weddingnovel Chapter 1043 - 916: To the Countryside
Chapter 1043 - 916: To the Countryside
Time flies like a shuttle, and in the blink of an eye, it’s suddenly April 1968. The most beautiful days are in April, and no one can resist the allure of spring.——Warm spring blossoms, lush grass and trees, fragrant grass everywhere, so beautiful.
But this year, no one has the time to appreciate it. The April spring breeze is very cool, and the sky is filled with willow and poplar catkins carried by the wind, swaying and falling on pedestrians, walls, and street ends.
It’s enough to make one annoyed.
In the office, Jin Lijuan frowned and took a sip of tea from her enamel mug. She was worried; due to a moment of carelessness, the Revolutionary Committee issued a notice emphasizing the mobilization of "three-year" graduates to go up to the mountains and down to the countryside.
And her second daughter just got her graduation certificate. She saw that the real end of junior high school was still months away and thought there was no rush.
Who knew that yesterday the neighborhood committee notified the child to go to the countryside. She hadn’t thought about running connections to quickly find a job to stay in the city like everyone else.
But two years ago, her eldest son graduated and made a fuss about volunteering to join the corps, and she and her husband finally managed to arrange a job for that rascal last year.
This time there’s really no avoiding it.
And yet these words can’t be leaked out, otherwise, you’ll get labeled with something bad. What’s more distressing is that her second daughter was actually delighted upon hearing the news, eager to leave Beijing immediately.
This silly girl lacks sense; how could she know what life is like in the corps and what rural life is like? Ultimately, it’s the fault of her and her husband for keeping the children too sheltered.
Jin Lijuan didn’t know that a person from Yun Province had emphasized the fairyland-like "Charming Yunnan" and "South of Colorful Cloud" when promoting to those educated youths.
Everyone listened in a trance, deeply attracting the inexperienced children.
It was really said elaborately, with spit flying everywhere.
They said that in Yun Province, with radishes overhead and sugarcane underfoot, even a fall would land you in peanuts as thick as your thumb, along with beautiful minority customs!
Of course, it’s not entirely the fault of that person; now many young people with aspirations are enthusiastic about "going up to the mountains and countryside." Last winter, many Red Guards wrote vows to go to the countryside and submitted them to the authorities.
The major trend is such, and the thoughts of parents and children inevitably diverge. Especially a single phrase, "Go to the countryside, go to the border areas, go to where the country needs the most!" has particularly attracted city kids.
"Does anyone have tickets of any kind on hand? Let me have them for now; I’ll pay you back later." She thought it over since she couldn’t change things, it’s better to prepare things early to take with the child.
Zhou Jiao didn’t pay any mind upon hearing this, knowing the other person was the niece of her big cousin, with the couple both working jobs, and the eldest son also working now, borrowing tickets was simply to add something to the family.
She didn’t pretend to be overly generous, handing over two months’ worth of industrial tickets and a few half-pound sugar tickets. There was nothing else—not because she was stingy, but beyond wages and industrial tickets, there were some welfare tickets from the unit; all her supply for the year was understood to be at home.
The other two male colleagues had even less than her, with just a few small amounts of spare change and ration tickets in their pockets, as financial control was entirely in their spouses’ hands.
Jin Lijuan was aware of this and thanked the three, then took her enamel mug for half an hour’s walk, returning with a deeper frown, almost capable of squashing flies.
At work, she usually maintained good relations with Zhou Jiao.
Seeing this, Zhou Jiao broke her usual habit of not liking to speak much at the workplace and glanced at her, "What other tickets do you need? I’ll go home and try to gather some."
Jin Lijuan smiled gratefully and didn’t hide anymore, saying softly, "My second daughter is going to Yun Province as an educated youth."
Zhou Jiao frowned upon hearing this and paused, "The child wants to go?"
Her implication was that if the child didn’t want to go, with Jin Lijuan’s network over the years, it would still be possible to resist. She personally didn’t agree with going to the countryside, but everyone has their own thoughts, and saying too much isn’t good.
Jin Lijuan nodded with a bitter smile.
To date, Zhou Jiao had only met the other person’s eldest son once at work and hadn’t seen any other children in the family, nor did she know what the daughter looked like.
She wasn’t one to pry into strangers’ privacy, thought for a while, and still asked, "Does it have to be Yun Province? Isn’t it too far, even farther out in the suburbs would work."
"It’s already decided."
Given that, Zhou Jiao didn’t say much more. Initially, she wanted to suggest letting the child apply to her old home in the Northeast for an easier time, but then she thought that since the child insisted on going, they’re probably ideologically radical and best not to trouble the Old Captain.
After all, as the villagers say, these young girls can’t do anything right, are lazy and pampered. They were all rather coddled by their parents and take too long to adjust to the pain of adapting to rural life.
From lighting fires to working the fields, adhering to farmers’ work schedules, working at sunrise and resting at sunset is no simple task. Not to mention the language barrier; even during farming busy times you might shed a layer of skin, just like when she first arrived and went to school to learn farming was extremely exhausting and uncomfortable.
But this is life, you have to adapt and conquer it.
"Children are a debt; she clamors to leave, but as a mother, I have to prepare some things for her otherwise I’ll have too much on my mind to sleep."
Definitely! Zhou Jiao comfortingly patted her, smiled, and said, "Then organize these tickets and see what else is missing, I’ll go home and ask for more, and if there really isn’t any, then there’s no helping that."
Jin Lijuan sighed with relief upon hearing this. She understood Zhou Jiao well enough; if she was saying this, then the problem was basically solved. Before, she hadn’t thought of directly asking Zhou Jiao for help with, say, old military uniforms and military tickets. But since she didn’t initiate the topic, it felt hard to broach, as if she were intentionally eyeing the young lady.
Just like Zhou Jiao, several others also sought help from Zhang Guoqing. Fortunately, everyone was in the Big Courtyard, each had a known supply annually and monthly according to rank, not putting him in a difficult position.
The time when educated youths went up to the mountains and down to the countryside was fervently approaching, not just outside but with many wild kids in the Big Courtyard preferring to go to the countryside than join the military.
These days were quite lively. Farewell banquets, farewell drinks...all kinds of gatherings were available.
Compared to those who had parents and elders nearby, the most pitiable ones were the young men and women whose parents were isolated under investigation.
Some relied on the twenty yuan monthly stipend and basic grain supply to stay at home, unwilling to leave Beijing, and Zhang Guoqing understood this.
Everyone was born and raised by their parents; who could set their heart on going far away without considering their parents and elders still gone. For such people, he’ll help a little if he can.
As for those shunned by their peers where their parents were already reassigned, he and Zhou Jiao, besides providing modest help publicly like everyone else, also secretly gave generous gifts.
Before entering the Big Courtyard, he might have held an investing mindset to an extent, but after so many years, even the grass and trees in the Big Courtyard evoked feelings, let alone these companions who once played and laughed together.