1979: Reopening Wenhao Road from the Village

"Wei Dong, have you heard?"

He Yan said to Chen Weidong in a low voice.

"Liang Xiao was arrested yesterday, and he was caught in front of Widow Li's house in the middle of the night, which even alerted the Party Secretary and the Captain."

Seeing Chen Weidong's calm expression, He Yan asked, "You know?"

"Yeah, I heard about it at the brigade headquarters last night, but I don't really know what happened afterward."

"I heard the results aren't out yet, but Captain Wang is here. Let's get to work."

When He Yan saw Wang Jianshui arrive, he immediately said something and started moving. Chen Weidong also started wielding a shovel. Although he had been smelling it for a while, his nose still couldn't stand the smell.

"Wei Dong, come here for a moment."

Hearing Wang Jianshui call him, Chen Weidong propped the shovel against the wall and walked over.

"Captain Wang."

Since it was during working hours and there were still so many people around, Chen Weidong didn't call him "Uncle Wang".

"You've heard about Liang Xiao's situation, haven't you?"

"I just heard that he's been arrested, but I don't know the specifics."

"He was with Widow Li's eldest daughter yesterday..."

At this point, Wang Jianshui hesitated for a moment, gave Chen Weidong a look, and continued, "Fortunately, Liang Xiao admitted his mistake yesterday and agreed to marry Widow Li's eldest daughter. As a result, Widow Li and her daughter did not pursue the matter, and the brigade decided not to report it. He only had to write a letter of self-criticism."

Investigate?

Widow Li and her daughter must be laughing all the way to the bank right now. After all, no matter how bad Liang Xiao is, he is still a high school graduate and an intellectual. He has now officially married Yu Guo. If it weren't for yesterday's situation, Liang Xiao definitely wouldn't have agreed.

"I heard you submitted an application to return to the city?"

"Yes, it was just submitted to Accountant Yang of the brigade yesterday."

"That's right. Now that Liang Xiao has done this, there's basically no chance of him returning to the city. Now it's just the five of you left."

"He Yan, Lin Xi, and Fu Xiao are preparing to take the college entrance examination this year, which greatly increases your and Su Man's chances."

Wang Jianshui couldn't help but admire Chen Weidong's strong execution and comprehension skills. He had only given a hint, but the latter immediately understood and completed the task.

Moreover, he was quite lucky. Liang Xiao originally had the best chance of returning to the city, but after what happened yesterday, he probably has no hope for the rest of his life.

"I must thank Uncle Wang for his guidance."

Chen Weidong sincerely thanked Wang Jianshui, saying that he didn't understand these intricacies very well and that he was very grateful for Wang Jianshui's previous guidance.

"You're being so polite with me."

Wang Jianshui smiled and patted Chen Weidong's arm.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, the weather gradually warmed up, and the brigade began to organize manpower for spring plowing.

beep--

beep--

"Time to get to work early."

Su Man gently nudged Chen Weidong.

Um~

Chen Weidong sat up with his eyes closed, got dressed, got off the kang (a heated brick bed), and washed his face with cold water to wake up. However, his body still felt heavy, especially his arms and thighs, which ached.

"Then I'm leaving!"

"Are you coming back at noon?"

"I'm not coming back. I'm too lazy to bother."

Chen Weidong said in a low voice, taking two steamed buns from the cage as his lunch.

Stepping outside, he felt a bit cold. It was still dark, so Chen Weidong wrapped his clothes tighter around himself.

It's still quite cold in the mornings and evenings during this period, and people still need to wear cotton-padded coats. However, by noon, it gets warm enough to wear long sleeves.

The sound of the team leaders' whistles still echoed from the east end of the village, "Beep—beep beep—", one long beep followed by two short beeps, like a sharp knife slicing through the morning mist.

The doors of each house creaked open, and the villagers, carrying hoes, rubbed their eyes and gathered under the big locust tree at the village entrance.

The whole village came alive instantly; chickens and ducks were startled and flew away in all directions, dogs barked, and you could even hear children crying.

Some people even rushed out the door without washing their faces. In the brigade, the whistle was the command, especially during the spring plowing season, when being late would result in a deduction of work points.

"Brother Yan."

"Weidong, didn't you sleep well last night?"

Seeing that Chen Weidong looked somewhat dejected, He Yan asked him with concern. Lin Xi and Fu Xiao, who were standing nearby, also looked over.

"I fell asleep as soon as I got back, but I was woken up in the middle of the night by the pain."

Chen Weidong shook his head and smiled bitterly. He originally thought that after some training, he would be able to withstand the fatigue of farm work, but he did not expect it to be this tiring.

Yangjiatun has no tractors or four-wheeled vehicles, so they can only rely on oxen to plow the land. However, there aren't many oxen, so plowing the land still needs to be done manually.

In addition, there wasn't much snow last winter, so Yang Shulin and the others had to carry buckets of water on their shoulders to irrigate the fields, which was very tiring.

Chen Weidong felt like his arm no longer belonged to him.

He used to think that writing with a pen was hard work, and compared to doing farm work, it was worlds apart.

Liang Xiao, who was not far away, thought to himself that Chen Weidong was not even as good as a woman.

He glanced at the incessantly chattering Widow Li beside him, a hint of disgust flashing in his eyes.

After that incident, Liang Xiao and Yu Guo got married two days later, but they did not hold a banquet. Firstly, spring plowing was coming soon and everyone was busy, and secondly, their affair was already attracting attention, so if they held a banquet, people would probably laugh their heads off even more.

Widow Li originally wanted to hold the event, since she could collect some money as gifts, but Liang Xiao stopped her in the end, as he couldn't bear the embarrassment.

The gratitude he had felt earlier had long since vanished, and Liang Xiao even felt that the incident that day was orchestrated by Widow Li.

After all, only Widow Li and her daughter knew he was going to her house. How could it be such a coincidence that someone happened to be passing by? Widow Li started making a scene, ultimately forcing him to marry Yu Guo.

Even Yu Guo, whom he had previously liked quite a bit, had become indifferent at this point. The reason he got together with Yu Guo in the first place was because he couldn't get any feedback from Fu Xiao. Plus, Yu Guo was quite pretty and looked a bit like Fu Xiao, so Liang Xiao went along with it after Widow Li persuaded him.

He only wanted to soothe the emptiness in his heart and never intended to marry Yu Guo, but he was forced into marriage in the end.

Now he not only has no hope of returning to the city, but he can't even take the college entrance examination. After all, given what happened, the brigade is unlikely to stamp his documents.

His life has been ruined!

How could Liang Xiao not hate him!

Moreover, he not only hated Widow Li, but also Chen Weidong, He Yan and others, since these people all had the opportunity to return to the city to take the college entrance examination.

However, he could only keep these thoughts to himself and dared not say them out loud.

"Xiaoxiao, did you hear that?"

Seeing that Liang Xiao didn't react, Widow Li raised her voice.

"understood."

Liang Xiao forced a smile, but his resentment only intensified.

Before, she always addressed Liang Xiao as "educated youth" with a friendly attitude. But ever since that day, Widow Li felt like she had saved Liang Xiao's life. After marrying Yu Guo and becoming his son-in-law, her attitude changed instantly. She often acted like an elder and bossed him around.

If he weren't currently living at Widow Li's house and needed to rely on her, he would have loved to tear her mouth apart.