Chapter 37
"Hello, is anyone there?"
Bai Ting came out of the room angrily and shouted impatiently, "Who is it?"
"We are from the commune revolutionary committee." The people outside answered loudly.
Revolutionary Committee!
Bai Ting's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly ran over to open the door, her tone softening as she said, "I'm coming."
Two men, wearing cyan uniforms with matching hats and leather boots, were standing outside the Youth House. They were pushing bicycles. Seeing Bai Ting arrive late, they looked displeased. "What took you so long?"
Bai Ting smiled awkwardly and rubbed her hands. "Excuse me, Boss. I was just getting changed. I didn't know you were coming, or I would have been waiting at the village entrance."
Hearing this, the two men's expressions softened slightly. "Leave the door open next time. It's not fair to keep it closed in broad daylight."
"Yes, yes, that's what the leader said. I've remembered it." Bai Ting tried to smile. She looked completely different from before. "Oh, look at my memory. Leaders, please come in quickly. I'll make you some tea to quench your thirst."
"No, we have to go to the next village, let's make it short." The man pushing the bicycle refused.
"The province issued a policy to appoint full-time cadres in districts and people's communes below the county level, and to establish 're-education groups' in production brigades and teams to manage and educate the sent-down educated youth. Most importantly, they would focus on those with bad family backgrounds. Every month, other educated youth would help them hold 'helping and teaching' sessions to correct their erroneous ideas. They would also submit a monthly ideological report to strengthen their ideological transformation."
When Bai Ting heard the latter part, her eyes suddenly lit up. She had originally thought that she would never have the chance to teach Sun Yating and the others a lesson, but now this opportunity was right there at her doorstep.
Bai Ting suppressed her joy, held her head high and chest puffed out, and said in a clear and bright voice, "Excellent, leader! This policy couldn't be more timely. There are several educated youth in our village who have low ideological awareness. Don't worry, I will definitely help them correct their mistakes."
Seeing how cooperative the young woman was, one of the men nodded in satisfaction. "You have a good ideological consciousness, young lady. What's your name?"
Bai Ting tried hard to suppress her excitement. "This is all thanks to the great Chairman Mao's teachings. Leader, my name is Bai Ting."
"Okay, Bai Ting, you will be the president of the Youth Gang Association of Qinghe Production Team in the future. You must help those youth with immature ideas to correct themselves."
Bai Ting's face flushed red, her hands clenched, and a warmth in her chest surged to her brain. "Don't worry, leader. I will definitely take the lead."
"Haha, our working group needs conscious and thoughtful educated young people like you. Every year there are quotas for model rural advanced elements. Then you will have the opportunity to be recommended to study in secondary technical schools or colleges. Bai Ting, I like you very much." The man patted Bai Ting on the shoulder.
When Bai Ting heard this, she stood up straight and proudly, as if she had been injected with chicken blood. She shouted slogans with the vigor of a soldier, "Thank you, leader. Bai Ting will not let you down."
The two nodded in satisfaction, said no more, and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, one of the men suddenly remembered something, turned back, and whispered something in Bai Ting's ear.
Bai Ting's eyes brightened as she listened. It turned out that the son-in-law of the cold-faced Secretary Meng, the guy named Pei Xingzhi, was also a bad element like Sun Yating.
Haha, God really is on Bai Ting's side, giving her the opportunity to vent all the anger she suffered when she came to Qinghe Village.
Humph, that stinky-faced branch secretary, and his daughter who deducts her work points every day, just wait and see how Bai Ting will take revenge.
After watching the harvester work, Pei Xingzhi and Meng Wanqiu sneaked back home after finishing their work. They were not afraid of being seen because everyone had their own area of responsibility. Pei Xingzhi had Meng Wanqiu's help, and the others could do nothing but look on with envy.
Who told him to marry a good wife?
The sun is very strong today, but fortunately the crops are ripe, and the only ones suffering are those busy with the autumn harvest.
The Meng family members all had mint candies made by Meng Wanqiu, which could quench their thirst and made it less unbearable.
Pei Xingzhi walked side by side with Meng Wanqiu, using his height to block the scorching sun from burning her.
When they entered the village, there were no other idle people around. Meng Wanqiu took Pei Xingzhi's hand. Her left hand was bandaged. This was the injury she suffered when she helped the Jiang family repair the harvester.
Because some parts of the harvester were damaged and replacements were unavailable, Pei Xingzhi had to make a mold from scratch and then smelt iron to make the parts. However, since he had never smelted iron before, he accidentally burned himself, resulting in a large blister on the palm of his left hand.
At first, Pei Xingzhi wanted to hide it from Meng Wanqiu and secretly applied some ointment. But the wound was in such an obvious place, and there was a smell of medicine on his body, so how could he hide it from Meng Wanqiu?
After Pei Xingzhi was discovered, he did not try to argue but quickly admitted his mistake. Because of his sincere attitude and the fact that he had been hurt, Meng Wanqiu reluctantly forgave him.
"Let me see. I told you to rest at home, but you insisted on going to work. What's the matter? Is the family short of your work points?"
Meng Wanqiu lowered her head and carefully examined Pei Xingzhi's left hand, still mumbling incessantly.
Pei Xingzhi obediently held out his hand for Meng Wanqiu to examine. Looking at her furry head, he thought the whorl of hair on top was very cute. "It's just my left hand that's injured. It's nothing serious."
The key point is, how could Pei Xingzhi let Meng Wanqiu go to work for him while he himself stayed at home doing nothing?
He had always tried to fulfill his promise. He would not let Meng Wanqiu live a worse life than before she married him. Before she married him, Meng Wanqiu had never done such tiring work. He could not let her suffer such hardships after marrying him.
"You dare to talk back?" Meng Wanqiu raised his eyebrows and said in an unfriendly tone.
Pei Xingzhi's eyes revealed doting, but his tone was helpless, "How dare I!"
This look, this tone, it's like the words are soaked in honey, it's so sickening to the heart.
Meng Wanqiu's ears felt hot and she didn't dare to look Pei Xingzhi in the eye. She felt that the words were a bit disgusting, but why was she shy?
My heart felt full, as if it was filled with honey, and the sweetness was about to overflow.
Seeing Meng Wanqiu's reaction, Pei Xingzhi couldn't help but chuckle, and his chest trembled slightly.
The magnetic and cold voice entered her eardrums, and Meng Wanqiu felt like she was going to catch fire. In order to hide her embarrassment, Meng Wanqiu deliberately raised her tone and said, "What are you laughing at? Go home and change the medicine."
After saying that, he let go of Pei Xingzhi's hand and turned to leave.
Pei Xingzhi shook his head and followed Meng Wanqiu. "You haven't told me yet, how did you know that Jiang Xiuxiu was working with the black market people?"
When Pei Xingzhi agreed to help the Jiang family, he was also wary of them in his heart. However, after Meng Wanqiu told him about Jiang Xiuxiu, Pei Xingzhi was no longer worried. After all, the evidence he had on the Jiang family was much more than what the Jiang family had on him.
Hearing this, Meng Wanqiu's eyes rolled around, "I just bumped into him by chance when I was going to the commune."
Pei Xingzhi simply didn't believe it. How could it be such a coincidence that they just happened to meet, and they knew everything about it, even knowing where Jiang Xiuxiu and the people behind the black market met. He wouldn't believe it if he said he hadn't conducted a thorough investigation.
Considering the thing that Meng Wanqiu had been hiding from him, he felt that the two things must be related.
Pei Xingzhi lowered his eyelids, and his curled eyelashes trembled, forming a black line at the end of his eyes, as if he had drawn eyeliner. He became quiet, and even his cold temperament had a sense of melancholy.
Wanwan, what are you hiding from him? They are husband and wife, aren’t they?
There should be no secrets between them.
A hint of bitterness flashed in his half-closed eyes, and his heart felt uncomfortable as if it was being relaxed and tightened, and then pickled in bitter juice, over and over again.
After hearing no movement for a while, Meng Wanqiu's heart trembled, and she quickly changed the subject, "By the way, what did you do with the mute that the Jiang family captured?"
Pei Xingzhi sighed in his heart, looked up at Meng Wanqiu's back, the bitterness in his eyes was replaced by determination. No matter how many secrets you have, I will slowly know the truth.
Because we have a lifetime.
"That dumb man, what a pitiful person..."
farm.
Yao Jin felt a headache when he saw the dumb man in front of him with confused eyes. This time, the repairman didn't want to charge him any money, but asked him to help find a job for the dumb man.
The mute was an abandoned baby who was picked up and raised by a widower who had no wife or children. The widower was a blacksmith and taught the mute how to forge iron. His adoptive father died when the mute was a teenager, and the mute inherited the family blacksmith shop.
After his adoptive father passed away, the mute found a similarly abandoned baby girl and raised her as his own sister. However, a few years ago, Marshal Steel was promoted, and the mute family's small blacksmith shop could no longer operate, and even their cooking utensils were taken away.
The mute's family had no land and no jobs. In order to support himself and his sister, the mute could only do odd jobs everywhere. He had brute force but no education, and was always bullied and had his wages deducted.
Over the past year, the family had become increasingly poor. The mute himself had become as thin as a stick, and his sister was starving and malnourished. So when Lai Xue came knocking on their door, the mute agreed without hesitation.
He was unlucky and was caught. The mute has accepted his fate. As long as his sister is doing well, he doesn't care what happens to him.
But didn’t the family say they would send him to the police station?
Why was he sent to the farm again? The mute knew this place. When he was so hungry that he couldn't stand it anymore, he came to the farm to find the sweet potato shreds that had not been peeled clean, took them back and steamed them in a pot to have a meal.
Yao Jin had someone check the mute's background. He was a pitiful man, so he sighed and said, "Someone asked me to help you. You will stay on the farm and help look after the farm tools warehouse. It's just a temporary job for now, but if you do well, you may become a regular employee. I will see if I can apply for a dormitory for you and let your sister live with you. You don't have to worry about school. I will lend you the money first, and you can pay me back when you have money. The school is near the farm. It's considered our farm's staff school. I will take your sister to register there. For my sake, no one will bully her. You can rest assured to work on the farm."
The mute's eyes widened and he gestured wildly, dazzling Yao Jin. He waved his hands impatiently, "Oh, I don't understand. I know you're grateful to me, but you're welcome. Don't do such stupid things again. Lai Xue is already poor, and you're still counting on him to send you and your sister to school. Don't be silly. You're lucky you met a good person, and you met me, otherwise you would have been schemed against and had nothing left."
Tears were rolling in the mute's eyes, and his lips were trembling as he couldn't speak. He looked at Yao Jin intently, as if he wanted to engrave his face in his heart.
Suddenly, with a thud, the mute's knees hit the ground hard and his head also hit the mud.
Big tears fell, stirring up a small cloud of dust on the ground.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Yao Jin was startled by the mute's sudden kneeling and kowtow to him.
"Fuck, get up quickly! If someone sees you, they'll think I'm bullying you. If they tell my old man about it, I'll be in big trouble."
Not wanting to cause trouble for his benefactor, the mute stood up and habitually used sign language to communicate with others.
Yao Jin raised his palms and held them in front of him. "Come on, I can already feel your mood. Just work hard from now on. Let me show you around first."
Even if he kowtowed to him, how could he not know what the other party meant?
After saying that, Yao Jin turned around and left first.
Looking at Yao Jin's back, the mute hurriedly followed him. The sunlight shone on him and fell into the mute's eyes. He felt that the other party was shining, like a bodhisattva.
The uneducated mute couldn't find a suitable adjective, but he felt that the other person was like a Bodhisattva who saved people from suffering and gave him and his sister a new life.
There is another benefactor who does not want to reveal his name. In all his life, the mute felt kindness from someone other than his adoptive father for the first time.
He sincerely hopes that the kind-hearted people who helped him and his sister will live a peaceful, healthy and long life.
In Qinghe Village, Meng Wanqiu felt soft in her heart after hearing Pei Xingzhi's story about the mute's final destination. She held Pei Xingzhi's face, her eyes filled with tenderness:
“I’m so proud of you!”
If only she could have met someone like Pei Xingzhi in her previous life.
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