Chapter Twenty-Three: The Child’s Closest Companion

A timid voice spoke up, “We’re all comrades from all over the country who came to Shanghe Village for re-education in the countryside. Can we please not argue? We just picked a few vegetables from the backyard, and they’re for everyone’s meal anyway. Won’t you be eating them soon too?”

“Ha! What do you mean we’ll be eating them too? These vegetables are all allocated and planned. You’ve ruined everything!”

“Pay up! At least a yuan, or this matter won’t be over.”

At this point, Han Li could hardly stand it anymore. The faces of these old educated youths were simply too disgusting. A whole yuan? With a yuan, you could buy half a cart of cucumbers. From outside, he pinched his voice and shouted:

“Who’s this heartless capitalist, charging a whole yuan for a few cucumbers? What’s going on here?”

“This should be reported to the leadership. Let’s have them investigate certain people’s family backgrounds thoroughly.”

“We can’t let such black sheep stay here. Otherwise, it’ll affect the reputation of our Educated Youth Compound, even the whole Shanghe Village.”

Han Li’s words instantly silenced everyone inside and outside the courtyard. Then the village women started raising a clamor.

“Two cucumbers for a yuan—what else would you call a capitalist? This must be investigated!”

“That’s right. Many of our village’s young people are about to get married. We can’t let them ruin our village’s reputation.”

“Go fetch the brigade leader and the village head! We need to find this black sheep and drive them out.”

“Yes, drive people like that out of Shanghe Village! Ergou, Iron Egg, go call the village head and the brigade leader.”

“Why only the village head and brigade leader? Zhang Dagang from the Zhang family graduated high school and is now our village’s third in command. Erni, go call your Uncle Dagang too. All the village leaders must be present for this!”

Well, no wonder the higher-ups wanted three levels of leadership in Shanghe Village—there’s even competition over handling this sort of thing.

With the villagers’ uproar, the few old educated youths who had started the trouble inside were scared out of their wits.

They couldn’t possibly bear such accusations, or their lives would be ruined.

“No, no, everyone, don’t call the village leaders. We were just joking around.”

“There’s no way you should charge your own people for vegetables—that’s just not reasonable, right?”

But the women outside blocked the gate and wouldn’t let up, especially those who had sons or daughters about to be matched.

Han Li quietly took two steps back, retreating to the edge of the crowd. Hao Hongmei and the others followed suit, making their own retreat.

Leaning against the outer wall, Han Li listened to the ongoing drama inside.

Mrs. Liang from the fifth house glanced at Han Li, surprised at how cunning this educated youth was. Just now, he’d mimicked the local accent so well she almost didn’t realize it was him. Such a scheming person—should she still seek revenge today? She fell into thought.

At that moment, Hao Hongmin and her companion joined Han Li. Yang Xiuying, relieved, patted her chest and said, “What they did last night was already too much, but today it’s even worse. Luckily, I met Hongmin on the road and we agreed to build a house together. If I were alone, I never would have thought to move out and build a place of my own. I’d have had to live with people like that, and they would have driven me mad sooner or later.”

Han Li looked at the two of them in puzzlement. “Agreed? Are you serious?”

“Don’t worry, I’m the tightest-lipped person around. I won’t tell anyone about your relationship.”

Hao Hongmin cast a helpless glance at Yang Xiuying, who didn’t even realize she’d used the wrong word, nor understood Han Li’s implication.

“Han Li, thank you these past days. If it weren’t for you, our house wouldn’t have been built so smoothly. The village head wouldn’t have given us such a big yard, or agreed to the courtyard wall. Why did you insist on building a mud-brick wall with us, spending more and drawing attention?”

Han Li replied indifferently, “It’s nothing. We’re all away from home, we should help each other.”

“But now the Educated Youth Compound is in such chaos. No matter how the village head and the others handle it, there’ll be endless trouble in the future. I’m just worried that once our house is finished, people will look for excuses to stay over. No matter what you think, I’m determined to refuse them. You two should talk it over too.”

Hao Hongmin and Yang Xiuying both nodded. Even Yang Xiuying understood that if they didn’t sort this out beforehand, it would harm their relationship and they might part ways. After all, where else would she find another like-minded companion?

By now, the brigade leader had arrived, looking furious. On seeing him, Han Li led Hao Hongmei a little further away. While it was entertaining to watch, today’s situation could easily drag them into trouble.

Soon the village head and the accountant arrived as well, and the crowd at the Educated Youth Compound gate grew even larger.

The scene became more and more lively, but on the outskirts, Han Li was discovered by a group of children.

“Are you the new educated youths who arrived yesterday? Why aren’t you going in? Are you afraid of getting scolded by the brigade leader?”

Han Li looked at the snot-nosed children in front of him and fished a few pieces of candy out of his satchel. But he didn’t hand them over immediately. He waited until their eyes were practically glowing before he spoke.

“I am one of the new educated youths. I’m not going in because it’s too noisy. Tell me your names. Also, why does the brigade leader like to scold people? Whoever tells me gets a candy.”

A black, bare-chested boy of six or seven, still in split pants, piped up, “My name’s Iron Egg. The brigade leader scolds people all the time, especially when we’re about to finish work in the fields.”

“I know too. If someone doesn’t work well, the brigade leader scolds them. I’m Ergou.”

“I’m Er’ya... the brigade leader—”

“I’m Iron Pillar...”

Soon, seven or eight children had all given their names and explained why the brigade leader liked to scold people. If you didn’t work well or weren’t diligent, you’d get scolded; otherwise, he wasn’t that harsh.

Han Li handed each child a piece of candy, immediately winning them over. They started telling him all about the village: the best spots in the river to catch fish, where wild strawberries grew on the nearby hill, where dandelions were plentiful, and where it was easiest to gather pigweed. They even gossiped about which families had been attacked by wolves—sharing all the little secrets that only children would care about.