Chapter 105: Perhaps We Really Are Lost

“Heh heh,” Wang Facai chuckled a few times as he began speaking, then continued to explain.

“Indeed, something good is about to happen. The road from our village to the commune is going to be extensively repaired. From now on, it’ll be much easier for us villagers to travel out.”

Wang Facai took out a rope and tied Xu Lin’s luggage to one side of the bicycle, all the while keeping up the conversation.

“Once this road is fixed, not only will it be convenient for villagers to travel, but more importantly, it’ll be easier to transport our chickens and pigs out of the village. Our chicken and pig farms can expand their breeding operations. Plus, the mountain produce can be delivered more promptly. With the road improved, damages during transport will be minimized, and all these little gains will add up to the brigade’s income. These are tangible benefits.”

Wang Facai grew more animated as he spoke, as if he could already see those concrete benefits filling his pockets.

“Our brigade will get better and better. Today, the advanced production brigade title won’t slip away.”

“Uncle, you’re really thinking ahead,” Xu Lin said, giving a thumbs-up. Impressive—such foresight.

They say if you want to prosper, build roads first. That saying is absolutely true.

The brigade captain has managed Wangzhuang brigade so well; he’s quite capable. It’s just that his nephew isn’t exactly well-behaved.

One mustn’t tarnish the captain’s reputation.

No one knows if that incident will affect his position. Honestly, Xu Lin quite liked this captain.

He manages flexibly, isn’t rigid, doesn’t cling stubbornly to rules, harbors no ill will toward the educated youth, doesn’t deliberately make things difficult, and most importantly, he’s competent.

If someone else were captain, it’s uncertain whether they’d be as approachable as Wang Facai.

As they finished securing the luggage, Wang Facai hopped onto the bike, and Xu Lin sat on the rear seat. They rode along, chatting.

Wang Facai casually inquired about the outside world, eager to hear what changes had taken place in the city.

Perhaps some news might give him a lead, putting him ahead of others.

Leading the village toward a wealthier, brighter life.

Xu Lin mainly asked about village affairs, rarely mentioning outside matters. It was interesting to see two seasoned schemers spar in conversation.

Xu Lin subtly signaled that the situation was improving; the outside struggles weren’t so severe anymore.

Some things could be overlooked—better to turn a blind eye rather than make enemies at the last moment.

Wang Facai faced forward, a flicker of surprise crossed his face, quickly replaced by a look of acceptance. He too believed the situation would improve.

It couldn’t remain chaotic forever.

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Moreover, he guessed that the intellectuals wouldn’t be oppressed forever.

He had read history books and knew the tale of Qin Shi Huang’s burning of books and burying of scholars.

He felt this phase wasn’t much different. No matter how much the intellectuals were fought now, they would still be needed later.

It was the course of history.

With Xu Lin’s news, he knew he could ease the supervision on those people a little, though only secretly.

Openly, he dared not show too much laxity; word might spread and cause trouble.

Even though his family background was solid, he could not stand out too much.

In return, Wang Facai shared news from the village.

Actually, nothing big had happened. Minor quarrels here and there, but the captain wouldn’t bother passing on such trivial gossip—those were women’s talk.

So Wang Facai spoke of the land reclamation efforts and spring plowing. The dirty work of hauling and spreading manure, although unpleasant, earned high work points.

The village strongmen fought to do it; one or two of the educated youth also competed eagerly. Most others avoided it.

Wang Facai couldn’t help but complain.

“You’d think I want the educated youth to do the dirty work of hauling manure, but they don’t realize this work is in demand.

In the past, we arranged this work for them to look out for them.”

Why look out for those educated youth? Because he worried they might starve themselves to death.

“Land reclamation is heavy work but pays well in points—provided you put in the effort.”

Wang Facai smirked when mentioning effort; villagers could earn ten points, but the educated youth only six or seven.

Those in the know understood the brigade treated everyone fairly; those who didn’t might think he had a grudge against the educated youth.

Most importantly, the educated youth didn’t work as well as the villagers—not even close.

Just thinking about it irritated Wang Facai. He was about to vent, but suddenly remembered the educated youth sitting behind him.

Xu Lin pretended not to hear Wang Facai’s implication. Regarding hard work, she had no objections but wasn’t going to exert herself.

She lacked neither grain nor money.

They chatted idly. Soon, Wang Facai shifted the topic to the youth dormitory with a sigh.

“Did you know? Even though you’ve only been away a few days, your dorm has been quite lively. That Qin Fang really knows how to stir things up.”

Those words twisted like a winding road, and if Xu Lin peeked back, she’d see the village chief’s expressive face.

“What trouble did she cause this time?” Xu Lin perked up.

“She—” Wang Facai wanted to say she never did anything good but thought better of it and swallowed the words.

That was too harsh for a young girl.

“She actually took Su, one of the educated youth, deep into the mountains. You wouldn’t believe it.”

Wang Facai’s face flashed with anger. He couldn’t understand why, in such cold weather, they’d venture into the deep mountains.

Did they think they were old hunters, hunting wild boars?

No, even old hunters never dared enter the deep mountains alone; they always went in groups.

And yet, accidents still happened—sometimes fatal.

But Su and Qin, those two educated youth, boldly went in alone.

If it hadn’t snowed recently, they could have tracked footprints and found them in time.

Otherwise, those two might have fallen victim to wolves.

“Xu, you know? It was that close—just that close.”

Wang Facai gripped the handlebar with one hand, turned his head, and indicated with his left pinky finger, still visibly shaken.

“When we arrived, the wolf’s jaws were barely inches from Su’s neck. If not for our village sharpshooter, even if we had gotten there, we could only watch helplessly as Su was devoured.”

“Goodness, that’s terrifying,” Xu Lin showed a fearful expression. “Why did they go into the deep mountains?”

“Sigh, they said they got lost. Maybe they really did.”

Wang Facai’s words made Xu Lin raise an eyebrow. What did “maybe really did” mean? Lost is lost—no maybe about it.

“Who’s the sharpshooter in our village?” Xu Lin asked curiously, not dwelling on the ‘maybe’ part.

“Our sharpshooter is Wang Erlai, an old hero retired from the battlefield. He has no children of his own, but his younger brother Wang Sanlai adopted a child under his name.”

Wang Facai thought Xu Lin might not know the villagers well, so he added a brief explanation...