Li Weidong thought for a moment, then met Xie Yuyao's gaze: "I opened the bottle of liquor, and I'm sure it was sealed and no additives were added."
"Be vigilant that night. She got everyone drunk; she must have some ulterior motive," Xie Yuyao warned him seriously.
Li Weidong nodded, "That's what I was thinking too. When we get back, we male educated youth will take turns keeping watch at night."
Not long after, Li Weidong returned to the men's dormitory and told several male educated youths about it, and they were all very surprised.
The honest and simple-minded Chen Kai hesitated and said, "Is it really necessary to be so cautious?"
Li Weidong said, "We should always be wary of others. It's only one night anyway, so let's all work hard and arrange shifts."
After discussion, it was decided that the six male educated youths would be divided into three groups to take turns keeping watch at night.
Li Weidong and Chen Kai were in one group, Xiang Wenshan and He Wenyao were in another group, and the Yu Wenbo brothers were in yet another group.
Considering Yu Wenbo's physical condition, his brother and his group took turns guarding the first half of the night, while Li Weidong's group took turns guarding the middle half, starting at 3 a.m. The candlelight in the men's dormitory remained burning all night.
Time ticked by, and the night watchmen had changed to Xiang Wenshan and He Wenyao.
The north wind howled outside the window, and the air inside felt as cold as if it were in an ice cave. He Wenyao yawned and said with dissatisfaction, "In this kind of awful weather, what trouble could Jiang Yan possibly cause? I think Brother Li is just being too sensitive."
Equally exhausted, Xiang Wenshan said, "There are only a few hours left. Let's hang in there. If nothing happens, that's fine."
To fight off sleepiness, the two chatted idly.
Around four in the morning, as dawn was approaching, He Wenyao, who had relaxed his vigilance, began to doze off, his mind foggy. Meanwhile, Xiang Wenshan, trying to shake off his drowsiness, took out paper and pen and lay down on the kang (heated brick bed) to write in his diary.
Suddenly, he smelled a faint, strange odor and exclaimed, "What's that smell?"
He Wenyao was startled awake by the noise, opening his sleepy eyes and asking, "What happened?"
"It looks like something's burned. I'll go take a look." Xiang Wenshan sniffed the air, quickly got up and put on his coat. As soon as he opened the door, the cold wind made him shiver.
Xiang Wenshan hunched his shoulders and walked outside. As soon as he opened the door, the dark courtyard seemed normal, but there was a pile of firewood at the entrance of the girls' dormitory on the side, with bright yellow flames and thick smoke rising from it.
"Fire! Help!"
Xiang Wenshan shouted and ran to the women's dormitory, kicking away the burning firewood and forcefully kicking the already burning door. To his astonishment, the door to the women's dormitory was locked from the outside!
Hearing the noise, He Wenyao snapped awake and quickly woke the other male educated youths. Li Weidong, awakened by Xiang Wenshan's loud shout, ran out without even putting on his clothes.
The windows and doors of the female educated youth dormitory were already on fire. Fueled by the howling north wind, the fire raged, and the male educated youth shouted and fetched water to put it out.
Wu Lihong was awakened by the smoke and found herself engulfed in flames. She quickly woke Bei Xiao, and the two of them used water from the kettle to wet handkerchiefs to cover their mouths and noses. They then moved flammable materials away from the fire and removed the bed sheets to use blankets to extinguish the flames.
Under the firelight, the faces of the male and female educated youth were filled with fear and anxiety.
Hearing the noise, Xie Yuyao, who was a light sleeper, immediately sat up, locked the courtyard gate, and went to help put out the fire.
Unbeknownst to her, locking the door rendered Jiang Yan, who was hiding in the shadows and plotting the same trick again, helpless, and she could only quietly escape with regret.
Jiang Yan kept herself conscious by pinching her thigh to stay awake until just now, when she secretly went to the main room to get cooking oil, poured it on the doors, windows and some flammable items, and then went to get some firewood to start a fire.
Rather than suffer and be deprived of freedom on a special farm, she preferred life in a remote mountain village. After several hardships, when she risked everything to be with Director Chen, she had already prepared an escape route.
But she was unwilling to slink away like this. She was only in this predicament because of Xie Yuyao and Ren Fei, but since they couldn't get revenge, they could only vent their anger on the other female educated youth.
If we could sneak into the backyard amidst the chaos, that would be perfect. Unfortunately, Xie Yuyao was too vigilant, so we had to give up.
When Xie Yuyao arrived at the front yard, she and the other educated youth worked together to break down the door, allowing Wu Lihong and Bei Xiao inside to escape.
Once the flames were extinguished, the doors, beds, and nearby tables, chairs, and other belongings in the female educated youth dormitory were all destroyed.
Jiang Yan had vanished without a trace, making it obvious who the arsonist was.
Li Weidong went to the brigade leader and called on the community members to hunt down Jiang Yan.
Xie Yuyao went back to the backyard to get burn ointment for Wu Lihong and Bei Xiao, whose legs and feet were burned by the flames when they rushed out.
Xiang Wenshan also got injured; he rushed in to save Bei Xiao a second after the door was broken down.
At this moment, Yang Shumei also woke up. After hearing what Xie Yuyao said, she quickly got up and went to the front yard to take a look.
Upon reaching the front yard, Yang Shumei saw the burned doors, windows, tables, and chairs, took a deep breath, and offered a pale, comforting remark to Wu Lihong and Bei Xiao.
The captain was woken up again in the early hours of the morning and learned that Jiang Yan had set the fire. He immediately notified the male community members in the vicinity to hunt down Jiang Yan.
He walked to the educated youth compound, looked at the haggard faces of the educated youth and the burn marks, and closed his eyes tightly.
Wu Lihong's throat was sore from the smoke, and she coughed repeatedly. "Captain, is she really crazy? She actually set fire to murder me and Bei Xiao!"
She couldn't understand why Jiang Yan would want to kill her when she had no grudge against her!
Even with Bei Xiao, it was just a verbal argument, why did it have to come to this?!
Upon hearing this, Bei Xiao shouted loudly, "Call the police! We must call the police! We must bring her to justice!"
"Go find the police first thing tomorrow morning. Let's find her first." The captain frowned and looked at Wu Lihong and Bei Xiao. "You two stay in the backyard for a few days. Move back after the doors and windows are installed."
Upon hearing this, Yang Shumei took the initiative to invite them: "You should all come and stay at my place. My kang (heated brick bed) is big enough for you to fit in."
Having lived with Yao Yao for so long, I know she values her privacy a lot.
Xie Yuyao thought of the supplies in her room, so she didn't invite them directly. She just said, "I have spare quilts and bedding. You can take them over."
Wu Lihong and Bei Xiao's quilts were used for firefighting and are no longer usable.
Since moving to the backyard, Xie Yuyao didn't want to rely too much on the space, so she moved some of her important supplies indoors, hoping that they wouldn't be seen by outsiders.
Almost everyone in Qingshan Village was mobilized, but Jiang Yan was still nowhere to be found. It wasn't until the police arrived that they discovered from the clues that she hadn't gone towards the commune, but had gone down another path.
Jiang Yan traveled swiftly for many days, traversing mountains and rivers, and finally arrived at her destination—Anlong Mountain.
At the foot of Anlong Mountain, there are about a hundred mountain dwellings who are self-sufficient and almost completely isolated from the outside world.
Jiang Yan fainted on the road and was taken home by a man, thus beginning a life beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
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