The village chief and Chen Yiping happened to walk in. Ji Zhaoxi didn't greet them, but Educated Youth Xie smiled at them.
Chen Yiping glanced at Educated Youth Xie, who had been following closely behind Ji Zhaoxi.
"What's wrong?"
The commune director took a drag of his cigarette. "That little girl wanted to register Qin Du, and even brought up Jiang's Second Son. Isn't that infuriating?"
The village chief sat in the corner, drinking hot tea. "Is everything taken care of?"
The director nodded. "Everything that needed to be done has been taken care of."
Chen Yiping picked up the registration form on the table and looked down at it.
The director chuckled. "This is the one Zhuxin's sister just filled out. Crying and cursing, she really does resemble Zhuxin a bit."
"Why is she so concerned about Qin Du? Are those two actually dating?"
Chen Yiping didn't reply. He crumpled the registration form into a ball and tossed it aside.
The deadline for the college entrance examination registration had passed.
When Mother Qin found out about this, she wept bitterly. Ji Zhuxin kept comforting her, saying he could always take the exam next time.
But everyone knew that even if there was a next time, and even if the higher-ups claimed class background wouldn't be considered, who could really interfere with how things were handled at the local level?
Ji Zhuxin told Ji Zhaoxi to go study. She couldn't just stop studying simply because Qin Du hadn't returned.
Ji Zhaoxi sat in the side room, looking at the empty seat next to her, feeling utterly miserable.
Late at night, Ji Zhuxin sat beside Mother Qin, wiping her tears. "Auntie, Qin Du is a tough one. He will come back."
Mother Qin gripped her hand tightly, her eyes full of profound sorrow. "If only I had just died a few days ago, then I wouldn't be a burden to him anymore."
At an age when other children in the village were still playing, Qin Du had already started supporting the family. He went to the fields every day and never slacked off for even a single day.
She was severely ill, and her medicine cost a lot of money. Besides farming, he also had to hunt and drag his catch to the black market to sell, but even then, he didn't make much.
Ji Zhuxin sighed. "Please don't say that. Auntie, your only task right now is to take care of your health. If you are gone, Qin Du will truly have nothing left to live for in this world."
She had gone to ask people at the forestry farm. The workers there said they hadn't seen Qin Du, but judging from their reactions, they clearly knew who she was talking about.
This was very strange.
Ji Zhuxin frowned. Logically, Qin Du should have returned by now.
Two more days passed. Although they still had medicine, Mother Qin's physical condition was deteriorating. It was an illness of the heart, after all, and Ji Zhuxin was helpless. All she could do was keep her company every day and try her best to get her to eat something.
Meanwhile, Ji Zhaoxi was still preparing for the exam. Ji Zhuxin could tell she wasn't in the right state of mind, feeling both angry and heartbroken for her. "If you keep acting like this, I'll have Educated Youth Xie come keep you company."
Only then did Ji Zhaoxi start studying hard.
To be honest, Ji Zhuxin deeply sympathized with Mother Qin and Qin Du. They were two pitiful people.
But sympathy aside, the most important person to her was still Ji Zhaoxi. She wanted Ji Zhaoxi to get into college and go work in the county town.
As for the Qin family, she had already done everything she could. She could afford to waste some time and energy on them because she had the time.
But Ji Zhaoxi couldn't. All of her time right now had to be focused on her studies.
Before dawn, Ji Zhaoxi would be yanked out of bed by Ji Zhuxin, and she wouldn't be allowed to go to sleep until she had studied late into the night. She wanted to make her so exhausted that she wouldn't have the energy to think about those messy matters.
The wind howled outside. There was a draft coming from somewhere, and it felt like the room just couldn't warm up.
Ji Zhuxin searched for a long time before finding the hole where the cold air was leaking in. She grabbed something to plug it, but she knew it wouldn't hold for long.
Mother Qin coughed softly, her cloudy eyes looking at her. "Zhuxin, go back to sleep. That draft won't hurt anything."
"It's fine. I'll sit here a little longer," Ji Zhuxin smiled.
Mother Qin's eyes grew red again. That was how it was when people got old; anything could make them shed tears.
Ji Zhuxin sat in front of the stove, adding firewood while thinking about Ji Zhaoxi getting into college in the future.
It would be great if she could pass this time. If not, she would have to find a teacher for her. With the foundation from the first attempt, she would definitely pass the second time.
Outside, the branches of the old tree whipped frantically against the mud wall in the cold wind. The wind sounded like wild ghosts whistling, making one's hair stand on end.
Xinniu Village wasn't an old place. The winters could freeze people to death, and the summers could roast them alive. Ji Zhuxin yawned, pulled her clothes tighter around herself, and leaned against the wall.
Unknowingly, her eyes gradually closed.
"Creak—"
The wooden door was suddenly pushed open, and a blast of intense cold wind instantly poured in. The wind bit sharply at her neck, and the sudden chill made Ji Zhuxin jump to her feet.
Just then, a bloodstained hand tightly gripped the threshold. He practically crashed inside, looking like a heap of mangled flesh.
His face was purple from the cold. The blood on his body was mixed with dirt and gravel, sticking to his tattered clothes. His fingernails were torn and bloody, packed with frozen soil, and he reeked of earth and diesel fuel.
The item in Ji Zhuxin's hand dropped to the floor with a clatter. Her pupils contracted sharply, and not a single sound could escape her throat.
Her voice pitched strangely. "Qin... Qin Du?"
She hurriedly rushed forward, but there wasn't a single patch of uninjured skin on Qin Du's body. She didn't even dare to touch him.
"How did you end up like this?!" she asked in disbelief.
Hadn't he gone to the forestry farm to do temp work?
She quickly dragged him inside and shut the door tight. Hearing the noise, Mother Qin was extremely agitated and tremblingly tried to get out of bed.
Ji Zhuxin hurried to stop her. "Auntie, just stay in bed. I can't take care of two people at once right now."
Qin Du's consciousness was completely blurred. He was trembling all over from the pain, his throat filled with the taste of rusty iron.
Ji Zhuxin couldn't handle it all alone, so she quickly went next door to wake Ji Zhaoxi.
Ji Zhaoxi was groggily pulled over by Ji Zhuxin, but the moment she saw the person lying on the bed, her face turned pale with fright.
Ji Zhuxin skillfully tended to Qin Du's wounds. Ji Zhaoxi carried basins of bloody water outside to dump and brought fresh hot water back to Ji Zhuxin's side.
"Sis, Brother Qin Du isn't going to die, is he?" Ji Zhaoxi shed tears and choked out.
Ji Zhuxin choked up for a second. "Wipe your tears. People don't die that easily."
By the time they finished treating Qin Du's wounds, the sky was completely bright. Ji Zhaoxi went to the health clinic to fetch a doctor, who was also startled by the extent of Qin Du's injuries.
Between unpacking the medical kit and bandaging him up, it took an entire day. By the time he was done, the doctor was pale with exhaustion. Mother Qin watched the whole scene with red eyes.
The doctor looked at Qin Du's tightly clenched fist and frowned. "He's holding onto something. Make him let go."
He and Ji Zhuxin both tried with all their might to pry his fingers open, but they couldn't get the item out of his hand.
The doctor wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Forget it, forget it. If he wants to hold it, let him hold it."
