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

The movie has started. Today's film, "One Hundred Things to Reassure You," is a story very characteristic of this era.

The whole story is refreshing and clean, making it very enjoyable to watch. It was a pleasant surprise for Bao Ya, who had been exposed to modern film and television industry, proving that art truly does originate from life.

Every expression and movement of the actors resonates with the audience, making them far superior to those zombie-faced pretty boys.

On the way back, Bao Ya was still thinking about the movie she had just watched. Sitting in the back seat, she shook her head and swung her legs, looking completely absorbed in the experience.

Jiang Yuan, sensing the restless little girl on the back seat, mischievously shook the handlebars.

"what!"

Bao Ya was so frightened that her face turned pale. She quickly hugged Jiang Yuan's waist, and Jiang Yuan's body tensed up instantly, his smile disappearing.

"Are you secretly laughing?"

"no."

"snort!"

Bao Ya put her hand directly on his stomach and felt it trembling.

"You said you didn't laugh, but you lied to me."

As she spoke, she pinched his stomach hard. "Ouch!" That was quite a strong pinch.

Oops, shouldn't we be pinching her waist? She's breaking the rules.

On the rest of the journey, Jiang Yuan would shake the handlebars every now and then, which would then earn him Bao Ya's cruel punishment. It's estimated that Jiang Yuan's waist was bruised from being twisted so much along the way.

Jiang Yuan's waist was quite firm; it seemed he had abs. Lin Baoya thought to herself.

When they got home, Grandma Su invited Jiang Yuan to stay for dinner, and Jiang Yuan didn't stand on ceremony and stayed. From the moment he arrived home until dinner, Jiang Yuan and Bao Ya kept whispering to each other, and Bao Ya even showed Jiang Yuan the yeast she had made.

Grandma Su felt that the two children had a good relationship, and that there would definitely be fewer troubles in their future lives.

The next morning, Jiang Yuan brought another five jin of sorghum rice to Bao Ya.

Grandma Su was already numb. This girl, why does she act on a whim? That's grain; if she's not careful, the grain will be wasted.

She couldn't be bothered with the rest. She was getting married in less than two months, so Jiang Yuan let her cause trouble if he wanted. After all, it would be his family that would be the ones causing trouble in the future.

Bao Ya asked Grandma Su for a large pickling jar, estimating that it could hold five catties of steamed sorghum rice. And so she began her great brewing business.

First, soak the sorghum rice in a large wooden basin. After soaking, pour out the empty husks on top, wash it several times, and then start steaming it in a large pot.

After steaming for a while, water was sprinkled on the sorghum rice, and it was steamed again. This process was repeated several times. After steaming, the sorghum rice was placed on a flat-bottomed basket lined with a steaming cloth and cooled to room temperature.

While waiting, wash the jar inside and out and let it air dry.

Take out the prepared yeast and grind it into powder. Sprinkle it evenly on the cooled sorghum rice, stir it well, let it sit for half a day, and then put it into a jar. After putting all the rice in, make a hole in the middle of the sorghum rice.

Anyway, she had always made a hole in the middle when making rice wine before, but this was the first time she had used sorghum rice, so she wasn't sure what to do and just made one.

Then seal the jar and put it in the warehouse to ferment.

Seeing that Bao Ya was doing a pretty good job, the Su family didn't say anything. Especially Su Daqiang, who was looking forward to Bao Ya's wine being made so that he could have a couple of sips to satisfy his craving.

While Grandma Su wasn't looking, Su Daqiang gave Bao Ya two more jin of wheat, asking her to make some more yeast.

After finishing all that, Bao Ya was idle again, with nothing to do and feeling very bored.

Every day, I admire my own beauty in the mirror. I even trimmed my eyebrows with a razor blade and cut my hair shorter. My long braid that used to reach my waist now only hangs down to my chest when tied up.

Jiang Yuan would also visit the Su family from time to time, bringing Bao Ya some food and other necessities to entertain her.

After the family split up, things calmed down for a while. There were only a few scoundrels in the brigade, and they would avoid Bao Ya when they saw her, which made Bao Ya feel that the brigade was quite peaceful and there was less gossip.

Bao Ya didn't know that in other people's eyes, she was the most perfect person.

After a few days of restlessness, Bao Ya couldn't stay still and decided to go for a walk in the mountains.

I wonder if Fang Mingda and his team have caught the spy yet? I haven't seen them these past few days.

Bao Ya carried her basket on her back and called Gou Dan and Niu Dan to go up the mountain together.

There are two wild pear trees on the mountain. They smell quite fragrant, but taste very sour. The children don't like to eat them, and no one picks the pears. So, we simply pick the pears to make wine.

Five catties of sorghum rice can yield at most three catties of liquor, and that's only if it's low in alcohol content. If we add some pears to make up the difference, we should be able to get more.

Dog Egg and Cow Egg skipped and hopped along with Bao Ya up the mountain. The two children, one big and one small, all carried the same kind of basket, woven by Grandpa Cow.

The three of them arrived at the pear tree, took off their baskets. The pear tree wasn't tall; Bao Ya could reach it with her hand.

Bao Ya was picking the fruit, while the two younger ones were carefully placing them in the basket. The two younger ones were doing a pretty good job; Bao Ya had been feeding them plenty of the food Jiang Yuan had brought them these past few days.

"Sis, what do you want these dried pears for? They're really sour."

Niu Dan frowned and said that he felt saliva gushing out of his mouth, as if he could already taste the sourness of the pear.

"It's used for brewing wine. Since no one eats it anyway, it's a waste to leave it hanging on the tree."

"Sis, we can't drink alcohol. Are you trying to sell it for money?"

Dog Egg scratched his little head and thought for a long time. Suddenly, he felt that he had thought of something, so he stretched his neck and shouted.

"Shut your mouth! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll beat you up. This is wine made for my uncle, so don't go around spouting nonsense."

This stupid little brother talks faster than he thinks, he blurts out everything, and beating him every day doesn't work. It seems his adoptive mother didn't give him any brains. Bao Ya definitely has this plan in mind.

On the other side, two people were observing their surroundings from the tree. As they watched Bao Ya pick pears with her two children, their mouths started to water.

"What's this girl up to now? Bringing such sour things into the house, isn't she afraid of getting her teeth sour?"

He picked one and ate it a couple of days ago, and it was so sour that it brought tears to his eyes.

Wang Xiao looked at the three people busy over there and said with a puzzled expression. Just then, he suddenly saw someone coming from the north through a path in the cemetery. The person walked over in a nonchalant manner, occasionally observing the surrounding environment.

"Old Fang, they're here."

He recognized the man as Li Jinbao, the one the children had mentioned a few days ago. He had followed him a few times but hadn't discovered anything. He had only seen Li go into town to buy things and then deliver them to the widows in the village; nothing else. They hadn't found any clues about him yet.

Fang Mingda glanced at the newcomer, then at Bao Ya picking pears. He was torn between the two of them, wondering whether he should warn her if she would be frightened by the leper.

Thinking of this, Fang Mingda changed his position, ready to rush down at any moment.

Just as Bao Ya and her two younger children had finished picking most of the pears, someone suddenly ran up to her.

Bao Ya looked at the person and didn't recognize him at first. He was thin and not very tall. He was dirty all over, with messy hair, and when he smiled at her, he had a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Bao Ya, I'm busy. How about I help you out?"

As she spoke, she looked at him and swallowed hard. His eyes scanned her up and down several times, his gaze incredibly lewd.

Well, finally, she'd run into a rapist. When Bao Ya looked in the mirror, she thought she was a beauty, but none of the village boys fawned over her. Except for Simao, who was close to her, everyone else seemed to avoid her. She even wondered if the image she saw in the mirror was fake, or just her imagination. But when Jiang Yuan looked at her, he thought she was a beauty.