Chapter 49: My Brother and Her Are Not Ordinary

In the small warehouse of the Second Grain Store, it was utterly quiet, save for the rustling of pens on paper and the ticking of the “horsehoof clock.”

Li Dayong, Hu Man, and five other students were hunched over their papers, deep in thought.

Li Ye had prepared three sets of questions tonight; though none were complete exams, each required students to copy the problems by hand and listen to Li Ye explain the ones they couldn’t solve, leaving them with extremely tight timing.

Only Wen Leyu had finished her paper early and sat beside Li Ye, quietly watching him write and helping him proofread.

Li Ye was busy tonight—truly busy.

He had to organize special tutoring sessions, create questions, explain them, yet even amid all this, he never neglected his “joint creation” novel with Wen Leyu.

This brought Wen Leyu considerable comfort.

Though Wen Leyu had firmly followed Li Ye out of the classroom to study here alone,

she had been somewhat displeased.

Back in the classroom, Li Ye had essentially been “hers”; here, however, he had to devote much energy to helping Li Dayong, Hu Man, and others.

That was why Wen Leyu had just coldly said, “Anyone who doesn’t believe it can leave.”

After more than ten days of close interaction, Wen Leyu had quietly abandoned the idea of “joint creation,” content to serve as Li Ye’s liaison with Teacher Ke, carefully inserting clues and material into the novel he held.

She had no ability to offer substantive guidance on Li Ye’s novel, only occasionally asking him in a veiled tone: “Could Shi Cheng’s role be expanded a bit more?”

Each time, Li Ye would nod generously, adding a few more lines to Shi Cheng’s character to make him more vivid and prominent.

Wen Leyu was delighted, feeling Li Ye respected her opinions and understood her heart.

But she had no idea Li Ye saw through her subtle intentions perfectly.

When Li Ye took on this task, he had already decided to adapt “Fires of the Deserting Soldier” into a high-end custom novel exclusively for Teacher Ke.

The first step in adaptation was identifying who among the characters was most closely tied to Teacher Ke.

Teacher Ke’s story material largely described a weak, ragtag combat unit—composed of misfits—that transformed through battle, constantly evolving.

Within this small group were bandits who defected for food, dimwits with brute strength but no brains,

a “bad-luck star” who had cursed dozens of comrades to death, and a young orphan of a fallen soldier who was already a hardened veteran.

There were also later recruits from scattered guerrilla units and children barely taller than their rifles.

And all their fates were utterly transformed by the defector killer, “Hu Yi.”

After receiving these character materials, Li Ye’s greatest fear was that Teacher Ke was too deeply connected to the killer—writing it would become extremely difficult, since this was 1981, not 2001.

Later, Li Ye discovered one character had received the most abundant and detailed material from Teacher Ke.

After several rounds of probing and communication, both silently agreed that “Shi Cheng” was the book’s “super supporting character.”

Shi Cheng’s prototype was a guerrilla fighter who officially joined the force in 1938 but survived, rising to battalion rank by the time the Japanese surrendered.

Because he enlisted late, he had already married and had children; Li Ye calculated his age and concluded Shi Cheng was almost certainly Wen Leyu’s grandfather’s generation.

During subsequent writing, proofreader Wen Leyu clearly paid more attention to “Shi Cheng,” and Li Ye made every effort to artistically enhance him.

“Clang clang clang~”

At ten-thirty at night, Li Ye’s “horsehoof clock” suddenly rang out.

This mechanical alarm was loud; if it went off suddenly in the morning, it could startle anyone.

The six students, frowning over their papers, jerked their heads up like startled pheasants hearing gunshots.

“Already time? I haven’t finished!”

“Me neither, Li Ye, just give us a little more time!”

“I’m not tired, I’m not tired—I could stay up all night.”

Li Ye didn’t care whether they were tired; he stood up and began collecting papers.

“We’re only on our first night studying outside. If you can’t return to the dorms on time, what will the school think? Will they still allow us to study independently?”

After five minutes of grading answers, Li Ye immediately began shooing them out, ordering them back to the dorms.

He planned to sleep on the small heated brick bed inside, but others couldn’t—he was responsible for organizing these students to study outside.

If Li Ye wanted to make things easy, he could ignore everyone, help no one, and quietly wait until the college entrance exam lifted him to the heavens.

But he had Wen Leyu beside him.

And behind him stood Li Dayong.

One sheep is herded, a flock is herded too; that’s why Li Ye selected Hu Man and others who still had a shred of “loyalty.”

Hu Man, still agonizing over her unfinished paper, whispered: “Can we take them home to finish? We promise no one will see them...”

“What did you say?”

Li Ye’s face turned icy. He scanned the students with a stern gaze, then walked to the stove, opened the lid, and shoved all the papers inside.

“.........”

Orange flames leapt up; seven papers vanished instantly into ash.

“No, Li Ye...”

“What are you doing?”

Several students, especially Hu Man and other girls, stomped their feet in distress; the timid Jiang Xiaoyan even burst into tears.

They hadn’t even finished these papers!

Normally, school-issued test papers were reused multiple times; these unfinished ones were treasures in their eyes.

Only Li Ye’s current severity and intimidation had stopped them from rushing forward to snatch them back.

Li Ye’s face remained grim. He spoke coldly: “It seems you didn’t understand what I just said. Let me repeat it once more.”

“Everything in this warehouse—every word, every scrap of paper—must not leave these walls.”

Li Ye pointed toward the school and asked Hu Man: “Can you tell me why we left the school today? What was the original reason?”

Hu Man bit her lip, then finally said: “Because you wouldn’t explain problems to classmates, they were jealous and spread rumors about you.”

Hearing Hu Man’s voice tremble with emotion, Li Ye softened slightly: “Think back—how much time have you spent arguing with Xia Yue and her group these past days?

How much time have you wasted sulking? How much have you spent explaining yourselves to teachers...”

“And all of this stems from one thing: we have enough test questions to change our fates.”

“Don’t think you’re careful enough to avoid being seen—you have no right to take this risk, because this isn’t just your personal matter.”

“Unless you’re willing to return to fighting with Xia Yue every day, bickering endlessly, wasting your energy on meaningless nonsense and letting your fate rot forever in Class One’s mud pit.”

Hu Man and the others were stunned by Li Ye’s severity.

But then they recalled the miserable days they’d endured.

Since beginning their conflict with Xia Yue’s group, their study quality had plummeted, their minds cluttered with chaotic thoughts.

Yet in the past few hours, they had felt utterly “pure.”

They’d completed two and a half papers, listened to Li Ye explain problems, and without realizing it, the entire night had passed richly and fully.

This simple, fulfilling study environment felt wonderful to them.

Compared to this, the much-envied Retake Class One was truly a mud pit.

“Sorry, Li Ye, we were wrong. I swear here and now—I’ll keep this secret. I’d rather die than let a single word leak out.”

“We swear too...”

“.........”

One by one, the students swore, as resolute as heroes in films of that era.

Only then did Li Ye open the warehouse door, put on his coat, and escort them back to school.

But outside, he noticed the office of the Second Grain Store was still lit.

Seeing Li Ye and the others emerge, the office door opened, and his grandfather Li Zhongfa and grandmother Wu Juying stepped out.

Li Ye paused, surprised: “Grandpa, Grandma, when did you arrive? Why didn’t you come in?”

Li Zhongfa waved his hand solemnly: “I told everyone—if that door’s closed, no one enters.”

“No one interferes with my grandson writing his novel. No one interferes with our unit’s own children becoming great writers.”

The Second Grain Store’s supervisor added: “Director Li’s right—we’ve never had a real cultural figure in our unit all these years.”

Well then.

Li Ye, a child of the grain system, had become the unit’s cultural hope.

“Alright, I’ll first take these students back, then come back to talk with you.”

“No need. I just came to check. It’s late—rest. I’ll see them to the school gate myself.”

Li Zhongfa was a man of action; he shoved Li Ye back inside and took his wife along with Li Dayong and the others.

Li Ye was baffled.

His grandfather Li Zhongfa coming to check was understandable—but why had his grandmother Wu Juying come?

After leaving the back gate of the Second Grain Store, Li Zhongfa coughed once.

The sharp-witted Li Dayong immediately stepped forward: “Private Secretary, what’s up?”

Li Zhongfa lowered his voice like a spy: “That little girl you told me about—who is she?”

Li Dayong cautiously pointed at Wen Leyu and whispered: “Private Secretary, I’m not sure, but my brother and Wen Leyu... they’re not ordinary. Really not ordinary.”