Xu Yan, looking anxious, ran to the mute old woman's house, but was genuinely stunned when he saw the people inside.
The man was tall, but excessively thin due to prolonged hunger, with a handsome face and a pair of sharp, piercing eyes.
Unlike others who would curse the "Five Black Categories" and "dog bastards" with gritted teeth at the mention of his name, Xu Yan politely asked him, "Comrade Li Xian, where is my sister?"
The man pointed to a room, and Xu Yan quickly went inside.
Li Xian and Duan San went out to talk for a while. When they came back, the mute old woman was carrying a bowl and walking forward shakily. Li Xian quickly went over to take it from her.
He brought in the herbal soup.
Xu Nuo nestled in Xu Yan's arms, her eyes red and her little nose twitching.
She's very delicate, but also very well-behaved.
Xu Yan patted her shoulder to comfort her, "It's alright, Nuonuo. It was Comrade Li Xian who saved you. Quickly thank him."
Xu Nuo glanced at him with her big, red eyes, blinked, and said in a childish voice with a heavy nasal tone, "Thank you, Li Xian."
Li Xian shook his head and handed the herbal soup to Xu Yan: "Drinking this will bring down your fever."
After saying that, he turned and walked out.
The herbal soup was slightly bitter. Xu Nuo lingered for a few sips, then refused to drink any more.
Xu Yan had no choice but to say, "Then change your clothes."
Xu Nuo nodded.
Xu Yan brought her best clothes: a white cotton shirt, a black long skirt, and two pairs of shoes: a pair of work shoes and a pair of slightly heeled black leather shoes.
She helped Xu Nuo put on leather shoes and discovered that her feet were a full half inch smaller than the shoes.
Xu Nuo's shoe fell off as soon as she lifted her foot.
"The shoes are too big."
She wiggled her toes: "Maybe I shouldn't wear them, since I can't walk anyway."
Li Xian heard this from outside, but he didn't say anything. He walked out silently and returned a short while later, carrying a pair of straw sandals woven from green cattail grass.
He handed it to Duan San, standing outside with his eyes downcast, and heard a coquettish voice inside: "Wow, these shoes are amazing, and so comfortable and soft."
With a slightly shy pursing of his usually cold and hard lips, Duan San said, "This was written by Brother Li."
Li Xian's brow twitched slightly, and he strode away.
It was as if they were afraid of hearing something.
After a while, Luo Chen drove the oxcart back from Youlongtan with the things Xu Nuo had dropped.
Seeing Li Xian standing at the door, he paused for a moment, then nodded at him.
Li Xian lowered his eyes.
Luo Chen returned the items to Xu Nuo.
She was overjoyed to get her lost items back, and proudly hugged her little backpack, saying, "Luckily, I had the foresight."
She was worried about the cold in the countryside, so she brought a light jacket.
This has come in handy.
Xu Yan helped the person up: "Are you hungry? I'll cook you something delicious when we get back."
Xu Nuo nodded and took a bag of biscuits that could be stored for a long time from the basket and gave it to the mute old woman: "Grandma, thank you for brewing the herbal medicine for me to drink. I felt better as soon as I drank it. It's amazing. Here, have these biscuits."
The mute old woman couldn't speak, but she could hear. She quickly waved her hands and shook her head, and after declining Xu Nuo's offer for a long time, she finally accepted it.
The oxcart that Luo Chen had brought was parked at the door. Xu Yan helped Xu Nuo onto the oxcart and turned to ask Li Xian and the others, "Are you going back to Luxian Village?"
Duan San was going to the market, but he shook his head and said, "I'm not going back, Brother Li is going back."
Li Xian lowered his brows slightly, waiting for the oxcart to leave, but found that the oxcart hadn't moved at all.
The girl on the bus waved to him enthusiastically: "Come on up!"
Luo Chen's expression was somewhat strange, but he didn't say anything in the end.
After a moment of stunned silence, Li Xian shook his head, his lips pressed tightly together. He glanced at Xu Nuo and then turned to leave.
Xu Nuo was confused and stared at his back with a look of disappointment: I wanted to create opportunities for you and the female lead, but you didn't appreciate it. It's no wonder that the second male lead had more screen time than you in the early stages.
After the oxcart left, Xu Yan whispered to her, "Nuonuo, he is... a descendant of the Five Black Categories."
Xu Nuo knew about Li Xian's background: his grandfather was a landlord who was executed, and his parents, who had escaped death, were labeled as rightists and sent to the countryside for labor reform.
Xu Nuo said, "What's wrong with the 'Five Black Categories'? Do you also think that the 'Five Black Categories'... you know?"
She felt that Xu Yan wouldn't be like others, treating the "Five Black Categories" as inferior people and looking down on those with bad class backgrounds.
Xu Yan shook his head: "It's not that I look down on him. His grandfather was a landlord, which has nothing to do with him. His parents... although they were rightists, it's not his fault. It's just that his status is awkward. He has always been doing the work in the forest by himself, just to fade out of everyone's sight. If people see him with us, he will hardly have any peace and quiet."
Xu Nuo didn't care about gossip, but she understood what Xu Yan said.
In this era, everyone's spittle can drown the descendants of the "Five Black Categories." Li Xian can only avoid becoming a target of public criticism by minimizing his presence.
She glanced at Xu Yan with a smile. He understood the male lead so well; no wonder she was the female lead.
Hey, what should I do if she's starting to want to be a fan of the couple?
The oxcart was slower than the tractor, and it took almost an hour to reach Luxian Village. After Xu Nuo finished eating, she looked around curiously and carefully examined the people she saw along the way.
Xu Yan remembered that the tractor had broken down: "Nuonuo, you can't go back today."
Xu Nuo turned her head in surprise: "Huh? Why?"
“The tractor broke down and needs to be taken out for repairs. We won’t be coming to Luxian today, and your legs can’t walk much right now.”
When the tractors don't come, everyone walks from Luxian County to the county seat, which takes an hour over the mountain road.
Xu Nuo frowned and asked, "Then where will I stay tonight?"
"You're going to sleep in the educated youth dormitory with me?" Xu Yan was also hesitant. The conditions in the educated youth dormitory were very poor, even worse than those in ordinary villagers' homes, and it was a large communal dormitory. But she knew Xu Nuo couldn't stand it, and besides…
"There are cockroaches in the dormitory for educated youth, can you handle it?"
Xu Nuo refused with a bitter face: "No, no."
She'd rather not sleep at all than sleep with a cockroach.
Luo Chen said, "The brigade leader's daughter just got married. Why don't we go and ask if we can stay here for a while?"
…
Xu Nuo looked at the brigade leader's house. Although it hadn't been repaired for many years, the house still looked impressive.
After the land reform, Li Xian's grandfather was executed, and the extra houses were distributed to poor peasants.
The room belonged to Chang Youxin's eldest daughter, Chang Qingqing. After she got married, the room was temporarily empty. When she heard that Xu Nuo wanted to stay there, Chang Youxin's wife, Pan Yinhua, readily cleaned up the room.
"Comrade Xu Nuo, please don't mind that your family isn't well-off. Stay as long as you like; the Chang family welcomes you." Pan Yinhua, like Chang Youxin, still respected intellectuals, and since Xu Nuo was someone who could teach her children, she was even more polite.
Xu Nuo expressed her gratitude, looked around the room, and thought, "Well, at least there are some herbs burning, and there don't seem to be any bugs." She touched the bedding, which was dry and soft, and went to sleep contentedly.
Xu Nuo was used to sleeping alone at home, but she was a little scared in the unfamiliar place, so Xu Yan slept with her.
Xu Nuo slept very restlessly that night.
She started dreaming shortly after lying down.
This time it wasn't about Menglian's family jumping into the pool, but rather she dreamt of an open space. At first, it was completely dark, but then small green grasses began to grow, followed by flowerbeds. She didn't know how much time had passed when she heard a faint, slow dripping sound.
Not long after the sound of water, she felt several cold, slippery hands wrap around her calves and drag her into a cold pool of water. She didn't drown, but she could clearly see more than a dozen corpses floating in the water, wrapped in seaweed, eaten by sea fish, and riddled with holes.
Xu Nuo woke up in fright.
Xu Yan was sleeping soundly beside her. Knowing that Xu Yan had to go to work the next day, she didn't want to disturb her, so she tossed and turned, not daring to go back to sleep.
Is it really true that what you think about during the day manifests in your dreams at night?
Xu Nuo felt it was very likely; she had indeed been thinking about these things all noon, and that was why she had such a dream.
When Xu Yan woke up the next day, she had already gone to work. Xu Nuo quickly tidied herself up and got up. She opened the door while holding onto the wall and saw Chang Xiaohong playing in the hall.
Chang Xiaohong, who was seven years old and had taken a class with Xu Nuo, quickly came over to help her: "The grandmas have gone to work. I made breakfast and saved it for you."
Xu Nuo patted Chang Xiaohong's head: "Thank you."
Chang Xiaohong shyly helped her to the table. A covered porcelain bowl was opened, revealing a golden sweet potato porridge. Because Xu Nuo was coming today, a lot of rice grains had been added, making it a large bowl full.
Xu Nuo asked her to bring another small bowl, which Chang Zihong quickly brought. Seeing that Xu Nuo had divided the porridge into two portions, she hurriedly said, "I've already eaten. This bowl is for the teacher."
"But I can't finish it, and it will be a waste if you don't help me."
Encouragingly, Chang Xiaohong ate the half bowl of porridge. Satisfied, she put down the bowl and looked at Xu Nuo with even more warmth in her eyes.
The tractor only makes one trip a week, so she has to stay at the Chang family's house for a week, waiting for the next tractor to come to Luxian Village.
Xu Nuo, not wanting to freeload at the Chang family's house, immediately asked Chang Zihong to bring her books and sat down at the table to teach her to recognize characters.
…
For three days in a row, even with Xu Yan sleeping with her, she still had nightmares. In the following days, she even dreamed that Lian Zhende had a deathly look on his face and said to her, "You stole my Lian family's treasure. My poor Lian family descendants will die without a burial place."
When she dreamed of Lian Zhende, she felt cold and dark all over, but when she dreamed of a world with flowers and grass, she felt warm and comfortable all over.
Xu Yan went back to the educated youth dormitory tonight, and Xu Nuo slept alone. Little did she know that she would dream that she was pulled into the water again.
She struggled to wake up, and was startled to find her palms wet, with water still dripping from them when she lifted them.
Xu Nuo was completely terrified.
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