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

Jiang Yuan ate to his heart's content. His future wife's cooking skills were truly excellent; she could make simple meals taste better than others.

After Jiang Yuan finished eating, seeing that it was almost time, he took his lunch to the fields. Bao Ya only left herself two vegetable dumplings. She was full after drinking the soup.

After finishing my meal, I immediately washed my hands and started making dough. This time, I wouldn't use all white flour; I mixed in some finely ground cornmeal. After the dough had risen, I went to the vegetable garden behind the house and picked some long beans to make meat buns with long bean filling for dinner. I also picked a few cucumbers.

Back in the front yard, she washed the pots and pans she had used, threw the vegetables she had picked into a large basin to soak, and then went back inside to lie down. She was exhausted too; she hadn't had a moment's rest all day.

Around 4 PM, Bao Ya got up again to prepare dinner. At that moment, Grandma Su and Jiang Yuan returned together. It should be said that Jiang Yuan was dragged back by Grandma Su.

The old lady felt that it was enough for her new son-in-law to do some work as a formality; she couldn't really expect him to work from morning till night.

Bao Ya brewed them a pot of tea and told them to rest in the yard for a while. She then went to her second uncle's backyard and picked some melons for them to eat.

Then I started cooking again.

Grandma Su drank some water and rested for a while before starting to help Bao Ya cook.

"Grandma, don't go to the fields tomorrow, stay home and rest."

Bao Ya felt that the old lady had been working in the fields all day, and although it wasn't heavy work, it was still tiring enough, since they had been working since four in the morning.

"Okay, tomorrow I'll go with your fourth great-aunt and the others to the brigade's warehouse to husk corn kernels. You can stay home and cook. I'll come back early at noon to help you."

A lot of corn has already been transported back today. Tomorrow, the old ladies in the village can start husking the corn kernels. The husked corn kernels are used to pay the grain tax. When distributing grain to the villagers, they give out whole ears of corn that haven't been husked.

"Okay. Do you want me to pick you up at noon?"

The corn cobs that have been shredded in the warehouse can be taken home. Two people can share a bunch, and after shredding, the remaining corn cobs can be split in half between the two of them.

"No need, I'll put our family's shed in the brigade's hut, and your uncle can bring it back by car later."

For dinner, I made pork and green bean buns, with more green beans than pork, and steamed over twenty. Once they were cooked, Grandma Su gave Jiang Yuan four to eat. She told him to eat them quickly and then take some back to his parents.

Next, I made a pot of steamed cornbread, and the side dishes were cucumber salad, cold green bean salad, and vegetable soup.

After Jiang Yuan finished eating, Grandma Su packed six more for him in a cloth bag and told him to take them back to his parents to eat.

It was around six o'clock, and the workers hadn't returned yet. Jiang Yuan pushed his bicycle out, and Bao Ya saw him off to the village entrance.

"You don't need to come every day, it's tiring. Tomorrow, stay home and help your parents with some chores."

Bao Ya said to Jiang Yuan as they walked.

Jiang Yuan didn't feel tired at all. He was so happy to see his wife, who had even cooked him something delicious.

"It's okay, I'm not tired."

Bao Ya rolled her eyes at him. This idiot, can't he even slack off?

As Jiang Yuan walked, he kept stealing glances at his future wife, her facial expressions incredibly vivid. Her fair, rosy cheeks, large, watery eyes, long eyelashes, and chubby pink lips made his heart pound.

She's gotten so much fairer these past few days, much fairer than when we last went to the city, and looks much better. Her clothes are a bit old though, I'll get her some fabric to make her some new clothes later.

Having made up his mind, Jiang Yuan planned to go home to find cloth coupons and buy cloth whenever he had free time.

After dropping him off at the village entrance, Bao Ya told Jiang Yuan to ride his bike quickly so as not to delay his parents' dinner. Only after he had gone far away did she head home.

They're getting married in a month and will move to the city to live together. There shouldn't be much work for them, which should be nice.

The autumn harvest lasted for more than ten days. Jiang Yuan came here intermittently for a week. He was on night shift with someone, working from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., and then came to Bao Ya's house to work after get off work.

Bao Ya was exhausted from listening to him, and finally told him seriously that he was not allowed to come again. Only then did he stop. A few days later, he brought her another piece of fabric, which was scarlet and shiny. This color of fabric was rare, and it was thick enough. Bao Ya planned to use it to make a padded jacket to wear when she got married.

The days following the autumn harvest were unusually quiet in the production brigade. Only a group of children were playing outside. The villagers were all resting at home; the entire harvest had been exhausting.

For Li Jinxiang, the autumn harvest in her forty-odd years at the Lin family home was the most unforgettable. She had been married into the Lin family for over twenty years, and had always acted arrogantly and domineeringly, relying on the fact that she had given birth to three sons. She only ever did a token effort in the fields.

Everyone says that Lin Laosan and his wife are lazy, but in reality, they didn't earn much more work points than Lin Laosan and his wife. It's just that the couple are good at talking, which makes people think that Lin Laosan's family is lazy.

Now that the Lin family has split up, everyone has to do all the work themselves, and it's impossible to slack off like before. He's incredibly worried about his two unmarried sons.

When it came time to form teams for the autumn harvest, they wanted to team up with Lin Lao Er's family, but Lin Lao Er and his wife, who had been keeping quiet all along, refused. People who knew her well knew what kind of person she was, so no one wanted to team up with them. In the end, they could only team up with Li Hehua's family.

Everyone was trying to shirk their responsibilities and no one wanted to do more work. Not only did they work slower than others, but they also got their work points deducted, and then they were scolded by Granny Lin when they got back. The more they thought about it, the more frustrated they felt.

It's all Lin Baoya's fault. If it weren't for her, the Lin family wouldn't have split up, her eldest son wouldn't be in debt, her second son wouldn't be unable to find a wife, and her daughter's marriage wouldn't have had so many twists and turns.

She blamed all the mistakes on Bao Ya, completely forgetting that it was she who instigated the Lin family to take Bao Ya back.

Li Jinxiang grew angrier the more she thought about it. She turned over and saw Lin Dahe lying on the kang (a heated brick bed).

"Dad, Dad, are you asleep?"

Li Jinxiang called out a few times, but Lin Laoda ignored her. So she picked up the broom and chopsticks she was using to sweep the kang (a heated brick bed) and threw them at him.

Lin, who had been beaten, woke up early. He was in pain all over and heard Li Jinxiang calling him, but he didn't want to pay attention to her.

"Ouch, what are you doing? Why did you hit me?"

"Come here, I need to talk to you about something."

"What do you mean? Just say it like that."

He didn't want to move at all. Over the years, he had always acted like the eldest brother at home and had never done so much work.

Now that his two younger brothers are out of his control, the autumn harvest has been a real ordeal. To avoid being laughed at, he gritted his teeth and barely managed to get through it, and now every little movement hurts his whole body.

Seeing that Boss Lin didn't want to talk to her, Li Jinxiang got even angrier. She scrambled to her feet and crawled to Boss Lin's side. She reached out and pinched his arm.

"Ouch, you stinking woman, you're asking for it."

Li Jinxiang didn't care at all. He was just venting his anger. How could he possibly hit him with that little bit of energy?

"I'm telling you, are we just going to swallow this insult? Look at us now, even the second brother's family doesn't respect us anymore. What kind of older brother are you?"

And that Lin Baoya, she's made such a mess of things for us, and next month she'll be getting married in style and going to the city to enjoy a life of luxury.

Xiaohong and Xiaowen are still unmarried, Yu Xiaojuan hasn't said a word about Siya's marriage, and Xiaoquan is currently burdened with a debt of four hundred yuan. How are we going to survive in the future?

As she spoke, Li Jinxiang was overcome with grief and couldn't help but sob.