"Ah!" Tang Zhenzhen was in real pain this time, tears welling up in her eyes. She raised her hand and roughly pushed Ning Yuan away.
Ning Yuan was already weak and dizzy from being hit on the back of the head, and this push almost made her fall off the wooden bed.
Rong Zhaonan reacted quickly, stepping forward to support Ning Yuan and also helping her hold down the tattered quilt that was about to slip from her grasp.
Tang Zhenzhen looked at her bleeding wound, then at Ning Yuan leaning against Rong Zhaonan, feeling both pain and anger.
That slut Ning Yuan, how dare she bite her!
She immediately looked at the young man who had just kicked the door open: "Wang Zhiqing, what are you standing there for!"
Wang Jianhua watched as Ning Yuan leaned weakly against Rong Zhaonan's chest.
Although he personally knocked Ning Yuan unconscious and sent her to Rong Zhaonan's room in order to secure a spot to return to the city.
But seeing this scene, a surge of jealousy and resentment rose in his heart.
Wang Jianhua pointed a hoe at Rong Zhaonan and angrily cursed, "You beast in human form, how dare you defile our female comrades! Beat him to death!"
Along with him came not only the angry educated youth from the settlement, but also many villagers.
They already had a prejudice against "bad elements" like Rong Zhaonan who were sent down to the cowshed for reform.
The public security bureau instructed that these "bad elements" should be properly disciplined, and that they should be encouraged to work actively to reform their thinking.
This wicked guy, who tried to reform her, actually dared to abuse a female educated youth!
It wouldn't be too much to kill them!
Like a hornet's nest being blown up, everyone in the village was filled with righteous indignation and grabbed hoes and shovels to beat Rong Zhaonan fiercely!
A chilling murderous intent flashed in Rong Zhaonan's cold eyes as he clenched his fist, which was bulging with veins.
But when he saw the group of educated youth and villagers rushing towards him, he suddenly loosened his clenched fist.
The man closed his eyes patiently, chuckling self-deprecatingly—ha.
After retiring and being sent to a lower-level position, he should be used to this kind of scene, shouldn't he? It's not the first or second time.
But the next moment, he suddenly felt himself being pulled backward with great force.
The girl who had been leaning against him now stood in front of him, shouting at the oncoming crowd—
"Stop! He didn't abuse me! We're dating!"
This shout was like a thunderclap, striking the heads of the indignant people in the room.
Everyone was stunned; the hoes and shovels they had raised froze in mid-air.
A look of astonishment flashed across Tang Zhenzhen's eyes, then her mind raced, and she put on an incredulous expression—
"Ning Yuan, what did you say? You're dating this scoundrel... The clothes you're wearing... are his!"
Ha, Ning Yuan, that idiot, actually softened and protected Rong Zhaonan?
That would be perfect, because she'll never get a spot in the recruitment drive to return to the city!
Ning Yuan looked at her coldly: "Yes, I am dating Rong Zhaonan."
"Are you crazy?!" Wang Jianhua stared at Ning Yuan, his eyes wide with disbelief.
He pursued Ning Yuan for so long, but Ning Yuan didn't like him and was flirting with the youngest deputy secretary of the brigade.
The quota for recruiting workers to return to the city was so rare, there were only two quotas, and Ning Yuan got one, just because she got involved with that deputy secretary.
In a fit of anger, he collaborated with Tang Zhenzhen to knock Ning Yuan unconscious, strip her naked, and send her to Rong Zhaonan's room, where he was a bad element who was sweeping cowsheds, and then staged this play.
If Ning Yuan loses her reputation, she won't pass the recruitment test to return to the city.
But in ten or eight years, when everyone has forgotten about it, Ning Yuan may still have a chance to return to the city.
As a result, this stupid woman is now sympathizing with Rong Zhaonan, saying that she is dating this bad guy. Has she gone mad?
If she gets married and registers her household in the countryside, she'll never be able to return to the city!
Wang Jianhua opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
However, a middle-aged woman with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face who followed in was the first to sneer.
"Oh, so you couldn't stand the loneliness and started having an affair! How shameless! You've gone to bed with a bad guy!"
She was Tang Zhenzhen's second aunt, so of course she knew what Tang Zhenzhen wanted to do, and immediately took advantage of her misfortune.
The villagers' eyes immediately filled with contempt and disgust when they looked at Ning Yuan.
If my daughter slept with a man before marriage, back in the day, she'd be drowned in a pig cage! So shameful!
Ning Yuan gritted her teeth and stared at the middle-aged woman: "First of all, Rong Zhaonan and I are dating, neither of us is married, that's not considered cheating! Your daughter Xiaohua is also dating Heizi from the next village, is that cheating too, is that being shameless?!"
The middle-aged woman immediately bristled and jumped up, yelling, "What nonsense are you spouting!"
Ning Yuan ignored her and looked at the village secretary who was standing at the door with a frown: "Old secretary, I don't know what Tang Zhenzhen saw. I accidentally fell into the river while I was cutting pig feed by the stream. He saved me and brought me back to change my clothes!"
There's a stream right next to the cowshed; everyone knows that.
“He and I have decided to apply for marriage, and I’ll go to the team tomorrow to get the letter of introduction!” Ning Yuan said decisively again.
Her straightforward words left the villagers and the educated youth somewhat stunned.
Anyone could see that she was protecting Rong Zhaonan.
"Ning Yuan, your ideological awareness is too low. You actually got involved with the bad elements who were sweeping the cowshed!" Wang Jianhua was so angry that his face turned blue.
Ning Yuan has consistently rejected the advances of this newly-awarded model youth of the team, yet she's so protective of a man she's barely met and whom everyone avoids?!
Finally, the old Party Secretary picked up his pipe, knocked on the door, and frowned as he spoke—
"Since it's a misunderstanding, Ning Zhiqing said she wanted to get a marriage certificate with Dr. Rong. Nobody said that people sent down for reform couldn't get married. Let's all disperse!"
He didn't want the educated youth and reformers who had been sent to the countryside to cause any trouble.
If they complained to the educated youth office and the commune, their advanced team's red flag would be lost, and their collective work points would be deducted.
Seeing that the old Party Secretary had spoken, the other villagers felt awkward and didn't want to stay any longer.
Everyone glanced disdainfully at Ning Yuan by the bedside, then turned and left.
Tang Zhenzhen was overjoyed and, together with her second aunt, simply pulled away the indignant Wang Jianhua.
She couldn't let Wang Jianhua get jealous and act recklessly, ruining the "marriage" between Ning Yuan and that scoundrel Rong Zhaonan.
Rong Zhaonan closed the drafty door, turned around and looked at Ning Yuan, who was covered in cold sweat and sitting on the wooden bed, hugging a quilt.
Behind his thick-rimmed black glasses, a mysterious light flashed in his narrow eyes: "Why are you helping me?"
Offering unsolicited favors is either a sign of malice or theft.
Ning Yuan sensed the coldness and wariness in his words, and remained silent for a moment before replying, "Because helping you is helping myself."
Rong Zhaonan adjusted the frame of his glasses, his gaze icy and sharp like that of an interrogator: "Is that so? Tell me."
Ning Yuan didn't know when he stood in front of her; the man was standing very close.
They were so close that she could smell his cold aura.
Ning Yuan panicked and tried to back away, saying, "Move away from me."
Seeing her 'guilty' look, Rong Zhaonan subconsciously raised his hand and pressed down on her shoulder, coldly saying, "Why are you dodging?"
Ning Yuan shrank back, only to have her collarbone and shoulders gripped by a man's large hand.
The strange, unfamiliar touch made her blush, and she couldn't help but struggle: "What... are you doing!"
In the struggle, the blanket suddenly fell to the ground.
...
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