Chapter 83: Educated Youth Who Abandoned His Wife and Child – 14

After they parted ways, Shen Xiuyan looked at the long road ahead. Gritting his teeth, he began walking toward the county.

He had just discussed things with Brigade Leader Su, and both sides agreed there was no reason to delay the marriage.

So Shen Xiuyan simply asked the Brigade Leader for another day off. He planned to buy all the necessary betrothal gifts today and set a wedding date as soon as possible—he didn’t want to wait another moment.

Though the road through the village was hard and slow, the thought of soon marrying Mingyue made it all worth it.

While Shen Xiuyan was shopping at the supply and marketing cooperative, Brigade Leader Su was heading to the fields.

But as soon as he arrived, he felt countless eyes on him from every direction.

The stares were blatant and unrestrained.

He looked down at his clothes and patted his face—everything was fine. So what was going on?

Someone finally couldn’t hold it in and walked over.

“Brigade Leader, I heard your Heiniu has a boyfriend now?”

Brigade Leader Su looked clearly confused. “How do you know that?”

He’d only just found out himself—how could this guy know already? Was he psychic?

“It’s true???” The man gasped, covering his mouth in shock. “The girls like Huaizi were gossiping about it all over the place yesterday. I bet the whole village knows by now.”

Another person joined in, saying, “What? I thought they were just making stuff up. It’s real?!”

Their voices weren’t quiet, and a crowd quickly gathered.

Some came for gossip, some to offer congratulations, and some with other intentions just to watch the drama.

The scene instantly became noisy.

Brigade Leader Su waved his hands helplessly. “Enough, enough. What are you all standing around for? Get to work. You look like a bunch of old biddies gossiping.”

“Hey now, Old Su, don’t say that. I watched Heiniu grow up.” One of his long-time brothers wasn’t the least bit afraid of him and pressed on. “Come on, tell me what’s going on. I’m dying of curiosity.”

Brigade Leader Su glanced at him. This was his close friend of many years—no way was he here just to stir things up.

Unable to refuse, he said, “It’s just like you’ve heard. Mingyue is seeing Comrade Shen, and they’ll be getting married soon. You’re all invited to the wedding feast.”

“What? They’re even getting married???” Someone from the crowd laughed loudly. “Brigade Leader, what were you thinking, giving your daughter to Comrade Shen?”

“Yeah, with that body of his, can he even work? Don’t let the whole family end up starving.”

Although many girls chased after Shen Xiuyan, their families would scold them harshly if they ever found out.

After all, someone in Shen Xiuyan’s condition wasn’t fit for life in the countryside—no one wanted a son-in-law like that.

Someone who didn’t get along with Brigade Leader Su snorted derisively. “You ever seen any of the educated youth marry local girls? What if he gets to go back to the city and leaves Heiniu behind?”

Brigade Leader Su’s brow furrowed so deeply it looked like gullies carved into his forehead, every wrinkle radiating bad temper.

“Scram. No one needs your useless chatter. Worry about your own daughter, will you? Grown as she is, she still runs after the educated youth like a dog in heat.”

He was being polite—if he’d really wanted to be harsh, he would’ve named names and said it straight: she was the one always chasing after Shen Xiuyan.

Sure, his health wasn’t great, but among all the educated youth, he was by far the most outstanding.

And yet, he ignored all those girls and only had eyes for his daughter.

Brigade Leader Su understood.

They were jealous—blatantly, nakedly jealous.

The man flew into a rage at that. “You—!”

But then he thought of something, shook his sleeves, and huffed, “Forget it. I’m done talking. You’ll be the one crying later when it all goes south.”

Watching him leave, Brigade Leader Su shouted after him, “Don’t worry, even if your daughter regrets it ten thousand times, mine won’t regret a thing!”

Just wait till Shen Xiuyan pulls out those betrothal gifts—you’ll drop dead from the shock.

His brother pulled him aside. “Alright, alright. You know how he is—can’t stand to see anyone doing better. But if Mingyue really is marrying Comrade Shen, that’s a great thing.”

At this, he grinned ear to ear. “Haha, finding a son-in-law like that—Old Su, you’ve done well! Except for his health, Comrade Shen’s got no flaws. I’ll definitely be there for the wedding banquet.”

“Ah, good.” Brigade Leader Su liked hearing that. His brother knew how to talk, all right.

Deliberately raising his voice, he added, “Don’t worry, you’ll be drinking that wedding wine real soon. Comrade Shen took leave this morning to buy the betrothal gifts—he’ll be here this afternoon to make the proposal.”

Sure enough, someone in the crowd took the bait.

“Really, Brigade Leader? Then we’ll come by your place this afternoon to watch the fun—don’t get mad!”

“I’m coming too, I’ve never seen an educated youth propose marriage before!”

Brigade Leader Su had achieved his goal. He laughed cheerfully and said, “Sure, sure, come on by. I won’t mind.”

Once his future son-in-law unveiled those gifts, their jaws would hit the dirt—if not, he wasn’t Brigade Leader Su!
The sales clerk at the supply and marketing cooperative looked rather surprised.

She hadn’t expected the young man in front of her to be able to produce a bicycle voucher.

Maybe someone from a well-off family could scrape together the 120 yuan needed for a bicycle, but the voucher? That wasn’t something an average person could get.

In their eyes, that bicycle voucher was worth far more than the money—it was a symbol of status.

The clerk treated him with utmost courtesy, exchanging money for the bicycle and even offering to teach Shen Xiuyan how to ride it.

Shen Xiuyan waved her off, saying he already knew.

Then, looking at the eighty or so yuan he had left, he hesitated.

That amount looked decent, but it wouldn’t last long. If he bought any more expensive betrothal gifts, he and Mingyue would be left drinking northwest wind after the wedding.

So he decided against buying anything else. Instead, he picked out a few pieces of cloth and bought some wedding candy, then called it a day.

After that, his total fortune had shrunk dramatically—only about seventy-some yuan remained.

Shopping done, he made one more stop at the post office to send a letter.

This was a big deal—he had to inform his family about the wedding.

Once everything was settled, he rode his brand-new “28-inch heavy-duty bike” back to the village.

The ride wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it was better than walking.

With a joyful heart, he bounced along the country path, and in just half an hour, he arrived at the village.

As soon as he entered, many villagers looked at him in shock.

Wait a second… they weren’t imagining things, were they?

That was a bicycle, right?

Where did that come from???

When they saw who was riding it, one impossible thought surged into their minds.

Could this be the betrothal gift Shen Xiuyan brought for the Su family…?

No way, no way—they tried to convince themselves.

The entire village seemed to fall silent. As Shen Xiuyan passed by, the only sound was the spinning wheels of his bicycle. It was as if someone had pressed pause on everyone—they all stood frozen, staring.