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

She knew it! No matter how she calculated the Lin family's accounts, they were wrong. She had seen the Lin family's work point book at the brigade headquarters. Only her second uncle and his wife had full work points. The eldest son's family and her own family worked like they were just going through the motions, each earning only six or seven work points a day. By the end of the year, after exchanging them for grain, they had practically no money left. Buying Lin Xiaoquan a job, a bicycle, and getting him married would cost nearly a thousand yuan, while Er Ya's dowry was only eighty yuan.

Going back, the Lin family were all farmers who toiled in the land for a living. There were many people in the village who were more hardworking than the Lin family, but they didn't live any better lives.

The original owner had heard Lin Laosan say that her grandfather and uncle had fallen out over something, but Bao Ya couldn't remember clearly. However, there was definitely something fishy going on.

Given Old Man Lin's selfish and callous nature, he would definitely hide good things from himself. He wouldn't even give them to his two own sons, let alone his brothers.

Bao Ya's uncle also lives in Nanshan Brigade. It is said that the two families had a falling out over the division of their property back then, and they still don't speak to each other when they walk across from each other.

Many families have conflicts over dividing their property, but after a while, the anger subsides, and the younger generation continues to interact as usual. Unlike the two brothers in the Lin family, who don't even speak to each other when they walk across from each other, the younger generation has no interaction with them at all.

Bao Ya took out a huge sum of 85 cents from her bellyband pocket and stuffed the gold bar in. Alas! Now she only regretted that the pocket was sewn too small. The gold bar barely fit in. Looking down, she saw that the position was below her chest and above her stomach. Her outer clothes were baggy and big. Fortunately, her body was not flat. So, it was not noticeable in this position.

After putting in the gold bars, there wasn't enough money left. Money back then wasn't like it would be in later times, where a large stack of one dollar and eighty-five cents was common, with most denominations being one or two cents. The largest denomination in the wad of money she had was one cent.

She had originally folded the money into a roll and stuffed it in, but now, in her haste, she couldn't fit it in.

She was struggling with the money when a man's voice came from not far behind her:

What are you doing there?

The sudden sound startled her, and she cried out in alarm. Oh no, she'd been discovered! What should she do?

Looking at the money on the ground, he gritted his teeth, hurriedly stuffed the money into a tattered cotton cloth, wrapped it in oil paper, threw it into the pit, and buried it in the soil.

Anyway, she didn't see any gold bars, and this was all she could find. She planned to find an opportunity to run into the village when they weren't looking, and she would be safe once she encountered some villagers.

"Hey! I'm asking you, what are you burying there?" the man said, as two people came up behind her.

"Would you like to get up by yourself, or should we help you?" he said, coming to her side.

Hey, those voices sound familiar; they're the two people who went to their village to look for someone a couple of days ago. I felt a little relieved.

He rubbed his numb legs and slowly stood up.

When Wang Xiao and Fang Mingda saw it was her, they exchanged a glance. It was that reckless girl again. Last time she led them to search their house, who knows what new tricks she has up her sleeve this time.

"I'm asking you, what are you doing sneaking around like this?"

Wang Xiao was furious when she remembered how Wang Xiao had been tricked by her last time. Her tone of voice turned sour.

Fang Mingda was delighted to see her. He wondered what surprise she had in store for him today. They had heard that this girl was a well-known figure in the area, and the thought made him smile. He was starting to get excited.

"I'm chatting with my great-grandmother, what's wrong? Is that not allowed?"

Bao Ya was no longer so nervous. These two men were soldiers, and she was not in any danger.

"Heh, chatting with your great-grandmother, what were you talking about? Tell me."

Knowing this little girl was up to no good, Wang Xiao turned to the side of the grave and plopped down on her great-grandmother's grave in a huff.

Bao Ya's lips twitched. She silently thought, "Grandma, it's him sitting on your head. If you're angry, go find him tonight. It has nothing to do with me."

"Speak up, what are you standing there for?"

Seeing Bao Ya looking at him with a strange expression, he became even angrier. They had been searching this place for many days, but they were afraid of attracting attention and dared not go to the village often. They could only wander around this mountain. Several days had passed without a single clue. Today, when they arrived here, they saw someone burying something suspiciously. They thought they had finally found a clue, but it turned out to be her. Can you believe it?

"Say it!"

"Hey, Lao Wang, don't be angry, take it easy. Comrade Xiao Lin, what are you doing here so early in the morning? Don't be nervous, just have a casual chat."

Fang Mingda stepped forward to smooth things over. Here it comes, the good cop, the bad cop routine—she knew this trick all too well.

"Why are you looking at him like that?" he asked cautiously, sensing that Bao Ya's gaze towards Wang Xiao held a deeper meaning.

He sat on my nipple!

"Huh? Don't play these mystical games."

Wang Xiao looked down and then around, but there was nothing there. Fang Mingda, however, followed Bao Ya's gaze and looked at the mound where Wang Xiao was sitting.

Bao Ya raised her chin at Wang Xiao: "You're sitting on my great-grandmother's grave."

"What?"

Wang Xiao sprang to his feet with a whoosh, moving incredibly fast.

Wow, that's pretty good.

"Grandma, the child doesn't know any better, so please don't be upset. If you're angry, go find him tonight."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Don't spread feudal superstitions here."

Wang Xiao felt a chill run down his spine. The cemeteries here were all small mounds of earth, without tombstones. When villagers died, they were buried on the mountain, and each family member knew their own burial site.

"Oh? So what are you afraid of? Are soldiers afraid of ghosts too?" Bao Ya rolled her eyes at him.

Fang Mingda and Wang Xiao exchanged a glance. Had they already been exposed?

"How did you know we were soldiers? How did you figure it out? Who else in the village knows?"

Oh no, she let it slip. Bao Ya pursed her lips and glanced at them.

"Why don't you two go to the river and look at your reflections? And the way he talks, even the commune cadres aren't as arrogant as him."

Wang Xiao felt a little guilty after hearing what she said. He had been careless and was used to disciplining those bastards in the army, so he couldn't change his tone of voice so easily.

"Never mind, what were you doing just now? What were you burying?"

Bao Ya glanced guiltily at the spot where the grave had just been laid, and stubbornly said, "That's my own stuff, I can bury it whenever I want."

Seeing that she wouldn't talk, Wang Xiao snatched the shovel from her hand and quickly dug out the oil paper package.

"What is this?"

"have no idea"

Wang Xiao stopped wasting words with her and directly opened the paper package. It was full of money. The two hesitated for a moment, then carefully examined each bill, even the cotton cloth and oil paper used to wrap the money, hoping to find some clues. After looking for a long time, they found nothing. The two were a little disappointed.

Bao Ya rolled her eyes. What's so interesting about it? Haven't you ever seen money before? It's all big bills.

"Have you seen enough?"

Wang Xiao raised her head and snorted disdainfully. Xu Mingda, still smiling, walked up to her.

"Comrade Xiaolin, what made you think of putting the money here?"