After fumbling for a moment, his fingertips paused when they touched a small, hard object inside.
A sharp glint flashed in Rong Zhaonan’s Rui Feng Eyes—he’d found it.
The last time he helped her pick up her luggage, he had even rummaged through her underwear but hadn’t found what she was hiding.
So it was hidden in the pillow.
From the pillow’s core, Rong Zhaonan pulled out a small, faded flannel pouch and tipped out a Jade Chili Pepper.
He held the Jade Chili Pepper up to the light from the window and saw a seal-engraved character for “Ning” on it.
The jade pepper was a deep, rich green with excellent translucency and exquisite carving. It was clearly the work of a master.
What kind of family did Ning Yuan come from to possess such a top-tier jade carving?
Rong Zhaonan grew pensive, his suspicions deepening.
…
Before heading to the village team office, Ning Yuan spent over an hour making a trip to the supply and marketing cooperative near the Commune.
She painfully spent one of her only three yuan on a paper bag of fruit candies.
By the time she arrived at the village team office, it was almost noon.
The Old Branch Secretary frowned as he watched her enter with the item. “Ning Zhiqing…”
Ning Yuan cleared her throat and placed the fruit candies on the table, looking a little embarrassed. “This is wedding candy. Thank you for speaking up for me yesterday, Old Branch Secretary.”
The Old Branch Secretary froze, put down his water pipe, and frowned. “Ning Zhiqing, have you really thought this through? You’re going to register your marriage with that Reform Through Labor Element sent down here?”
This fruit candy wasn’t cheap. In these times, villagers only bought candy for New Year’s, holidays, and weddings.
She was such a pretty little girl, and from the provincial capital too. Why was she so determined to throw her life away?
Ning Yuan sighed. “Old Branch Secretary, do you think my reputation can be salvaged if I don’t get the certificate? Will the people from the Ningnan City Silk Spinning Factory’s recruitment office still want me?”
The Old Branch Secretary lifted his eyelids to glance at her, then lowered his head and took a few gurgling puffs from his water pipe without a word.
Last night, Ning Yuan had suddenly become Rong Zhaonan’s “partner,” and they had even spent time together in the same room, despite having had almost no interaction before.
Of course, he knew something was off.
He had heard a thing or two about the troubles the Educated Youth had stirred up over the past two years while fighting for a chance to return to the city.
But, just as Ning Yuan said—if she didn’t get the marriage certificate, her reputation would be dragged through the mud.
Poor lifestyle, corrupt morals—who would want someone like that?
Even if the recruitment office had initially been interested in Ning Yuan, after an incident like this, they would never give the city-return job quota to her.
“Alright, I’ll have the clerk draw up the papers for you,” the Old Branch Secretary sighed, nodding.
It was just a pity for this girl. She was going to ruin her entire life.
Seeing the expression on the village secretary’s face, Ning Yuan knew he was sympathizing with her.
This sympathy was exactly what she needed.
Ning Yuan sat down and looked at the Old Branch Secretary with pleading eyes. “Old Branch Secretary, you see, Doctor Rong can’t leave the village, but we have to go to the county office to register our marriage. What should we do?”
Their village wasn’t too far from Ning County town, only about forty li, but Rong Zhaonan couldn’t leave the village.
The Old Branch Secretary’s brow furrowed. This was indeed a problem.
They had cases of Educated Youth getting married here, but never a special case of a Reform Through Labor Element from the Cowshed getting married.
“Could I… ask someone to register it for us by proxy?” Ning Yuan asked cautiously, seeing the Old Branch Secretary frown.
She had thought it over on her way here. In this era, there were no surveillance cameras, facial recognition, or networked household registration and ID cards.
Getting a marriage certificate by proxy was not unheard of.
As long as she could get the official proof for Rong Zhaonan from the production brigade and find a man to go to the county with her to register, it would be fine as long as he didn’t say the wrong thing.
The Old Branch Secretary was taken aback, a strange look on his face as he looked at her.
In his memory, this girl was an honest child, mostly introverted and silent, who buried her head in her work without complaint.
She could come up with a plan to get the certificate by proxy?
Ning Yuan lowered her eyes, a cold glint flashing through them as she put on a helpless expression. “Otherwise, what else can I do? Live without a proper status?”
If she and Rong Zhaonan registered their marriage, they would be a legally married couple.
At the very least, if that bastard Wang Jianhua dared to harass her again, forget about him returning to the city—it would be molesting a married woman, a hooliganism crime!
She had lived a whole extra life; how could she still have the pushover personality of her younger self?
After all, feeding a meat bun to a dog only meant it would never return.
Seeing the girl’s dejected and pitiful state, the Old Branch Secretary’s sympathy once again got the better of him.
He mulled it over. “Alright, I’ll have someone draw up the papers for you first. Tomorrow, I’ll have Hua Zi go to the county to pick up a batch of pesticides. He can help you register your marriage on the way.”
Hua Zi was the Old Branch Secretary’s third son, an honest and simple man.
Ning Yuan was instantly overjoyed. She stood up and bowed to the Old Branch Secretary. “Thank you so much, Old Branch Secretary!”
“You, ah, take the candy back. Life will be hard for you from now on.” The Old Branch Secretary shook his head, pushing the fruit candies back.
He had three sons of his own, and his only daughter was the same age as Ning Yuan. He couldn’t help but feel that this girl was jumping into a pit of fire.
With a man of bad class background, never mind their future children joining the army or finding a job.
Even getting an education would be difficult. They would be doomed to a life without prospects.
Ning Yuan shook her head and held the candy down. “You helped me, so this is wedding candy! Let little Guohua and the others have it!”
The Old Branch Secretary had several grandsons and granddaughters.
She had to make this gesture of gratitude count!
Seeing her firm refusal, the Old Branch Secretary thought for a moment. “How about this? The village primary school warehouse still has some old office furniture that the Production Brigade replaced. See if there’s anything you can use, and find a flatbed cart to haul it back to the Cowshed.”
Although that Rong Zhaonan treated the villagers’ illnesses, his pockets were cleaner than his face. He was dirt poor.
He was well aware of the conditions inside that dilapidated hut by the Cowshed.
Upon hearing this, Ning Yuan was ecstatic. This was a wonderful surprise. She bowed to the Old Branch Secretary again. “Thank you, Old Branch Secretary!”
Things replaced by the Production Brigade would be great finds if they were still usable!
They couldn’t possibly be worse than the pre-liberation beggar’s hovel-like things Rong Zhaonan had, right?
Ning Yuan quickly borrowed a flatbed cart, slung the tow rope over her shoulder, and started pulling the cart toward the Cowshed at the foot of the mountain.
Rong Zhaonan couldn’t leave the village, but he could help her move things within the village!
It was already noon, time to get off work, and many villagers and Educated Youth were heading back to eat.
Seeing Ning Yuan pulling the cart with her head down, no one greeted her. They just watched from a distance, whispering among themselves.
After all, she was someone who had “willingly degenerated” by mixing with a Reform Through Labor Element.
Tang Zhenzhen, Huang Xuehong, Qin Xiaoxia, and a group of others carrying hoes watched Ning Yuan.
Huang Xuehong gloated, “Look at her miserable state. Serves her right!”
But a flicker of suspicion crossed Tang Zhenzhen’s eyes. Strange, Ning Yuan didn’t look like she had been violated by Wang Jianhua.
Did that guy not succeed?
…
Ning Yuan couldn’t be bothered with the stares of others. She pulled the flatbed cart back to the Cowshed and the small hut at the foot of the mountain.
But from a distance, she saw Rong Zhaonan being pinned against a wall by four or five men wearing Red Armbands.
Startled, she dropped the cart and ran toward the Cowshed.
“Comrades, what’s wrong? What’s happening?!”
She and Rong Zhaonan were now in the same boat; one’s loss was the other’s loss. At least until Rong Zhaonan returned to the city, she couldn’t let anything happen to him.
Just then, a medium-statured, sturdy, and upright figure walked out of the small hut.
“Ning Yuan, don’t be afraid. The Production Brigade already knows about Rong Zhaonan’s hooliganism and his insult to a woman!”
Looking at the person, Ning Yuan froze.
The young man in front of her, wearing a worker’s cap, had a square face that was the most popular aesthetic of the time, a straight nose, single eyelids, and a righteous look in his eyes.
He wore a sailor-striped shirt, rare in the village, with a green military jacket over it and dark blue work pants, which made him look dashing and heroic.
Ning Yuan stared blankly at the young man for a moment, her fists clenching involuntarily as a mix of complex emotions washed over her—
“Li Yan… Secretary Li.”
He was the Brigade Secretary in charge of several village teams, and also…
Her husband from her previous life.
…