The entire Shen family stared at Shen Jiandang, whose face was as red as a monkey’s backside.
Well, well…
Who would’ve thought?
So this was the kind of person he was.
Xiaomei was about the same age as Shen Hehua.
No wonder he had never looked for a girlfriend before.
Turns out he had been waiting for the girl he liked to grow up.
Thinking back on everything Shen Jiandang had done for her recently, Zhao Xiaomei’s face grew redder and redder.
She had to admit…
She liked Brother Jiandang too.
She was still a young girl with thin skin.
Unable to endure the teasing looks from all the villagers any longer, she turned around and ran away.
Shen Jiandang immediately panicked.
“Xiaomei!”
The moment he called out, Zhao Xiaomei ran even faster.
Her two braids swung behind her as she ran.
Ahhh! Stop calling me! Stop calling me!
Run! Run!
Shen Jiandang wanted to chase after her.
But he was still holding Li Hao down.
And there were so many people watching.
Shen Jianguo reached out his hand.
“Give him to me. You go after her.”
The villagers immediately started urging him on.
“Go!”
“Hurry up, or she’ll disappear!”
“That’s right! Go!”
…
They all belonged to the same production team.
Both of them had grown up before everyone’s eyes.
One was a high school graduate.
The other was a factory worker.
They were a perfect match.
Everyone was happy to see them together.
Besides, it was obvious from both of their reactions that they liked each other.
Of course everyone wanted to give them a little push.
Every face wore the smile of an excited matchmaker.
Well…
Almost every face.
Except Li Hao’s and Wu Laidi’s.
From the moment Wu Laidi exposed his own plans, Li Hao had been afraid Shen Jiandang would beat him up.
Now that Shen Jianguo had reached out his hand, Li Hao immediately shuffled over on his own.
He even deliberately pushed the back of his collar into Shen Jianguo’s hand.
Then he looked at Shen Jiandang.
Alright, go chase her.
I’ll behave.
With Li Hao no longer in his hands, Shen Jiandang glanced around at everyone’s encouraging expressions.
He stopped pretending to be reserved.
Everyone already knew.
If he backed down now…
He really would lose any chance he had with Xiaomei.
Without another thought, he hurried off after her.
Wu Laidi, still sitting on the ground:
“…”
I revealed such a huge secret…
And this is how things turned out?
Shouldn’t everyone be criticizing Li Hao instead?
Shouldn’t they be saying we were birds of a feather?
Li Hao glanced at Wu Laidi.
Seeing the unwillingness written all over her face made him incredibly happy.
Am I really the same as her?
He hadn’t actually done anything.
She was the one who had acted on her plan.
Besides…
Now everyone had an even juicier piece of gossip to talk about—Shen Jiandang and Zhao Xiaomei.
At this point, everything about today’s incident had become clear.
The time.
The place.
The people involved.
The events.
The cause, the process, and the outcome had all been sorted out.
Many people had already lost interest in sticking around.
No one from their own production team had suffered any losses.
Shen Hehua had earned credit for saving an educated youth.
Shen Jiandang and Zhao Xiaomei might even end up together.
Everyone was delighted.
As for the two injured educated youths…
Who cared?
Neither of them was a good person anyway.
The crowd slowly dispersed, chatting enthusiastically about Shen Jiandang and Zhao Xiaomei.
Of course…
Some of those who appeared to be heading home actually intended to intercept the young couple.
After all…
They hadn’t had enough gossip yet.
They wished they could follow them around and watch them start dating in person.
Among those who remained, most were either directly involved in the incident or were people the team leader needed.
Very few were left simply to watch.
At that moment, the young men the team leader had sent earlier returned.
They came back with several educated youths and two bags of grain.
After arriving, the educated youths first asked the older women nearby what had happened.
The darker their expressions became as they listened.
The young men walked over to the team leader, opened both grain bags, and explained everything they had found.
Their investigation confirmed part of Li Hao’s story.
The team leader was furious.
But something like this wasn’t enough to report to the Public Security Bureau.
Even if he complained to the Educated Youth Office, they would probably just persuade him to go back, encourage him to raise his political awareness, and remind him to educate everyone equally.
Besides…
Nothing had actually happened to Shen Jiandang or Zhao Xiaomei.
In fact, they might even benefit from today’s events.
The team leader reluctantly gave up the idea of sending the two educated youths back to the commune or returning them to the city.
Still…
He couldn’t simply let the matter go.
What if they did something like this again?
What if one of the village’s young men or women became their next victim?
What if the other educated youths started copying them?
That would create chaos.
They had to be punished.
Severely.
The team leader swept his gaze across everyone, pausing especially on the Shen family and the educated youths.
Then he announced firmly,
“Shen Hehua saved someone’s life. She deserves recognition.”
“The next time I go to the commune, I’ll recommend her for commendation.”
“As for Educated Youth Wu and Educated Youth Li plotting against Xiaomei and Jiandang…”
“Since nothing actually happened, I won’t send the matter to the commune.”
Wu Laidi and Li Hao both breathed sighs of relief.
The team leader narrowed his eyes.
“But!”
Their hearts immediately jumped back into their throats.
Everyone else pricked up their ears.
“That doesn’t mean nothing happened.”
“So Educated Youth Wu and Educated Youth Li will both be punished.”
“You’ll clean the pigsty.”
“You’ll collect cow dung.”
“The punishment will continue until both your behavior improves and you sincerely recognize your mistakes.”
“Only after both the production team and the educated youth dormitory vote to end your punishment will it be lifted.”
“In addition…”
“Tomorrow morning before work begins, both of you will stand before the entire production team, conduct a self-criticism, and apologize to Jiandang and Xiaomei.”
“For the next three months, during every monthly criticism meeting, you’ll join the people from the cowshed in making self-criticisms and accept criticism from the villagers.”
“After three months, we’ll decide whether to end the punishment based on your performance.”
Wu Laidi and Li Hao immediately wore expressions of despair.
To stubborn people like them, public self-criticism and criticism meetings weren’t especially frightening.
The atmosphere in Xiangyang Production Team was relatively good.
Even when criticizing the intellectuals living in the cowshed, people usually spoke seriously and stuck to the facts.
During all the time they had lived there, aside from a few ignorant children occasionally throwing punches, no one had really mistreated those people.
What terrified them…
Was cleaning the pigsty.
It smelled absolutely awful.
Seeing their miserable expressions, the team leader was finally satisfied.
Then he looked at Wu Laidi, who was soaked through, and Li Hao, who had been beaten up by Shen Jiandang.
“Of course, we’re not unreasonable.”
“After tomorrow’s self-criticism, you can rest for two days.”
“If you’re worried about your condition, you’re also free to visit the commune hospital.”
“The day after tomorrow, you’ll return to work.”
“That’s all.”
“Do either of you have any objections?”
Having lived in Xiangyang Production Team for so long, both of them knew exactly what that question meant.
If they dared say yes…
The team leader would simply make things even worse.
No matter how unwilling they were, both nodded with dark expressions.
Since they had accepted the punishment, the team leader had no interest in dealing with them any longer.
He turned toward Zhou Weihua and Lu Nan, who were in charge of the educated youths.
“You two take them back.”
Zhou Weihua’s face was dark.
“Understood. Thank you for your hard work, Team Leader.”
He motioned for the other educated youths to help Wu Laidi up.
As for Li Hao…
The moment Shen Jianguo let go, Li Hao immediately scurried over to join them.
The team leader then walked over to the Shen family.
“You should head home as well.”
“Shen Hehua is healthy, but she’s still a young girl.”
“Have her drink some ginger soup and warm herself up.”
Shen Hehua raised her little face.
“Got it, Second Uncle.”
One after another, everyone left the riverbank and returned to the village.
The moment they got home, Meng Chunxing became busy.
She ordered everyone around nonstop.
Prepare bathwater.
Boil ginger soup.
Find clean clothes.
If Shen Hehua hadn’t protested so strongly, Meng Chunxing would have even used a glass jar to perform cupping therapy on her to drive out the cold.
Shen Hehua had only just been reborn.
From the beginning of everything until she finally returned home…
She had been holding herself together through sheer determination.
Even now, she continued holding on.
She obediently let her mother, eldest sister-in-law, and second sister-in-law fuss over her.
Eventually they tucked her into bed.
Still…
She refused to relax.
Only after her third brother returned home from walking Zhao Xiaomei back did Shen Hehua finally let go.
The moment she relaxed…
She fell fast asleep.
Soft snores soon filled the room.
She was truly exhausted.
Meng Chunxing lovingly tucked the blanket around Shen Hehua, quietly left her small room, and walked into the main room.
Looking at Shen Jiandang, she announced the start of a full family interrogation…