Chu Dongmei thought An Moxue was joking, assuming that An Moxue had recovered from the grief of losing her parents after a few months in the countryside. Little did she know that An Moxue was stating a fact.

An Moxue thought to herself, "I told you the truth, but you didn't take it seriously. There's nothing I can do about it."

Chu Dongmei, holding An Moxue's hand, stood in front of the educated youth and said to An Moxue, "These people are all educated youth here."

An Moxue nodded to the people standing at the door, smiled, and greeted them: "Hello everyone! I'm here to see my girlfriends. Sorry to bother you."

When the educated youth saw An Moxue wearing a brand-new military overcoat and heavy leather shoes, and speaking very politely, they all greeted her.

Chu Dongmei said to everyone, "This is my best friend. She came to see me specially. Everyone, please disperse!"

Then, he took An Moxue's hand and led her into the female educated youth's room. As soon as An Moxue entered the kitchen, the light dimmed considerably. She then walked from the kitchen into the bedroom and had only one thought—damn, it's so dilapidated, much more dilapidated than the educated youth's room in Anle Village!

Entering the bedroom, there were kang beds on both the north and south sides, with only a narrow passageway in the middle. The kang beds were covered with rolled-up luggage, and there were small boxes at the end of the kang beds. There were also two ropes in the room with clothes and towels hanging on them.

Dark, cramped, crowded, and messy – these were An Moxue's most immediate impressions. She felt that if a person lived in such an environment for a long time, how could they possibly feel good? It would definitely be very depressing.

Chu Dongmei led An Moxue to her bedside and said, "Moxue, quickly take off your shoes and get on the kang to warm your feet."

An Moxue said, "You take yours off too, let's do it together."

As the two were talking, the female educated youth who had gone out returned to the house one after another.

An Moxue and Chu Dongmei took off their shoes and sat on the kang (a heated brick bed). Chu Dongmei asked An Moxue, "Moxue, are you cold? Why did you come so suddenly? Why didn't you tell me? I could have come to pick you up!" Chu Dongmei's face was filled with excitement when she saw An Moxue arrive.

An Moxue smiled and said, "I was worried about your letter last time, so I wrote back to you. But I didn't receive a reply from you for a long time, so I came here."

"I didn't receive your letter!"

"How could that be? It should have arrived long ago. Even if you had received the letter and then written back to me, I would have received it several days ago. It was only because I hadn't received your letter that I got anxious and came."

After saying that, An Moxue thought of a possibility. She looked up at Chu Dongmei, and Chu Dongmei looked at her as well. They understood each other without saying a word, but they didn't know if it was just this one letter or if there were other letters, or who had taken them.

"Dongmei, what do you plan to do?" An Moxue asked Chu Dongmei.

"Let's go to the village first and check things out. Wait a bit, until you've warmed up a bit. I'll also go to the village to let you know how many days off you've taken and how many days you can stay here."

"A five-day holiday, today is the first day."

"How did you manage to get leave? Weren't we not allowed to take leave in our first year?"

“I was recognized as an outstanding educated youth by the county! The county even reported it to the province. I don’t know if it will pass the review, so the village chief gave me leave.”

"Comrade, are you also an educated youth?" asked An Moxue, a female educated youth in the same room.

An Moxue replied with a smile, "Yes!"

"Where did you work as an educated youth? And you were even recognized as an outstanding educated youth, that's amazing!" Suddenly, all the female educated youth in the room looked at An Moxue.

"I was a sent-down youth in Feilong Province, which is adjacent to our Haiyi Province."

"How long were you in the countryside? And you were already recognized as an outstanding educated youth?"

"I went to the countryside in August this year, and it's been almost half a year now."

"What did you do? You were named an outstanding educated youth in such a short time."

"We arrested several enemy agents and assisted the military and public security in arresting several criminals."

The room fell silent. Everyone had the same thought: Why didn't I run into this? Even just once would be great!

Haha! How naive! Do you even have that ability?

"Mo Xue, are you not hurt? Why didn't you tell me?" Chu Dongmei asked with concern.

"It's alright, I'm not injured. Let me tell you, your current fighting strength is definitely no match for mine. I can kill you in one move. If you don't believe me, let's go outside and have a match right now."

After An Moxue finished speaking, she winked at Chu Dongmei from an angle where the other female educated youths couldn't see her.

Chu Dongmei received her friend's signal and said, "Let's go, let's have a competition. Since I came to the countryside, no one has been able to spar with me."

With that, the two put on their shoes and left the house.

What's going on? I've only been here a short while, and the chill on my body hasn't even dissipated yet.

He went out again, without even wearing his thick cotton-padded coat, to have a friendly sparring match.

Suddenly, the male and female educated youths from both rooms came out.

The two women set up their stances in the educated youth compound. An Moxue said, "Dongmei, you make the first move, and I'll defend. If you knock me so hard that I have to shift my feet, I'll admit defeat."

"So confident."

"certainly."

"Then I'll throw a punch."

The children in the compound practiced military boxing from a young age, and there wasn't one they didn't know how to do it.

At this moment, a group of people had gathered in the courtyard.

Chu Dongmei made the first move, lunging forward with a lunge and a punch, and the two exchanged blows with great force.

An Moxue skillfully deflected each attack, but no matter how hard Chu Dongmei tried, she couldn't make An Moxue's feet move an inch.

In just over ten minutes, Chu Dongmei was drenched in sweat, while An Moxue's breathing remained unchanged.

These educated youths who were watching the spectacle were wide-eyed with disbelief, never imagining that An Moxue would be so formidable.

But they also learned that Chu Dongmei was actually very skilled in martial arts. Just by looking at the momentum of her punches, they knew she was not just a show-off. They also thought about the nephew of Accountant Huang whose leg had been broken by her.

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines, wondering if they had ever offended Chu Dongmei. What if they angered her one day? Would they be as resilient as Huang Youfa, who had a broken leg? It would be incredibly embarrassing to be beaten by a woman.

An Moxue smiled at the group of educated youth and asked with a grin, "Anyone here know a few moves? If you're interested, let's have a friendly spar. We're all promising young people, let's learn from each other and improve together!"

Everyone shook their heads in unison. Someone said, "Comrade, let's skip the sparring. You just arrived, why don't you go inside and rest? The journey must have been tiring."

An Moxue said, "I'm not tired. It's only a few hours' train ride from where I was sent to the countryside to get here. It's not far. My friend is protected by a group of friends from our compound at home. I'm worried she'll be bullied here. I haven't been in the countryside for more than a few months, so I can't keep taking time off to visit her. I came here this time to see if anyone is bullying her. If anyone does, I won't let them off easily. Of course, I also came to thank everyone for taking care of my friend. I brought a piece of meat, and I'll cook it for everyone tonight as a token of my appreciation. Please don't refuse!"

Some quick-witted people thought to themselves, "This is a case of giving a stick and then a sweet treat!"