Chapter 53: I Am Telling You to Go!

One afternoon, Yujun went again to listen to a class under the north window of the lower-grade classroom at the school, when suddenly he heard someone shouting, "Yujun, your cow has broken loose and is eating the crops."

Yujun hurried over to Water Chestnut Pond and saw his mother holding the ox by the tether, questioning Wang Hongbing. "The ox has grazed on the crops before and it was never an issue. Why are you docking my work points this time?"

Wang Hongbing replied, "We are enforcing strict management now."

"You docked a full eighty work points just like that—what is your justification?" Caiyun felt that Wang Hongbing was being far too ruthless, instantly wiping out several days of hard labor for her entire family.

"My decision is the justification," Wang Hongbing retorted righteously.

"You're deliberately trying to persecute people."

"If you're not satisfied, you can go and report me to the work team."

"Don't think I wouldn't dare."

"I know you dare. But let me warn you, stop talking nonsense. If you can't produce evidence, watch out or I'll sue you for defamation!"

Seeing Yujun walking over leisurely, and with the fury in her chest having nowhere to vent, Caiyun raised the small wooden stick in her hand and swung it at him. "You ungrateful wretch! Instead of properly tending the ox, where the hell have you been?"

"I went to listen to a lecture."

"Listen, listen, always listening! Didn't I tell you not to go? Why didn't you listen? Kneel down!" Caiyun beat Yujun with the stick over and over again.

Yujun knelt there motionless, enduring his mother's blows and the release of her fury.

Seeing that Yujun made no sound, Caiyun assumed he had admitted his mistake, so she twisted his ear. "I'm asking you, are you going to go again?"

"I'll go! I'm going right now! Who told you not to let me go to school?" Kneeling on the ground, Yujun suddenly raised his head, stiffened his neck, and said with unwavering determination.

"I'll let you go! I'll let you go!..." Yujun's words fanned the flames of anger in Caiyun's heart once more, and she beat him again.

"I'm asking you one more time, are you still going?" Caiyun's arms were already aching, and she hoped Yujun would yield.

"Even if you beat me to death, I'm still going!"

"I'll teach you to talk back! Today I'm going to beat you to death!" This time Caiyun was truly enraged. She brandished the wooden stick and thrashed Yujun fiercely until she was utterly exhausted, whereupon she gave him a kick that sent him tumbling into the pond, and walked away without looking back.

Team Leader Li, passing by Water Chestnut Pond, suddenly noticed ripples in a corner of the water and heard splashing sounds. Drawing closer, she saw a child struggling in the water. She immediately plunged in, pulled the child up, and discovered it was Yujun. He was incoherent, his eyes tightly closed, his face purple, his belly hard and bloated, and his breathing short and faint.

She immediately cleared the foreign objects from Yujun's mouth and nasal cavity, placed his face downward with his abdomen across her thigh so that his head hung low, and gently patted his back. Yujun spat out a large amount of turbid water, and then she picked him up and hurried toward his home.

When Caiyun returned home, she felt utterly exhausted. She lay down on the bed, not wanting to move a muscle. She did not know whether this fatigue came from farm work, from beating Yujun, or from the sheer exasperation that weighed down her heart.

Yujun had always been a gentle and obedient child. What had gotten into him today to make him so stubborn and wayward? Caiyun felt as though she barely recognized him anymore. She even wondered if this truly was the son she had borne and raised for eight years.

Because of Yujun's sneaking off to school to sit in on classes, Teacher Yang had once sought out Caiyun to express the hope that the boy could attend school properly. But Caiyun still wanted to wait until Yuqiang graduated before letting Yujun start, as she worried that Wang Hongbing might genuinely dock their grain rations.

Many families in the village with decent conditions did not send their children to school, keeping them at home to hustle for work points. Given how heavily in debt her own family was with no way to pay it back, sending both sons to school simultaneously simply defied reason. If Wang Hongbing docked her grain because of this, she would truly have nothing to say, and the fellow villagers would likewise conclude that she lacked any genuine willingness to pay off her debts.

Yet Yujun could not grasp these considerations. He simply wanted to go to school, and when forbidden, he would sneak off to listen to lessons. No matter what Caiyun said, it was of no use; he remained as headstrong as ever. Caiyun had never imagined that Yujun could be so persistent about something he loved.

This was the first time Caiyun had ever lost her temper to such an extreme degree. The crux of the matter was that Wang Hongbing was pushing people too far. The ox belonged to the production team, and because it had eaten a tiny bit of the crops, he had docked her eighty work points—that was entirely excessive. She could not fathom why Wang Hongbing was acting this way.

Ever since the work team entered the village, Wang Hongbing had worked with even greater zeal, hovering around Team Leader Wu of the work team at every opportunity and urging everyone to actively cooperate with the work team's efforts.

His wife, Han Xiuxia, had practically become an appendage attached to Team Leader Li. Wherever Team Leader Li went to embed herself and forge ties with the masses, Han Xiuxia followed right behind, always managing to find some pretext or topic of conversation. Although Team Leader Li found her deeply irritating, it was awkward to chase her away directly.

Caiyun was well aware of this. Whenever Han Xiuxia came sniffing around, she would find an excuse to invite Team Leader Li into her small private room to talk.

The topics Team Leader Li brought up with Caiyun were wide-ranging, encompassing the political, ideological, and economic conditions of the production team and brigade leaders, as well as the status of the "four categories of elements."

As far as Caiyun was concerned, among the several cadres of the production team, only Wang Hongbing was utterly vile; the rest were passable. Although the memory of how Wang Hongbing had humiliated, trampled upon, and nearly driven her to death back then remained vivid in her mind, she chose not to raise the matter, taking into account the influence of clan forces. She had no wish to escalate things, and she also feared that a lack of evidence might cause the fire to backfire and consume her.

"Caiyun, Yujun fell into the water!" Team Leader Li called out urgently as she reached the doorway.

Hearing this, Caiyun did not take it to heart. She knew that Yujun could swim, and she also knew precisely how he had "fallen" into the water.

When Team Leader Li carried the half-lifeless Yujun before Caiyun's eyes, panic instantly gripped her. "What? But he knows how to swim! How could this happen?"

Team Leader Li said, "Quickly fetch some water to wash him off."

Caiyun drew some water from the storage vat to cleanse Yujun's mouth and nose, and removed foreign debris like water chestnut leaves from his hair. Team Leader Li stripped off Yujun's wet garments and discovered a series of angry red welts running across his back.

"Yujun, Yujun, what's wrong with you? Don't you know how to swim? How did it come to this?" Caiyun stroked Yujun's head, calling out to him anxiously.

"Were your legs injured from the beating?" Caiyun gently felt Yujun's legs.

"Why would you beat a child like this? Look at the scars on his back—did you do this?" Team Leader Li was clearly casting blame on Caiyun.

"My son, Mom has failed you!" Regret washed over Caiyun.

Team Leader Li asked angrily, "Why would you strike him so viciously?"

Caiyun gave Team Leader Li a detailed account of how the entire incident had unfolded.

"Do you know why Wang Hongbing acted that way?" Team Leader Li asked.

Caiyun replied, "He was settling a personal score under the guise of public business!"

"Settling a personal score? What kind of grievance is there between you two?"

Realizing she had let something slip, Caiyun hurriedly backpedaled, "No! Slip of the tongue, I just meant there were some misunderstandings."

"The tone of your voice didn't sound like a slip of the tongue to me. Every time you mention Wang Hongbing, you hesitate and hold back. Do you have some kind of misgivings?"

Caiyun had originally intended to avoid discussing Wang Hongbing with the work team, but this time he had pushed her beyond endurance. She felt that enduring all his previous bullying had only made him perceive her as weak, easily trampled upon, and emboldened him to push her further. Now was the moment to seize the opportunity to teach him a lesson.

Caiyun said, "Actually, I don't have any major misgivings. I just wanted to know how you handle issues reported by the masses."

"As long as the reported issues are verified as true, we will certainly act impartially, handle the matter rigorously, and give everyone a satisfactory explanation."

"Very well. Regarding Wang Hongbing, I have two issues to raise."

"Go ahead."

"First, his wife was bedridden with paralysis for many years and has only recently recovered. She can only manage the lightest of farm chores, yet her base score was assessed at eight and a half points. I consider this unreasonable and ask the work team to review it."

"Very good. Please continue."

"Second, during those extremely difficult years, not only did nobody in his family starve to death, but not even a single person suffered from edema. We would like to know, as the production team leader, how he managed to achieve that? Please have him explain."

Team Leader Li said, "Regarding the first issue, we will definitely reach a conclusion and take action. As for the second issue, can you be a bit more specific?"

Caiyun answered, "I can only say this much."

Team Leader Li pressed further, "Some people have reported that Wang Hongbing stole grain and hid it in the ancestral tombs. You are his neighbor—do you have any clues to offer us?"

"No." Hearing this, Caiyun felt her heart skip a beat, suddenly terrified that her own secret of using the ancestral tombs to hide grain might also have been exposed.

"Have the commune members expressed any concerns regarding Wang Hongbing's lifestyle and personal conduct?"

"I haven't heard any." Caiyun had not expected Team Leader Li to ask this question, and a wave of nervous tension washed over her, fearing that the investigator would continue to hound her on the subject.

"Do not speak to anyone about the contents of our conversation today."

"I understand that much."

That evening, when Yuqiang returned from school, Yujun had just regained consciousness not long before. His body remained very weak, his spirits were low, and he was unwilling to speak. Caiyun sat constantly by his side, continuously massaging his abdomen and chest, feeling relieved as his breathing gradually returned to normal.

When Yuqiang learned what had transpired, he said to his mother, "Mom, I don't want to go to school anymore. Let my younger brother go instead."

"You're only a year away from graduating junior high school. It would be such a waste to quit now."

"Graduating or not graduating makes no difference. Either way, I'll just end up coming back home to farm the land."