Nianzi Mountain Brigade. Educated Youth Camp!
In the male educated youth dormitory, the kerosene lamp flickered on and off.
On the small table beneath the lamp sat a dish of peanuts and a dish of pickles. Several male educated youths were gathered around the small square table, drinking in silence.
“Damn it, that slut Tang Xue—what gives her the right to make money without bringing us along!”
“Exactly. She’s just a loose woman—does she really think she’s some kind of goddess?”
“She’s just hooked up with some village ne’er-do-well. It pisses me off so much…”
Listening to the angry voices of these educated youths, Xu Hong, standing nearby, felt a secret sense of satisfaction.
He’d finally managed to stir up the anger simmering inside these guys—all that scheming hadn’t been in vain!
Ever since he’d discovered that Tang Xue was taking those female educated youths into the mountains every day to pick mushrooms for money, he’d been hatching a scheme.
Xu Hong didn’t expect Tang Xue to take him along to make money. He knew she’d already blacklisted him—even if he got down on his knees and begged that slut, she wouldn’t help him.
So he quietly told the other male educated youths about it, egging them on to go find Tang Xue and get her to take them to forage for mountain produce.
If Tang Xue agreed, he would tell those male educated youths the true market price of the wild produce, making them resent her.
After all, mushrooms that sold for six or seven mao per jin, and she was only paying others one or two yuan a day—that was clearly unfair.
But knowing Li Yi—that good-for-nothing—he knew the guy didn’t like them educated youths at all, so it was highly unlikely he’d help them.
This would inevitably provoke resentment among the educated youth.
At that point, if he stirred things up a bit behind their backs, those guys would surely come to hate that good-for-nothing.
Sure enough, things turned out exactly as he’d predicted.
When Zhou Guangya and the others found Tang Xue and explained their purpose, that vile woman indeed rejected their request without hesitation.
This infuriated Zhou Guangya and the others!
They were all educated youths who had come to the countryside together, and whenever there was trouble, it was always the male educated youths who took the brunt of it.
Now that there was a chance to make some money, these female educated youths had abandoned them—it was simply outrageous.
So after returning, the male educated youths drowned their sorrows in alcohol!
“Brother Zhou, say something! We can’t just let this slide!” someone said angrily.
“What do you want me to do? They didn’t bring us along—what can we do about it?” Zhou Guangya sighed.
“Damn it, if I can’t do it, they won’t get a chance either. Tomorrow I’m heading up the mountain to stomp all those rotten mushrooms to pieces!” someone said angrily.
“The woods behind the mountain are huge. Mushrooms are everywhere—how could you possibly pick them all?”
“Well…”
“What they’re doing is profiteering—they’re undermining socialism. We should report them to the commune!”
“Do you really think reporting them will do any good? If it did, Xu Hong wouldn’t have been beaten so badly by that bastard, would he?”
Just then, Zhou Guangya suddenly turned his gaze to Xu Hong and, emboldened by the alcohol, asked, “Xu Hong, tell me the truth—did you report that good-for-nothing from the Li family that day?”
Everyone had asked Xu Hong this question before, but he’d never answered—he’d just told them to stop asking.
Although everyone had a pretty good idea of the answer, they didn’t know the full story.
Hearing Zhou Guangya’s question, everyone’s gaze fixed on Xu Hong.
Xu Hong hesitated briefly, but finally nodded and said, “Yeah, I was the one who reported him!”
Zhou Guangya frowned and asked, “Why did you report him?”
“Because that good-for-nothing told the people at the state-run restaurant not to take our mushrooms. He wanted to have the market all to himself, and I couldn’t stand it, so I did it!” Xu Hong said.
Xu Hong’s move once again earned Li Yi a wave of hatred:
“Hmph, that good-for-nothing from the Li family is truly rotten to the core—he’s the worst of the worst. How could he do something like that!”
“Exactly. We sell our mushrooms, and he sells his. What gives him the right to make the state-run restaurant refuse to buy ours!”
“Damn it, I’d love to chop that bastard to pieces right now…”
But they could only dream of it. After all, in Nianzishan Village, they had always been outsiders.
Usually, the commune members seemed friendly enough, but if they dared to cause trouble with the locals, those members would turn on them in a heartbeat.
This kind of thing had been all too common over the past few years, so they really didn’t dare lay a finger on Li Yi.
Zhou Yaguang suddenly asked, “Did you actually see that good-for-nothing from the Li family get arrested by the police?”
“Yeah, I saw him get arrested with my own eyes, but for some reason, he was released again by evening!” Xu Hong said in a low voice.
Zhou Yaguang narrowed his eyes and said, “If I’m not mistaken, that guy has connections in the county who helped him smooth things over!”
“The Li family has connections in the county?”
“Yeah, I heard from people at the commune a while back that Li Yi saved the father of a county official on the road. He’s probably relying on that connection!”
The news of Li Yi’s recent rescue and subsequent commendation had spread like wildfire throughout the village. Although Li Yi had specifically instructed Feng Kai and the others not to reveal Wang Anmin’s identity, everyone still knew he had saved the father of a local official.
Upon hearing Zhou Guangya’s words, everyone fell silent.
If Li Yi really had such powerful connections in the county, reporting him to the commune would certainly be of no use.
For a moment, the male educated youths all fell silent!
Just then, Xu Hong suddenly spoke up: “I have an idea—maybe we can sabotage their mushroom business!”
“What idea?” someone asked immediately.
Xu Hong didn’t come out and say it outright. Instead, he opened the dorm room door, peered outside to make sure no one was eavesdropping, and only then returned to the room.
Then he whispered, “Everyone knows that Li’s good-for-nothing son’s mushrooms are all sent to the state-run restaurant. Right now, the state-run restaurant is the only place in the whole county with that kind of demand. All we have to do is make sure the state-run restaurant stops buying Li Yi’s mushrooms!”
“Why should state-run restaurants listen to us?” someone retorted.
Xu Hong gave a sinister smile and said, “Hmph, of course they won’t listen to me. But if the mushrooms they buy from Li Yi make someone sick, do you think they’ll still want his mushrooms?”
“Make people sick?”
“Right. Not all mushrooms are edible—there are plenty of poisonous ones out there!” Xu Hong said.
“But… they’ve been supplying them for so long without any problems.”
Xu Hong replied, “The reason they’ve been fine is because they’ve inspected every single mushroom—of course they wouldn’t let any poisonous ones slip through. But we can do this instead…”
Then, Xu Hong laid out his plan!
After hearing Xu Hong’s plan, the male educated youths present were all stunned.
Although they were all furious at Li Yi and Tang Xue’s actions, they had never considered harming anyone.
But if they followed Xu Hong’s instructions, they would be setting someone up—and might even invite unnecessary trouble.
For a moment, everyone fell silent.
Seizing the moment, Xu Hong pressed on: “We’re not really trying to harm anyone—we just want justice!”
“Besides, we don’t need to put those highly toxic mushrooms in there. We just need to mix in some ‘cow dung mushrooms’—they’re not that poisonous. Do it a couple of times, and I bet those people at the state-run restaurant won’t dare take Li Yi’s mushrooms anymore.”
“Once they stop taking Li Yi’s mushrooms, don’t you think our chance will come? Then we’ll let those cheap women watch us make a fortune!”
You have to admit, Xu Hong’s words were quite inflammatory.
No sooner had he finished speaking than someone immediately chimed in: “Damn it, fortune favors the bold—let’s do it!”
“Count me in. I’ve had more than enough of these hard times where we can’t even eat our fill or keep warm!”
“Alright, let’s do it…”
…….