“Thank you.”
Song Yunqiao said gratefully. She had only planned to try her luck, but she hadn’t expected there would really be a letter for her.
He Suxia waved it off casually. “It’s nothing.”
Song Yunqiao eagerly opened the envelope. There were two pages, filled entirely with words of concern for her. Judging by the timing, the letter must have been written before they received her previous one. No matter what, the fact that they wrote back meant her uncle hadn’t given up on her—there was still hope for her to return to the city.
With this letter, Song Yunqiao’s mood improved greatly.
The next morning, when she woke up, her ankle was still swollen. He Suxia helped her ask for a day off, and Song Yunqiao didn’t try to push herself.
When He Suxia went to request leave, Jiang Jiyuan happened to be nearby hoeing the ground. When he heard that Song Yunqiao had sprained her ankle and couldn’t work, his grip on the hoe tightened unconsciously.
At first, the production team leader didn’t have a good impression of Song Yunqiao. She looked too delicate—clearly not someone easy to deal with. But over the past half month, she had been steady and hadn’t caused any trouble, so he agreed to her leave without hesitation.
That night, Li Gouzi had just come out of a widow’s house in the village when, after only a few steps, a sack was suddenly thrown over his head. He was dragged into the woods and beaten badly.
The beating was so severe that he couldn’t get out of bed for three days. Most importantly, he never saw who attacked him.
Since Li Gouzi skipping work wasn’t unusual, his absence didn’t attract any attention.
Instead, what caused a stir in the village was the rumor about An Yanyan and Wu Hongliang.
Wu Hongliang liked An Yanyan and had privately approached her several times. Each time, he brought food—eggs, and once even half a bowl of chicken. At first, An Yanyan refused, but she couldn’t keep resisting him, and eventually accepted the items.
As this happened more often, people began to notice. The rumors grew more exaggerated, eventually claiming that the two were in a relationship.
Meanwhile, things had been going missing from Wu Hongliang’s home. His mother, Aunt Yang, had noticed. Whenever she asked, he said he had eaten them himself. It wasn’t until she heard the rumors that she realized what was going on.
When the production team leader found out, he was so angry he tried to hit him with a shoe.
“Behave yourself! Don’t you dare go bothering those female educated youths!”
Wu Dexiang warned his youngest son.
Wu Hongliang wasn’t afraid of his father at all. He stiffened his neck and said, “I like Comrade An. I want to marry her!”
“Get lost!”
Wu Dexiang threw the shoe at him.
Wu Hongliang dodged it skillfully while Aunt Yang stepped in to stop them.
“What are you doing? He just likes a girl—why are you so angry?”
Aunt Yang defended her son.
Wu Dexiang snapped, “Don’t you know what kind of person he is? She’s a girl from the city—why would she ever choose him!”
“What kind of father talks about his own son like that? My son is great—more than enough girls would want to marry him!”
Aunt Yang was fiercely protective.
“Him? Give me a break!”
Wu Dexiang sat down angrily.
Seeing that he had stopped hitting, Aunt Yang went to pick up the cloth shoe.
Wu Hongliang complained, “Dad, why do you look down on me so much?”
Wu Dexiang snorted. “If you want me to respect you, then act like a decent human being!”
Wu Hongliang gave up arguing with his father and turned to his more approachable mother.
“Mom, I really like Comrade An. Can you go propose for me?”
“Alright, I’ll go to the educated youth dormitory tomorrow.”
Aunt Yang doted on her youngest son.
“You’re not going!” Wu Dexiang shouted.
Wu Hongliang threatened, “Let me make this clear—I will only marry Comrade An in this lifetime!”
“Fine, then stay single forever!”
Wu Dexiang wasn’t intimidated at all.
Feeling wronged, Wu Hongliang stormed out.
“What’s the point of talking about your son like that?” Aunt Yang reproached.
“Overindulgent mothers spoil their sons. Look what he’s become under your care,” Wu Dexiang retorted.
The Wu family had five children—two sons and three daughters. The eldest son was steady and already helping in the production team. The two daughters were married. Only the youngest son, Wu Hongliang, and the youngest daughter, Wu Yuzhen, were still unmarried. The youngest daughter was studying in the county and only came home during holidays.
Besides the elderly couple, Wu Honghai’s wife and child also lived at home. At first, the daughter-in-law would step in when her father-in-law and brother-in-law argued, but it happened too often, so she stopped bothering—mainly because the younger brother-in-law was too troublesome.
The next day, Aunt Yang went to the educated youth dormitory behind Wu Dexiang’s back.
She had already found out that An Yanyan had taken the day off.
When Aunt Yang knocked on the door, Song Yunqiao happened to be coming out. Hearing a middle-aged woman’s voice, she opened the door.
Seeing it was Song Yunqiao, Aunt Yang smiled and asked, “Comrade Song, is Comrade An here?”
Before Song Yunqiao could answer, An Yanyan came out.
Standing beside Aunt Yang, Song Yunqiao clearly saw the excitement in Aunt Yang’s eyes the moment she saw An Yanyan. She quickly walked over, grabbed An Yanyan’s hand, and began talking enthusiastically.
Aunt Yang looked delighted, while An Yanyan seemed completely caught off guard.
“Comrade Song, I’d like to have a word with Comrade An. Would you mind…?”
Aunt Yang hadn’t forgotten that Song Yunqiao was still there.
“Go ahead. I’ll take a walk,” Song Yunqiao said.
She went back inside, took a few yuan and a pair of scissors, and left.
She carried the scissors for self-defense. After all, aside from the kitchen knife, they were the only thing she could find that might be useful—she had truly been frightened by Li Gouzi.
After two days of rest, along with applying medicinal wine and soaking her foot in spiritual spring water, her ankle had mostly recovered.
This time, she didn’t encounter anyone on the way. She went to Aunt Liu’s house again, bought some eggs, and also purchased a basket—she had lost He Suxia’s basket last time, so this one was to make up for it.
After buying the eggs, she hesitated for a moment about whether to head back, when she saw Aunt Yang approaching with an unpleasant expression.
They were some distance apart, and Aunt Yang didn’t notice her.
Without hesitation, Song Yunqiao turned and headed back to the dormitory.
When she returned, she saw that An Yanyan didn’t look well. But upon seeing Song Yunqiao, An Yanyan turned and went straight into the kitchen.
Song Yunqiao: “…”
She had no time to worry about An Yanyan. She put some of the eggs into the cabinet, left a few in the basket, then took out a packet of brown sugar and a pack of biscuits from her trunk and placed them in the basket.
Satisfied, she picked up the basket and headed out again.