Zhao Mingyue left home to go to work at the mat-making market. Now that the busy farming season was over, the women had started working at the mat-making market again. This was one of the important sources of income for the production team. At the end of each year, the money distributed to everyone mainly came from delivering grain to the public and from selling reed mats.

To get to the banquet, one had to pass a small cemetery. The cemetery was very old; in recent years, the Qingming Festival had been abolished, and no one tended to the ancestors' graves, so it was overgrown with weeds and shrubs, giving it a somewhat eerie appearance. Zhao Mingyue, however, was always open and fearless, passing through that area calmly every day. Suddenly, as she passed by, a figure rose from the thicket, giving Zhao Mingyue a sinister smile.

The sudden turn of events startled Zhao Mingyue. She turned her head and saw Wang Qiulan standing disheveled in the bushes, covered in grass clippings and mud, her hair also smeared with grass clippings. Wang Qiulan stared straight at her, throwing stones at her while cursing, "Bitch, slut! You'll die a horrible death!"

Zhao Mingyue frowned, looked directly into Wang Qiulan's eyes, and smiled contemptuously, "Wang Qiulan, be careful this doesn't come back to haunt you." Then she left without looking back. She didn't want to kick someone when they're down, but since Wang Qiulan had come looking for trouble, she couldn't let her get away with it so easily.

Although Wang Qiulan was mentally unstable, she wasn't completely incoherent. Seeing Zhao Mingyue leave, she suddenly lunged at her like a madwoman. However, her foot got caught on some thorns in the graveyard, causing her to lose her balance and fall forward, landing hard on the ground. Her face was scratched and mangled by the thorns, and she screamed in agony. Zhao Mingyue heard the screams but didn't turn around. No matter how pitiful Wang Qiulan looked, she wouldn't show any mercy. She hadn't been able to avenge herself in her past life; wasn't Wang Qiulan's self-inflicted death in this life a form of divine retribution?

After Wang Qiulan's face was scratched, no one in her family cared for her and left her to fend for herself. As a result, after the wound healed, she was almost disfigured, with her face covered in pits and scars. Even children were frightened by her appearance and cried loudly.

She was sick and wouldn't go to work, leaving the family to support such a grown girl for nothing. How could she possibly look well? With a madwoman in the family, people would look at them differently. The whole family had lost face, and Wang Qiulan had become a thorn in everyone's side.

Although Wang Qiulan was somewhat eccentric, she always remembered Cheng Yonggang and would often go to Chengjia Village to find him, drooling and grinning foolishly at him. Everyone would tease Cheng Yonggang, saying, "Yonggang, the crazy woman is looking for you again."

Cheng Yonggang was filled with disgust. This woman was so vicious, she actually wanted to curse Zhao Mingyue to death, and now she was bothering him. It was simply unbelievable. He yelled at Wang Qiulan, "Crazy woman, ugly monster, get out!"

Wang Qiulan still smiled at him, completely unfazed by his rude attitude, following him wherever he went. Sometimes she even exposed her breasts, trying to seduce Cheng Yonggang.

As it turned out, Wang Qiulan didn't manage to seduce Cheng Yonggang, but she did manage to seduce quite a few local thugs. By the time Wang Changfu's family found out, Wang Qiulan was already several months pregnant, and no one knew whose child it was. Tang Jiumei was both shocked and furious. She used a folk remedy to induce an abortion for her daughter, then locked her in the house, preventing her from ever going out to attract attention again. But that's another story.

In September of that year, a momentous event occurred: the leader passed away, plunging the entire nation into shock and grief. Zhao Mingyue knew that once this was over, the clouds would soon part and the moon would shine again; the heavy weight on people's hearts would finally be lifted.

Since the leader's passing, people's work enthusiasm and motivation seem to have diminished considerably. In the hearts of many ordinary people who revere their leader as a deity, a great man should live forever; how could he possibly die?

Just as people were still recovering from their grief, another momentous event occurred after National Day that year: the Gang of Four collapsed, and the movement ended. Zhao Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief; the dark cloud hanging over her head had finally dissipated, and the long-suppressed hearts began to be released. When people met, although they couldn't say much, their expressions were joyful.

As the movement ended, many of the educated youth who had been sent to the countryside began to actively seek ways to return to the city. The educated youth dormitories became more lively than ever before, with educated youth from nearby villages frequently visiting to discuss their routes and methods of returning home.

Zhao Mingyue's life went on as usual. She went to work every day. She had seen Wu Jie several times already, and she knew that Shen Xuyue was definitely trying to return to the city. Although she knew about their relationship in their past lives, she still couldn't help feeling disappointed. She didn't want Shen Xuyue and Wu Jie to be together.

Once the movement ended, the revolutionary committees below all disbanded. Although Zhao Jinyun remained the village head, he no longer had the same confidence as before. Zhao Mingyue began to secretly work to unite the villagers to demand Zhao Jinyun's removal from office. Anyone with a majority of the village's electoral rights could demand the removal of a village committee member—no one had ever done this before, and Zhao Mingyue wanted to be the first to do so.

Of course, Zhao Mingyue wasn't yet eighteen and didn't have the right to vote, but her family did, so Zhao Minglang could handle the mobilization. There were probably around seven or eight hundred people in the village who were eighteen, meaning they only needed to get one or two hundred people to agree. However, things were very unpredictable these days, and people were easily frightened, so getting two hundred people to agree wouldn't be easy. Even those villagers who had been oppressed by Zhao Jinyun might not be willing to sign or put their fingerprints on the paper.

People were terrified that something might suddenly change, and if Zhao Jinyun wasn't brought down, they might end up with a handle against him and be bullied and oppressed again. There had been so many political movements over the years; everyone was afraid.

Zhao Mingyue deeply understands everyone's concerns, but Zhao Jinyun will be brought down sooner or later. If he doesn't fall, it will be these innocent people who will be crushed.

Every night, Zhao Mingyue's family holds meetings to discuss and count the number of signatures. After more than a week of work, they have successfully obtained more than eighty signatures, still halfway to their goal. Most of the families they visited and lobbied were those who had been bullied by Zhao Jinyun. They were also grateful for Zhao Jinyun's tyranny over the years. Although so many people were afraid of him, quite a few dared to sign and leave their fingerprints.

Although this was done in private, secrets can't stay hidden forever, and some of those who flattered Zhao Jinyun secretly told him. Zhao Jinyun panicked upon hearing this and knew he had to find a way to stop it immediately. Just then, a coal mine came to the village to recruit two miners. Zhao Jinyun proactively went to Zhao Mingyue's house.

“This time, the coal mine came to our village to recruit workers, and I think your family’s Minglang’s qualifications are a perfect match, so I’ll recommend you for the job.” Zhao Jinyun said with a big smile.

Zhao Mingyue's parents and brothers were stunned. What did this mean? Had a windfall fallen into their laps? Zhao Jinyun paused for a moment and then said, "I know I haven't done well enough over the years, and I've been biased in some ways, but it's absolutely not intentional against anyone, so please don't take it to heart. The coal mine people will be coming for interviews and medical examinations tomorrow. Minglang, get ready. I'm going back now." With that, she left with a smile.

Zhao Minglang was first taken aback, then suddenly overjoyed: "Dad, Mom, are you making me a factory worker?"

Zhao Shunsheng was also somewhat excited: "It seems so."

Zhao Mingyue curled her lips and sneered: "Don't you understand? This is a sugar-coated bullet. He doesn't want us to bring him down, so he's giving you a sweet date to shut you up."

After calming down, Zhao Minglang thought about it carefully and realized it made sense: "He knew we were going to mess with him, so he threw this good thing at me to shut us up?"

Zhao Mingyue said, "That's how it is."

"Should I still go?" Faced with such a huge temptation, Zhao Minglang was deeply moved. To become a worker and escape rural life was the greatest ideal and wish of every rural person.

Zhao Mingyue said, "No. Why would you go? If you go to mine coal, you'll be like a rat in a dark cave every day, never even seeing the sun. Who knows when the mine will collapse and you'll be buried right there. Do you still think that's a good job?"

Zhao Minglang was startled: "Is that so?"

Zhao Mingyue turned to her parents and said, "I will absolutely not agree to my brother going to be a miner. It's too hard, too dirty, too tiring, and too dangerous! Let whoever wants to go go."

Zhao Shunsheng took out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, and began to puff away. Hu Nianchun, too, calmed down from his initial excitement. After careful consideration, Zhao Minglang realized that being a coal miner was indeed not a good job; the only advantage was that he was a worker, ranking first among workers, peasants, and soldiers.

Zhao Mingyue continued, "Zhao Jinyun is trying to sow discord. He knows we are the leaders, and he's deliberately giving us such a big bait to make us give up on overthrowing him so he can continue to act arrogantly. How can we tolerate this? I think the movement is over now, and the country is working hard to restore normal operations. Schools will definitely resume normal classes soon, and the college entrance examination will also resume. I want to go to university. Brother, do you want to go to university or become a coal miner? The choice is yours."

Zhao Minglang looked at his younger sister, who seemed confident, as if she was certain that the college entrance examination would be reinstated. "Mingyue, you say the college entrance examination will be reinstated? But even if it is, can we participate? I never went to high school, and I'm already so old."

Zhao Mingyue said, “Everything is unknown, we don’t know what will happen, but if you become a coal miner now and give up the petition to remove him from office, you will betray those who signed it. What if Zhao Jinyun retaliates against us in the future? Are you willing to watch him continue to act arrogantly? If the college entrance examination is reinstated in the future, and Zhao Jinyun is still in this position, we will be blocked by him. We won’t be able to stamp documents or issue letters of introduction. Even if we pass the exam, we won’t be able to go to university. So we must bring Zhao Jinyun down.”

If Zhao Mingyue hadn't been reborn, she would definitely have been confused about this matter as well. But since she had already seen the bright road ahead, why choose a winding path that was temporarily open but was actually a narrow and winding trail? So, if she could avoid losses, she should definitely avoid them.

Zhao Minglang took a deep breath: "Let me think about it."