CHAPTER 71: CHAPTER 71: HERD MENTALITY

"??? "

Everyone looked at each other; it was the leader’s voice.

"Why is the leader coming at this time?"

Zhou Qiuyu glanced out at the weather; the swirling snow was making everyone feel low-spirited.

In this terrifying weather, someone actually went out.

"There must be something urgent!"

Yi Chichi urged, "Old Bai, go quickly and take a look."

"On my way."

Before she finished speaking, Bai Chen had already put on his shoes and ran to open the door.

The wind was strong, the howling wind carrying snowflakes blew in through the wide-open door, bringing a biting chill.

Fortunately, Bai Chen closed the door quickly. Still, Yi Chichi and the others were shivering from the gust.

"This weather is really too cold!"

Wang Nan tightened her cotton-padded coat, pulling up a thin jacket on her lap to feel somewhat better.

"It’s probably more than twenty degrees below zero today."

Yi Chichi rubbed her somewhat stiff hands, poured herself a cup of hot water from the thermos, and asked, "Do you want some?"

"Yes!"

Wu Yongfei, who was in the middle of scratching an itch, was the first to respond, followed by Qi Yang and others.

One by one, enamel cups were handed over, and Yi Chichi held the thermos to pour a little for each of them.

Meanwhile, Bai Chen, upon seeing the leader, didn’t even have a chance to speak before he heard the leader saying urgently, "Bai Zhiqing, call Qi Zhiqing and Miss Yi to come with me to the commune."

"Huh?"

Bai Chen was caught off guard by the sudden command. Bewildered, he asked, "For what purpose?"

"To pick up a few people."

Bai Chen wanted to ask who they were, but seeing the team’s leader with a severe expression, clearly annoyed and not in the mood for questions, he swallowed his words and nodded in agreement.

"Leader, do you want to come in and sit for a while? We need to change clothes."

The road from Kao Shan Village to the commune is more than ten kilometers, which seems not far, but don’t forget what the weather is like today.

If you don’t bundle up tightly, your body might freeze before you even reach the commune.

"No need."

The leader waved his hand, turned, and headed towards the road to the east, "I’ll go to the barn first to harness the carriage; you hurry and get ready to find me."

He hadn’t finished speaking when he seemed to remember something and added, "Oh, right, make sure Miss Yi brings the medicine kit, and prepare more medicines."

"... Okay!"

The whirling snow soon swallowed the leader’s figure out of sight, leaving only a trail of footprints quickly covered by the falling snow.

Bai Chen turned back into the house and, without waiting for Yi Chichi and the others to ask about the commotion, succinctly said, "Old Yi, you take the medical kit and go to the commune with Old Qi and the leader, I’ll come too."

"What are we going for?"

Yi Chichi was reluctant to go, the wind was too strong and the temperature too low; she only wanted to stay warm on the heated kang and be unbothered.

This awful weather wasn’t suitable for going out.

"I don’t know."

Bai Chen shook his head, "But I have a feeling something’s going on."

The specifics were unclear, "Anyway, I saw the leader wasn’t in a cheerful mood."

Liu Chengqi couldn’t possibly be cheerful, nor could he pull off being so.

He would have never imagined someone would be sent down to their village at this time.

The notice came too suddenly, leaving him unsure of how to arrange things properly.

So, when Yi Chichi fully geared up and arrived at the barn, the leader was instructing the branch secretary to hurry and get the house ready.

The kang needed to be prepared as well, as did the firewood and other necessities.

The faces of the team cadres were growing grimmer, the scorekeeper was muttering complaints.

The atmosphere was heavy, leaving Yi Chichi and the others standing like quails, afraid to move.

Afraid of being the target of the unamused branch secretary’s frustration.

Finally, the leader finished his instructions.

He turned and climbed onto the cart, waving Yi Chichi and the others to get in.

The cart had a simple canopy that offered some protection from the wind and snow.

The base of the cart was layered with thick straw and a fur mat—what kind of fur was unclear, but it was fluffy and warm.

Yi Chichi and the others clambered onto the cart; the leader, seeing them seated, once again reminded the branch secretary, "Hurry up, get the kang heated, prepare plenty of hot water, we’ll return as soon as we’ve picked up the people."

"Got it, you can trust me to take care of the team."

The branch secretary took a drag from his pipe, his weathered brows and eyes half-concealed in the curling smoke.

In them, Yi Chichi saw distress.

She understood that the people they were picking up probably had unusual statuses, maybe even connections with some in Kao Shan Village.

A bit of inquiry on the way to the commune confirmed it.

"Altogether five people; when you get to the commune, keep quiet, I’ll do the negotiating."

"Alright!"

Yi Chichi and the others nodded obediently, this was indeed not an occasion suited for their intervention.

After all, their task today was merely to assist, to fulfill their designated role and nothing more.

However—

"Uncle Leader, with so many young and strong guys in the team, why did you call us?!"

Yi Chichi genuinely couldn’t fathom this; by all logic, this matter shouldn’t have fallen to the youth to handle.

Bai Chen and the rest were equally curious about the reasoning; seeing this, the leader sighed, "The young educated ones in the team are too young to handle matters, they might get frightened. The slightly older ones are less educated, only attended a few literacy classes, lacking the broader comprehension you possess, so I’m worried they’d cause trouble if brought along."

Yi Chichi and the others suddenly understood; that makes sense.

Under the influence of the overall environment, people easily get swept along by the prevailing trends.

Right or wrong wasn’t the matter; what mattered was the influence of the conformist mentality on many.

No one wanted to be the one isolated.

Especially those without education, without exposure, without independent thought and reasoning skills, who lived aimlessly, not knowing what they wanted or what they should be doing.

They primarily followed the crowd without questioning.

Is that good?

Well, opinions differed.

Given the environment, from the perspective Yi Chichi brought from the future, she couldn’t judge.

Nor would she try to judge.

After all, she was just one among the countless ordinary people, neither setting the rules nor changing anything.

What she could do was hide herself, not follow the crowd, nor attempt to change anything.

As long as it didn’t affect her, she was willing to lend a hand.

But beyond that, she had no ambitions to cling to anyone.

So, for the remainder of the trip, she chose to hold Uncle Yaozi’s medicine box in silence, listening to Bai Chen and the others’ chit-chat.

The road was thick with snow, the horse chilled; even though the leader and the others had stuffed lining into the horseshoes to prevent the snow from harming its hooves and put a crude coat on it like a straw raincoat, the horse’s pace was slow.

Over ten kilometers of road, it took the four of them with the horse over an hour to reach their destination.

Then Yi Chichi saw, huddled in a corner of the eaves, five shivering figures in the cold wind.

One of the faces was so familiar that she nearly called out in surprise.