Chapter 15: Sleep with Me, I'll Give You Three Hundred!

Page 1/3

Wang Peng arrived at the Du family’s melon field, where he joined Du Geda in picking watermelons, weighing them, loading them onto a cart, and settling the accounts. The two men sat beside the melon shed to rest, and Du Geda opened a watermelon. As they ate, they chatted casually.

“Du Ye, can I pay you for this load of melons tomorrow? Is that okay?” Wang Peng asked.

“No problem. A day earlier or later doesn’t really matter,” Du Geda replied promptly.

After finishing the watermelon, Wang Peng pulled the cart full of melons back to the village. On the way, he ran into Du Lei, who was bringing food to his grandfather.

“I gave your letter to her through someone. She’s not a woman who lacks self-respect. I’ll make sure you’re convinced,” Du Lei said.

“Good brother, I admire your decisiveness!” Wang Peng gave him a thumbs-up. “I hope you really do convince me.”

The two exchanged a few jabs before going their separate ways—one to bring food to grandpa at the melon field, the other pulling the cart back to Du Village.

Du Village bordered Feng Village. Feng Lingling received Wang Peng’s letter and hid under her quilt to read it. Her heart stirred with emotion.

Three hundred yuan was enough to pay her tuition. Working in the south wasn’t nearly as comfortable as going to school.

The rest of the money could buy her floral dresses, jeans, leather boots, and Alpine milk candies…

At that moment, she heard some noise outside. Peeking out from under the quilt, she saw her stylish older sister, Feng Zhenzhen.

Her sister wore high heels, jeans that outlined her figure, and a pink leather jacket.

“Lingling, they actually sell Pierre Cardin in our county town. Look at this jacket I just bought,” she said, coming to the bedside to show off the pink jacket.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Feng Lingling said, envious, her hand clenched into a fist beneath the quilt.

“I spent hundreds on these clothes and shoes. Lingling, if you come south with me, in less than half a year, you’ll be able to wear things like this too,” her sister promised.

“I want to study. If I can’t get into university, then I’ll work,” Feng Lingling turned over, refusing to look at her sister’s clothes.

She knew what her sister did in the south—working at an electronics factory by day, standing on the street in a back alley by night.

The factory wages alone couldn’t buy Pierre Cardin.

In the 1980s and 90s, Pierre Cardin was a household name, a luxury brand comparable to Hermès, embodying the fashion ideals of a generation after the reform and opening-up, leading an entire era’s style.

Feng Lingling’s envy deepened. They had the same mother—why did her sister get to wear Pierre Cardin while she wore shabby cotton pants?

At that moment, a girl from the neighboring house called Feng Zhenzhen out to play. They both worked at the same electronics factory.

Once they left, Feng Lingling got out of bed, locked the door, and took out a red suitcase from under her sister’s bed.

Opening it carefully, she found some clothes and five packs of cigarettes already opened. Inside the cigarette boxes were condoms.

It was those condoms that revealed her sister’s real line of work.

A few minutes later, she put the suitcase back under the bed, took two condoms with her, and stepped outside.

Looking up at the moon, she walked quietly through the night toward the fields of Du Village.

Page 2/3

Du Village.

At Old Sun’s melon field.

Wang Peng and Du Lei hid just outside the melon shed.

Du Lei whispered, “Peng Ge, have you ever done that with a woman?”

“What do you mean?” Wang Peng feigned ignorance.

“You know… that kind of thing,” Du Lei said shyly and weakly.

The moon was bright tonight, the visibility high enough to see the path leading to Du Village.

“Peng Ge, Lingling isn’t crazy. She definitely won’t come,” Du Lei said. “We agreed—if she doesn’t show up tonight, you owe me two hundred yuan.”

“No problem. But…” Wang Peng smiled, “what if she does come? Then what?”

“She won’t come. She’s not crazy!” Du Lei said with conviction.

Just then, a figure appeared on the path, standing motionless beneath the moonlight.

“Looks like someone’s coming. I’ll go meet them. You hide nearby,” Wang Peng said with a quiet chuckle.

He guessed it might be Feng Lingling and felt a bit triumphant—no need to lend money to Du Lei after all.

Du Lei was stunned for two seconds, his mind blank, then hurriedly hid in the nearby sorghum field.

The sorghum field was right next to the melon shed, less than a meter away.

Who was coming?

Could it be Feng Lingling?

Would she really sell her body for three hundred yuan?

Thinking this, Du Lei’s mind went blank.

Wang Peng switched on a flashlight and slowly approached the figure at the road’s entrance, shining the light on the person. It was a woman, her back to him.

“Hello,” Wang Peng smiled and greeted her, “Are you Sister Lingling?”

“Who are you? Do you have three hundred yuan? Did San Pangzi’s letter come from you?” Feng Lingling still faced away.

“Yes, I wrote it. I want you,” Wang Peng said. “Sister Lingling, shall we talk by the melon shed?”

San Pangzi was the little boy who helped Feng Lingling and Du Lei exchange love letters.

The air fell silent.

After about two minutes, Feng Lingling said softly, “I don’t believe you have the money unless you show me.”

Page 3/3

“Alright,” Wang Peng took three hundred yuan in hundred-yuan notes from his pocket. “The money’s in my hand. Look back now.”

For this moment, he had gone to the village shop to exchange small change for crisp bills.

Feng Lingling turned around. Seeing the three hundred yuan under the flashlight, she immediately believed him.

“What’s your name? Do we know each other?” she asked quietly.

“Heh,” Wang Peng turned and strolled to the melon shed to wait for her.

“Lei Ge, she’s here. Just don’t know if she’ll come to the melon shed,” Du Lei whispered from the sorghum field.

He said nothing, biting his lip with clenched fists.

“Lei Ge, actually you’ve already lost. Any normal girl wouldn’t risk coming here alone at midnight over an uncertain note.”

“You—you should let her go. She probably thought I was joking, so she came to check,” Du Lei stubbornly said.

“Shut up, Lei Ge. She’s already here.” Wang Peng switched on the flashlight, shining it on the figure approaching the melon shed.

Feng Lingling stopped in front of the shed. “You said you’d do it once, and you’d pay me three hundred yuan, right?”

Her words were blunt, almost too much for Wang Peng to handle. “Sister Lingling, actually I’m Du Lei’s friend. That note was a joke.”

“Du Lei probably doesn’t know about this,” Feng Lingling said calmly. “If he did, he wouldn’t let you joke like that.”

“Sister Lingling, you’re really clever,” Wang Peng chuckled.

“I’m not joking. I need the money.” She pulled out two condoms. “It’s my first time. I’ll do it twice with you. You give me three hundred yuan.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell him?” Wang Peng smiled again.

He thought his teasing letter was bold. He hadn’t expected Feng Lingling to be even bolder—how could a sixteen-year-old girl have such thoughts?

“I know Du Lei’s temper. If you tell him, he might kill you. This is our little secret. Is there really any need to tell him?” Feng Lingling began to undress. “Stop wasting time. Take off your clothes.”

Hearing this, Wang Peng shook his head gently. So this was her true nature.

In a past life, Du Lei had said she had changed for the worse because she had gone to the city and succumbed to temptation.

Now it seemed that was nonsense—the city was not to blame.

“Feng Lingling, that’s enough!” Du Lei’s shout came from the sorghum field.

He burst out, furious, at the sight of Feng Lingling in only her underwear under the moonlight.

“You—I—I was really blind!”