Guo Yuanyuan chuckled twice, speaking cryptically to Luo Xi, “It has the same effect as a brick.”
The moment she said that, Luo Xi understood. She couldn’t help laughing and crying at the same time.
She had only casually said those words back then, yet Guo Yuanyuan had actually taken them seriously. No wonder she had been carrying a stick around lately. And honestly, it did give her quite an imposing air.
Guo Aimin and Guo Guoyuan, however, were completely confused. Still, they were sensible enough not to ask any further.
Time quickly passed eleven o’clock. The four of them climbed up the small hill beside the irrigation ditch and found a relatively open spot.
Guo Aimin and Guo Guoyuan shone their flashlights around, making sure there were no snakes nearby before everyone spread out their mats.
Of course, the men and women kept quite a distance from each other—more than ten meters apart.
Guo Aimin suggested, “Guoyuan and I can take turns keeping watch. You two women should rest.”
Before Luo Xi could say anything, Guo Yuanyuan spoke up.
“No. Since the brigade assigned this task to the four of us, then all four of us should complete it together.”
“Besides, what’s wrong with being women? Women hold up half the sky!”
“We’ll take turns. Two hours each.”
Guo Aimin didn’t object again. But considering that the people from Maotou Village would probably come in the middle of the night, he made the final decision.
“Then you two women will take turns during the first half of the night. The two of us men will take over during the second half.”
And so, it was settled.
Everyone was very considerate toward Luo Xi and let her take the first shift.
The first shift was relatively easy. Nothing unexpected happened, and she handed things over smoothly to the second shift.
But something happened during the second half of the night.
Guo Aimin’s lowered voice sounded.
“Someone’s coming. Everyone, get up.”
Luo Xi’s eyes snapped open. She sat up and looked over, only to see a faint light in the distance—the beam of a flashlight.
Guo Aimin and Guo Guoyuan grabbed their hoes and hurried toward the earthen embankment beside the irrigation ditch. Working in the darkness, they quickly restored the embankment to how it had been before.
By the time they returned to the hillside, Luo Xi and Guo Yuanyuan had already gathered up their mats.
The four of them moved farther up the hill and found a relatively dense tea bush. They hid behind it.
A few minutes later, the people from Maotou Village finally arrived at the irrigation ditch.
There were only three of them.
They shone their flashlights toward the embankment.
A rough voice sounded.
“Why does this water look a little murky to me?”
“Let me see. Yeah, it does seem a little cloudy. Probably a water snake or something stirred it up.”
“Figures. I said there was no need to come back and check halfway through. I’m exhausted.”
“Hey, this is just to be safe. Who would’ve thought the people from Wushan Village would be so stupid? It’s been so many days, and they still haven’t figured out to come check.”
“Enough. If everything’s fine, let’s go back and get some more sleep. We’ll come back before dawn and restore the water to its original state.”
The three of them chatted as they walked away.
Guo Yuanyuan spat angrily under her breath, “Hmph! They’re the stupid ones from Maotou Village. Stupid and malicious.”
Guo Aimin and Guo Guoyuan were furious as well, but they both held themselves back.
Only after the three men had walked several hundred meters away did Guo Aimin and Guo Guoyuan go back and dig the ditch open again, letting the water flow into their own fields.
This time, they slept until dawn.
Well, not quite dawn.
Before the sky had even begun to brighten, they redirected the water back toward Maotou Village, then headed home.
Not long after they left, the people from Maotou Village came again and restored the water to what they believed was its “original” state.
In short, the two sides repeated this entire routine several times throughout the night.
When Luo Xi returned home, the first light of dawn was just beginning to appear. The timing was perfect.
She washed up first and then had breakfast.
Although she hadn’t slept very well the night before, she was still in good spirits and didn’t feel particularly sleepy.
So she continued working on her crossbow.
Normally, the wood needed to be air-dried for one or two years to prevent it from cracking or warping.
But she was only making a temporary one, so she didn’t have such high requirements. Once the mulberry wood was dry enough, she got to work.
Today, she planned to shape it.
She slowly heated the wood over a fire in the courtyard, gradually bending the body of the crossbow into an arc to increase its energy storage capacity…
For the next several nights, she continued taking turns guarding the irrigation water.
Meanwhile, because she had gone several days without working in the fields, quite a few people at the educated youth compound had no idea what was going on and began making all sorts of guesses.
Song Xingui even went to find Yang Xiulan.
“Team Leader, why doesn’t Luo Xi have to work?”
Yang Xiulan glanced at her and snorted.
“She has another assignment. You should worry about yourself first.”
Did she really have no idea how badly she was doing her own farm work?
And she still had time to worry about other people.
Apparently, her workload still wasn’t heavy enough.
So Yang Xiulan forcibly added another work point’s worth of labor to her workload.
Song Xingui was so angry that she cried while working, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Today, Luo Xi went to the county town and found No. 201, Liuyue Alley.
The person who opened the door wasn’t either of the Ma brothers, but a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girl.
“Who are you looking for?” she asked warily.
Through the girl’s silhouette, Luo Xi had already gotten a clear look at the courtyard.
There were actually quite a few people inside.
Maintaining a gentle attitude, she lowered her voice.
“I’m looking for Tyrannosaurus.”
The girl froze.
Seeing her strange expression, Luo Xi hesitated before adding, “Or Overlord Tiger will do.”
This time, the girl clearly knew who she meant.
“Wait here. I’ll go get them.”
With that, she slammed the door shut.
About two minutes later, the door opened again, revealing the familiar faces of the Ma brothers.
“You’re here? Come in, quick.”
This was Luo Xi’s first time coming here, so she was still somewhat cautious.
The alley was rather secluded, with very few people passing by.
After hesitating for a moment, Luo Xi followed the two brothers inside.
The courtyard wasn’t very large. Various odds and ends were piled everywhere, making the place look rather messy.
Besides the girl from earlier, several other people poked their heads out from different rooms to see what was happening.
The Ma brothers led Luo Xi into the room on the right.
Facing the two men inside, they smiled ingratiatingly.
“Brother Liu, Brother Xiang, hehe, could you let us use this place to discuss some business?”
The two men were very easygoing. They smiled and walked out.
“No rush. Take your time. Haha.”
Luo Xi was somewhat curious.
“You’re sharing this place?”
Ma Dongdong glanced toward the doorway. After making sure no one was there, he lowered his voice.
“This place is rented by Boss Black Panther. He specifically lets people like us use it temporarily. But every month, we have to pay him some protection money.”
It was because of Luo Xi’s yellow books that he had gotten into this line of work.
Lately, she hadn’t come by, so aside from waiting for the “books” to arrive, he had also started doing some other business.
Ma Xixi added, “Boss Black Panther has some standing in the black market too. Basically, he’s doing it all for our sake.”
Luo Xi: “……”
You really know how to rationalize things for yourself.
Remembering something, she asked, “So you take all kinds of goods?”
Ma Xixi nodded.
“We call ourselves the Black Market Self-Service Alliance. Everyone has their own supply channels. When someone has a lot of goods, we all help sell them and take a small cut.”
Ma Dongdong rubbed his hands together.
“It’s been so long since you came. We thought you’d forgotten about us.”
Luo Xi smiled and explained, “The goods have been difficult to get.”
Ma Dongdong immediately asked, “How many do you have this time?”
Luo Xi put down her basket, revealing the books inside wrapped in burlap.
“Eight sets this time. You want them all?”
Ma Dongdong nodded eagerly.
“Yes, yes, yes!”
This time, Luo Xi asked for fifty yuan in cash and exchanged the rest for ration coupons.
Industrial coupons in particular were what she wanted most. She planned to save them up and eventually buy a bicycle.
Taking the ox cart every time was simply too inconvenient.
After the transaction was completed, Luo Xi was about to leave when Ma Dongdong hesitated.
Luo Xi found it strange.
“What’s wrong?”
Ma Dongdong pointed to his own left cheek.
“I… I remember your mole was on the left side. How did it end up on the right side this time?”
Luo Xi gave him a strange look.
“You remembered wrong, didn’t you?”
Ma Dongdong shook his head indignantly.
“I definitely didn’t remember wrong! When you were holding me down and beating me, I saw it clearly. It was on the left side, and it formed a diagonal line with your right hand when you were holding the brick.”
Luo Xi: “……”
What a bizarre thing to pay attention to!
“Oh. Then you didn’t remember wrong.”
Without the slightest concern, she peeled the mole off her right cheek.
Then—
Smack!
She stuck it onto her left cheek.