The beam of a flashlight swept through the window and into the room.
The older educated youths who had just been arguing about playing cards instantly gathered up the deck and hid it.
The commune’s discipline was strict, especially toward their group of educated youths, who were always falling short of their work quotas.
If the patrol caught them fooling around again, they would almost certainly be punished.
But no matter how quickly they put the cards away, Song Zhuowei barged into the room with an expression that said he had already seen through everything.
“How many times have I told you? No smoking around the warehouse! Have none of you educated youths got a brain?!”
As soon as he finished speaking, two men were shoved into the room by their collars.
The two educated youths who had been caught secretly smoking looked at each other and shrank into a corner without daring to say a word.
Pointing at the dormitory door, which had been tightly shut moments earlier, Song Zhuowei continued scolding them.
“It’s blazing hot, and you still have the door closed while you’re ‘sleeping’? I doubt you were sleeping. More like you were up to something!”
The older educated youths who had been there for several years all knew Song Zhuowei’s temper.
Despite his young age, he was ruthless and uncompromising, never showing anyone special treatment.
Seeing that he was already angry, they knew continuing to argue would only earn them punishment. They immediately stood up straight and apologized with forced smiles.
“Nothing escapes Captain Song’s eyes!”
“But we hadn’t actually started! We really hadn’t!”
“You can touch the cards they’re still cold!”
Old Liang, one of the veteran educated youths, was an old hand with an unusually thick skin.
Even though it was obvious Song Zhuowei wanted nothing to do with him, he still pulled the deck of cards from under his pillow and handed it over with a grin.
Song Zhuowei didn’t even spare him a glance.
Instead, his cold gaze locked onto Pei Yuncheng.
“Who suggested playing cards?”
Old Liang immediately understood where the questioning was headed.
“It was the new guy, Little Pei! He said he was bored and wanted to pass the time. We were all exhausted and only wanted to lie down and rest, but we had to look after the newcomer. So I went and got the cards.”
Pei Yuncheng was so angry that he wasn’t sleepy anymore.
“What does that have to do with me? I don’t even know how to play poker! You were the ones who wanted to play!”
The others in the dormitory looked at him as though he were an idiot.
Some of them even wore expressions of sympathy and pity.
“Little Pei, Old Liang was trying to take care of the newcomer. Fine if you don’t appreciate it, but how can you turn around and accuse him instead?”
“Young people nowadays really have no conscience. They speak without thinking.”
“Well, after today, we all know what kind of person Comrade Little Pei is. We’d better all be careful around him from now on.”
Pei Yuncheng felt utterly unable to defend himself.
Just as he was about to argue further, Song Zhuowei barked an order.
“Come with me!”
Half of Pei Yuncheng’s anger instantly disappeared, replaced by nervous fear.
Go with him?
What was he planning to do?
He hadn’t played cards!
They had no evidence!
Even if they wanted to punish him, they needed proof!
“Little Pei, Captain Song is calling you. Hurry up!”
The other educated youths didn’t give him any chance to resist.
They simply shoved him out of the dormitory.
Looking at the sunburned Pei Yuncheng, Song Zhuowei said coldly,
“Looks like today’s work wasn’t tiring enough if you’ve still got the energy and spare time to think about playing cards.”
Pei Yuncheng firmly denied it.
“I didn’t “
“Whether you did or not, you were there,” Song Zhuowei interrupted mercilessly. “And besides, weren’t you saying you couldn’t sleep?”
He suddenly changed the subject.
“You can’t swim, can you?”
How could Pei Yuncheng possibly answer that carelessly?
If he admitted he could swim, was Song Zhuowei going to make him swim laps around the sea?
If he admitted he couldn’t…
Was Song Zhuowei going to drag him to the shore and throw him into the ocean as fish food?
No matter how he looked at it, he felt doomed in front of Song Zhuowei.
After weighing his options, an idea suddenly struck him like a last glimmer of hope.
“Captain Song!”
Seizing the chance to speak first, Pei Yuncheng blurted out,
“I’ve noticed you’ve been taking especially good care of Xizhi. Tell me honestly… do you like her?”
Song Zhuowei’s eyes immediately widened.
“So you’re breaking discipline, afraid of being punished, and now you’re trying to hide behind Lin Xizhi?”
“Whether I like her or not has nothing to do with the fact that you violated the brigade’s rules!”
“You city intellectuals really are all slick talkers!”
“When you make mistakes, you refuse to face them or take responsibility. At a critical moment, you even try using a beautiful woman to corrupt a Party cadre!”
“Looks like if I don’t give you a proper lesson today, you’ll never learn!”
“Take him away!”
The moment Song Zhuowei gave the order, the three Coastal Defense Team members moved with practiced efficiency.
One covered Pei Yuncheng’s mouth.
One grabbed his arms.
The third lifted his legs.
In one smooth motion, they completely restrained him.
Pei Yuncheng struggled desperately, but he was no match for three men as strong as oxen.
All he could do was stare helplessly at the pitch-black night sky as they carried him away from the educated youth quarters toward the beach.
A short while later, Song Zhuowei made a hand signal.
Working together, the three men tossed Pei Yuncheng straight into the sea.
Splash!
A huge spray erupted in the shallow water.
Pei Yuncheng thrashed frantically as he shouted,
“I can’t swim! I can’t swim! Song Zhuowei! You’re abusing your authority for personal revenge! If I drown, you’ll be held responsible! Pull me up! Hurry!”
As he shouted, he swallowed several mouthfuls of seawater.
The shallow seabed was full of sand.
He felt as though the soft flesh of his throat had been scraped raw by the grit and was bleeding.
His mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood.
Was today really going to be the day he died?
Utter despair overwhelmed him.
But then…
Bursts of laughter rang out all around him.
“Hahaha! You’ve got such long legs, and they’re completely wasted on you!”
“Why don’t you just straighten your legs and see how far the bottom is? Kids in our brigade are already playing in water this deep when they’re four or five years old!”
“We’re just teaching you how to swim. How’d you end up crying from fright?”
“Someone like you wouldn’t even survive the first morning of training if you got selected as a Coastal Defense Team reserve!”
Standing nearby with his arms folded, Song Zhuowei sneered.
“Forget it. With guts like his, even if the Jade Emperor himself personally recommended him for the reserves, I’d still reject him.”
Only then, amid everyone’s teasing, did Pei Yuncheng realize…
If he simply straightened his legs, his feet touched the seabed.
He stood there awkwardly in the seawater.
His mouth still tasted bitter and salty.
A wave of overwhelming sadness surged up from the depths of his heart.
After taking two shaky breaths, Pei Yuncheng finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.
He turned away angrily and burst into tears.
The Coastal Defense Team members who had been laughing moments earlier immediately noticed that he had turned around to cry.
Instantly flustered, they stopped laughing.
Not knowing what to do, they all looked toward Song Zhuowei.
“Captain… this…”
Song Zhuowei glared at them.
“What? He’s useless, and now you lot are too? So what if he’s crying? Who can’t cry? Every educated youth who came here cried at some point. Let him cry! I’d like to see how long he can keep it up.”
Pei Yuncheng: “…”
This man’s heart must be made of iron.