Last night, the He family fled the hospital in a state of sheer terror.
The moment they stepped out of the hospital gates, Liu Xiuxiang noticed that He Si’er had vanished without a trace.
“Huh? Where’s the second one?”
The old woman spat on the ground in disgust. “Pah!”
“She slipped away long ago. See, this is why having daughters is useless—they’re nothing but money pits!”
Neither of the two women seemed to realize that He Daqiang and He Tianci, who had been as silent as mutes the whole time, had anything to do with it.
The family made it home, still shaken, and the moment they opened the door, they were dumbstruck.
“Burglars?”
Without a second thought, everyone rushed into their own rooms to check. Well, then…
The sky had fallen. Not only was every last cent in the house gone, but even the kitchen was stripped bare—not even a single pair of chopsticks remained.
The old woman wailed louder than if her own father had died. “Call the police! Quick!”
The police arrived soon after.
“It must be that wretched girl He Zhiyi who stole everything.”
“That’s right! It has to be her!”
Old Man Huang, the gatekeeper, took offense at this. “Pah!”
“She left empty-handed. I saw it with my own eyes.”
The two policemen investigated for a long while but found nothing, concluding that the He family had staged the whole thing themselves. They gave them a thorough scolding for good measure.
The family of four huddled together and wept for most of the night. He Tianci had a nightmare and wet his pants. When he went to fetch a change of clothes, he discovered a small box hidden in the big wardrobe.
The family immediately split into two groups. The old woman took the cash and ration tickets to buy food first, while Liu Xiuxiang took the gold bars and went later to find a fence to exchange them for cash and tickets.
But no sooner had she stepped out the door than someone blocked her path, giving her such a fright she nearly jumped out of her skin.
“I don’t have anything! I didn’t do anything!”
The cadre snatched the box she was clutching to her chest and opened it. Well, there was nothing more to say.
He immediately called for people and had the entire He family of four tied up and hauled away.
Once they got to that place, throwing a tantrum wasn’t going to do them any good.
Only four words awaited the He family: sent down for reformation.
In preparation for going to the countryside, Shen Zhiyi had deliberately picked out the shabbiest outfit the original owner owned, yet she was still the most eye-catching girl in the entire train car.
There was no helping it—she was beautiful, and fair-skinned to boot.
Unlike most of the girls of this era, who had round apple-shaped faces, Shen Zhiyi’s face was on the slimmer side, a delicate oval no bigger than a palm, but her eyes were enormous.
Her eyelashes were so long they looked like little brushes, the corners of her eyes tilted up slightly, and her lips were like tiny rosebuds.
Her skin was whiter than snow—she looked like a veritable flower of wealth and nobility.
Unlike the others who had to stand on tiptoe and strain, Shen Zhiyi effortlessly hoisted her large bundle onto the luggage rack above the seats.
The tickets arranged by the Sent-Down Youth Office were all standard hard-seat tickets, and the sent-down youths heading to the same destination were seated close together.
Zhang Sumei spotted the girl by the window at first glance. There was no helping it—the girl’s beauty was simply too breathtaking.
But… why was she here?
“He Zhiyi? What are you doing here?”
Hearing her name called, Shen Zhiyi looked over. “Hmm?”
She quickly matched the person before her with a name from the original owner’s memories.
“Zhang Sumei?”
This person had been the original owner’s middle school classmate. The two had gotten along quite well back then, as close as best friends.
But as the other girl turned out to be a bottomless pit who only ever took and never gave, the original owner gradually cut off contact with her.
Zhang Sumei pressed on relentlessly. “It’s me! Why are you here?”
Come to think of it, from the very moment she’d met He Zhiyi, she’d been jealous of her.
Her family had money, both parents were capable people—even if they were adoptive parents, she was the only daughter in the household, so it was no different from being their biological child.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working at the printing factory after graduating from high school?”
That girl’s family was so well-off. She was always wearing pretty floral dresses and little leather shoes, and even the hair clips in her hair were so exquisite.
Just like some capitalist’s pampered young miss.
Shen Zhiyi didn’t like people who took advantage of others’ generosity either, so naturally, she didn’t give the other girl a friendly face.
“I sold it.”
“What?” Zhang Sumei was utterly stunned.
This He Zhiyi—had she gotten her head stuck in a door?
Or kicked by a donkey?
She grew frantic. “How could you sell it?”
Why didn’t she sell it to her instead?
Shen Zhiyi shot her a look. “Because I wanted to. Because I felt like it.”
Zhang Sumei was choked off but refused to give up. “Who did you sell it to?”
“Can you get it back?”
Shen Zhiyi laughed, astonished by the other girl’s shamelessness. “What? You want it?”
Zhang Sumei was overjoyed at this and nodded eagerly. “Yes!”
Shen Zhiyi let out a cold chuckle. “Next you’ll want to fly to the sky and walk shoulder-to-shoulder with the sun. Keep dreaming—everything you want is in your dreams.”
“Heh heh.” Zhang Sumei’s mouth twitched. “Zhiyi, you really know how to joke.”
Damn it. When had this dead girl’s mouth gotten so sharp?
She sat down with a sulky expression. Before long, a few more people arrived, and the train finally set off.
The journey was long, and with nothing better to do, everyone started chatting.
“My name’s Zhao Xinghua. I’m being sent down to Yuzhong Province…”
“My name is Wang Xiaoxia, also sent to the countryside in Yuzhong Province, except the place I’m going to is…”
“What a coincidence, looks like we’re all headed to the same place, just not sure if we’ll be assigned to the same county or commune…”
Shen Zhiyi propped her chin on her hand, lounging lazily in her seat. The same commune? That might be a bit difficult.
Soon, four of the six had finished introducing themselves, leaving only Zhang Sumei and Shen Zhiyi.
Zhang Sumei sneaked a glance at Shen Zhiyi, and in that instant, the jealousy and resentment in her eyes nearly overflowed.
She smiled and said, “My name is Zhang Sumei. Zhiyi and I aren’t just middle school classmates—we’re good friends too.”
“We’re both from…”
Shen Zhiyi immediately cut her off, “Not close. Don’t try to claim a connection.”
Zhang Sumei’s eyes flickered, and her face instantly filled with grievance. “Zhiyi! Are you still mad at me?”
The other four suddenly perked up, their eyes brightening in unison.
This was drama worth watching.
Zhang Sumei spoke with a tearful tremor in her voice, “Weiming and I really aren’t in that kind of relationship!”
The reason the other girl suddenly stopped hanging out with her—wasn’t it because of Chen Weiming?
And she’d said she didn’t like him, that she had no such feelings. Who was she trying to fool?
Shen Zhiyi furrowed her brow. The “Weiming” the other girl mentioned—Chen Weiming—was the original owner’s deskmate from middle school and the object of Zhang Sumei’s secret crush.
Chen Weiming had indeed once confessed to the original owner, but she had rejected him very clearly.
“Heh~ I don’t care what kind of relationship you have with anyone. Even if you had a relationship with your dog, it’s none of my business.”
The four others: “!”
Good heavens, what a gorgeous face, what a venomous tongue!
Zhang Sumei’s face suddenly turned deathly pale. She ground her molars and said, “Zhiyi, are you in a bad mood? Why are you talking to me like this?”
“Did something happen at home? I remember your family was pretty well-off and arranged a job for you early on. Why did you come to the countryside?”
As she spoke, she covered her mouth with an exaggerated gasp. “Oh my, you’ve come to the countryside—could it be that your whole family has been sent down too?”