He Qiuju sneered. This was the man she loved—selfish, shameless, and despicable.
“I don’t agree. Why should I agree just because you say it’s over? Three years of feelings—you’ve wasted three years of my life, Dang Aiguo. If you think you can dump me, you can forget it.”
Dang Aiguo’s patience had run out. He hadn’t expected this woman to be so difficult, refusing to be swayed by either soft words or hard threats.
“He Qiuju, what exactly do you want?”
He Qiuju stared at him with cold, piercing eyes. “I want to marry you. If you refuse, I’ll report you for hooliganism.”
Dang Aiguo’s heart tightened. This woman was willing to burn everything to the ground.
He suddenly changed his attitude, speaking in a gentle tone. “Qiuju, I was just joking with you just now. We’ve been together for three years—how could I possibly shirk my responsibility? After all, the feelings are right there between us.”
He Qiuju was secretly triumphant. Hmph, Dang Aiguo had no choice but to marry her.
Satisfied with the answer, she went back inside to sleep, content.
Dang Aiguo clenched his fists, his eyes dark and sinister as he watched her leave. There wasn’t a trace of affection in them. Damn her—she dared to threaten him. Then she couldn’t blame him for being ruthless.
Without hesitation, he turned and headed toward one of the village’s houses.
In a crumbling mud hut with wind whistling through the cracks, a faint light flickered. Dang Aiguo stepped up and knocked on the door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
The door opened from inside, and Liu Wang looked at Dang Aiguo blocking the doorway in surprise. “Comrade Dang, what are you doing here?”
Dang Aiguo glanced around and lowered his voice. “I need to talk to you about something. Let’s go inside.”
Liu Wang let him in and slammed the door shut.
This was Dang Aiguo’s first time in Liu Wang’s home. He looked around the room—aside from a kang, the only piece of furniture was a battered dining table. The place could only be described as bare walls and empty rooms.
He sized up Liu Wang. His clothes were covered in patch upon patch, his shoes had a hole that hadn’t been mended, and he reeked of an unpleasant odor, as if he hadn’t bathed in who knew how long.
Liu Wang and Zhang San were the village’s notorious idlers—lazy, cunning, and shiftless. They did nothing but steal chickens and dogs. With both parents dead, ugly and poor, Liu Wang had reached thirty without ever marrying. He was the village’s most famous old bachelor.
Liu Wang felt uneasy under Dang Aiguo’s scrutiny and couldn’t help asking, “Comrade Dang, what business do you have with me?”
Dang Aiguo asked, “Liu Wang, do you want to get married?”
At the mention of marriage, Liu Wang’s eyes lit up, and he nodded eagerly. “Of course I do. I dream about it.”
Dang Aiguo continued to lead him along. “He Qiuju’s pretty, isn’t she? How would she be as your wife?”
Liu Wang’s mind conjured He Qiuju’s face—her fair skin put every other girl in the village to shame, and on top of that, she was an educated woman.
He hesitated, then said, “Even if I agreed, she’d never take a second look at me.”
Dang Aiguo’s face showed contempt. What a useless waste. No wonder he was still unmarried at thirty.
He fanned the flames. “Women—once she’s yours, she’ll have no choice but to accept her fate.”
Those words were like a wake-up call. Liu Wang’s muddled brain suddenly cleared.
“Comrade Dang, you’re right. You’re truly a kindred spirit.”
He rubbed his hands together lecherously, already eager.
Then he grinned sheepishly. “Comrade Dang, thank you. You’re a really good man.”
The two chatted a bit more about the timing of their plan, and then Dang Aiguo left.
Liu Wang slammed the door shut, snickering inwardly. He wasn’t stupid—he knew Dang Aiguo wanted to use him as a pawn. But he genuinely needed a wife to carry on his family line. Even if it was a trap, he was willing to jump in.
He grinned, revealing a row of blackened teeth. Dang Aiguo had also given him ten yuan as hush money. No matter how he looked at it, he was coming out ahead.
Getting money and a wife—both gains at once. What a sweet deal.
After nine straight days of harvesting rice, they could finally catch their breath.
On the first day, Li Qingge had no experience, and her hands became red and swollen. It wasn’t until she wore gloves the second day that it eased up.
With the rice harvest done, the educated youths got a day off.
They planned to go to the commune to browse around and buy some food and supplies.
Li Qingge decided to go into the mountains. According to the older educated youths, there were mushrooms, wood ear fungus, and pine nuts in the mountains, and with luck, one could even find wild fruit.
At six in the morning, Li Qingge was woken by the noise in the courtyard. Several educated youths had eaten early and were heading to the village entrance to catch the ox cart. If they were late and missed a seat, they’d have to walk.
Bai Wei deliberately made as much noise as possible—kicking a table here, knocking over a stool there. Only when she saw Li Qingge open her eyes did she contentedly put on her clothes and head to the courtyard.
Mu Chuan and Zhang Wei had already been waiting in the yard for some time.
After exchanging greetings, the new and old educated youths hurried toward the village entrance.
When Li Qingge opened her eyes again, it was already ten o’clock. Outside, the autumn sky was clear and crisp—the perfect time of year to head into the mountains.
After washing up, she grabbed a bowl of hot congee and a fried dough stick from the deli section of the supermarket and finished them in a few minutes.
For convenience on the mountain, Li Qingge wore black pants, black cloth shoes, and a red plaid top, with her hair coiled directly on top of her head, looking neat and brisk.
Walking out of the house, she saw two people sitting in the courtyard and was somewhat surprised, thinking everyone had gone to the commune for fun.
Wen Shaoqing greeted her warmly: “Morning, Youth Li.”
“Morning.”
Wen Shaoqing smiled ingratiatingly: “Youth Li, are you heading up the mountain? Let’s go together.”
Li Qingge hesitated for a moment before nodding.
The three of them carried bamboo baskets bought from the village and walked with clear purpose toward the foot of the mountain.
In the village, there were groups of middle-aged and elderly women.
Seeing Li Qingge and the others appear, they were momentarily stunned.
“Don’t you say, this new Youth Li is really pretty. We all have one nose and two eyes, but why do they look so good on her face?”
“Youth Gongsun isn’t bad either. That young man looks like he’d treat his wife well.”
Someone spat at her: “Oh, come off it. Trying to set up your granddaughter again? Don’t bother. Take a look at yourself in a puddle—would a city youth like him ever fancy her?”
Another immediately cursed back: “Pah! Nothing good ever comes out of a dog’s mouth. My granddaughter is wonderful. I’ll beat you to death, you shameless thing.”
With that, they started grappling with each other, and no one helped break it up—everyone watched with great amusement.
Li Qingge and the others didn’t linger and continued toward the mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, they saw Liu Wang and Zhang San, those two loafers sitting idly on a rock.
When they saw Li Qingge appear, both of them stared with wide eyes.
Li Qingge walked past without a glance.
Zhang San—the man who had colluded with Bai Wei in the previous life, forcing the original owner to marry him, ruining her entire life at his hands.
Suddenly, her hands itched. Tonight, she’d pay a visit to Zhang San’s place and give him a beating. She wouldn’t let a single one of the original owner’s enemies off the hook.
Zhang San sighed: “City women are something else. They look as fragrant and soft as white steamed buns.”
Liu Wang said: “Don’t we have women in the village too?”
Zhang San spat crudely on the ground before replying.
“Those dark and ugly ones in the village can be called women? They’re more like black bears.”
Whatever Liu Wang said next, the two of them laughed lewdly.