Cat and Mouse Game
The three-day flood control mission concluded earlier than expected. The rain subsided, the situation was under control, and the neighboring county expressed its gratitude by releasing the workers half a day early.
Song Zhiyuan was eager to return home. Three days of intense labor hadn't left him feeling tired at all. Instead, a burning desire to see someone surged through his blood.
He repeatedly imagined Lin Xueyin's face when she saw him, startled and embarrassed, wanting to hide but not daring to. Perhaps, this time back, it was time to take their relationship a step further. He had waited patiently and "taught" her for so long, and his little canary should be more accustomed to his closeness.
The truck drove back to Hongqi Commune in the evening. The afterglow of the setting sun gilded the adobe houses and fields with a warm golden hue, but Song Zhiyuan's heart quickly cooled after he got off the truck.
He did not see the familiar figure near the educated youth site.
A subtle feeling of displeasure began to creep in. He walked straight towards the female educated youth dormitory and happened to run into Liu Xiaoling, who was carrying a basin.
"Comrade Song, you're back?" Liu Xiaoling was a little surprised to see him.
"Yeah." Song Zhiyuan responded, his eyes glancing at the half-open door behind her, "Where's Lin Xueyin?"
His tone was calm, but the invisible sense of oppression made Liu Xiaoling subconsciously stand up straighter and answer honestly: "Xue Yin, she...she asked for leave to go to the county town. She said she was not feeling well and wanted to go to the county hospital."
"Going to the county town?"
Song Zhiyuan's brow furrowed instantly, and his voice dropped suddenly, making the air around them seem to freeze. His deep eyes fixed sharply on Liu Xiaoling, causing her to shudder.
"What...when did you go?" he asked, each word sounding like it was fished out of an ice cellar.
"Just this morning, she took Uncle Zhang's tractor..." Liu Xiaoling was so frightened that she couldn't speak clearly. "She said she might be gone for a day or two..."
This morning? A day or two?
In other words, she planned to leave right after he left? And she specifically chose the day he was expected to return? Was she feeling unwell?
Song Zhiyuan's mind flashed back to Lin Xueyin's expression before he left, her brows lowered and her gentle words to caution him. Beyond dependence, there was a hint of determination hidden in those eyes that he hadn't fully grasped at the time...?
A feeling of being fooled and escaped suddenly rose up and burned through his limbs. Song Zhiyuan had never gotten what he wanted since he was a child.
Not to mention that someone dared to try to slip away from under his nose so tactlessly after he made his position clear!
Good, very good. Lin Xueyin, you've really grown in skill.
The lines on his face were tense, and the angle of his jawline was particularly sharp from gritting his teeth. The low pressure emanating from his body made Liu Xiaoling almost dare not breathe. She hurriedly found an excuse to slip back to the dormitory.
Song Zhiyuan stood there, the setting sun casting a long shadow on his tall figure, yet revealing no warmth. He stared toward the county town, his eyes frighteningly sinister.
Feeling unwell? He didn't believe a word of it.
This was clearly an attempt to avoid him. Was she frightened by the kiss that night? Or had the three days of separation allowed her pitiful "independent thinking" to take over, making her feel she could escape his control?
It's ridiculously naive.
He pulled out his cigarette case, took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag. The nicotine breath temporarily suppressed the violent rage surging in his chest, but the coldness in his eyes grew stronger.
Run to the county town? Do you think you'll be safe there?
He took out the letter paper and pen with the red stamp of a special unit that he carried with him, and quickly wrote a few lines in the dim light. Then he found a smart and reliable young member of the commune, and gave him some money and the folded note.
"Find a way to get this letter to Director Chen Mingyuan at Room 201, Building 3, at the County Revolutionary Committee's family compound, as quickly as possible." His voice was low and commanding, "Say it's from Song Zhiyuan."
He didn't need to know where Lin Xueyin was exactly. As long as she was in the county town, as long as she went to find Chen Mingyuan, the letter would fall into her hands accurately, or at least let Chen Mingyuan know his attitude.
After finishing all this, Song Zhiyuan returned to the male educated youth dormitory, fetched some water, and carefully washed off the dust and fatigue accumulated over the past three days. He changed into a clean old military uniform, stood straight, and had a stern look on his face.
He did not fall asleep like other educated youth who had just returned. Instead, he moved a chair and sat under the old locust tree in the yard of the educated youth site. Like a patient hunter, he guarded the path he had to take and also guarded his prey that was about to return home.
The night deepened, the stars twinkled. The cigarette butt between Song Zhiyuan's fingers flickered, reflecting his bottomless eyes.
Lin Xueyin, where do you think you can hide?
You can choose not to accept what I give you, but you must accept what I want to give you.
Since the warm water still gives you the energy to daydream and even try to escape, then...
He didn't mind making her realize more clearly who was the only one she could rely on.
She would soon learn the price of escape.
County town, Chen Mingyuan’s home.
Lin Xueyin was picking vegetables with Aunt Wang in the kitchen, enjoying this brief but precious peace. The atmosphere of the Chen family was gentle and bookish, allowing her to temporarily forget the oppression of the Red Flag Commune and the man who made her so upset.
However, this peace was soon broken.
Chen Mingyuan returned from outside, his expression somewhat subtle, a folded piece of paper in his hand. He walked over to Lin Xueyin and handed her the letter, his tone carrying a subtle hint of caution: "Xueyin, someone just brought this over, specifically asking for it to be given to you, or... to be passed on to you."
Lin Xueyin's heart suddenly sank, a sense of foreboding gripping her. She took the seemingly ordinary piece of paper, her fingers trembling slightly. Unfolding it, she saw only one line of words, written in penmanship so familiar that it startled her:
"Come back when you've had enough fun."
No signature, no inscription.
But Lin Xueyin felt as if she had fallen into an icy cave, and the blood in her body seemed to freeze. She recognized the handwriting; it was Song Zhiyuan's!
He knew! Not only did he know she was in the county town, he also knew she was at Uncle Chen's house! He could even deliver the letter there so accurately!
A suffocating feeling, as if an invisible hand were strangling her throat, washed over her. She thought she had successfully escaped his sight, but she hadn't expected that her every move was completely under his control. He was like an endless net; no matter where she fled, she would be caught.
"Xueyin, what's wrong with you? You look so pale." Aunt Wang asked with concern.
Chen Mingyuan looked at Lin Xueyin's face, which had lost all her blood, and her terrified eyes, and understood. He sighed and patted her shoulder: "Is it... Comrade Song?"
Lin Xueyin bit her lip, almost making it bleed, and nodded. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.
"He... has a complicated background." Chen Mingyuan lowered his voice and spoke earnestly, "Xue Yin, uncle won't ask too much about what happened between you. But listen to my advice, there are some things that can't be dealt with head-on. Since he found this place and asked you to go back... you should..."
Chen Mingyuan didn't say anything else, but Lin Xueyin understood. Even Uncle Chen, who held some status in the county, was so wary of Song Zhiyuan that he advised her not to force it.
Come back when you’ve had enough fun.
Those five words, lightly written, carried an unquestionable command and a condescending control, as if she were just a pet that had thrown a tantrum and run away from home.
A huge sense of fear and humiliation overwhelmed her. But she knew Uncle Chen was right; she couldn't escape. If she didn't go back today, what about tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? He would always find a way to make her go back, and by then, the situation might be even more difficult to handle.
The next morning, Lin Xueyin declined Chen Mingyuan and his wife's offer to stay and boarded the tractor back to Hongqi Commune. The return trip seemed even bumpier than the outbound trip, and her heart, with the ups and downs of the vehicle, felt heavy and filled with fear of what was about to happen.
When she finally saw the familiar adobe house of Hongqi Commune with heavy steps, the setting sun was casting its last rays of light on the earth.
Then, she saw him.
Song Zhiyuan was sitting under the old locust tree in the yard of the educated youth center. He was standing tall and straight, wearing a clean old military uniform, with a cigarette between his fingers. His stern face was unclear in the smoke, but his eyes, like a hawk locking onto its prey, accurately captured her the moment she appeared.
Lin Xueyin's feet were instantly nailed to the spot, blood flowed backwards, and her hands and feet became cold.
He looked at her, not moving, not speaking. He just watched silently, his gaze as solid as substance, carrying with it a tremendous sense of oppression, like a storm approaching, pressing heavily on her from a distance of dozens of meters, making her almost breathless.
The air around him seemed to freeze because of him. A few educated youth were in the yard, washing up and chatting, but now, sensing the eerie atmosphere, they fell silent and carefully avoided him.
Lin Xueyin felt like a butterfly nailed to a specimen board. She had nowhere to hide under his gaze, even the slightest tremor was exposed.
She forced herself to move forward, step by step, with great difficulty, towards him. With each step closer, the invisible pressure grew a little heavier.
Finally, she walked up to him, lowered her head, not daring to look into his eyes, her voice as thin as a mosquito, trembling uncontrollably: "I... I'm back."
Song Zhiyuan did not respond immediately.
He slowly put out his cigarette on the stone beside him, then slowly stood up. His tall figure instantly loomed over her, casting a shadow that completely covered her.
He reached out his hand, not to pull her or hug her, but gently lifted her chin with his fingertips, forcing her to look up and meet his deep, undercurrent-filled eyes.
His fingertips were cold, yet the touch felt like a branding iron.
"Do you know you're wrong?" He spoke in a low and calm voice, with no emotion in his voice, but it was more frightening than any rebuke.
Lin Xueyin looked at the undisguised control and hidden anger in his eyes. Her heart was beating wildly. The fear made her want to escape immediately, but her body was too stiff to move. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
The initiative of this "cat and mouse game" has been firmly in the hands of this man from beginning to end.
This time, her escape not only failed to gain the freedom and space she desired, but was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, which aroused his deeper desire for control and completely placed her in the center of the more impenetrable web he had woven.
The next "punishment" and "teaching" will probably not be as mild as before.
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