She wanted to strike while the iron was hot, taking advantage of the village's current deep sense of guilt towards the educated youth, and add a little more favor, combining this guilt with the favor to completely suppress any potential sympathy or opportunism, whether now or in the future.
People are driven by self-interest; if you don't succeed, it's because you didn't put in enough effort.
Nowadays, everyone has a collective mentality, and everything can be brought up to the collective, so she still tries to drag that into it.
If an individual takes something they shouldn't, they can be accused of embezzlement, undermining collectivism, being a parasite on the state, harming collective interests, and so on. The list of charges is endless. But if it's given to the collective, it immediately becomes a story of noble character, sacrificing personal interests for the greater good, and being selfless.
Once you've turned your life around, no matter what others say—whether they're envious, jealous, or even looking for trouble—there will always be someone to help you clarify things. They'll find a legitimate reason for everything you do.
"Ah, she did it for the collective good, to fight for something for our village,"
Just like after enduring hardship and humiliation to achieve success, all the humiliation and suffering endured become medals.
It's like, to put it simply, there are two people in the village, one poor and one rich.
What rich people do is always seen by others as, "Oh, it's a good thing it's him! Look at his vision, that's how we should do it, why didn't we think of that?"
As for the poor, most people just watch the show, and some even ridicule them. Look, the poor are just messing around. Just wait and see, they'll only end up wasting their time.
Look, no matter where you are, everyone is seen as different classes.
I understand all this. After a brief discussion with a few people, I realized this was an opportunity. It's a good tactic to give someone a slap and then immediately offer them a treat.
When the educated youth returned from the commune, Jian Dan was already waiting at the crossroads.
"So fast? Didn't you say you might not be back today?"
I first briefly inquired about Tan Yajun's injuries, and upon hearing that she was alright, I returned to the previous topic.
"Hey, last time my brother said that Xin Xin should be back soon, so I was thinking that if she came back, I might be able to bring her back to play. But I was too late, she had just left this morning."
I just took a quick look around, saw my brother, and came back.
That's pretty much it. She went there today mainly to talk about that matter, but Cheng Chao and the others were obviously very busy. She didn't dawdle and came back as soon as she finished talking about it.
"Xin Xin has been gone for half a year now, hasn't she? Did she go back to her uncle's home?"
It's not that they're just imagining things; after all, it's not their own child, so this line of thinking is quite normal.
"Yes, that's simple. Her family took the child away?"
People like Li Yan and Tan Yajun could see how much effort Jian Dan put into that child back then.
Li Guang, who had always considered Jian Xin a close friend, was immediately disheartened upon hearing the news. He even lost his appetite for the fragrant peach shortbread he had just been eating.
"Huh? Xin Xin left? Is she really not coming back?"
Jian Dan never expected that her casual excuse would be taken seriously by them, and that they would actually take it personally.
I felt a little touched, but mostly helpless.
"No, no, you guys are overthinking it."
Her uncle feels sorry for her because she has no parents by her side since she was a child, so now he takes her with him almost all the time. Actually, this is quite good. When he is busy, Xin Xin comes back and keeps me company.
When I'm not busy, I take her with me. That way, I only have to spend part of my time looking after the child, which is much easier than before, isn't it?
Li Guang was still somewhat skeptical.
"You really didn't leave and not come back?"
"Really, it's more real than anything else. Xin Xin's things are still on the shelf. Besides, Xin Xin is on my household registration. Where could she have gone?"
When Li Yan spoke of her children, a fleeting hint of nostalgia crossed her eyes.
"Look at you, you're the youngest among us, yet you're the one who's the most worried now."
"Really? I didn't think so, haha. You know, I only live alone. Having more people around would make it more lively, isn't that great?"
"Yes, yes, okay, whatever makes you happy."
By the way, do you think things will finally calm down in the village this time?
When I left Sister Yajun's place that day, the villagers' faces were all dark. Then yesterday at work, I happened to see several women huddled together, discussing finding a matchmaker to find partners for their children.”
Bai Xiaoqin hadn't been there long, and the villagers didn't know her all yet, but they were quite enthusiastic when it came to gossiping.
"However, I've noticed these past two days that they've been looking at us educated youth a bit strangely, and they're not as friendly as before. I don't know if I'm just being too sensitive,"
They were whispering to each other, and kept turning back to look at Uncle Liu, who was driving the cart, since he was also a villager.
Li Guang laughed heartily.
"Hey, this isn't a good thing either. People will feel embarrassed. Besides, nothing really happened. It's normal for them to think this way."
Upon hearing this, several people realized that it made perfect sense.
"Why!"
"However, I guess it's not all bad. Seeing how much trouble we educated youth can cause, I guess no one will dare to mess with us."
Simple and unsurprising,
"The soft fear the hard, the hard are ruthless, and the ruthless fear the reckless."
This time, Ya-Jun's attitude was, "I'm willing to risk my life, what else am I afraid of?"
So crazy, who would dare mess with them?
They dare to mess with the educated youth because they know we're all alone and helpless here. And the girls are all concerned about their reputation. You see, when we're alone with them, we always try to keep several meters apart, right? Getting too close makes us easy targets for gossip.
What would have happened if Sister Ya-jun hadn't been so vigilant that day?
No matter what, the girl will definitely bear more of the burden. The boy can just pack up and leave. At worst, he can just marry her. It's a free wife. Marrying her means having someone else to do the work for free, so it's naturally a good thing for him.
But for women, there are emotional burdens, the opinions of others, and inner torment. If they get married, there will be a sudden increase in housework, and there may be difficulties from their in-laws. In particular, what kind of good family tradition can a family have if it can raise such a person?
We're all girls, so if we put ourselves in their shoes, it's not hard to imagine how the villagers' opinions and gossip could drive a person crazy.
Sigh, this kind of thing seems to happen quite often, but how many people have the spirit of Sister Ya Jun? If you can't muster the drive to fight, then you should be prepared to be bullied.
If you have weaknesses and fears, you're bound to be manipulated by others.
Now that we're willing to go all out and make a big scene, they'll naturally be afraid.
Bullying the weak and fearing the strong is human nature.
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