Grandma Xu clearly saw what was going on. One of the two people was Jiang Lei, and the other was exactly the same young man who had come with Jiang Lei earlier to question her about why she didn’t let all the educated youths live in her house.
Heh—just a moment ago they were united in trying to morally coerce her, and now they were at each other’s throats?
Grandma Xu felt secretly delighted. Serves them right!
Wang Ying stepped forward to check their eyelids and ran a quick examination.
Yang Hong and the few educated youths who had helped carry the men in stood nearby, watching. Some of the male educated youths sneaked glances at Xu Shuang from the corners of their eyes.
Was it really okay for Wang Ying to examine the bodies of other young men right in front of her own husband?
Turns out, Xu Shuang really didn’t mind.
After Wang Ying finished checking the two, she gave her diagnosis: “Malnutrition.”
So much for being knocked out from fighting—these two had simply fainted from not eating properly.
Yang Hong was confused. “That shouldn’t be possible! The older educated youths who live with them aren’t malnourished at all!”
Jiang Lei lived with Yu Pengcheng at the accountant’s house, while the other young man lived with Wei Qiang, a veteran educated youth who had been in the brigade for years.
Yu Pengcheng and Wei Qiang both seemed upright. If the locals were really mistreating them, how could these two possibly keep quiet?
Wei Qiang, who had helped carry Jiang Lei, also frowned and said with confusion, “We live at Tian Dashu’s place. We get more than enough food and drink.”
Tian Dashu, being a militia member, came from a family with many brothers who were all hardworking. None of them were married, and food was never lacking.
Wang Ying was also puzzled. She didn’t think the villagers were withholding food.
All the families the educated youths had moved into were advanced model households. Even if they weren’t thrilled about hosting, they wouldn’t be shameless enough to skimp on the food.
At that moment, it was Grandma Xu who spoke up with a sharp comment.
She looked down on them and said, “The villagers definitely gave them their full share. They wouldn’t let them go hungry. I bet these two fools decided on their own to cut back on their food and give it to someone else.”
Wang Ying immediately understood. She looked at Jiang Lei and the other young man with newfound sympathy.
Well, well—two backup boyfriends living in harmony. Bai Ling’s got some serious moves.
Yang Hong clearly figured it out too. Her face darkened; she really wanted to wash her hands of this mess.
What even was this? Male educated youths scrambling to win favor with the new girl, to the point they starved themselves unconscious?
Did these two have cotton stuffed in their heads?
Wang Ying said, “You better carry them back. If you have any sugar water, give them a bit. They’ll be fine after some rest.”
One of the male educated youths blurted out, “Don’t you have any sugar water at your house…”
Wei Qiang immediately reached over and tugged the young man, cutting him off.
Wang Ying smiled faintly. “Oh, I do. If someone’s really in need and shows up at my place, of course I’ll give it. But these two? They just came to my mother-in-law and threw a tantrum, demanding that all of you educated youths move into her house. When she said no, they accused her of lacking revolutionary spirit. And now they’ve gone and fainted because they skimped on their own food to impress someone else. What am I—their mother? Why should I cater to them?”
She looked at the group of educated youths and saw that their faces weren’t too comfortable. She guessed that this plan to move into the Xu family house was something many of them already knew about—possibly even encouraged, with only Jiang Lei and the other man pushed to the front as spokespeople.
Of course. Living with villagers meant every meal depended on someone else’s mood. How could that compare to having a house all to themselves?
Wang Ying turned to the leader, Yang Hong. “Captain Yang, I know it’s not really my place to criticize. After all, you’ve all come here to help build up the countryside. But take a look at this situation. My mother-in-law willingly stepped up to host educated youths because she’s dedicated to the cause. No matter how many she took in, it was a show of support. And now? The ones giving help are the ones being blamed for not giving enough.”
“If that’s the case, then why would we bother in the first place? Maybe we shouldn’t have hosted anyone at all, right? No effort means no complaints.”
Yang Hong flushed red from shame. She had indeed heard some rumors lately, but she truly didn’t know that Jiang Lei and that young man had gone to confront Grandma Xu.
If she had known, she definitely would have stopped them.
Wang Ying continued, “Captain Yang, I know it’s tough for you all to come so far for rural work. But this is one thing we absolutely can’t agree to. Even if all of you moved into my mother-in-law’s house, someone would still end up dissatisfied. First, it’s complaints about empty rooms not being shared. Next, it’ll be complaints that my husband and I eat different food than you. Then what? More complaints, more demands?”
Wang Ying had no hopes for Bai Ling. That girl couldn’t convince others on her own, but she was good at getting other people to act on her behalf. That alone showed how greedy she was.
If they really let all the educated youths move into the Xu household, what would happen after the autumn harvest? Would they even be willing to move out?
Yang Hong’s entire face turned red, even her ears were burning. “Th-they won’t.”
She was so embarrassed she didn’t know what to do. But she also knew her weak attempt at rebuttal had no weight at all.
Indeed, the fact that Jiang Lei and the other young man acted on their own without informing her, the team leader, already showed that she couldn’t really control these new educated youths.
One by one, they all seemed to be acting on impulse, making demands of the villagers without any discussion.
Yang Hong was filled with shame. “We’ll take care of this matter properly.”
Wang Ying knew when to stop. “Thank you, then.”
As for the two lying on the bench, Wang Ying didn’t care at all.
They starved themselves just to give food to someone else and then wanted to guilt-trip her, a doctor?
What a joke.
A group of educated youths walked out of Wang Ying’s home with their heads hanging low. If before they had held onto some unrealistic fantasies and even convinced themselves that staying at the Xu family’s house was reasonable, now those hopes were completely dashed.
Wang Ying had spoken too bluntly, directly telling them it was impossible.
With no more expectations, the educated youths went back obediently to the villagers’ homes.
Yang Hong, after her shame subsided, was filled with anger. She found a few of the educated youths to ask what had happened and soon figured out the whole story.
Bai Ling.
Yang Hong was furious. At first, Bai Ling seemed like a quiet and well-mannered girl, but soon enough, she was stirring up trouble among the educated youth team.
She frequently fainted during labor—three or four times already. And every time someone tried to take her to Wang Ying for treatment, she would “miraculously” wake up, claiming it was just low blood sugar from not eating enough. She insisted it wasn’t a serious problem and refused to see a doctor, saying she couldn’t afford the two or three mao (Chinese cents) Wang Ying would charge.
Yang Hong had suggested more than once that they could deduct work points from the whole team to pay Wang Ying, so Bai Ling’s treatment wouldn’t be delayed.
But Bai Ling never agreed.
As time went on, it became clear to Yang Hong what Bai Ling was really after.
She didn’t want to work, or rather, she wanted Yang Hong to assign her to an easier job.
When Yang Hong didn’t give in, and her fainting spells stopped having an effect—plus the fact that people were starting to think Wu Guihua, the women’s director, was mistreating her—she gave up on that tactic.
Instead, Bai Ling started selecting men to support her.
That big idiot Jiang Lei was a prime example. The few dozen yuan he brought with him were nearly all spent on Bai Ling.
When Bai Ling arrived, she only brought a small bag and always claimed she was short of things. Jiang Lei would exchange ration coupons and run errands to the town to buy whatever she needed.
But once his money started running out, Bai Ling stopped giving him as many signs of affection.
Without money, Jiang Lei could only help her during labor and secretly give her parts of his food ration.
The other young man she charmed was in a similar situation. He’d been in the village longer and had already spent the money his family gave him, so the only things he could offer were labor and food.
Bai Ling’s approach still worked on the male educated youths—she never showed open favoritism and treated all the boys equally on the surface.
But among the female educated youths, none of them respected her.
She couldn’t work, always claimed she was unwell, yet refused to see a doctor. She said she was born weak. The other girls avoided her like the plague—they all looked down on her.
But Bai Ling couldn’t care less what the other girls thought. In her eyes, only men were worth buttering up—after all, they were the ones she could gain things from. As for the girls? They were all potential competition.
Better to keep away from them!
The more Yang Hong thought about it, the angrier she got. She turned to the few who had helped carry the two unconscious men: “Go and spread the word. We’re having a team meeting tonight.”
This couldn’t go on any longer. The educated youth team was in a tough spot to begin with, but they could still get by if they supported each other.
If Bai Ling kept stirring up trouble, soon people would hate their whole team wherever they went.
The few male educated youths saw how serious Yang Hong was and shrank back, not daring to speak.
Only Wei Qiang remained composed. He pointed to the two people on the ground. “What about them?”
Wang Ying had said they needed sugar water.
Yang Hong sighed. She really wanted to just leave them there. How could they be so pathetic—literally starving themselves until they passed out?
“Go borrow some from Zhang Ping. Tell her the collective household will give her an extra work point.”
Zhang Ping was the young girl living at Grandma Xu’s place. She came from the best financial background among the educated youths.
When Zhang Ping heard what had happened, her first reaction was shock, followed by anger and worry.
She was angry because these people went to Grandma Xu with demands, and she was worried that they might have upset her.
She didn’t want everyone moving in—and now she was also worried that if Grandma Xu got angry, she and Jiang Li might be kicked out too.
Zhang Ping gave Yang Hong a small bag of sugar and hurried off to find Jiang Li to share the news.
“Sister Jiang Li, what should we do? If she gets angry and doesn’t let us stay, do we have to move out too?”
Zhang Ping didn’t want to leave. She was living very comfortably here. Grandma Xu didn’t ask for much—just that they didn’t dirty or break her furniture.
The place was peaceful and private. Once the main gate closed, it was like their own little world. She even had money saved and had secretly bought meat before. She and Jiang Li cooked it and ate it in their room.
Zhang Ping had brought some chocolate and had even gifted some to Grandma Xu twice. Grandma Xu had kindly returned the gesture, giving her a few homemade side dishes.
