Chapter 19: The Lazy Educated Youth (19)

Chapter 19 The Lazy Educated Youth (19)

Chen Deqiang heard what Luo Fang said, and even though he was older than everyone present, his face flushed red.

"This really wasn't handled right on my end," Chen Deqiang said. "Luo Fang, don't worry. He Yubin won't get shorted a single thing that's owed to him."

Luo Fang put her hands on her hips and said, "Brother Chen, I'm not here to argue with you. This isn't your fault, and you don't need to take the blame for anyone else! The village chief made it clear from the start—whatever is meant for someone goes to that person. We're just here to get an answer. Whoever took it, we'll go after them!"

Wu Qing didn't figure he'd done anything wrong in the first place. Seeing He Yubin standing there like nothing was wrong while Luo Fang fought his battles only made Wu Qing hate him even more.

Anyway, Wu Qing's jealousy was unstoppable. Before, he couldn't figure out how the hell He Yubin got so lucky as to move in with the Luo family. Now he could roughly guess—he'd gotten cozy with Luo Fang! Today, just because she thought He Yubin got picked on, she came storming into the compound to raise hell.

Wu Qing thought to himself that country women really were a bunch of shrews, just like the saying went. Even if Luo Fang was the daughter of Shanbao Village's chief, he wouldn't touch a woman like her with a ten-foot pole.

And that He Yubin—he had no real skills, just a bunch of slick moves.

With that in mind, he stepped forward and said, "The village chief said the stuff was meant for the educated youth compound. He Yubin doesn't even live here anymore. Why should he get a cut?"

Chen Deqiang's heart dropped the moment Wu Qing stepped forward. Sure enough, as soon as he spoke, the mood that had just relaxed went right back to being tense.

Normally, he'd back the folks in the compound—they were his own people. But today, Wu Qing was clearly in the wrong.

He sighed. "Wu Qing, why don't you pipe down?"

"Why should I shut up? Am I wrong? He Yubin hasn't lived here in a long time. Our compound already has a rough time in winter—we don't even have enough coal to stay warm—and now we gotta set aside a share for him too? Brother Chen, I know you're the big brother here and don't wanna be the bad guy, so I'll take that role!"

At that, Chen Deqiang's face went completely red. He snapped, "Wu Qing, look at how the stuff is divided up first! Every educated youth who came down to the countryside gets a share, period."

"Some people don't lift a finger and go live it up at somebody else's place, while our room can't even keep the kang heated, and somebody in the compound already caught a chill and got sick. What kind of sense does that make?" Wu Qing turned to the others gathered in the compound.

The educated youths had never really liked He Yubin much to begin with, and Wu Qing's words really got to them, so they started whispering among themselves in little clusters.

He Yubin had been watching it all coldly. Now he walked over with a smile and said, "Brother Chen, let me apologize to you first off. Luo Fang just says what's on her mind—she didn't come here to stir up trouble."

"Wu Qing's got a point—I don't live here anymore, and the compound's short on coal. So I'm fine with giving all my coal to the compound and just taking the four books."

Before anyone could react, he added, "But Wu Qing's room doesn't seem to be short on coal, does it? Three guys in one room with plenty of coal to burn—so why'd they sneak off and take my share too? If it's really like he says, then why not move my coal over to the girls' room?"

At that, the two educated youths sharing a room with Wu Qing turned beet red, starting to hold a grudge against Wu Qing. It wasn't them who took it, and even without He Yubin's coal, three to a room could get by if they scrimped. Now they were dragged into it and got splattered with the mess.

Chen Deqiang said, "Wu Qing, go to your room right now and bring out every last bit of He Yubin's coal. Give it all back."

Wu Qing didn't budge, but once the others started backing Chen Deqiang, he had no choice—he went back, hauled out a basket of coal, and dumped it in the yard.

He Yubin handed the coal over to the two female educated youths and told them to burn it in their room for the winter. Once Chen Deqiang brought out the four books and handed them over, He Yubin called for Luo Chengxing and Luo Fang to head out.

Luo Chengxing took the books, two in each hand, and shot a glance back at Wu Qing.

That look made Wu Qing's skin crawl. He suddenly felt Luo Datou was a weird one—always so quiet and reserved in the village, hadn't said much when he came to the compound, but that one parting look sent a chill down his spine.

Luo Fang hadn't said a peep, not because she didn't want to, but because her brother kept dragging her along! It was killing her, especially when Wu Qing was spouting that garbage earlier—she'd wanted to lunge at him.

"Why'd you have to go raise hell at the educated youth compound?" Luo Chengxing scolded Luo Fang.

Luo Fang pouted. Now that she'd cooled off, she felt a little regretful. He Yubin had tried to talk her out of it a few times on the way, but the more he urged, the faster she walked. Now she'd gone and made a scene at the compound, and the whole village was gonna know she had a hot temper.

She turned to He Yubin and said, "This is all your fault. You just play the saint and even hand the coal over to the girls."

He Yubin glanced at her but didn't snap back this time. Instead, he said to Luo Chengxing, "Don't blame Luo Fang. If she hadn't said it out in the open, this wouldn't have gotten settled the same way behind closed doors."

Chen Deqiang might come off as the easygoing big brother type, but he wasn't exactly naive. It wasn't hard to figure that if he'd known about it earlier, he'd have tried to hush it up and make it go away quietly.

Luo Chengxing got what He Yubin was saying, but he was worried that if he didn't chew Luo Fang out a little, she wouldn't learn her lesson. Thanks to what He Yubin said today, even if word got around, nobody would hold it against Luo Fang much. So it was fine within the family, but out in the world, she could easily get used as a pawn.

By the time Luo Chengxing got home, it was already afternoon. Winter days were short, and not long after the three got home, it was already getting dark.

Wang Fengxia had just finished feeding the chickens out back and only let out a sigh of relief when she saw Luo Fang come back safe and sound. She didn't scold her, just gave her ear a pinch. "Your brother brought back some frozen pears from the supply co-op. I put a few on a plate—didn't you say you were dying for some?"

Luo Fang was still rubbing her ear, but her eyes lit up. "Really? I've been dying for a taste."

He Yubin had never seen frozen pears before. They were small, pitch black, and only sort of looked like pears.

"These are sweet. Take a bite and see," Luo Fang said, picking out a big one for He Yubin.

He Yubin took it skeptically. "Since when are you this nice?"

With that, he took a little bite, and it nearly chipped his teeth!

Luo Fang burst out laughing, doubling over and holding her sides. "You're supposed to suck on frozen pears!"

Luo Chengxing watched the two of them from the side, a smile creeping across his face.

Compared to how it was in his memories, this was good...

He was already satisfied.

Luo Chengxing saw that this batch of frozen pears from the supply store was on the small side, so he only had one and didn't stop Luo Fang and He Yubin from having more. The two of them devoured six frozen pears that night—three each.

But Luo Fang was fine, while He Yubin ended up with a stomachache in the middle of the night.

Luo Chengxing stoked the kang to make it hotter and boiled two pots of water. He took one pot to Luo Fang's room and told her to drink plenty so her stomach wouldn't ache, then brought the other to his room and poured He Yubin a full bowl.

"Easy, easy!" He Yubin groaned, sprawled out on the kang.

It was the dead of night, and the oil lamp was still burning.

Luo Chengxing sat on the edge of the kang and reached under the blanket to rub He Yubin's belly. He Yubin's lips were pale as he said, "Sucking on those things till my mouth hurt was bad enough, but now my stomach's killing me too... How come Luo Fang's fine after eating them?"

Luo Chengxing said, "Luo Fang's used to roughing it."

That girl eats anything and has a tougher constitution than He Yubin.

He Yubin closed his eyes. "I never wanna see those things again."

"I'll soak 'em in ice water tomorrow morning and eat the whole lot," Luo Chengxing said, playing along.

He Yubin lay on the pillow, nodding then shaking his head. "Forget it. Don't go making yourself run to the outhouse all day either."

Luo Chengxing smiled.

He Yubin lay there looking at Luo Chengxing. Maybe it was the soft lamplight smoothing out the lines of his face, but He Yubin thought he caught a trace of tenderness in his expression...

He turned his face away.

Luo Chengxing saw He Yubin turn his head the other way and figured he was hurting again. "What's up? You hurting somewhere else?"

"No." He Yubin sat up, grabbed the bowl, and braved the heat to take a few sips, burning his throat. "Go to sleep. Don't you have work detail tomorrow?"

Luo Chengxing figured he was worried about the work detail and said, "I'll let them know tomorrow that you're not going."

“No need, I wasn’t going anyway.” He Yubin endured the heat and drank most of the bowl of water before lying back down.

Luo Chengxing looked at him. “What are you going to do?”

Luo Dasheng hadn’t mentioned any new task for He Yubin at home either.

“It’s almost the New Year, so I asked the brigade leader if we could stage a model opera in the village.” He Yubin had originally planned to wait until the opera was fully rehearsed before telling Luo Chengxing, but he knew the man was stubborn—if he didn’t tell him, Luo Chengxing would keep worrying about it, so it was better to bring it up early.

Luo Chengxing frowned and unconsciously stopped what he was doing. “The brigade leader agreed?”

“Yeah.”

Things were getting better year by year, so putting on a show to add some excitement was a good idea.

“How many work points will it earn?” Luo Chengxing asked again.

He Yubin shot him a look. “Can’t I do something for Shanbao Village?”

Luo Chengxing nodded. “You can.”

Knowing He Yubin, he wouldn’t bother without some benefit.

Sure enough, He Yubin reached one hand out from under the blanket and showed a number with his fingers.

“That’s about what you’d get from field work,” Luo Chengxing said. “Did the brigade leader tell you that?”

He Yubin impatiently shoved his hand away. “See, you’re looking down on cultural activities. To rehearse a model opera, I have to go through it in my head first, right? And write it down—this mental work is no easier than your physical work.”

Luo Chengxing had heard of model operas but had never seen one.

He wasn’t particularly interested in them, but he was worried that if He Yubin took on too much and didn’t do well, it might displease the brigade leader and the others. He thought for a moment, but couldn’t recall He Yubin ever rehearsing a model opera, so he asked a few more questions.

He Yubin knew Luo Datou cared about him; if it were anyone else, Luo Datou wouldn’t bother asking.

“Don’t worry, I’ve watched Shajiabang no less than eighty times, maybe even a hundred—I know it by heart.” He Yubin patted him. “Go to sleep now, alright?”

Luo Chengxing murmured in acknowledgment and asked why he wanted to propose the model opera to the brigade leader.

“Can’t I contribute to the village?” He Yubin said the same thing again.