RIRW – Chapter 93

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Since Zuo Dan and Shen Yiming were going to the provincial city tomorrow, after dinner, Li Hui specially prepared some food from home for his grandmother. There wasn’t much of value in the countryside, but certain courtesies couldn’t be ignored. Every time Yiming visited, he would buy a lot of things for their family, so it wouldn’t be right for Dandan to go empty-handed.

Shen Yiming wasn’t overly particular with Li Hui. They were family, and being too formal about things wasn’t necessary. After helping Zuo Dan water the fruit trees and the vegetable seedlings in the garden, he placed the bucket by the wall, reached out to tug on Zuo Dan’s braid, and said, “You go help Auntie Li. I’m going out for a walk.”

Zuo Dan raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t need me to go with you?”

“No need. A man’s business should be settled by men.” Shen Yiming tucked his hands into his pockets, smiled slightly, and walked out.

There was no need for Zuo Dan to ask—she already knew what he was going to do. During the day, he had acted as if he didn’t care, but she figured he was probably fuming inside.

Still, she didn’t plan to chase after him. Shen Yiming was someone who knew his limits; he wouldn’t go looking for a fight. And given Li Chenliang’s family background, Shen Yiming wouldn’t actually do anything drastic to him.

At most, he’d just mentally crush his opponent.

Shen Yiming stepped out and headed straight for the educated youth quarters. Having lived there before, he was naturally familiar with the place.

When he arrived at the door, Su Dai was still reading under the oil lamp. Seeing Shen Yiming unexpectedly appear, he was so startled that he nearly dropped his book. “Shen Yiming?”

Shen Yiming smiled. “Comrade Su Dai, I’m looking for Li Chenliang. Is he here?”

“Yes, yes, he is. I’ll call him for you.”

Su Dai quickly went over to the bed, where Li Chenliang had been sulking under the covers since the afternoon.

“Li Chenliang, Comrade Shen Yiming is here to see you.”

At first, Li Chenliang impatiently turned over and buried himself deeper under the blanket. But a few seconds later, he suddenly kicked off the covers and sat up. “Did you say Shen Yiming is here?”

“Yeah, he’s outside.” Su Dai pointed toward the door.

Li Chenliang’s face turned a mix of colors. He suspected that Shen Yiming had come looking for a fight. He wasn’t afraid—actually, he would love it if Shen Yiming wanted to throw punches. A good fight would be just what he needed.

So, he got out of bed, straightened his clothes, put on his shoes, and strode out with high spirits.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Shen Yiming leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He didn’t look like someone who had come to fight at all.

“Shen Yiming, why are you looking for me? If it’s about what happened during the day, I’m not going to apologize. That’s right, I like Comrade Zuo Dan,” Li Chenliang said deliberately, trying to provoke him.

Hearing this, Shen Yiming stood up straight, walked over, and smirked with a hint of mockery. “Li Chenliang, I know exactly what you were trying to do. You deliberately approached Dandan in front of me today to make me angry, hoping we’d have a fight and break up. That way, you could take advantage of the situation, right? Honestly, I didn’t expect you to finally learn how to use tricks.”

Li Chenliang’s expression flickered with guilt for a moment, but then he stiffened his neck and retorted, “Shen Yiming, say whatever you want. The truth is, I like Zuo Dan. I knew her first. If you hadn’t confessed to her first, who knows what would’ve happened?”

Shen Yiming pressed his lips together. “I didn’t come here to argue with you today, and your thoughts don’t matter to me. Do you know why Dandan isn’t interested in you?”

“That’s because you tricked her!” Li Chenliang gritted his teeth.

“If you think that, then you don’t understand Dandan at all. She’s the smartest girl I’ve ever met. If she didn’t want to be with me, no one could trick her into it. At the same time, because she’s so smart, she would never be interested in someone like you—a boy who refuses to grow up.”

“Li Chenliang, since the day we met, you haven’t made any real progress. You ran away from home to escape your family’s control and came to the countryside, but you’ve accomplished nothing here. You don’t work hard, you don’t contribute, but you sure know how to stir up trouble.”

“You may be twenty years old, but your maturity level is that of a two-year-old. Without your family’s support, you are nothing. You live in your own little world and expect everyone to cater to you.”

“That’s nonsense!” Li Chenliang shouted, his face red with anger.

Shen Yiming chuckled. “You know it’s true. Do you dare say that you don’t cause trouble just because you rely on your family? Do you really think you’re the only passionate one among the educated youth here? You cause chaos not because you’re righteous, but because you find it entertaining. You never consider the consequences of your actions because you only think about yourself.”

Sweat beaded on Li Chenliang’s forehead. His mind flashed back to what Zuo Dan had once said to him about his reckless behavior—the way she had looked at him like he was an idiot.

Shen Yiming stepped closer, hands still in his pockets. “To me, you’re just a fool. A fool who causes trouble for others and feels proud about it. You can keep pursuing Dandan all you want, but I won’t be worried. Because I know she would never fall for a fool.”

Seeing Li Chenliang clenching his fists in rage, Shen Yiming turned away. “I think you should go back home instead of making trouble in the village. Even a three-year-old child would think your antics are ridiculous.”

With that, he left without another word.

Li Chenliang felt like something had lodged in his chest, burning hot and making it hard to breathe. By the time he snapped out of it, Shen Yiming was already gone.

He clenched his jaw, but the frustration wouldn’t go away.

In the end, he turned and punched the wall while muttering, “I’m not a fool! I’m not a fool!”

Hearing the commotion, Gao Wei and Su Dai rushed outside, thinking a fight had broken out. But all they saw was Li Chenliang punching the wall alone.

They froze for a moment, dumbfounded, before quickly running over to stop him.

“Li Chenliang, what are you doing? Do you want to break your hand? Are you stupid?” Su Dai shouted.

“Let go of me! I’m not a fool!” Li Chenliang yelled in frustration.

Gao Wei quickly reassured him, “Right, right, you’re not a fool. But you don’t need to take it out on the wall!”

Li Chenliang gritted his teeth. “I wanted to punch Shen Yiming, but that bastard ran too fast!”

Gao Wei was puzzled. “What did he do to provoke you? We didn’t even hear any arguing.”

Su Dai also said, “Comrade Shen Yiming is quite a good person. Li Chenliang, is there some misunderstanding between you two?”

Li Chenliang was instantly at a loss for words, unsure of how to respond. Should he tell them that Shen Yiming had just insulted him and called him a fool?

Unable to vent his frustration, he simply buried his head in his hands and went back inside, sitting on his bed sulking.

Gao Wei and Su Dai didn’t dare say anything and just sat nearby, watching him cautiously, afraid that he might lose his temper again.

After a while, Li Chenliang finally looked up and asked, “Do you guys think I’m selfish? That I’m foolish?”

The two of them remained silent.

Li Chenliang frowned. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Gao Wei coughed and said, “Don’t get mad at me for saying this, but honestly, sometimes you really are hard to understand. Take this whole countryside thing, for example. You were dead set on coming here, but I never understood why. I always just wanted to stay in the city. But then you came to the countryside, and now you can’t get used to farm work, yet you still live like you did in the city… I just don’t get why you insisted on coming here.”

Su Dai nodded. “And every time you stir up trouble, it’s never really about us. But we always get dragged in because of you. We came here, but we haven’t really helped the locals much. We don’t work as well as they do, and instead, we’ve just caused them extra trouble. If you really can’t adjust to life here, maybe you should just go back.”

Li Chenliang: “…” Were they conspiring with Shen Yiming or something?

After finishing her chores with Li Hui, Zuo Dan sat in the courtyard, waiting for Shen Yiming to return. Although she was pretty sure he wouldn’t get into a fight, she was still a little worried that someone else might pick a fight with him. After all, he did have a knack for making people want to hit him.

Fortunately, when Shen Yiming came back, he was in one piece, showing no signs of having fought anyone.

“Come, sit next to me,” Zuo Dan said. “Tell me, what were you up to?”

“Nothing much. Just gave Comrade Li Chenliang some advice—told him to go back to the city. His talents are wasted here in the countryside. Returning to the city is the proper path for him,” Shen Yiming replied with a straight face.

Zuo Dan poked his shoulder. “Don’t try to fool me. What did you really say to him?”

Shen Yiming sighed. “I just reminded him of all the foolish things he’s done, so he doesn’t get too confident. Imagine, he actually had the nerve to try and steal my girl. Does he even know how solid my relationship is? With his level of intelligence, he doesn’t stand a chance. I don’t even need to do anything—our bond alone is strong enough to kick him away.”

“You’re so full of yourself!” Zuo Dan poked his face. Then, curiously, she asked, “You hit him so hard with your words, and he didn’t punch you? I was just worrying that you might come back missing an arm or a leg.”

Shen Yiming grabbed her hand and held it in his, looking smug. “Oh, I’m sure he wanted to punch me. That’s why I left right after saying my piece—before he even had time to react.”

Zuo Dan shot him a look of disdain.

Shen Yiming glanced toward the house, making sure Li Hui and Zuo Dacheng weren’t around. Then he confidently brought Zuo Dan’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “We still have more than half a year before we can get married. Even though he’s not really a threat, just thinking about not being able to be with you all the time makes me uncomfortable. So I figured, I need to make sure he goes back to the city.”

Jealous, but won’t admit it.

Zuo Dan snorted. “Do you really think he’ll go back?”

“It’s highly likely,” Shen Yiming said confidently.

Since they had to travel the next day, the two of them didn’t stay up late chatting.

Early the next morning, they set off for town to catch a bus. Since this was a personal trip, it didn’t feel right to ask Zuo Dacheng to drive them in the tractor, so they carried their own luggage and headed to town.

Once on the bus, Zuo Dan suggested, “Let’s have lunch with Zuo Cong. We haven’t seen him in a while.”

When they arrived in the county town, they went straight to the high school to find Zuo Cong.

Seeing Shen Yiming and Zuo Dan, Zuo Cong was overjoyed and ran out to greet them. The three of them went to a state-run restaurant for a meal.

Upon hearing that Shen Yiming and Zuo Dan were going to the provincial capital to renovate their home in preparation for their wedding next year, Zuo Cong suddenly lost his appetite. His sister was really getting married? His gaze toward Shen Yiming instantly became more hostile and resentful.

How had he not realized this before? If Yiming and his sister were dating, that meant they would eventually get married. And once they were married, his sister would belong to Yiming’s family. She wouldn’t be around as much anymore.

Zuo Dan grinned, amused by his resentful little glare.

Shen Yiming, on the other hand, remained magnanimous. “Cong, from now on, we both have to take care of your sister together. You can’t stop looking after her just because she has another person doting on her now. We should both treat her well. Don’t worry—I won’t be jealous of you. No matter what, she’s still your sister. And you should visit her often in the provincial capital.”

Hearing this, Zuo Cong felt a pang of guilt. Yiming was being so generous, yet he had been petty. “Yiming, don’t worry! Even after my sister marries you, I’ll still take good care of her. She’s always been good to me, so I have to be good to her too!”

Zuo Dan: …Yep, he’s definitely their parents’ biological child.

“That’s the spirit! Come on, let’s toast with soup instead of wine!” Shen Yiming raised his bowl. Zuo Cong excitedly clinked his bowl against Yiming’s, feeling like a real man making a solemn pact.

After lunch, Zuo Dan casually asked about Teacher Bai.

“She’s on a long vacation. I think she’s seeing someone. I only heard about it from others, though. I haven’t seen her in a while, and she doesn’t talk to me anymore,” Zuo Cong said, feeling a little confused. He wondered if he had done something to offend her.

Zuo Dan was relieved. “Focus on your studies. You only have half a semester left before graduation.”

“Yeah, I’m planning to become a teacher at the commune’s elementary school after graduation. That way, I can take care of our parents,” Zuo Cong said happily.

Zuo Dan nodded. That was a good plan—it would also give him time to study and prepare for the college entrance exams.

After their meal, Zuo Cong returned to school while Zuo Dan and Shen Yiming took a bus to the provincial capital.

Once on board, Shen Yiming asked, “Should we get Zuo Cong into a Worker-Peasant-Soldier University? I remember the commune has quotas for it every year. Even though the school isn’t top-tier, at least he’d be a college student.”

Zuo Dan was well aware that getting into such a university at this time was still a big deal. But for Zuo Cong, it wasn’t very meaningful—he was about to graduate, and in another year, he could take the national college entrance exams.

“That depends on what Cong wants,” she said. A decision like this had to be discussed with him.

Shen Yiming nodded, dropping the subject. But if Zuo Cong wanted to go to college, he would certainly help however he could.

After a long, bumpy ride, Zuo Dan surprisingly didn’t feel carsick this time—her body seemed to have adapted.

By the time they arrived at their destination, the cold night air jolted them awake.

Song Gang had been waiting outside with his car. Seeing them step off the bus, he quickly waved. “Yiming, over here! Get in!”