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Upon returning to the large tiled house, the educated youths were immediately hit by the warm indoor air, causing them to shiver one after another.
After the brigade leader entered, Mu Junqing and the others hurriedly offered him their warm hospitality.
“Look at the mess you’ve worked up. Go wash your face, there’s no need to entertain me,” the brigade leader said, patting Mu Junqing on the shoulder while quickly scanning the interior of the tiled house.
Lin Xuejun also ran off to wash her face, once again making sure to meticulously scrub her arms and hands.
“Oh dear, you’re down to just this little firewood. I’ll have someone bring some more over,” the brigade leader remarked as he strolled around the room, neither sitting down nor accepting the cup of water Yi Xiuyu handed him. Spotting the pitifully small pile of firewood beneath their stove, he frowned and made to leave.
Just as he pushed open the door, he bumped into someone. It was none other than Ülzii. His gaze dropped to the bundle of firewood clutched in the herdsman’s arms.
“Great minds really do think alike,” the brigade leader laughed heartily, stepping aside to let Ülzii in.
Ülzii hesitated before taking a tentative step forward. Glancing down, he noticed that although the floor of the educated youths’ house was made of concrete, it had been swept clean. Then, looking at his own shoes, caked with cow dung, mud, and snow, he withdrew his foot. Bending down, he placed the large bundle of split firewood on the ground, peeked inside the house, exchanged a brief glance with the brigade leader, and then hurried off without a word.
It was as if he feared being thanked, fleeing like a shadow.
“Hey—” The brigade leader called out, but seeing that he couldn’t stop him, he closed the door.
“Ülzii brought you more firewood. Use this for now, and I’ll see which families have extra firewood or cow dung to spare for you later. It’s getting late, so it’s time for you to sleep. I’ll be off now,” the brigade leader said while gripping the doorknob, his eyes fixed on Lin Xuejun, who had just finished washing her face and was drying herself with a towel.
“Thank you, Brigade Leader,” Lin Xuejun said hastily, tossing the towel onto the washbasin stand and rushing to the door to see him out.
But the brigade leader waved her off with a “No need,” before hurrying away.
Left behind, the roomful of educated youths stared at one another, unsure how to break the silence after everything that had just happened.
They wanted to praise Lin Xuejun, but given that they weren’t that familiar with her yet, they feared coming across as sycophantic or foolish, so they could only remain in this somewhat awkward stalemate.
They yearned to talk about the events of the evening, but it had all happened so fast—they hadn’t fully processed it yet, hadn’t even grasped the full weight of it, leaving them tangled in confusion.
The room full of young people who came from all corners of the country, who were strangers, but were now expected to eat and live together every day, had just shared the heart-pounding experience of witnessing the miracle of birth. Their blood still raced with excitement, yet not a single word could be spoken.
*
Meanwhile, Wang Ying, the medic, made her way back through the night to her quarters. The first thing she did upon entering was to lovingly wipe her rubber gloves over and over, even applying a dab of snowflake cream to them.
Afraid the gloves might be damaged by the oil lamp’s flame, she inspected them carefully under the moonlight, checking for any signs of wear. Later, just as she was about to fall asleep, she got up again to touch them once more.
While she marveled at Lin Xuejun’s daring act of reaching into the cow’s rear to save the calf, her heart still ached for her gloves all the same. As she caressed them, Wang Ying felt a sudden wave of relief: at least treating humans wouldn’t require her to wear her beloved little gloves and reach into anyone’s backside.
*
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
On the other side, in the large tiled house of the small courtyard, the educated youths lay on the heated kang, stuffed with the dry firewood sent by Ülzii, their faces flushed, ears burning, and eyes wide open.
Staring at the ceiling, they felt nothing but excitement—how could they possibly fall asleep at such a time?
The male educated youths tossed and turned like pancakes for a long time before Meng Tianxia finally couldn’t take it anymore, “Are you guys going to sleep or not? Is the kang too hot, making you restless?”
“The kang is so warm. It’s the first time I’ve felt this warm since leaving home. Even the marrow in my bones, frozen to ice, has thawed,” one male educated youth immediately chimed in, his voice brimming with happiness.
“If it had been this warm earlier, Comrade Lin Xuejun’s cold would have healed long ago,” another added.
“If Comrade Lin Xuejun hadn’t recovered, who would have treated the villagers’ cows? And if no one treated the cows, who would have sent us firewood? Every household has limited supplies. No one would just give it away for nothing,” Meng Tianxia retorted quickly.
“So, who’s really bringing the warmth—the fellow villagers or Comrade Lin?” Yi Xiuyu interjected.
“Both. But of course, it’s Comrade Lin who brought warmth to the villagers first, and then the villagers returned the favor.”
“And we, who didn’t do anything for the villagers, get to share in the warmth too.”
“Haha, we owe our thanks to Comrade Lin… Ah, it’s so cozy!”
“I was afraid that if I failed, I’d drag you all down with me,” said Lin Xuejun, still shaken. Even decades later, there would still be lives lost due to difficult calving.
“What’s there to fear? It’s not like we caused the cow’s difficult birth. We tried to help, and even if it didn’t work out, your intentions were good.”
“Exactly.”
“Besides, you’re so skilled—just go for it boldly.”
“Thankfully, it worked out in the end.” Lin Xuejun wrapped herself tightly in the quilt, too embarrassed to say much more. Luckily, the oil lamp was already out, so no one could see her grinning like a little mouse that had stolen oil, her smile so wide she could barely close her mouth after being praised so much.
She pulled the quilt up to cover everything below her nose, otherwise, the cold air in the room might freeze her front teeth.
“Hey, why isn’t Comrade Mu saying anything? Could he actually be asleep?” one male educated youth suddenly asked.
“I keep thinking about a phrase,” Mu Junqing finally spoke up.
“What phrase?” Meng Tianxia grew curious.
“Comrade Lin Xuejun is like an artist, mastering the art of turning sorrowful faces into joyful ones.” Mu Junqing then muttered to himself, “In the phrase ‘mastering the art of turning sorrowful faces,’ would it sound better to replace ‘turning’ with ‘transforming’? ‘Turning sorrowful faces into joyful ones’ versus ‘transforming the art of turning sorrowful faces’—which word works better?”
No one cared whether it was “turning” or “transforming.” They were all captivated by Mu Junqing’s sudden poetic flair. The cheerful educated youths erupted in excitement:
“That was legendary!”
“Holy crap!”
“Such eloquence! Well said!”
“How about we start a Husehe Commune newspaper and write about the heroic deeds of us eight educated youths?”
“‘Lin Xuejun, an Educated Youth, Bravely Save a Herdsman’s Pregnant Cow’—yes, let’s use that as the headline.”
“Yours isn’t good. I think it should be ‘Lin Xuejun’s Spirit Shines Brightly in Delivering a Difficult Birth for a Cow.'”
Even the introverted ones couldn’t stop chiming in with a, “So impressive.” “Really well said.”
And throughout the entire discussion, Lin Xuejun didn’t say a word.
She had already pulled the quilt covering her nose and mouth over her head, feeling utterly mortified! She had to wrap herself tightly in the quilt to keep from laughing out loud and wriggling around like a worm under the covers.
Good grief, what kind of embarrassing role-play was this?!
She was just too… too…
Too happy!
[Author’s Note]
[Northeastern Dialect Lesson: to wriggle = gǔ (cricket) yong (pupa).]
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