RKCFE -Chapter 3 You’re Giving Me a Headache

In the end, Li Juan accepted the twenty cents.

Liu Linlin sneered from the side. “So taking care of her wasn’t a complete waste after all. No wonder you’ve been running over here so eagerly.”

Li Juan’s face immediately turned red.

“I wasn’t…”

Song Wei shot Liu Linlin a glance.

“Do you live by the sea? Why are you so obsessed with sticking your nose into other people’s business? This is between me and Comrade Li. Who gave you the right to butt in?”

With a loud clang, Liu Linlin slammed the pot onto the stove.

“What do you mean by that, Song Wei? Besides, I was talking to Li Juan. She didn’t say anything, so why are you interrupting?”

Li Juan hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

“Please don’t argue…”

Liu Linlin snorted.

“So after taking a dip in the river and spending a few days in the hospital, you’ve grown quite the temper. Can’t anyone say a word about you now?”

Li Juan quickly explained, “Liu Linlin, stop it. Song Wei didn’t jump into the river. She accidentally fell in.”

After hearing Song Wei’s explanation on the ox cart, Li Juan actually found it quite convincing.

After all, if she’d given Luo Yecheng so many things and devoted so much to him without getting anything in return, she wouldn’t have been willing to let it go either.

Liu Linlin scoffed.

“You say that’s what happened, so we’re just supposed to believe it? Everyone knows Song Wei shamelessly chased after Comrade Luo. The moment she heard he was becoming revolutionary partners with someone else, it would’ve been perfectly normal for her to jump into the river out of heartbreak. Some people really have no shame.”

Song Wei laughed coldly.

“Whether I have any shame is debatable, but yours is definitely nonexistent.”

“At least Luo Yecheng and I came from the same hometown, so we actually had some history.”

“But you? If I remember correctly, even after Luo Yecheng started dating Jiang Xiaowan, you still gave him gifts several times.”

“Did you really think everyone else was blind?”

Liu Linlin had never been one to keep her temper in check.

After only a few sentences from Song Wei, she completely lost it and lunged forward.

“Song Wei, you bitch!”

“Oh?”

“So we’re fighting now?”

Song Wei casually rolled her shoulders.

Right before Li Juan’s stunned eyes, she caught Liu Linlin’s wrist with one hand and gave it a light flick.

Liu Linlin was sent flying.

Li Juan: !!!

She had been certain Song Wei would be the one at a disadvantage.

After all, she still looked so weak.

Just then, the educated youths returning from work witnessed the entire scene.

Song Wei merely glanced at them and paid them no further attention.

“You all saw it. She struck first.”

Liu Linlin hit the ground face-first, smashing her nose against the dirt.

The pain made her scream, yet she still spat out filthy curses.

The others hurried over.

“Song Wei! What’s going on?”

Luo Yecheng quickly helped Liu Linlin to her feet before turning angrily toward Song Wei.

“How could you hit someone?”

Liu Linlin covered her face, glaring at Song Wei with reddened eyes.

Song Wei answered with an exaggerated eye-roll.

“Luo Yecheng, not only are you a scumbag, you’re blind too. Are your eyes attached to a dog’s brain? Didn’t you see she was the one trying to hit me?”

“You…”

Luo Yecheng had never imagined Song Wei would speak to him like this.

His expression darkened.

“Even so, you didn’t have to hit her that hard.”

“Oh, spare me.”

“I don’t just want to hit her—I want to hit you too.”

“Return all the ration coupons you took from me.”

“You’ve taken advantage of me for so long, then turned around and hooked up with another woman. Did you really think I was some gullible fool?”

Luo Yecheng’s face became extremely awkward.

“Song Wei, stop making a scene. You just got out of the hospital. You need to rest. Go—”

“I’m informing you now because I’m still leaving you some dignity.”

“Don’t force me to make a scene at your wedding with Jiang Xiaowan. When that happens, neither of you will have any face left.”

Luo Yecheng hadn’t expected Song Wei to expose everything so openly in front of everyone.

His face grew gloomy.

He wanted to argue.

But Song Wei gave him no chance.

“Luo Yecheng.”

“I still have the IOU you wrote for the bicycle coupon.”

She stared at him expressionlessly.

“I also kept every letter you wrote begging me for those coupons.”

“Don’t even think about denying it.”

“If you don’t like me, then return everything now.”

“If you’re really a man, stop taking advantage of people and pretending nothing happened. That’s just pathetic.”

“Of course, if you refuse to pay me back, that’s fine too.”

“I don’t mind letting everyone know exactly what kind of person you are.”

“I suggest you prepare those coupons and return them within the next few days.”

Having said that, she rubbed her forehead.

She rolled her eyes at both Luo Yecheng and Liu Linlin again, then held her head with one hand, instantly putting on the frail appearance of a sickly beauty.

“You’ve all given me such a headache.”

“I’m going back to rest.”

“Don’t bother me unless it’s important.”

Without another glance, she walked straight into the women’s dormitory, never giving Luo Yecheng a chance to explain himself.

Everyone: “…”

An eerie silence filled the courtyard for several seconds.

Finally, one of the older educated youths broke the tension, and everyone gradually returned to what they had been doing.

But Luo Yecheng had completely embarrassed himself.

His face was ashen.

The same went for Liu Linlin.

Compared to that, however, everyone was even more curious about Song Wei’s sudden change.

“Why has she changed so much?”

“So they’ve completely fallen out. She didn’t give Luo Yecheng any face at all.”

“Li Juan, do you know what’s going on?”

Li Juan was angry too.

But she was too timid to criticize Luo Yecheng openly in front of him.

“I think… it’s probably just as Comrade Song said.”

She hesitated before adding,

“But Comrade Song definitely didn’t jump into the river because of Comrade Luo. Everyone misunderstood her.”

That much she could at least clarify.

So she repeated the explanation Song Wei had given on the ox cart.

The educated youths were stunned.

So Song Wei hadn’t jumped into the river over heartbreak.

She had simply slipped and fallen by accident.

One of the girls widened her eyes.

“But… wasn’t everyone saying…”

She didn’t finish her sentence.

Everyone knew what she had meant.

Li Juan said indignantly, “That rumor was spread by Old Lady Niu!”

“Didn’t Song Wei have a conflict with her shortly after arriving in the countryside? She spread those stories on purpose!”

Inside the room, Song Wei could clearly hear their discussion.

The corners of her lips curved upward.

Her head still hurt.

When the original Song Wei had fallen into the river, she’d struck her head against a rock, leaving a huge lump.

I’ll sleep a little longer first.

By the time Song Wei woke up, the other educated youths had already gone out to work.

Since she’d only just been discharged from the hospital, she was allowed a day’s leave.

After getting up, she organized her belongings.

The original owner hadn’t brought much money or many ration coupons.

Her family situation was… complicated.

Her father was her biological father.

But her mother was a stepmother.

Her father and stepmother had a son together, and the stepmother had also brought a daughter from her previous marriage.

As the saying went, once there’s a stepmother, there’s often a stepfather.

It fit the original Song Wei’s situation perfectly.

She actually hadn’t needed to go to the countryside at all.

Before her biological mother passed away, she’d left her job for Song Wei.

All she had to do was graduate from school and take over the position.

But there were two girls in the Song family who had just graduated from high school, and one of them had to answer the government’s call to go to the countryside.

Song Wei’s stepmother had set her sights on that job.

Without Song Wei knowing, she secretly registered her for the countryside program.

By the time Song Wei found out…

It was already too late.