Chapter 42 I can feed you.

Jiang Wanqiu was taken aback.

Her mind raced, but she forced herself to remain calm, avoiding the man's overly piercing gaze, and explained in a low voice, "When I used to travel all over the country with my parents doing business, I heard those big merchants from the north mention it."

She paused, organizing her thoughts, trying to make her words sound as natural as possible.

“They said that a few years ago, some foreigners used the guise of missionary work to gather information and deceive many young girls. Our family was harassed back then, so I was thinking... could it be one of them who infiltrated this time?”

This statement, though partly true and partly false, is nonetheless quite reasonable.

Zhao Wenchang stared at her for a long time. Seeing that her eyes were clear and she didn't seem to be lying, the sharpness in his eyes slowly faded.

He didn't press further, but simply raised his hand and gently stroked her cheek with his calloused fingertips, as if to reassure her: "We drove them back a few years ago, but they've made a comeback in recent years. But don't worry, I'm here for you."

Actually, she saw this in a newspaper in her previous life.

That was a major operation by the Northern Military Region, which once again wiped out this group of foreign spies who, under the guise of new ideas, were actually spreading reactionary rhetoric, sowing discord between the military and civilians, and even secretly trafficking people.

The report included a picture of a young military officer's obituary.

She was deeply impressed.

The report said that the regimental commander was assassinated by secret agents while protecting his comrades during the operation, sacrificing his life heroically.

He became a regimental commander at a young age, and his future should have been bright.

At the time, she even expressed her regret.

What she remembers even more vividly is the unit number of that regimental commander's unit—Z05022.

That string of numbers happened to be her birthday.

Now that we've been given a second chance at life, and now that we know about this, we should avoid unnecessary casualties if possible.

She thought she should at least give the young regimental commander a heads-up, but she couldn't say it directly, otherwise it would be too suspicious.

Jiang Wanqiu raised her eyes and changed the subject: "You were the only one they sent? That's too dangerous."

Seeing her worried expression, Zhao Wenchang felt a surge of warmth in his heart. He couldn't help but smile, and his deep voice carried a hint of teasing: "What? Feeling sorry for me?"

"I didn't!" Jiang Wanqiu's cheeks flushed as she stubbornly retorted, then muttered under her breath, "I just don't understand. I thought that such a dangerous mission would be carried out by a high-ranking leader at the regimental commander level."

This was the safest test she could think of.

"Oh?" Zhao Wenchang raised an eyebrow. "Who told you our regimental commander didn't come?"

Seeing the woman's eyes widen in tension, he slowly continued, "However, our commander is getting old and is nearing retirement. This kind of mentally taxing and physically demanding task is no longer suitable for him. Therefore, I will lead this operation, and I will be in charge of assigning the others."

So that's how it is.

Could it be that the young regimental commander was in charge of a cleanup operation elsewhere?

Because the spies were mixed in with the group of newly arrived educated youth, in order not to alert them, Zhao Wenchang changed into a simple old set of clothes the next day and went with the educated youth to cultivate the wasteland behind the village so as to observe secretly.

Before dawn, at three in the morning, men have to get up in the dark.

Jiang Wanqiu was awakened by the rustling sound of him dressing. Still sleepy, she lay on her pillow, looking at his tall and straight back, feeling a little reluctant to part.

The man seemed to have eyes in the back of his head; he suddenly turned around, bent down, and kissed her on the forehead.

"Sleep a little longer," he said in a low voice, his breath warm.

Before leaving, he suddenly leaned close to her ear, looked into her still somewhat worried eyes, and said with a mischievous grin in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Don't worry, with my stamina, I'll have more than enough to feed you when I get back tonight."

Jiang Wanqiu's face flushed bright red instantly. She grabbed a pillow, intending to throw it at him, and muttered, "You're so indecent!"

The man chuckled softly, dodged, and strode out the door.

By noon, the sky was overcast, the temperature dropped sharply, and the north wind made the paper windows rustle.

Zhao Wenchang's grandmother, Ma Jinhua, sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), looking out the window, and said worriedly, "Judging from the sky, it's probably going to snow. It's cold in the mountains, and Wenchang is only wearing a thin coat. I hope he doesn't catch a cold."

She was about to get out of bed when she said that she wanted to take the thick cotton-padded coat from the closet to her grandson.

"Grandma, your legs aren't very strong, let me go!" Jiang Wanqiu quickly stopped her.

Ma Jinhua was still worried, so she found her thick military green cotton-padded coat and made Jiang Wanqiu put it on, repeatedly reminding her, "The mountain road is slippery, watch your step."

She turned and called out into the inner room, "Ping An! Take your sister-in-law to the back mountain!"

A head popped out, looking reluctant, but still slowly walked ahead to lead the way.

The mountain path was muddy and slippery. Jiang Wanqiu, carrying her clothes, followed along, her steps uneven.

Just as we rounded a bend in the mountain valley, a sharp female voice suddenly came from not far away.

"Jiang Wanqiu—!"

Jiang Wanqiu paused and looked up.

A woman wearing patched work clothes and with two braids was standing on a slope not far away, holding a hoe in her hand.

Upon closer inspection, it was a Chinese scholar tree.

Jiang Wanqiu froze on the spot, unsure how to describe her feelings upon seeing this woman again.

Su Huai, her college classmate.

A woman with extremely radical ideas despised this so-called "capitalist lady" the most, constantly referring to her as a "parasite on socialism." After graduating from university, she followed her boyfriend and went to the Great Northern Wilderness to reclaim land with great enthusiasm.

In my past life, it was this Su Huai who died tragically overseas.

When the body was discovered, its internal organs and eyeballs had been removed, and its teeth and nails had been pulled out. More than a dozen young educated youths were also murdered with her.

It was because of this incident that Jiang Wanxia, ​​who was also sent down to the Great Northern Wilderness at the time, was so frightened that she refused to stay any longer and wrote letters home every day, crying that someone wanted to harm her and that she would be the next to be killed.

At this moment, Su Huai was about to go down the mountain to the kitchen at the educated youth settlement for a meal when he suddenly saw Jiang Wanqiu, especially her large old cotton-padded coat. His eyes instantly flashed with a joyful smugness.

See, there's only one fate for those who act as lackeys of capitalism! They'll end up worse than pigs and dogs!

She walked over, hoe in hand, looking down at him with undisguised sarcasm: "Oh, isn't this Miss Jiang? What's wrong? You look quite disheveled."

She looked Jiang Wanqiu up and down as if she were examining something dirty.

"I heard that your capitalist roader parents couldn't stand the hardships of the countryside and both fell ill? Tsk tsk, I wonder when they'll die."

After she finished speaking, she seemed to remember something, tilted her head, and asked with feigned curiosity, "By the way, the commune organized land reclamation today, why didn't I see you? Didn't you go to work?"

Before Jiang Wanqiu could answer, she chuckled to herself, her eyes filled with filthy speculation.

"That's true. I've heard that some female educated youth, in order to slack off and avoid work, always come up with crooked ideas. If they sleep with the scorekeeper, they can get full work points. If they sleep with a cadre, they can get an easier job. If they spend time with five or six men a day, they won't have to go to the fields."

As she spoke, she glanced meaningfully at Jiang Wanqiu and said with a sarcastic smile, "If you're not here to work, are you busy using other places... to work?"