Lin Xizhi couldn’t help laughing at Ke Yuerong’s bizarre logic.
Was this woman surnamed Lai (meaning be shameless”)?
Otherwise, how could she be so unreasonable?
Pei Yunnuo loved making a scene what did that have to do with her?
Keeping her patience, Lin Xizhi asked calmly,
“Comrade, as far as I know, the commune never made any rule forbidding educated youths from visiting each other, did it?”
Ke Yuerong was momentarily speechless before immediately firing back.
“The brigade may not have forbidden visiting each other! But now that you’ve come to the countryside, you have to follow our local management rules!”
“If you run around today and she runs around tomorrow, people’s hearts will scatter. How are we supposed to manage the brigade then?”
“If we fail to finish our production tasks, everyone goes hungry!”
“So no matter what, the collective’s interests come first!”
Ke Yuerong’s accusations became more and more exaggerated.
By all rights, the atmosphere should have turned explosive.
Standing nearby, Pei Yunnuo quietly watched, secretly hoping the two women would start arguing.
Better yet
It would be even better if they started fighting.
Unfortunately, Lin Xizhi wasn’t the sort of person who could be easily provoked.
She hadn’t forgotten why she’d come.
She wasn’t here to stir up trouble.
Nor was there any reason to quarrel with a brigade cadre over someone like Pei Yunnuo.
Since Pei Yunnuo could still endure a little hardship here for the time being, she’d simply “rescue” her another day.
So before more people gathered to watch the commotion, Lin Xizhi quickly said,
“Comrade, this is my first time here. I didn’t know your drying yard had such strict rules.”
“Since visitors aren’t allowed, I’ll leave now and won’t disturb your work.”
Both Ke Yuerong and Pei Yunnuo spoke at the same time.
“Wait!”
Seizing the opportunity, Pei Yunnuo rushed forward again.
She stepped in front of Lin Xizhi and burst into loud tears.
“Sister Ke! If you’re unhappy, then punish me alone!”
“Please don’t punish Sister Xizhi!”
Ke Yuerong already disliked being called “Sister Ke.”
The first time Pei Yunnuo had addressed her that way, she’d already found it irritating.
Now hearing it again, she felt the girl was deliberately trying to force familiarity with her.
What she hated most was the fake politeness and affected behavior of city people.
Besides
She had never even said she was going to punish anyone.
By shouting like this in front of everyone, Pei Yunnuo was deliberately making her, the scorekeeper, lose face.
In that case…
She wasn’t about to indulge these two pampered city girls.
Raising her voice, Ke Yuerong shouted loudly,
“Just because you two wanted to chat and gossip, you’ve delayed work in the drying yard!”
“The work time I lost because of this counts too!”
“When the time comes, I’ll deduct the lost work points from both of your records!”
“Let’s see who still dares wander around during collective working hours after this!”
Deduct work points?
What an impressive display of authority.
Lin Xizhi smiled.
She possessed the Spiritual Spring Space, and she alone managed Aunt Hui’s private vegetable garden.
She couldn’t care less about a few work points.
Besides, Ke Yuerong was only the scorekeeper of the Fifth Production Brigade.
No matter how much authority she thought she had, it couldn’t reach Widow Village, which belonged to the Second Brigade.
So Lin Xizhi wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.
“Deduct whatever you want.”
But Pei Yunnuo immediately seized the chance to make things worse.
“Sister Xizhi, you can’t say that!”
“We’re educated youths now.”
“Every grain of food we’ll eat in the future depends on the work points we earn!”
“Please, come with me and beg Sister Ke!”
“Since this is our first offense, ask her to forgive us this once!”
“Otherwise… with the few work points I can earn every day, I won’t receive enough grain.”
“I’ll starve to death here sooner or later…”
The three of them had already been arguing for quite a while.
More and more people gathered nearby to watch.
Workers from the drying yard.
Nearby fishermen.
Even the Tanka people from the fishing community.
Pei Yunnuo’s tearful plea sounded so pitiful that whispers began spreading through the crowd.
“Oh my… how can chatting for a few minutes count as delaying work? Ke Yuerong is taking this way too seriously.”
“That’s just how she is. Ever since becoming scorekeeper, she loves acting like she’s some big official, waving a chicken feather as though it were an imperial decree.”
“Exactly! Last quarter my two children helped at the drying yard, and she deliberately recorded fewer work points than they deserved. It was outrageous!”
Every bit of criticism was directed at Ke Yuerong.
Listening to the malicious comments, the fire in her eyes burned even hotter.
It was all Lin Xizhi’s fault!
If she hadn’t suddenly come looking for Pei Yunnuo, none of this would’ve happened!
“What brigade are you from?”
Ke Yuerong glared at Lin Xizhi with growing hostility.
“I think you came here deliberately to cause trouble!”
“Our brigade has no place for someone like you a rotten apple that spoils the whole barrel!”
“Come with me!”
“We’re going to see the brigade leader right now and let him decide who’s right!”
Without waiting for an answer, Ke Yuerong grabbed Lin Xizhi’s wrist.
The instant she did…
She froze.
This girl’s wrist…
Why was it as cold as a block of ice?
And so slender…
So soft…
Smack!
A green vine whip suddenly lashed across the air.
Startled, Ke Yuerong instinctively released her grip.
Turning around, she saw the most notorious “living demon” in the brigade
Song Zhuowei.
He was striding over with two members of the Sea Guard Team.
In the blink of an eye, he stepped between Lin Xizhi and Ke Yuerong, forcibly separating them.
With his back toward Lin Xizhi and facing Ke Yuerong, he said irritably,
“Do you get itchy if you go a whole day without bullying someone?”
“Song Zhuowei!”
Ke Yuerong ground her teeth.
“Don’t think beating me in that swimming competition last time gives you the right to interfere in my business!”
“This has nothing to do with you!”
“Move aside!”
The Sea Guard members beside him burst into laughter.
“Ke Yuerong! You lost to our captain more than just once in swimming!”
“You lost the mountain-climbing competition too!”
“You lost the underwater breath-holding contest!”
“And the sprint race you only came in second again!”
“You’ve been second place your whole life!”
“Hahaha!”
The men laughed uproariously, completely failing to notice that Ke Yuerong’s hands hanging at her sides had already clenched into fists.
Taking advantage of everyone’s distraction, she suddenly threw a punch straight at Song Zhuowei.
His speed was astonishing.
The moment her fist flew toward him, Lin Xizhi instinctively shoved him aside.
She wanted him to dodge the attack.
But Song Zhuowei stood as steady as a mountain.
Lin Xizhi couldn’t budge him an inch.
Nor did Ke Yuerong’s punch reach him.
He calmly raised his left hand and caught her fist squarely in his palm.
No matter how hard Ke Yuerong struggled, she couldn’t move it even the slightest bit.
Her face flushed crimson once again.
“Song Zhuowei!”
“You’re a grown man bullying a woman!”
“That’s not an honorable victory!”
Song Zhuowei replied indifferently,
“Who has the time to bully you?”
“You were the one neglecting your duties, grabbing hold of the Second Brigade’s newly assigned medical assistant.”
“I merely came to uphold justice.”
After a brief pause, he added with even greater disdain,
“But your strength really has gotten worse by the day.”
“Looks like kicking you out of the Sea Guard Team back then was the right decision after all.”
Ke Yuerong’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
She had never been able to beat Song Zhuowei since childhood.
But in the past…
He had never humiliated her so mercilessly in public.
What had happened to him?
Then it dawned on her.
Playing the hero to save the beauty…
Song Zhuowei was showing off like a peacock in front of this pretty new female educated youth.
Her gaze bored through Song Zhuowei, as though she wanted to pierce straight into Lin Xizhi’s flesh.