Xu Xinghe was anxiously arranging the saplings when Zhao Xiaoyan rushed over, her face full of worry. She grabbed Xu Xinghe's arm and whispered, "Li Juan, something bad has happened! I just heard that your cousin Li Guowei has been assigned to carry saplings!"
"Carry saplings?" Xu Xinghe's heart tightened, and she quickly asked, "Are you sure?"
“How can I not be sure!” Zhao Xiaoyan nodded, her tone full of worry. “That job is the most tiring in the entire forest farm. Usually, only those who have made mistakes and become intellectuals would do it. The forest farm is clearly making things difficult for your cousin!”
Xu Xinghe's face instantly turned ugly.
Carrying saplings is not only tiring, but also easy to get injured. Even if Jiang Linchuan is physically strong, he can't withstand such torment for a long time.
She lost her will to work, said something to Zhao Xiaoyan, and then hurriedly turned and went to Zhang Qianqian's house.
Zhang Qianqian was washing clothes in the yard when she saw Xu Xinghe running in breathlessly. Thinking something urgent had happened, she quickly put down the washing mallet and asked, "Sister Li Juan, what's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry to see me?"
"Qianqian, do you know?" Xu Xinghe said, trying to catch her breath, "My cousin was assigned by your dad to carry saplings! That's the hardest job, the kind that intellectuals do. My cousin didn't do anything wrong, so why was he assigned this way?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Qianqian dropped the soap in her hand into the basin with a thud. "How could this happen? How could my dad let Guowei do such tiring work!"
She was both anxious and angry, and turned to walk into the house. "I'm going to find my dad and ask him how he could do this!"
Xu Xinghe stayed in the courtyard, feeling slightly relieved.
She knew that Zhang Qianqian had feelings for Jiang Linchuan and would likely speak up for him, which was why she came to find her immediately.
Zhang Qianqian rushed into the main room and saw Zhang Qiang sitting in a chair drinking tea. She couldn't help but get angry, "Dad, how could you let Brother Guowei carry saplings? That's such hard work. Are you deliberately making things difficult for him?"
Zhang Qiang put down his teacup, his face expressionless, and said slowly, "Don't you know why I did this? Li Guowei refused to date you, so I did this for your sake."
"For me?" Zhang Qianqian was stunned.
“Yes, for you.” Zhang Qiang nodded, his tone tinged with calculation. “He thinks he can handle it now, but when he can’t handle it anymore and can’t stand the hardship, he’ll naturally compromise and agree to date you. Besides, it’s just some work, right? It won’t kill him. Just consider it training.”
Zhang Qianqian frowned, feeling a little uncomfortable. "But Dad, isn't this a bit inappropriate? What if Brother Guowei dislikes me because of this?"
"What do you know?" Zhang Qiang interrupted her, his tone becoming more serious. "You can't always rely on stupid methods. Do you think he'll like you just by trying to please him? What if he doesn't like you no matter how much you pursue him? As long as the final result is good, the process doesn't matter. Once you two are really together, I'll arrange an easy and good job for him to make up for it, so he can live a comfortable life, isn't that enough?"
He looked up at Zhang Qianqian, "Also, don't tell Li Juan about this. She and Li Guowei are siblings, so she'll definitely side with Li Guowei. If she finds out I did this for you, she might have a problem with you. Do you want to lose this friend?"
Zhang Qianqian panicked. She really didn't want to lose Xu Xinghe as a friend, nor did she want the other person to think she was a selfish person.
She hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded. "I understand, Dad. I won't tell her."
Zhang Qiang smiled with satisfaction and patted her on the shoulder, "That's more like it. Be good, and you'll benefit from it in the future."
Zhang Qianqian walked out of the main room and saw Xu Xinghe still waiting for her in the courtyard, feeling a little guilty.
She took a deep breath and tried to make her tone sound natural. "Sister Li Juan, I asked my dad, and he said... he said that Brother Guowei had a fight with the old educated youth and also had a conflict with Liu Hu. As the brigade leader, he had to punish him, otherwise he wouldn't be able to convince the others. That's why he was made to carry saplings."
Xu Xinghe looked at Zhang Qianqian, whose eyes were darting around, who was stammering, and whose hands were unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, clearly lying.
She is really not a good liar.
Since the other party has chosen to conceal it, no matter how much you ask, you won't get any information out of them.
Moreover, this reason is so compelling that even she couldn't say no.
Jiang Linchuan did indeed fight with the old educated youth; they were even arguing when Zhang Qiang called him away.
Thinking of this, Xu Xinghe nodded helplessly, "Okay, I understand, thank you Qianqian. Since it's a punishment, there's nothing I can do. I'll go back and see if he can hold on."
Zhang Qianqian watched Xu Xinghe's departing figure, her heart filled with guilt, yet she didn't know what to do.
Caught between the person she loves, her father's arrangements, and her friends whom she doesn't want to lose, she is torn between two difficult choices.
"I'm sorry, Sister Li Juan... please don't blame me. Once Guowei and I are together, I'll ask Dad to arrange a good job for you..."
Xu Xinghe returned to the nursery, holding a small shovel in her hand, but she couldn't concentrate. Her eyes kept glancing towards the back mountain.
I wonder how Jiang Linchuan is doing now, having carried these saplings for so long.
Zhao Xiaoyan noticed her thoughts and came over to comfort her softly, "Don't worry too much. Your cousin looks strong and should be able to handle it. Go check on him after work."
Xu Xinghe nodded, took a deep breath, and forced herself to focus on the work at hand.
But every second seemed to pass incredibly slowly.
As soon as the deputy team leader blew the whistle to signal the end of work in the evening, she almost immediately dropped her tools and ran quickly towards the educated youth dormitory.
Back in her dormitory, she took out the mercurochrome and gauze she had prepared earlier from her cloth bag.
She brought it specially, originally worried that she would get hurt while working, but unexpectedly, Jiang Linchuan used it first.
Clutching the medicine bottle, she hurried toward the male educated youth dormitory. Just as she reached the door, she saw Jiang Linchuan returning from outside, a coarse cloth shirt soaked with sweat draped over his shoulder, his gait somewhat stiff.
"Cousin!" Xu Xinghe rushed forward and immediately noticed a large red and swollen patch on Jiang Linchuan's bare shoulder, with the edges of the skin chafed and oozing blood. It was a heartbreaking sight.
Jiang Linchuan saw her and smiled, "Why did you come so soon after work?"
"Still laughing!" Xu Xinghe's eyes reddened, and she gestured for him to come with her to the back mountain.
"Sit down quickly, let me apply some medicine for you. Look at your shoulder, it's all chafed like this!"
Jiang Linchuan obediently sat on the rock, and Xu Xinghe used a cotton swab to apply some medicine to the wound.
When the medicine touched the broken skin, Jiang Linchuan's body trembled almost imperceptibly, but he didn't utter a sound. He just looked at Xu Xinghe's serious profile with tenderness in his eyes.
"Does it hurt a lot?" Xu Xinghe softened her movements. "Zhang Qiang went too far, making you do such heavy work!"
Jiang Linchuan was silent for a moment before speaking, "He came to see me. I went to his office this afternoon."
"By the way, what did he want with you?"
“He wanted me to date Zhang Qianqian, and said that if I agreed, he would arrange easy work for me, and after we got married, the forest farm’s assets and the position of brigade leader would all be mine. I refused, and he said he would give me time to think about it, but then he turned around and arranged for me to carry saplings. These were all his ways of forcing me to compromise.”
"What?!" Xu Xinghe's anger surged. "That Zhang Qiang! He's a real bastard! He'd use such methods to get you to be with his daughter! What does he take Zhang Qianqian for? What does he take you for? This is absolutely outrageous!"
She grew angrier as she spoke, squeezing the cotton swabs in her hand until they were deformed. "So Zhang Qianqian knew that too, which is why she lied to me! I never imagined she was this kind of person!"
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