Chapter 4: With the Kitchen Knife in Hand, the World Is Mine

After the meal, Tang Banxia felt numb.

As she stepped out of the state-run restaurant, she tilted her head back at a forty-five-degree angle to gaze at the sky.

There was no particular reason for it, except that she was afraid her tears would fall.

She had really found herself a bottomless pit to feed.

"Tang, Comrade Educated Youth, are we going back? It's so hot~"

Tang Banxia felt the urge to look up at the sky again.

Good grief, this man was even more delicate than she was!

"Tang, Comrade Educated Youth?"

"I'm not going back. Let's go browse the supply and marketing cooperative," Tang Banxia replied, her voice drained of energy.

As soon as she mentioned it, Wen Mubai perked up, wide awake. "Alright, I'll give you a ride."

Once they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, the pale pretty boy started up again.

He wanted this, and that, and ended up picking out only two things in the whole store.

When it came time to pay, he instinctively shrank behind Tang Banxia, displaying the practiced ease of someone content to live off others, leaving Tang Banxia almost in awe of his shamelessness.

Unmoved, she picked out some useful items and told the shop assistant, "Just these, please."

The shop assistant rolled her eyes theatrically. "If you can't afford it, don't act like such a big shot!"

Tang Banxia didn't take it to heart and turned to the pretty boy. "She's talking about you, did you hear?"

Wen Mubai looked pitifully at the shop assistant and muttered, "I heard."

Satisfied to see the shop assistant's face flush blue then red, Tang Banxia raised her chin. "Let's go."

With that, she strode away, and Wen Mubai followed dutifully, carrying their purchases.

After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, they made their way to the grain station.

What else could they do? She still had to feed her bottomless pit.

At the grain station, she bought some cornmeal, ignoring Wen Mubai's hopeful gaze, and left without mercy.

A man who lived off others and still dreamed of eating fine grains? Let him keep dreaming!

With nothing left to buy, the two of them made their way back to Guyue Village.

On the way back, Tang Banxia felt as if Wen Mubai was taking his revenge on her.

After being jostled and bounced for the thirteenth time, she couldn't take it anymore. "Wen Mubai, if you deliberately steer us into another pothole, you can start feeding yourself from now on."

She had the marriage certificate in hand now. If this pretty boy could make her happy, she wouldn't mind supporting him. But if he dared to cross her, she was more than capable of burning bridges.

Wen Mubai grumbled, "Got it."

After that, the journey back to Guyue Village was uneventful.

They returned the bicycle to the team leader's house and then carried their bags back to the educated youth dormitory.

It was just the time when everyone was finishing work. Unsurprisingly, the sight of the two of them loaded down with supplies made all the unmarried young men in the village green with envy.

They seethed with resentment. Why couldn't they have a face like Wen Mubai's?

Back at the dormitory, the two ignored everyone else and went straight to Wen Mubai's private room to sort out their things. "Come help me."

At the suggestion, Wen Mubai collapsed onto the kang, wailing, "I'm so tired~ exhausted~"

Tang Banxia wasn't buying it. Coldly, she said, "If you don't help, there'll be no meat buns for you."

He immediately snapped to attention.

"Tang, Comrade Educated Youth, what do you need? Just give the order!" The wailing had barely stopped before he was full of energy.

"Help me move house."

Who would choose a communal room over a private one?

"You're moving in with me?" Wen Mubai glanced at her shyly. "Isn't that a bit improper? I'm not ready yet~"

Tang Banxia remained expressionless. "Meat buns."

"I'm on it."

She followed him to the door of the female educated youths' dormitory, but as soon as she arrived, she sensed something was wrong.

She glanced inside and saw her bedding had been shredded to pieces, her clothes scattered all over the floor. Tang Banxia almost laughed out of anger. So this was how they wanted to play?

She didn't say a word, just turned and left.

The female educated youths collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

But their hearts soon leapt into their throats as Tang Banxia returned, brandishing a brand-new kitchen knife, her presence menacing.

Wherever she went, people made way for her.

Tang Banxia had no intention of dragging anyone else into it. She headed straight for Liu Liyun's bed and began hacking at her bedding with wild abandon.

She chopped it to pieces, beyond repair. Not stopping there, she moved to Liu Liyun's cupboard and hacked away again...

When Liu Liyun came back from work, she saw Tang Banxia in a frenzy, chopping up her cupboard.

With a shriek, she charged forward.

But Tang Banxia was faster, landing a kick square in Liu Liyun's chest and sending her flying out of the dormitory.

Then she advanced, grinning wickedly, kitchen knife in hand. "If I can't have peace, then nobody will!"

With that, she brought the knife down hard.

Screams filled the air.

The educated youths instinctively squeezed their eyes shut, not wanting to witness anything bloody.

But after a while, all they heard was Tang Banxia's scornful "Tch!"

A few brave souls peeked open their eyes, only to see Liu Liyun completely unharmed on the ground, and Tang Banxia standing to the side, looking down at her in contempt. They couldn't quite figure out what had happened.

But soon, it became clear.

Tang Banxia bent down, tapped Liu Liyun's cheek with the back of the knife, and said, "This is just a warning. Try me again, and next time it won't be the blunt side."

Liu Liyun's hair fell over her face, her expression unreadable.

Tang Banxia didn't care. She handed the kitchen knife to Wen Mubai, who had been watching the commotion, and said, "Now, compensation."

"Compensation for what?" someone asked aloud.

Tang Banxia didn't care who it was and replied with a gentle smile, "For the ruined bedding and clothes. Someone has to pay up, don't they?"

In the setting sun, the knife in Wen Mubai's hand gleamed coldly, silently intimidating everyone at the dormitory.

Wang Haijun shot Tang Banxia a meaningful look. "Liu, Comrade Educated Youth, what do you say?"

Liu Liyun replied in a muffled voice, "She ruined my bedding and clothes too."

"Pfft, those rags of yours can't compare to mine," Tang Banxia sneered.

Catching Liu Liyun's resentful glare, Tang Banxia let her gaze drift to the knife, making Liu Liyun's pupils contract in fear. She quickly lowered her head.

"I'll pay," Liu Liyun said in a low voice.

"Twenty yuan. Hand it over," Tang Banxia demanded, holding out her hand.

"That much?" Liu Liyun protested.

Tang Banxia only sneered in response.

After a tense standoff, Liu Liyun finally yielded. "Fine," she said, her voice trembling.

Tang Banxia pocketed the twenty yuan, then helped Liu Liyun up from the ground and dusted her off, smiling, "That's better. From now on, let's be good sisters again!"

Liu Liyun kept her head down, her eyes filled with deep-seated hatred.

Tang Banxia wasn't afraid in the least. She leaned in and murmured, "Liyun, I know your secret."

Liu Liyun jerked her head up to look at her.

Tang Banxia gave a mysterious smile, shaped her lips into a silent word.

Liu Liyun shuddered, watching helplessly as the person she once toyed with walked away in triumph...

At dinner, the educated youths could smell the aroma of meat wafting from the kitchen. They saw Wen Mubai sitting by the kitchen door, gnawing on a meat bun, and then looked down at their own boiled vegetables. Suddenly, envy welled up inside them.

Look at him, and then look at themselves—how comfortable it must be to be a pretty boy!

Good food, decent clothes, someone taking care of him—why hadn't they thought of this before?

And did Tang, Comrade Educated Youth, have any sisters?

Some were merely envious, but others began to nurture darker thoughts.

So, while Wen Mubai was washing dishes, someone approached Tang Banxia.

"Comrade Tang Educated Youth?"

Tang Banxia was lounging with a big palm-leaf fan, musing on life's sorrows. She didn't even lift her eyelids. "Speak."

The visitor wasn't put off. "Comrade Tang, I know marrying Wen Mubai wasn't really your wish."

"Mm. So?"

"Comrade Tang, I like you. Marry me. I don't mind that you aren't good enough for me, nor do I care about that night you spent with Comrade Wen, because I fell in love with you at first sight. You are the only one for me!"

"Wait, what did you say?" Tang Banxia dug at her ear.

"He said he doesn't mind that you're not good enough for him," came a ghostly voice from behind. The visitor stiffened.

With a sudden movement, Tang Banxia sprang up. "Not... good... enough? Pah!"

"I'm not good enough for you? I could run rings around you eight hundred times and still take a detour."

"You don't mind me? Who do you think you are?"

"No mirror at home? At least you could look at yourself in a puddle!"

"With those two scraggly hairs on your face, people would think you were a wild monkey straight off the mountain!"

"And you still have the nerve to say you like me with those shifty eyes and ratty eyebrows?"

"Just looking at you makes my eyes dirty. Who gave you the courage to come and babble at me? Get lost—just the sight of your ugly mug will give me nightmares."

She was already in a foul mood, so if someone was volunteering to be her punching bag, she wasn't about to hold back.

"Heh~" Wen Mubai's pleasant laughter rang out. For the first time, his eyes curved with genuine amusement.

Xu Guiming, having been thoroughly humiliated, heard Wen Mubai's laughter and seized on it as a scapegoat. "If I'm not good enough for you, what about him?"

"He's just got a pretty face. You think he's any better?"

Tang Banxia's eyelids drooped. "None of your business."

"Comrade Tang, I'm doing this for your own good. I don't want you to be fooled by a pretty boy like him. Do you know what he's really like in the village..."

"Anything else?" Tang Banxia interrupted impatiently.

Seeing him at a loss for words, she snorted, "At least he has a pretty face. What do you have? Nothing but flaws and debt?"

"At least he relies on others openly. Unlike you—" She gave Xu Guiming a contemptuous once-over. "Trying to have your cake and eat it too, and thinking everyone else is a fool!"

"You... you'll regret this!" With those words, Xu Guiming flounced off. "Shallow woman."

Tang Banxia called after him coolly, "Some people want to live off their looks, but just aren't up to it~"

Xu Guiming scurried off even faster, nearly breaking into a run.

After this example, none of the other educated youths with designs on her dared make a move.

When Tang Banxia first arrived, she seemed beautiful and gentle, but who knew she was so difficult?

And then there was Wen Mubai...

Just thinking of him made the veteran educated youths shudder, and they quickly suppressed any stray thoughts.

Forget it, the two of them deserved each other.

After that farce, Tang Banxia felt her pent-up frustration dissipate. She picked up her folding stool and returned to her room.

Seeing that Wen Mubai had no intention of coming in, she locked the door, checked the window, and—finding nothing amiss—reached into her suitcase and pulled out a bulging envelope: the original owner's savings.

She emptied it out and counted: seven hundred and fifty yuan, plus a hundred jin of national grain coupons, two sugar coupons, and two toilet paper coupons.

Recalling the original owner's memories, she found some loose money and coupons in a few pieces of clothing. Added to what Liu Liyun had just paid, it totaled over a thousand yuan.

In this era, that was a fortune. Even a big family like the Tangs would rarely let a young girl carry so much.

From her memories, Tang Banxia learned she was the only daughter who hadn't married, which made the elders more partial to her.

Before she left for the countryside, her parents gave her three hundred, her grandparents two hundred, and the hundred and fifty was her own savings since childhood. Her grandfather and uncles each gave a hundred as well.

Her eldest sister and brother also contributed, and altogether it came to over eleven hundred.

Most of the coupons from home had been given to her, too, for fear she would suffer in the countryside.

Her elders had been painstaking in their care. With this money and these coupons, she could have survived in the countryside for years even if she did nothing.

Not to mention the occasional support from home.

Even the village, Guyue, had been carefully chosen for its honest folk and kind cadres—a safety net her family had arranged for her.

But they had overlooked one thing: the original owner was too sheltered, no match for the malice of others, and had lost her life for nothing.

Thinking of the original owner's family, Tang Banxia sighed.

Well, since she was here, she would just live as Tang Banxia. After all, apart from Su Nianhua in the modern world, she had nothing to miss.

A life is a life, no matter where.

Late at night, a quiet rustling broke the silence of the dormitory.

A figure slipped into the male dormitory under cover of darkness. Soon after, the figure emerged with something slung over his shoulder and headed for the mountains...

Moonlight spilled down, illuminating the runner's face—gone was the daytime smile, replaced by a chilling, predatory look.

After running for an unknown stretch, he threw his burden to the ground, dusted off his hands, and made his way back the way he came...