“Secretary... be careful.” Shen Zhao, lying on the ground, added a belated warning.
The Village Party Secretary snapped back to reality, wiped the farm fertilizer from his face, and was so angry he almost fainted.
“Educated Youth Shen! Did you do that on purpose!”
Shen Zhao chuckled, “How could I possibly…”
The next second, a series of yelps and shouts could be heard, and Shen Zhao immediately rolled to the side.
The Village Party Secretary instinctively looked up, wanting to see who was causing trouble again, only to have a dung bucket fly at him, drenching his head and body once more.
Ji Bai said apologetically, “Sorry, Village Party Secretary.”
It was winter, and getting soaked like this would definitely lead to a cold.
The stench of the feces water spread, and the villagers working nearby stared in disbelief.
After a moment of stunned silence, they stopped working, dropped their tools, and jumped onto the field ridge to watch the spectacle.
“Village Party Secretary, are you alright?”
“Quick, someone help! The Village Party Secretary is covered in feces!”
Everyone chattered, but not a single person had the courage to step forward and help the Village Party Secretary.
It was simply… too smelly.
In just a short while, everyone working in the vicinity had arrived.
Aunt Gui Xiang shouted the loudest, “Oh my, the Village Party Secretary is an old man about to enter the grave, you people are too much!”
Zhou Xiaoyan was also working in the area, her face filled with malice. The Village Party Secretary was known for his poor character and held grudges.
Shen Zhao and the others were in trouble.
“Educated Youth Shen, even if you didn’t want to work, you didn’t have to retaliate against the Village Party Secretary like this.”
Shen Zhao picked up the dung bucket and threw it, “Oops! My hand slipped.”
“You…”
Zhou Xiaoyan, enduring the foul stench, her eyes darted around, and she shouted down the mountain, “Meifang, your dad is being bullied!”
Tan Meifang was also nearby cutting grass.
Hearing someone shout about what happened to the Village Party Secretary, she quickly ran over with her sickle. She saw the Village Party Secretary covered in stench, trembling in the wind.
Meanwhile, Shen Zhao stood nearby with an innocent expression.
Her face turned red with anger, and she charged forward with her sickle, “You splashed my dad, I’ll fight you!”
Shen Zhao rolled on the ground to dodge, and Ji Bai took the opportunity to throw the remaining half bucket of feces.
“Ah!!!” Tan Meifang was furious.
In her entire life, she had never smelled anything so foul.
At this moment, Gu Qiu’s panting voice rang out, “Village Party Secretary, we’re here to help you!”
She and two others also carried dung buckets on their shoulders, panting like oxen. Shen Zhao had run too fast, and they couldn’t keep up.
That’s why they had only just arrived.
The three of them dropped their shoulder poles and picked up dung buckets, “How dare you bully the Village Party Secretary, we’ll get revenge for you.”
The Village Party Secretary and Tan Meifang looked at the three with gratitude.
…Educated youths are sometimes quite good.
Just as she finished her thought, another bucket of feces landed on her. Tan Meifang looked bewildered, “Educated Youth Gu, where are you throwing that!”
Gu Qiu acted as if she hadn’t heard, all the while complaining about the Village Party Secretary and splashing feces everywhere.
Not a single person present was spared.
Everyone scrambled to dodge, afraid of getting even a speck on them.
Shen Zhao was not to be outdone, picking up a dung bucket and shouting as she threw it back, but it landed at the Village Party Secretary’s feet.
The five of them, holding their buckets, splashed everywhere like they were having a water fight, yet not a drop landed on them.
However, everyone on the hillside was not so lucky.
Some people, gagging, scrambled to find the Team Leader.
“Team Leader, it’s bad! The new educated youths have gone mad!”
“Help!”
He Jianping rushed over in a panic. Seeing the scene before him, he wished he could faint on the spot.
“Stop! All of you, stop!”
The five quickly dropped their dung buckets and stood in a neat line.
Tan Meifang was crying with anger, “Team Leader, you must punish them severely, they’ve gone too far!”
Shen Zhao mumbled, looking down, “Cry, cry, cry, you’re crying away all your good fortune.”
Tan Meifang froze, unsure whether to cry or not, “Team Leader, look at her!”
Before He Jianping could speak,
Gu Qiu chimed in, “Bad omen.”
Wang Nan wanted to join the group, but after a moment’s thought, she blurted out, “Useless thing.”
Shen Zhao and Gu Qiu looked at her in unison, shocked.
When you get fierce, you even curse yourself?
“Alright, all of you, shut up!”
He Jianping got a headache just seeing Shen Zhao, and seeing the five of them gave him an even worse one.
Then he saw his lifelong rival and partner—the Village Party Secretary, soaked from head to toe, slumped on the field ridge as if he were dying.
He wanted to laugh… but he couldn’t.
“It’s cold, and it’s easy to catch a cold. Everyone go back and take a bath and change your clothes. We’ll deal with this later.”
“Disperse, quickly!”
At his words, the crowd finally realized how smelly they were, and the crowd dispersed in a rush, leaving only the grim-faced Village Party Secretary.
Of everyone present, Shen Zhao and the other four were probably the cleanest.
But they were also almost pickled.
He Jianping covered his nose, “You five… get lost!”
“Yes!” Shen Zhao nimbly rolled away. After a few steps, she suddenly turned back, “Team Leader, we’ve completed the task you assigned us.”
“What?” He Jianping looked bewildered.
The Village Party Secretary’s gloomy eyes suddenly turned to He Jianping, “You, you’re insidious!”
He Jianping: …It’s bad, I’ve been tricked by those brats.
Shen Zhao and the others parted ways at the fork in the road, humming as she walked towards the He family’s house.
The He family and Tan family’s land had always been clearly demarcated, each managing their own affairs.
This time, the Team Leader had arranged for them, and according to the rules, they should have been assigned to the He family’s land.
The slope where she worked yesterday belonged to the He family, and the Team Leader had overseen it.
The place they worked today was not far from yesterday’s, and it also belonged to the He family.
How did it end up being arranged by the Village Party Secretary?
In this matter, even if the Team Leader wasn’t directly involved, he was definitely complicit through negligence.
If not him, then who else?
As educated youths, one must retaliate for every grievance.
……
That day, half the households in Leiguping Brigade were boiling water to take a bath.
It was a scene comparable to the Spring Festival.
Before, they would only bathe once every one or two months.
Therefore, Shen Zhao and the other four became famous overnight, known as the ‘Troublemaker Five.’
They became the most untouchable five people at the Educated Youth Point.
Mainly, if you provoked others, it would probably just be an argument, or at worst, a fight, pulling each other’s hair.
But provoking them could disgust someone to death.
He Family
Shen Zhao also took a bath and washed her hair. She was sitting by the fire, applying hair oil to her hair.
The original owner’s hair was dry and yellow; it would take some effort to restore it.
She even wanted to make her own hair oil…
He Jianping returned home in a huff. As soon as he entered the door, he saw her with her hair down, looking up eerily like a female ghost.
…All his anger and energy drained away instantly.
“Team Leader, what’s wrong?”
He Jianping’s face turned pale, then red. “Um, I’ll give you all a day off. Don’t catch a cold.”
“Then thank you, Team Leader!” Shen Zhao nodded.
Her voice was clear and melodious, like the tinkling of spring water.
To He Jianping’s ears, however, it sounded like he was seeing the chaotic days ahead.
He turned and walked out, “I’m going to see how the construction of your houses is going.”
Get these troublemakers out of here quickly.
Shen Zhao smiled, screwed the cap back on the hair oil, and got up to go back to her room to get a piece of lean meat to take to the kitchen.
“Xiao Lan~ How about shredded pork noodles for lunch today?”
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