Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Incitement

The first broadcast sounded, and finally there was some movement in the educated youth station. The door of the male youths’ room opened, and Huang Dahai, seeing the person leaning against the female youths’ door, was startled, “You, who are you?”

The lights in the room turned on, and Huang Dahai finally saw Xu Manman’s face clearly. He asked in surprise, “Why are you staying here?”

Duan Qingmei opened the door and stepped over Xu Manman, treating her like a dog.

Xu Manman smiled a smile that looked worse than crying, “It’s nothing, it’s my fault, I got back late last night.”

By now, almost everyone knew that Xu Manman was locked out by the female educated youths last night. Those who originally looked down on her now felt very complicated.

The atmosphere at the educated youth station was very gloomy. While eating breakfast, everyone had their heads down and no one spoke.

Duan Qingmei suddenly put her lunchbox on the table and glared at Xu Manman, who was nibbling on a black bread and vegetable bun with red eyes.

Furious, she said, “What are you pretending for? Having done such shameless things, you still want us to treat you like a princess?”

Tears rolled down Xu Manman’s face, “I didn’t mean that, I haven’t said anything. I’ll find the team leader today and try to move out of the educated youth station.”

She stood up and bowed deeply towards the female educated youths, “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean it, I didn’t expect this to happen, I’m sorry!”

She said while crying.

“What’s really going on? Did someone really set you two up?” Zhang Tieshan asked suspiciously.

“Yes, why didn’t you say something last night?” Zhou Chang’an had to wonder, was there really some foul play?

“It’s nothing,” Xu Manman said with full grievance, tears falling like rain, sobbing, “It’s already like this now. Saying more will only implicate others, so it’s better to say nothing at all.”

She pressed her lips together, her teary and pitiful look was truly heart-wrenching.

Xu Hongtu suddenly stood up, “I’m going to find Xu Qinghuan!”

Xu Manman quickly grabbed Xu Hongtu’s arm, gently shook her head, and tears followed, “Brother, no, just let it go!”

She cried sadly, feeling very wronged.

Jiang Chengxu sat aside eating slowly, as if this matter had nothing to do with him.

Zhang Tieshan asked him, “Comrade Jiang, what do you think? Should we investigate this matter?”

Jiang Chengxu glanced at Xu Manman coldly, “No need, isn’t it embarrassing enough already?”

He asked Xu Manman, “Last night, when I went to find Xu Qinghuan, why did you follow me?”

Xu Manman looked as if she had been struck by lightning, “Brother Chengxu, are you suspecting me? I saw you go out, and I had something to say to you. When I saw you going in that direction, I was afraid… afraid that thug would hit you, so I followed you.”

But at this moment, Jiang Chengxu didn’t believe a word. He indeed followed behind Jiang Xingye, but he lingered in front of the Jiang Family’s house for so long, and Xu Manman never took a step away. Why?

Just now, he had watched coldly as Xu Manman turned the originally hostile educated youths’ stance with just her tears. He couldn’t help but think of his past self.

Back then, time and again, he chose Xu Manman and stood by her side. What did Qinghuan think?

Was that why she was so disappointed in him and ultimately decided to break off the engagement?

The third broadcast sounded. The educated youths headed to the brigade office, with Jiang Chengxu following behind them, walking very slowly, as if his legs were made of lead.

His life had been ruined like this.

Xu Manman timidly tugged at his sleeve, pitifully calling, “Brother Chengxu!”

Although Jiang Chengxu had said he would marry her, his attitude towards her had clearly changed, making Xu Manman wary.

“I will marry you. Choose a time, and we’ll go to the brigade office to get a proof. As for the wedding, you can arrange it.” Jiang Chengxu left without even looking at her.

“Brother Chengxu!” Xu Manman took two steps to catch up, crying, “Brother Chengxu, do you not want to marry me?”

Jiang Chengxu turned his head, looking at her with disdain, “I remember you said you admired me but never dared to dream of having me. What about last night?”

“I don’t know, I really don’t know what happened,” Xu Manman cried out.

“Brother Chengxu, if we don’t have a wedding now, they’ll treat us as… struggle targets. I don’t mind however, but you can’t, you’re destined for greatness. How can you endure such humiliation?”

Jiang Chengxu couldn’t help but be moved, having to admit that Xu Qinghuan had never given him such profound affection.

“Brother Chengxu!” Xu Manman didn’t miss this opportunity. She hugged him from behind,

“My sister doesn’t care about you anymore. You can only stay here now. Let me accompany you, alright? When you return to the city, we’ll part ways then. I promise not to delay you!”

Last night, if only there was a child in her belly, it would have been better.

It was her first time too, so she had no experience. But she knew, it seemed when a man and woman did that, a child would follow.

At the brigade office, Jiang Baohua started assigning tasks. He originally planned to let Jiang Xingye lead a few strong men to gather heads of grass, and by the end of the day, they would definitely have full work points.

But looking left and right, he didn’t see Jiang Xingye.

At this time, Zhang Tieshan stepped forward, “Team Leader, where has Comrade Jiang Xingye gone? Isn’t it the critical time for the harvest? Is he not participating in the harvest task?”

Hu Hai shouted, “What’s it to you if Brother Ye comes or not? You, an educated youth, are meddling with our commune members?”

The commune members also chimed in, “Exactly, you should mind your own business!”

“Yeah, stop dabbling in these things all day, it’s ruining our brigade’s atmosphere.”

Zhang Tieshan was fuming with anger. He was the leader of the educated youth team. In just two days, two female youths had been harmed. He didn’t believe it was a coincidence.

When everyone got their tools and went down to the field, Xu Manman seemingly unintentionally walked beside Zhang Tieshan and whispered, “Brother Tieshan, don’t cause any more trouble for us against the team members. We don’t know how long we’ll be living here; strong dragons are no match for local snakes. Offending them is not good.”

Zhang Tieshan seemed to find an outlet for his pent-up frustration and said angrily, “But we can’t just let ourselves be bullied for no reason!”

“But what can we do!” Xu Manman said, “Even though we are victims, if we speak up, it will all be our fault. To be honest, I’m lucky enough. Comrade Kong is worse off than I am.”

Her voice was choked with emotion, making Zhang Tieshan feel particularly uncomfortable.

“There will be a way!” Zhang Tieshan said through gritted teeth. Now there was an opportunity. He wanted to see if Jiang Xingye could blatantly skip the work duty at such a critical time for the harvest.

Jiang Chengxu was also considering this issue. He remembered that during the latter part of this year’s harvest, Anguang County experienced a heavy rain. The reason he knew this detail was because in the dream of that lifetime, Xu Manman had gone to the countryside in Anguang County.

That rainstorm led to a failed autumn harvest, resulting in a significant reduction in the yield, and the county had a poor grain harvest. She almost starved to death.

Later, when they were together, Xu Manman mentioned this several times to him.

If that’s the case, Jiang Xingye not participating in production would be something he could use.

Xu Qinghuan was currently dealing with Tang Jinmei. She had gone to her uncle, the deputy director of the commune, hoping he would pressure the health center’s director to sign the handover form. But her uncle sternly refused and gave her money to replace all the mismatched pharmaceutical equipment.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep