19
Early in the morning two days later, just as dawn was breaking, an ox cart was parked at the village head. Old Liu, the cart driver, was squatting by the roadside, smoking his pipe out of sheer boredom.
“Old Liu, time to go!” someone on the cart urged him.
“Yeah, yeah, if we don’t leave soon it’ll be noon and we won’t make it back in time for lunch.” The villagers always went to town in the morning and returned by noon, hurrying back for their midday meal.
“I’m rushing to get some fabric they’ve got a deal today, one cloth coupon gets you double the amount. If we don’t go now, it’ll be gone!”
“What are you waiting for, Old Liu?”
Old Liu stood up, tapped his old pipe, and said unhurriedly, “What’s the rush? It won’t take long the cart’s not full yet.”
“How is it not full? It’s just about full!” The people on the cart were shrewd too—they didn’t want more people crowding in and made him hurry up.
Song Weizheng sat on the outermost edge of the cart, eyes half-closed, quietly leaning back and saying nothing.
“Master! Master! Don’t leave yet, wait for me!” Suddenly, a bright voice came from afar, growing closer, accompanied by labored, breathless panting.
Song Weizheng, who had been perfectly still, suddenly lifted his eyes and looked ahead.
Jiang Suisui was running breathlessly with a basket of eggs cradled in her arms, terrified of missing this ride. There was only one ox cart a day that carried villagers to town.
Jiang Suisui hadn’t left the village since her rebirth. That morning, she’d even asked Grandma Jiang for directions to the village entrance.
“Don’t get carried away and forget come back by noon, got it?” Grandma Jiang watched her with some concern and still tucked fifty cents into her pocket before she left.
“I know, I know.” Jiang Suisui patted her chest in assurance, then headed out excitedly.
Grandma Jiang watched her cheerful retreating figure and sighed: “Sigh, after that dunk in the water, she seems to have gotten younger instead of older. Good thing Song Weizheng’s around to keep an eye on her otherwise, I’d really worry about her getting lost!”
Jiang Suisui hadn’t expected the village entrance to be so far. She walked quite a stretch, climbed a slope, and crossed a long forest path before finally reaching it.
Just as she emerged, already starting to pant from the exertion, she noticed the ox cart not far away was packed full, and the driver had stood up as if ready to depart.
Jiang Suisui quickly waved and called out: “Master! Master! Don’t leave yet, wait for me!”
She dashed over at a hundred-meter sprint speed, one hand clutching the egg basket, the other braced on her knee as she caught her breath. She looked up and focused.
Oh hey! Wasn’t that Song Weizheng?
Still dizzy from the sprint, she felt a bit light-headed. She mumbled groggily, “It’s you?”
Song Weizheng’s gaze casually swept over her flushed cheeks and said flatly, “Aren’t you getting on?”
“Oh, right! Getting on, getting on.” Jiang Suisui responded as she prepared to climb aboard.
However…
“Um…” she said blankly, “where should I sit?” It seemed every spot on the cart was taken.
She looked around and noticed everyone on the cart staring at her like she was some kind of curiosity. Jiang Suisui shrank her neck slightly, feeling lost.
She turned to look at Song Weizheng—the only person she knew here and shot him a pleading look.
Fortunately, Song Weizheng caught her signal. He hopped off the cart with his long legs, revealing a tiny bit of space at the back, and gestured: “Get on.”
Jiang Suisui’s face immediately lit up with gratitude: “Thanks!”
“But… if I sit there, where will you sit?” She hesitated.
Song Weizheng paused, about to speak, when suddenly a scattered chorus of footsteps came from behind.
Jiang Suisui turned to look. A few young people who clearly had a different aura and style from the villagers were chatting and laughing as they approached. One of them, a young man with a face full of acne, was pushing a bicycle.
Jiang Suisui’s eyes lit up immediately. Bicycles were a big deal in these times! Someone in this village actually owned a bicycle? A well-off family?
The group stopped in front of the ox cart. The pimply-faced youth pushing the bicycle gave the cart and its passengers a disdainful once-over, then said to the girl beside him, “Comrade Wanyue, this ox cart… really isn’t fit for people like us to ride. How about I take you to town on my bike instead?”
Li Wanyue, who had been chatting and laughing, froze when she saw the cart packed with people. Hearing the pimply youth’s offer, she put on a smile and said, “Comrade Jiacheng, I’ll trouble you then.”
Wu Jiacheng, having won a smile from the beauty, felt light as air: “No trouble at all, no trouble at all.”
Then, Li Wanyue turned to look behind her and said apologetically, “Comrade Zhiwen, my family sent me a parcel and I’m in a hurry to pick it up, so I’ll have to take Comrade Jiacheng’s ride. Sorry about that.”
Hearing this, Jiang Suisui roughly understood—these must be the educated youths sent to the countryside. Some of them came from well-off families, no wonder they could afford a bicycle.
Zhiwen… Could he be the male supporting character Shen Zhiwen?
She immediately grew curious, craning her neck slightly to get a look at what the scumbag male supporting character from the book looked like.
Song Weizheng stood beside her, watching her sway and crane her head forward, his expression growing colder by the second.
Just then, Shen Zhiwen stepped forward—white shirt, black trousers, scholarly in appearance, refined and mild-mannered, though his features were merely ordinary.
Jiang Suisui felt a bit disappointed. Song Weizheng was much better-looking—no wonder he was the male lead!
Then Shen Zhiwen adjusted his glasses and said with a gentle smile, “It’s all right, you two go ahead. I’ll keep these friends company anyway.”
Li Wanyue glanced at the “friends” beside him, her expression somewhat unreadable. She managed a strained smile and said, “Then be careful on the road. We’ll meet up in town.”
With that, she turned and walked toward Wu Jiacheng, gracefully and composedly settling herself onto the back of the bicycle.
Wu Jiacheng puffed out his chest, full of pride, and pedaled off into the distance with the girl on the back.
Jiang Suisui now saw who Shen Zhiwen meant by “these friends” and was rather surprised.
It was them! What was Jiang Miaomiao doing mixing with Shen Zhiwen again? And she’d brought Zhang Wenfang and Li Daidi along too?
As the female lead, shouldn’t she be getting close to the male lead instead?
Jiang Suisui secretly glanced up at the male lead beside her—Song Weizheng. Catching her gaze, he shot her a faint look, and Jiang Suisui quickly averted her eyes.
Across from them, Jiang Miaomiao watched the interaction between these two and was grinding her teeth in fury.
Shameless, desperate, vixen! Jiang Miaomiao had a whole laundry list of curses in her head.
If it weren’t for Jiang Suisui clinging to Song Weizheng, wouldn’t she have made progress by now?
Though they weren’t married yet, Song Weizheng was essentially a “taken man.” The moment she tried to get close and strike up a conversation, people would point and whisper. Never mind that Song Weizheng wore a cold face every single day—even her brightest, cheeriest smile would freeze solid the moment it met him.
No matter what she said to him, his replies were always “Mm,” “Oh,” “No,” “No,” “Don’t know”—never a word more. If she said too much, he’d look annoyed, his furrowed brow and dark eyes practically shouting: You’re irritating.
Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t help rolling her eyes at the sky. She glanced at Shen Zhiwen, who was chatting and laughing with Zhang Wenfang and Li Daidi beside her. She had to admitvwhen it came to winning girls’ favor, Song Weizheng and Shen Zhiwen were worlds apart.
Whether it was a beautiful, aloof female educated youth or a dusty-faced country girl, he treated them all equally, with gentle kindness. When you spoke to him, he’d look you earnestly in the eyes, as if giving you his full attention. Unsophisticated country girls would often be utterly smitten the moment they locked eyes with him.
Jiang Miaomiao watched Zhang Wenfang’s flushed face and Li Daidi nervously twisting the hem of her clothes, and felt a trace of worldly weariness: Young people—so naive.
Ever since her rebirth, she couldn’t be bothered to go sacrifice herself at Shen Zhiwen’s place anymore. She’d only gone to the educated youth spot yesterday for the first time, just to play matchmaker for Zhang Wenfang and Li Daidi.
But when she got there, she found Shen Zhiwen crouched in the yard, clumsily scrubbing his only pair of leather shoes. They were covered in mud spots, and the brush was too stiff—he didn’t dare scrub hard for fear of ruining the leather, so he could only work at it slowly, bit by bit. His usually slicked-back hair hung limp and lifeless, a far cry from his usual polished appearance. Beside him sat a basin of unwashed clothes, all wrinkled and piled up.
Jiang Miaomiao sneered inwardly. In the past, she used to do all this work for him. After enjoying the sight of his disheveled state long enough, she reached out and knocked firmly on the courtyard gate.
Startled by the knock, Shen Zhiwen quickly put down the brush and shoes, stood up, and smoothed his hair and collar. He looked up—and froze.
Then a smile of genuine surprise spread across his face: “Miaomiao? You came?”
Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t help but feel a little smug. In her past life, if Shen Zhiwen had treated her with this attitude, she’d have been over the moon. Now? Hmph—she couldn’t care less!
In contrast to Shen Zhiwen’s delight, Jiang Miaomiao said flatly, “Comrade Shen, you’re busy? Is this a good time to talk?”
“Of course, of course.” Shen Zhiwen smiled. “Miaomiao, you… you haven’t come in so long… Is everything all right at home?”
Jiang Miaomiao replied expressionlessly: “Nothing much just busy with the harvest. No time to run around.”
Shen Zhiwen nodded: “That’s true. It’s been really busy with the farm work lately. We’ve been assigned a lot of tasks at the educated youth spot too—everyone’s out early and back late, completely exhausted.”
“Look,” he pointed to his basin of clothes and laughed, “I’ve been so busy I haven’t even had time to wash these. I’m almost out of things to wear, so I had to squeeze in some time to do laundry.”
“Too bad I still have some work to finish probably won’t get these done before dark, sigh…” He let out a sigh and looked at Jiang Miaomiao. “Sorry you have to see me like this. I’m a grown man, not very good at this kind of housework.”
Pfft!
Jiang Miaomiao cursed inwardly. Not good at it? Why the sigh? Playing pitiful? All he wanted was for her to do his laundry for him. Dream on! In your dreams! She wasn’t that naive anymore!
Jiang Miaomiao gave a dry laugh, ignoring his burning, expectant gaze, and said, “I remember you mentioned last time that you were going to town to buy books on the next market day, right?”
“…Ah,” Shen Zhiwen was taken aback, “yes, I was planning to…”
“I have two girlfriends,” Jiang Miaomiao smiled. “They’re country girls, but they also want to buy some books to learn. They’re planning to go to town tomorrow. That’s why I thought of you, Comrade Shen. You’re a cultured man—you know a lot. Could you help introduce them to some good books? They’d be really happy.”
**