Fortunately, Wei Ran didn’t spare Miao Qing a single glance and walked straight into the room.
She had come to deliver medicine to Chang Rufan—specifically, she had asked around in the village and bought black plaster from the lame old doctor in the neighboring brigade. It was the most effective treatment for bruises and sprains.
Zhang Jingshan was deeply moved. He thought Wei Ran was truly a good comrade—Chang Rufan was never nice to her, yet she still showed such concern.
Chang Rufan would rather die in pain than use it. Don’t think she couldn’t see through it—Wei Ran was only doing this to win Jingshan’s favor, not for her sake at all.
Zhang Jingshan could tolerate Chang Rufan being willful and unreasonable with him, because they had grown up together.
When his parents were too busy with work to look after him, he’d always eaten at Chang Rufan’s house. Her parents treated him almost as well as their own son.
But he couldn’t accept Chang Rufan throwing tantrums at others—especially at someone showing her kindness.
A person should have at least basic manners. His upbringing wouldn’t allow him to tolerate such outrageous behavior, so he gave Chang Rufan a stern scolding.
Chang Rufan was even more heartbroken—not because Zhang Jingshan had yelled at her, but because he’d done it right in front of Wei Ran.
The two fell out. Chang Rufan threw the black plaster away and kicked both Zhang Jingshan and Wei Ran out of the room.
Wei Ran had achieved her goal, yet she still pretended to be magnanimous, urging Zhang Jingshan not to take Chang Rufan too seriously, saying she was just speaking rashly in the heat of anger.
Her “comforting” only made Zhang Jingshan angrier.
He had originally been reluctant to just leave Chang Rufan alone like that, but now he felt she needed to learn a lesson—he couldn’t keep indulging her. He turned and walked off.
Wei Ran hurried after him, unable to hide the smile on her face. Miao Qing watched and nodded approvingly.
See? She’d said it—men always fell for that kind of act. Chang Rufan, with her explosive temper, was no match for Wei Ran.
Having had her fill of the drama, Miao Qing was about to get up and check out the private plot at Taohua’s house when she saw someone else returning.
He walked with a swagger, one hand in his pocket, his collar buttons always undone to show off his collarbones. A fountain pen was clipped to the pocket of his Sun Yat-sen jacket, and whenever a young woman or newlywed glanced his way, he’d flash a smile. Even his gaze at a peach blossom looked downright affectionate.
Fang Mingyuan—a scumbag who practically had “womanizer” written all over his face.
Even though she didn’t like Chang Rufan, Miao Qing couldn’t leave a girl with a sprained ankle alone in a room with Fang Mingyuan.
She pushed the door open, got on the kang, closed her eyes, and pretended to sleep while cultivating.
Chang Rufan hurriedly wiped away her tears and snot, but seeing that Miao Qing had already lain down to sleep, she couldn’t help muttering under her breath,
“Is she a pig? All she does is sleep all day.”
But with someone else in the room, Chang Rufan still had her pride. She was too embarrassed to keep crying, so she just sulked in silence.
Fang Mingyuan came in with a concerned look and pulled out a tube of ointment to hand to Chang Rufan.
“I brought this from home. It’s very effective for sprains and strains—give it a try.”
Chang Rufan took it and mumbled a thank you. Fang Mingyuan took the opportunity to sit down next to her and said,
“On my way back, I ran into Zhang Jingshan and Wei Ran. The two of them… well, don’t take it too hard. He’s not worth it.”
Miao Qing curled her lip in disdain. That was some blatant stirring of the pot.
But Chang Rufan was too naive to catch on. She actually took Fang Mingyuan for a good guy and started pouring her heart out to him.
She blabbed about everything—how Zhang Jingshan’s father was about to enter the provincial committee, which work units her parents were in, what connections her family had, and how she could go back to the city immediately if it weren’t for Zhang Jingshan.
She held nothing back, spilling every last detail.
Miao Qing was speechless. After laying bare all her family’s assets, there was no way Fang Mingyuan would let her go now.
Sure enough, after learning that Chang Rufan’s father worked in the Organization Department, her mother at a newspaper, and her uncle was a regiment commander in the military, Fang Mingyuan’s attitude toward her grew even more eager.
The two of them carried on—one venting with gusto, the other offering earnest consolations—completely forgetting that someone else was sleeping right there.
When Miao Qing saw Fang Mingyuan’s shameless hand creep onto Chang Rufan’s shoulder, just short of pulling her into his arms, she couldn’t hold back any longer. She sat up abruptly and shouted,
“So noisy!”
Chang Rufan’s body stiffened. Fang Mingyuan jumped in surprise.
Good grief—he’d only just realized there was someone else in the room.
Miao Qing slowly got off the kang and put on her shoes. She cast a sidelong glance at Chang Rufan and sneered with disdain,
“I’m not interrupting… you two… dating.”
She could say four words now! La la la la—so happy!
Chang Rufan’s face dramatically changed. Only then did she notice how close Fang Mingyuan was and that his hand was on her shoulder. Flustered, angry, and embarrassed, she shoved him away and snapped,
“Why are you so close to me?
Who told you to put your paw on my shoulder?”
Fang Mingyuan was pushed back off balance. As he reached for the edge of the kang to steady himself, his foot somehow slipped, and he stumbled again—this time landing on his rear end.
Miao Qing laughed out loud, as brazenly as if the soybean she’d flicked to make him slip hadn’t been thrown by her at all.
Fang Mingyuan was still young and not yet thick-skinned enough to withstand such humiliation. With everyone laughing at him, he had no face left to stay. He scrambled to his feet, pretended to be angry at being misunderstood, and stormed out.
Chang Rufan looked a bit lost. Miao Qing had no intention of comforting her—she only knew how to rile her up.
“You two… get together…
Wei Ran… can then… be with… Zhang Jingshan.”
Chang Rufan was stunned for a moment, then nearly jumped up in rage.
“Who’s getting together with him?! I don’t even like him!
I only like Jingshan. We grew up together—of course we’re going to end up together.
Wei Ran isn’t worthy…”
Miao Qing picked at her ear and swayed her way out.
How terrifying jealousy was. Even if only to keep Wei Ran from getting what she wanted, Chang Rufan wouldn’t give up on Zhang Jingshan so easily.
Compared to Wei Ran, Chang Rufan was still the lesser evil.
Zhang Jingshan was a decent person—Miao Qing supposed she’d indirectly helped him out too.
Good deed done without leaving a name—what a wonderful person she was!
The private vegetable plot was just west of Taohua’s house—a long, narrow strip of slope land, less than ten meters long and just over a meter wide, smaller than a single cave dwelling.
Tietui and Taohua treasured it dearly, because anything grown on the private plot didn’t have to be handed over to the team—it all belonged to them.
But despite their careful tending, the vegetables they grew were underwhelming.
Other people’s cabbages had already formed heads and their radishes had grown big and stout, but the vegetables in their plot were still small, wilted, and barely hanging on. Taohua was so anxious she wished she could water them every single day.
When Miao Qing arrived, Taohua was huffing and puffing, carrying a bucket of water up the slope.
She was so small, but the wooden bucket was big and heavy. She was drenched in sweat, and even the water she managed to haul up only watered a few plants.
Even so, she kept running back and forth, watering one plant at a time.
As if she weren’t watering vegetables, but hope itself.
Miao Qing felt a pang in her heart. She’d heard Tietui say that pumpkins cost two cents a catty in the village, and cabbages and radishes cost one cent. If you bought in bulk, you could get an even better deal.
Even if everything in this plot grew perfectly, the total harvest would only be two or three hundred catties—just two or three yuan.
That was less than the price of two catties of White Rabbit creamy candy. And yet they put in so much effort, with no guarantee of success.
The gap between city and countryside in this era was immense. Their lives were so hard.
Miao Qing couldn’t change any of that. All she could do was secretly channel a bit of her ability into the vegetables Taohua had just watered.
She’d only intended to accelerate their growth, but accidentally discovered that the plants were on the verge of being killed by over-fertilization.