"Dong, dong, dong"
The large bell at the village entrance rang out. The people working in the fields stopped their tasks one after another, gathered their things, and began heading home.
Zhang Xiuju handed her farming tools to her youngest daughter, Li Qingqing, and then hurried home to start preparing lunch for the family.
Li Qingqing picked up her family's tools and walked towards the spot she had agreed upon with her best friend, Li Qinghua, before starting work that morning.
Ever since graduating from junior high, Li Qingqing had begun earning work points alongside her mother, Zhang Xiuju. Arranged by her father, Li Qingqing followed her mother to cut pig grass—a relatively light task where work points were easier to earn.
As for her best friend Li Qinghua, without a village chief father like that, she had to follow her family to weed in the more distant cotton fields. By the end of the morning, sweat had pasted her hair to her skin, leaving her looking quite disheveled.
Standing in the shade of a tree, Li Qinghua watched Li Qingqing approach slowly, and a wave of jealousy washed over her once more: They were both in the lovely bloom of youth at sixteen, yet she toiled under the blazing sun every day. Even with the bamboo hat she had begged her father to make, just a few days into summer and she was already tanned dark.
But Li Qingqing had a good father. She worked with her mother every day cutting pig grass under the shade of trees by the river. From afar, she walked over looking like a snow maiden, with those big eyes, high nose bridge, and a thick, dark braid—she was incredibly eye-catching on this road back to the village.
The unmarried young men in the village would laugh at her, calling her a "black iron egg" whenever they saw her, but in front of Li Qingqing, they were as meek as quails, not daring to utter a peep.
Today, with Auntie Zhang not around, they were practically swarming around Li Qingqing, walking before and after her, more eager than honeybees—even that guy Li Qingshan was no exception.
"If only you could disappear, Li Qingqing! Then Brother Qingshan would notice me!" The inadvertent whisper sent a shudder through Li Qinghua's own body. When had she started having such wicked thoughts!
Before Li Qinghua could ponder further, Li Qingqing arrived in front of her. "Qinghua, let's hurry! Have you been waiting long? Look at all this sweat, quick, wipe it off."
As she spoke, Li Qingqing freed one hand, pulled a handkerchief from her trouser pocket, and handed it to Li Qinghua.
Li Qinghua was still stunned by her own previous thought and remained frozen. Only when Li Qingqing waved the handkerchief in front of her face did she snap out of it. She took the handkerchief and wiped her face roughly a couple of times.
"Blackie, if I were you, I wouldn't wipe. Careful, or that white handkerchief will turn into a black one! Not everyone can use a white handkerchief like Qingqing can!"
"Qingshan, right?"
"Hahahaha!"
......
Li Qingshan and the bunch of lads following Li Qingqing mocked as they passed by, right in front of Li Qinghua!
Hearing these words, Li Qinghua clenched the handkerchief tightly in her hand and instinctively looked at Li Qingshan. She saw Li Qingshan glance at her covertly, then, as if seeing something dirty, shift his gaze to Li Qingqing beside him. He casually echoed his companions' words, and the group, arms around each other's shoulders, just passed her by!
"It's all because of you, Li Qingqing!"
Resentment towards Li Qingqing surged once more in Li Qinghua's mind.
"Qinghua, don't mind Wang San. All he knows is how to run his mouth! Someone like him, who doesn't even change his clothes, isn't fit to talk about others!"
Li Qingqing took Li Qinghua's hand to comfort her.
"Come on, let's return the tools and head home!"
Li Qinghua kept her head down and didn't say much. She stuffed the handkerchief back into Li Qingqing's hand and walked ahead. Li Qingqing bit her lip, stuffed the handkerchief back into her pocket, gathered the farming tools in her arms, and hurried after her.
"Wait for me, Qinghua."
Li Qinghua's mind replayed the shy look Li Qingshan had given Li Qingqing. The resentment towards Li Qingqing that had slipped out earlier only deepened, and she paid little attention to Li Qingqing walking beside her.
Feeling the incident was her fault, Li Qingqing was also quite apologetic towards Li Qinghua. The two friends, who usually chatted all the way home, fell into an indescribable silence today. Fortunately, the journey home involved greetings from every auntie and granny they met, making the growing distance between the two less obvious.
After returning the borrowed tools at the village entrance, Li Qinghua said to Li Qingqing, who was waiting for her, "Qingqing, why don't you go ahead first? I think I left my water gourd behind. I'll go back and look for it!"
"You brought a gourd? Let me help you look. If you can't find it, Uncle San will beat you again!" Li Qingqing suggested after hearing this.
"No, no need. I remember leaving it under that tree over there. You hurry home, Auntie Zhang must have lunch almost ready, right?" Li Qinghua, who didn't want to see Li Qingqing anymore anyway, refused.
"It's fine. My mom has to go to my grandma's to get eggs today, so lunch won't be ready so soon!" As she spoke, Li Qingqing pulled Li Qinghua back the way they came.
Unable to find another excuse, Li Qinghua could only let Li Qingqing pull her along. The midday sun grew fiercer, beating down until there wasn't a spot on Li Qinghua's body not sweating. The sticky feeling made her even more irritable. And Li Qingqing, pulling her along, remained so fair and clean, her hand holding Li Qinghua's not even sweaty. That hand was like a patch of snow in a pile of black coal. It was so bright it hurt her eyes.
"If only she would disappear. Then I wouldn't be so dark. Brother Qingshan would like me. Wang San and his lot wouldn't laugh at me anymore..." Resentment spread and grew in her heart like seaweed, tangling and twisting, occupying Li Qinghua's mind.
"No, I can't! That's wrong! Qingqing is my good friend!"
Li Qinghua walked on, but a war raged in her mind. The more the two thoughts tangled, the more she fixated on the hand Li Qingqing was using to hold hers. Surely it was that hand feeding those bad thoughts, making her feel this way. If that hand weren't touching her, she wouldn't have such wicked ideas! That must be it!
Thinking this, Li Qinghua suddenly and forcefully shook off Li Qingqing's hand. Thrown off balance by the momentum, Li Qingqing stumbled sideways.
Only then did Li Qinghua snap back to reality and realize they had already walked to the riverbank. With that one shake of her hand, Li Qingqing had actually fallen into the river!!!
Although both girls had grown up by the river, from childhood, girls like them only came to the river to wash clothes. Swimming was for the boys, which meant neither of them knew how to swim!
Seeing Li Qingqing still flailing in the river, Li Qinghua panicked and started shouting for help!
At this moment on the banks of the Qing River, under the scorching sun, all the workers had gone home. Not a soul was in sight. Apart from the cicadas chirping in the trees, there was only her own frantic, helpless cry for help.
"If I don't shout, Qingqing won't be saved. Then she'll disappear! She'll really disappear! Brother Qingshan will never see her again. He'll definitely be mine then!"
That thought once again surged through Li Qinghua's mind, and the cries for help ceased as well. After a glance at Li Qingqing, still flailing in the water, Li Qinghua turned and fled!
The splashes churned up by Li Qingqing in the water gradually grew smaller, as her whole body began to sink beneath the surface......
