Chapter 10
In the afternoon, Zhao Weiguo came to Team 4 to look for her and said indignantly, "Jia Ni, you're here. Do you know Comrade Liu Ailing..."
Qiu Zeming turned his head and glanced at the two men's faces.
Zhou Jiani didn't notice Qiu Zeming's actions. She interrupted Zhao Weiguo with a tingling sensation on her scalp and said seriously, "Comrade Zhao Weiguo, please call me Comrade Zhou or Comrade Zhou Jiani."
At this stage, she had only known Zhao Weiguo for two days and was not that familiar with him.
Although he and Peng Guangrong were quite attentive to her on the train, she did not give any response, so it would be best to cut it off clearly now to avoid any other involvement.
Zhao Weiguo was disappointed to see her so reserved, then continued, "This is not important. Comrade Jia, Comrade Zhou Jiani, Comrade Liu Ailing fainted. I think this is all due to the team..."
Zhou Jiani interrupted him anxiously and asked, "Why did you faint? Where is Comrade Ai Ling now? Who is with her?"
Zhao Weiguo knew Zhou Jiani would be worried. After all, they were best friends. He said, "She fainted while working. Comrade Meng Jiandi helped her back home to rest. You don't have to worry too much. The most important thing right now is..."
Zhou Jiani let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, interrupting him again, saying repeatedly, "That's good, that's good. I was so scared." Then she added gratefully, "Thank you, Comrade Zhao, for coming to let me know. It's just that time is tight and the workload is heavy right now. Since Comrade Meng Jiandi has already gone back to take care of it, I will go visit Comrade Ai Ling after work. I believe Comrade Ai Ling will understand."
Zhao Weiguo frowned slightly when he heard Zhou Jiani change his address from 'Comrade Zhao Weiguo' to 'Comrade Zhao', but the matter at the moment was more important.
They were very dissatisfied with the team's arrangements, and Comrade Liu Ailing's fainting was the perfect opportunity. If they didn't look for the team at this time, it would be difficult to talk to them later.
He was about to speak again when Qiu Zeming came over and said gently, "Comrade Zhao, you've come just in time. I have something to tell you." He glanced at Zhou Jiani and said with a smile, "Let Comrade Zhou Jiani take care of herself first. Let's go over there and talk for a few words."
He raised his hand and placed it on Zhao Weiguo's shoulder, exerting a little force, and took the reluctant Zhao Weiguo to the side.
Zhou Jiani breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to continue breaking corn.
Liu Cuiyun asked, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, who fainted?"
"One of my colleagues fainted. I think it's low blood sugar. I have some fruit candies. I'll take them up to check on her after work."
Soon, Zhao Weiguo's angry voice came from the other side. He said something like "People with different ideals cannot work together." Then he ran straight towards Zhou Jiani again and asked bluntly, "Comrade Zhou Jiani, we will report the situation to the team tonight. Will you come with us?"
Zhou Jiani's head was buzzing.
Later, Qiu Zeming spread his hands to him, indicating that he had done his best, and came over to pick up the basket full of corn and transport it out.
Liu Cuiyun, Sheng Hongshan, Tian Yumei and others looked over.
How could Tian Yumei not know what they were going to do? Her scalp tingled, and she hurried over and said, "Comrade, if you have anything to say, please wait until after work is over. Don't disturb everyone while they're working."
Zhao Weiguo said in a particularly aggressive tone: "You are talking without any worries. We all have comrades who have fainted. This team shouldn't be..."
"Comrade Zhao Weiguo!" Zhou Jiani interrupted sharply, "I won't join you. I believe I can overcome the difficulties we face, and I believe you can, too. Also, please don't affect other comrades."
Zhao Weiguo's face was filled with shock and disappointment. He said bitterly, "Comrade Liu Ailing has fainted! Comrade Zhou Jiani, I thought you would stand by us, but I didn't expect you to be so cold-blooded. It's a waste of Comrade Ailing's care for you along the way."
Qiu Zeming should have analyzed the pros and cons with Zhao Weiguo earlier, but he still didn't care about the situation. He was selfish and paranoid, and obviously wouldn't listen to good advice. So Zhou Jiani didn't hold back. She said coldly, "As far as I know, you had this idea this morning, right? Did Comrade Ailing also faint at that time? No! So you use this as an excuse to morally blackmail me. To put it bluntly, it's all to satisfy your own desires. Comrade Zhao, I beg you to disagree!"
"Also, you're using Comrade Liu Ailing's name to rally everyone to join you in this riot. Does she know about this? Does she consent?"
Liu Ailing would make her words ambiguous, neither directly rejecting nor agreeing, so she could justify herself to either side based on the result. Moreover, she happened to faint, leaving herself enough room for flexibility.
"She, she agrees..." Zhao Weiguo said uncertainly, his face flushed with choking.
When he asked Liu Ailing this morning, she hadn't explicitly said whether she agreed or not, but she hadn't rejected his opinion like Zhou Jiani had. He felt a little embarrassed and sneered, "I can't argue with you, but Comrade Zhou Jiani, I'm so disappointed in you. You're really just trying to get something for nothing, aren't you? But this time is different. You're leaving our collective when we're all united. I don't think anyone will forgive you. Remember, when we win the benefits, you'd better not enjoy them with us."
Turned around and left.
Zhou Jiani was so angry that she was about to suffer from hypoglycemia.
Qiu Zeming returned with an empty basket and said, "A rotten tree cannot be carved!"
Zhou Jiani's old face turned red with embarrassment. She was once that piece of rotten wood.
Sheng Hongshan, Liu Cuiyun and others came over to comfort her, but Zhou Jiani waved her hand to indicate that she was fine and went back to work.
After work, Zhou Jiani still went to the village entrance. She wanted to see if Sun Ping was in the team.
Seeing her, Zhao Weiguo snorted coldly and turned his head away.
Meng Jiandi came trotting over, and before she could say anything, Zhou Jiani said, "Is Comrade Ai Ling okay?"
Meng Jiandi shook her head and said, "Ailing is just tired. Jiani, the work assigned to us by the team is really unreasonable. I asked other veteran educated youth, and they only had to mow the lawn and do odd jobs for the first one or two days when they arrived. It's nothing like us, who have to face such heavy work right away. Jiani, we plan to report this to the team. It's not that we won't work, we just need some time to adapt. Why don't you join us? There's strength in numbers."
Zhou Jiani looked over there. Sun Ping in the crowd pursed her lips and looked away. She didn't see Yu Wanxia. She sighed inwardly, shook her head, and said, "The situation is different. The old educated youth you asked about should be the first batch, right? They were not so busy when they came. Now we are facing a rush to harvest. There is a lot of rain in autumn. If a sudden heavy rain comes before we have harvested all the corn, we won't be able to enter the fields and we will have to postpone it. If we miss the wheat planting time..."
Zhao Weiguo interrupted with a sarcastic tone, saying, "Comrade Meng Jiandi, please don't bother Comrade Zhou Jiani. She has a high level of ideological awareness and doesn't look down on our small group."
Zhou Jiani didn't even glance at him, just ignored him and looked at the other educated youth. When they met her gaze, they all looked away stiffly.
Sun Ping struggled for a while, but still lowered her head and stood there without moving.
Obviously, they are exhausted and full of resentment. Now there are people willing to organize and protest collectively, which makes them very tempted.
Peng Guangrong came over to persuade her: "Come with us. Comrade Zhao Weiguo was just speaking in anger. Don't bother with him."
Zhou Jiani knew she couldn't stop them, so she smiled and said, "No, I'll go see Comrade Liu Ailing. I also hope you can reconsider this carefully."
Zhao Weiguo scoffed, which made Peng Guangrong feel a little embarrassed. He couldn't help but use a tone of condemnation, saying, "If you really care about Comrade Liu Ailing, you should come with us." He pointed at the female comrades over there and said angrily, "Comrade Zhou Jiani, go and see, everyone is so tired that their hands are shaking and they can't even lift their arms. Don't you think this arrangement for us is too much?"
Seeing that she was unmoved, he became a little angry and said sarcastically, "It seems that Zhao Weiguo is right. He said that you are a person who likes to sit back and enjoy the fruits of others' labor. You were like this on the train, and now you still want to do it. Are you trying to take advantage of everyone? We are not Comrade Liu Ailing. No one will accommodate you!"
"Thank you for not giving in." Zhou Jiani was too lazy to persuade him. "Please rest assured, I will go to work as usual tomorrow. No matter what benefits you fight for, I will not take advantage of them."
Qiu Zeming, Bai Haoyang, Wang Qianjin and others came over, accompanied by Yu Wanxia with her head hung down, Han Yang and two other old educated youth.
Bai Haoyang took Han Yang and the others over to persuade them again.
Zhao Weiguo and the others argued with their necks stiff.
Bai Haoyang finally got angry and cursed, "A bunch of idiots, your brains must have been kicked by a donkey, fuck!"
The two sides almost got into a fight and parted on bad terms.
On the way home, Yu Wanxia whispered, "My cousin scolded me and hit me on the forehead. It still hurts."
Zhou Jiani said with a smile: "It's good that he wakes up after being scolded."
Yu Wanxia said, "Comrade Sun Ping and the others are probably upset with us. They're angry that we're not on the same front with them, and they're also worried that if we don't make any contributions, we'll end up reaping the benefits."
She was still a little curious: "Jia Ni, do you think they can succeed?"
Zhou Jiani knew that she could succeed, and she was busy now. Zhang Baosheng was too lazy to deal with them, so they succeeded as soon as they protested, just like a punch on cotton. But no one felt embarrassed, and they rested calmly for several days, feeling proud of it for a long time.
But they didn't know that Zhang Baosheng would handle the matter coldly and would settle the scores one by one later.
When they got home, Zhao Mei came up to them with a nervous look on her face. She glanced behind them and said, "You, went to find the team?"
"We didn't participate. Comrade Sun Ping went." Zhou Jiani said, "Sister-in-law, let's go see Comrade Liu Ailing first and come back for dinner."
Yu Wanxia didn't want to stay at home alone, so she wrapped two snacks in a handkerchief and went to Song Jiefang's house.
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