Chapter 54: Immersive Drama Part 2
The three of them – Ning Xiyue and her friends – turned their attention back to the scene below, fully focused on how things would unfold.
Wu Xiuli’s crying stirred up a wave of emotions among the crowd.
A young man shouted, “Jiandang, why don’t you just accept Wu Xiuli? She looks so pitiful.”
Auntie Wang cursed back, “To hell with you, Li Ergou! If you pity her so much, why don’t you marry her? Why should my Jiandang marry her? What kind of nonsense are you spouting, huh?”
Li Ergou immediately fell silent and shuffled a few steps back.
No one else dared say a word. Honestly, no one wanted to marry someone so dramatic and troublesome – that’d just be asking for misery.
“Quiet.”
The team leader barked, and the chatter ceased instantly.
“Li Jiandang, your turn. Tell us what’s going on. What’s the truth here?”
“Leader, I’m being wronged! Every day I work honestly and earn my full work points. I’ve been proper and clean with everyone here, and I have absolutely nothing to do with Wu Xiuli.”
Li Jiandang looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown, his face full of frustration. He turned toward Ning Xiaoxiao:
“Comrade Ning Xiaoxiao once asked me for help. It was only on her first day here, and I helped because I wanted to maintain a good relationship between the educated youths and the locals. After that, I stopped getting involved. As for her falling on me today — I’m even more wronged there. She didn’t even fall on me. She just fell in front of me.”
“Wu Xiuli clings to me like a madwoman. Anyone who so much as brushes against me, she goes crazy. I’m exhausted — she doesn’t listen to anything I say, like she can’t even understand human language. Today she tricked me into coming to the reservoir after work, then started screaming, shouting, and hitting people. All these marks on me are from trying to pull people apart.”
The more he spoke, the redder his eyes became. He sighed deeply and looked at the team leader.
“Leader, tell me — can I call the police? Will the public security bureau handle something like this? If not, can I, like the educated youths, be reassigned to support another village? I really don’t want to see Wu Xiuli ever again.”
The team leader could feel Li Jiandang’s helplessness — and he sympathized. The two families lived so close that they ran into each other every day. It was exhausting.
Hearing Li Jiandang’s words, Wu Xiuli was devastated. Tears and snot streamed down her face as she cried, “Brother Jiandang, how could you say that about me? I like you so much… how could you do this to me…”
Li Jiandang didn’t even spare her a glance — he kept his back turned to her.
Ning Xiyue raised an eyebrow. It seemed Li Jiandang did have feelings for the female lead. He was quick to clarify and refute Wu Xiuli’s claims about Ning Xiaoxiao, but he didn’t say a word about her accusations involving Chen Yechu.
Looks like Li Jiandang wasn’t as simple and honest as he seemed — there was a bit of calculation in him after all.
After hearing Li Jiandang’s side, many people started to sympathize with him — especially the men. They put themselves in his shoes and instantly felt sorry for him.
A young man shook his head. “Li Jiandang’s unlucky to have run into someone like Wu Xiuli.”
Yu Zhiyu, who was standing near Chen Yechu — and close to Li Jiandang — reached out and patted Li Jiandang’s shoulder in sympathy.
Ning Xiyue noticed that when the female lead Chen Yechu saw this, a flicker of displeasure flashed in her eyes.
Clearly, Chen Yechu didn’t have a good impression of Li Jiandang. And yet here the male lead was, acting all buddy-buddy and patting him on the shoulder — no wonder she was annoyed.
Ha. The road to winning her heart just got longer.
Ning Xiyue popped another sunflower seed into her mouth, watching the two of them with great interest.
Up in the tree, Li Xiuxiu was puzzled. “This Li Jiandang isn’t cutting it. How can a grown man not deal with Wu Xiuli?”
“He’s too soft — not firm enough.”
Ning Xiyue gestured as she spoke. “If it were me, I wouldn’t be afraid at all. Anyone who clung to me, I’d beat them until they were scared of me — until they’d walk a mile to avoid me, and even have nightmares about me beating them.”
“Mm, good method.” Li Xiuxiu quietly noted it down for future use.
Auntie Yangliu chuckled. “That’s exactly the kind of attitude I like. Xiuxiu, you should learn from Xiyue.”
“Mm-hmm.” Li Xiuxiu nodded vigorously.
Ning Xiyue pretended to be shy, then turned back to watching the drama.
Next up was Ning Xiaoxiao’s turn to speak. Several people’s testimonies had involved her, but Li Jiandang’s statement had already cleared half the accusations against her.
All she needed to do was firmly deny that she had tried to seduce anyone — and that’s exactly what she did. With tearful, rabbit-like eyes, she shook her head and said innocently:
“Leader, I really don’t know why Comrade Wu Xiuli would slander me like this. I tripped and fell in front of Comrade Jiandang by accident. I swear I didn’t do it on purpose. Look, I even scraped the skin off my hand — why would I risk my life over something like this?”
Ning Xiyue glanced at that mud-stained hand — there was no way anyone could tell if there was a scrape there or not. Was she just making things up, thinking no one could see clearly through the mud?
No matter where you looked, Ning Xiaoxiao was somehow involved. Captain Zhang Dawei rubbed his aching temples and waved her aside.
Yu Zhiyu, Xia Zhipeng, and Wu Zhigang each gave their accounts too. They’d all just been trying to break up the fight — Wu Zhigang helped Ning Xiaoxiao, while Yu Zhiyu and Xia Zhipeng had stepped in on Chen Yechu’s behalf.
As for Wang Mengmeng, who looked unhappy, and Liu Yao, who clearly wanted more drama — they were just there for the spectacle.
By this point, things were wrapping up. The team leader, still seething with frustration, stepped forward and addressed the crowd:
“Everyone knows what happened today. We all know who’s right and who’s wrong. And yet we’ve wasted so much time dealing with your petty jealousy and childish squabbles. It’s ridiculous.”
“Wu Laogen, keep your daughter Wu Xiuli in check. If anything like this happens again, I’ll have your whole family kicked out of the Daliu Brigade.”
The leader’s words were harsh, and being singled out like that made Wu Laogen’s face burn with shame — and a little fear. He turned around and slapped Wu Xiuli hard across the face, the sound ringing through the air, then shot Li Cuihua a furious glare.
Since her own family had hit her, Li Cuihua didn’t dare cry or make a fuss. She just silently held the dazed Wu Xiuli in her arms.
Wu Laogen didn’t even look at his daughter on the ground. He forced a smile and turned to the team leader. “Leader, don’t worry. I’ll make sure Wu Xiuli behaves. I guarantee she won’t cause any more trouble. There won’t be a next time.”
The leader nodded, dropping the matter.
He then spoke a few fair words on Chen Yechu’s behalf, warning everyone not to spread rumors or make false accusations in the future. Finally, he had Li Cuihua apologize on Wu Xiuli’s behalf. And with that, the matter was considered settled.
At the end, the leader turned to everyone involved in the incident and sternly declared:
“Regardless of who was right or wrong, everyone involved in this incident will work two extra hours a day for the next week. These hours will not count toward work points. If anyone refuses, they’ll work three hours. Refuse again, and the hours will keep increasing. Is that clear?”
“Clear, Leader.”
Everyone answered — none of them dared to object.
“Alright, dismissed.”
The onlookers were reluctant to leave — the drama had been too good.
Li Xiuxiu brushed the sunflower seed shells off her lap. “That’s it? I haven’t had enough yet.”
Ning Xiyue’s mouth was dry from eating seeds. She opened her canteen and took a sip of water to moisten her lips. “Me neither. It’s rare to see such a show — who knows when the next one will be.”
Li Xiuxiu chuckled. “Don’t worry. Our team is never short of gossip and drama. I’ll call you next time.”
Ning Xiyue and Li Xiuxiu high-fived in agreement. “Deal. Let’s get down from the tree.”
