The Cannon Fodder Always Suddenly Loses Intelligence at Just the Right Moment

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

The cannon fodder suddenly lost intelligence at just the right moment. The village cadres were also slow to react, only now getting up to break up the fight.

The scorekeeper was Zhao Jianshe, the village chief's nephew. Of all the leaders, only the Production Team Leader was strong enough, so he had to pull the crazed Li Xiangbei away.

After pulling him away, the Production Team Leader panted heavily and stared at the village chief. What were they supposed to do about this? After all, Zhao Jianshe was his nephew.

After helping his nephew up, the village chief roared, "What is going on with you people? Why did you start hitting someone for no reason?"

The moment he said that, it was obvious he was taking his own family's side!

The other Educated Youth had gathered around by then, all completely confused about what was happening.

Li Xiangwan pointed at Zhao Jianshe, furious and humiliated. "He molested me!"

Everyone present changed expression at those words.

The village chief looked solemnly at Li Xiangwan and said darkly, "Comrade Li, you can't make accusations like that carelessly."

Zhao Jianshe, his face battered and bruised from the beating, hurriedly shouted from the side, "I didn't touch you! Don't falsely accuse a good man! I was wondering why you were smiling at me so flirtatiously just now. So this was what you were waiting for! You held a grudge because I didn't fall for it. And don't you see where this is? The grain belongs to the village. How could I give you extra grain just because you smiled at me?"

After saying that, he spat and stared at Li Xiangwan sinisterly. "No wonder the villagers all say you make a living seducing men. I didn't believe it before—ptui! But now I can see exactly what kind of thing you are!"

Li Xiangwan trembled with rage, her finger shaking as she pointed at him. She was so angry she nearly spat blood.

"You're slandering me! I'm going to report you to the police!"

The village chief barked.

"Perfect. Let the police see what our village scorekeeper has been beaten into. We ought to have a proper talk about that too, shouldn't we?"

Li Xiangbei had calmed down by then. He said grimly, "I can testify for Comrade Li. He did indeed molest her just now."

"Pah! Who doesn't know you two are lovers?"

"How could anything you say be true?"

"Maybe the two of you planned this together."

The village chief looked at them coldly, his thoughts turning, before asking again.

"There are so many female comrades here. If Zhao Jianshe really were that sort of person, he couldn't possibly target only you, could he?"

"Has any other female comrade been bullied?"

The village chief looked over each of the female Educated Youth. When he saw Lin Yuzhu, he visibly froze and quickly shifted his gaze away.

Lin Yuzhu turned to look at Zhang Yanqiu. Zhang Yanqiu had her head lowered and clearly had no intention of stepping forward. She plainly did not want to come forward.

"Uh, Comrade Zhang, were you bullied just now?"

After looking around for a while, the village chief decided that only Comrade Zhang seemed honest and ordinary-looking enough to be safe. He chose her and asked solemnly.

Zhang Yanqiu, who had been called on, shrank back slightly. She looked at everyone, then shook her head. "No."

Zhao Jianshe visibly let out a breath of relief, smiling at the timid Zhang Yanqiu in the crowd.

At least you know what's good for you.

Li Xiangwan had lived through two lifetimes and had never suffered such humiliation. Looking at Zhao Jianshe now, she only felt that he was utterly shameless, and the village chief was no better.

Wang Yang was no longer trying to smooth things over as he usually did. He said, "Since we can't sort this out clearly, let's find the police!"

Zhao Jianshe's eyes flickered, and he suddenly said angrily, "The villagers were right after all!"

"Ah, the three of you really do have that kind of shameful relationship!"

"Look at you, all speaking with one voice."

Wang Yang was so furious that he wanted to hit someone too.

Li Xiangbei had completely calmed down. He no longer looked at Zhao Jianshe, but at the village chief instead. "You're the village chief, the head of this village. I thought you would uphold justice, but apparently not."

"Fine. We'll go find the police now. But let me warn you first: you should know better than anyone what kind of person he is. Once the police get to the bottom of this, I'm afraid you won't be able to shake the charge of shielding a relative."

The village chief truly did not know what sort of person Zhao Jianshe was. He was only his nephew, not his son. The Zhao family had split up long ago, and he had not personally raised this nephew.

Hearing Li Xiangbei's words, he began to feel uneasy. Then he remembered that Li Xiangbei was from Beijing, and his doubts deepened.

At that moment, the Production Team Leader spoke up. He raised his voice and shouted, "Our village chief is the fairest man there is! Don't we know what kind of person Jianshe is?"

"Since we're calling the police, then don't delay. Let's get the police comrades here to make the decision!"

The village chief's face began to twitch. He was so angry inside that he was practically stomping his feet. The Production Team Leader was clearly making trouble and wanted to see him embarrassed.

Ignoring the petty grievances between those two, Li Xiangbei looked coldly at Zhao Jianshe. "You can't fool the police just by making a scene."

Zhao Jianshe felt a little guilty. The thought of actually finding the police frightened him. In his panic, he blurted, "I only touched her hand by mistake. How was that molestation?"

Then he realized something was wrong. Why had he said that out loud?

If the village chief had had a beard, it probably would have flown straight up by then. He was so angry that he panted heavily.

Lin Yuzhu clicked her tongue in amazement. These little cannon fodder characters always suddenly lost intelligence at just the right moment. The village chief was speechless and felt the urge to slap his own nephew to death. He was left in an awkward position.

The people around them looked at one another. The Production Team Leader was delighted inside, but seemingly called out with good intentions, "Those of you who have collected your grain and know what happened, why aren't you heading back? Aren't you going to work later?"

What did he mean by driving away the Educated Youth who had witnessed the entire incident just when the culprit was showing signs of being convicted?

The veins on the village chief's forehead began throbbing again.

Wang Yang knew that having the Educated Youth leave now would benefit Li Xiangbei and Li Xiangwan. After all, Zhao Jianshe had only touched her hand. If they really sent him to the police station, it would become an irreconcilable feud. That was no good for Educated Youth like them, who had no roots here. It would be better to discuss terms privately.

So Wang Yang organized everyone to leave. Zhang Yanqiu pressed her lips tightly, secretly staring at Li Xiangwan with resentment in her eyes. Why was it that they had both had their hands touched, yet...

The more she thought about it, the more unwilling she felt. Her anger reached its peak, and she truly wanted to throw caution aside and accuse the scorekeeper too, but she did not dare.

She did not have Li Xiangbei to stand up for her. She did not dare offend the village chief.

Her gaze shifted to Li Xiangwan again, filled with venomous hatred.

As everyone was about to leave, the Production Team Leader called out, "Don't go spreading nonsense when you get back! There hasn't been a conclusion to this matter yet!"

Lin Yuzhu glanced back at the village chief. The little old man was almost stomping madly. She wondered whether he could still remain village chief after offending the male and female leads, but that was not something a mere bystander like her could manage.

When it was time to work, Wang Xiaomei was still angry. "The village won't even give us a single corn kernel. Aren't they obviously bullying us?"

Lin Yuzhu shrugged. "They want to keep it for their own villagers. What can you do?"

At the end of the day, the Educated Youth were all outsiders. If they wanted fair treatment...

"Sure. Why don't you marry a local guy, then?"

Wang Xiaomei was a little dejected. That had been what she wanted to do in the first place.

Lin Yuzhu did not know what she was thinking. If she had known, she would have pestered her relentlessly until she got to the bottom of it.

When it was time to work, all the village leaders were present. It seemed they had reached an agreement.

Lin Yuzhu did not see Li Xiangwan and found it strange. Where had she gone? With Li Xiangbei around, she certainly would not be in trouble. Lin Yuzhu put the matter aside and got to work, busy for another afternoon.

Comrade Xiao Song worked a little better now than before. His speed had improved greatly, and he even knew to help her with her work. The kid had a promising future. When they returned to the Educated Youth Dormitory...

Wang Xiaomei rushed over in a single stride and said excitedly.

"Did Li Xiangwan secretly give the village chief a gift?"

Lin Yuzhu was full of question marks.

"I heard they arranged for her to raise pigs! She won't even need to do farm work, and she'll get six work points a day."

Wang Xiaomei stared wide-eyed, her face full of envy.

Lin Yuzhu clicked her tongue. Why didn't that scorekeeper touch my hand too?

I would have caught him on the spot and pinned him down. He wouldn't have been able to run even if he wanted to. She rubbed her chin, wondering whether she should do that next time.

"Hm?"

Wang Xiaomei had a big mouth. Lin Yuzhu held it in for a long time but ultimately did not tell her about what had happened at noon. It concerned a girl's reputation, so it was better left unsaid.

Lin Yuzhu's mouth was tight-lipped, but that did not mean everyone else's was. Within two days, the whole village knew.

Zhao Jianshe was somewhat clever. Whenever he took advantage of someone, he targeted the Educated Youth and never his fellow villagers. Otherwise, he might get beaten up. More importantly, if his reputation was ruined, how would he ever find a wife?

Although he was later beaten senseless under a sack on a dark and windy night, the villagers all believed Zhao Jianshe was not that kind of person. Li Xiangwan must have been trying to frame him. They guessed he had accidentally brushed against her while carrying grain sacks. Some even described it so vividly that one would think they had seen it happen, saying that Li Xiangwan had smiled very flirtatiously at Zhao Jianshe while collecting grain, smiling so seductively that Zhao Jianshe's soul had been hooked away. She had deliberately let him touch her to make things easier for herself.

After that, they began discussing Li Xiangwan's looks. They said she was a fox spirit reincarnated. Everyone else had gotten tanned, yet she was still fair and tender enough to squeeze water from her skin.

One auntie said, "That Lin Educated Youth is tender enough to squeeze water from too. Could she be reincarnated from one of those things as well?"

"I think she's the reincarnation of an evil star."

With that, the aunties began looking at things from another angle.

The question was, both girls were pretty, so why had Zhao Jianshe not touched Lin Educated Youth?

Either Li Educated Youth had actively seduced him, or Lin Educated Youth was too fierce. In any case, neither of them was any good.

By the time Lin Yuzhu heard that she had been rumored to be the reincarnation of an evil star, it was already much later. That was beside the point for now.

Returning to the matter at hand, Aunt Li went back to work after resting for a day. Seeing Lin Yuzhu bouncing around in perfect health made her angry, and she said in a snide tone, "Pretty girls really do have it good. The whole village takes their side."

Lin Yuzhu did not take such malicious words to heart and replied leisurely, "Getting old is good too. You can always try to take advantage of the young ones, and if you fail, you can still get by on thick skin."