The sunset glow gradually appeared in the sky, and the wind blowing in my face carried with it the warmth and fragrance of plants, as well as the scent of grass and wood mixed with a light smell of sweat from Xie San's body.
Xie San's long legs pedaled vigorously, and the Phoenix brand bicycle was on the road steadily. Xie San's ragged coat was blown up by the wind, and Cheng Yaoyao grabbed the hem of his clothes with one of her tender little hands. The small piece of skin between the cloth was hot and seemed to be smoking.
Cheng Yaoyao sat on the back seat of the bicycle, swinging his legs. He turned around to look at Shen Yan and Cheng Nonuo. The two of them were standing stupidly on the edge of the field, getting smaller and smaller, gradually becoming two tiny dots in his sight.
Cheng Yaoyao held his stomach and laughed so hard that he fell backwards. These two were really dramatic and hilarious, they should become comedians.
Cheng Yaoyao laughed so hard that he let go of his hands and rubbed his belly. Xie San said in a deep voice, "Be careful not to fall."
"No way." Cheng Yaoyao was very proud. Before she finished her words, the car suddenly ran over a pothole. Cheng Yaoyao was thrown hard and almost flew out. Fortunately, Xie San stretched out his arm in time and pulled her back.
Cheng Yaoyao's heart was pounding. He grabbed Xie San's strong wrist and heard Xie San's low voice, as if talking to himself, which was carried to his ears by the evening breeze: "Can you be obedient for once?"
Cheng Yaoyao patted his chest, held Xie San's hem tightly with both hands, and dared not move.
The softness in his hands disappeared, Xie San moved his fingers, gripped the handlebars again, and concentrated on riding.
The rain in recent days has made the road full of potholes and pits, and there are also bumps on the road caused by the wheels of the ox cart. The seemingly flat road is full of pitfalls, not to mention that there is a spoiled child sitting in the back seat of the car. Thinking of the softness I just held, it is as soft as the finest jade and cannot withstand the slightest bump.
After Xie San drifted around the puddle twice in a row, Cheng Yaoyao asked curiously, "Brother Xie San, you are so good at riding a bicycle. When did you learn it?"
Xie San said calmly, "I rode it twice while helping others."
"You have such long legs. You've become so skilled at riding after just two attempts." Cheng Yaoyao said enviously, "I also want to buy a bicycle so that I don't have to walk for a long time when I work in the soybean fields."
"In the future?" Xie San's eyes flickered. Do they have a future? His fingers tightened around the handlebars, and Xie San spoke in a harsh voice, saying coldly, "You don't need to come again in the future."
"Why?" Cheng Yaoyao asked curiously.
Xie San stared ahead: "If you come with me... it will be bad for your reputation."
"Didn't I scold Shen Yan and Cheng Nonuo? What's wrong with me being with you? I know you are a good person." Cheng Yaoyao said as he moved closer to Xie San and sweetly expressed his loyalty to him.
The car braked suddenly, and Cheng Yaoyao bumped into Xie San's back out of inertia, and burst into tears in pain. She covered her forehead and was about to scream, but she saw Xie San turned his head, and his narrow eyes were filled with unknown emotions that frightened her.
Cheng Yaoyao was a little frightened by Xie San's gaze. She put down her hand blankly, her forehead flushed, and she looked so tender: "What...what happened?"
Xie San stared at Cheng Yaoyao for a long while, his jawline tensed, as if he was having some psychological struggle. After a long while, he said solemnly: "Don't think I'm a good person. You don't know anything at all... Forget it, I will tell the captain to tell you not to come again tomorrow."
"Why?!" Cheng Yaoyao was aggrieved and puzzled, and asked repeatedly: "Do you think I can't do the work? I'm already trying hard to learn. Didn't you praise me for sowing the seeds neatly this afternoon?"
Cheng Yaoyao became more and more sad as he spoke: "I don't want to work in the paddy fields. Leeches are so scary. The place where I was bitten on my leg still hurts. If you don't believe me, just look!"
Cheng Yaoyao was about to lift his trouser legs, but Xie Sanduan shouted, “Stop!”
Cheng Yaoyao didn't dare to move. Her rosy lips turned down, her eyelashes flickered rapidly, and she was about to cry.
This weapon was the most deadly. Xie San couldn't resist and turned his eyes away. Before he could soften his heart, he said in a cold voice: "I am thinking about you. It will not be good for your reputation to be with me."
Cheng Yaoyao said hurriedly: "I don't care."
"I care!" Xie San growled, his brows furrowed.
Cheng Yaoyao stared at him blankly, with a drop of water hanging on his black, curled eyelashes like butterfly wings, and his face was full of confusion.
Xie San turned around, calmed down his emotions, and whispered: "If you don't want to go to the paddy fields, take some things to the village party secretary and ask him to find you a new job."
Cheng Yaoyao sniffed and realized that Xie San was trying to nudge him. He said aggrievedly, "Before I change my job, can you let me go to the soybean field with you? I don't want to go to the field to plant rice anymore. Leeches are really scary."
Xie San didn't answer, but kicked his bike and swayed back onto the road. Cheng Yaoyao didn't get an answer, so he kept asking, "Is it okay? Is it okay?? I promise I won't be lazy tomorrow, I will work hard, and I will roast beggar's chicken for you."
In the fiery red glow, the reeds swayed, and the delicate girl Yingying chirped coquettishly, like honey wrapped in poison. Although I knew it was fatal, I couldn't resist it.
After not hearing Xie San's answer for a long time, Cheng Yaoyao's face fell, and then he heard the man's low and cold voice: "Okay!"
This sound was short and powerful, as if he was getting impatient with being pestered. Cheng Yaoyao's eyes lit up again, and he smiled and said nothing.
When they reached the entrance of the village where there was no one around, Xie San stopped and let Cheng Yaoyao go first. Cheng Yaoyao was afraid that Xie San would not take him to the fields tomorrow, so he obediently left by himself.
When they returned to the educated youth camp, the educated youth had already finished work and were making a fire. When they saw Cheng Yaoyao, they all surrounded her and asked about her well-being, looking her up and down as if they were afraid that she was missing any limbs.
The educated youths had heard that Cheng Yaoyao and Xie San had gone to the fields to work alone. Several male educated youths were filled with righteous indignation and said, "Don't be afraid, Yaoyao. We have already made an appointment to go to the captain's house tonight to talk to him. How could they let you go to the soybean fields alone with Xie San? Isn't this like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth?"
Cheng Yaoyao's face turned cold: "Who do you say is the sheep and who is the tiger? Xie San and I just worked hard, so what? Make it clear!"
Cheng Yaoyao turned his face away, and the male educated youth hurriedly smiled and said, "No, no, Yaoyao, aren't we concerned about you?"
Han Yin and Zhang Xiaofeng also pulled Cheng Yaoyao aside and said, "We are worried about you. Don't you know that there are female educated youth in other villages who are..."
Han Yin whispered something in Cheng Yaoyao's ear, and then said, "This is not a joke!"
Cheng Yaoyao rubbed his ears and raised his voice, "Don't worry, I will pay attention to safety. Since the captain dared to send me and Xie San to work, he must be confident in Xie San's character. If anything happens to me, he will also be responsible. Besides, because Xie San has a bad background and a grandmother and sister at home, he dare not do anything out of line. I will go to work with him today, and we will not interfere with each other, which is good."
Cheng Yaoyao's words made sense, and everyone's worries were slightly dispelled. Cheng Yaoyao tightened his face and emphasized: "Don't go to the captain! The soybean field is a bit far, but I don't want to go to the field to plant rice. I was almost bitten to death by leeches today!"
The educated youths complained: "Those leeches are so scary. I have been bitten several times!"
"We have low nutrition to begin with, and after losing so much blood, I don't know how much food I need to eat to replenish it."
Han Yin even smiled gloatingly: "I think the blood from far away is still sweeter, and it attracts mosquitoes and leeches."
Cheng Yaoyao pinched her arm and said, "Fuck you."
Cheng Yaoyao went into the house to take a shower, changed into clean clothes, and came out with her hair loose.
A group of people were sitting or lying in the yard, complaining about being hungry. When they saw Cheng Yaoyao, they asked, "Yaoyao, didn't Cheng Nonuo and Shen Yan go to look for you? Why are they still not here after you came back? They're waiting for Cheng Nonuo to cook!"
Cheng Yaoyao said calmly, "They came to pick me up, but there was only one bicycle, so they acted like Lei Feng and let me ride back first, while they walked behind me."
Han Yin looked down on Cheng Nonuo: "Tsk, these two are weird. But even if they left, they should come back, right? It's so late."
The sky gradually darkened, and Cheng Yaoyao raised his eyebrows. It would take at most an hour to walk from the soybean field to here. These two people were alone, could it be that...
There is no meat for dinner today. It consists of a bowl of mushroom soup, a bowl of cold wild vegetables, and two steamed buns for each person.
The fine grains provided by the educated youth camp have been eaten up. Now they mix three parts cornmeal and seven parts buckwheat flour into steamed buns every day. They steam a pot of them every morning and give each person two buns per meal.
The young boys were poor, let alone these educated youths who were in their prime. They had to work a lot every day, and these two nests alone could not fill their stomachs. That was why the educated youths would rather go to work every day - during the busy farming season, the brigade would cook a big pot of rice for lunch. The food cooked by Cheng Nonuo gave people strength, and it was better to die of exhaustion than to die of hunger.
There are big and small wowotou. Today, Cheng Nuonuo and Shen Yan haven't come back yet, so the big ones in the basin have been picked. With the fragrant mushroom soup and wild vegetables, everyone devours them, even sweeping up the crumbs on the table into their palms and pouring them into their mouths.
Han Yin ate while mumbling: "Yaoyao, the wild vegetables you mixed are really delicious, not bitter at all!"
Cheng Yaoyao was surprised and asked, "Why are you so hungry?"
A young man chewed some steamed buns and said, "I'm starving before 4 o'clock. I don't know why I'm so hungry today!"
Han Yin said, "Today we had cornmeal steamed buns and fried mushrooms in the cafeteria. Cheng Nuonuo failed to cook, so the food didn't taste very good and I got hungry quickly."
Others echoed this, saying that they felt hungry especially quickly today, probably because of the hot weather and their high energy consumption.
Cheng Yaoyao raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, chewing the Wowotou in his mouth. The Wowotou made of buckwheat flour and cornmeal was very rough after cooling down, so he had to chew it slowly and drink two sips of mushroom soup before he could swallow it. This Wowotou was made by Cheng Nonuo in the morning, and it didn't have that pleasant taste.
Cheng Yaoyao had eaten beggar's chicken and grilled mushrooms in the afternoon, so she wasn't very hungry at the moment, so she broke off half of a steamed bun and didn't eat it. She wanted to give the steamed bun to Han Yin, but after thinking about it, she secretly hid it in her lunch box when no one was paying attention and went back to her room.
At night, when everyone had gone to bed, Cheng Nuonuo came back and tiptoed into the room and went to bed. Zhang Xiaofeng asked in a daze, "Why did you come back so late?"
Cheng Nonuo whispered, "I...I met some educated youth from Shanghai from the next village and chatted with them for a while."
"Oh." Zhang Xiaofeng was exhausted during the day, so he turned over and fell asleep again without thinking much.
Cheng Yaoyao opened one eye. Cheng Nuonuo lay quietly in the quilt under the moonlight, without doing any strange actions. She turned over and continued to sleep with her lunch box. She had to go to plant soybeans tomorrow morning.
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