to report something! He Zhiyi is a rightist element! She’s the daughter of that couple in the ox shed!”