Chapter 48: A Messy Four-Way Drama
On the way back, the two of them gradually became more familiar with each other. They talked from Li Xiuxiu’s wound all the way to the moment they were hiding behind the haystack earlier.
Now that she was comfortable around Ning Xiyue, Li Xiuxiu no longer felt embarrassed. Her face was full of excitement as she eagerly gossiped about what had just happened and shared the story of those two people they had seen.
This was exactly Ning Xiyue’s cup of tea — it hit her interests right on the mark.
She pulled out a small handful of home-roasted pumpkin seeds from her pocket and handed them to Li Xiuxiu. “Here, Xiuxiu. Let’s snack on these while we talk.”
“Thanks!” Li Xiuxiu took the seeds, cracking them open one by one as she began telling the whole drama.
“Xiyue, let me tell you, their story is really something. And it even involves two of the educated youth from your compound. I think you’re a good person, so I’m telling you this — but only you.”
“Mm-hmm, go on.”
At the mention of juicy gossip, Ning Xiyue perked right up, her ears literally twitching as she listened intently.
The two main characters from earlier were named Wu Xiuli and Li Jiandang.
And their story? It was as cliché and melodramatic as it gets.
Wu Xiuli had liked Li Jiandang since they were kids — she always followed behind him. But Li Jiandang didn’t like her. He only saw her as a childhood playmate.
Wu Xiuli, however, was the type who’s clingy, stubborn, and refuses to give up — a shameless plaster who sticks and never lets go. No matter how firmly Li Jiandang rejected her, she refused to leave him alone, to the point that he was sick and tired of it.
A while ago, a new educated youth named Ning Xiaoxiao arrived. Li Jiandang once helped her carry some rice plants, and Wu Xiuli saw it. She made a huge scene, causing a terrible commotion.
The two families had already been on slightly bad terms because of conflicts between the younger generation, and this incident only made things worse. Since then, Li Jiandang disliked Wu Xiuli even more — he was absolutely fed up with her and had been trying to avoid her lately.
“Today’s drama started because Li Jiandang glanced a few more times at the new educated youth, Chen Yechu. Wu Xiuli, who’s always watching him like a hawk, noticed and specifically waited for him on the way back from work to confront him.”
Li Xiuxiu said confidently, “I’d bet Wu Xiuli thinks Li Jiandang likes Chen Yechu and is panicking. After all, this new Chen comrade has a refined, elegant look — a proper young lady type — which is a complete contrast to Wu Xiuli. She’s exactly Li Jiandang’s type.”
Ning Xiyue munched on the seeds, completely absorbed.
She knew who Li Jiandang was — the dull, hardworking man who always earned full work points, the cliché male lead from a cheap knockoff story, and Ning Xiaoxiao’s destined partner.
But from the looks of things, the dynamic between these three was off. With Wu Xiuli stuck in the middle, it was starting to feel like a melodramatic four-way entanglement straight out of a soap opera.
It seemed the real script was turning into a messy love battlefield.
Ning Xiyue was actually looking forward to how this would play out. Judging by Wu Xiuli’s expression today, she clearly wouldn’t be able to hold back for long. There’d be some juicy drama to watch soon.
As Li Xiuxiu grew more animated with the story, Ning Xiyue chimed in with her own commentary.
“Hearing it like this, I can’t help but feel that Li Jiandang’s not such a great guy either. One moment he’s helping Ning Xiaoxiao with the rice plants, the next he’s stealing glances at Chen Yechu. Isn’t that just two-timing — falling for anyone he sees?”
But Li Xiuxiu, who knew the truth, shook her head wisely. “No, no, no, Xiyue — you’ve got it wrong. That time with Ning Xiaoxiao wasn’t him volunteering to help. I saw it. Ning Xiaoxiao couldn’t carry the load, so she stopped him on the road and begged for help. Li Jiandang only agreed because the new girl looked like she was about to cry.”
“With my years of watching dramas, I can tell you — Ning Xiaoxiao isn’t simple. With those teary eyes, no one could bring themselves to refuse her. Even I almost felt moved.”
“Then what about him glancing at Chen Yechu today?”
As soon as Ning Xiyue asked, Li Xiuxiu picked up the story again.
“Nothing major. Chen Yechu was assigned to Li Jiandang’s work group. He looked at her a few more times, and while they were working, they had to talk a bit because of the tasks. But Li Jiandang’s ears turned red.”
Ning Xiyue was deeply impressed by Li Xiuxiu’s gossip-digging abilities. At the same time, she couldn’t help but ask curiously:
“Xiuxiu, I’m really curious — how do you know all this so clearly, even down to the little details no one else knows? It’s like you can read their minds.”
“Haha, to be honest, it’s because I sneak around watching their drama every day. I ran into you today because I was watching their show.”
Li Xiuxiu said proudly, “I saw Wu Xiuli lingering around during work today, so I knew something was about to happen. And what do you know — I didn’t even have to follow them later. I ran into the drama on my way home. If it’s served up on a silver platter like that, of course I won’t miss it!”
“You’re amazing.” Ning Xiyue gave her a thumbs-up. “I just happened to squat down there today and watch by accident.”
“Of course.” Li Xiuxiu responded without a hint of modesty.
There was no gossip in this brigade that Li Xiuxiu didn’t know about.
Ning Xiyue could now clearly see that she and Li Xiuxiu shared the same hobby — they both loved eating melon seeds and watching drama unfold, the bigger the mess, the better. And Li Xiuxiu’s gossip radar was razor-sharp — nothing escaped her notice. It was truly impressive.
Before parting, the two even agreed to watch dramas and gossip together again in the future.
After they said goodbye, Ning Xiyue picked up her pace and hurried back to the educated youth compound.
When she arrived, Chen Yechu had just finished cooking lunch. Seeing Ning Xiyue washing her hands in the courtyard, she tossed the vegetables into the wok and quickly stir-fried them.
Ning Xiyue dished out their sweet potato rice and carried it into their room to eat. There was a dining table inside that Chen Yechu had made herself.
After the meal, while they were resting in the room, Chen Yechu asked with concern, “How was your first day at work? Are you tired? You came back so late — I bet your drying team was really busy since there’s so much grain during harvest.”
“Mm, yeah, it was pretty busy. Everyone’s busy during harvest time.” Ning Xiyue answered with a straight face. She definitely wasn’t going to admit she was late because she had been listening to gossip — gossip that even involved her as one of the subjects.
But Ning Xiyue felt no embarrassment at all — her mental fortitude was rock-solid.
“How about you? Was your day busy? Did anyone give you a hard time? If you ran into anything unpleasant or anyone nasty, you can tell me. Don’t keep it bottled up.”
She was this close to directly asking if Wu Xiuli had caused trouble for Chen Yechu — because she wanted to hear more gossip.
But Chen Yechu thought Ning Xiyue was simply being caring and replied gently, “It was fine. Everyone’s pretty nice. No one made things difficult for me. Other than being a bit tired from work, everything went smoothly today.”
“That’s good. Being physically tired isn’t a problem — as long as your heart isn’t tired, that’s what matters.” Ning Xiyue nodded sincerely. But in her heart, she was thinking: So the real drama hasn’t started yet.
