Chapter 247 You can't leave, because you're a role model?
This news struck like a thunderbolt through the lifeless educated youth settlement.
Lin Wan'er, who was digging potatoes, suddenly jolted.
She slowly raised her head, her face covered in mud, and her eyes, which had previously lost their luster, suddenly burst forth with a terrifying light.
Chance!
Her chance has come!
The educated youth all paused in unison.
Everyone subconsciously looked up at the figure in that corner, whose back was always straight, even when doing the most menial work.
Qin Zheng.
Is that man, labeled a "monster and demon" and forced to clean cowsheds and pigsties every day, and avoided by everyone, going back to Beijing?
Moreover, he was "ordered" to go back immediately!
What this represents is self-evident.
Suddenly, the gazes directed at Qin Zheng became incredibly complex.
There was shock, envy, jealousy, and even more so, an undisguised regret and a desire to please.
In another corner of the crowd, Lin Wan'er slowly straightened up, letting the hoe in her hand slip to the ground.
Her face was covered in mud, her hair was blown by the wind like a clump of withered grass, and she looked as lifeless as the barren land.
But at this moment, those eyes, which had been dull and lifeless, burst forth with an uncontrollable, almost frenzied ecstasy.
You made the right bet!
She made the right bet!
Qin Zheng is really going to be exonerated! A year earlier than in her "previous life" memories!
This is her chance, her only chance to turn things around in this damned place!
Su Yue, you bitch! Do you think you can trap me for life with this vicious trick of praising me to death?
Just you wait. Once I return to Beijing with Qin Zheng, I will repay you a hundredfold, a thousandfold, for all the pain you inflicted on me!
Overwhelming hatred and ecstasy intertwined in her chest, causing her frail body to tremble slightly.
She looked at the man who was instantly surrounded by a crowd but remained expressionless, and used all her strength to refrain from rushing over to him.
Don't rush.
We can't rush things now.
That evening, Lin Wan'er did not go to the cafeteria for dinner.
She locked herself in the drafty mud-brick house, and carefully cleaned herself up in front of a basin of cold water.
She changed into her only unpatched white shirt, which was yellowed from washing but was very clean.
She even managed to get some clam oil from a female educated youth she knew, and carefully applied it to her face, which had become rough from long-term exposure to wind and sun.
After doing all this, she looked at the pale, thin reflection in the basin of water, which had a pair of frighteningly bright eyes, and took a deep breath.
In the dead of night, she quietly slipped out of the dormitory and went to the dilapidated cowshed where Qin Zheng was being held.
Qin Zheng was reading a book with a worn-out cover by the dim light of a kerosene lamp.
He looked up when he heard footsteps.
When he saw that the person who came was Lin Wan'er, he did not show much surprise.
"Brother Qin."
As soon as Lin Wan'er opened her mouth, her voice was choked with sobs.
She didn't go inside, but just stood at the door, letting the cold night wind blow through her thin clothes. She looked extremely pitiful.
"Congratulations, Brother Qin, I knew it would get light."
Her tears, like beads from a broken string, rolled down her pale cheeks, possessing a broken beauty under the dim light.
Qin Zheng looked at her quietly without saying a word.
Seeing that he remained unmoved, Lin Wan'er became anxious, took two steps forward, looked at him with teary eyes, and finally revealed her purpose.
"Brother Qin, please take me with you!"
"Please, take me back to Beijing! I can't survive another day here!"
She cried her heart out, as if releasing all the grievances and despair she had felt over the past few days in that moment.
She thought that her appearance would be enough to arouse any man's protective instincts.
She thought that Qin Zheng would be grateful to her no matter what, because of her previous acts of kindness.
However, Qin Zheng's reaction was like a bucket of ice water, chilling her to the bone.
He slowly closed the book in his hand and stood up.
He was more than a head taller than her, and his imposing figure cast a huge shadow under the flickering lamplight, completely enveloping her.
"You can't leave."
His words were very calm, so calm that there wasn't the slightest emotional fluctuation.
Lin Wan'er's crying stopped abruptly, and she looked at him in astonishment.
"Why?"
Qin Zheng looked at her; her eyes, hidden behind thick glasses, were so sharp they seemed to pierce through one's heart.
"Comrade Lin Wan'er, you are an 'advanced model' personally established by the regional propaganda department, and you are a role model for all educated youth sent to the countryside to learn from."
How could you abandon your post?
boom--
One sentence, like a bolt from the blue, exploded in Lin Wan'er's mind.
She froze on the spot, as if the blood in her body had been frozen in that instant.
Advanced role models...
Learn from role models...
Unauthorized absence from duty...
These words, which once brought her endless vanity and flattery, now became the heaviest and strongest shackles, pinning her firmly to the spot.
Su Yue!
It's that poisonous woman, Su Yue!
This is the most insidious part of her "praise to kill" scheme!
She not only wants to be morally blackmailed and burdened by vanity, but she also wants to cut off all her escape routes! She wants to trap herself forever in this yellow sand!
Lin Wan'er trembled with anger, her nails digging deep into her flesh, yet she felt no pain whatsoever.
"No...no..." she tried to argue, but her voice was dry, as if it had been sanded with sandpaper. "I can...I can write a report saying I'm not feeling well..."
"Not feeling well?"
Qin Zheng interrupted her. His words remained calm, yet they were like a scalpel, precisely and cruelly dissecting all her pretenses.
"In the documentary a few days ago, you were carrying your sick child for dozens of miles through the snow and ice. People all over Northwest China have seen how selflessly and tirelessly you, the 'Red Flower of the Gobi,' have dedicated yourself."
Lin Wan'er's face instantly drained of all color.
She finally realized just how high a sacrificial altar she had been placed on.
She is now a saint, and saints cannot get sick, cannot have selfish desires, and certainly cannot turn around and go back to the city to enjoy life while everyone else is still suffering.
If she did that, she would immediately transform from an exemplary figure into a shameless scoundrel who deceives the organization and seeks fame and fortune.
That kind of reputation is a hundred times more serious than the charge of "seducing men" she was charged with!
Seeing her deathly pale face, Qin Zheng's finishing blow truly began.
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