Chapter 144 Educated Youth in the 1970s (Part 8) I Want to Build! I Want to Learn...

After the two returned to the educated youth settlement, Zhang Shuda jumped off Chen Shi.

The courtyard was quiet, save for the incessant chirping of cicadas in the trees outside. The two exchanged a glance and quietly made their way around from behind the north house to Song Ce's room, careful not to be discovered.

Chen Shi's heart was pounding. He was holding a thin wire in his hand, ready to unlock the door, but he didn't expect that the door was ajar and not locked.

“Shuda, look…”

"This is truly a stroke of luck! Let's go in and take a look!" Zhang Shuda took a deep breath and pushed open the wooden door.

The furnishings inside were just as shabby as when they first arrived in Xinhe Village. Zhang Shuda and Chen Shi exchanged a glance and, with perfect understanding, headed straight for Song Ce's bed, starting to search for the items.

Zhang Shuda looked for a cabinet, while Chen Shi rummaged through a box; the two were busy with their own tasks.

The wooden cabinet beside Song Ce's bed had two shelves. The upper shelf held toiletries such as toothbrushes, toothpaste cups, towels, and soap, while the lower shelf was filled with a thick stack of books. Zhang Shuda casually picked up the top notebook and opened it. He saw some sketches of some parts on the paper. He wasn't very literate and couldn't see anything unusual about it. Just as he was about to put the notebook down, a brand-new supply ticket slid out of it.

Zhang Shuda was taken aback, then quickly bent down to pick it up. The supply ticket read: "First-class boneless pork ticket, five jin (approximately 2.5 kg), meat redeemable with ticket, can be given as a gift."

Five catties of first-class pork? Zhang Shuda's eyes widened in surprise. He wanted to call Chen Shi over to take a look, but hesitated when he got to the point.

That's a whole five pounds of pork!

He clenched his fists, his eyes gleaming, and quietly slipped the ration coupon into his pocket.

On the other side, Chen Shi carefully rummaged through the contents of the box. Apart from a few sets of clothes, there was only a small cloth bag at the bottom. He unfolded it and found more than a dozen grain coupons and over a hundred yuan inside.

Chen Shi's hand trembled, and he lowered his voice to call out, "Shuda, come and see!"

Zhang Shuda shuddered upon hearing this and quickly moved closer. Seeing so many grain coupons and cash, his face changed, and he asked in a trembling voice, "How...so much?"

Chen Shi panicked, and his hands trembled even more violently.

"How would I know? Let's put it back first, just in case..." Before he could finish speaking, footsteps and intermittent conversations suddenly came from the courtyard.

The two exchanged a quick glance, their faces turning deathly pale. Zhang Shuda scrambled to hide behind the door, while Chen Shi hastily wrapped the small cloth bag and stuffed it back into the bottom of the trunk before frantically crawling under the bed.

Huddled behind the door, Zhang Shuda barely dared to breathe; his heart was pounding in his chest. If they were caught red-handed, their lives would be over!

Putting everything else aside, he still had a pork ration coupon in his pocket!

"Captain, Uncle Li, Uncle Qian, please come in and sit down! I've written down my suggestions for modifying the tractor in our village and the annotations for each part. I would appreciate your guidance." Song Ce said as he pushed open the door with a creak.

The three nodded slightly, feeling a sense of goodwill towards Song Ce's humble attitude.

Chen Shi hid under the bed, barely daring to breathe. Hearing Song Ce call out to those people, his head buzzed, and he felt a surge of regret: If only he had known… if only he had known… he shouldn't have chosen today!

Qin Guangde took the notebook, glanced at it a few times, chuckled, and handed it to Uncle Li, saying politely, "Old Li, you're the expert, take a look first. What do you think of Comrade Song's suggestions for revision?"

Uncle Li nodded, looked at it carefully, and then smiled and said, "Good, good, good! Comrade Song wrote very well! If he can fix the tractor this time, it will be a great help! Captain, maybe our brigade can even be rated as an advanced unit this time!"

Uncle Qian took the notebook and looked at it. Although he couldn't read the words, he could understand the parts diagrams on the paper! He clicked his tongue, gave a thumbs up, and exclaimed, "Comrade Xiao Song, you're amazing!"

"I came to Xinhe Village to participate in the construction in response to the call of our country. This is what I should do," Song Ce replied modestly. He took the notebook, flipped through a few pages, and handed it to Uncle Li, saying, "Look here, I'm new here and don't know much about our village..."

As he was speaking, a soft, muffled sound suddenly came from behind the door.

Zhang Shuda hid behind the door, his back pressed against the rough earthen wall. He was about to shift to a more cautious position when his foot accidentally stepped on something hard. Before he could react, the voice of the brigade leader, Qin Guangde, suddenly rang out: "Who? Who's there?"

Zhang Shuda's pupils contracted sharply, and he covered his mouth tightly with both hands, cold sweat instantly pouring from his forehead.

It’s over! It’s over!

Qin Guangde abruptly stood up and flung open the wooden door. Their eyes met, and Zhang Shuda, with nowhere to retreat, stammered, his face pale, "B-Battalion Commander..."

"What's going on here? Comrade Zhang Shuda, what are you doing in Comrade Xiao Song's room? Shouldn't you be at work at this hour?" Qin Guangde's face darkened, his brows furrowed, and he asked angrily.

Zhang Shuda's legs went weak. He used the wall as leverage to crawl out from behind the door, stammering, "I...I am..."

Qin Guangde stared intently at Zhang Shuda, his smile long gone, replaced by seriousness and vigilance. Uncle Li, standing to the side, glanced at Zhang Shuda from head to toe, then at the slightly ajar wooden cabinet door, and immediately understood seven or eight parts of the situation.

A flicker of disappointment crossed his eyes, and he said sternly, "Comrade Zhang Shuda, did you break into Xiao Song's house to steal something?"

"No...no, I...I'm not..." Zhang Shuda's legs trembled uncontrollably. He subconsciously reached for his pocket, then quickly pulled it back.

"What's in your pocket? Take it out!" Qin Guangde glared at him.

Zhang Shuda felt a wave of dizziness and almost collapsed to the ground. This hostage couldn't... absolutely couldn't let the captain find out!

Without a second thought, he knelt down on the ground with a thud, his eyes red, and said, "Captain, I just saw that Song Ce and the others' room was unlocked and thought someone was home, so I came in... Not just me! Chen Shi too! He can testify for me! We had just entered the room when you arrived..."

Upon hearing Chen Shi's name, Qin Guangde's face grew even more grim, and he demanded, "Where is he?"

Zhang Shuda pointed to the bed and said tremblingly, "He's... under the bed."

With a cold face, Qin Guangde walked a few steps to the bedside, bent down, and lifted the hanging bed curtains. Chen Shi gritted his teeth, crawled out from under the bed, covered in dust. He didn't dare to look up, rubbing the hem of his clothes with his hands, staring intently at his mud-covered toes, not daring to say a word.

Uncle Qian gasped and shook his head, saying, "What a terrible thing! How could a perfectly good educated youth do such a thing?"

"Speak! What exactly did you two take?" Qin Guangde's voice was so loud it hurt everyone's ears. They knew that sending educated youth to the countryside was a national policy, and their behavior was strictly controlled. Petty theft like this could very well be considered a serious crime of undermining socialist construction, and if dealt with, they would not be let off lightly!

Seeing Zhang Shuda trembling like a leaf, Chen Shi gritted his teeth and glared at him fiercely, feeling both angry and afraid. He was angry that Zhang Shuda had no backbone and had directly betrayed him, but he was also afraid that the brigade leader would report the matter to the county educated youth office.

His mother was a street-level official; no one understood better than him the fate of educated youth caught stealing. What did the educated youth represent? They represented progressive youth of our time! The nation mobilized them from the cities to the countryside for the purpose of construction and dedication! If an educated youth was discovered to have misconduct and reported to higher authorities, they would face written self-criticisms, deduction of work points, public humiliation, or even re-education through labor!

If the situation were serious… Chen Shi shuddered, not daring to think any further. They were caught red-handed; there was no way to fool them. Chen Shi opened his mouth, deciding to confess for leniency.

"Captain, we...we were just confused for a moment. I was wrong!" He raised his hands, choking back tears, and said, "But I swear! I didn't take a single needle or thread from this room!"

Enraged, Qin Guangde slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Nonsense! Is it any of your business whether or not you took anything?"

Chen Shi lowered his head, walked forward with a look of shame, and opened his arms for Qin Guangde and the others to search him. Unexpectedly, Zhang Shuda, who was standing to the side, did not move at all, as if his feet were nailed to the spot.

"Zhang Shuda, what about you?" Qin Guangde raised his voice and asked loudly.

"I...I..."

Under everyone's gaze, Zhang Shuda couldn't help but take a step back, his face filled with panic as he said, "I didn't either..."

"Don't say anything else! I was just about to say this: take everything out of your pockets!" Qin Guangde interrupted Zhang Shuda and said in a deep voice.

Zhang Shuda's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. Seeing this, everyone understood perfectly well what was going on.

Uncle Qian couldn't bear to see such a young man go astray, so he squatted down and softened his tone, saying, "Young man, there are no outsiders in this room. Just tell me what you took. Hiding things will only lead to trouble!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shuda burst into tears, his hands trembling as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled pork ration coupon, slowly handing it to Uncle Qian. Uncle Qian took the coupon, glanced at it subconsciously, and froze on the spot.

Qin Guangde stepped forward, took the supply ticket, and looked at it. His eyes grew even colder.

Is there anything else?

"No...that's all."

Chen Shi, who was standing nearby, was also stunned. He hadn't expected that the honest and unassuming Zhang Shuda would actually dare to steal things from the house. Moreover, judging from the captain's grim expression, the supply ration coupon must have been quite valuable.

Uncle Qian glanced at Zhang Shuda, then at Song Ce, and sighed, "Captain, this young man was just confused for a moment. Since Comrade Song's things are still here, maybe... maybe we should just let it go?"

"A moment of confusion?" Qin Guangde frowned and said loudly, "Old Qian, they made a mistake, and you've gone confused too? This is no small matter! He's an educated youth! And he stole things from his fellow educated youth. If this gets out, what will happen to our Xinhe Village? What will happen to our brigade headquarters? What will happen to me, the brigade leader?"

Uncle Li nodded repeatedly, "The brigade leader is right! Our Xinhe Village has always been clean and honest, and has never had such a scandal before!"

Uncle Qian sighed and said, "But if they get reported, their lives will be ruined!"

"That's true, but if we don't punish them severely, the village's atmosphere will be ruined! So we can't make exceptions for this; we have to follow the procedures and rules! Since they dared to do it, they have to be responsible for it!"

Listening to their argument, Zhang Shuda and Chen Shi lowered their heads, not daring to look anyone in the eye, especially Song Ce, who hadn't said a word.

Qin Guangde clutched the pork ration coupon tightly for a long time before slowly saying, "Xiao Song, look, is this your ration coupon?"

Song Ce took it and nodded, saying, "It's mine."

After pondering for a moment, Qin Guangde said, "Tell me, how do you plan to deal with these two lads?"

Song Ce paused, his gaze sweeping over the two men's pale faces, and said softly, "Captain, I'm new to the village and don't quite understand the rules here. You see..."

Qin Guangde nodded, and finally stated in a deep voice: "As the brigade leader, this is the first theft case I've encountered since being elected by the masses! If I raise the bar high today and let them off lightly, then tomorrow anyone can steal things, right? You two, come to the brigade headquarters first thing tomorrow morning to write a confession! Admit your mistakes to Comrade Song Ce in public! I'll report this matter to the county's educated youth office later and let the higher-ups make a decision!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Shi could no longer hold back and burst into tears. He rushed over and hugged Qin Guangde's leg, hissing, "Captain! I was wrong! I know I was wrong! I was wrong in every way, but I didn't steal anything! My mother works for the neighborhood committee. If this gets back to the city, how will she face people?"

Qin Guangde looked at Chen Shi and said decisively, "Since you know the serious consequences of this matter, why did you still do it?"

"I...I was out of my mind for a moment, that's why..." Chen Shi stammered, his face covered in snot and tears.

"Sigh, you're scared now? Too late! What's the use of saying all this now?" Qin Guangde sighed and didn't continue.

As the village's head, he knew all too well that if the theft by the educated youth were exposed, he would also be implicated... Sigh, he wondered how the higher-ups would handle this matter.

Zhang Shuda's Adam's apple bobbed, and his lips trembled for a long time, but he couldn't utter a word of begging for mercy. Just as Uncle Li was about to pull him up, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.