Chapter 91 – Fever
“Then I will trouble, Educated Youth Gu. With Educated Youth Jiang’s current situation, I don’t know what to do. I can’t leave for the time being, and considering his weak health, falling into the river in this freezing weather, I don’t even know if he can recover.”
Gu Xiangnan comforted her, saying, “Don’t worry, it will be fine. Leave this matter to us. I’ll go find Educated Youth Zhao and Educated Youth Sun, the educated youths in charge, to discuss what to do.”
Lu Xia nodded, expressing her gratitude, and then Gu Xiangnan left.
Afterwards, Lu Xia let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t expect Gu Xiangnan to take the lead. It would be much better than if they had to handle it alone.
After all, even if the villagers didn’t like the educated youths, they couldn’t offend everyone. Moreover, none of these people knew when they would return to the city.
Soon, Li Yi arrived with the doctor.
After examining Jiang Junmo, the doctor said that his body was weak and he had caught a cold, possibly causing a fever.
Upon hearing this, Lu Xia touched his forehead and indeed felt some heat.
Fortunately, the doctor had brought medicine and administered it through an IV drip.
However, Jiang Junmo remained in a coma and hadn’t regained consciousness.
While waiting for the water to boil, Lu Xia cooked ginger soup with brown sugar. Since she was boiling water at the educated youth spot, she couldn’t make it too obvious, so she discreetly added some spiritual spring water.
Afterwards, she asked Li Yi to help support Jiang Junmo, and the two of them fed him the soup together.
They continued with these efforts until the afternoon. Whether it was due to the medicine or the spiritual spring water, Jiang Junmo’s fever finally subsided, and Lu Xia felt relieved.
Now, on Gu Xiangnan’s side.
When he went to fetch Jiang Junmo’s padded jacket for Lu Xia, he overheard the villagers around him gossiping about how Lu Xia, as a woman, was shameless for taking off her own clothes and carrying Educated Youth Jiang on her back.
Gu Xiangnan was taken aback and immediately explained, “Lu Xia is Educated Youth Jiang’s wife. They got their marriage certificate yesterday! I hope everyone doesn’t tarnish their reputation.”
“What? Educated Youth Lu and Educated Youth Jiang are a couple, and they got their marriage certificate? How come we didn’t hear about it!”
“Yes, we didn’t believe it at first, but it must have been recent news.”
“But wasn’t Educated Youth Jiang with that Shi girl?”
“Shi girl had a crush on him, but Educated Youth Jiang didn’t accept her!”
“Then what happened today? Didn’t they say that Educated Youth Jiang bullied Shi girl?”
At this point, someone who witnessed the incident explained what they saw.
After hearing the explanation, everyone looked at Shi Chunyan, who was still crying, and felt that something was wrong. So what happened to her?
“Educated Youth Jiang was pushed into the river by Shi girl?”
“Oh dear, in this freezing weather, that must have been terrible for him.”
Some of the villagers who had sympathized with Shi Chunyan began to feel that something was not right.
“Since she pushed him, why is she crying? It makes everyone think that she was wronged, that Educated Youth Jiang suffered unjustly.”
However, Shi Chunyan felt even more aggrieved. “Why did he get married? Why! What’s wrong with me? How can he marry someone else!”
One of the aunts couldn’t bear it and said, “Even so, you shouldn’t have pushed him. Besides, compared to you, Lu Xia is stronger in every aspect. It’s normal for Educated Youth Jiang not to be interested in you!”
“That’s right. Besides, even if Educated Youth Lu isn’t good enough, Educated Youth Jiang has already gotten married to her. He’s a married man now. You can’t keep bothering him. What has this turned into?”
Hearing these words, Shi Chunyan felt even more upset. In the end, her family came and took her away after hearing the news.
After returning and discussing with Lu Xia, Gu Xiangnan found Zhao Hua and Sun Shengnan, the educated youths in charge, and planned to go to the village committee together to seek justice.
Upon hearing this, the other educated youths joined them and went together.
*
Chapter 92 – Seeking Justice
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When they arrived at the village committee, the village chief had already been informed of the incident.
Upon seeing him, Gu Xiangnan directly addressed, “Village Chief, I know that many people in the village have always regarded us educated youths as outsiders. However, we have come to the countryside in response to the country’s call to contribute to rural development, not to be b*llied.
The villagers wanting to resort to murder just because they are dissatisfied with the actions of the educated youths, is a reasoning we cannot accept!
We work together with the villagers on a daily basis, engaging in labor and activities, and we believe we haven’t done anything to wrong the villagers. If the villagers truly think this way, then we plan to go to the educated youth office and inquire. Are we here in the countryside to be oppressed and wasted?”
Upon hearing this, the village chief became anxious and immediately explained, “Educated Youth Gu, you’re overthinking. The villagers don’t have such thoughts. We have never treated the educated youths as outsiders.”
This statement seemed forced, as both sides knew in their hearts that the educated youths didn’t receive the same treatment as the villagers, at the very least.
Gu Xiangnan understood this reasoning, but he didn’t want to escalate the situation because that wasn’t his goal.
“I understand what you mean, Village Chief, but not everyone in the village shares the same understanding. Take Educated Youth Jiang’s incident, for example. A villager kept harassing him, and no matter how he refused, it was futile.
In the end, after he got married and obtained a marriage certificate, the villager, out of anger and dissatisfaction, pushed him directly into the river.
Are we obligated to comply with every idea the villagers have? If we refuse, are they justified in resorting to other means? In that case, can I assume that we cannot even guarantee our own safety in the village?
If that’s the case, I really need to go to the educated youth office and inquire, or perhaps ask my family to help me relocate to another place for rural development.”
Upon hearing this, not only did the village chief become anxious, but the previously silent secretary also became anxious and hurriedly spoke, “Educated Youth Gu, you’re overthinking. This incident was an accident. Shi Chunyan is just a little girl and doesn’t represent the entire village. Rest assured, we will make her apologize to Educated Youth Jiang. She was in the wrong.”
However, a simple apology was definitely not the outcome everyone wanted.
At this moment, Sun Shengnan, representing the female educated youths, spoke up.
“Village Chief, Secretary, you know how the villagers view us educated youths. You must be aware of how some educated youths got married to villagers in the past. Cases like Educated Youth Jiang’s have also happened before.
In the past, we educated youths were powerless and couldn’t fight back. But if we’re pushed to the limit, we’re capable of anything!
We believe that most of the villagers are good people, but please ensure that the remaining villagers are restrained in the future. If the educated youths genuinely develop mutual feelings with villagers, we won’t say anything. But if they resort to dirty tricks to force us into submission, we will definitely make a scene.”
Her words were an obvious warning, and both the village chief and secretary didn’t have a good expression on their faces.
However, they couldn’t say much because, after all, they were in the wrong.
They could only assure the educated youths that they would keep an eye on the villagers in the future and treat both the villagers and the educated youths equally.
With that, they reluctantly appeased the educated youths and let them leave.
After they left, the village chief and secretary still had unpleasant expressions on their faces.
“A bunch of brats, threatening me!”
Hearing the secretary’s words, the village chief shook his head. “It’s because they have someone supporting them from behind. I attended a meeting in town last time, and the director asked about Educated Youth Gu, saying someone from the county requested to take care of him.”
“Really? Isn’t his family from Beijing? How can they have influence here?”
The village chief sighed. “Who knows, but no matter what, they have more authority than me, a small village chief. I can only support them.”
“Sigh,” the secretary also sighed.
The village chief pondered for a moment. “Let’s try to restrain the villagers in the future. What they did before was indeed too much.”
The secretary nodded. “What about Old Shi?”
“What else can we do? He should apologize and compensate. Luckily, we were able to save that boy in time today. If someone had lost their life, we wouldn’t be able to escape the consequences!”
“…I don’t think he’ll be willing.”
The village chief’s face turned cold. “Whether he wants to or not, he must. There’s no other way. Alright, I’ll go and talk to him.”
Thank you for the chapter ♡(∩o∩)♡