This Is Just Me Learning from You

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

Episode 34: Wasn't I Just Learning from You?

Wang Xiaomei had come back to life now. The first thing she said was, "Why didn't you bring Su Tong along?"

Lin Yuzhu rolled her eyes. "Go get a flashlight from Aunt Chen's. Are you afraid she won't know we gave someone the eggs we traded for? How could she possibly be that smart?"

Wang Xiaomei looked disdainful. In her eyes, there was no way that woman could be so clever. "Better be careful as we walk."

"That's right. Your tongue was really sharp today. Not bad, not bad."

"Things are over on Sun Xia's end now, right?"

"Mm. They should be, as long as the village chief doesn't lose his mind."

"Ugh, two eggs. I shouldn't have run my mouth. Look at Li Xiaowei—that was smart. He never went against the village from beginning to end."

Lin Yuzhu felt stifled for a moment. He had acted impulsively. She should have tried letting Wang Xiaomei charge in alone; maybe her firepower would still have been plenty fierce.

She had been careless. Wang Xiaomei was still chattering away.

The autumn wind rustled. Lin Yuzhu shivered and muttered, "Oh dear, why does it suddenly feel a little cold?"

"Oh my, you're mad with anger. Hurry up and walk. It's windy too—so creepy."

The two unconsciously quickened their pace. When they passed a cornfield, they heard something. They immediately lowered their footsteps in unspoken agreement. Some indescribable sounds gradually became clearer. Wang Xiaomei jolted and nearly slipped, but luckily Lin Yuzhu caught her. It was as though they were the thieves.

They hunched over and quietly slipped past, not daring to stop for even a moment.

They were two girls with no backing at all. If anything really happened, could they expect their families to seek justice for them?

The emperor was far away in the capital. They might die without their families ever finding out.

Only after returning to the Educated Youth Dormitory did the two finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Wang Xiaomei whispered, "Was someone in the field doing... that just now?"

Lin Yuzhu froze, then suddenly wanted to laugh. Only then did she remember how innocent girls of this era were about men and women. Pretending not to understand, she said, "Doing what? Oh, you mean... no, you don't know? What were you doing sneaking around like that?"

Lin Yuzhu giggled. "Wasn't I just learning from you?"

Wang Xiaomei snorted. "Hmph, don't go getting struck by lightning!"

"No wonder they were so bold. If someone found them, they'd be in for a miserable time."

Lin Yuzhu shrugged. "Everyone worked all day. Who would wander around outside for no reason? As for the village children, it's pitch-black in the fields at midnight. They don't like playing there either. Even if one or two people saw them, they might not bother interfering."

However, Lin Yuzhu never expected that someone really would meddle in this matter.

And who was it? An old acquaintance—Auntie Li Si.

It was quite a coincidence. At this hour, the villagers were either cooking dinner or already eating. Who else would wander all over the village like Auntie Li Si?

Auntie Li Si looked here and there and happened to spot Lin Yuzhu and Wang Xiaomei carrying cloth bags. Her eyes darkened as she recalled how she had suffered at the hands of this little girl last time. How could she not avenge such humiliation?

Seeing the things in their hands, she knew they had definitely gone to give the village chief gifts. Otherwise, could they have gotten things from the village chief's house?

Auntie Li Si gritted her teeth.

"Good!"

She had wondered why the village chief had defended that girl so much that day.

So there had been something fishy going on all along. Instead of siding with someone from his own village, he had helped outsiders. So they had been supplying him with gifts. That rotten old man was truly wicked!

Auntie Li Si stared gloomily at Lin Yuzhu, spat on the ground, and decided to follow them. Once they reached the Educated Youth Dormitory, she would catch that little bitch with the goods and expose them for bribing the village chief.

She knew what those educated youths at the dormitory were like. They looked friendly enough on the surface, but behind the scenes, they schemed against one another.

If they found out Lin Yuzhu had bribed the village chief, there would be plenty to watch in the future. Just thinking about it excited her.

Auntie Li Si followed them all the way to the cornfield, but her attention was instantly drawn elsewhere. Just by listening, she knew what the two people in the field were doing. In the pitch-black night, her eyes were almost as sharp as a cat's.

"Heh, this is a huge matter." She no longer cared about revenge and turned to run for the village chief's house. She was afraid that if she was too slow, things over here would already be over.

Before she even entered the village chief's yard, she was already shouting in a voice like a broken gong.

That did it. The neighbors all learned there was something exciting to see, and more and more people gathered. A group rushed toward the cornfield in great commotion. The village chief, caught in the middle, wore a grim expression. If someone had really committed a moral offense, it was no small matter.

When the group rushed in to catch them, the pair had just finished and were hurriedly getting dressed. They had been caught red-handed. Things immediately became lively. The villagers swarmed forward and pinned them down. Some with wandering hands even groped them a few times, sparing neither man nor woman. Everyone shone their flashlights at them, eager to see exactly who was with whom.

Once the light hit them, their identities were completely exposed. It was Zhang the Widow and Li Erhe from the village. Zhang the Widow's husband had died the year before last. Since she was called a widow, naturally she had not remarried.

As one of the people involved in the cornfield incident, Zhang the Widow was clearly guilty of improper conduct. That went without saying. But Li Erhe already had a family, and his wife happened to be among the spectators. When she saw her husband disheveled and panicked, she was instantly provoked. With a howl, she lunged at him and began scratching, cursing, "Li Erhe, didn't you say you were going to Sanhe's house?"

The people around them did not try to stop the fight. Instead, they watched with delight. After Auntie Erhe finished clawing her own man, she went to yank Zhang the Widow's hair. The scene was utterly brutal.

Only after Auntie Erhe had vented and calmed down did she realize with fear that there was no way to smooth this over anymore.

So the villagers tied up Zhang the Widow and Li Erhe, shoved them all the way to the threshing ground, and beat gongs and drums to gather the village for a meeting. Why not use the loudspeaker? The village chief thought it was too shameful.

And so Lin Yuzhu and Wang Xiaomei stood in the middle of the threshing ground with utterly bewildered expressions.

The reason was naturally Auntie Li Si. Since she had discovered the matter, she had to explain the whole story to everyone. Thus Lin Yuzhu and Wang Xiaomei were dragged into it as well.

Afraid of offending the village chief, Auntie Li Si did not dare expose his gift-taking in public. She could only say that she had seen Educated Youth Lin and Educated Youth Wang walking at night, worried they might encounter danger, so she had kindly followed behind to protect them. Since the three of them had had some unpleasantness before, she had been too embarrassed to go up and speak to the two girls.

Naturally, the villagers did not believe that nonsense. They thought, You were probably trying to get revenge on those two girls, which was why you followed them all the way. You must have been plotting something bad.

That was no longer important. What mattered was the cornfield incident. The villagers rarely showed such unspoken unity as they let her keep talking without interrupting.

Auntie Li Si felt she had rendered great service today. Holding her head high and chest out, she began recounting the tale vividly. "I followed them all the way to the cornfield and saw that those two girls were acting strange. When I went over and listened, good heavens, the sounds coming from inside were enough to make me blush! It was Zhang the Widow, that shameless hussy!"

Auntie Li Si babbled on for a long while. The village chief really could not listen anymore and interrupted her, asking Lin Yuzhu and Wang Xiaomei, "You two girls..."

"Mm, we heard it too." Lin Yuzhu was rather confused. They had already tied up two half-dressed people here. Did they still need the two of them to confirm it?

Lin Yuzhu blushed and said, "The wind was pretty strong then. We thought it was cats crying, and it was so creepy that we got scared and hurried away."

"We don't really understand what Auntie Li Si is talking about. Anyway, we don't know anything."

"Oh, what could two young girls like them possibly understand?"

The villagers had long since been eager to reach a conclusion.

Auntie Erhe wanted to say something, but her voice was drowned out by the surrounding clamor. The entire threshing ground had become chaotic, with people shouting that Zhang the Widow and Li Erhe had engaged in illicit relations and had poor morals, and that they needed to be severely punished.

No one knew who started it, but someone threw a pebble that struck Zhang the Widow. Then everyone rushed forward, throwing stones at Zhang the Widow and Li Erhe as they knelt on the ground, cursing them furiously.

Wang Xiaomei quickly pulled Lin Yuzhu away, afraid they would get dragged into it.

Standing far away, Lin Yuzhu watched the scene before her and felt only absurdity.

Zhang the Widow and Li Erhe went from being timid and evasive at first to slowly wearing numb expressions.

The surrounding villagers remained fired up, calling them shameless and accusing them of corrupting public morals. Their hands continued to smash and strike. Even after they beat the two until their heads were bloodied, they showed no intention of stopping.

Someone even brought over a razor and shaved Zhang the Widow's hair into a half-shaved head.

By then, Zhang the Widow's face was covered in blood, and her features could no longer be made out.

The sight made Lin Yuzhu shiver from head to toe. Every hair on her body stood on end.

Just that day, some of the people now striking them had smiled and greeted Zhang the Widow or Li Erhe, even exchanged a few words with them. But now, not one person remembered even a fraction of their past ties as fellow villagers. Every one of them looked utterly insane.

Even after returning home, Lin Yuzhu's hands remained icy cold. She lay on the kang for a long time, unable to sleep. It was as if she had had a nightmare, waking with an empty heart and unable to make sense of this sudden horror.

Human joys and sorrows meant nothing to the sun. It would still rise in the morning, bringing humanity a new day.

Everything from yesterday had become the past. Shanshui Village, nestled at the foot of the mountains, remained as it had always been. Morning smoke curled upward, the mountains and waters lay shrouded in mist, and everything was peaceful and secluded, seeming so removed from worldly strife.

When peace returned to the fields, the older women were still worked up over yesterday's events. Each one spoke like an experienced driver, eager to take the conversation straight to the heavens. The unmarried girls and young men blushed furiously. Those with loose tongues tried to tease them, only to be scolded back by their elders, sparking several arguments.

The whole morning was a lively mess, with even older women coming over to tease them. Wang Xiaomei and Lin Yuzhu wanted to pry a little information from their mouths, as though the moment they opened their mouths, they would vividly tell a juicy tale.

No matter how fierce Wang Xiaomei was, she was still an unmarried young woman. With a red face, she lowered her head and worked.