Chapter 19: Absurdity

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Standing nearby and listening, Li Heng finally understood what was going on. It turned out that the clothes in his mother’s hands were exactly the ones his second sister had been eyeing. At that time, his second sister had inquired about the price elsewhere, and it was firmly set at 16 yuan. That was why she had taken the risk to sneakily handle them.

But the tuition fee had just barely been gathered—where would the extra money for clothes come from?

Just as Li Heng began to feel puzzled, Tian Run’e had already examined the clothes, stood up, and asked Xue Mei, “Nine yuan, will you sell it?”

Hearing this, Xue Mei could only laugh and cry at the same time. She picked up the clothes, gestured, and said, “Run’e sister, feel this—quality and style are top-notch. Selling it to you for nine yuan means I’d be starving on the northwest wind.”

But Tian Run’e remained unmoved.

Seeing this, Xue Mei glanced around, and when she saw no one nearby, she lowered her voice to say, “Twelve yuan, Run’e sister, that’s cost price. For the sake of our many years of friendship, I really won’t make a single penny off you, but don’t go spreading this around.”

Tian Run’e took the clothes again, looked them over, and finally said, “Ten yuan. I’ll pay you next month.”

In these times, a laborer in the countryside earned two yuan a day, and a casual worker got 1.5 yuan. So, ten yuan was already the wage for five days—quite expensive.

Xue Mei knew about the Li family’s financial situation, so she was not surprised by the debt arrangement. Having dealt with Tian Run’e for many years, she trusted her character.

After much hesitation, Xue Mei looked resigned and said, “Run’e sister, today I’m letting it slide just for Lanlan starting school. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have budged.”

With that, Xue Mei grabbed a bag and packed the clothes, still asking nonstop, “This is Lanlan’s final semester, right? She’s about to be assigned a job soon?”

Tian Run’e nodded.

Xue Mei asked, “Has anyone said where she’ll be assigned?”

Tian Run’e shook her head. “Not clear yet. That girl hasn’t told the family.”

Xue Mei handed over the clothes and suddenly shifted the topic: “All these years, my boy has been talking about how great Lanlan is. She’s graduating this year too. His dad pulled some strings and got him into the Land Bureau. Maybe sometime we can find a chance for the two kids to meet?”

Tian Run’e didn’t agree outright but didn’t refuse either. She said gently, “You know her fiery temper. I can’t decide for her. I need to ask her first.”

“Well, a little fiery is good. I like it that way—so she won’t be bullied out there.”

Xue Mei’s face was full of smiles. She really liked Li Lan and had taken a liking to her at first glance. But ever since she joked like this in front of Li Lan last time, Li Lan hadn’t come by again.

After leaving the market, the mother and son, living tightly on their means, went nowhere else but straight to Shimen Station.

Li Heng didn’t ask about what had just happened because he understood well. Although his mother appeared kind to everyone, deep down she was proud and hadn’t really taken a liking to Xue Mei’s children.

If Tian Run’e was like that, his proud second sister would be even more so.

Every market day, the streets were packed with crowds, shoulder to shoulder, congested and suffocating. Li Heng and Tian Run’e struggled with all their might to push through two streets to reach Shimen Station, nearly gasping for air and drenched in sweat.

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By then, the rain had long stopped. Seeing his mother meeting some familiar faces from the production team and preparing to walk home, Li Heng said to her,

“Mom, I won’t walk with you all. I’m waiting for Zhang Zhiyong.”

Tian Run’e knew her son’s nature very well. He’d been lazy since childhood—if he could sit, he wouldn’t stand. He was probably thinking about the hand-pulled tractor again.

But thinking about how close he was with Zhang Zhiyong, she didn’t say much, only reminded him, “Your second sister is going back to school this afternoon. Don’t stay out too late, come back early.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry. I’ll be back by noon for sure.”

He really didn’t want to walk—ten miles, mostly mountain paths, steep and full of muddy potholes. He had already suffered coming here once. Why go through it again?

After seeing Tian Run’e and the village women chatting and laughing as they left, Li Heng found a spot to rest and aimlessly listened to the surrounding people chatting and boasting.

At first, these people talked about all sorts of things—from astronomy and geography to national affairs and trivial gossip, covering everything. The feeling was long missed, and Li Heng felt warmly familiar, silently admiring their knowledge.

Look at that, who says farmers aren’t educated?

But as he listened more, something felt off.

He didn’t know who had started it, but the topic suddenly shifted to the funeral of Grandma Chun from Shangwan Village. Everyone praised how grand it was—the first of its kind in the history of this small town, truly a spectacle.

An old man envied, “If I had such a send-off, I’d die happy.”

A thin man retorted, “Old Shou, you’d need to have a son who’s an official first! Then you wouldn’t have troubles.”

A plump woman interjected, “That’s not true. No matter how high the official, there are troubles. Chen Gaoyuan’s precious daughter was still taken advantage of. I heard she’s top of her class and about to take the college entrance exam this year.”

Suddenly the gossip hit close to home. Lu An froze, his heart pounding without reason.

He cautiously glanced around. Luckily, all faces were strangers—not a single familiar one.

To be sure, he deliberately coughed. Everyone looked over, then quickly averted their eyes and resumed chatting with no reaction.

Feeling reassured, Li Heng tried to join the conversation, asking, “Sir, are you talking about the Chen family from Shangwan Village? Who’s got that kind of power?”

The thin man scratched his head and asked, “What’s the name? I forgot for a moment.”

The plump woman replied, “Li Heng. Li Heng. Heard he’s like Ximen Qing from the opera—silver-tongued and great at sweet-talking women. Many women in Shangwan Village say they don’t dare let their daughters be alone with Li Heng for fear of being tricked.”

What the hell? When did I ever sweet-talk women in the village?

Li Heng twitched, nearly fainting.

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Damn it. Truly, bad news spreads far and wide. He didn’t expect his reputation had already gone beyond Shangwan Village and overshadowed the small town.

At this moment, he felt that that scoundrel Liang with the surname Ba was too uncompetitive—his long-held hot topic crown had been snatched by him.

I’m still young! Can’t you cut me some slack?

Actually, he understood that the reason his and Chen Zijin’s incident spread so widely was because it was linked to the Chen family.

If the Chen family were an ordinary farming household, it would be a different story. The negative impact would be limited to the village and wouldn’t stir waves in the surrounding area.

In the end, it was still people’s hearts playing tricks. For the people in this mountain backwater called Qianzhen, the Chen family was a high-status household, usually only admired from afar. Having such an opportunity to gossip and throw stones after a full meal was naturally something to savor and embellish.

Boom! Boom!

With a roar, Zhang Zhiyong flamboyantly drove a hand-pulled tractor, surrounded by people. It seemed he had made quite a profit today.

As soon as Zhang Zhiyong shut off the engine and jumped off, he shouted loudly toward Li Heng,

“Li Heng! Li Heng! Come help...”

Hearing his name, the group who had been chatting with Li Heng just moments ago froze! Silence fell.

No one spoke.

They all turned their heads in unison, eyes wide.

Their minds raced quickly.

Fortunately, Li Heng was sharp. The instant Zhang Zhiyong opened his mouth, he hurriedly turned his back and slipped into a nearby alley, vanishing without a trace.

“That young man is Li Heng?”

“From Shangwan Village?”

“Exactly, no doubt!”

Old Shou, the thin man, and the plump woman all gasped sharply. They had just been saying nonsense right in front of the person involved.

The problem was that Li Heng had even shown great interest—what a ridiculous situation.

It was like seeing a ghost in broad daylight!

...

P.S. Overslept.