RIRW – Chapter 16

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The next day, when work started, Li Hongbing looked at Su Xue’s completed task and was so stunned that he couldn’t speak.

“This is unbelievable! Is it Ghosts?” Li Hongbing said angrily.

“Break the feudal superstitions. What ghosts and what not,” Su Xue said proudly. “I told you I could finish it. How about it, now you believe me, right?”

Li Hongbing’s face turned red with anger.

It was truly a mystery. How did Su Xue manage to do it? Could she possibly have three heads and six arms?

Seeing her defeat, Su Xue raised her chin proudly. When she saw Zuo Dan quietly working while lowering her head, she walked over with her hands behind her back.

“Comrade Zuo Dan, I’m not feeling well. Could you give me a hand?” She said, her face beaming with a mix of pride and provocation.

Zuo Dan felt that if Su Xue were to grow a dog tail at this moment, it would definitely be wagging straight up in the air.

Seeing that Zuo Dan didn’t respond, Su Xue smiled slightly and whispered, “Anyway, if you don’t help me, someone else will.”

Zuo Dan looked at her expressionlessly for a moment, then smiled and put her arm around Su Xue’s shoulder. “Of course, what’s our relationship? It’s just a little work, I’ll help you.”

When Su Xue heard this, her smile widened.

“You guys, how did Su Xue manage to finish all her tasks? She didn’t even come back much later than us.”

Over here, Li Hongbing was working in frustration, asking Li Suli who was next to her.

Among the female intellectual youths who came together, Li Hongbing liked Li Suli the most. As for Su Xue, the spoiled young lady, and Liu Lili, with her seductive appearance, Li Hongbing was quite repelled by them.

Li Suli glanced at Su Xue. “Maybe she’s just quick with her hands.”

“Her?” Li Hongbing snorted.

Because Zuo Dan had agreed to help, Su Xue became more and more shameless, completely neglecting the tasks assigned to her. She just sat by the side and occasionally did a little work. By noon, her tasks were still untouched.

Zuo Shuisheng passed by the threshing ground and saw a large pile of wheat stalks left untouched. He was immediately furious, his brows furrowing tightly.

Threshing wheat wasn’t even heavy work.

When collecting corn, soybeans, and the like, there were always nimble old women who did it. The wheat would be threshed first with a bullock cart, a job not suitable for elderly men. After a few rounds of threshing, some grains would remain on top, and only then would the intellectual youths be asked to finish the job. After a first round of threshing, how much wheat could still be left? For such a small task, why was it being delayed like this? Zuo Shuisheng pointed to the big pile and said, “If this isn’t finished today, don’t bother coming back to work.”

He said this and stormed off, walking away with his hands behind his back.

Li Hongbing, feeling a little schadenfreude, glanced at Su Xue.

“Dandan, why are you so slow? Didn’t you say you’d help me?” Li Hongbing had said this right in front of Zuo Shuisheng, and Su Xue felt embarrassed, looking at Zuo Dan with dissatisfaction.

Zuo Dan had promised in the morning to help, but she hadn’t done a single thing the entire morning.

Zuo Dan was busy finishing up work for the day. Hearing Su Xue’s question, she stood up and patted the dust off her clothes. “What’s the rush? It’s still afternoon, right? Let’s go, we’ll finish it together.”

After saying this, Zuo Dan looked at Su Xue and walked directly off the threshing ground.

Su Xue looked at the other intellectual youths and saw that they were all looking at her with confusion. She felt a little uneasy. However, knowing that the work still needed to be done, she gritted her teeth and walked toward Zuo Dan.

The two walked to a less crowded area and found a corner behind a pile of wheat stalks. Zuo Dan stopped and turned around with a smile that seemed half playful and half mocking, looking at Su Xue.

Su Xue puffed up her cheeks and said, “Zuo Dan, I’ll tell you this, you better help me with the afternoon tasks. Otherwise, your parents will have to do it tonight. I’m sure you don’t want your parents working so hard, right? Do you believe me? If I tell them, they’ll definitely scold you.”

Zuo Dan nodded. “I believe you.”

Su Xue’s eyes lit up, a hint of satisfaction showing.

“But…” Zuo Dan also smiled, “If I tell others about our relationship, what would you do?”

Upon hearing this, Su Xue’s smile immediately froze. “You dare! My aunt won’t let you do that.”

Zuo Dan stroked her chin. “Well, if I do it, I’ll probably just get scolded once. But you won’t be so lucky. Think about it, you’re from a proper bourgeois background. When you go back to the city, don’t even mention it. Your regular work will definitely change. By the way, if Li Hongbing finds out about your background, what do you think she’ll do? I think she’ll definitely be interested in it.”

“…You, Zuo Dan, you can’t do that!” Su Xue cried out anxiously.

Zuo Dan wagged her finger. “No, no, it’s not whether I can do it, it’s whether I want to. But it also depends on your performance. If you perform well, I’m not a gossip. But if you keep acting like before, doing nothing and waiting for my parents to do it, then I’ll have no choice but to tell them.”

Su Xue shuddered as she looked at Zuo Dan’s smiling face.

She hadn’t expected Zuo Dan to turn the tables and use this situation to threaten her. Shouldn’t Zuo Dan be listening to the elders in the family and always protecting her as a relative?

How could her aunt, such a virtuous person, have given birth to such a despicable person?!

Zuo Dan watched her face change color, raising an eyebrow. “So, what are you thinking? I’m still rushing back to eat.”

Su Xue clenched her fists tightly and gritted her teeth, “You’re ruthless!”

After saying that, she stamped her foot and ran off.

Watching her retreating figure, Zuo Dan’s smile faded. Her lips curled into a cold smirk. “Want to take advantage of me? No way!”

Humming a little tune, she leisurely made her way home. “I smile proudly, proudly smile…”

“Ahem…”

A deliberate cough came from the tall pile of wheat straw. Zuo Dan paused, her brows knitting together. Was someone nearby?

She turned around with a frown and saw someone rising from the wheat straw pile. The person was wearing a blue jacket, patched neatly at the sleeves, and covered in dust. When he saw Zuo Dan looking back, he gave her his signature smile. “Comrade Zuo Dan, what a coincidence.”

Looking at his fox-like smile, Zuo Dan suddenly thought of a saying, “The mantis stalks the cicada, while the yellow bird waits behind.”

Quickly making a decision, Zuo Dan decided to take the initiative. She put on a stern face and said, “Comrade Shen Yiming, why didn’t you say anything earlier? Eavesdropping is not proper behavior.”

Seeing that she was angry, Shen Yiming wasn’t in a hurry. He smiled and said, “I came first, and I didn’t want to make a sound.” He patted his pocket. “I was just digging around for wheat grains.”

Although Zuo Dan and the others had already begun the second step of the process, there were always some wheat grains left behind. For example, Zuo Dan had been careless and missed a few grains. Wheat was very precious at this time. Even after being harvested, most of it had to be handed over to the state, with only a small amount left for the families to use as food. Zuo Dan knew that elderly people and children who couldn’t work would come here to pick up the leftovers, but she hadn’t expected Shen Yiming to be doing the same thing.

They were all engaged in underhanded activities here, so it made sense that Shen Yiming didn’t speak up.

Zuo Dan cleared her throat. “Life is tough for you young intellectuals too. How about this: I won’t mention what I saw today. You can head back early. Let’s pretend we never met.”

Shen Yiming slightly pursed his lips. “Just now, I think I…”

“Comrade Shen Yiming!” Zuo Dan raised her voice. “It’s better to avoid trouble. You didn’t hear anything, alright? You’re a grown man. Why are you listening to women talk?” She had planned to use this incident to pressure Su Xue, so she couldn’t let Shen Yiming spill the beans. That would be all her efforts in vain.

“You’re right,” Shen Yiming nodded obediently. “But…”

Zuo Dan’s ears twitched, and her eyes locked on Shen Yiming. She had already made up her mind that no matter what Shen Yiming said, she wouldn’t be threatened.

“But I just wanted to say, I really didn’t hear anything just now,” Shen Yiming said with a smile, his eyes sparkling. Actually, he didn’t have to intervene earlier. He didn’t like causing trouble and preferred not to get involved in other people’s matters.

But for some reason, seeing her look so smug made him unable to resist standing up.

Zuo Dan wasn’t in the mood to admire the male charm. Hearing Shen Yiming’s words, she finally smiled in satisfaction. “Comrade Yiming, you’re a good comrade. By the way, were you looking for wheat grains? Next time, I’ll leave more for you. Well, I’m heading home now.” She gestured towards the direction of the village.

Shen Yiming nodded.

Only then did Zuo Dan leave, looking back three times as she walked away.

Once Zuo Dan had gone, Shen Yiming patted the dust off his clothes and adjusted himself before heading back to the village. When he reached the village entrance, he turned into a small mud house. An elderly woman with white hair walked out of the room.

“Is that you, Xiao Shen? I thought I heard your footsteps. We don’t have anyone around here who walks as gracefully as you.”

Shen Yiming entered with a smile. “San Po, I brought some wheat for you. Yesterday you mentioned wanting roasted wheat, so I went through the wheat straw pile today and found some. It’s not much, just enough for you to taste the new wheat.”

Upon hearing this, San Po’s face showed an excited expression. She walked over and held Shen Yiming’s arm. “You’re such a good child. I was just saying it casually, and you went to dig through the wheat pile.”

Shen Yiming took out the wheat from his pocket. It wasn’t much, just a small handful, but enough to snack on.

San Po ate a grain, her face filled with satisfaction. “It’s really fragrant. Don’t do this again in the future, it wastes too much time. You’ve come back so late, and I bet you haven’t had lunch yet. Come eat at my place.” She felt a little embarrassed when she remembered her own home only had some wild vegetable porridge.

Her son had passed away, and her grandson hadn’t returned from the army. For the past few years, she had been living alone, and life wasn’t very prosperous. The food at home was not very good. It was okay to host people from the village, but Xiao Shen was from the city.

Shen Yiming smiled. “It didn’t take much time. I happened to encounter… a little fox on the way.”

“A fox? Do we have foxes here?” San Po asked in confusion. She had lived here for so long but had never seen a fox in the area. She thought Shen Yiming was just saying it to reassure her.

By the time Zuo Dan returned home, it was already late, and the family had started eating. Li Hui and Zuo Dacheng had just returned. Seeing Zuo Dan had also just come back, they were a bit surprised. Li Hui served Zuo Dan a bowl of cornmeal steamed rice. Seeing that Old Granny wasn’t happy, she helped herself to half a bowl.

Zuo Dan didn’t want to eat in the living room with everyone else. She took her bowl and chopsticks and sat in the yard to eat.

Seeing this, Li Hui came out and asked with concern, “Is there a lot of work?”

Zuo Dan sighed. “The new young intellectuals are slow at work, so I helped them.”

When Li Hui heard this, she thought Zuo Dan was helping Su Xue. She felt a pang of guilt, thinking that it was her own matters that were causing her daughter trouble. Zuo Dan had only said it casually, but her daughter had taken it to heart and even skipped her meal to help. “Never mind, just come back after work in the future. Don’t overdo it. Your father and I can manage.”

“Mom, don’t worry. I’ve got it covered.” Zuo Dan ate her food in large bites.

No one else would need to help in the future. She’d handle her own work.