Chapter 98: Fool
Zhang Yun climbed up the ridge of the field using her hands and knees, then headed straight to the ditch below, scooping up water to wash herself from head to toe. Her ears were rumbling, her eyes ached so hard she couldn't open them, and her mouth was filled with the fishy smell of mud that she couldn't get rid of. She had never experienced anything like this before in her life. She cried as she washed, and only after the mud on her legs was clean did she realize there was something still stuck to them, soft and squirming, looking extremely disgusting.
She screamed in despair and burst into tears. After crying enough, she found a leaf, held it in her hand, closed her eyes, and pulled the disgusting thing off her leg.
Summer clothes are thin to begin with, and when they get wet they stick to the body completely, revealing the girl's delicate curves no longer. She hugged her arms and shivered, not daring to run towards the road, but running along the ditch towards the educated youth point.
When he arrived at the educated youth site, he rushed into the house, took off his clothes and changed into new ones.
Although it is summer, the water is still cold in the early morning, and the mountain spring water is refreshing.
I changed my clothes, wrapped my head with a towel, and rolled myself up in the quilt without even picking up my wet clothes. I shivered for a long time before I felt a little better.
With the warmth on, he couldn't think about whether to go to work or not. He curled up in the quilt and fell asleep, not noticing that Deng Hongjuan hadn't come back yet.
Deng Hongjuan was not as embarrassed as her, but she was in a bad situation too. She left the rice field earlier than her and took the road to work, but she didn't walk far before she met people who were coming back to pick rice seedlings.
She was afraid that people would laugh at her miserable appearance, so she slipped down the embankment from a distance.
There was a large patch of Rhizoma Citri Repens by the river below, and a person inside it could cover most of his head. She originally planned to climb up after the voices of the people above faded away, but the step was a bit high, and she didn't pay attention when she came down, so she came down easily. She tried several times to climb up but failed.
She simply went down to the stream, rinsed the mud off her feet, and washed her face in the ditch. When she was almost at the educated youth station, she went to the ditch in front of the station, on the side where Lu's family walked.
The water flowed down from the bamboo forest near the Lu family's home, cascading down the mountain. It was a stream as big as a bowl, flowing down from the heights to form a large pool at the foot of the embankment before flowing into the river below. Normally, people in this area would wash clothes here, but now that everyone was at work, no one would come to such a remote place.
She thought that she wouldn't meet anyone and it wouldn't be embarrassing if she got wet.
The mountain spring water was so cold that it pricked her bones. As she washed, she couldn't suppress the anger in her heart. She grabbed a stone and smashed it down, cursing, "Bitch!" She was cursing Zhang Yun who had made her so embarrassed, and also the local women who were watching her make fun of her. Anyway, they were all bad people.
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a playful laugh from behind her, and imitated her shouting: "Bitch!"
Deng Hongjuan was startled by the sudden sound and turned around to see a man with a scruffy beard who looked to be in his forties or fifties standing behind her. The man had long and dirty hair and was wearing tattered clothes. He had no idea how many layers of clothing he was wearing, but even then, some parts of his body were still exposed.
, like a savage with a foul smell all over his body.
She was so angry that she was venting her anger and didn't even notice that there was someone behind her.
She saw it unexpectedly, so close to him, and her heart skipped a beat.
When she stood up and prepared to run, the man was already in front of her, his eyes fixed on the two lumps on her chest that were exposed because her clothes were wet.
In the summer, people don’t wear much, so their bodies are wet, revealing their exquisite curves, which is a very attractive sight.
Deng Hongjuan was frightened by his terrifying gaze and wanted to run, but her legs were out of control. She could only hear the man laughing and swearing, and his hand touched her.
Although she has a bit of a temper, she is just a girl after all. She was spoiled and pampered when she grew up. She has never encountered such a person or such a thing.
She was so frightened that she even forgot to cry. After a long time, she came to her senses and suddenly reached out and pushed the man, making him stagger. Just when she got away and thought she could run, she turned around and someone grabbed her hair and pulled her, throwing her to the ground.
There were scattered stones under her feet, and her legs hit them, causing burning pain. There is always a huge disparity in strength between men and women. The man sat on her and tore her clothes, pinched her body with his rough hands, and even bent down to bite her.
Deng Hongjuan cried for help, but there was no one here at the moment.
In despair and panic, she fumbled for a stone and smashed it hard at the head lying on her chest.
Someone fell in the muddy field, so Wen Wan became more careful. She was not slow in pulling the seedlings, but her steps were extremely slow, like a turtle.
Anyway, she came here with the idea of participating. If you think she works slowly, just deduct some work points. It's better than falling into the field and eating mud.
Deng Hongjuan and Zhang Yun never returned, and Wen Wan didn't notice. That morning, she was bitten by leeches while pulling up seedlings, and when she went to the fields to plant them that afternoon, she was irritated. She felt a constant sense of suspense, as if something was biting her again. She had just learned how to plant rice, and her form wasn't up to par. Lu Minghai didn't hold back and simply deducted two work points from her.
The first half of the day was spent pulling seedlings, the second half was spent planting them. Now, men and women worked together. Having tasted the sweetness of the plot-based system, Lu Minghai recreated the same system he had used for wheat harvesting, with several people responsible for a specific area. Work was called off when the work was finished, and the area covered was roughly the same. They wrote notes and drew lots.
The men in the family don't care about these things; it's mostly the women who draw lots. Actually, the plots are all about the same size, so you won't suffer much loss, but some areas get more sun, others less. Anyway, the women are always fussy and fussy. No matter where you draw the lot, they'll complain. So, just leave this kind of thing to them.
After lunch, a group of women gathered together in the sun, chattering loudly. Zhou Lanhua stood by with her work points notebook, watching Gao Xiulan and Zhang Hongying, their sisters-in-law, come over from the edge of the field and greet them, "Aunt Xiulan, Aunt Hongying, you're here!"
Gao Xiulan and Zhang Hongying smiled and responded, then looked around and asked Zhou Lanhua, "Lanhuazi, do you know where your eldest brother has gone? He wasn't there pulling up the rice seedlings this morning, and he's gone now too. Your father is really something. He's in his forties. Even if his brain isn't working properly, he still has to find a way to make sure he does what he needs to do when he's busy. He has to eat and drink!"
Zhou Lanhua shook her head: "I don't know either. He's not home all day long."
The youngest of the Zhou Lanhua mentioned by Gao Xiulan was named Zhou Minghu. Zhou Mingqing also had three brothers: Zhou Mingqing was the eldest, Zhou Minghong was the second, and Zhou Minghu was the third. He was quite clever as a child, but during the famine years, he became ill from lack of food and drink, and then suffered from a high fever that damaged his brain.
Everyone on the team called him Zhou Shazi.
Zhou Shazi was really stupid. He didn't know cold or heat, but he knew hunger. However, adults were different from children. They had a limited appetite. Life was hard for every family these days. It was okay if he could work and earn work points, but if he didn't work and just wandered around all day, there would be no surplus food to support him.
Zhou Mingqing and Zhou Minghong both have their own families. In the early years, they would still give him some food to keep him alive because he was raised by the same mother. Now, neither family cares much about him.
Many people in the team knew about it, because when that idiot was extremely hungry he would go to the ground to pull weeds and eat them, and sometimes the crops were eaten before they were ripe. After being caught and punished by Lu Mingqing twice, he became a little more obedient and could be ordered to do some simple laborious work. But this year, he had been idle for a while and had problems again.
Last time, I asked him to help others carry wheat home. After carrying it for most of the day, he got tired and threw away the backpack halfway and ran away without a trace.
Zhou Mingqing was so angry that he swore that he would not care about it anymore. Let him starve to death, and everyone would be relieved if he died.
Gao Xiulan wasn't the type to meddle in other people's affairs, but she couldn't stand having a man who liked to meddle in other people's affairs. She asked because Lu Minghai had mentioned it at lunch, saying he hadn't seen him in a few days and didn't know where he had died. They were all on the same production team, and he was the team leader. Although he couldn't control everyone's food and drink, he still had to ask a few questions occasionally.
Gao Xiulan asked that question, and Zhou Lanhua said she didn't know. Well, then she didn't know, and it had nothing to do with her.
Transplanting rice seedlings wasn't particularly strenuous, and Wen Wan found it less frustrating than harvesting wheat. She just bent over, holding the seedlings at the right distance and pressing them into the mud. Running in the water felt quite refreshing. The annoying thing was the leeches in the water; her legs were bitten several times throughout the day. By the time she finished work, her hands and feet were swollen and wrinkled from soaking in the water for so long.
Her rolled-up trouser legs were also covered in mud. Lu Chunmei pulled her out of the field and they walked barefoot into the creek below, holding their shoes.
This was the first time in Wen Wan's life that she had walked barefoot on the ground.
It's a bit uncomfortable, but also a bit novel.
After slowly going down, he sat on the rock with Lu Chun'e, rubbing his feet and hands in the water.
"Sister, your feet are so small and white!" Putting them in the clear water makes people unable to take their eyes away. This is the first time in Lu Chun'e's life that she has discovered that feet that sweat all day and smell bad can be so beautiful.
Wen Wan glanced at her feet and said, "Your feet aren't that big!"
Lu Chun'e wrinkled her nose: "But, it's ugly!" Her feet suffered a lot when she had no shoes to wear when she was a child. The bone next to her big toe was squeezed, and it was not only ugly but also ruined the shoes. Every time other people wore shoes, they would say that the soles of their shoes were broken, but hers was the part outside the base of her big toe that was always worn out.
Wen Wan smiled and said, "What's so ugly about it? When you look at a person's face, who would look at their feet? Even the most beautiful feet are stuffed into shoes all day long."
Lu Chun'e thought about it and felt that this was the case.
I've been soaking in water for a whole day, so I just need to wash it now. I don't want to stay in the water for too long, so I put on my shoes and walk home after washing it.
"Sister, do you want to go back to the educated youth camp or go directly home?"
Wen Wan thought about the quarrel between Deng Hongjuan and Zhang Yun in the morning and replied, "I'll go directly to your place. There's no point in going to the educated youth camp." The educated youth camp was just a place for her to sleep now.
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