Summer, 1976.
On the threshing floor of the Xiangyang Brigade in the Qinghe Commune, the sound of dozens of mouths spitting insults was even more irritating than the buzzing of the cicadas.
“Shen Yu, you still have the face to stand here? It’s only because the Lin family is kindhearted that they didn’t hang a sign around your neck and parade you through the streets as a broken shoe!”
“Exactly! If I were you, I would have smashed my head against a millstone long ago to save your father the embarrassment!”
“I always said this girl looked improper. What a waste for that Lin boy. He’s a scholar star descended to earth; how could he marry such a piece of trash?”
The speaker was Liu Guihua, the wife of the village Party secretary. Her spit flew three feet as she nearly poked her finger into Shen Yu’s nose.
In the center of the crowd, Shen Yu stood quietly.
It felt as if something had exploded in her mind. Shen Yu squinted her eyes and curled her lip.
Oh, she had transmigrated into a book.
Because she was too eye-catching, the original owner of this body was a famous “femme fatale” in the surrounding villages, making her a thorn in the side of the local women.
Lin Qichuan, who was originally engaged to her, wanted to climb the ranks of the village secretary’s family to secure the only recommendation for the Worker-Peasant-Soldier University. To do so, he planned to turn around and marry the secretary’s daughter, Wang Zhaodi.
To avoid the reputation of a heartbreaker, the Lin family conspired with the Wang family to throw a bucket of “moral impropriety” over the original Shen Yu. They insisted she had been trysting in a cornfield with the village scoundrel, Erliuzi.
The original Shen Yu couldn’t handle the insult and jumped into the river.
Shen Yu sighed inwardly.
It was one thing to transmigrate to this era of scarcity, but to be used as a target for abuse the moment she arrived?
She looked up and scanned the crowd. “Are you finished cursing?”
Liu Guihua, who was in the middle of a tirade, froze for a moment. She hadn’t expected this punching bag to dare talk back.
She immediately put her hands on her hips, her triangular eyes bulging. “What? You want to argue? Erliuzi already admitted it! He said you have a red mole on your backside!”
The crowd erupted in a lewd burst of laughter, and several bachelors cast their eyes toward Shen Yu’s figure.
Standing at the front of the crowd, Lin Qichuan looked heartbroken. “Shen Yu, things have come to this; just admit it. Erliuzi might be poor, but as long as you turn over a new leaf, he’s a place for you to belong.”
He continued to drone on: “Don’t blame me for being heartless. It’s truly…”
Slap!
A sharp sound rang out.
Lin Qichuan’s right cheek was struck, and a red, muddy footprint soon emerged.
The weapon was a black cloth shoe held in Shen Yu’s hand.
It had originally been on her foot.
He stared at her in disbelief. “You… you hit me?”
“I’m hitting you, you spineless coward who wants to be a whore but still set up a chastity arch!”
Shen Yu shook the cloth shoe in her hand. Her bare foot was pale and clean as she stepped on the ground covered in husks, seemingly unbothered by the dirt.
“People strive for higher ground while water flows downward. If you want to be a city person, I won’t stop you. We could have parted ways amicably. But what you absolutely should not have done was conspire with others to smear my name!”
She took a step forward. Fearing another blow, Lin Qichuan instinctively took a step back.
“You say I was in the cornfield with Erliuzi? Who saw it? Bring out the evidence! If you can’t, I’ll go to the commune’s Revolutionary Committee and report you for hooliganism and for defaming a martyr’s orphan!”
Shen Yu’s father had died in the line of duty. Given this status, normally no one would dare touch her.
It was just that the original Shen Yu was foolish and never knew how to use it, allowing these people to manipulate her as they pleased.
“And you!” Shen Yu turned her head, pointing at Liu Guihua.
Liu Guihua shuddered. “What… what are you doing? Erliuzi knows about the mole on your body…”
“Every time I go to the bathhouse, don’t you, Liu Guihua, wish your eyes were glued to me? You know how many moles I have better than I do! What, did I sleep with you too?”
Shen Yu sneered, raising the cloth shoe as if to strike.
Liu Guihua let out a terrified shriek, clutching her head as she dove into the crowd.
“I, Shen Yu, stand tall and act with integrity. From this day forward, I am finished with the Lin family! If anyone dares to gossip again, I won’t mind going to the commune or the county. Slandering a woman’s reputation to drive her to her death is a crime that can get you shot!”
Among the torrent of words, the crowd ignored everything else and only heard the words “get you shot.”
Terrified, they pulled their heads in and fell silent.
Watching a spectacle was one thing, but no one was willing to gamble with their lives.
Erliuzi, the scoundrel who had been hiding in the shadows, saw that Lin Qichuan couldn’t control the situation and slunk out with a shifty look.
He had taken money from the Lin family and had to seal the deal tonight. Even if it meant ruining her reputation, as long as he got this woman home and beat her a few times behind closed doors, she would become submissive.
“Sister Shen, don’t be stubborn.” Erliuzi reached out, trying to grab Shen Yu’s arm. “Just accept what happened between us…”
“Accept your mother’s leg!”
Shen Yu didn’t give him a chance to get close. She raised her foot—the one still wearing a shoe—and kicked Erliuzi squarely and ruthlessly in the crotch.
She put all her strength into that kick.
Clutching his groin, Erliuzi collapsed to the ground, twitching, unable to even let out a scream.
The men watching instinctively tightened their legs, feeling a chill down below.
The village secretary, Wang Dashan, saw the mess and felt a massive headache coming on.
He hadn’t wanted to show his face, planning to wait until Lin Qichuan finished the job before stepping in to wrap things up. He hadn’t expected things to turn out like this. If he didn’t intervene now, it would be impossible to fix.
“Secretary Wang, it’s good that you’re here.”
Shen Yu pointed at the writhing Erliuzi on the ground and at Lin Qichuan, whose face was already swollen.
“Someone is openly acting like a hooligan and attempting to coerce the child of a martyr. Will you handle this? If you won’t, I’ll go to the military district headquarters tomorrow morning to find a leader to settle this. I heard the new commander hates those who bully the innocent. Why don’t we go and try our luck?”
Secretary Wang’s expression darkened.
This bratty girl actually knew how to use big titles to pressure him? Was the military district headquarters somewhere one could just wander into?
If this truly blew up, could he even keep his position as secretary?
Furthermore, Lin Qichuan was supposed to become his son-in-law. If his reputation was ruined, how could his daughter show her face?
“Nonsense! Everyone disperse! What are you doing out here late at night!” Wang Dashan waved his hands to drive the crowd away, glaring fiercely at Lin Qichuan and Liu Guihua. “Get back home, now!”
Lin Qichuan covered his face and exchanged a glance with Liu Guihua before slinking away.
The crowd gradually thinned out, everyone giving Shen Yu a wide berth for fear of getting kicked.
Shen Yu stood on the empty threshing floor, a thin layer of sweat on her body.
She reached into her pocket; there were only a few crumpled grain coupons and two cents.
She had won this battle, but she couldn’t stay in this godforsaken place.
The Lin family and the secretary were in league with each other; they would surely try to make her life miserable in the future.
Just as she was thinking, she felt a gaze from a distance.
At the edge of the threshing floor, a jeep with its engine off sat in the shadows.
A rear window was rolled down, and a well-defined hand rested on the edge, a half-burned cigarette between the fingers.
The man wore a military uniform, his cap pulled low, obscuring his features.
In the front seat, the guard, Xiao Zhang, gasped. “Commander, that female comrade is quite spicy. If that kick just now had been any more off-center, that man would probably never have children.”
Gu Huai’an exhaled a cloud of smoke, his gaze fixed on Shen Yu. “Now that’s interesting.”
“What do you mean? You think she fought well?”
“Anyone who doesn’t fight back when bullied is a coward. This woman has some fire in her.”
Gu Huai’an crushed his cigarette out on the window frame. “Drive.”
“We’re not going to the village chief’s house to talk about the land anymore?”
“No. There’s nothing to discuss with a village official who tolerates rumors for personal gain. Let him wait for a few days.”
Two beams of strong light swept across the threshing floor. Shen Yu squinted against the headlights, her heart skipping a beat.
A jeep, military license plate.
In this day and age, anyone who could ride in a car like that was definitely a big shot.
Two words flashed in Shen Yu’s mind: Power, Safety.
She pulled her shoe back on and bolted toward the dirt road.
“Wait!”
She couldn’t stay in the Xiangyang Brigade.
On the surface, Wang Dashan had taken everyone away, but he was definitely stewing in his bad intentions, thinking of how to deal with her.
Right now, she was just an orphan girl. If a real conflict broke out, she likely wouldn’t win. She needed to find a backer.
She had to catch that car.