Wu Qing, the accountant’s daughter, had been blocking Cheng Chen for several days in a row, making the villagers tease the educated youths whenever they saw them. Especially Cheng Chen—whenever people in the village saw him, they would give him knowing smiles, as if to say, we all understand.
Several times after work, Hu Jiao Jiao overheard the villagers gossiping:
“He’s too skinny, but he’s quite handsome.”
“Yeah, he doesn’t look like he can work, but Wu Qing has taken a liking to him. Maybe she’s just into his looks?”
“Honestly, with that face, if I were younger, I’d be tempted too.”
“Pfft, you old fool, dreaming big! He might not be good at farm work, but his family background must be good.”
“Exactly. Those two big bags he brought—who knows how much stuff is in them.”
“If Wu Qing marries Educated Youth Cheng, she’ll definitely live well.”
“Who knows? Maybe he won’t even like her.”
“How could he not? Wu Qing is the accountant’s youngest daughter, and she’s got a temporary job at the supply and marketing cooperative. Even if it’s temporary, she’ll likely become permanent—that’s a government job!”
“Right, right. What’s there not to like? No matter how good his family is back home, if he can’t return, he still has to dig in the dirt here.”
“That’s true. If he gets together with Wu Qing, he might even be assigned an easier job.”
Even Li Dazui came to ask when the two of them were going to get married—showing just how widespread the rumors had become.
“Aunt Li, there’s nothing going on at all. Why do you all believe it so easily?” Hu Jiao Jiao said irritably. From what she had observed at the educated youth station, Cheng Chen wasn’t in great health, but he had high standards. He wouldn’t marry casually—especially not when he clearly didn’t like the other person and she kept pestering him.
Aunt Li looked around and lowered her voice. “Since he doesn’t like her, he’d better think of a solution soon. Wu Qing is the accountant’s daughter, and she’s pretty decent-looking. She’s always had high standards in the village—aside from the village head’s daughter, no one compares. Plenty of young men are interested in her, but she insists on finding someone from the city. Now she’s set her sights on Cheng Chen. If he rejects her, things will be difficult. The accountant dotes on his youngest daughter.”
Hu Jiao Jiao stared wide-eyed at Li Dazui, surprised she could say something so insightful. She gave her a thumbs-up and handed her two White Rabbit candies. “Alright, don’t go telling others what you said. I didn’t hear anything.” Li Dazui might love gossip, but she was still someone you could get along with.
Hu Jiao Jiao wondered how Cheng Chen would handle the situation. Judging from his usual demeanor, his family must be well-off—but they were far away and couldn’t help much. In the village, aside from the team leader and the party secretary, the accountant held significant power—controlling the livelihood of the entire village. As the saying goes, “Local officials matter more than distant ones.” As long as they stayed in the village, they were under that authority. This situation wouldn’t be easy to resolve.
Back at the educated youth station, seeing Cheng Chen absentminded as usual, Hu Jiao Jiao couldn’t help but approach him. She told him everything she had heard and reminded him, “You need to handle this carefully. If you really don’t want it, you’d better find a way to make her give up. The longer you drag it out, the worse it’ll be. It’ll also make things harder for you in the village. People already don’t have a good impression of educated youths—they might make things even more difficult for you later.”
Cheng Chen nodded, indicating he understood, and thanked her—then went back to staring blankly.
“Educated Youth Cheng, come out!” While everyone was eating lunch, a commotion came from outside. They all looked up, then at Cheng Chen. The voice sounded like Wu Qing’s.
Cheng Chen tried to ignore it, but Wu Qing kept shouting, “If you don’t come out, I’ll come in!”
With a loud bang, Cheng Chen slammed his bowl down and walked out. The others followed behind him.
“Comrade Wu, I’ve said many times—we’re not suitable. Please find someone else,” Cheng Chen said helplessly.
“You say we’re not suitable, and that makes it so?” Wu Qing replied loudly. “Since I was little, there’s nothing I wanted that I couldn’t get. Just wait—you’ll marry me sooner or later.” She glanced at the other educated youths behind him, then turned and left.
Cheng Chen looked stifled and embarrassed. When he turned back and saw everyone staring at him, he wished he could dig a hole and hide. No one had a good solution; they could only advise him to be careful and not fall into her traps.
That night, Hu Jiao Jiao and the others gathered together, watching her and Zhang Yan tie broom bundles while chatting about the situation. Everyone felt Cheng Chen was quite innocent, having been targeted like this.
After Qian Shuangshuang moved into Su Yi’s dorm, she became especially talkative. She told everyone, “Don’t think villagers don’t scheme—they do—but they’re united against outsiders. In our batch, there was a girl named Liao Hongmei. She was fairly pretty, and right after arriving, a village young man took a liking to her. She rejected him, but he kept hanging around, helping her, giving her things. Even after being refused, he wouldn’t give up. Then rumors started spreading, and in the end, Liao Hongmei couldn’t bear the judgmental looks and married him.” Qian Shuangshuang took a sip of water and added, “Luckily, his family wasn’t bad. After marriage, she was assigned to work at the village primary school—much easier than farm work.”
Hu Jiao Jiao didn’t quite agree. If the man were truly decent, he wouldn’t have kept pestering her after being rejected, nor relied on rumors to force a marriage. It depended on whether Liao Hongmei had her own judgment; otherwise, any major issue in the future could break the fragile peace.
Everyone sighed. In those days, reputation mattered greatly—especially in rural areas. Female educated youths had to be particularly careful. When Hu Jiao Jiao and the others had first arrived, some villagers had considered targeting Su Yi and Gu Chenye, but seeing how close they were and sensing their distinctive, unapproachable aura, people gave up. After all, they wanted partners, not trouble.
As for Hu Jiao Jiao and Zhang Yan—one looked frail, the other seemed to have poorer conditions—so no one targeted them, sparing them a lot of trouble.
They talked for a while but came up with no real solution. After all, it was Cheng Chen’s problem, and he would have to deal with it himself.
Soon it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, their first since coming to the countryside. They pooled together what they had, and Hu Jiao Jiao cooked a hearty meal to celebrate modestly. Soon, the busiest time of the year—autumn harvest—arrived.
The educated youths were assigned many tasks: pulling peanuts, digging sweet potatoes, cutting wheat, harvesting rice. There was more wheat than rice in this area. Every day, they returned very late from work. The weight Hu Jiao Jiao had managed to gain dropped off again. If not for secretly drinking a sip of her special spring water every day, she doubted she could have endured it—it was simply too exhausting. On the bright side, she had grown a bit taller, which was some consolation.
Fortunately, the harvest season passed quickly. After half a month, the grain was finally collected—some laid out to dry, some threshed, some sliced and dried. Only the corn needed a few more days to dry before threshing.