Struggle Life in the 1970s

"I testify! He was the one who beat someone just now." Mu Zhiqing was very angry and stood up to speak.

When Chu Ye was being beaten, he rushed over from behind and grabbed Zhao Xuesong by the throat.

He was originally half a head taller than Zhao Xuesong, and now he watched Zhao Xuesong struggling under his hands with cold eyes.

"You still want to fight?" Mu Zhiqing kicked him in the leg angrily. With a "thump!", Zhao Xuesong fell to his knees. Mu Zhiqing grabbed his wrists again, preventing him from getting up.

At this time he finally reacted and realized that he had fallen into Chu Ye's trap. He opened his mouth to explain, but no one believed him.

The slap marks on Chu Ye's face were clearly visible, and there were witnesses, so people naturally trusted her more.

Zhao Xuesong gritted his teeth and looked at Chu Ye with resentment, but he didn't expect that "Pa!" a slap would land hard on his face.

Aunt Wang retracted her hand and said angrily, "How dare you stare at me! You are such a scoundrel, you don't care about anything. How can you be so evil!"

"That's right. Miss Ye is a good girl. How could he have the heart to do that to her?"

"Shameless bastard, slap his face to pieces!"

Everyone gathered around Zhao Xuesong and kept cursing him.

Zhao Xuesong was kneeling in the middle of the crowd. His hair, which had been carefully combed, became messy and his hands were tied. This kind of embarrassing look was the first time in his life.

The shouting and cursing of the villagers in his ears became more and more unpleasant, and his original intention to defend himself was also aroused.

He roared, "So what if I beat her? Chu Ye will marry into our Zhao family sooner or later! This is a family matter, it's none of your business!"

"Pah!" Another kick, Mu Zhiqing kicked the man with the tip of his shoe without any hesitation, "Watch your mouth and speak properly."

"Hey my temper, why is he talking so badly?"

"I originally thought that it was not easy for us to say anything when young people were looking for a partner. But now I see that the old Chu family is not a serious person."

"That's right! He took advantage of his family's little money and started to act like a bully, using class tactics. Arrest him!"

Zhao Xuesong's words completely angered everyone, and Chu's father gave up the idea of ​​making friends with the Zhao family. It's not that he felt sorry for Chu Ye, but looking at this man's attitude, he was afraid that he would not be kind to him in the future.

Although his other three sons-in-law were not from wealthy families, they would always call him father-in-law obediently whenever they saw him and would do work without hesitation when asked to do so.

Zhao Xuesong has such a bad temper, if he gets married, he will not end up well.

Seeing the public outraged and his own daughter being wronged, he naturally wanted to seek justice, "Comrade Zhao, no matter what happened today, your family must give us an explanation. We can't just let it go."

He comforted Chu Ye to wait at home, and he called a few people around who were watching the fun and took them to Zhaojia Village.

Chu Ye looked up with tearful eyes, met Zhao Xuesong's resentful gaze, and curled the corners of her mouth slightly.

In her previous life, when Zhao Xuesong dared to hit her, she would hit back. Although there was a huge difference in physical strength between men and women and she was often hit harder, she still made sure Zhao Xuesong didn't suffer.

So what in this life? As long as Zhao Xuesong dares to provoke her, she will fight back. Besides, she has Zhao Xuesong’s biggest secret in her hand. The worst that can happen is that both of them will die.

Those who were close to the Chu family came out to comfort Chu Ye. Some people who came to watch the fun pulled Brother Jianwen aside and asked him about the scene at the entrance of the village that day. Brother Jianwen naturally told them the truth.

After hearing Chu Ye's clear refusal, Zhao Xuesong came again today and beat people up. Naturally, he was scolded again. As a result, Zhao Xuesong's reputation was completely ruined.

As the sun set, Chu's mother made noodle soup and boiled an egg for Chu Ye. The two of them couldn't wait for Chu's father, so they left an extra bowl of rice and waited for the person to come back.

It was past eight o'clock in the evening and it was completely dark outside. Chu's father returned home. While comforting Chu Ye, he groped in his arms and took out two five-yuan bills.

He said, "Si Ya, don't take today's incident to heart. Dad went to the Zhao family today, and the old couple said that Zhao Xuesong had been in a bad mood for a few days. Maybe he went crazy today and did such a thing. This is the compensation from the Zhao family."

He placed one of the five-yuan notes in Chu Ye's palm and said earnestly, "Dad has seen clearly that the Zhao family is indeed not a good family. You can study hard and I will never let that kid enter our house in the future."

Chu Ye was not polite. He took the money and said okay.

The next morning after breakfast, the slap marks on Chu Ye's face became more and more obvious. She was originally pale, and now her face was red, which looked horrifying.

Chu's father and mother were not as stupid as others, so they simply let Chu Ye recuperate at home for a few days and not let him go to work for the time being.

After Chu Ye agreed and sent the two elders away, she took out her junior high school textbooks and lay on the dining table to study carefully.

However, after a while, there were shouting sounds coming from the gate of the courtyard, and upon listening carefully, it turned out that there were several voices calling her name.

At this time, everyone who was supposed to go to work had already gone, so who else would look for her?

Chu Ye was full of doubts. He stood up and opened the door, only to see a man and two women outside the yard.

The two female comrades were wearing blue work clothes. When they saw her come out, they had smiles on their faces and looked very friendly.

And that man was none other than Mu Zhiqing, who was wearing a grey sweater and holding his briefcase, which looked bulging.

Seeing Chu Ye coming out, he greeted him warmly, "My savior! We just went to the fields to look for your parents, and they said you were resting at home today, so we came here." The two girls also greeted him warmly, but when they saw the red handprint on Chu Ye's face, they were surprised but did not ask any questions.

"They two are here to accompany me. I'm afraid that if I come here alone, you'll be gossiped about," Mu Zhiqing explained.

"Hello, my last name is Deng, you can call me Sister Deng." The girl on the left spoke first, and then pointed to the right, "You can call her Sister Zhang. We know you, the brave girl who saved people."

Sister Zhang smiled and gave a thumbs up, which made Chu Ye feel embarrassed. She invited the three people into the house and brought them hot water.

Mu Zhiqing reached out and took out the contents of his briefcase: a tube of ointment in a yellow package, a glass jar of dried meat, a bag of cereal with English words on it, and a handful of colorful candies.

He spread them on the table and soon piled them up into a small pile. He introduced them one by one, "This ointment is specially used to treat external injuries. Just apply it directly to the injured area."

He glanced at the red marks on Chu Ye's face, pointed at his own face, and said, "Just apply it lightly here, it will be cool and make the wound less painful. I used this a few days ago, it works very well."

He added, "This is beef jerky, you can eat it directly."

Seeing that Chu Ye didn't say anything, he directly opened the jar, took out a stick, put it in Chu Ye's hand, and let the other two female comrades taste it as well.

Chu Ye was a little at a loss. She held the beef jerky and stared at Mu Zhiqing in a daze.

Mu Zhiqing was a head taller than her. He was holding the glass jar, his gray-blue eyes looking at her expectantly, as if he was a big dog, sharing what he thought was delicious with others, and then urging them, "Try it quickly, try it. This is my favorite snack, and I saved it especially for you."

She tried to take a bite, chewed it carefully, and felt the unique taste of the jerky spreading in her mouth. She curved her eyes and praised, "It's delicious."

Seeing this, Mu Zhiqing also smiled. Before he could say anything, Sister Deng spoke up, "Mu Jiajun, your meat jerky is delicious. Where did you buy it? I'll buy some when I get home."

Sister Zhang nodded in agreement. This beef jerky tasted sweet and spicy, and was very chewy. Although she guessed that it would not be cheap, she never expected that Mu Zhiqing would touch his head embarrassedly and said, "This was sent to me by my brother from abroad. If you like it, I will write to ask my brother to send more."

The three people present were secretly shocked and quickly waved their hands to refuse.

Mu Zhiqing smiled and said, "It's okay, I like to eat this too. My brother knows that, so he often sends it to me. I'll get some for you next time."

He pointed to the remaining on the table and continued, "This is oatmeal. You can mix it with hot water in the morning. It has a milky flavor and is sweet. This candy is also delicious."

After the introduction, he looked down at Chu Ye, his eyes sparkling, and said, "Although there is not much food, you eat it first, and I will get it for you later."

Chu Ye:······

Chu Ye hesitated for a while. She didn't want them. They were too expensive. She spoke carefully and chose to refuse gently, "You are too polite. I will just use this one. You can take the others."

She reached for the ointment, which was something she could use.

But she didn't expect that after hearing this, Sister Deng and Sister Zhang looked up at her unexpectedly.

They originally thought that Chu Ye would accept it without hesitation. After all, even they were from the city and there were not many of them. However, she did not have the slightest greed. When people thought about how she had saved people without hesitation before, they couldn't help but look up to her.

Mu Zhiqing frowned and said, "No, I gave this to you specially. You saved my life. These foods are nothing."

He emphasized, "You have to accept it."

After saying that, seeing Chu Ye open his mouth, he was afraid of hearing a rejection, so his eyes turned and fell on the table, and then he saw the junior high school textbook.

He hurriedly asked, "Are you studying junior high school knowledge? Why didn't you go to school?"

What Chu Ye originally wanted to say was twisted on the tip of his tongue, and turned into, "Well, I still have to work for my family, so I can't go to school."

She spoke frankly, but the two sisters looked distressed and continued, "So how much have you learned? Is there anything you don't understand? Let us explain it to you."

When Chu Ye mentioned this, her eyes lit up instantly, and she was visibly happy. She made her request, "It's like this, I plan to study on my own and take the entrance exam in the summer."

"But physics, chemistry and English are very difficult to learn. I can understand some things after reading them once, but I can't do them when answering questions."

She talked about her learning difficulties and then said, "Are there any of you who are good at studying who can tutor me? I can do work for you and run errands for you if you need me to."

The sincerity of her words touched the three of them at once.

Their families are all well-off, having supported them through high school and having no worries about food and clothing. The reason they signed up for the movement to go to the countryside was, firstly, to see the world, but most importantly, they wanted to use their meager strength to improve the rural environment.

It is better to teach people to read than to teach them how to make money. During the few months they went to the countryside, they saw too many girls falling in love and getting married at a young age, and then staying rooted in the countryside for the rest of their lives, never seeing the outside world.

Now that I have met Chu Ye, who is so sensible and studious, I don’t know how touched I am.

Sister Deng spoke first, "It would be best to let Mu Jiajun tutor you in the three subjects you mentioned. He has the best grades in high school and speaks fluent English."

Chu Ye looked over unexpectedly, she only blamed Mu Zhiqing for always smiling brightly every time he saw her, just like that silly dog. She never expected that he was still the one with the best grades.

Mu Zhiqing showed his white teeth and said, "Then if you accept all these things, I will promise to teach you."

(End of this chapter)