Lin Zhaodi looked at the muddy puddle not far ahead, then glanced at Su Wanqing’s slender back. The malice in her eyes almost seemed tangible.
It’s all because of that bitch!
If it weren’t for her, how would I have only gotten half a work credit!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and a vicious idea surged in her mind.
She deliberately slowed her pace. When Su Wanqing reached the edge of the puddle, Lin Zhaodi suddenly sped up.
【Watch out! That idiot is going to crash into you! Move to the left, use your elbow to push her!】
The warning in her mind’s “bullet screen” came at the perfect moment.
Su Wanqing’s eyes cooled, but her face still wore that innocent expression, chatting and laughing with Li Xiu.
A trace of cruelty flashed in Lin Zhaodi’s eyes. She feigned carelessness, then abruptly rammed into Su Wanqing’s back!
She had calculated the angle.
This hit would definitely send that little bitch Su Wanqing squarely into the puddle, making her look like a stinky mud monkey in front of everyone!
Just as she was about to collide—
In a flash, Su Wanqing seemed to stumble over a small stone underfoot, her body naturally tilting to the left.
Her seemingly passive stumble caused Lin Zhaodi’s deliberate charge to miss entirely!
Not only that, as Su Wanqing shifted sideways, her elbow swung backward as if unconsciously, but with full force, it landed precisely on Lin Zhaodi’s soft ribs!
“Ugh!”
Lin Zhaodi felt a sharp, piercing pain in her ribs, as if someone had stabbed her with an iron rod!
She had been charging forward with full force, and the sudden pain, combined with Su Wanqing’s dodge, made her lose all balance.
The momentum carried her forward uncontrollably.
“Plop!!!”
With a heavy, resounding splash, Lin Zhaodi fell face-first into the filthy, stinking puddle, in a perfect “starving dog lunges” pose!
The black, foul-smelling mud splashed half a meter high, covering her head and face!
Everyone around was stunned, as if time had stopped for two seconds.
“Ah! Lin Zhaodi, are you okay?”
Su Wanqing was the first to react, letting out a perfectly timed cry of alarm. Her face was full of “panic” and innocence, and she reached out her hand as if wanting to help but hesitating.
“Oh my! How did you fall so quickly? Get up… get up!”
Her “concerned” shout brought everyone back to reality.
“Hahaha!”
No one knew who started laughing first, but the restrained laughter quickly spread like wildfire.
“Oh my, has Lin Zhaodi not eaten? She can’t even walk properly!”
“Serves her right! I saw she tried to trip Su Zhiqing but ended up falling herself. Karma!”
Aunt Ma and Aunt Zhu immediately came over, flanking Su Wanqing protectively like two mother hens.
“Don’t be afraid, Wanqing, we all saw it!” Aunt Ma shouted at Lin Zhaodi, still floundering in the puddle. “She didn’t watch where she was going, ran straight into you, trying to trip you, but ended up falling on her own! This is called reaping what you sow!”
“Exactly!” Aunt Zhu chimed in. “With bad intentions, can your feet stay steady? Even the heavens couldn’t stand by!”
Lin Zhaodi struggled to get up, furious.
Her hair was matted with rotting vegetables, her face smeared with black mud, and her clothes dripping with foul water, looking like a drenched chicken pulled from a cesspit.
She raised her unrecognizable face, pointed at Su Wanqing, and shouted sharply, “It’s you! You pushed me! Su Wanqing, you little bitch, how dare you push me!”
“Push you?” Su Wanqing’s eyes instantly reddened. She looked at her with a pitiful expression. “Comrade Lin Zhaodi, everyone saw it. You ran into me yourself. I barely had time to dodge. How could I have pushed you? How can you slander me like this?”
“We all witnessed it! She fell on her own!”
“Exactly! Trying to harm others but backfiring on yourself, shameless!”
The surrounding educated youths all spoke up, no one believing Lin Zhaodi.
Lu Zhenting frowned, stepping back several paces, keeping his distance, unwilling to be near the stench.
Looking at Lin Zhaodi’s grotesque appearance, his eyes revealed undisguised disgust.
What a useless, trouble-making fool!
Seeing everyone’s scornful gazes and Lu Zhenting’s disgusted expression, Lin Zhaodi trembled with rage, burst into tears, and ran off covering her face.
The farce was over.
Back at the youth work point, Su Wanqing took two nicely wrapped bars of soap from her small bundle and handed them to Aunt Ma and Aunt Zhu.
“Aunt Ma, Aunt Zhu, thank you both for protecting me today. These are for you to wash your hands—smells nice.”
In those days, soap was rare; even the city required rationing, let alone the countryside.
The two women’s eyes lit up, though they kept politely declining. “Oh no, no, Wanqing! You should keep it for yourself!”
“Just take it. If it weren’t for you today, I’d have been falsely accused by Comrade Lin. I’d feel terrible otherwise,” Su Wanqing said, insisting, smiling sweetly. “From now on, I’ll be relying on you two here.”
Their hearts warmed, happily accepting the soap, patting their chests and promising, “Don’t worry, girl! If anyone dares bully you, they’ll have to answer to us old bones first!”
Su Wanqing looked at their smiling faces and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This revolutionary friendship was now firmly established.
As night fell, the courtyard of the youth work point grew quiet.
Su Wanqing squatted by the well, under the dim moonlight, holding a rag and carefully cleaning the “stepping stone” she had bought that day.
The black mud gradually washed away, revealing the stone’s warm yellow luster, faint but unmistakable. Su Wanqing knew she hadn’t been mistaken.
While she was engrossed in cleaning, a shadow silently appeared behind her.
Startled, Su Wanqing turned and met Gu Yanshen’s deep eyes in the night.
He said nothing, simply handing over a small brown medicine bottle, his voice low and deep.
“For you. To invigorate the blood and reduce bruising.”
He was referring to the tiny scratch on her hand from cutting grass that morning, almost negligible.
Su Wanqing’s heart skipped a beat.
She had nearly forgotten that small injury, yet he remembered.
She took the bottle, feeling the warmth of his body through it.
“Thank you…” she whispered, lowering her head.
“Mm.” Gu Yanshen replied, then turned to leave.
Watching his indifferent back, Su Wanqing inexplicably found courage and called out to him.
“Gu Yanshen!”
The tall figure paused, stopping in his tracks, but didn’t turn around.
Su Wanqing quickly stood, ran a few steps to him, lifted her moonlit pale face, her eyes shining brilliantly.
“Also… thank you for today.”
She paused, took a deep breath, summoning all her courage, her voice tinged with nervous anticipation.
“I just used the afternoon’s portion of brown sugar to make some ginger water. Do you… want a bowl to warm yourself?”