Gu Beizheng’s deep voice sounded again.
Xu Zhouzhou looked up, momentarily confused, before understanding his meaning. She nodded, “Yes. It was a bit better before when there were more people living there, but now that there are fewer…”
In these times, there was little common knowledge about the law. There would always be those in the village with wicked intentions and audacious guts. Not to mention, with the original owner’s appearance, it was no different from walking down the street holding gold bars—simply too tempting for people to covet.
“Did you not tell the village chief?”
Over the years, incidents of female educated youths being harmed in the countryside were not uncommon. He had heard about them too. Especially since this woman looked the way she did, she was practically a little white rabbit thrown into a wolf’s den.
He wondered how she had survived all these years since being sent down to the countryside.
Xu Zhouzhou replied in a calm tone, “I told the village chief, and he reprimanded them at the assembly, but it didn’t have much effect.”
Although the village chief repeatedly emphasized the higher-ups’ policy on protecting educated youths, the “Office for Educated Youths” was now gone. Her status in the village was awkward, and she was quite a headache for the village chief as well.
“Why didn’t you return to the city?” Starting last year, the sent-down youth had begun returning to the cities on a large scale, either through the college entrance exam or other means. As long as conditions allowed, there were quotas for returning.
Gu Beizheng had always been cold and detached, not one to meddle in others’ business, but today, his curiosity was inexplicably piqued by this woman.
“Because… because my dad was caught reselling goods in the city. I didn’t pass the political background check, and the city wouldn’t accept me, so I can’t go back.”
After transmigrating, Xu Zhouzhou had slowly integrated the original owner’s memories. She was born in Southern Jiangsu. Her mother died in childbirth, and her father, heartbroken and unable to let go, left her to be raised by her grandmother.
Although her scumbag father was unreliable, he never left her and her grandmother short of money. Her grandmother used that money to buy goat milk and cow milk from the countryside, managing to raise a wrinkled little baby weighing only three catties into a water-fresh young lady.
Starting at age fourteen, her chest began to swell day by day like rising dough.
Her slender waist and round hips gradually took shape, and her legs became long and shapely. Her skin was so white it glowed—fine, smooth, and lustrous, just like a peeled hard-boiled egg.
Seeing her granddaughter grow up like this, Grandma was worried sick.
Being too beautiful wasn’t necessarily a good thing, especially without a powerful shield or a strong family to cover her. If she didn’t have any wits about her, she would be finished.
So, Grandma always deliberately tried to conceal it, dressing her in loose, baggy clothes and even binding her chest. But even so, it couldn’t hide the curvaceous figure beneath the cotton fabric.
When she was seventeen, Grandma passed away. She tightly grasped the original owner’s hand: “You must be careful on your own from now on. Don’t stand out in anything; hide whenever you can. I only hope that one day, there will be a man powerful enough to protect you.”
Grandma passed away, and as soon as the funeral was over, her Second Uncle snatched away Grandma’s house. The original owner became a child living under someone else’s roof.
Two years ago, the community recruited the last batch of educated youths to go down to the countryside, requiring one from every family. Second Aunt couldn’t bear to let her own daughter go, so she used the original owner to replace her.
In this era, disobeying policy meant going to jail. With a mix of coaxing and intimidation from Second Aunt, the original owner packed her bags and came to Shuitou Village to settle down.
Who knew that less than two years after arriving, the policy for educated youths to return to the city would come down. The youths at the Educated Youth Center left one after another.
However, because her father was in prison, she didn’t pass the political background check, and the original owner’s application to return to the city was rejected.
Her Second Uncle and Second Aunt back in the city were eager for her to stay in the countryside so no one would fight them for the house; they also tried every underhanded method to block her return.
The original owner had been fighting and trying to find an opportunity. Last year, she took the college entrance exam, hoping to return to the city through education.
The joy was that her scores were excellent; the tragedy was that while others received their admission notices, she did not. Her file was returned, and the reason for the return remained the same: failure to pass the political background check.
Just like that, the original owner was left behind. Two months ago, the last “educated youth” who had kept her company also returned to the city. Now, she was the only one left here.
She understood in her heart that the wolves and tigers had long been eyeing her greedily. During the two years she was sent down to the countryside, the few educated youths living together were older than her and took care of her like a younger sister.
Of course, there is no such thing as free kindness in this world. She had the savings her grandmother left her, so she was relatively well-off. From time to time, she shared food and fabric with those educated youths in exchange for their help.
Now, with only the original owner left, she was very afraid. She actively thought of many ways to leave, but she just couldn’t find a path.
Falling into the water this time was also because she went to town that day to ask about any new policies for returning to the city. She was entangled by the town mayor’s nephew, who had always coveted her. In her panic to escape, fleeing blindly, she accidentally fell into the river.
Actually, even without merging with the original owner’s memories, Xu Zhouzhou could still empathize with the desolation and helplessness in the original owner’s heart.
For a nineteen-year-old girl, isolated and without support in this place where hearts were poorer than the people, how helpless she must have been.
She used to not understand why women trafficked into the mountains couldn’t escape. It wasn’t until after she graduated and went to a mountain area as a volunteer teacher to secure a government position that she saw those endless, rolling mountains. Only then did she know what it meant to call to heaven to no avail and call to earth with no response.
At that time, a female classmate who was volunteering with her in the neighboring town caught the eye of the village chief’s son. The village chief personally came out to persuade her to marry his son. She was terrified. She contacted her family, and her parents rushed over, packed her things overnight, and left.
But Xu Zhouzhou couldn’t leave. She had no parents and no one to rely on. Volunteer teaching was the only opportunity for her to smoothly secure a permanent position and break free from her original family.
Thinking of it this way, her fate and the original owner’s were surprisingly similar; perhaps this was the trigger for her transmigration.
Looking at the woman deep in thought before him, Gu Beizheng couldn’t find any words of comfort or persuasion. In this era where political status stood above all else, no one could do anything about her situation.
“Xiao Tao.”
A woman’s anxious voice came from outside the ward.
Xu Zhouzhou stood up and saw Xiao Tao’s mother, Ding Lan, walk in looking flustered, rushing to the bedside to touch Xiao Tao’s face.
“Sister, don’t worry. The doctor said she’ll be fine soon after a few days of IV drips.”
Gu Beizheng patted his sister’s shoulder.
Ding Lan let out a sigh of relief, looked at Gu Beizheng, and then at Xu Zhouzhou nearby.
She said politely, “Thank you, Teacher Xu.”
Xu Zhouzhou shook her head: “It’s what I should do.”
“Sister, you watch over Xiao Tao. I’ll take Teacher Xu back first, then come back to pick you up.”
“Okay, go ahead. Be careful on the road.”
Gu Beizheng nodded slightly and glanced at Xu Zhouzhou.
Xu Zhouzhou said goodbye to Ding Lan and followed Gu Beizheng out.