Ye Wenjuan, seeing her cousin speak of her this way again, angrily thrashed about with her hoe.
Suddenly, a roar of anger filled the air, "Ye Wenjuan, what are you doing?"
In an instant, everyone’s gaze turned towards the commotion.
When she clearly saw what she had done to the ground before her, she instantly broke out in a cold sweat. "Captain, I... I didn’t do it on purpose."
Chen Guyu, who had always looked down on Ye Wenjuan for being such a delicate miss, said, "You say it wasn’t on purpose, but who’s going to believe that?" This text is hosted at ⓝovelFire.net
The crowd joined in, one after another, voices dripping with sarcasm, "The whole patch is ruined! How could it not be intentional? Are you taking us for fools?"
"Exactly! It’s not your first time weeding the peanut field. How can you fail to distinguish peanut seedlings from weeds and still destroy them?"
"The seedlings are gone! It doesn’t matter if you can tell the difference or not. This indiscriminate action is simply wasting food."
Ye Wenjuan, so ashamed she wished she could disappear, retorted, "I already said it wasn’t intentional! Aren’t you done yet?"
Chen Guyu’s face was stern. "Ye Wenjuan, this shows a problem with your attitude! This matter must be reported to the brigade headquarters."
Ye Wenjuan panicked. "Cousin, look at them."
Ye Wenhui took a deep breath. She felt like she was about to die of frustration. Why did she have such bad luck to be in the same group as her? Then she said, "Captain, she definitely did something wrong, but if we report this to the brigade, our entire team might be implicated because of her. How about this: let her write a self-criticism report and compensate for the lost yield of those peanut plants?"
Ye Wenjuan was not satisfied with this arrangement, but she didn’t have a better solution. She certainly didn’t want the humiliation of this being discussed at the brigade level.
When Chen Guyu heard this could affect their team’s honor, his expression turned even graver. "For the sake of our team’s honor, I’ll let it slide this time. But there will be no leniency next time, no matter who intercedes. You will read your self-criticism tomorrow morning in front of all the team members. As for the plants you’ve ruined today..."
He paused. After personally counting the peanut plants, he continued, "You’ll have to make up for the yield of these six peanut plants after the autumn harvest."
After speaking, he rolled his eyes at Ye Wenjuan and then said to the onlookers, "Don’t crowd around here anymore. Disperse."
After everyone had left, Ye Wenjuan approached her cousin Ye Wenhui and blurted out, "Did you do this on purpose?"
Ye Wenhui shot her an annoyed glance. "Oh, so now you dare to question me? Why were you so timid earlier? Don’t come to me with your problems in the future. The very sight of you annoys me."
Ye Wenjuan was left speechless and stormed out of the peanut field in a huff.
Ye Wenhui wasn’t about to coddle her. Does she still think this is Beijing? Well, I’m not afraid of her complaining to the family; I live far away, after all.
Yunyi took another path to avoid people and returned to her small courtyard.
She immediately locked the door and entered her space. She had been in the mountains for days and felt almost unbearably itchy all over.
She grabbed a change of clothes, quickly undressed, and slipped into the pool. She instantly felt revived, as if every pore in her body was rejoicing.
These past few days had indeed been exhausting. She nearly fell asleep leaning against the edge of the pool.
It was the rumbling protest from her stomach that finally snapped her awake.
She admired her skin, now smooth as cream. It seems this pool water is truly no ordinary thing, she thought with satisfaction as she got out and dressed. The bruises she had acquired from bumping into things in the mountains had all disappeared without a trace.
This was truly delightful!
She went to the kitchen, served herself a portion of the meal she had prepared earlier, and ate until she was full.
Her thoughts turned to Huo Jingrui. She wondered if that fellow had been sensible about his back injuries. Although they were only superficial, they couldn’t be neglected. An infection would cause a great deal of suffering.