Watching the dejected Chen Wenjuan walk back in, Ruan Liuzheng’s eyes flickered slightly.
If you want to harm others, you should be prepared to suffer the consequences yourself.
She was so incompetent, yet she still wanted to hurt someone. How laughable.
If a person has done nothing wrong, why would they fear ghosts or spirits?
The reason Chen Wenjuan had been so frightened was because she had a guilty conscience. That was why even an ordinary hemp rope had terrified her.
Ruan Liuzheng closed her eyes and drifted into a peaceful sleep.
The next morning, as soon as the bell signaling the start of work rang, everyone let out a mournful groan.
Even so, they gradually climbed out of bed one after another.
After washing up and combing her hair, Ruan Liuzheng took out a jar of face cream from her bag and applied it.
The fragrance immediately caught Zhai Xueying’s attention.
“My goodness, Comrade Ruan, are you using ‘Violet’ face cream?”
Ruan Liuzheng smiled without replying.
One of the older educated youths turned to Chen Wenjuan and whispered,
“What’s ‘Violet’?”
Chen Wenjuan replied,
“It’s the ‘Violet’ brand of face cream. It’s pretty expensive—more than one yuan a jar.”
“Oh my goodness! More than one yuan? That’s way too expensive! I only use nine-cent clam oil.”
Chen Wenjuan snorted.
“That’s why I say she acts like a rich capitalist young lady.”
The older educated youth nodded in agreement.
“It really is capitalist extravagance.”
After everyone had left, she quietly glanced at Ruan Liuzheng’s luggage.
A trace of greed flashed through her eyes.
She hadn’t slept well these past two days. If she could use ‘Violet’ face cream, she would probably look much better.
But in the end, she still didn’t dare touch it.
After two days of practice, everyone had become much more skilled at chopping firewood.
At noon, Ruan Liuzheng quietly pulled Zhang Xiaoquan aside and explained what she wanted to do.
Zhang Xiaoquan nodded repeatedly.
“Go ahead. It’s fine. I’ll let the brigade leader know later, so no one will say you’re stealing state property.”
Ruan Liuzheng was a cautious person.
She always made sure to leave herself a way out, so others wouldn’t have anything to criticize.
But this was something she had to do.
She was laying the groundwork for her future.
Who would willingly spend their days working in the fields?
She possessed medical skills, so naturally she intended to use them to make her own life as comfortable as possible within her abilities.
Enduring hardship for no reason was simply foolish.
Taking the small shovel she had borrowed, she headed up the mountain.
Meanwhile, Xie Jinghuai had deliberately ridden back from the commune during his lunch break.
He was worried that she might refuse to accept the rabbit.
To his surprise, no matter how long he waited, she never showed up.
Did she skip lunch?
Or did she go to the brigade office?
The moment Xie Jinghuai stepped into the brigade office, he heard Zhang Xiaoquan saying to the brigade leader,
“Comrade Ruan went up the mountain at noon to gather medicinal herbs for Old Man Niu. I’m just reporting it in advance. She was worried people might say she was taking state property for herself.”
Deng Yuanchao paused in surprise.
“She knows medicine?”
Zhang Xiaoquan thought for a moment.
“I think she said she does.”
Deng Yuanchao set down the pen in his hand.
“Alright. I understand.”
Just then, he noticed Xie Jinghuai walking in.
“Comrade Xie, what brings you here? Is there something about the military recruitment that you need my help with?”
Xie Jinghuai smiled politely.
“Nothing important. I just happened to come back to pick up a few things and thought I’d stop by to say hello. In a couple of days, the commune will be holding a shooting competition. I wanted to see if our brigade should start preparing.”
Deng Yuanchao’s eyes lit up.
“Really? Then I’d better start promoting it right away. Thank you for your hard work, Comrade Xie.”
Now that Xie Jinghuai knew she had gone to gather medicinal herbs, he felt reassured.
That afternoon, he returned to the commune as usual to continue his work.
Together with Jia Weihua, he busied himself with the current round of military recruitment.
Ordinarily, this task wouldn’t have fallen to him.
However, the army was in urgent need of talented snipers.
There was no other choice.
His superiors had used the excuse of having him escort Sister-in-law Chen back to assign this heavy responsibility to him.
The death of Old Zhang, the veteran sniper, had been a tremendous loss to them.
As the captain of the special forces sniper unit, the pressure on Xie Jinghuai was immense.
This recruitment drive was also intended to identify people with natural talent for sniping.
With the right aptitude, training them would yield twice the results with half the effort.
After all, for a sniper, natural talent often mattered even more than hard work.
After a busy afternoon, Xie Jinghuai had just picked up his teacup to take a drink when he saw Jia Weihua rushing in, looking visibly anxious.
“Old Xie, something’s happened.”
Xie Jinghuai’s expression immediately turned serious.
“What happened?”
Jia Weihua replied, “The Zhengyang Production Brigade just called the commune asking for the militia’s help. They said Educated Youth Ruan went into the mountains to gather medicinal herbs and may have run into a wolf.”
“What?”
Xie Jinghuai shot to his feet.
The teacup beside him crashed to the floor with a loud clang.
“Old Xie, don’t panic.”
But the moment Xie Jinghuai imagined her facing a wolf, his heart tightened painfully.
Without another word, he hurried outside.
The moon hung high above the treetops.
The mountains were eerily quiet. The night breeze rustled through the leaves with a soft whisper.
Holding her breath, Ruan Liuzheng sat perfectly still in the tree.
She had finally come across a precious lingzhi mushroom. There was no way she was going to leave it behind.
What she hadn’t expected was that she had apparently trespassed into a wolf’s territory.
Not knowing whether the wolf was still nearby, she didn’t dare climb down.
Just as she was feeling troubled, she noticed faint lights appearing in the distance.
Her eyes lit up.
Had someone come looking for her?
Would Xie Jinghuai come?
She never left anything to chance. Preparing in advance had always been her way.
Immediately, she deliberately tore a piece of her clothing on a tree branch and tossed the scrap onto the ground below.
After a moment’s thought, she took off one of her shoes and threw it a short distance away.
Meanwhile—
Xie Jinghuai and several members of the militia were searching through the mountains.
“Any luck?” Deng Yuanchao asked with a grim expression. “It’s already this late, and we still haven’t found her.”
Captain Geng of the militia nodded.
“Captain Deng, farther ahead is Dead Man’s Gully. It’s too dangerous to go in there at night.”
Deng Yuanchao understood.
“Then you all search around the perimeter. I’ll go in.”
“Absolutely not, Captain Deng! What are you talking about?”
Deng Yuanchao looked resolute.
“Back before I left the army, there wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen. I can’t let that young educated youth lose her life. She only came into the mountains to gather herbs for us older comrades.”
Xie Jinghuai stepped forward.
“I’ll go in. You stay outside.”
Captain Geng and Deng Yuanchao exchanged a glance.
“Comrade Xie, I’m afraid that’s…”
Xie Jinghuai said calmly, “My skills are more than enough.”
Only then did the two men nod.
“Be careful. Take this rifle.”
Xie Jinghuai accepted the rifle from Captain Geng and headed deeper into Dead Man’s Gully.
At night, Dead Man’s Gully seemed even more sinister.
As its name suggested, entering it meant facing almost certain death.
Holding his breath, Xie Jinghuai carefully advanced, meticulously observing every trace around him.
Tracking targets through subtle signs was a sniper’s greatest specialty.
Before long, he noticed several branches that had clearly been broken by human hands.
There were also footprints.
If he wasn’t mistaken, there had been wolves here.
Xie Jinghuai scanned his surroundings with a frown.
There wasn’t a suitable place to take cover.
As he walked, he crushed medicinal herbs and rubbed them over his body, masking his scent to avoid attracting large predators.
Suddenly, his gaze fell upon a Liberation Army shoe lying in the grass ahead.
Judging by its size…
Was it hers?
Just as Xie Jinghuai was about to continue searching, his ears twitched.
In an instant, every muscle in his back tensed.