Seeing someone running close, Li Hongwei pulled Zhai Qiaoyun, who was nearly unconscious, and swam her from the river to the shore.

"Jiang Zhiqing, what happened?"

Li Tiejun, who was taking a walk, heard the cries for help and rushed over, bringing along many commune members he encountered along the way.

"Captain, Zhai Zhiqing was playing in the river just now and accidentally fell in!"

"What?"

Upon hearing the devastating news, everyone rushed towards the riverbank, where they witnessed Li Hongwei rescuing the man from the river.

Once ashore, Li Hongwei ignored the stares of the crowd, placed the unconscious Zhai Qiaoyun on the ground, and began performing artificial respiration.

"My God, what is he doing? Is he going to molest Zhai Zhiqing?"

"You old fool, don't talk nonsense if you don't know. That's called artificial respiration, it's saving lives!"

"But he already kissed her!"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhai Qiaoyun spat out a few mouthfuls of water and regained some consciousness.

"Hey, she's awake, she's awake!"

"This Li Hongwei actually knows a thing or two!"

"Hehe, it's just a pity for that Zhai educated youth. He touched and kissed him so much, how is he going to find a partner in the future!"

Just as everyone was discussing the matter, Zhai Qiaoyun finally regained her rare semblance of rationality.

"ah!"

She yelled and immediately pushed away Li Hongwei, who was kneeling next to her.

"How could she do this! Someone saved her, and she repays kindness with enmity!"

Seeing so many people in front of her, Zhai Qiaoyun felt a surge of anger and fainted again.

Li Hongwei quickly pulled the person into his arms again.

"Captain, although I saved Zhai Zhiqing, I did touch her body. If she agrees, I'm willing to marry her. Don't worry, I'll work hard from now on and I won't let my wife go hungry!"

Li Tiejun frowned as he looked Li Hongwei up and down, feeling that something was too strange about the matter, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

"Zhai Zhiqing's matter is her own decision, you can discuss it yourselves. But you should go to work properly. If you continue to be idle and shirk your labor, I will have someone tie you up and send you to a farm for reform through labor!"

"Yes, Captain, I understand!"

Seeing the unusually obedient Li Hongwei, Li Tiejun waved his hand and said:

"Let's hurry up and send him back to the educated youth settlement. Even though it's summer, he's swallowed a lot of water. Let's make him some ginger soup!"

Jiang Xile stood to the side and naturally took over the conversation.

"Don't worry, Captain, we'll help take care of Zhai Zhiqing!"

"In that case, I'll head back now. If you need anything, feel free to come find me anytime!"

"Okay, I understand!"

After seeing off the captain, Jiang Xile came into the view of Guo Dongxu and the others.

As the station chief and a former educated youth, Guo Dongxu naturally recognized Li Hongwei. Seeing that Zhai Qiaoyun was still being held in Li Hongwei's arms, he felt that something was not right.

"Comrade Li, please entrust Zhai Zhiqing to us. We will take good care of her!"

"How could I let another man touch my woman?" Li Hongwei dodged Guo Dongxu's hand and said with his head held high.

"I just told the brigade leader that I will take responsibility for Zhai Zhiqing. Is Guo Zhiqing trying to take him away from me now?"

Faced with Li Hongwei's provocation, Guo Dongxu's outstretched hand froze.

"I... I didn't mean that. I was mainly thinking about Zhai Zhiqing. After all, it depends on her opinion, doesn't it?"

"What Guo said makes sense, but I'll still carry the person myself. I knew Zhai before, and we had a fairly good relationship."

After Li Hongwei finished speaking, without waiting for Guo Dongxu's reply, he carried the person directly to his home. Seeing that he was going in the wrong direction, Guo Dongxu hurriedly chased after him.

"Comrade Li, you've gone the wrong way! The educated youth settlement is this way!"

Li Hongwei raised his head.

"Guo Zhiqing, I've already said I'll take responsibility for her. Do you want to take responsibility too?"

Guo Dongxu was speechless. How was he supposed to respond to that? Why should he take responsibility? He was the one who saved the person, the one who hugged them, and the one who kissed them. He wasn't some sucker.

Out of a sense of responsibility as a branch manager, and because he had a good relationship with Zhai Qiaoyun before, Guo Dongxu couldn't bear to see her fall into a pit of fire.

That's for sure. In everyone's eyes, marrying Li Hongwei was no less than jumping into a fire pit.

"No matter what, as long as you two aren't married, Zhai Zhiqing will have to go back to the educated youth settlement. Don't worry, I'll arrange for female comrades to take care of her!"

Su Jinxiu and Yang Hongmei also came over at this time.

"Commander Guo is right. We will take care of Qiaoyun. Even if she agrees to marry you, it will only be after she has regained her senses. Now, please, Comrade Li, hand her over to us!"

A hint of hostility flashed in Li Hongwei's eyes as he looked at Su Jinxiu and Yang Hongmei, who were standing up for Zhai Qiaoyun.

He was so close; if he had brought her home today, his marriage would have been a done deal.

But now, with these unexpected troublemakers appearing out of nowhere, Li Hongwei gritted his teeth. He was outnumbered and outmatched, so he couldn't just forcibly take the people away.

"Since that's the case, then you can have her. But you'd better take good care of her, after all, she's my future wife!"

The crowd dismissed Li Hongwei's words without taking them to heart, since everyone except a few new educated youths had heard of him.

Even if Zhai Qiaoyun was saved by him, she wouldn't choose to marry him unless she was completely out of her mind.

Jiang Xile hid to the side and did not participate, but only watched coldly as Zhai Qiaoyun reacted.

Just now, she clearly saw Zhai Qiaoyun's eyelids twitch, so she figured she must have woken up, but didn't know how to face her, which is why she continued to pretend to be unconscious.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!