RIRW – Chapter 63

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After finishing work in the afternoon, the educated youths would go home early. They had to cook for themselves. If they had good relationships with each other, they would take turns cooking; if not, they had to prepare their own meals separately.

On the girls’ side of the educated youth station, Li Suli and Liu Lili were usually the ones who cooked. Both came from poor families and preferred to avoid trouble.

Today, Liu Lili wasn’t feeling well, so Li Suli cooked alone and even made a bowl of egg soup for Liu Lili. The eggs were exchanged with a local villager. Although they were far from home, they had brought some food supplies for the New Year, which helped them sustain themselves.

After drinking the egg soup, Liu Lili lay on the bed without saying a word.

Li Suli held her bowl, watching her for a long time, worried, her brows furrowed.

In this house, Liu Lili was the one who spoke to her the most. Li Hongbing and Su Xue were not easy to get along with. Now that Liu Lili was sick, she felt even more uneasy.

“Li Suli, is the food ready yet? I’m starving,” Su Xue complained, sitting on the bed and patting her stomach, her brows tightly knitted.

The food had been poor these past few days, and the supplies she brought for the New Year were almost gone. She hadn’t eaten any meat for a while and felt extremely uncomfortable. Everything annoyed her—especially the fact that Liu Lili, despite being sick, got to have egg soup.

Liu Lili shot her a cold glance. “If you’re hungry, why don’t you cook for yourself? Li Suli is making food for everyone without a word of complaint. Who are you to criticize her? I bet you’re not from a working-class family at all—you must be from the bourgeoisie.”

That set off Su Xue like a firecracker. She glared at Liu Lili and snapped, “Liu Lili, you shameless vixen! What nonsense are you spouting? Let me tell you, my family is a proper working-class family! Unlike yours—who knows what kind of background you come from to have raised such a disgraceful girl like you.”

“I’ll tear your mouth apart—”

Liu Lili’s face turned pale with anger, and she struggled to get up from the bed.

Li Suli quickly held her back. “Stop arguing. You’re not feeling well—just rest.” She then turned to Su Xue. “Don’t make trouble. Li Hongbing isn’t back yet. We should wait for everyone to eat together.”

Liu Lili took a few deep breaths, but another wave of nausea hit her.

Su Xue looked at her reaction with disgust. Then, as if realizing something, she frowned and observed Liu Lili closely.

She remembered when her mother remarried and had her younger brother—she had been old enough to recall what pregnancy looked like. And now, Liu Lili’s symptoms… seemed very similar.

Her eyes widened as she stared at Liu Lili, unable to shake off the thought forming in her mind.

When Li Hongbing returned, the educated youth station was just starting dinner. She had just come back from seeing the old team leader, hoping to get reassigned to work with Shen Yiming. However, the old team leader refused outright without even asking why and told her to focus on her work instead of having unrealistic thoughts. She was so angry that she had no appetite for dinner.

When she got back, she saw Liu Lili lying in bed while the others were eating with their bowls and chopsticks. Her anger flared up again.

Looking at her own bowl of coarse cornmeal and boiled cabbage with barely any oil, she felt miserable. Why was she suffering like this?

After dinner, Li Hongbing carried a metal basin to the kitchen to fetch hot water for washing her face.

Su Xue glanced at Liu Lili, who was lying in bed, then at Li Suli, who was sewing clothes. She got up and followed Li Hongbing outside.

That night, after dinner, Zuo Dan watered the fruit trees she had planted. As she poured water over them, she suddenly paused and gestured with her hand, comparing her height to the trees.

Something was off.

These fruit trees hadn’t been planted for long, yet they had already grown noticeably taller. Just a month ago, they were about her height—now, they had surpassed her by a full head. Even their trunks had thickened considerably.

Li Hui, who was checking the vegetables in the family’s garden, glanced over and commented in surprise, “Dandan, hasn’t our fruit tree grown a lot?”

Zuo Dan replied, “Not that much. It wasn’t that short when I brought it back.”

“Oh, I thought the soil in our yard might be especially good for growing fruit trees,” Li Hui said with a smile.

Zuo Dan immediately responded, “That might be possible. Maybe these two trees are just suited to this land. It’s a combination of the right time, place, and people—so they’re growing fast.”

Li Hui chuckled at her daughter’s reasoning. “Where do you come up with such nonsense?”

“I learned it from Shen Yiming. He’s always spouting nonsense like this,” Zuo Dan said, seizing the chance to badmouth him behind his back.

But Li Hui didn’t believe her. “Don’t talk nonsense. Yiming is a serious and proper young man. He has no family here, so since you’re dating him, our family should take extra care of him. In the future, you might become family. Your father even said he’d give you this brick house as your dowry.”

Heh, too bad he doesn’t care. He’s eager to return to the city and live in a little Western-style house. You all might as well stop bothering, Zuo Dan thought with a smile.

Seeing that her daughter didn’t respond, Li Hui assumed she was just feeling shy and didn’t press the matter. The two kids weren’t that old—waiting another year would be fine. After checking on the vegetable garden, she urged Zuo Dan to go inside and rest. The weather was gradually getting hotter, and there were more mosquitoes outside.

Zuo Dan said she would go inside right after finishing watering the trees.

Once Li Hui went inside, Zuo Dan crouched down to take a closer look at the tree roots. By then, it was already getting dark, making it hard to see clearly. She squinted at the roots for a while and noticed that they were thriving, firmly gripping the soil.

At that moment, Zuo Dan finally realized—her orchard’s fruit trees were indeed different from the usual varieties. Not only did they produce better-quality fruit, but they also had a remarkable ability to survive. These two trees had adapted to her yard without any signs of struggling.

She recalled something her grandmother once said—newly planted trees usually took a few days to adjust, appearing half-dead before they finally adapted to the soil and started growing. But her fruit trees? They seemed right at home from the very start.

Now, she just had to wait and see what kind of fruit they would bear. If everything turned out normal, those stunted saplings in her orchard might finally come in handy.

She just hoped these trees wouldn’t grow too outrageously—otherwise, they might end up being classified as a mutated species.

The next morning, Zuo Dan was woken up by a commotion outside. Still groggy, she got dressed and heard her grandmother shouting outside, “Oh dear, what a disaster! How could something this big happen? In all these years, nothing this disgraceful has ever occurred in our village!”

By the time she finished dressing and stepped outside, Li Hui and Zuo Dacheng had just finished talking to her grandmother. Seeing her come out, they told her to stay inside and then shut the courtyard gate.

Her grandmother had been about to keep complaining but stopped when she saw Zuo Dan. She probably thought the matter wasn’t suitable for a young lady to hear.

But Zuo Dan didn’t like being left in the dark. Something had clearly happened in the village—how could she be the only one not to know? So she quietly asked Li Hui, “Mom, what happened?”

Li Hui, distracted, replied, “It seems something happened at the educated youth station. Don’t worry about it—just go back inside. We’ll head to work later.”

“That’s right, go back inside. A young lady doesn’t need to listen to this sort of thing,” her grandmother added, waving her away.

Zuo Dan: “…”

She knew she wouldn’t get anything out of her family, but she wasn’t in a rush. Judging by their reactions, it wasn’t anyone from the Zuo family who was in trouble, and it was even less likely to be Shen Yiming. He was troublesome enough without causing harm to others. Whatever the issue was, it could wait.

She quickly fetched some hot water to wash her face and brush her teeth. After tidying herself up, she joined her grandmother and Zuo Dacheng’s family for breakfast.

After the meal, her grandmother went out again, most likely to gossip and catch up on the latest drama.

Zuo Dan got up as well. “I’m going to find Shen Yiming so we can go to work together.”

Wasn’t that basically a date?

Zuo Dacheng and Li Hui didn’t stop her. Li Hui just reminded her, “Don’t wander around—go straight to the fields with Yiming.”

“Got it,” Zuo Dan said as she stepped out the door and headed toward Shen Yiming’s place. When she arrived, she found that his door was shut.

Instead of knocking, she turned around and decided to visit the neighbors—she’d ask them what exactly had happened in the village today.

Shen Yiming’s neighbor was Granny Jiu. Despite her high seniority in the village, she was actually not that old—only in her forties. When Zuo Dan came to ask about the situation, she was initially reluctant to talk. But in the end, she couldn’t hold it in and spilled everything like pouring beans from a sack.

Early that morning, there had been a commotion at the educated youth station. Apparently, the previous night, someone had gone to Zuo Shuisheng’s house to report that a female educated youth was behaving improperly—having an affair and possibly even pregnant. Zuo Shuisheng’s wife had taken people to the educated youth station first thing in the morning to confront the situation.

After all, if such a scandal truly happened within the Zuo Family Village’s production team, it wouldn’t reflect well on anyone. They had to check things out. However, the female youth got scared and tried to run away, but she fell and suffered a serious injury. She had already been taken to the village clinic.

“No one knows which bastard is responsible for this mess—no one has stepped forward yet. Anyway, that’s enough talk. I need to get to work,” Granny Jiu hurriedly finished, then rushed back inside to grab her farming tools and head to the fields.

After all, being Shen Yiming’s neighbor, talking about this kind of thing with his supposed fiancée felt a little awkward.

Zuo Dan followed Granny Jiu to work, still wondering which educated youth had been caught in this scandal. Remembering all the stories she’d heard before, now witnessing something like this firsthand left her feeling uneasy.

Halfway to the fields, she spotted Shen Yiming walking alongside Zuo Shuisheng. Zuo Shuisheng’s face was dark with anger, while Shen Yiming looked just as grim. Neither of them seemed happy. When Shen Yiming saw her, he gave her a subtle look.

Zuo Dan wasn’t foolish enough to run over and ask questions. She pretended not to see anything and continued walking with Granny Jiu toward the fields.

Before they even arrived, Zuo Shuisheng began banging on a gong loudly.

Workers and non-workers alike all rushed toward the threshing ground.

Holding the gong and still looking furious, Zuo Shuisheng announced, “Something serious happened in the village today, and there’s been a lot of reckless gossip. I’m here to clarify the situation. The female educated youth, Comrade Liu Lili, did not do anything improper. She was just feeling unwell due to… well, women’s issues. Some ignorant young girls started rumors, and things nearly escalated into a major problem. Now she’s lying in the clinic with a broken leg. From now on, no more spreading nonsense! Don’t tarnish the reputation of our Zuo Family Village.”

Upon hearing this, the crowd murmured amongst themselves, but their expressions noticeably relaxed. No wonder the educated youths hadn’t shown up for work today—it turned out they had caused trouble and were too afraid to come.

To be honest, while people loved gossip and drama, it was still better when no real scandal happened—especially one as shameful as this. Now that everything was cleared up, they could at least enjoy having had something to talk about for a while.

Some still had doubts about the truth of the situation, but since there was no concrete evidence and Zuo Shuisheng had already put his foot down, no one dared to discuss it openly. They just whispered in private.

After warning everyone not to spread rumors, Zuo Shuisheng dismissed the crowd and sent them off to work.

Once everyone had left, Zuo Shuisheng pulled Shen Yiming aside and whispered, “Yiming, can this really be settled? I still feel uneasy. If this gets out…”

“It won’t,” Shen Yiming reassured him. “This kind of thing isn’t exactly something people want to make a big deal about. The female youth may have behaved improperly, but if anyone’s guilty, it’s the man even more so. Since she’s agreed not to pursue the matter, it’s best to let it die down.”

“Ugh, nothing like this has ever happened in Zuo Family Village before,” Zuo Shuisheng grumbled. “Well, as long as I’ve explained it to everyone, even if they gossip, they won’t take it too seriously.”

Zuo Shuisheng was feeling troubled. He was the only one who knew that Liu Lili, the female educated youth, was actually in serious trouble. But he couldn’t let the villagers find out—if the situation escalated, it would be humiliating. More importantly, it seemed to involve a cadre from the commune, and if word spread, the consequences would ripple far and wide.

Zuo Shuisheng was someone who feared trouble and didn’t like stirring up conflict. He also had a soft heart and couldn’t bear to see a young woman get publicly shamed or even subjected to a forced punishment. He had personally witnessed several such cases in past years, and they had been truly tragic.

For now, the situation was temporarily under control, so Zuo Shuisheng decided to step back from it.

Before leaving, he told Shen Yiming not to go to the fields but to gather pig grass with Zuo Dan instead. If something came up and he needed to find him, it would be inconvenient to talk in front of so many people. Right after a scandal like this, even the slightest thing could set people’s imaginations running wild.

Shen Yiming grabbed a basket and a sickle, then went to the fields to call Zuo Dan to go cut grass with him.

Normally, Zuo Dan wouldn’t have wanted to work with Shen Yiming, but today she didn’t mind. As they walked halfway up the mountain carrying their baskets, she tugged at Shen Yiming’s sleeve. “What really happened this morning?”

“Don’t ask. Nothing happened,” Shen Yiming said flatly.

“That’s impossible,” Zuo Dan retorted. “Otherwise, why would Uncle Shuisheng be so angry? He’s usually an easygoing guy who rarely gets mad. And you—why were you hanging around him today? You only stick close to him when there’s scheming to do. Like some kind of strategist.”

Shen Yiming reached out and ruffled her hair. “Good thing you’re smart. Otherwise, I’d be going gray from all the stress. A woman should be sharp, you know.”

“So what happened? Was it real?”

Shen Yiming nodded. “Keep it to yourself. Just know the truth and don’t spread it. If this gets out, the whole village will be in an uproar.”

“Like I’d go blabbing,” Zuo Dan rolled her eyes. “What’s there to even talk about?” Then she hesitated and asked, “Can something like this really be covered up? Won’t it come back to bite later?”

“She’s already been taken to the clinic. Since her injury is serious, they’re preparing to send her back to the city.”

“Back to the city?” Zuo Dan was shocked. Just like that, she was leaving?

“The commune clinic issued a certificate. Her leg is broken—why would she stay? She can’t stay here and trouble the villagers. That would go against the whole spirit of the educated youth program. I need to go to the commune tomorrow to discuss it with Secretary Zhang and get everything settled.”

Zuo Dan immediately picked up on something. This was all Shen Yiming’s idea—he was even handling the logistics. “Since when are you so kind-hearted? You never do anything unless there’s something in it for you… Wait, don’t tell me—you were the one who did it?!”

She widened her eyes and pointed a finger at him.

Shen Yiming grabbed her finger and smirked. “Stop messing around. If you keep this up, I’ll drag you into that little grove over there.” He glanced toward the small forest halfway up the mountain.

Zuo Dan yanked her hand away and wiped it against her clothes in disgust. “Whatever. I just know you’re up to something. I don’t care what shady business you’re pulling.”

She still didn’t understand why Shen Yiming was so eager to help Liu Lili, but she didn’t believe for a second that he was doing it out of pure goodwill. Who knew what kind of scheme he was cooking up?

Shen Yiming didn’t have to wait until the next day. In fact, he and Zuo Dan had just finished gathering two full baskets of pig grass when Zuo Shuisheng came calling for him. He told Shen Yiming to go with him to the commune—it seemed that word had already reached the commune, and someone had summoned Zuo Shuisheng there. Since Zuo Shuisheng himself had no idea how to handle the situation, he decided to bring Shen Yiming along.

Zuo Dan urged him, “Go, go! I’ll make sure your sons are fed well.”

Shen Yiming turned back helplessly. “And don’t forget your daughter either. Our family doesn’t favor boys over girls.”

Zuo Dan grabbed a handful of pig grass, bunched it up, and threw it at him.

That afternoon, Zuo Dacheng drove a tractor to bring the two of them back from the commune. Upon returning, he couldn’t stop praising Shen Yiming, saying he was a steady and reliable person. When the commune officials had started questioning them, even Zuo Shuisheng, the experienced team leader, hadn’t known how to explain the situation clearly. But Shen Yiming had calmly asked Secretary Zhang to speak with him privately in the office.

After a short conversation, the situation was settled. The commune had issued the necessary documentation, and everything was prepared for the female educated youth to return to the city.

News of this quickly spread in the small village of the Zuo family’s settlement. By the time the other educated youths heard about it, Liu Lili had already been sent back to the city. Even her belongings at the educated youth dormitory had been distributed to the villagers. The team leader’s wife had helped divide them up. Although Liu Lili wasn’t wealthy and didn’t have much, even the smallest items, like needles and thread, made the recipients feel grateful, and they spoke well of her in return.

The other educated youths were shocked that Liu Lili had left so suddenly.

They felt that the situation hadn’t been fully clarified—how could she just leave like that? In particular, Li Hongbing was feeling extremely wronged. For the past two days, as she walked around the village, people had been whispering and gossiping about her.

And now, Liu Lili had just left, dumping this whole mess on her. Furious, Li Hongbing gathered the educated youths again, insisting that they demand an explanation from the production team and the commune. She didn’t want to be wrongfully accused and let the matter end like this.

Li Chenliang had no interest in this situation at all, but he found Li Hongbing’s ability to stir up trouble amusing. Since he was idle in the village anyway, he decided to join in. Plus, he had noticed that Shen Yiming seemed to have played a role in all of this, so he figured he might as well make some trouble for him.

Among the educated youths, only Li Suli and Su Dai stayed out of it—the other four joined in.

They all gathered at Zuo Shuisheng’s doorstep, demanding the truth.

Inside, Zuo Shuisheng was furious.

Zuo Dan, hearing the commotion from home, thought these people were really making a big deal out of nothing. She didn’t share the strict moral views of this era—she didn’t see Liu Lili’s situation as some unforgivable crime. To put it bluntly, in the future, there would be plenty of unspoken rules in society. If people insisted on being so rigid about this kind of thing, how many people would they have to punish?

Liu Lili had already suffered a great deal, and this incident would affect her for the rest of her life. Why couldn’t they just let it go? Did they really need to drag her back, parade her around the village, and shave her head in humiliation?