Shen Rongrong rushed straight forward, but the moment she raised her hand, Zhang Xiaoquan grabbed her arm.
“Who are you?”
Shen Rongrong stared at the tall, broad-shouldered Zhang Xiaoquan with widened eyes.
“Ruan Liuzheng, you shameless thing! You try to seduce anyone you see!”
“I knew people like you could never behave!”
Ruan Liuzheng looked at the extremely disheveled Shen Rongrong in front of her and stepped back slightly, as if frightened.
“Rongrong, why are you here too?”
That innocent expression only made Shen Rongrong even more furious.
“Why am I here? You bitch! If it weren’t for you, would I have ended up here?!”
Ruan Liuzheng staggered slightly and bit her lip tightly.
“Rongrong, you secretly signed me up for going down to the countryside because you wanted my mother’s job. I’ve already fulfilled your wish. How can you still say that about me?”
As she spoke, Ruan Liuzheng clutched her chest, and tears streamed down her face.
She looked completely shattered and pitiful.
Shen Rongrong was momentarily stunned.
The Ruan Liuzheng in front of her seemed completely different from before. In the past, no matter how she insulted or bullied her, Ruan Liuzheng would only lower her head, never explain, never talk back—just silently endure everything.
But now, she was so sharp-tongued and composed that Shen Rongrong couldn’t even process it.
“You’re talking nonsense! I never got your mother’s job! If it weren’t for you, the street office wouldn’t have sent me down here!”
Ruan Liuzheng lowered her eyes, as if deeply hurt.
“Rongrong, then how can you blame me?”
She spoke softly, feigning innocence.
“It’s national policy. The educated youth movement is something all young people are supposed to respond to. It’s an honor. You shouldn’t spread rumors and drag Uncle Shen into this.”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Shen Rongrong was so angry she almost couldn’t breathe.
She regretted how poor her words were at this moment.
The people nearby had already seen what was going on and quietly left one by one.
Zhang Xiaoquan glanced at Ruan Liuzheng. After she nodded, he gave Shen Rongrong a cold look and walked away.
Shen Rongrong gritted her teeth in rage.
“Ruan Liuzheng, you bitch! You’re doing this on purpose!”
Ruan Liuzheng smiled faintly, looking her up and down.
“Rongrong, I just didn’t expect you’d come here. I thought you were some kind of scammer.”
“You weren’t sent to the desert?”
She continued in a calm tone, deliberately provoking her further:
“So it seems Uncle Shen didn’t manage to get you a job to stay in the city after all?”
“Looks like Uncle Shen really is very upright and incorruptible.”
“Your face—it’s not red from anger, is it?”
She leaned closer to Shen Rongrong’s ear.
“Shen Rongrong, take a look at your face. It’s really ugly. Looking at it gives me nightmares.”
Each word struck like a knife into Shen Rongrong’s heart.
Especially the last sentence.
She completely snapped.
“Ruan Liuzheng, I’ll kill you!”
Ruan Liuzheng casually tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling innocently and beautifully.
At the moment Shen Rongrong lunged forward, Ruan Liuzheng used a subtle force and slammed her hand hard against Shen Rongrong’s chest.
But from an outsider’s perspective, it looked like Shen Rongrong had violently pushed her to the ground.
Tears immediately spilled from Ruan Liuzheng’s eyes.
Before Shen Rongrong even stepped into the educated youth compound, she was already taken to the brigade office again.
“Nonsense! No discipline at all! Absolutely outrageous! You’ve only just arrived and you’re already acting so arrogantly. Educated Youth Shen, do you want to be sent to a labor farm?!”
Shen Rongrong trembled all over, fear finally creeping in.
Labor farms were even harsher than here.
Deng Yuanchao looked at her stubborn expression and felt a tightness in his chest. What a troublesome arrival.
In the end, Shen Rongrong became the first educated youth in Zhengyang Brigade to be ordered to write a self-criticism report on her very first day.
The next day when she returned to the educated youth residence, she found the chamber pot placed right beside her head. The smell was so overwhelming it made her nauseous, and she burst into tears from anger.
But she didn’t dare make a scene at all.
Biting her lip, she tried to switch rooms with Ruan Liuzheng, but Ruan Liuzheng wasn’t even living in the same room as her.
In the end, she could only swallow her anger for now.
On the production team side, good news arrived.
The commune had opened a new shooting training range, specifically for practice.
This immediately caught the attention of many young men from both the educated youth residence and the village.
A faint smile appeared on Ruan Liuzheng’s face.
She absentmindedly played with the wild grass beside the field ridge with her fingers.
She was absolutely certain this had something to do with Xie Jinghuai.
The only question was when she could get him to seriously give her one-on-one coaching.
As expected, that evening, just after she finished cooking, she heard the sound of a bicycle at the door.
When Xie Jinghuai entered the kitchen, he immediately smelled a rich aroma.
“Comrade Ruan?”
He walked over and saw her sitting obediently by the stove, holding a stick of firewood. The firelight painted her cheeks a warm reddish glow, a few strands of black hair stuck to her face, and her watery eyes seemed to shine.
When she saw him, she smiled into a pair of crescent moons.
“You’re back.”
Her smile was pure and flawless, making Xie Jinghuai feel like he was the one being improper.
“Mm. I brought braised pork from the state-run restaurant.”
Ruan Liuzheng stood up in surprise.
But her foot slipped. She didn’t grab his arm for support—instead she steadied herself against the wall, still muttering softly,
“My leg’s gone numb~”
She swayed her leg slightly, soft and rabbit-like, then looked up at him and smiled.
“Comrade Xie, will you teach me shooting after dinner tonight?”
Something tightened in Xie Jinghuai’s chest.
“Comrade Xie?”
Yesterday it was “Brother Xie.” Today it was “Comrade Xie.”
It was such a normal form of address, yet for some reason it made him inexplicably irritated.
He shook off the strange thought in his head and said coldly,
“After dinner, come with me to the training ground. If you don’t have talent, there’s no need to learn.”
“Oh.” She responded softly, sounding a little down.
Looking at her back, he wondered if he had spoken too harshly.
Did she get upset?
Ruan Liuzheng lowered her head slightly, a faint, unreadable smile on her lips.
Men—get too close and they lose value, too far and they drift away. Only by keeping them guessing can you make them think about you.
After dinner, Xie Jinghuai stacked the dishes aside.
“I’ll clean up when I get back. Come with me.”
Ruan Liuzheng nodded quietly.
Jinshan Commune and Zhengyang Production Brigade were not too far apart—about forty minutes by bicycle.
They took a quiet route out of the village.
She had already informed Captain Kong Youping in advance, so she wasn’t worried about anyone gossiping.
Once they left the village, night had already fallen. Everything was quiet except for the rustling of leaves.
Xie Jinghuai wore a military green jacket. When he bent his knees while riding, his long, powerful legs—muscular and full of untamed energy—straddled the bicycle.
Ruan Liuzheng’s first thought was:
Nice legs.