Cannon Fodder Always Conveniently Loses Their Wits

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

Cannon fodder always conveniently lost their wits. The village cadres were equally slow to react, only getting up now 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 to pull the crazed Li Xiangbei away.

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

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

The moment he said that, everyone could tell he was siding with his own family!

The other educated youths had gathered around by then, all of them utterly confused.

Li Xiangwan pointed at Zhao Jianshe, furious and humiliated. "He tried to molest me!"

Everyone present changed expression at those words.

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

Zhao Jianshe, his face battered and bruised, hurriedly shouted from the side, "I didn't touch you! Don't falsely accuse a good man! I was wondering why you smiled at me so flirtatiously just now—so this was what you were waiting for! You're holding a grudge because I didn't take the bait! And where do you think 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. In a mocking tone, he said, "No wonder the villagers all say you make a living seducing men. I didn't believe it before—ptui! But now I can finally see 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 Public Security Bureau!"

The village chief snapped.

"Fine, let the Public Security Bureau comrades see what our village scorekeeper has been beaten into. We ought to have a proper discussion about that too, shouldn't we?"

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

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

"How could anything you say be true?"

"Maybe you two planned this together."

The village chief looked coldly at the pair, his thoughts turning as he asked again.

"There are so many women here. If Zhao Jianshe really was that sort of person, he couldn't possibly have targeted only you, could he?"

"Have any other women comrades been harassed?"

The village chief looked over each of the female educated youths. When he saw Lin Yuzhu, he visibly stiffened and quickly looked away.

Lin Yuzhu turned to look at Zhang Yanqiu. Zhang Yanqiu had her head lowered and clearly had no intention of speaking up. She obviously did not want to step forward.

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

After looking around for a while, the village chief decided that only Comrade Zhang was honest-looking and plain enough to be safe. He picked 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 relaxed and curled his lips as he looked at the timid Zhang Yanqiu amid the crowd.

At least you know what's good for you. Li Xiangwan had lived two lives and had never suffered such humiliation. Looking at Zhao Jianshe now, she found him utterly shameless—and the village chief was no good either.

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

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

"Ah, you three really do have some shameful affair going on!"

"Look at how you're all speaking with one voice."

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

Li Xiangbei had completely calmed down. He stopped staring at Zhao Jianshe and looked instead at the village chief, saying coldly, "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 Public Security Bureau now. Let me make this clear first: you should know better than anyone what kind of person he is. Once they investigate and find out the truth, you won't be able to shake off the charge of shielding a relative."

The village chief did not actually know what kind of person Zhao Jianshe was. After all, he was only his nephew, not his son. The Zhao family had split up early, and he had not personally raised this nephew.

Hearing Li Xiangbei's words now, he began to feel uneasy. Then he remembered that Li Xiangbei came from Beijing and became even more uncertain.

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 all know what kind of person Jianshe is?"

"Since we're going to the Public Security Bureau, then don't waste time. Let's go get the comrades over here to make a judgment!"

The village chief's face began to twitch. Inside, he was so angry he wanted to stamp his feet. The Production Team Leader was clearly making trouble and trying to watch him make a fool of himself.

Ignoring the nasty tensions between the two men, Li Xiangbei looked coldly at Zhao Jianshe. "You can't fool the Public Security Bureau comrades just by making a scene."

Zhao Jianshe felt a little guilty. The thought of really going to the Public Security Bureau scared him, and in his panic, he blurted out, "I only touched her hand by mistake. How does that count as molestation?"

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

If the village chief had had a beard, it would probably have flown up in fury. He panted harshly in rage.

Lin Yuzhu clicked her tongue in amazement. These little cannon fodders always conveniently lost their wits. The village chief was speechless, suddenly wanting 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 secretly delighted, but he shouted as if out of kindness, "Those of you who've collected your grain and know what happened, why aren't you heading back? Aren't you going to work later?"

They were trying to chase away the educated youths who had witnessed everything just when the man seemed about to be found guilty. What was that supposed to mean?

The veins on the village chief's forehead bulged again.

Wang Yang knew it would benefit Li Xiangbei and Li Xiangwan if the educated youths left now. After all, Zhao Jianshe had only touched a hand. If they really sent him to the Public Security Bureau, it would create a lifelong feud. That was not a good thing for educated youths with no roots in the village. It would be better to negotiate terms privately now.

So Wang Yang began organizing everyone to leave. Zhang Yanqiu pressed her lips tightly together, secretly glaring 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 desperately wanted to risk everything and accuse the scorekeeper too, but she did not dare.

She did not have Li Xiangbei to support her. She did not dare offend the village chief.

Her gaze shifted to Li Xiangwan once more, her eyes filled with venom.

As everyone was about to leave, the Production Team Leader shouted, "Don't go spreading nonsense when you get back! There's no conclusion to this yet!"

Lin Yuzhu looked back at the village chief. The little old man was so angry he was practically hopping mad. 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 interfere in.

When it was time to work, Wang Xiaomei was still angry. The village would not even give them a single corn kernel. Wasn't that obviously bullying them?

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

At the end of the day, educated youths like them were outsiders. They could forget about being treated fairly.

"Sure, why don't you marry a local man, then?"

Wang Xiaomei felt a little dejected. That was what she had 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 they went back to work, all the village leaders were there. It seemed they had come to an agreement.

Lin Yuzhu did not see Li Xiangwan and found it strange. Where had she gone? With Li Xiangbei there, she surely would not be in danger. Lin Yuzhu put the matter aside and got to work, busying herself for another afternoon.

Comrade Xiao Song was better at work now than before. His pace had improved greatly, and he even knew to help her with her work. This kid had a bright future ahead of him.

When they returned to the Educated Youth Dormitory, Wang Xiaomei darted over in a single stride and said excitedly.

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

Lin Yuzhu's mind filled with question marks.

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

Wang Xiaomei's eyes were wide, her face full of envy.

Lin Yuzhu clicked her tongue. Why hadn't that scorekeeper touched my hand too?

She would have caught him on the spot and pinned him down so he could not escape. Rubbing her chin, she wondered whether she should do that next time.

"Hm?"

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

Lin Yuzhu kept her mouth shut, but others might not. Before two days had passed, the whole village knew.

Zhao Jianshe had some cunning. He only took advantage of educated youths and never touched the village women. If he did, he might get beaten up. More importantly, once his reputation was ruined, how would he ever find a wife?

Although he was later dragged into a sack and beaten badly on a dark, 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 her hand while handling the grain sacks. Some even described it so vividly that it was as though they had witnessed it themselves, saying Li Xiangwan had smiled flirtatiously at Zhao Jianshe while taking grain, smiling so seductively that she had stolen his soul. She had deliberately let him touch her so she could get an easier life.

After that, they began discussing Li Xiangwan's appearance, saying she was a fox spirit reincarnated. Everyone else had gotten tanned, but her skin was still fair and soft enough to pinch water from it.

Some aunties 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 a jinx."

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

The question was, since they were both pretty, why did Zhao Jianshe not touch Educated Youth Lin instead?

Either Educated Youth Li had actively seduced him, or Educated Youth Lin 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 a jinx, a long time had already passed. That was a story for another time.

Returning to the matter at hand, Aunt Li resumed work after resting for a day. When she saw the lively Lin Yuzhu, she felt irritated and said sarcastically, "Pretty girls sure have it good."

The villagers all sided with Lin Yuzhu, so she did not take such hurtful words to heart. She replied slowly, "Getting old is good too. You're always thinking of taking advantage of little ones, and if you fail, you can still get by on your thick skin."