The place where Aunt Guo and the others led An Moxue to dig for wild vegetables was a rice paddy. Once there, the group dispersed.

An Moxue stared blankly ahead without moving. Aunt Guo took a few steps and realized that An Moxue hadn't followed, so she turned back and called to her, "Moxue, come here, I'll teach you how to dig. There are vegetables here."

An Moxue hurriedly replied, "Yes, I'm coming." Only then did An Moxue realize that they were all growing on the paddy field ridges. Dandelion only needs tender leaves, and wild garlic is like chives. You can just pick out the thicker ones from the leaves. There are many of them. When harvesting rice, people don't recognize them and think they are weeds. They never heard the old educated youth say that they are to be eaten.

After digging for a short while, everyone's baskets and bags were full. The group walked towards the river, laughing and joking.

One of the aunties, who was Li Laitou's neighbor, said, "Have you heard? Wang, the educated youth from Li Laitou's family, is pregnant! What a mess!" Several pairs of eyes looked at her with sparkling eyes, as if to say, "Tell us, tell us quickly."

This greatly satisfied the aunt's desire to confide. "You don't know, do you? It seems that this Wang Zhiqing got together with Li Laitou before marriage. She only agreed to marry Li Laitou because he had some kind of leverage over her. I heard this when Li Laitou's mother and Wang Zhiqing were arguing. Now that she's pregnant, she's started acting up. She wants to eat two eggs every day and also refined grains. What kind of family is this? She even said she doesn't want to work anymore because she's afraid of getting tired and hurting the baby. She's been saying she feels unwell every day these past few days. Their family is so interesting, it's like a big show."

Someone chimed in, "That scoundrel's mother didn't say a word, that's not like her!"

"You've come to the right place! Why didn't she say anything? Otherwise, I'd say it's like a theatrical performance! Lai Tou's mother is even worse. She's sitting in her yard, wiping away tears and sobbing, 'My life is so miserable! I finally managed to get my son married, but instead of a wife showing me any respect, she treats her mother-in-law like she's nothing! She doesn't do any housework, she's lazy and greedy, and she orders me out for eggs and fine grains every day. Where am I supposed to get those? This is killing me! I can't live anymore! I can't live anymore!' She's slapping her thigh all the while. She's been making a scene every day for the past few days. Just wait, if she has a son, it'll be alright, but if she has a daughter, Wang Zhiqing is in for a world of trouble."

Upon reaching the riverbank, the group found spots to wash wild vegetables and chat. One of the well-informed individuals recounted, "Have you heard? A female educated youth died in Gala Village. It's said she had an affair with the accountant, which was discovered by her wife, who beat her to death."

The other said, "We heard different things. I heard that the accountant had a crush on a female educated youth, but the female educated youth disagreed. His wife happened to catch them in the act, and in the struggle, she accidentally killed the female educated youth."

"No way! I heard that the female educated youth resisted to the death and committed suicide." This was someone else's statement.

Aunt Guo said, "There are so many versions of the story, but the point is that the accountant isn't a good person." The discussion was lively.

An Moxue didn't expect that not long after she got home, Zhang Xiu, Liu Jie, Ma Li, Qi Hehua, Qi Taohua, and several other female educated youths came to her house, all talking about the same thing.

An Moxue invited the group into the house. After they sat down, Zhang Xiu spoke first: "Moxue, have you heard about the murder of the female educated youth in Gala Village?"

"I just heard a little bit about it, but I don't know the specifics. What's wrong?"

“We’ve come here today to talk about this. What did you hear?” Zhang Xiu said, “I heard that the accountant’s wife discovered her husband’s affair and killed him.”

Ma Li said, "What I heard was that the accountant accidentally killed her during an argument with his wife."

An Moxue said, "I've heard three versions of the story. Besides the two of you, I've also heard that she committed suicide because she was forced to disagree. In short, the accountant isn't innocent; the female educated youth died. That's what I've heard. Where did you hear that?"

"The news has spread, but we don't know the specifics. Everyone is upset about it and wants to get together to discuss what to do," Zhang Xiu said.

"We must unite; there is strength in numbers," Ma Li said passionately and indignantly.

Liu Jie looked at the group of people and said in a calm tone, "Our village chief and accountant are quite good." Qi Hehua and Qi Taohua nodded in agreement.

"There's really nothing as disgusting as that. But we still have to fight for what we should fight for." Ma Li was less agitated than before, and her tone softened.

An Moxue said, "We're just getting together to talk, what else could we be doing? By the way, do you know this female educated youth's name? How long has she been in the countryside?"

Several people shook their heads in unison. "We heard about it and came here as soon as possible," Zhang Xiu said.

Liu Jie asked An Moxue, "Moxue, I haven't seen you for the past few days. What have you been up to?"

An Moxue replied, "I chopped firewood. I didn't go this morning because I went to dig for wild vegetables with some aunties."

"Are there still wild vegetables at this time of year?" Qi Hehua asked.

“Yes, come with me.” An Moxue led the group to the well, squatted down, and pointed to the dandelions in the basket and the wild garlic in the bag. “Look, these are the two things. Don’t you old educated youths know them?”

Zhang Xiu, Liu Jie, and Ma Li all said they didn't know.

So An Moxue explained in detail where to dig, how to clean it, and how to do it. The group said they wanted to go back and dig, and immediately left An Moxue's house.

A day later, An Moxue learned from the educated youth compound about the deceased female educated youth: Yuan Yuan, a new educated youth from Beijing. The accountant of Gala Village had attempted to take advantage of Yuan Yuan, but his wife discovered this and, during an argument, accidentally killed her.

The round-faced girl who was with me on the train always had a smile on her face. An Moxue told the Qi Hehua and Qi Taohua sisters about the train journey. The two sisters were also surprised. The group had met briefly a few months ago, and now they were separated by death. They sighed with regret after telling the story.

After much discussion, the people at the educated youth compound decided to write two letters: one to the county's educated youth office, hoping to get attention to the plight of educated youth in the countryside, and the other to the cabinet committee, demanding that the two accountants be severely punished.

I heard that some educated youth in certain villages reacted very strongly to this incident because they had been treated unfairly. They argued, clashed, petitioned, and wrote letters of complaint. For a period of time, everyone was in a state of panic.

Many unsavory things were also reported. For example, in one village, a scoundrel took a fancy to a female educated youth. When she disagreed, she plotted to have the scoundrel and her both of them exposed in public, forcing her to marry him. Another example was that someone might have done eight work points but only received five or six. In some villages, the work done by the female educated youth was so strenuous that even strong local men struggled to do it, yet they had to do it, and they received very low work points.

Anle Village is indeed rare, and all the educated youth are very fortunate. There are many more, but relatively speaking, the experiences of the educated youth have indeed improved a lot.