The ox cart took almost half an hour to reach the Red Flag Production Brigade, which was more remote than their Lean Mountain Village. As soon as they entered the village, someone notified the brigade leader, who rushed over with the person in charge of the educated youth.
Xiao Mandong handed over her form for going to the countryside:
"Hello, Brigade Leader. I’m the new educated youth Xiao Mandong. Here are my paperwork."
The brigade leader took the documents and examined them carefully:
"Comrade Xiao Mandong, welcome to the Red Flag Production Brigade. This is Dong Huimin, the person in charge of the educated youth group. She’ll arrange your accommodations shortly. If you have any questions, feel free to ask her."
Dong Huimin was not tall, with hair cut short to her ears, and had sun-darkened skin. She looked capable and seemed to have been in the countryside for a long time.
"Hello, Comrade Dong. Thank you for your help." Xiao Mandong sensed that Dong Huimin seemed like a straightforward person.
"Don’t mention it; it’s my job. Just call me Huimin, and I’ll call you Mandong. Here, let me help with your luggage." With that, Dong Huimin took the cloth bag from Xiao Mandong’s hands.
"Okay, thank you."
Xiao Mandong didn’t stand on ceremony—after all, give and take makes the best relationships.
The educated youth quarters were a row of connected houses. The three rooms on the east side were for the female educated youth, the middle was the kitchen, and on the other side were two rooms. Each room had two large brick beds. The kitchen had two stoves, each connected to one of the large beds, so cooking in winter also heated the beds. Since it was summer, heating the beds would be too hot, so they had set up a stove in the yard.
The west side housed the male educated youth, also in three rooms, separated from the women’s side by a wooden partition. The latrine was in the backyard of the quarters.
Dong Huimin introduced the setup of the quarters, and Xiao Mandong listened attentively.
The brigade leader and the man driving the ox cart helped carry Xiao Mandong’s trunk into the room.
Xiao Mandong gave the ox cart driver two yuan. Normally, villagers were paid for hauling things—usually one yuan—but since he had also helped carry her belongings, she couldn’t let him work for nothing.
After seeing off the ox cart from Lean Mountain Village, the brigade leader sighed as he looked at the educated youth quarters. One more person had come, and they were already cramped. Now it would be even tighter. Normally, two large brick beds could sleep ten people, but now there were twelve female educated youth. If it came down to it, they’d have to discuss who would be willing to board with local families.
"Comrade Xiao Mandong, I heard you still have some personal matters to take care of. I’ll give you two days off. You start work the day after tomorrow." Earlier, the secretary had asked him to look out for her a bit, so the brigade leader naturally wanted to oblige.
"Thank you, Brigade Leader. I only need one day off. Could I also request a day off for Xiao Manxue? I’m her older sister. We haven’t seen each other in a year, and I’d like to have a good talk with her." Xiao Mandong was eager to speak with her sister—time off wasn’t the priority.
The brigade leader had also heard from the secretary that they were biological sisters. Since Xiao Mandong had given up one of her own leave days and wasn’t being greedy, he agreed readily:
"Okay. Xiao Manxue can also have a day off tomorrow."
"Drop by the brigade office to pick up your grain rations. Consider it a loan from the brigade; you can repay it by the end of the year." Having arranged everything, the brigade leader left.
Dong Huimin poured Xiao Mandong a glass of water.
“You look a lot like Xiao Manxue. I figured out your relationship as soon as I saw you. There are five people in this room and six in the next one. Xiao Manxue is staying in the next room. Tonight I’ll switch with her so you sisters can share a room and have a chance to talk.”
Xiao Mandong took a handful of milk candies from her pocket and pressed them into Dong Huimin’s hand:
“Huimin, thank you. But won’t six people be crowded on this kang?”
“Of course it will be crowded, but there’s no other way. The sent-down youth quarters are only this big, and the village has no money to build new houses. You could apply to stay with a local family, but no one wants to do that, so we just squeeze in here. To be honest, something happened a couple of years ago when someone stayed with a local family, and since then, none of the female sent-down youths want to go to the villagers’ homes anymore.” Dong Huimin only added these words as a warning because Xiao Mandong had been so generous with the milk candies.
Xiao Mandong wanted to ask more about her sister, so she took out a bag of brown sugar from her bamboo basket:
“Huimin, I haven’t seen my sister in a year. Can you tell me how she’s doing?”
Dong Huimin quickly declined:
“No, I can’t take something so precious from you.”
“Take it. We’re going to live together for many years from now on. Let’s just say it’s to make friends.” Xiao Mandong shoved the sugar into Dong Huimin’s hand.
Dong Huimin thanked her repeatedly, quickly hid the items for fear of being seen, and then whispered into Xiao Mandong’s ear.
Xiao Mandong’s face grew darker and darker as she listened. So even at this time, her sister had already run into trouble in the village.
When she heard the name Wang Yuanyuan, she immediately knew where the problem lay.
Wang Yuanyuan was the daughter of her maternal uncle. She never expected that Wang Yuanyuan would choose to come to the countryside here.
At first, no one knew about her sister’s identity. It must have been Wang Yuanyuan who revealed it.
Xiao Mandong struggled to calm herself down. She went with Dong Huimin to find Xiao Manxue in the fields.
Just as they reached the edge of the field, they saw a crowd gathered ahead.
Dong Huimin grabbed Xiao Mandong and hurried forward:
“The one being beaten in the middle is Xiao Manxue. Hurry!”
At Dong Huimin’s words, Xiao Mandong’s mind exploded. All she could think of was the image Wang Xiumei had described to her by her hospital bed in her past life—her sister covered in blood. She ran as fast as she could. When she got close, she saw Xiao Manxue pinned to the ground by a woman, being beaten. Xiao Mandong lunged forward, grabbed the woman by the hair, dragged her far away, and flung her aside with force. In the past few days, she had been drinking the spiritual spring water, and she felt much stronger than before.
She fought to suppress the rage inside her, reminding herself that she had come to change her sister’s fate. She couldn’t let a moment’s impulse put her at a disadvantage.
Blood was already oozing from the corner of Xiao Manxue’s mouth, and her face was scratched.
Xiao Mandong helped Xiao Manxue to her feet. When Xiao Manxue saw her sister, tears filled her eyes. She tightly clutched her sister’s clothes and choked out:
“Sis.”
The woman rubbed her sore scalp, feeling dazed. Who would dare grab her by the hair?
When she looked up, she saw a face almost identical to Xiao Manxue’s. Seeing the blood in her palm from rubbing her head, she shrieked and scrambled to her feet, ready to attack Xiao Mandong.
If the woman struck first, Xiao Mandong would definitely give her a thorough beating. She pushed her sister toward Dong Huimin, who quickly caught Xiao Manxue. Xiao Mandong rolled up her sleeves, ready for a good fight.
“Stop it!” the brigade leader shouted angrily, causing the woman who was about to move forward to halt in her tracks.
He had only stepped away to use the toilet, and somehow a fight had broken out.
The woman was the first to lodge her complaint:
“Brigade leader, this Xiao Manxue was seducing my man. Don’t you think I was right to hit her? This woman came out of nowhere and started beating me first, boohoo…”
The brigade leader found this quite exasperating. This Hu Guizhen was always accusing Xiao Manxue of trying to steal her man. But was it really seduction? Her so-called man was all too eager to do work for Xiao Manxue, refusing to take no for an answer, clinging like a stubborn burr. After being turned down four or five times, he still had no shame.
By then, Xiao Mandong had already learned the details of what happened from her sister Xiao Manxue.
Before the brigade leader could speak, Xiao Mandong rushed forward and slapped Hu Guizhen across the face.
That slap was delivered with all of Xiao Mandong’s strength, sending Hu Guizhen sprawling to the ground, her cheek instantly swelling and reddening. The blow stunned everyone present.
The onlookers gaped in disbelief:
“That fierce? A single slap sent her flying that far? Looks like this time Hu Guizhen has finally met her match. Let’s see her act smug now…”
Hu Guizhen was dazed for a long moment before reacting: “Bitch, how dare you hit me?”
Just as she was about to lunge at Xiao Mandong, Xiao Mandong grabbed a sickle from the ground and pressed it against her own throat. She couldn’t turn it against others—their family’s political status was already a source of gossip, and any hint of harming someone would invite an investigation by the commune.
Threatening herself was certainly more effective than threatening anyone else. No village leader wanted a young urban intellectual to come to harm right under their watch.
