Gu Zhouye looked at Shen Qiuqiu suspiciously.
“You never used to argue with anyone.”
Shen Qiuqiu took the opportunity to grab Gu Zhouye’s large hand. His hand trembled slightly. Shen Qiuqiu’s own hand, though bearing some thin calluses, was still relatively soft and fair-skinned.
But Gu Zhouye’s hand was different — broad, dry, and etched with the marks of time.
This young man was only in his early twenties, after all. People really lived rich lives back in the old days. Shen Qiuqiu leaned her head against Gu Zhouye and said with a smile, “Isn’t it because I’ve got a man to back me up now?”
Gu Zhouye awkwardly pulled his hand free and said coldly, “After I take you back to the city, I’ll find you a job. Then we’ll get a divorce.”
Shen Qiuqiu wasn’t bothered at all. She gave a little nod.
“Sure.”
Gu Zhouye felt a faint twinge of discomfort. His face darkened a shade or two.
By now, quite a few villagers and educated youths had come out to start their workday. The two of them were standing so close together in the snow that they stood out like a sore thumb.
Just then, Bai Xueying and Xiao Yi also emerged from their respective homes. When Xiao Yi saw his nominal fiancée acting intimately with another man, he stormed furiously toward Shen Qiu and Gu Zhouye.
“Shen Qiu, what do you think you’re doing?”
Shen Qiu quickly let go of Gu Zhouye’s hand. Gu Zhouye’s eyes flickered with a trace of disappointment — but then he saw Shen Qiu squat down and reach her hand into the snow.
At that moment, the early-rising residents of Qingshantun watched in astonishment as that scrawny little woman leaped three feet into the air, put what looked like every ounce of her strength into it, and slapped the tall man right into a snowbank. His legs stuck straight up in the air, one shoe flew off, revealing a smelly sock with a missing toe.
Xiao Yi: “Aaaagh!”
Old Auntie Li threw her front door open and enthusiastically flung out the accumulated essence — the family’s entire night’s worth of chamber pot contents.
“Aaaagh!!”
Xiao Yi’s bloodcurdling screams echoed through the entire village.
The warm liquid instantly froze into a colorful layer of ice on Xiao Yi’s body, glittering in the sunlight.
Shen Qiu quickly rubbed her hands together and grabbed Gu Zhouye’s thick, warm hand to heat her own.
“This is what I call — my cold hand slapping your hot dog face.”
The two returned to their respective quarters. Shen Qiu lived in the female educated youth collective dormitory, which was basically just a run-down shack — one kang with five people sleeping on it.
Shen Qiu slept at the very end of the kang, the coldest spot. The other female educated youths always forced Shen Qiu to do their laundry for them, especially Wang Lixia. Wang Lixia was pretty, close friends with Bai Xueying, and always made things difficult for Shen Qiu openly and behind her back.
When Wang Lixia saw Shen Qiuqiu return, she let out a cold laugh.
“Ohhh, where were you fooling around last night? We left the door open for you, but you didn’t come back the whole night.”
This was complete bullshit. Before, whenever Shen Qiu did work for the villagers in exchange for food and came back late, these people would always lock the door. Every time, she’d have to shout outside for ages before they’d let her in.
“I got married. I’m moving out.”
Wang Lixia was startled.
“You got married? That’s impossible! How could Xiao Yi possibly marry you?”
Just then, the broadcast sounded from outside — time to start work. Shen Qiu smiled at Wang Lixia, put on her work clothes, and headed out.
The female educated youths at the forestry station also had to work at the forestry station. The forestry workers and male educated youths were the main workforce, but the female educated youths still had to do their share. So every day was still exhausting.
Shen Qiuqiu looked around at the village entrance and spotted Gu Zhouye. He was a very solitary person, standing off alone.
Ignoring everyone’s shocked stares, Shen Qiuqiu ran up to Gu Zhouye.
“Let’s be on the same team. I’ll be your assistant.”
Shen Qiuqiu’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Gu Zhouye. Gu Zhouye frowned.
“You barely have any strength. You clearly just want to average out my work points.”
“You caught me. But I’m your wife. Why wouldn’t you want your own wife to get a little advantage?”
Having spent more time with Shen Qiuqiu, Gu Zhouye was no longer so easily agitated.
“Shen Qiu, stop saying things like that. Don’t you know exactly what our relationship really is?”
No wonder the villain remained single from beginning to end. With a tongue that sharp, it would be a miracle if any woman could stand him.
Shen Qiuqiu happened to be that miracle. She took Gu Zhouye’s hand.
“Don’t call me Shen Qiu — that’s too distant. Call me Qiuqiu.”
The work point recorder shouted to the crowd.
“Comrades, time to start work!”
Without sparing Shen Qiuqiu a glance, Gu Zhouye strode straight ahead. Shen Qiuqiu quickly hurried after him.
Shen Qiuqiu had read plenty of those stories about educated youths being sent to the countryside. In those stories, “starting work” just meant farming or something.
But going into a primeval forest to chop down trees — that was definitely a first.
In the dead of winter like this, villages farther from the forestry station were mostly hunkering down at home. Only places like this would still be working.
The snow walls, half as tall as a person, nearly swallowed them up. But because they worked every day, the path had been trampled solid. On either side stretched a vast, boundless forest of snow. The faint calls of small animals could be heard in the distance.
Gu Zhouye looked at Shen Qiu a bit strangely. The girl, wrapped in an enormous red scarf, was gazing curiously at her surroundings, her almond-shaped eyes bright and sparkling.
A small girl with a slight malnutritional look — tiny in stature — sidled up to Shen Qiu.
“Qiuqiu, why do you act like it’s your first day on the job?”
Shen Qiu turned to see the girl who had spoken to her. She looked sallow and thin, with a head of yellowish hair. She couldn’t be more than eighteen.
This was Shen Qiu’s only friend in Qingshantun, Ding Rui. The girl looked like an underdeveloped little flower bud.
She was also from the capital. Her family played favorites, so she had been sent to the countryside at just sixteen.
“I had something happy happen recently, so I’m in a good mood.”
Ding Rui mysteriously pulled a piece of candy from her bosom and stuffed it into Shen Qiu’s hand.
“My brother sent this to me. Here, have one.”
Shen Qiu tucked the candy into her pocket and patted Ding Rui.
“Bestie — I definitely won’t forget you.”
After walking for over half an hour, they arrived at the forestry station. The entire ground there was dry. In the distance came the roar of huge machinery. Shen Qiu looked toward the sound.
She watched as towering trees came crashing down, sending up enormous plumes of snow dust. Startled birds flew up from the snowy plains. A Jiefang truck drove in from outside. The driver, wearing an army uniform, had ruddy cheeks and a bright, optimistic smile.
“Comrades, lend a hand and help unload the logs, would you?”
Shen Qiuqiu couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration. The older generation really was full of energy.
Ding Rui grabbed the dazed Shen Qiuqiu and pulled her along to start working.
Two female educated youths could carry one log together. The male educated youths carried one apiece. Gu Zhouye carried one on each shoulder.
Xiao Yi, who had changed his clothes but hadn’t had time to wash his hair, flashed a look of disgust. As the educated youth team leader, he could still only carry one.
After thinking it over carefully, he decided that Shen Qiu was probably still angry with him. Before the brigade meeting tonight, if he could just convince Shen Qiu to admit that Gu Zhouye had forced her, he would be able to get that spot to return to the city.
Xiao Yi clenched his fist. Maybe thinking about evil deeds invited divine punishment, because he threw out his lower back.
“Ahhh!”
Shen Qiuqiu, who was working, couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“All these ‘ahhs’ and ‘ohhs’ all day long. Definitely a zero.”
Ding Rui asked Shen Qiu curiously.
“What does ‘zero’ mean?”
“It means ‘ladyboy.'”
“What does ‘ladyboy’ mean?”
“It means ‘sissy.'”
“You’re saying Xiao Yi is a sissy?”
“No question about it.”