“A handsome big brother?” Ren Chaomei had no idea who the child was talking about, so she continued asking, “What’s his name?”
The child completely ignored her question and simply chattered on about whatever he wanted to say.
“That big brother is really tall and handsome. I saw him first, but when he asked someone for directions, he asked my older brother.”
“I asked you what his name is!”
“He even has a bicycle. He rode here on a bicycle.”
“I asked you what his name is!”
“He’s here! He’s here! My second brother is bringing him over.”
Ren Chaomei helplessly took a deep breath. Following the direction the child pointed, she saw the person pushing a bicycle toward her.
It was obviously Ye Changqing.
She nervously glanced at Ren Gan Ying, who was cleaning the old house, dropped the broom in her hand, and ran toward Ye Changqing.
Standing in the distance, Ye Changqing watched Ren Chaomei running toward him like an excited puppy and somewhat awkwardly shifted his gaze away.
The scenery around Xiaoqiao Brigade was beautiful, with green mountains and clear streams.
It was just that the burned-out house he had passed on the way over looked rather jarring.
Ren Chaomei jogged all the way to Ye Changqing and immediately grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn around.
“Come on, come on. This way.”
“Why are you here? Did you come looking for me?”
Ren Chaomei was nervous and confused.
When she had left last time, she had said, “I’ll be back!” She hadn’t said, “Remember to come looking for me.”
As the one who had been pestering him, Ren Chaomei had a great deal of self-awareness.
She nervously wondered: Could Ye Changqing have already found out everything?
He had come all the way to their brigade, so he must have learned quite a lot.
Her name was Ren Chaomei, her older sister was Ren Gan Ying, and they were from the same brigade. Even their fathers’ names clearly showed that they were brothers. If he carefully pieced everything together, he would definitely notice something was wrong.
But she had made herself look like such a troublesome, difficult person. If he married Ren Gan Ying, he would have to deal with someone like her too. Ye Changqing surely wouldn’t be so irrational, would he?
While Ren Chaomei was secretly trying to figure out why Ye Changqing had come looking for her, his merciless voice suddenly sounded beside her.
“I came to collect your three-thousand-word self-criticism.”
“My three-thousand-word self-criticism?”
“You haven’t written it, have you?”
Ren Chaomei’s expression froze.
How could a mouth with a normal human temperature say something so heartless?
“I’ve been writing it, I’ve been writing it! I just haven’t finished yet.”
It had been so many days that she had completely forgotten about the self-criticism.
Who could have imagined that this man would actually chase her all the way to her brigade?
Ren Chaomei asked with a headache, “Uncle Wang sent you?”
“Mm.”
Ye Changqing originally hadn’t intended to come.
But every time he passed the police station on his way to and from work, Uncle Wang would grab him and start asking questions.
“What happened to that little hooligan? How are things between you two? I heard she even went to your house for a meal? Did you two hit it off?”
“How come there’s been no progress? You’re not getting any younger. You’d better hurry up too.”
Ye Changqing had no way to answer those questions, so he simply stopped answering them.
When he refused to speak, Uncle Wang simply gave him a task.
“That little hooligan still hasn’t handed in her three-thousand-word self-criticism. Go and chase her up for me.”
Ye Changqing refused. “I’m not going. It’s just a self-criticism. Even if you collect it, it’ll only be sold as scrap paper.”
“Your attitude isn’t right. Do you think I’m making her write a self-criticism just to punish her? No! It’s to correct this young comrade’s mistakes and guide her onto the right path. You were the one who brought her to the police station in the first place. If it weren’t for you, would I have ended up dealing with this mess?”
Uncle Wang spoke with great righteousness, but his request was completely unreasonable.
“Anyway, I don’t have time to go myself. You have to make the trip for me. Go see whether this young comrade has written her self-criticism and whether her attitude has changed.”
At work, Uncle Wang nagged him. At home, his mother, Zhang Shujun, nagged him too, telling him to return that one yuan and not take advantage of the young girl.
Unable to withstand all the nagging, Ye Changqing could only come to Xiaoqiao Brigade as soon as he had a day off.
When he arrived, he heard that Ren Chaomei’s family’s house had burned down and that while their old house was being cleaned up, the family would temporarily stay in the brigade’s granary for a few days.
No wonder she hadn’t gone back to the county town to bother me. Something had happened at home.
He had only taken a quick glance earlier, but he had already seen the partially collapsed earthen walls of the old house and its completely empty roof.
That old house clearly wasn’t suitable for living in.
And just moments ago, Ren Chaomei had been outside the old house, holding a broom and energetically smacking it against her uncle’s broom.
Ye Changqing took the initiative to ask, “You don’t get along with your uncle’s family?”
“No.” Ren Chaomei honestly admitted, “We have a terrible relationship.”
That was exactly why she had been causing trouble in the first place.
Ren Chaomei hesitated for two seconds before resigning herself to asking, “Did you come looking for me because you found out why your matchmaking attempts failed?”
As expected of someone bold enough to harass a man right out on the street—she immediately asked about his matchmaking situation.
Ye Changqing gave her a speechless look. “I’ve always known why every matchmaking attempt failed. But that doesn’t give you the right to act without restraint.”
He merely used the excuse of being ill to politely reject the women he was introduced to. He wasn’t genuinely insecure because of it.
Nor was he so desperate that the moment he met someone who didn’t mind his condition, he would rush to marry her.
That simply wasn’t his style.
Hearing his answer, Ren Chaomei sensed something was off. It didn’t sound like he had come to confront her.
She tentatively asked, “Do you still remember the name of your matchmaking partner?”
“Why are you asking?”
He didn’t answer directly.
Ren Chaomei immediately brightened and declared confidently, “You don’t remember!”
That made sense. The two of them might not even have met face-to-face. Perhaps he had only heard the woman’s name once from the matchmaker. Since the matchmaking hadn’t worked out, forgetting an unimportant name immediately was perfectly normal.
Ren Chaomei didn’t dare mention “matchmaking” again, afraid it might trigger his memory.
She changed the subject. “I haven’t finished my three-thousand-word self-criticism yet. What should I do? How about you go back and tell Uncle Wang that I’ll finish it soon—very soon—and hand it over to him.”
“Very soon?”
“Really soon. I’m not planning to shirk it. I just thought I’d finish the self-criticism the day before I got permission to take time off from the brigade. I’ve been busy these past few days and couldn’t get leave, so I didn’t hand it in. If I can’t get leave, there’s nothing I can do, right?”
Ren Chaomei promised, “Don’t worry. I’ll definitely hand it in. I’m also afraid Uncle Wang will show up at our production brigade in that uniform just to chase me for it.”
Her reputation in the production brigade was already bad enough. She was known as a troublemaker. If the police came looking for her to demand a self-criticism, her standing in the brigade would sink straight to the level of a local delinquent.
She hadn’t expected Uncle Wang to take a little self-criticism this seriously.
Seeing Ren Chaomei looking worried and sighing repeatedly, Ye Changqing curled the corner of his mouth and handed her one yuan.
“One yuan. I’m returning it to you.”
Ren Chaomei pulled her hand back instead of taking it. “You don’t need to return it. I deliberately left it there.”
“Take it.” Ye Changqing glanced at her. “You need the money more than I do right now.”
“I already said you don’t need to return it.”
Ren Chaomei not only clasped both hands behind her back but also took a step backward, making her refusal unmistakable.
Holding the money, Ye Changqing seemed to think of something. He suddenly said, “If you want to escape your current situation, getting married isn’t your only option. And I’m certainly not a good choice. You can work hard and earn work points, become a model worker, and try to earn recommendations for various study opportunities from the commune.”
“Getting married really isn’t the only option.”
Ren Chaomei liked hearing that, so she couldn’t help praising him in return.
“But don’t sell yourself short either. You’re pretty good too.”
“I’m pretty good too?” Ye Changqing raised an eyebrow. “I sent you to the police station.”
“That just proves you’re an upright person.”
Ren Chaomei gave him a thumbs-up. “You’re handsome, and you’re morally upright too. Perfect.”
Ye Changqing smiled.
There’s a knife above the word ‘lust.’
Ren Chaomei had already been struck by that knife once, yet she could still praise him like this.
Looking at Ren Chaomei’s bright, sparkling eyes, Ye Changqing suddenly felt that having someone who wholeheartedly liked him might not be a bad thing.
It was a selfish thought.
And not a particularly upright one.
But he thought that was exactly what Ren Chaomei needed. She wanted someone to marry so she could escape her family.
Dealing with romantic problems was troublesome. Listening to his elders nag him was troublesome too…
“If you date me, will you listen to me?”
“Of course not! What kind of fantasy are you having—hmm?”
Halfway through telling the truth, her rationality returned.
“Yes, yes, yes! Of course I will! You really want to date me?”
Ye Changqing remained silent for several seconds.
In the end, he relented.
He held out the one yuan to Ren Chaomei.
“If you will, then take this money back.”