Chapter 31: Can’t Defeat Her, Yet Have to Bow Down to Her
Ning Xiyue’s words hit the captain right in the heart, making him so happy that he repeatedly said “good, good,” his wrinkled face full of joy.
After that, the captain assigned work for the new educated youths starting tomorrow. Ning Xiyue was placed in a relaxed group — the drying group — whose job was to dry grain on the dam. It was by far the easiest task among all the assignments. The other educated youths looked at her with envy, especially the older ones who knew the situation well.
All the senior educated youths knew that the drying group was the lightest job in the whole team while still earning decent work points. They only needed to spread out the grains on the dam, occasionally turn them over, and collect them on time — and they could earn seven work points per day. Normally, only regular team members could join this group. Educated youths had no chance of getting in.
Other tasks might offer slightly more work points, but they were extremely tiring, especially during the autumn harvest. The workload was heavy, the weather scorching hot — people were exhausted and drenched in sweat. By the end of the harvest, they were darker, thinner, and felt half-dead, especially those who had never experienced such labor before.
But all they could do was envy her silently. They didn’t dare to complain or dream of getting such treatment themselves — after all, they hadn’t earned any certificates or commendation letters. Most importantly, they didn’t dare to question the captain’s decisions. If even the regular villagers had no objections, how could they dare speak up?
Right now, the captain’s favorite person was none other than Comrade Ning.
Ning Xiyue calmly accepted the envious stares from the others. After all, she had earned this with her own ability. She wasn’t afraid of anyone talking or looking.
Looking doesn’t cost you anything, she thought. And it doesn’t change the fact that this job is mine.
“All right, that’s all for today’s meeting. Those who need to work, go work. The new educated youths should get their things in order today — starting tomorrow, you’ll report to your assigned groups for regular work. Meeting dismissed.”
After the captain finished speaking, the villagers gradually left the dam.
Ning Xiaoxiao had initially planned to talk to the captain, but after Ning Xiyue’s award scene and with someone she feared present, she didn’t dare cause trouble anymore. She slipped away with the crowd — not even bothering to pretend to limp anymore.
Chen Yechu, coming down from the stage, noticed this and deliberately shouted loudly, “Xiaoxiao, your foot doesn’t hurt anymore?”
That one sentence successfully drew everyone’s attention to Ning Xiaoxiao’s feet.
A young male villager nearby looked at her curiously. “Huh? Comrade Ning, you’re not limping anymore? How did you recover so fast? Weren’t you going to ask the captain for leave?”
“Mm, it doesn’t hurt now. The autumn harvest is most important, so I decided not to waste time asking for leave.”
Ning Xiaoxiao smiled gently on the surface, but inside, she was impatient. She just wanted to leave — why were they surrounding her? If she went to ask for leave now, she’d only get scolded.
An older aunt standing nearby mocked with a laugh, “I think Comrade Ning has intermittent limping. Haha.”
Trying to skip work again, huh? The villagers all knew that these educated youths always had something up their sleeves. Earlier, she had been covertly criticizing the new Comrade Ning, thinking no one noticed. And now that Ning Xiyue had received an award, she didn’t dare go to the captain anymore.
“Maybe Comrade Ning Xiaoxiao is practicing how to limp so she can scam people later.”
Seeing the situation, Ning Xiyue spoke up from the crowd in a deliberately muffled voice, “Who knows, maybe she was trying to imitate Li Cripple’s walk.” Then she quietly moved to another spot to continue watching the drama.
Upon hearing that, an aunt in the crowd reacted, “Wait, could Ning Xiaoxiao have been imitating Li Cripple’s walk earlier?”
“No…” Ning Xiaoxiao shook her head in panic, trying to leave, but it was impossible to get through the crowd.
Up ahead, Li Cripple, who had been walking slowly, was suddenly dragged into the mess. He hated people mocking the way he walked, and hearing that someone had imitated him made him furious. He turned around and glared at Ning Xiaoxiao, shouting angrily, “Peh! You little b*tch, you want a beating, don’t you?”
Li Cripple even tried to rush over and hit her, but the bystanders quickly held him back.
The captain, who had wanted to talk more with the comrades from the Public Security Bureau, frowned when he heard the commotion below and yelled, “What’s going on down there? Why are you all crowding around instead of working? Don’t want work points? Don’t want grain? Don’t want to eat, huh?”
The villagers, scared by the captain’s anger, quickly tried to clear themselves of blame, pointing at Ning Xiaoxiao and shouting, “Captain, it’s Comrade Ning who wanted to ask for leave. She said her foot hurt.”
Zhang Dawei asked impatiently, “Leave for what? What’s wrong with your foot?”
“Captain, I won’t ask for leave. My foot is fine. I’ll go work right now,” Ning Xiaoxiao said, blinking her innocent big eyes and looking weakly at the captain.
But this trick didn’t work on the rough and straightforward Zhang Dawei — in fact, it only made him dislike her even more.
Suddenly, Li Cripple wailed, “Captain, when she came earlier, she was limping! Now she’s not! She must’ve been mocking the way I walk. Captain, you have to stand up for me!!”
“Enough! What are you yelling for?” Zhang Dawei shot him a sharp look, and Li Cripple immediately fell silent. Once the noise died down, Zhang Dawei stared coldly at Ning Xiaoxiao. “What’s going on with your foot? It hurts one moment and not the next — are you trying to start trouble?”
Wu Zhigang, her sycophant, stepped forward to defend her. “Captain, Xiaoxiao’s foot was pricked by a needle. It was Comrade Ning Xiyue and Comrade Chen Yechu who did it.”
“Hmm?” Comrade Ji — who had somehow walked over — narrowed his cold, sharp eyes at Wu Zhigang as if he were staring down an enemy on the battlefield.
Wu Zhigang broke into a cold sweat under that gaze. He suddenly remembered that Ning Xiyue had just received a commendation from the police. If he accused her of hitting someone with a brick and stabbing someone’s foot, it would be like slapping the police in the face. The other educated youths were all watching silently, unwilling to help Ning Xiaoxiao. Stammering, he changed his words:
“B-but… they did it to save Xiaoxiao. Everyone says pricking someone’s foot to let out blood can wake them up. And sure enough, after they did it, she woke up immediately. Everyone in the educated youth dorm helped her. She should be… thanking them…”
Hearing this and recalling what the villagers had said earlier, Zhang Dawei pieced things together quickly. He spat out his next words coldly as he stared at Ning Xiaoxiao. “So what do you have to say for yourself?”
Ning Xiaoxiao silently cursed Chen Yechu for speaking up earlier. Seeing that the situation was entirely against her, she put on a sincere expression and said, “Captain, I didn’t mean anything else. I accidentally twisted my ankle earlier — it had nothing to do with anyone else. It doesn’t hurt now, and I want to go to work. I’m very grateful to everyone for saving me last night.”
Ning Xiyue spoke up at just the right moment. “Captain, we helped her last night, but she still hasn’t thanked us one by one.”
The captain glanced at the onlookers, then at the furious Li Cripple, and finally turned to Ning Xiaoxiao with a stern expression.
“Here’s how we’ll handle this: Ning Xiaoxiao, go thank everyone from the educated youth dorm who helped you. Then everyone should get back to work. Anyone who stirs up trouble again will have work points deducted.”
How embarrassing, he thought. And right in front of the county police comrades, too.
Ning Xiaoxiao reluctantly walked up to the other educated youths and thanked them one by one. Finally, she approached Ning Xiyue, suppressing the resentment rising in her throat, and muttered softly, “Thank you.”
“How strange,” Ning Xiyue said, digging a finger into her ear. “I didn’t hear that clearly. Could you say it louder?”
Seeing Ning Xiaoxiao’s frustrated expression filled Ning Xiyue with delight. She loved seeing her enemies unable to defeat her but still forced to bow their heads.
“Thank you for saving me, Comrade Ning Xiyue!” Ning Xiaoxiao shouted loudly, practically gritting her teeth on the words “Ning Xiyue.”
Satisfied, Ning Xiyue looked at her sincerely and said, “You’re welcome. If you faint again next time, I’ll save you again. Don’t worry — I might not be able to treat everyone’s illnesses, but I’ll do my best to treat yours.”
Those words made Ning Xiaoxiao so angry she could hardly breathe, but she had no choice but to endure it.
The captain, hearing Ning Xiyue’s words, nodded in satisfaction. He hadn’t expected Moon Girl to not only enjoy doing good deeds but also to be humble, friendly, and even knowledgeable about medicine. Truly an excellent comrade.
“Good. Since everyone has received your thanks, let’s end this here. Go on, everyone — stop wasting time and get to work.”
At his order, the villagers didn’t dare delay any longer. They scattered to work, still carrying the excitement of having just watched a juicy drama.
