The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

After Bao Ya got home, she washed her face and then fanned herself with a fan.

Jiang Yuan brought out two steaming bowls of egg drop soup from the kitchen, and Bao Ya instinctively dodged away.

Drinking this on such a hot day? I'm afraid I'll die from the heat.

"I forgot to let the boiled water cool down this morning, so just drink it if it's cooled down. I'll buy you an ice pop after breakfast."

Jiang Yuan saw his wife's rosy cheeks from the sun and knew she didn't want to eat anything hot right now.

Then he opened the lunchbox and found a cucumber salad, a stir-fried eggplant, and a few mixed flour buns, which looked unappetizing.

Bao Ya broke off pieces of steamed bun and stuffed them into her mouth in small bites, frowning as she looked at the dishes in front of her, not wanting to eat a single bite.

Suddenly she turned to look at Jiang Yuan:

"Have you forgotten something?"

"Huh? Forgot what?"

Jiang Yuan looked bewildered. What had he forgotten? Was he supposed to go to the state-run restaurant to buy food today? He didn't seem to have mentioned it yesterday.

Bao Ya looked at him with displeasure, as if she were sulking. Jiang Yuan stopped chewing his steamed bun, racking his brains to remember what he had forgotten.

Seeing that he couldn't remember, Bao Ya was too lazy to wait any longer and told him directly:

"You said last year we'd buy an electric fan, what happened?"

Actually, she herself had forgotten, but it was just that the weather was too hot today, and she suddenly remembered.

"Oh right, how could I forget about that? I'll ask my second brother if he has any tickets for an electric fan. If that doesn't work, I'll call my eldest brother."

He had completely forgotten about it, but now he wondered where to find fan tickets. Those who had tickets had already bought fans. He would have to find some time to ask his old buddies.

When Bao Ya arrived at the office in the afternoon, she found that the three male colleagues had indeed not come. Only she and Zhao Yufen were left in the room, and the two of them chatted about gossip.

Bao Ya learned from Zhao Yufen that Director Wang was a lecherous old man and that she should stay away from him in the future.

Sun Bin is not as kind as he seems; he has a vengeful nature, so you have to be careful when working with him.

Liu Xingguo wanted to marry the daughter of a leader, but he accepted the advances of other girls without hesitation.

Factory Director Song and Deputy Factory Director Wang don't get along, and Deputy Factory Director Wang has always wanted to replace Factory Director Song.

Secretary Xu of the factory is about to retire and doesn't manage things much anymore, etc.

I sat in the office until six o'clock when I was supposed to leave, and only one person came to process the order.

Bao Ya goes to work and comes home every day, and she feels that this life is too boring. She feels that she will go crazy if she has to sit in that office until retirement.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter. With the arrival of the rainy season, the weather is not only hot but also humid, making it hard for people to breathe.

Unable to sleep due to the heat at night, feeling sticky all over, Bao Ya once again thought of the electric fan and pushed Jiang Yuan, who was about to come closer, far away.

"Go sleep in that room, I'm dying of heat."

Is this man crazy? It's so hot, and he still has the mind to think about that kind of thing.

"No, why are you kicking me out?"

Jiang Yuan felt extremely wronged. It was Dong Tian who had clung to him tightly, saying he couldn't live without him and couldn't survive without him. And now he had turned his back on him so quickly.

"It's so hot, why are you all huddled together? You can sleep in this room whenever you buy an electric fan."

Jiang Yuan felt frustrated when the topic of electric fans came up. He had asked everyone he knew, and they all said that electric fans were in high demand this season, and people who had them were reluctant to part with them and had bought them for their own homes.

"How about I fan you? You'll be scared at night if you sleep alone. You forgot..."

He wanted to scare Bao Ya, but in the end he shut up. What if he scared her?

Jiang Yuan fanned Bao Ya with a large palm-leaf fan, while moonlight seeped through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating his wife's graceful figure, making Jiang Yuan feel heartbroken.

She was wearing a short, strappy dress, with her back to me. Seriously, how can you blame yourself for jumping on me when you're dressed so scantily?

Jiang Yuan fanned himself repeatedly, calculating the chances of getting beaten up if he went in, but ultimately gave up. His wife was different from other people's.

Not long after starting work the next day, Jiang Yuan came to find Bao Ya and told her that he was going to the countryside to collect pigs that day, and that she should go home by herself after get off work.

Bao Ya carefully examined the expression on his face and asked.

"Are you running away from home?"

Jiang Yuan was so angry he laughed and reached out to flick her nose.

"I'll take you with me when I run away from home. Lock the door when you go to bed at night. I might come back late, but I can just climb over the wall when I get back."

"Okay, I understand."

Bao Ya casually agreed, saying that he used to lock the door when he worked the night shift.

After Jiang Yuan left, Bao Ya went back to work and chatted with Zhao Yufen casually. The other people in the office sat there with newspapers, waiting to get off work.

Bao Ya sighed inwardly, thinking how easy sales were in this era. She imagined how much more difficult it would be for salespeople in future generations, regardless of their profession, to sell their goods. They would have to attend countless drinking parties and act like pushovers.

As noon approached, Director Wang slowly walked out of his office, looked out the window at the sky, and then slowly turned to speak to everyone.

"It might rain this afternoon, so no need for anyone to come."

Everyone readily agreed, since the leader had said there was no need to come, so of course everyone would listen to the leader.

Zhao Yufen smiled and raised her eyebrows at Bao Ya, as if to say, "Am I right?"

Tomorrow is the weekend, and no one comes to process invoices on Saturday afternoon; this is an established rule. Unless the factory management specifically requests it, their department is closed on Saturday afternoons.

Bao Ya didn't go to the cafeteria for lunch; she went home and cooked something herself.

The weather was gloomy, probably because the sun wasn't out, so it wasn't very hot, but rather very stuffy.

After finishing her meal, Bao Ya went to bed to catch up on her sleep. In this kind of weather, it wasn't too hot if she didn't move around, and since she hadn't been sleeping well these past few days, she fell asleep quickly.

When she woke up, a light drizzle began to fall outside.

Bao Ya looked out into the yard and, finding nothing that would protect her from the rain, went back inside to continue making her dress.

By nightfall, it was completely dark, and the rain outside was pouring down, but Jiang Yuan still hadn't returned.

Bao Ya thought it might be due to bad weather, and that some people might stay overnight in the lower-level brigade.

There's not much to be picky about here; any place to sleep will do. Jiang Yuan, his colleague, and the driver are three men; they shouldn't be in any danger.

Bao Ya didn't think much of it. Since the weather was cool, she finished her meal, made her new dress, and went back to her room to sleep.

It was a little after 5 a.m., before dawn, and the alley had just been soaked by a night rain.

The mud was damp, and occasionally a few early morning noises drifted through the empty alleyway, mingled with the dampness.

When Jiang Yuan returned from the factory, he looked like he had been pulled out of a mud pit.

The front of the shirt was blackened by the mud and water, while the back was half-dry from the warmth of the body, covered with a hard layer of mud; the canvas shoes were no longer recognizable as their original color, the uppers were filled with mud, and every step made a dull "gurgling" sound.

Seeing that his front door was still closed, he knew that Bao Ya hadn't woken up yet, so he went to the place where he usually climbed over the wall, took a quick step, and nimbly climbed over the wall and jumped into the yard.