Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 308: The Helpless Female Educated Youth's Love Story on the Grassland
"Then be careful on the road." Dad said to Fang Yan and Fang Chen.

Fangyan nodded and reminded them:

"Well, you should also pay attention to the thief in the car."

After saying that, he started the motorcycle, slowly entered the traffic on the road, and then headed towards the courtyard.

Not long after driving, Fang Yan smelled the scent of Lao Si. He sniffed and said to Lao Si behind him:

"Wow, you smell really bad."

Fang Chen also sniffed himself and found that the smell was indeed a bit strong. He explained:
"I couldn't help it. I took two trains back and forth, and my sweat dried several times. I only remembered to bring things for them, but I didn't even bring a change of clothes for myself."

"Moreover, the living conditions in their pastoral areas are difficult. Not only are the sanitary conditions poor, but there is also a severe water shortage!"

“Although the summer camp is closer to the water source, it still needs to be brought back by ox cart every few days.”

"The water they store in the tank must first be used to make tea and cook, and then it can be used for other things."

"Every morning when we get up there, my eldest sister will give everyone in the family a bowl of water. Everyone in the family uses this bowl of water to brush their teeth and wash their faces."

"My younger brother enjoys 'special supply' and can use two bowls of water."

"Zhengyi and Mingzhu are two little ones. They only have one bowl of water each for washing in the morning. As their uncle, I am so embarrassed to ask for more since I have received such special care!"

Fang Yan nodded and said thoughtfully:

“The conditions are tough enough.”

Fang Chen said:

"No, there are no toilets in the pastoral areas. The local herders use the big robes they wear as toilets. I live with my brother-in-law and his family, and the most annoying thing is going to the toilet."

"Besides, the dogs they keep are very fierce. If a stranger leaves the yurt, the owner must watch the dog. The men are out working, so it's OK if the children help watch the dogs. But sometimes it's the women who stand by to watch the dogs, which is very embarrassing!"

After saying this, he sighed:
"Oh, I couldn't stand it after being there for a few days. My elder sister really suffered a lot over there."

Fang Yan said to him:
"By the way, aren't you going to tell me about what's going on over there?"

Fang Chen nodded and said:
"Well, it's a long story. It took a lot of effort for me to come back this time."

Then the fourth brother opened up and began to speak in dialect.

It turned out that when my eldest sister and her friends first went to the countryside to work as sent-down youths, they were assigned to a local commune along with eight educated youths from Beijing.

After the Qingming Festival that year, the pastoral areas welcomed the lambing season, which means that the ewes that had just given birth to lambs needed to be grouped together separately. This is called "Sahe" locally.

Since the original flock of sheep had to be divided into two, the already scarce local labor force became seriously scarce.

Therefore, the leaders of the commune at that time arranged for my eldest sister and other educated youth to stop participating in the collective activities of the commune and be assigned to the pastoral areas to help the herders to play "Sahe" in their homes, which could be considered as training in the countryside.

At that time, the commune leaders called this "contracting", saying that it was a seasonal "temporary worker" who could return to the commune after the holiday.

Unexpectedly, after the eldest sister and her friends went to the countryside, they said that the policy had changed and they were required to stay in the pastoral area for training.

The local conditions were very difficult. An educated youth coming from the city without many survival skills had no way to survive.

Not long after my eldest sister arrived there, she was bitten by a local herdsman's dog and was seriously injured, so she was unable to work for a period of time.

At that time, my brother-in-law's mother took the initiative to take care of my eldest sister.

My brother-in-law was even more busy, riding a horse every day with the commune's doctor to change my eldest sister's medicine, which touched my eldest sister very much. In addition, my brother-in-law's family were local Han people, so there was no problem in communication between the two sides, and they became familiar with each other after a few visits.

My brother-in-law's family likes my eldest sister very much and hopes that she can marry into their family and become one of them.

The eldest sister thought that she couldn't survive there alone, the other party's family was also Han Chinese, and her brother-in-law was genuinely kind to her, so she agreed and married her brother-in-law.

After marriage, my brother-in-law and his family were really good to my eldest sister.

Although I’m still not used to life in the pastoral area, it’s much better than when I was alone.

In the following years, my eldest sister and her brother-in-law gave birth to two children.

That is Zhao Zhengyi and Zhao Mingzhu.

Originally, the eldest sister had decided that she would stay in the pastoral area for the rest of her life.

The news that Dad Fang Zhenhua had returned to school was sent to my eldest sister via telegram from the capital.

This news was like a ray of light, illuminating the eldest sister's future and giving her hope of returning to the city.

Naturally, the eldest sister shared the matter with her brother-in-law and parents-in-law.

Unexpectedly, my brother-in-law was very happy.

But my parents-in-law suddenly changed their attitude.

I am not as nice to my elder sister as before.

The eldest sister also guessed the reason, knowing that they must be afraid that she would leave her brother-in-law behind and return to the city, so she assured them that she would never be ungrateful, and even if she had to return to the city, she would definitely bring her brother-in-law and children back with her.

Who knew that once these words were spoken, my in-laws would be furious.

They said that there was already insufficient labor in the family, and now the eldest sister wants to take her brother-in-law back to the city. Isn’t that going to kill their family?

My parents-in-law said that my eldest sister didn’t care about them at all and only thought about herself.

Seeing that they were very angry, the eldest sister had no choice but to not mention the matter of returning to the city.

Unexpectedly, not long after Fangyan returned to the city, he asked his father to send a set of college entrance examination review materials to his other brothers and sisters.

Even other female educated youth who had married local people, after hearing the news from my eldest sister, began to think about returning to the city to take the college entrance examination.

Almost overnight, my eldest sister became the public enemy of the local people.

Fortunately, my brother-in-law stepped forward and took the evidence. He said that he planned to let my eldest sister return to the city, and that he thought she should not stay in the pastoral area for the rest of her life and that she could have a better life.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's firepower immediately shifted to my brother-in-law.

At that time, people cursed their brother-in-law and so on.

They said he was a fool for sending his wife away, and that his wife would definitely not come back after returning to the city.

She scolded him for being mentally ill, for sending his own wife back to the city and affecting other people.

Some also say that he did it on purpose and is just a bad apple.

Each curse was more harsh than the last.

Swearing is still considered good.

Some people also knew that their wives also had the idea of ​​returning to the city, so they blamed the matter on their brothers-in-law and deliberately looked for trouble to beat him up.

Fortunately, although my brother-in-law is an honest man, he still has some physical strength. After he beat up several people who were looking for trouble, everyone just talked to him and didn't dare to fight him.

Not only does he get pressure from outsiders, but his family also says that he forgot his mother after getting married.

This matter was not over yet, and a new telegram was sent from the capital.

He almost urged his eldest sister and brother-in-law to return to the city.

The couple was in a dilemma at that time.

I don’t know how to decide in the end.

Finally, they decided to keep the matter secret and then do the work of the family members little by little.

Faced with this problem, they thought of many solutions.

But without exception, I couldn't convince my family.

Finally, when Fang Chen arrived, the conflict was further exacerbated.

Fang Yan glanced at his younger brother in the rearview mirror and asked him:
"So the wound on your face was caused by this?"

Fang Chen said:

"Almost. But it wasn't with their family. It was other married female educated youth who came to me to inquire about the situation, and their family found out about it."

"Then that night, some people came to my house drunk and wanted to cause trouble for me, so I had to fight with them."

"Did we win?" Fangyan asked.

Fang Chen pushed his glasses up:

"At the beginning, I was no match for him, but luckily I had the chili powder you gave me, otherwise I would have suffered a great loss."

"Later, my brother-in-law came to help me and drove them away."

Fangyan nodded and said:

"Hearing you say that, my brother-in-law is pretty good."

Fang Chen agreed and said:
"Of course not, otherwise my elder sister wouldn't have insisted on bringing him back to Beijing."

Fangyan asked curiously:
"How did you get away when the resistance was so great?"

Fang Chen smiled and said, keeping it a secret:
"Just listen to me slowly..."

Then I heard him say:
"At that time, I went to persuade my brother-in-law's parents and told them that the children should not be forced to endure the hard life in the pastoral area. There would be more opportunities if they returned to the city. When they settled down, I would definitely take them to the city to enjoy a better life. Returning to the city was not to abandon them, but to seek a brighter future. There are hospitals and schools in the city, everything is convenient, and I can earn more income, so I can better support my parents..."

"They were very polite, saying that my eldest sister had already said these words, but they didn't want to go that far. Their family was not well educated, and they didn't want to live in the city. Anyway, they had the same attitude and refused to agree no matter what."

"In the end, she even said that even if the eldest sister wanted to leave, she had to get a divorce first, because her brother-in-law had to stay."

Fangyan was speechless when he heard this.

This person is so stubborn!

Fangyan replied:
"In fact, I said this because I was sure that my eldest sister was willing to divorce my brother-in-law."

Fang Chen nodded and responded:
"Yes, I guessed it at the time. This family is smart, but also short-sighted. They left my brother-in-law alone on the grassland, and he only earned a few dozen yuan a year. If he lived in the city, it would only be a matter of one or two months' salary."

"Why didn't they agree?"

Fangyan took over the conversation and said:

"It's understandable, it's not that they don't know the truth, they just don't believe that such a good thing can happen to them."

"They think that if the eldest sister returns to the city, she will definitely change. The brother-in-law who returns to the city with her only has the skills of the grassland. It is very likely that he will not be able to find a job. Or even if he finds a job, the money will not fall into their hands. So it is better for her to stay with them. It is safe and secure. At least the money will go into their pockets every year."

Fang Chen nodded and said:
"Yes, you are absolutely right. I figured it out later."

"I've said everything I could think of, but they just won't buy it. I really don't know what to do."

"I even thought about making my eldest sister cry, make a scene, and then hang herself, but my brother-in-law said they definitely wouldn't agree to that."

"At the time, I thought, what can I do? I don't know anyone in the area, and I can't just run away with my people secretly, right? I'd probably be caught up before I even leave the pastoral area."

"Why won't they let us go?"

"After thinking about it, I finally understood the problem. It all comes down to what you just said. They didn't see the benefits they could get."

"So, I treated the symptoms and came up with a solution."

(End of this chapter)