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

The atmosphere at the Lin family home was strange after the fight.

Finally, the patriarch, Old Man Lin, made the final decision: from now on, each household's clothes must be washed by themselves, and they are no longer allowed to be mixed together.

They completely ignored the sordid incident of Li Jinxiang using her own man's underwear to wash her niece. This is blatant favoritism.

Alright, now that we know Old Man Lin's attitude, we'll know how to act from now on.

Using his injury as an excuse, Lin Laosan asked for two days off for himself and his wife. He took his son fishing in the afternoon. Su Ruyi and Lin Baoya ate lunch and then went for a nap.

The clothes that were washed away by the flood in the Lin family's main house could not be found. The woman was heartbroken and kept sighing and cursing Lin Baoya under her breath.

The second wife and her two aunts were quite happy, because after this commotion, they wouldn't have to wash clothes for the lazybones from the first wife's family anymore.

In the past, the three families took turns washing clothes. When it was the second family's turn, Li Jinxiang would roll up her husband's, son's, and her own underwear and throw them to them to wash. Lin Siya followed suit. Her second aunt was not good with words and didn't dare to say anything. Even if she did, Lin Lao Er would just tell her to bear with it. Today, they ran into Lin Baoya, which was bad luck for the first family. They wouldn't have to endure washing their clothes anymore.

Today, Lin Baoya's outburst actually benefited the second wife. Li Jinxiang saw that Lin Baoya was spacing out all day and had lost her usual cleverness, so she started to act shamelessly and wanted to annoy her. As the saying goes, the one who starts the trouble is the one who's shameless. Lin Baoya had nothing to do, so it was a good opportunity to practice on her.

Lin Baoya found her adoptive mother quite interesting. She wasn't very smart, but she was obedient—obedient to her husband, her daughter, and her son, who was still young. She figured she'd listen to her son when he grew up too. At her parents' home, she listened to her mother and her brothers. She did bad things without thinking, but her best quality was her unconditional protection of her two children.

Lin Baoya finally remembered why the original owner wasn't so familiar with the Lin family. She had always lived at her maternal grandmother's house. The Lin family had a large population and their housing was not spacious enough, so none of the children had their own rooms.

My maternal grandparents divided the house after my uncles got married. The old couple lived in the old house, my eldest and second uncles built their own houses, and my youngest uncle worked in the commune and was allocated a house by his work unit.

To take care of her maternal grandparents, her eldest and second uncles built their house right next to the old house, making the house much more spacious. Lin Baoya had always lived at her maternal grandparents' house and had her own room. Now that her maternal grandfather was gone, she and her maternal grandmother lived in the same courtyard. Fortunately, her eldest uncle's house was next door, so although they lived in two courtyards, they ate together and there was no wall between them.

So, Lin Baoya always felt something was off about living in the Lin family home. There was nothing of the original owner's own in it, so she always felt awkward.

Lin Baoya thought that it would be better to go back to her maternal grandmother's house tonight. With four people sharing two rooms, it would be easy to hear them grinding their teeth, farting, and snoring at night. It would be more comfortable to stay in a room by herself.

Inside the main room, Granny Lin and Old Man Lin were also whispering to each other.

"Ever since that brat came back, there hasn't been a moment of peace in the house. Old man, what are you planning to do?"

Granny Lin said indignantly that, in her opinion, the person in the family who made her the most unhappy was Lin Baoya, especially when she saw her eyes, which were so similar to those of Old Lady Su, she felt like she couldn't breathe.

"What's wrong with her? Everything's been fine for the past ten days or so. It's only today that things turned out this way. If the eldest son's wife hadn't provoked her, this wouldn't have happened. You should really put some order on her. How can she be so lazy, making her niece wash the men's underwear? Isn't that shameless? She deserves to be beaten!"

Old Man Lin, lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), squinted and continued, "Don't always look down on Bao Ya. She's getting married soon, so she should get closer to her family. Putting everything else aside, the family your in-laws have found for her is truly top-notch."

Mentioning Old Lady Su made Granny Lin feel a nameless fire rise in her heart, and she felt a burning pain in her heart. The marriage of the girls in the family had to be decided by the old couple. The Su family had arranged a marriage for Lin Baoya without even asking them. People who didn't get along with her in the past would use this to mock her.

"What's so good about it? A pig butcher, doesn't he feel ashamed..."

"What nonsense are you spouting? He's a regular employee at the meat processing plant. That young man has three brothers, and they're all capable. I heard his eldest brother has already been promoted to deputy regimental commander in the army, which is a high-ranking officer. If he has the opportunity to help his grandsons in the future, wouldn't that be better than us messing around on our own?"

"Tch, that brat Bao Ya is capable? It's good enough that she doesn't treat us like enemies. I'd believe you if you said she'd come and trample on us once she gained power."

Granny Lin muttered to herself, and when she saw that Old Man Lin was about to get up, she quickly got up and took the basket of tobacco leaves and handed it to him.

"You're so ignorant! Why don't you all try to coax her a bit? What does a little girl like her know? Once she gets to her husband's family, she'll know to ask her brothers for help. You're always scolding her, no wonder she won't be close to you. Look how close she is to the Su family's children. You're all so clueless, you'll probably be the ones who get all the benefits in the future."

Old Man Lin took the tobacco basket, crushed the tobacco leaves, filled the pipe bowl, and flattened it. Old Woman Lin quickly struck a match and lit it for him.

"You guys are all short-sighted and have long hair, and the eldest brother's wife is also stupid. Just think about how hard it was for us to get Xiaoquan a job. But that young man came over the other day, and when I asked him, he said he went to work at the meat processing plant during the famine years. What kind of years were those? People couldn't even get enough to eat. His uncle got him a job at the meat processing plant with just one sentence."

"His uncle is already gone, so there's no point in saying all this."

Granny Lin continued to argue, unconvinced, and she wouldn't accept anything that was said to be good about Lin Baoya.

Old Man Lin had lost all interest in being angry. This woman had always been so stupid; no wonder his own mother had looked down on her until her death.

"People die, but human relationships remain. Three children, a regimental commander, a driver, and a worker—how did they come to be? Half of Kaoshan Village are hunters, and the other half are refugees who fled famine. How come only their children have this kind of family background?"

After finishing his sentence, Old Man Lin didn't want to argue with her anymore. This foolish woman was beyond reasoning with. He patiently and gently advised, "Bao Ya has a bad temper, but she's very protective of her own. Gou Dan is her younger brother; she'll definitely take care of him."

She was always willing to stand up for her second son's children when they were bullied outside. In the future, when her second son asked her for help for Tiedan, she would not ignore him.

"It's the eldest son's family. You've spoiled them so much over the years that they don't respect anyone. Who knows what might happen to their family? If they keep acting like this, Bao Ya might personally take action against them."

Sure enough, Old Man Lin knew the truth. The first target Lin Baoya found after coming into this world was the Lin family.

"Hmph, only you would think that way. I heard she didn't want to marry that Jiang family boy. She argued with Siya the other day and then jumped into the river herself. Now they're saying Siya pushed her. I don't think this marriage will even go through."

Granny Lin said with a smirk, her face full of schadenfreude.

Old Man Lin suddenly sat up straight, his pipe almost falling onto his trousers, sparks flying everywhere. He scrambled to his feet, saying, "Who are you listening to? They're engaged, how could it not happen? Everything's been fine these past few days, and Bao Ya hasn't said she won't marry me."

"Haven't you been acting like a lunatic these past few days? Just spacing out all day and doing absolutely nothing."

"Don't believe everything you hear. What good will it do you if it doesn't work out? Alright, take a break. You have to go to work this afternoon."

Old Man Lin took a deep breath, thinking he should find an opportunity to sound out Bao Ya's opinion. This girl was very opinionated, and he really couldn't be sure what to do with her.

Old Lin grumbled as he packed up his pipe, then lay back down on the kang (a heated brick bed), feeling sullen. "That stupid woman," he thought, "her children aren't even as good as other people's. Look at the Su family's three sons: one a brigade leader, one a farmer, and one a commune cadre. Their grandchildren are all successful too. My own family are all just toiling in the fields." The more he thought about it, the more upset he became.