“Ah—!!! Someone help! Something terrible has happened!!”
At dawn, a piercing scream shattered the quiet.
Aunt Wang, in charge of breakfast, nearly bent her spatula in panic as she rushed out of the kitchen, her face as pale as chalk.
She pointed toward the warehouse, her voice trembling.
“The… the cornmeal in the warehouse! Three bags are missing! They’ve been stolen!”
“What?”
“Stealing public grain? Who has the nerve to do this!”
The news instantly set the knowledge youth camp into chaos.
Those still half-asleep were abruptly woken, men and women alike scrambling to throw on clothes and rush outside.
Nearby villagers were awakened too, gathering around one by one.
In these times, grain was everything.
Stealing public grain meant being paraded through the village for public criticism.
Serious cases could even result in being sent to labor reform.
Within minutes, the brigade leader Chen Aidang arrived.
His hands were clasped behind his back, and his face was so dark it seemed one could squeeze water from it.
A few stern-looking militia followed him.
“What’s going on?”
Chen Aidang’s voice suppressed his anger, his eyes slicing through the crowd like knives.
A trembling Aunt Wang repeated the story.
Chen Aidang personally went to the warehouse. The broken brass lock hung on the door, and the warehouse was indeed missing a large portion of its contents.
His face darkened completely.
“Good, very good! On our Red Flag Brigade’s territory, such vermin appear!”
His chest heaved with anger.
“This matter must be investigated thoroughly! Whoever it is, no one can get away!”
Everyone was too scared to make a sound.
At that moment, a figure suddenly dashed out from the crowd.
It was Lin Zhaodi.
She “plopped” down in front of Chen Aidang, crying and wailing, pointing at Su Wanqing, who had just stepped out of the dorm.
Su Wanqing rubbed her eyes, clearly still half asleep.
“Brigade leader! It’s her! It must be her who stole it!”
Lin Zhaodi’s voice was sharp and piercing.
In an instant, all eyes were fixed on Su Wanqing.
She was still in her thin pajamas with only a coat thrown over her, shivering in the morning wind.
Her beautiful face was full of innocence and shock as she looked around in bewilderment.
Seeing her like this, Lin Zhaodi grew even more excited.
She grabbed onto the “evidence” like a predator and tore into it mercilessly.
“It’s her! She’s a capitalist daughter, never used to hardship, always greedy!”
“Just got a hundred work points yesterday, and now she thinks she owns the place!”
“It has to be her, sneaking around at night to steal grain for her own private stash!”
Her words were highly provocative.
Immediately, murmurs started spreading through the crowd.
“Well… that’s somewhat true. Su Wanqing’s food is always more refined than ours.”
“Yeah, her skin doesn’t look like someone who works the fields.”
“Tch, humans are never satisfied…”
Madam Ma stepped forward.
“Lin Zhaodi, you need evidence when you speak!”
“You just said it yourself—Su Wanqing just got a hundred work points. How much grain could she even exchange for? Is it worth it for her to steal? Aren’t you just lying through your teeth!”
“I…”
Lin Zhaodi was momentarily stumped, then straightened her neck and tried to argue.
“Who knows what she’s thinking! Maybe she’s greedy! We country folks don’t understand city girls like her!”
Su Wanqing finally reacted.
She took two steps forward, her eyes instantly red.
A mist of tears clouded her clear eyes, full of grievance and helplessness.
“Comrade Lin…”
Her voice trembled.
“I know you have grievances against me, but… you can’t just falsely accuse me like this.”
“Stealing public grain is such a serious crime, and you casually pin it on me. Do you want me dead?”
Tears fell one by one as she spoke.
She turned to Chen Aidang, crying even harder.
“Brigade leader, though I’m a knowledge youth sent to the countryside, I was raised properly, and I am innocent. I didn’t do this! Truly didn’t!”
“If you don’t believe me, I can swear to the heavens!”
“Comrade Lin is slandering my character. If there’s no evidence, I… I’ll have to go to the Public Security Bureau to sue her for defamation!”
Her words were both soft and firm.
The last sentence—“sue her for defamation”—made Lin Zhaodi’s heart skip a beat, her face turning pale.
She had no evidence.
This was all part of Lu Zhenting’s scheme.
Panicked, she glanced at Lu Zhenting in the crowd, signaling him frantically while still trying to maintain her act.
“You… you’re just saying that because you feel guilty! Who knows if you have evidence!”
At that moment, Lu Zhenting finally stepped forward.
He went to stand beside Su Wanqing, his tone gentle with a hint of reproach.
“Su Wanqing, don’t cry. I trust your character. You’re not that kind of person.”
With this one sentence, he positioned himself as the “good guy.”
Su Wanqing, feeling a sense of support, cried even harder, her shoulders trembling.
After comforting her, Lu Zhenting turned to the crowd, assuming a stance of fairness and impartiality.
“Everyone, quiet down!”
“The grain is indeed missing. If we don’t investigate properly, this blame will continue to fall on Su Wanqing, which is unfair!”
“To prove Su Wanqing’s innocence, and to give everyone an explanation, as well as to find out who the real troublemaker in our camp is, I propose…”
“Search everyone’s beds!”
He paused, scanning the crowd to emphasize his point.
“Starting with me! That’s the fairest way. No complaints! I believe, if you are upright, there’s nothing to fear from suspicion!”
His words sounded lofty.
They both “protected” Su Wanqing and proposed a “fair” solution, instantly gaining most people’s approval.
“Right! Lu Zhenting is correct!”
“Search! We must! Otherwise, who would dare sleep peacefully here in the future!”
Lin Zhaodi’s eyes flashed with a sinister glee.
She could already envision Su Wanqing being found with the grain, speechless, and dragged off for public criticism.
However, just as Chen Aidang frowned, about to nod,
Su Wanqing, “protected” by Lu Zhenting, reacted unexpectedly.
“No… don’t search…”
The words “search” seemed to scare her out of her wits. Her face turned deathly pale, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.
She clutched Li Xiu’s arm tightly, her knuckles white.
This reaction made the villagers, who had just felt sympathy for her, begin to doubt again.
Is she guilty?
Lu Zhenting’s smile deepened. He feigned concern and asked,
“Su Wanqing, what’s the matter? Didn’t you say you were innocent? Why not let us search? Only by searching can we prove your innocence!”
“I… I’m scared…”
Su Wanqing raised her tear-streaked face, her eyes full of fear and helplessness.
She couldn’t bear to look at Lu Zhenting, only staring at Chen Aidang, crying:
“I’m afraid someone will harm me! I’m really afraid! Brigade leader… I felt something was wrong last night. In the middle of the night, I kept feeling movement outside the dorm, like someone was sneaking around, watching us…”
Not far away, Gu Yanshen leaned against a tree like an outsider.
But seeing Su Wanqing crying as if she was about to shatter—even knowing she was acting—his heart still tightened uncontrollably.
The hand in his pocket clenched into a fist.
Lu Zhenting looked at Su Wanqing and sneered inwardly, thinking she was merely struggling desperately.
He stepped forward, his voice imposing, speaking to Chen Aidang:
“Brigade leader! Precisely because Su Wanqing feels this way, we must search!”
“Search in front of everyone!”
“If anything is found, facts will speak for themselves!”
“If nothing is found, it will prove Su Wanqing’s innocence and put her mind at ease! We cannot let her fear stop this matter!”
“Yes! Search! We must search!”
Lin Zhaodi immediately chimed in sharply, fearing delay.
“We must search now! Restore Su Wanqing’s ‘innocence’!”
She deliberately emphasized the words “innocence.”
Chen Aidang looked at the sobbing, gasping Su Wanqing, then at the agitated crowd, and finally at Lu Zhenting’s “righteous” face.
He made his decision.
“Alright!”
He nodded heavily and gestured to the militia behind him.
“Then search! Start with the female knowledge youth dorm!”