Chapter 53: Destroy It

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Destroy It

"You’re going to college? You and Su Wan are going to college? Where are you going?" Zheng Zhizhi’s voice was momentarily sharp as she struggled to conceal the jealousy in her eyes.

Su Jue deliberately lifted his chin. "That’s right. Everyone in the village knows Wanwan and I are good students. What’s there to be surprised about?"

"I see."

Zheng Zhizhi lowered her gaze, hiding the jealousy and fury in her eyes. Then, she turned and headed home.

「Half an hour later.」

Zheng Zhizhi appeared in a small grove. Without a word, she held out a piece of paper with a sentence written on it.

"Song Ming, go and destroy Su Wan’s and Su Jue’s acceptance letters. Otherwise, I’ll have my older brother reveal that you’ve been selling things on the black market too."

The man standing before Zheng Zhizhi was tall but gaunt. He wore a set of blue, coarse-spun clothes, and the toe of one of his Liberation-brand shoes had a hole worn through it.

There was a tear at the cuff of his sleeve, crudely stitched together with coarse thread.

Song Ming’s expression was grim. "I won’t do it."

"You..." Zheng Zhizhi fought back her rage, brushing away a speck of non-existent dust from her face. "Fine, if you won’t do it, then forget it. But without you, your younger brother and sister will have no one to support them."

After leaving him with that ominous warning, Zheng Zhizhi turned to leave.

But unexpectedly,

She had only taken two steps when a group of people suddenly emerged from the surrounding woods. It was a mix of men and women, all of them young villagers.

Su Jue was leading them.

"Su Jue..."

Seeing him, a look of panic finally crossed Zheng Zhizhi’s face. She instinctively retreated two steps, bumping into a tree trunk.

Su Jue fixed her with his handsome yet piercing gaze and approached step by step. "Zheng Zhizhi, hand it over."

"Hand what over? I don’t know what you’re talking about." Zheng Zhizhi stubbornly feigned ignorance.

Su Jue scoffed and glanced down at the hand she was hiding behind her back. "The note. Hand it over."

"..." With tears welling in her eyes, Zheng Zhizhi looked at him pleadingly. "Third Brother Su, I didn’t do anything. Please, just let me go."

"Hand it over!" Su Jue narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning icy. "You don’t want me to get rough, do you?"

"You... you’re going to hit a woman?" With reddened eyes, Zheng Zhizhi looked to the other young people nearby. "Save me! This hoodlum Su Jue is going to beat me!" she wailed.

Many of the other young people rolled their eyes.

"Song Ming, why did she come looking for you just now?" Chen Qiao cut straight to the heart of the matter.

Zheng Zhizhi’s breath caught in her throat. She glanced back at Song Ming, her eyes filled with both confidence and menace. She refused to believe he would disregard his two younger siblings.

Song Ming shot her an indifferent glance and said, "She wanted me to destroy Su Wan and Su Jue’s college acceptance letters."

"Song Ming!" Zheng Zhizhi shrieked, unable to control herself. "How dare you!"

Song Ming couldn’t be bothered with her.

Hearing this, the other young villagers’ eyes widened in astonishment.

"Zheng Zhizhi, that’s too heartless."

"My God, you’re so malicious! Destroying college acceptance letters! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get into college? Only three people from our entire village were accepted."

"You’re trying to ruin the Su siblings’ future?"

"That’s just wicked."

Zheng Zhizhi’s face turned deathly pale.

’I can’t admit this,’ she thought. "Song Ming is slandering me! I never said such a thing."

Song Ming said, "You showed me a note. That’s exactly what it said."

"Then why do you think I was so sure you’d agree?" Zheng Zhizhi was convinced he wouldn’t dare tell the whole truth.

For a moment, Song Ming hesitated.

Su Jue had no patience for Zheng Zhizhi’s denials. He stepped forward and, in one swift motion, snatched the note from the hand she held behind her back.

By the time he got his hands on it, Zheng Zhizhi had already torn the note into tiny pieces.

Seeing the scraps of paper in his hand, Zheng Zhizhi discreetly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Su Jue, what are you doing? You hurt my wrist!" Zheng Zhizhi whined, feigning injury. "You have to buy me ointment to make it better!"

Su Jue let out a cold snort. He squatted down, pulled a book from inside his jacket, and laid the scraps on it. Right there in front of Zheng Zhizhi, he began to piece them back together.

"Song Ming, Chen Qiao, keep her away from me. Don’t let her destroy the evidence."

"Okay, Su Jue."

The two of them immediately formed a barrier, one in front of Zheng Zhizhi and one behind, completely blocking her from getting anywhere near Su Jue.

Watching Su Jue slowly piece the tiny scraps of paper back together, Zheng Zhizhi started to panic.

But her growing panic couldn’t stop Su Jue. He quickly finished assembling the scraps, then sandwiched them between two pieces of clear glass so the contents of the note were perfectly visible.

"Take her to the brigade leader."

Su Jue was decisive, moving to deal with Zheng Zhizhi immediately.

Zheng Zhizhi tried to struggle, but Su Jue simply stuffed a smelly sock into her mouth.

People noticed Zheng Zhizhi being frog-marched toward the brigade office, especially the villagers working in the fields.

Seeing so many young people abandoning their work in the fields to join the commotion, parents from every household started pulling them aside to ask what was going on.

Mother Su called out to stop Su Jue. "Third Son, what are you doing?"

"Mom, Zheng Zhizhi tried to get Song Ming to destroy my and Wanwan’s college acceptance letters. I have the evidence, and I’m taking her to the brigade leader. She must be dealt with."

Su Jue was not a soft-hearted person. "Mom, you’re not going to get soft and let her off, are you?"

"Of course not! The way the Zheng family has bullied our Wanwan, I’m kicking myself for not having slapped them a few times myself." Hearing about the acceptance letters, Mother Su became like an enraged lioness. She strode right up to Zheng Zhizhi and, SLAP! SLAP!, struck her across the face.

"You bitch! You wanted to destroy my children’s college acceptance letters? You’re truly ruthless! I’ll kill you!"

Zheng Zhizhi shrieked in pain from the blows.

"Help me! Hel—"

But none of the villagers stepped forward to help Zheng Zhizhi. A college acceptance letter was an incredibly important document. Without it, you couldn’t enroll.

Zheng Zhizhi was trying to destroy their futures.

Besides, this was only the second year since the college entrance exams had been reinstated. From now on, everyone would have the chance to take them. The village elders all hoped to borrow Su Wan and Su Jue’s textbooks so that the younger generation in their own families could get into college the following year. That meant an assigned job, an "iron rice bowl," and becoming a city resident. Naturally, no one was willing to offend the Su family.

In fact, everyone was shouting for the brigade leader to punish Zheng Zhizhi.

"Brigade Leader, Zheng Zhizhi is too malicious! Look at her—first she swapped someone else’s letters and stole the money Battalion Commander Lu sent, and now she’s trying to destroy Su Jue and Wanwan’s college acceptance letters! If you don’t handle this properly, how can any of us feel safe with the Zheng family living in our village?"

"That’s right, Brigade Leader! If you don’t handle this, we’ll report it to your superiors."

"Exactly! Our village’s reputation has already been ruined enough because of Zheng Hai’s black market business."

The brigade leader’s head was starting to ache from all the shouting, but he, too, was extremely displeased with Zheng Zhizhi.

"Zheng Zhizhi, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Brigade Leader, I didn’t even succeed, and I didn’t cause any harm to the Su family. The most I should do is apologize. And you should know, my fiancé is a company commander." Zheng Zhizhi still had an ace up her sleeve.