Chapter 54, Female Educated Youth, Ye Wenwen

Around noon, they arrived at Liangfeng'ao Village.

As soon as Cheng Ying entered the village, she ran into Guo Daxi.

He ran breathlessly from the foot of the mountain to the halfway point, and when he saw Cheng Ying, his eyes were filled with undisguised joy and excitement. "Xiao Ying, you've finally come! I heard from others that you fell off Ayi Mountain and have been recuperating in Pucang Village. Are you feeling better? I wanted to go to Pucang Village to see you, but my parents stopped me, saying that the Miao people of Pucang Village don't welcome outsiders..."

Cheng Ying, her hands gripping the heavy straps of the mailbag, stood by the roadside, slightly out of breath, and said, "It's alright, nothing serious. I can walk and deliver mail normally now. Thank you for your concern."

"It's good that you're alright." Guo Daxi breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to pull on the strap of Cheng Ying's bag. "Let me carry it for you. You're not fully recovered yet, and you must be very tired after walking for half a day. Your aunt isn't home today; she went to her parents' house for a wedding banquet. Why don't you have dinner at my house today?"

Cheng Ying initially wanted to refuse. She wasn't stupid; she could tell at a glance that Guo Daxi was interested in her. She didn't actually want to have too much contact with Guo Daxi and give him too many unrealistic fantasies.

But when she thought of Wei Muchen, that scumbag, still following behind her, and wanting to annoy him, she didn't refuse and let Guo Daxi carry her parcel on his back.

"Thank you for your trouble, Brother Da Xi."

Guo Daxi happily carried her mailbag. Seeing that she wasn't as cold towards him as the last time she saw him and was willing to let him help, he felt that their relationship had taken a step forward, and he was overjoyed.

As he was about to leave with his bag, he finally saw the handsome man standing behind Cheng Ying, and alarm bells went off: "Xiao Ying, who is he—"

"I am Cheng Ying's boyfriend." Wei Muchen coldly looked at the young man in front of him, who had dark skin, a rustic appearance, and wore simple clothes. He looked like a country farmer and was trying to curry favor with Cheng Ying.

He knew very well that Cheng Ying would not have any future with this man. It wasn't that Cheng Ying was materialistic and looked down on men from the countryside, but rather that Cheng Ying admired strength and liked handsome men. This farmer was clearly not Cheng Ying's type.

Even so, Cheng Ying refused to let him help carry the mailbag, and instead handed it to the man to carry. Although he knew she was deliberately trying to annoy him, he was still uncomfortable and found the man quite displeasing.

"Who said you're my boyfriend? Stop trying to flatter yourself!" Cheng Ying bluntly exposed him. "I have nothing to do with you now. You're just my ex!"

Guo Daxi immediately understood the relationship between the two and felt quite uncomfortable. He didn't show it on his face, but said to Cheng Ying, "Let's go, my parents are cooking at home."

Cheng Ying felt relaxed because of his uninhibited and talkative nature. She didn't stand on ceremony and called Da Huang to join Guo Daxi as they walked down the mountain.

On the way down the mountain, Cheng Ying couldn't help but ask Guo Daxi, "How is your sister Xi'er?"

Guo Daxi led Cheng Ying from the main road to the edge of the field. "Fortunately, ever since her engagement party with Zhang Aniu broke up, my parents listened to your advice and persuaded her to give up on Zhang Aniu."

She wouldn't listen to reason and threatened to cut her own throat with a knife. My parents couldn't do anything about it, so they gritted their teeth and spent a lot of money to hire a young, beautiful widow from the village to seduce Zhang Aniu and put on a show for her.

She had a huge fight with Zhang Aniu, and when she got home she cried for days and nights, lying in bed refusing to eat or drink. My mother also went on a hunger strike.

When the two of them were starving, Erxi and I carried them to town, hitched up an oxcart, and went to the county to "see a doctor."

On the way to the doctor, we deliberately passed by a department store, a movie theater, and the People's Armed Forces Department. My sister saw the lively scene and the handsome men in military uniforms, and gradually came back to her senses.

After returning home, she stopped her hunger strike and suicidal tendencies. These past few days, she's been pestering my mom, asking when we're going back to the county. My mom is planning to take her to the provincial capital in a few days…”

Cheng Ying laughed, "It's a good thing that Xi'er is no longer focusing all her attention on Zhang Aniu."

The Guo family listened to her advice and acted quite well. Guo Xier was not beyond redemption, and there was still room for improvement. Cheng Ying felt gratified and was in a particularly good mood. She said many things to Guo Daxi.

Wei Muchen followed behind the two, watching them chat and laugh, but he couldn't get a word in edgewise, which made him unconsciously clench his fists in frustration.

After Cheng Ying broke up with him in his previous life, she never gave him a kind look or smiled at him.

From the moment he found her in this life, she never gave him a kind look, always keeping a cold face and treating him with indifference. Yet now, she smiles radiantly at a country man...

Wei Muchen's jealousy burned fiercely, but the two of them were perfectly innocent and hadn't done anything outrageous. No matter how angry he was, he couldn't do anything to them. He could only sulk and watch them chat and laugh.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the Guo family home and were warmly received by the Guo couple.

Guo Xier looked haggard and had lost a lot of weight. When she saw Cheng Ying appear, she had a cold expression on her face.

When Cheng Ying spoke to her, she snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Aunt Guo had no choice but to apologize to Cheng Ying, "Xiao Ying, I'm so sorry. Xi'er has been spoiled by my husband and me. She doesn't know any better. I'll bring her to apologize to you."

Cheng Ying said, "It's alright, she's still young, I won't mind."

Xi'er was cold to her simply because she felt that Xi'er had broken up her relationship with Zhang Aniu and held a grudge against her. Why would she bother with a young girl who was not yet mature?

When Xi'er grows up and matures, she will one day understand her good intentions.

At noon, the Guo family had a rather lavish meal. They made a pot of sauerkraut fish, a plate of stir-fried spicy and sour river shrimp, a plate of cured wild duck, and some vegetarian dishes.

Cheng Ying ate politely, while Wei Mu was like a starving ghost reincarnated, as if he hadn't eaten anything good in his past lives. He ate several bowls of coarse rice and finished off all the other people's dishes.

Not content with just finishing the food, they mixed the remaining soup with the leftover sweet potato porridge from the morning and ate it all, only then putting down their bowls and chopsticks with a satisfied burp. It was incredibly embarrassing.

Before the meal, the Guo family asked Cheng Ying who the man with her was, and Cheng Ying had to explain to them.

Guo Guangsheng and his wife had always liked Cheng Ying, and since their eldest son was also interested in her, they also intended to match Cheng Ying with their daughter-in-law. They were already heartbroken when they heard that Cheng Ying had fallen off the mountain. Then, Wei Muchen, her ex-boyfriend, appeared and started pestering Cheng Ying, trying to steal her away. He even had the audacity to eat so many meals at their house. The couple found everything about Wei Muchen displeasing and spoke to him with barbs.

Guo Guangsheng: "We men should act with discretion and take responsibility. What's past is past. How can we keep arguing and holding onto things? That's not manly, that's petty."

Aunt Guo: "What we women hate most are those clueless, stinky men! They take advantage of their power and influence to disregard other women's wishes, act recklessly and do evil things to them, and really think they're something special or big shots! No matter how much those stinky men argue and cause trouble, we women can't stand them and will only find them disgusting."

After they finished speaking, the two of them made a point of emphasizing to Wei Muchen, "Comrade Wei, we're not talking about you, please don't misunderstand."

Wei Muchen: ......

Guo Erxi added fuel to the fire, "If I encountered a man who stalks and harasses women like that, I would beat him so badly that even his parents wouldn't recognize him, and send him to the police station to be dealt with by the officers!"

Guo Daxi chimed in: "A real man should be restrained and patient with the woman he likes. No matter how much he likes her, if she doesn't like him and doesn't want to be with him, as a man, he should learn to let go and let her live the life she wants. Instead of using the name of liking her to do a series of things that hurt her, that's not love, that's perverted satisfaction of personal desires, no different from a criminal."

Wei Muchen: ......

The Guo family's veiled insults made Wei Muchen's face turn pale and then red, and he was furious.

Unfortunately, he was the son of a high-ranking official and a military officer. He couldn't argue with these villagers, get angry with them, or lay a hand on them, otherwise it would cause a series of negative consequences. He could only pretend that he didn't understand what they were saying, take out ten yuan from his pocket, and throw it on the Guo family's dining table as his lunch money.

Seeing the Guo family stand up for her and Wei Muchen suffer a setback, and then angrily leave the Guo family, Cheng Ying felt extremely pleased. When delivering mail to the villagers of Liangfeng'ao, she always had a smile on her face.

After leaving Liangfeng'ao Village, Cheng Ying continued on her way. Four hours later, she arrived at Siqiwan and was about to cross the river.

Yesterday, it rained in the mountains, and the river rose quite a bit, widening its surface. The water was about chest-deep for Cheng Ying.

Cheng Ying lowered the rope from Da Huang's neck and tied it around her waist. She then placed the half-empty but still heavy mailbag on her head, held the mailbag with both hands, and followed Da Huang's route across the river.

With Wei Muchen and his sycophantic companion by her side, she naturally couldn't cross the river completely naked like last time; she had to cross it wearing only her pants.

Wei Muchen was unaware of how swift the mountain streams were when they were high in water. At first, when he saw Cheng Ying wanting to cross the river, he wanted to help her carry the mailbag, but Cheng Ying refused without hesitation. Then he saw Cheng Ying and her dog tied together with a rope, with the dog above her, seemingly trying to shield her from the current. He thought she was being too cautious and that the stray dog ​​named Dahuang was doing something unnecessary. He felt that the two of them were making a mountain out of a molehill; what problem could possibly occur in a shallow body of water that was only seven or eight meters wide?

It wasn't until he waded into the water without hesitation, felt the swiftness of the current, and reached the middle of the river, his legs sinking into the collapsed soft soil, that he fell into the water and struggled for a while, swallowing several mouthfuls of water that made his chest ache. He was almost swept away by the current when he finally understood why Cheng Ying had been so careful.

Cheng Ying mocked him mercilessly: "Young Master Wei, life in the mountains is not suitable for you. You should go back as soon as possible."

Wei Muchen was soaking wet, and with water dripping from his head, he swam to the shore and climbed ashore in a disheveled state. "No matter what you say, I'm going to see your so-called childhood sweetheart."

Cheng Ying was puzzled. What was he insisting on? So when they were warming themselves by the fire, she kept her distance from him and wouldn't let him warm himself by her fire, lest he freeze to death, that scumbag.

Before dark, Cheng Ying arrived at Ma'anshan Village and delivered the 20-pound parcel to the couple with limited mobility halfway up the mountain.

An elderly man, around seventy years old and with a limp, kept holding Cheng Ying's hand, wanting her to stay for dinner.

Cheng Ying waved her hand in refusal, "Uncle Tian, ​​thank you for your kindness, but I won't eat at your house. I'm going to Chen Ling's house for dinner. My dad always eats and stays overnight at her house, so I'll be going there too."

Old Man Tian had no choice but to open the package, take out a few White Rabbit milk candies, and put them in her hand: "It's really hard on you, a young girl like you, to deliver such a heavy package to me. You don't have to stay for dinner, but you can have these candies. Don't be polite with me, or I'll feel embarrassed to ask you to carry packages for me in the future."

In those days, White Rabbit milk candy was considered a precious item. Many families in the mountains couldn't bear to eat it or buy it. If someone gave them a piece of milk candy, they would be happy for a long time.

Old Man Tian gave four milk candies, which was quite generous of him.

His wife, a woman in her seventies with gray hair, messy comb, and sloppy clothes, saw him take out the milk candy and immediately reached out to snatch it from his hand, stuffing it into her mouth without even peeling off the wrapper.

Old Tian slapped the old woman across the face, shoving the candy out of her mouth, and shouted, "This is the candy I gave to Comrade Cheng. What are you doing, trying to snatch it? Haven't you eaten in your life? Get back inside!"

Old Tian looked quite old, but he had been farming at home all his life and was still very healthy.

His slap made the thin, gaunt old woman's cheek turn bright red instantly, and it quickly swelled up.

The old lady seemed to have been beaten frequently. Even when she was short, she wouldn't cry out. She just smiled foolishly at Old Man Tian, ​​then slowly turned and went into the house.

Seeing this, Cheng Ying felt terrible and said bluntly, "Uncle Tian, ​​Aunt Tian is already like this. Can't you talk to her properly? It's not right for you to hit her like this."

“I have to hit her. She’s always been so foolish. Whenever there’s something good to eat or drink at home, she’ll snatch it and eat it all in one go. I try to talk to her nicely, but she just won’t listen. If she eats it all, what will my grandchildren and I eat?” Old Man Tian wiped the drool off the candy he had snatched with his sleeve. His deeply lined, dark face was full of undisguised disgust.

Cheng Ying felt a lump in her throat. At this moment, she had probably guessed what kind of life Old Lady Tian had been living all these years. When she saw Old Man Tian trying to give her some candy, she quickly waved her hand to refuse and called Da Huang to leave.

Wei Muchen followed behind her and said, "That old man is obviously no good. He's dressed quite cleanly, but his wife is filthy. He must have beaten and abused her a lot. He's a real scoundrel."

Cheng Ying rolled her eyes. "You have the nerve to talk about others? And what kind of good person are you?"

Wei Muchen couldn't beat her because her fighting skills were better than his; even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to defeat her at all.

But in her past life, Wei Muchen imprisoned her in the basement of that remote villa, and what he did to her was even more disgusting than beating her.

Hearing him say those words, Cheng Ying felt like punching his head in the face.

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Soon, Cheng Ying arrived at the Chen family's house.

The Chen family warmly welcomed her arrival and inquired about her fall from the mountain, as well as about Wei Muchen, who was with her.

Cheng Ying had to give an explanation before following Chen Ling to the brigade headquarters to distribute mail to the villagers.

After the villagers who had received the mail had all left, a woman who was about twenty-six years old, beautiful but looking haggard, carrying a small baby on her back and holding the hands of two young girls on either side of her, walked up to Cheng Ying and asked, "Comrade Cheng, didn't you receive my letter?"

Cheng Ying: "You are—"

Chen Ling introduced her, saying, "Her name is Ye Wenwen. She was an educated youth in our village. A few years ago, she married Cao Jinshi, the youngest son of the Cao family in our village. Her family is from Shanghai."

No wonder Cheng Ying found her accent so familiar; she was from Shanghai.

A year has passed since the end of the ten-year turmoil, but the state has not yet issued a policy allowing educated youth to return to the cities on their own. In this year, many educated youth have tried every means possible, giving money to those with money and using connections to help those with connections. They are willing to abandon their husbands/wives and children to return to the cities. The extent of their fanaticism is astonishing.

Cheng Ying knew that many educated youths went to the countryside not voluntarily. Many of them came from well-off families and suffered a lot after coming to the countryside to support the border regions. Now that they had the opportunity to return to the city, they naturally wanted to go back and did not want to stay in the countryside and live the hard life of farming and eating chaff and thin porridge day after day.

Therefore, many young men and women who were sent to the countryside to escape labor or were infatuated with locals and had children are now going through divorce proceedings. Eight out of ten couples are trying to get a spot to return to the city and live the urban life they have longed for for so many years.

From the 1960s until the end of the Cultural Revolution, each of the more than 20 villages under the jurisdiction of Qingqu Town accepted no fewer than 20 educated youth. After the Cultural Revolution ended, almost all of those educated youth who got married were going through divorce proceedings.

This Ye Wenwen is from Shanghai. Judging from her outstanding appearance, tone of voice, and refined manners, she is clearly a female educated youth from a well-off family. Why is she so eagerly inquiring about the letter? Could she also be going through a divorce?

Cheng Ying examined the package carefully and shook her head at Ye Wenwen, "I'm sorry, Comrade Ye, there is no letter from you."

Ye Wenwen let out a disappointed "oh," said nothing, and left with her child.

Cheng Ying was very curious about her. On the way back to the Chen family, she asked Chen Ling, "Did Ye Wenwen marry Cao Jinshi from your village willingly?"

“It was her own choice.” Chen Ling moved aside to let the big yellow dog that was rushing forward go first. “Ye Wenwen was one of the first group of educated youth to come to our village to support the border region. There were four of them back then, and she was the youngest, only 16 years old.”

I heard that her father used to be a leader in a unit in Shanghai. Because her mother was the daughter of a capitalist, the whole family was implicated. Her father refused to divorce her mother and insisted on protecting her, so he was labeled as a member of the lowest social class and sent to a farm in a border region for reform through labor with her brother. In order not to implicate her, they published a notice in the newspaper severing ties with her and sent her to the countryside to avoid reform through labor.

Ye Wenwen was always pampered at home and never lifted a finger. After going to the countryside, she couldn't do anything. She cried a lot at first and was even scolded by some old farmers in the village, who said that she ruined the seedlings and took away the village's grain, and that she was useless.

Cao Jinshi couldn't bear to see her like this, so he went to help her. Over time, they fell for each other and started dating. The following year, Ye Wenwen married Cao Jinshi, and by the end of the year, she had a child, followed by two more.

Cheng Ying said, "How does Ye Wenwen's in-laws treat her? I see that her clothes are worn out and her face is haggard. If her in-laws treated her well, she wouldn't be in this state."

Chen Ling sighed: "Her in-laws were very good to her at first. They thought that Cao Jinshi, a country boy, was able to marry a golden phoenix from the city, which meant their son was capable. Her in-laws bragged about it to the end in the village. They even set up several tables for a banquet, with lots of fish and meat on the tables, all kinds of food."

However, her in-laws had more than one son, Cao Jinshi; they had several sons. The whole family lived together. After Ye Wenwen married Cao Jinshi, she stopped working in the fields. Cao Jinshi did all the laundry and cooking, while she stayed at home reading the books she had brought and occasionally helping with the cooking.

Then her sisters-in-law became extremely jealous and started causing trouble every day. Her parents-in-law also felt that she was too lazy and made their son do all the work while she stayed at home doing nothing. She really acted like a princess. Gradually, conflicts arose.

In addition, Ye Wenwen gave birth to two daughters in a row, and her mother-in-law thought she was a barren hen and argued with her every day. When she felt wronged, she would argue with Cao Jinshi, and the couple's relationship also developed cracks.

Until last year, she finally gave birth to a son, and her relationship with her husband and her in-laws improved a lot.

However, judging from her appearance, she probably regrets marrying Cao Jinshi. After she gave birth last year, the policy changed, and she started contacting her parents frequently.

There were two other educated youths in our village. One married a girl from our village, and the other married the village party secretary's son. Both of them were going through divorces.

One of the male educated youths tricked his wife, saying that after divorcing her, he would get a quota to return to the city, find a job there, and then come back to take his wife and children to the city to enjoy a better life.

His wife agreed, but after he returned to the city, he disappeared without a trace. Only then did the woman realize that she had been deceived and she cries at home every day.

The female educated youth who married the village party secretary's son made all sorts of suicide attempts to get a divorce. In the end, she borrowed two hundred yuan to buy out her marriage with her husband and returned to the city.

I think Ye Wenwen also wants a divorce, but Cao Jinshi doesn't agree. Last time she wrote a letter to her family, Cao Jinshi tore it up, and the two had a huge fight, almost coming to blows. The child was so scared that he cried loudly.

Cheng Ying was not surprised at all. In those turbulent years, many of the marriages between urban and rural couples caused by forced relocation to the countryside were not genuine but rather a practical act of bowing to reality.

Now that they can go back to the city, they want to go back, so they don't care about anything else.

The two walked side by side on the narrow ridge between the fields, talking in hushed tones. Wei Muchen followed them like a ghost.

Chen Ling couldn't help but ask Cheng Ying, "Sister Ying, are you really going to let your ex-boyfriend keep following you like this?"

Cheng Ying looked helpless. "Of course I won't let him follow me all the time. When we get to Pucang Village, I'll find a way to teach him a lesson."

Chen Ling's eyes lit up. "You want to borrow the Miao people's Gu worms to cast a Gu spell on him?"

"What are you thinking? Do you think I'm that kind of person?" Cheng Ying reached out and gently patted her head. "Many of the Gu worms in Pucang Village are deadly. Even if I dislike him, I would never use Gu on him."

To be honest, she really wanted to use a curse to make that scumbag Wei Muchen die without anyone knowing.

However, Wei Muchen is the son of a high-ranking official, with powerful and influential parents and a strong family background. If he were truly bewitched and died at a young age, not only would she suffer, but everyone in the entire Miao village of Pucang would be in trouble. She wouldn't drag the Miao people of Pucang down with her just to take Wei Muchen's life.