Just as the sky began to show the faintest glimmer of dawn, rustling sounds broke out inside the educated youth quarters.
Shen Zhiyi packed her belongings amidst an oppressive silence.
Half of the long communal brick bed was already empty. A few female youths sat or stood nearby, their eyes darting back and forth between her and her large cloth bag. No one spoke, yet the cold silence was far more piercing than any loud curse.
Zhou Xiaohong leaned against the doorframe, looking as though she wanted to say something several times. In the end, she merely let out a quiet sigh and didn’t dare approach.
Shen Zhiyi folded her last shirt and laid it inside her leather suitcase.
“Oh, so you’re really moving out of the youth quarters?”
A sharp, shrill voice jabbed in from the doorway.
Li Xiufen stood leaning against the frame with her arms crossed, her braid resting over her chest, a sneer plastered unashamedly across her face. “Shen, you’d better think this through. Getting married off might be easy, but if you ever want to head back to the city later, it’s going to be near impossible.”
Shen Zhiyi remained silent, snapping the clasps of her suitcase shut.
“If you ask me, you’re just too stubborn,” Li Xiufen said, taking a few steps forward. “Passing up a catch like Lin, only to go marry a ne’er-do-well. What’s the matter? Got tired of living in the city and came to the countryside just to sample some suffering?”
Nearby, several female youths exchanged glances. Some lowered their heads; others covered their mouths to hide a smirk.
Shen Zhiyi gripped the handgrip of her suitcase tightly, determined not to pay them any mind.
She straightened up and heaved the heavy luggage. The handle bit into her palm until her fingers went numb. Without accepting help from anyone, she kept her head lowered and made for the door.
Just as she reached the courtyard gateway, a shadow stepped in to block her path.
It was Lin Yanzhou.
His expression was dark as storm clouds. He stared at Shen Zhiyi for a long moment before suddenly letting out a cold laugh. “Shen Zhiyi, does your family know about this decision?”
Shen Zhiyi paused in her tracks.
“Does the Shen family back in Beijing know that you’re giving up your position as a proper educated youth just to marry a rural slacker?”
Shen Zhiyi felt so angry she almost laughed. When Ye Youde harassed her every few days, Lin Yanzhou had been blind to it; when the village spread vile rumors about her, he had been deaf to it. Yet now that she was getting married, he suddenly popped out to play the hero.
Lin Yanzhou took a step closer, pressing her. “If your parents found out, how furious do you think they’d be? What are you after here? His awful reputation? His family being so dirt-poor they can barely keep the stove burning? Or are you just…”
He paused, his eyes scraping ruthlessly over her face, before spitting out the final words:
“…looking to ruin yourself?”
A few sharp gasps echoed across the yard, followed by a flurry of whispered gossip.
Standing behind Lin Yanzhou with her arms crossed, Li Xiufen pursed her lips and muttered softly, “Picked and chose all this time, only to end up with the worst scum in the whole village. You’ll be crying your eyes out later.”
Shen Zhiyi lifted her head to look at Lin Yanzhou, her eyes turning red in an instant.
Memories flashed through her mind—of him picking pomegranates for her last year, of him riding his bicycle with her through the sycamore-lined avenues. Back then, he had been so sincere, so passionate.
Yet right now, she found this man entirely foreign. A overwhelming wave of grievance surged up from her chest, choking her throat tight.
“Lin Yanzhou.”
“Whether I ruin myself or not has nothing to do with you anymore.”
“How does it have nothing to do with me?” Lin Yanzhou scoffed. “You chased after me all the way down to the countryside, and now you turn around to marry a local slacker. Where am I supposed to hide my face when word gets out? Shen Zhiyi, stop being so willful. Just apologize to me, and I’ll—”
“She hasn’t done anything wrong, and she doesn’t need to apologize to anyone.”
A low, raspy voice cut in from outside the gate.
Ye Yu had arrived at the entrance of the youth quarters at some unknown moment.
Her gaze bypassed the stubborn girl and landed straight on Lin Yanzhou’s face.
That look was detached and devoid of emotion, yet it sent a cold shiver down Lin Yanzhou’s spine. Pricked by the intensity of that glare, he flinched and instinctively took a half-step back.
Ye Yu strode into the courtyard and reached out to take the suitcase from Shen Zhiyi’s hand.
Carrying the heavy leather case in one hand, she held her other hand lightly behind Shen Zhiyi’s back, standing like a lean, unyielding shield.
“Move.” Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an intimidating pressure that made one’s scalp tingle.
Lin Yanzhou opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but Ye Yu was already guiding Shen Zhiyi past him with long strides.
As she brushed past his shoulder, she brought a gust of wind with her.
Following behind Ye Yu, Shen Zhiyi stared at that thin yet upright back. The tears she had been holding back finally broke free, silently streaming down her cheeks.
For the first time since coming to this village, someone had stood in front of her to shield her.
Day was just breaking by the time Ye Yu brought her back home.
Setting the suitcase down in the main room, Ye Yu shifted her gaze away in slight discomfort. “The house… is just like this. Have a seat first.”
Shen Zhiyi wiped away her tears and sat on the rickety wooden bench, scanning the room.
Aside from two wobbly benches and a battered, peeling table, the main room was entirely bare.
Remembering the items she had brought, she bent down and pulled a thick handkerchief out from the bottom of her suitcase. Unfolding it, she tipped out a pile of cash and coupons.
With a crisp rustle, a small mountain formed on the table.
Nationwide food coupons, cloth coupons, industrial vouchers, oil coupons, alongside a neat stack of ten-yuan bills—totaling well over three hundred yuan.
In this era, it was a massive fortune.
Ye Yu had been crouching in the corner picking at a loose adobe brick, retrieving a small cloth pouch holding four or five yuan—all the money the original owner of this body had saved.
When she turned around and saw the stack of money and coupons on the table, her entire body froze.
“You…” She rasped, her voice dry. “What did you bring all this out for?”
This foolish girl… just exposing her entire life savings to someone like this, completely undefended against the world.
“My family gave it to me,” Shen Zhiyi whispered, the tips of her ears flushing slightly red. “They were worried I’d suffer in the countryside, so they gave it to me for emergencies.”
“Take a look and see what we need.”
Seeing how empty the place was, she figured they would need to purchase quite a lot.
Ye Yu looked down at the crumpled bills in her own hand, then up at the thick stack of cash on the table. Suddenly, the money in her palm felt scalding hot.
She walked over, leaving the pile untouched. Instead, she placed her own small cloth pouch on the corner of the table, drawing a clear line between her few yuan and Shen Zhiyi’s fortune.
“For buying the bed, the cooking pot, and daily necessities today, just pull out whatever coupons and cash we need for those,” Ye Yu said, her low voice carrying an unquestionable seriousness. “Put the rest away and keep it safe.”
Shen Zhiyi was taken aback. “But aren’t we…?”
“Aren’t we what?” Ye Yu looked up at her.
The heat spread to Shen Zhiyi’s ears, and she lowered her head. “…in this together.”
Bringing out the money had partly been a test on her end. Seeing how dependable this person was proving to be, she felt she could put her mind a bit more at ease for now.
Ye Yu remained silent for a moment, her eyes shifting away from the pile of cash.
“I’m poor right now; I only have these few yuan,” she spoke up, her voice subdued with a frankness that verged on awkwardness. “I’ll keep track of what you spend. Later on… once I earn enough work points, I’ll pay you back bit by bit.”
She paused, suddenly remembering that Qinghe County—and this very Ye Family Village—would eventually become a hotbed of demolition and urban development following the reform and opening-up policy.
When that time came, this land would turn into prime real estate, surging with countless opportunities and immense wealth.
She didn’t know the exact year it would happen, but she knew it was 1976 now—it wouldn’t be long.
“Really,” she added. “I’ll pay you back.”
“Also… don’t go showing your savings to people next time. When you’re in an unfamiliar place or around strangers, you can’t flaunt your wealth, understand?”
Watching her cautious, protective demeanor, Shen Zhiyi suddenly felt a soft warmth blossom in her heart. She cares about me.
How utterly ironic—Yanzhou, the childhood friend she grew up with, had turned a blind eye to her distress, while a stranger was standing here offering her gentle, protective advice.
“I know,” Shen Zhiyi said softly.
She sorted through the stack, pulling out the industrial vouchers and the coupons they would need, along with twenty yuan, and pushed them gently toward Ye Yu. “Use these… for today.”
Ye Yu stared at the twenty yuan for a moment before extending her hand to take it. She folded the bills neatly and tucked them into her inner pocket.
“Let’s go,” she said, standing up. “We’ll head to the brigade leader’s house first to get the permission letter, then go straight to the commune.”
On the way to the brigade leader’s home, the morning sun rose high, warming the backs of their necks.
Li Chunjiang, the production brigade leader, sat behind a wooden desk. He glanced at Ye Yu, then at Shen Zhiyi, before knocking his tobacco pipe loudly against the tabletop.
“Are you two… serious about this?”
“We’re serious,” Ye Yu replied, standing tall with a calm tone. “Please write us the permission letter, Brigade Leader. We’re going to the commune to register the marriage.”
“Nonsense!”
Li Chunjiang frowned, slamming his pipe onto the desk. “Youth Shen, you come from the city—do you even know what you’re doing? You don’t know Ye Yu’s situation? The biggest slacker in the whole village! Idle, lazy, slippery…”
“I know,” Shen Zhiyi spoke up, her head lifted. Her voice was soft, but remarkably steady.
The brigade leader stared at her for a long while before letting out a sudden sigh. His tone softened into a well-meaning lecture:
“Youth Shen, I’m saying this for your own good. You’re a good girl—educated, with a bright future ahead of you. It’s not like our village… doesn’t have better young men.”
He paused, tapping his pipe against the edge of the desk, hinting subtly:
“Take Youde, for instance. He’s the brigade accountant, earns plenty of work points, has prestige, and he’s warm-hearted and well-liked around the village. He’s always… cared quite a bit about you. Wouldn’t you be a hundred times better off with him than with a local ne’er-do-well?”
Standing to the side, Ye Yu curled her fingers tightly at her side, her eyes turning cold.
Yet Shen Zhiyi suddenly looked straight at the brigade leader and spoke in a clear, ringing voice:
“Brigade Leader, Ye Yu is not a ne’er-do-well.”
She wasn’t blind—she could tell who was sincere and who meant harm. That Ye Youde, who spent all day idling around while harboring dirty intentions, was the real ne’er-do-well here.
Silence fell over the room for a moment.
“She works hard in the fields, doesn’t steal or cheat, and is cleaner at heart than most people.”
“I’ve made up my mind. Please write the permission letter for us.”
Stunned into speechlessness by her words, Li Chunjiang’s face flushed a deep red. In the end, he let out a heavy sigh, his hand trembling slightly as he drafted the document and stamped it with the bright red seal of the production brigade.
“What a terrible mess…”