Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 826 825 Do you want a wife or not?

This woman is very stubborn; she won't open her mouth no matter how you ask her.

Tang Zhitong, standing to the side, probably understood as well. The reason they didn't speak was probably because they were afraid of being deported.

They went through so much hardship to escape that miserable place. If they were just sent back after a meal, wouldn't that be a wasted trip?

Moreover, upon returning, even harsher punishments will likely await...

Since the woman didn't speak, Fang Yuan had no other options. A grown man couldn't treat a disaster victim as an enemy, could he?
In the end, Sister Chen stepped in and took the woman away, intending to bring her to the office to do some ideological work.

Fang Yuan then contacted the escort team to inquire about the situation: "Didn't you hear any noise along the way?"

"I really didn't hear anything. If I heard a noise, would I have left her on the roof? What if she fell off?" The security guard waved his hands repeatedly.

"Alright, let's continue unloading." Fang Yuan didn't delve into the matter. It was true that the escorts were responsible for the inside of the carriages, ensuring the safety of the letters and goods inside. As for the roof... the escorts didn't have X-ray vision, so it was understandable that they couldn't see it.

"This is a mess. We don't know where they're from, and the Repatriation Office can't easily send them back." Fang Yuan got off the platform, intending to go back and inform the Repatriation Office. The escort department only provides one or two meals occasionally; they can't afford to support them any more than that.

"I guess she came from Gansu Province." Tang Zhitong had barely spoken on this trip. After getting off the platform, seeing Fang Yuan struggling with the woman's place of origin, he shared his guess.

"How did you know?" Fang Yuan asked, somewhat surprised.

"This escort is going to Hami, and the people must have boarded the vehicle at some station along the way."

The woman was dressed rather lightly, and her clothes were tattered, as if she were wearing all her belongings on her body.

Given the current weather, Gansu Province is cooler than Beijing, so you'll definitely need to wear more layers there.

"Who knows, this girl might have wanted to go to Hami, but got lost and ended up in Beijing."

Tang Zhitong gave a rather far-fetched reason; the real reason was not easy to reveal.

Because Gansu Province is quite far from Beijing, and there are many stops along the way, many disaster victims would get off the train midway. Therefore, not many people came to Beijing from there. Not only were there few disaster victims, but the disaster situation also arrived slowly.

As someone who has been through it all, Tang Zhitong knows that Gansu Province is one of the provinces most severely affected by food shortages in recent years, second only to Sichuan and Henan.

Due to the drought this year, the wheat harvest in the southern part of the four provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, and Gansu came earlier than usual, and even the capital city of Beijing has begun to start the wheat harvest. However, this time of year is the lean season for wheat in Gansu Province.

The wheat was not yet ripe, but the grain had already been eaten up.

Around this time, Fang Wanchang of Chengguan Commune in Longxian County, Shaanxi Province, wrote to the Gansu Provincial People's Committee to report that many young people from Gansu Province had fled to his commune to beg for food. However, the reply he received was still that Gansu Province was not short of food.

The reason I say "still" is because during a recent major conference in Beijing, Shaanxi asked Gansu during a break: "Are you short of food? If you are, we can provide assistance."

Whether there is a shortage or not is not up to a few individuals to decide; the disaster victims will give the most truthful answer with their feet.

Tang Zhitong didn't know the exact number of disaster victims in Gansu Province, but he had seen some official data from Shaanxi Province:

1959年-1961年6月，从甘省的甘谷、武山、清水、秦安、静宁、陇西、通渭、崇信、庄浪、天水、武都等县流入陕省陇县、兴平、咸阳、宝鸡等地16-45岁妇女两万余人，和当地群众非法同居，未办结婚手续的占73%。

Many of the women who cohabit outside the marriage claim that they are not married or that their husbands have passed away, but in reality, most of them are married women.

After the famine ended, some husbands came looking for their wives, causing numerous social problems.

This point is reflected in the TV series "The Old Farmer," though it is downplayed.

"Sigh, maybe." Fang Yuan took out a cigarette and lit it. Seeing the woman's appearance, he felt quite uncomfortable.

Seeing this situation, it's estimated that no one could remain calm, but Tang Zhitong didn't continue following Fang Yuan and instead returned to the finance department.

Fang Yuan smoked two cigarettes in his office, then went out to the union office to see how Sister Chen's inquiry was going and to ask for her opinion on how to handle the matter.

Fang Yuan ultimately couldn't bear to send this disaster victim, who had traveled thousands of miles to Beijing, back home.

Upon arriving at the union office, Fang Yuan knocked on the door, interrupting Sister Chen's conversation with the female comrade.

"Sister Chen, how did the talks go?" Fang Yuan asked directly.

"Please, brother, have mercy and don't send me back. If I go back, I'll never come out alive again." This time, the woman spoke up and immediately knelt down before Fang Yuan, her head hitting the ground hard with a dull "thump."

"Ouch! Comrade, what are you doing? Get up, get up!" Fang Yuan, as if he had burned his finger with a cigarette butt, threw away the half-eaten cigarette butt. At this moment, he didn't care about the separation between men and women. With Sister Chen's help, he hurriedly helped the woman up.

"There's no one home, I can't go back..." The woman was helped up and slumped into a chair, sobbing.

The woman's eyelids were swollen, clearly from crying just now. The tears that fell this time smeared her otherwise evenly dirty face with patches of black and yellow.

The black is gray, and the yellow is skin color; because of poor health, there is little color in the face.

“I just asked. He’s from Tianshui, Gansu Province. His family is short of food and he has no relatives left. He wanted to go to Xinjiang with the villagers to beg for food, but he got separated from his fellow villagers and accidentally climbed onto the armored truck. He didn’t dare to get off the truck the whole way and ended up in Beijing.” Sister Chen’s eyes were also red, clearly from crying with her earlier.

"Sigh! We can't make arrangements here if she doesn't go back. Where are we going to get the quota?" Fang Yuan didn't expect Tang Zhitong to be right. However, he couldn't afford to sigh at the moment. Looking at Sister Chen's appearance, it was clear that he didn't want to send this woman back, but this was beyond his ability to keep her. He couldn't keep her even if he wanted to.

“I just asked her, she’s not very old and not married yet. Director Fang, do you think you could find her a husband on the farm so she can get a local household registration? Although the conditions on the farm are a bit tough, it’s still better than her hometown.” Sister Chen knew that urban household registration was strictly controlled these days, and it was impossible to get a local household registration in this situation, so she settled for second best.

Urban household registration is strictly managed, but rural household registration in Beijing is relatively relaxed now. It is still possible to obtain household registration under the guise of marriage, provided that the production team and commune agree.

In the past, this path wouldn't have been easy either, but now that the farms are under the management of the postal and telecommunications system, things are much easier to handle. To put it simply, the transfer of grain relations between the farms in different systems is a transfer of ownership; the production teams still deliver grain to the state, but instead of handing it over to the grain department, they hand it over to the various systems.

It's not really a waste, since the meat rotted in the pot and nothing was wasted.

For the production team, it was a good thing that someone could marry into the team, as it would enrich the team's labor force. As for the resulting grain consumption, this was not something to worry about too much, because the current method of delivering grain to the state was to first keep the rations, and then take out a portion of the remaining grain according to a certain ratio to deliver or sell to the grain station.

"That's one way, I'll coordinate it." Fang Yuan's eyes lit up. It was at least one solution, much better than direct deportation.

"Her name is Yu Ying, nickname Yingzi. She got on the bus from Tianshui. She's 17... 18 years old this year!" Seeing that Fang Yuan had agreed, Sister Chen quickly told her the girl's name and age. Since she was arranging a marriage for her, she needed to know some basic information.

As for her age, Sister Chen lied about it. The Marriage Law stipulates that women must be at least 18 years old to register their marriage. Since she was helping Yu Ying solve her problem, this point had to be taken into account. They couldn't just live together without getting a marriage certificate.

"Okay, I'll go ask right away." Fang Yuan agreed, not caring about her age at all. It's perfectly normal to lie about being a year or two younger for the sake of marriage.

As for whether this woman agreed to find a husband locally, Fang Yuan didn't even ask. At this critical juncture, the woman's wishes had to be put aside.

Without hesitation, Fang Yuan turned around, left the union office, hopped on his bicycle, and went straight to the farm.

Ever since the Sijiu City Bureau was allowed to co-manage the farm, Fang Yuan had worked there and got to know the production team leader.

Fang Yuan didn't intend to resolve this matter through the Municipal Bureau or the Ministry. Putting aside whether the Municipal Bureau would agree, once the higher-ups found out, a simple problem would become complicated.

Directly connecting with the production team would eliminate these kinds of problems...

The ideal was lofty, but the reality was harsh; Fang Yuan clearly had no experience in matchmaking.

After explaining Yu Ying's identity and situation, the production team leader looked troubled: "Leader Fang, your matchmaking is definitely reliable, but this matter is really a bit difficult. We have single young men in our production team, but this girl's conditions... I'm afraid they won't be interested."

"What? Is the threshold for your production team so high?" Fang Yuan wasn't annoyed. He took out a cigarette and offered one to the production team leader.

"Leader Fang, let me be frank with you. In recent years, although family background has been considered when looking for a partner, both young men and women tend to prefer those with good family backgrounds who are doing well. Whether it's for daily life or future difficulties, they'll have in-laws to lend a hand." The production team leader spoke directly and frankly.

Family background is an unavoidable topic and a strict requirement when looking for a partner in rural areas.

The production team leader, fearing Fang Yuan wouldn't believe him, lit a cigarette, took a puff, and continued:

"Leader Fang, rural areas are not like cities. Some young men with good family backgrounds but difficult family circumstances do find it very difficult to find a partner."

Even if the family is poor, the groom's parents do not want their son to remain a bachelor. Most of them will give money or gifts and ask a matchmaker to find a wife for their son.

A matchmaker's mouth can talk a living person to death, and it can also talk a dead person back to life.

But the woman isn't stupid either; she doesn't completely believe what the matchmaker says, and most of them will inquire about it privately.

If the parents couldn't come forward, the older brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law would make a point of passing by the production team where the man lived, slipping him a pack of cigarettes or two eggs, and asking the man's neighbors about his situation and whether it matched what the matchmaker had said.

If someone says the man is honest and reliable, then the marriage is considered settled.

If someone says the man's family is poor and they are on welfare, the engagement is off.

The same principle applies when it comes to young women looking for a husband.

Young women from disadvantaged backgrounds can find husbands from families with better backgrounds but poorer families.

But in the situation you described… not only does the woman lack everything, but she's also suffered a disaster, and if she's thin, it would take her two or three years to raise a child. It's really hard to find someone like that.”

"Is that so? Then there aren't any young men with bad class backgrounds here, or young men who just can't find a partner? It's better to find a wife than to be a bachelor, right?" Fang Yuan was not giving up. If he couldn't find a marriage for Yu Ying as soon as possible, then Yu Ying would probably only face the option of being repatriated by the Return-to-Hometown Office.

“There aren’t many young men in our production team with bad class backgrounds, and they all found partners and got married a couple of years ago. As for those who really can’t find wives… there are some, but their conditions are really bad: one is a cripple, one is a mute, and there’s a widower who lost his wife two years ago and has two children.” The production team leader was just waiting for Fang Yuan to say this.

The team leader was also concerned about the commune members, but Fang Yuan wouldn't let the topic go. It wasn't convenient for him to recommend these mediocre people right away. After all, Fang Yuan was a cadre with a higher rank than the commune's top leader. If he said that Yu Ying was only fit to choose a partner from among these rotten garlic cloves, wouldn't that be a slap in Fang Yuan's face?
"Is that all?" Fang Yuan frowned.

"There's an old bachelor in his forties in the next production team. He's so lazy, you can't even get him to move when you whip him," the production team leader said, mentally reviewing the list of oddballs in the neighborhood.

"She's a young, unmarried woman... Fine, I'll go back and think about it some more." Fang Yuan frowned even more after hearing this. Yu Ying's background was already pitiful enough, but now she doesn't even have any good options when it comes to finding a partner. What kind of situation is this?

As for the thoughts of the young men in the production team, Fang Yuan didn't even ask. It wasn't that he hadn't thought about it, but that he simply didn't intend to look for it among them.

Arriving full of enthusiasm but leaving disappointed, Fang Yuan returned to the escort office just as it was time to clock out.

Sister Chen was very thoughtful. She not only took Yu Ying to the bathroom to take a shower, but also found her an unused warehouse to serve as a temporary place to stay. The logistics staff found a bed board and put some unfolded cardboard boxes on it to make a mattress.

Many people witnessed this today. With Sister Chen taking the lead, other employees of the escort department contributed money and labor, managing to raise enough funds for Yu Ying.

Teacups, thermos flasks, rice bowls, and chopsticks are all provided.

Yu Ying changed out of her tattered cotton-padded coat and into a poorly fitting postal uniform. Although the uniform was old, at least it didn't have any holes.

The bed was rather simple, but it was covered with sheets and blankets, all of which were old.

Even Tang Zhitong contributed a pound of grain coupons, which he put on the account and will deliver to Master Gao tomorrow.

Under the care of the escort department, Yu Ying temporarily lived a life free from worries about food and clothing. Although everything she had was secondhand and used by others, she was still moved to tears. If someone hadn't been holding her back, she would have knelt down and kowtowed to the escort department staff.

(End of this chapter)