"Let me out, you bastard! My sister won't let you get away with this. She'll call the police—you can't run!"
"Bah, you little slut! You won't drink a toast, so you'll drink the dregs. I'll kill you first today, then your sister. Let's see who's left to call the police."
With a loud "bang," Zhou Qichuan tossed a stone into the cave mouth, startling Cripple Liu into a shiver. He hurried outside to check what it was.
Once he confirmed Xiao Manxue was inside the cave, Zhou Qichuan lured Cripple Liu out and delivered a swift chop to the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.
Xiao Mandong rushed into the cave and saw her sister's clothes were intact, only then did her heart settle.
"Sis… sob… I… I…" Xiao Manxue sobbed, unable to form a full sentence.
Xiao Mandong pulled her sister into her arms. "It's okay, don't cry. Come on, let's head back first."
She untied the hemp rope around Xiao Manxue's wrists, which had already left bloody welts, and handed the key to the clinic to Zhou Qichuan, telling him to secretly take Xiao Manxue back to the clinic and lock her inside. She'd tell everyone that her sister had fallen asleep in the clinic, claim she hadn't realized her sister was still in there when she locked the door, and then pretend to search for her, staging a big misunderstanding to cover the whole thing up.
Xiao Mandong knew how important reputation was in this era. If word got out that her sister had been taken by Cripple Liu—even if nothing had happened—the villagers would call her a ruined woman.
"No, I'm not leaving you alone on this mountain. What if something happens? We go together."
"I just want to beat that bastard up. I'll catch up in a minute. Don't worry—we can't be seen showing up at the same time."
Zhou Qichuan worried Xiao Mandong might act rashly and break the law. "Don't be reckless. Hand someone like him over to the police. For a man like that, it's not worth breaking the law."
"We can't go to the police—it would ruin my sister's name. Don't worry, I'm not that stupid."
In the end, Zhou Qichuan left with Xiao Manxue, looking back repeatedly. To keep Cripple Liu from waking, Xiao Mandong gave him an acupuncture needle, searched him, and found sixteen yuan and a packet of powder. She pocketed the money, opened the powder, and tasted it with the tip of her tongue—it was that kind of drug. Hatred wrapped around her heart like ivy in an instant. She jabbed a needle into Cripple Liu's knee, tossed him into her space, then quickly left for the area near his house. She threw Hu Guizhen into the space as well, gently pushed open the courtyard gate of Cripple Liu's home, and found his room. A strange, foul smell hit her nose, almost making her gag.
She threw Cripple Liu and Hu Guizhen out of the space, mixed the powder with cold water, and poured it down both their throats—not a drop left. She stuffed the empty paper wrapper into Hu Guizhen's pocket.
Then she pulled out the needles, stripped both of them naked, tossed them onto the bed, watched their breathing for a moment, and left quickly when she judged the timing was right.
When she arrived at the clinic entrance, a crowd had gathered there.
Zhou Qichuan relaxed the moment he saw Xiao Mandong. He rushed up to her and started scolding her:
"Honestly, what's wrong with you? You locked Comrade Xiao Manxue inside the clinic, and then you had us all searching everywhere. Do you know what time it is? Everyone still has to go to work tomorrow. You're just making trouble, aren't you?" As he spoke, he quietly slipped the key into her coat pocket.
"What did you say?" Xiao Mandong feigned shock and hurried to the clinic door.
Just then, she heard Xiao Manxue pounding on the door from inside: "Sis, why did you lock me in here? I've been shouting for ages! If Comrade Zhou hadn't heard me, everyone would've been searching for me all night."
Xiao Mandong pulled the key out of her pocket, unlocked the door, and wrapped her arms around her sister. "You silly girl! You were in there, and when I locked the door, you didn't say a word! Are you an idiot?"
Then she bowed to the crowd: "I'm so sorry, everyone. Tomorrow I'll host a meal right here at this door. Anyone who helped search today, please do come—you're all my guests. This is all my fault—think of it as my apology. I promise there'll be fish and meat."
The villagers had worked a full day in the fields and then spent two hours searching, so they were full of resentment. But when they heard Xiao Mandong was treating them to a meal with fish and meat, much of their anger melted away.
Xiao Mandong continued, "But I just found out while I was looking for my sister that Comrade Hu Guizhen from the educated youth site is missing too—I heard she left with Cripple Liu. If you don't mind, let's go check on Cripple Liu's place. I hear he's not a good man. She's an educated youth like me, and I'm genuinely worried."
The crowd was reluctant—they were exhausted and wanted to go home to sleep—but since they'd been promised a feast, and it was just a quick visit to Cripple Liu's house, they decided to go along.
Zhou Qichuan had no idea what Xiao Mandong was up to, but he still backed her up:
"Come on, let's go. If something happens to a young intellectual, our brigade's evaluation is done for. And if we don't win the advanced brigade title, the tractor next year will go to some other brigade."
The group marched in a noisy procession to Cripple Liu's house. The courtyard gate wasn't locked, and Cripple Liu's only family was his old mother.
As soon as they pushed through the gate, strange sounds hit their ears—a woman's moans and a man's grunting, strangely harmonious. Most of the people there were unmarried young men, and they blushed. Even Zhou Qichuan stepped back a few paces.
But a few of the older, bolder men kicked the door open. Xiao Mandong had fed them both the entire packet of powder, and by now the two were lost in a haze of lust, burning with heat, unable to think straight…
Cripple Liu's mother had heard the noises coming from her son's room earlier and was secretly delighted. She didn't know which woman it was, but she figured she'd be holding a grandchild soon.
Then came the sound of the door being kicked open. Mother Liu scrambled out of bed and opened her door to see her yard packed with people.
She nearly fainted. Her son snuck around and stole things, sure, he'd been locked up for a few days before, and she was used to that. But this—being caught in adultery—that was a serious crime.
The commotion drew more villagers, and everyone got a free show—an open-air spectacle of the most private kind.
Zhou Qichuan shot Xiao Mandong a strange look. He didn't know how she'd done it—moved a grown man from the mountain back to the village in such a short time and arranged everything so neatly.
Xiao Mandong watched with relish, practically wishing she had a handful of melon seeds to snack on while she enjoyed the show. Zhou Qichuan grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the crowd. "What's there to look at? This isn't the kind of thing young girls like you should be watching."
Xiao Mandong clicked her tongue. She really had no interest in watching such things—she was only in it for the drama.
The Brigade Leader and the Village Secretary had just returned to the village when they heard about the commotion. Both arrived reeking of liquor, eyes half-lidded and hazy.
Earlier that day, the Village Secretary had gone with the Brigade Leader to commune offices and run into his cousin from Kaoshan Village. They got to chatting, and the cousin dragged them off for a drink at Kaoshan Village, and they'd been drinking until now. Who would've thought that their first trip out for a drink would end with chaos back home?
Two leaders leaving the village at the same time was already irresponsible, and now this had happened. The two men couldn't have regretted it more.
Seeing the scene before him, the Brigade Leader was nearly furious. These past few days had been nothing but trouble, and next year’s model brigade was almost certainly out of reach. Their village would become the laughingstock of all the others.
"Get me a bucket of water—separate these two shameless ones."
With a splash, a bucket of water drenched the pair. Hu Guizhen jolted, as if just waking from a dream.
Where was she? So many people crowded around, and when she looked down at herself, she let out a shriek and scrambled onto the kang (a heated brick bed) to grab a sodden quilt to cover herself.
Cripple Liu also seemed to snap back to reality, but he quickly realized—he’d been set up.
