The Educated Youth Who Changed His Mind (1)
“Do you think that Jiang Zhe will die? I heard that when the Xu family's people found him, he had lost a lot of blood.”
“Indeed. You didn't see him when he was carried back; his face was as pale as a ghost."
“Pft, don't speak of such nonsense. The chairman had already said that we must take a scientific approach to things.”
“Yes, yes. I spoke wrongly, spoke wrongly.”
“………”
The voice gradually went away. Jiang Zhe was in a complete deep sleep.
Xu Qing came at this time. In the dilapidated mud house, there was a pale, handsome young man lying on a narrow wooden bed. His body was covered with a thin quilt and his face had an unhealthy deep red flush.
Xu Qing felt a little distressed for him. She wanted to go forward, but at the same time, she was worried about the distance between men and women, eventually withdrawing out of the room.
Thinking about it, her worries ultimately took over her. She turned around and headed to the clinic in the village to get some fever-reducing medicine.
Just as she came back, she bumped into her big brother who came to check on the situation, quickly hiding her hands behind her back.
Xu Shou Yi: “Qing Qing, what do you have in your hand?”
Xu Qing: “No, nothing.”
Xu Shou Yi's face sank, “Still trying to cheat me. I saw it. The medicine in your hand is for Jiang Zhe that kid?”
Xu Qing stammered, not speaking.
Xu Shou Yi was extremely angry, stretching out his index finger to poke his younger sister’s forehead. “Qing Qing, you are so foolish. Jiang Zhe that kid's heart doesn't have you in it at all. Why can't you forget about him?”
Xu Qing lowered her head.
Xu Shou Yi encouraged her further, “Just talking about this time's incident. Not to mention how he ran away and left Dad at a loss of how to account for it to his higher ups. If he even had a little hint of you in his heart, such situations where Jiang Zhe sneaks out in the middle of the night to run away wouldn't happen.”
Xu Qing clenched the medicine in her hands, unable to refute.
Just as the atmosphere turned stiff, the sounds of movement came from the within the house.
The brother and sister duo immediately entered the room to check. The young man who was originally lying on the bed had unknowingly fallen on the ground.
The Xu Qing who had been somewhat swayed just now immediately softened her heart. Throwing the medicine to her brother, she ran to help Jiang Zhe up.
Xu Qing: “Jiang Zhe, are you alright? Don’t scare me.”
Jiang Zhe’s gaze was unfocused, his lips cracked, unconsciously saying: “Water, water.”
Xu Qing: “Oh, yes. I'll immediately pour a glass of water for you.”
Xu Qing’s movements were very fast. Within the blink of an eye, she had fed Jiang Zhe a bowl of water.
Xu Qing saw him drinking quickly with the water spilling onto his clothes, and hurriedly wiped him. When she touched him, she realised his temperature was extremely high.
Xu Qing couldn't care about anything else, shouting: “Big Brother, quickly bring Jiang Zhe's medicine over. He's already unconscious from his fever burning up. If this goes on, his life would be lost.”
Xu Shou Yi was shakened. Carefully, he took out the tablets and fed it to Jiang Zhe with some warm water.
Xu Shou Yi: “I was careless. I forgot his wound was infected, making it easy to get a high fever.”
Xu Qing: “It's nothing, as long as he doesn't die."
Xu Qing gently placed Jiang Zhe back on the bed, and followed her brother out. Brows tightly locked, “Big Brother, how will Dad deal with Jiang Zhe this time?"
Xu Shou Yi: “I don’t know.”
Xu Qing pursed her lips. “Can you-”
Xu Shou Yi: “Don't even think about it. Even though Dad is the team leader of the production team, but with so many eyes watching, you still want to Dad to openly side Jiang Zhe.”
Xu Qing remained silent.
Xu Shou Yi softened his face and said: “Qing Qing, three-legged □□ are difficult to find, two-legged men are plenty, why must you hang onto Jiang Zhe this twisted tree?”
Xu Qing said nothing.
After a long time.
Xu Qing finally said: “I understand, Big Brother.”
……………
Jiang Zhe's injury this time caused him to lie in bed for half a month, his workpoints* almost being deducted completely.
During this period, Xu Qing glanced at him from afar. When Jiang Zhe looked over, she ran away again.
Jiang Zhe: “Is it her?”
The system innocently said: “I don’t know what you are talking about?”
Jiang Zhe smiled.
Xu Shou Yi brought people along with him when enough time had passed. Looking down at him disdainfully, he said: “Jiang Zhe, you are an educated youth, yet you fled selfishly. This kind of behaviour has a very bad influence on the team. The captain has already punished you. From today, you ”
Jiang Zhe interrupted him and looked up: “I didn’t run away?”
Xu Shou Yi: “It is too late to ask for mercy now. Wait, hey, what did you just say?”
Jiang Zhe’s gaze was calm, lightly saying: “I didn't run away, so I refuse to accept the team's punishment.”
Xu Shou Yi directly gave an angry laugh, “You didn't run away, then why did you not remain in Zhi Qing courtyard, instead running to the barren and remote mountains in the middle of the night?”
Jiang Zhe “Hungry, wanted to catch wild animals.”
The people who followed along dug their ears and suspected that they had heard wrongly.
Jiang Zhe said again: “You said that I fled. When you found me, did I have any bags on my body?”
Xu Shou Yi: ………
He thought about it carefully, it seemed that there really wasn't any.
Jiang Zhe spreaded his hands: “As the saying goes, the one who caught a thief took some stolen goods; the one who caught a rapist also caught a disloyal wife*. You don’t have any evidence. How did you determine that I was running away?”
Xu Shou Yi wasn't appeased: “Then what do you rely on to say you didn't run away?”
Jiang Zhe: “I already said it. I didn’t take any bags. Have you seen someone running away without bringing anything along, just solely running away with nothing?”
Others: It makes a little sense.
Jiang Zhe faintly looked at Xu Shou Yi, slightly quirking his lips up.
Xu Shou Yi's embarrassment turned into anger: “You wait and see.”
A group of people came with a flourish, but left quickly.
The young man sitting on the bed rubbed his shoulder. Jiang Zhe wiped his face, silently saying "How risky".
The original soul indeed wanted to escape. Because his parents died, after receiving the news, he couldn't stand the blow and ran out. Because of this, he didn't bring anything.
In the original world, the original soul had gone numb from depression, and accepted the production team's punishment for him. It was also from that moment on that the situation of the original soul plummeted, bullied by everyone.
Naturally, the original soul blackened. Unfortunately, he wasn't very smart. Others bullied him, but he blamed it on the production team leader, Xu Zhi Hong.
Xu Qing was originally interested in him, so Jiang Zhe deliberately seduced her, pretending to be a good person, leading Xu Qing to marry him. However, the year that the national examinations resumed*, he unhesitantly abandoned the mother and son duo, causing the Xu family to become the laughing stock of the village.
Jiang Zhe had to be grateful. If he came one step late, the difficulty of this task would be increased by at least several levels.
He had probably cleared this current obstacle.
As Jiang Zhe guessed, he was once again assigned back to Zhi Qing courtyard, with only verbal criticisms about his midnight run to the mountains to catch wild animals.
If anything, Jiang Zhe was really too unlucky, he didn't even catch the smell of the wild animals. He even slipped and injured his head, bleeding profusely. When the villagers talked about him, they were also crying while laughing.
They laughed at the educated youth who came from a city, yet also desiring to eat meat. Turning around, they thought about how their own family had not even had a whiff of meat in a long time, who wouldn't desire eating meat?
This incident had a huge uproar, yet the actual impact was small. The villagers only casually chatted about it during their free time.
However, every time the young people in the Zhi Qing courtyard saw him, they always said a few teasing words. Jiang Zhe just laughed it off.
On this day, he came back from the field carrying his hoe and saw that there was a woman pacing around at the courtyard entrance.
Jiang Zhe: “Xu Qing?”
Xu Qing was shocked. Looking around, she saw him and her eyes couldn't help but arc.
Xu Qing had a pair of phoenix eyes, her gaze tranquil. Her whole body was surrounded by a type of quiet temperament, and it was easy to differentiate her from the crowd at first sight.
Jiang Zhe approached and asked her: “What is the matter for you to come here?”
Xu Qing pursed her lips slightly, slightly embarrassed. “I, I just came to see how you are doing? Last time, Big Brother misunderstood you. I am very sorry.”
Jiang Zhe: “It's nothing. The team leader has returned my innocence.”
Xu Qing nodded, and Jiang Zhe pushed the door open, “Come in and sit?”
Xu Qing’s face was a little red. Suppressing her embarrassment, she walked in.
Jiang Zhe was slightly surprised. He thought that Xu Qing would not come in.
Jiang Zhe poured a bowl of water for her. “Sorry, there is only water here to be served.”
Xu Qing repeatedly waved her hand. “No, it's nothing, this water is quite sweet.”
Jiang Zhe raised his eyebrows. This, was he being teased?
Xu Qing returned to her senses and blushed. “No, no, I don’t mean that. I mean, the water here is from a spring, and spring water is always slightly sweet.”
——————————–
*workpoints - this era is one where the amount of work done is calculated into workpoints. It doesn’t matter how much work was done, or how well it was done, the number of workpoints assigned still remained the same. According to the number of workpoints, resources would be distributed to each household.
*the one who caught a thief took some stolen goods; the one who caught a rapist also caught a disloyal wife - describing accusing someone of doing things without any evidence
*the year that the national examinations resumed - 1977
TN: I’m back from CNY break! Sorry I ended up not updating last week anyway. Chapters are slightly longer now so my translation speed will probably drop, but I’ll do my best! This arc will be completed by this week.