Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 308 Life is Hard (Monthly Tickets+)

That evening, when Xiaowei's family was watching TV together, Xiaowei's mother told them about Zhang Guiqin's past.

Zhang Guiqin's hometown is Qingduizi, a town located in a county-level city under Andong in Liaodong, six kilometers from the sea.

Qingduizi is an ancient town with a history spanning several centuries, predating the current prefecture-level city that administers it. During the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, it was a bustling port, teeming with merchants and ships. However, the chaos of the 1930s led to its decline; the port fell into disrepair and siltation, the once vibrant streets crumbled, and it became a small fishing village. Eventually, even the fishing boats disappeared from sight.

The once-thriving Qingbu Wharf has vanished, and the glory of Taiping Street, Xiajie Fish Market Street, and Caishen Street has all become history. The once-powerful businesses of Huaxingtai Fuqing, Tongqing, and Tianheyuan are now just legends and a few dilapidated old houses. Perhaps the wedding of Fuqing and Zhangjiajing's eldest daughter can still linger in the memories of the elderly, told as a story to future generations.

History mercilessly grinds down dust, and ashes return to ashes.

Zhang Guiqin is a descendant of Fu Qinghe. To be precise, Zhang Guiqin's father was Fu Qinghe's youngest son.

When Qingbu began to decline, the young master of the Zhang family had already come of age and married. Business was becoming increasingly difficult, so the young master spent his own money to buy a large tract of land on the edge of town and became a landlord, making them a wealthy family.

Then they were released, their land was confiscated, their houses were taken away, and their family fortunes collapsed overnight.

If the young master of the Zhang family knew the image he projected in the propaganda—a life of luxury, ostentatious displays of wealth, bullying villagers, and exorbitant rent collection—he might regret his own frugal and simple life, where he might eat a salted egg for three or four days. This image would become the subject of drunken gossip among the poor villagers who, despite their poverty, still gamble, frequent brothels, and drink heavily every day. No one would question why he was poor or why he was rich.

There's no logic to things in this world. When Zhang Guiqin was born, her family was a peasant household, and they were not well-liked by their neighbors. They were constantly beaten and scolded, and she grew up in such a fearful environment.

In 85, Zhang Guiqin was 18 years old. Although her household registration status was still that of a rich peasant, her life had become normal. She could eat her fill and no longer lived in fear. She had also successfully completed junior high school. Her father had fallen ill and was in poor health. Her brothers were either farming or had moved to the city, so no one cared about her anymore. The girl's heart began to live.

In the winter of 85, the little girl came to Beixi alone with a small bag to stay with her relatives. She was a descendant of Miss Zhangjiajing Yi, and her cousin was a cadre in a town under Beixi County. In those days, they were considered a middle-class family.

Miss Jingyi's sensational marriage in Qingbu was to the eldest son of the Liu family in town. This family was a family of officials and merchants, and also a well-known local landlord. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the family scattered and were never heard from again.

After marrying Miss Zhang, the eldest son of the Liu family rose rapidly through the ranks, eventually becoming the director of the Harbin Police Department. Miss Zhang also became an official's wife, living a simple and happy life, wearing fur coats and gold jewelry, traveling in cars, listening to music and watching plays, eating out by phone, smoking American Camel cigarettes and face powder. Then, overnight, a storm broke out, and the world was turned upside down.

An illiterate woman fled in panic with her two young children, eventually ending up in Beixi where she remarried and raised her children to adulthood. This simple-minded woman still longed for her younger brother back home, and gradually sent back all her valuables—suitcase, jewelry, clothes—that she could sell for money, leaving herself destitute and destitute.

Zhang Guiqin found her aunt's son by following her aunt's letter address and stayed at her brother's house. Later, when her aunt and sister-in-law had a falling out, she went to the city to work alone. In 86, she married her current husband through an introduction.

When Zhang Guiqin first got married, state-owned enterprises were truly secure jobs. Although her husband worked for a large collective enterprise, he still earned over a hundred yuan a month, and the two of them lived a pretty good life. However, this didn't last long. When their child was born, the large collective enterprise went bankrupt and started delaying wages, only issuing small amounts of money every few days.

From 85 to 90, China began to reform state-owned enterprises, and the market began to transition from a planned economy to a market economy. The first to be affected were the large and small collective enterprises in China. Moreover, at that time, people did not have much market awareness, and people's lives were just getting started. It was truly difficult.

Zhang Guiqin has a strong personality, so she started learning how to do business from others. In the summer, she would buy some fruit wholesale, and in the winter, she would buy some vegetables and sell them squatting by the roadside, regardless of the harsh weather. Her husband was still working at a barely lucrative job; although the pay was meager, the workload was heavy, and he had to go to work every day, leaving him no time to help her.

Summer is alright, just a bit tiring, but going to buy goods in winter is an experience worse than death.

Transportation wasn't as convenient back then as it is now; there weren't many high-speed buses.

When doing business and loading goods, several people had to share a truck, a large Jiefang truck. When they went there, they had to stand in the cargo compartment, exposed to the wind for an hour in temperatures of minus forty degrees Celsius. People who haven't experienced it can never imagine what it was like.

She persevered, and her life improved somewhat. Then she discussed with her husband that they should quit their jobs at the large corporation and start a business together. Although it was hard work, they earned much more than they did at their jobs, and they had each other to support each other. She didn't have to work as hard as she did now. Although she persevered, she knew how painful and difficult it was. No one likes to be tortured, and it would definitely be better if things were easier.

After some consideration, her husband agreed and took a long leave from his job (there was no such thing as resignation back then) to start a business with her.

She took care of the household and sold goods, while her husband stocked the shelves, allowing her to enjoy a few short days of "happy time".

Then trouble struck. When her in-laws heard that their son had quit his job to start a business, they stormed over to her house to confront her, as if the sky had fallen. It was her father-in-law who had spent several hundred yuan to curry favor with her husband when he got the job at the collective.

The arguments, insults, and crying were like the two of them had committed some kind of heinous crime. In the end, her father-in-law even physically assaulted her. The two elderly people came to her house every day like it was a job, causing a scene. They couldn't do business, and the child was so frightened that she developed severe cerebral palsy.

How could a child under two years old withstand such a fright?

Then the family fell apart. Her husband went back to work for the state-owned enterprise, and she took some savings to learn baking, partly out of escapism, though only she knew the truth of the matter.

"Then, what about her child?" Xiaowei asked in surprise.

Xiaowei's mother shook her head and said, "That's like a living dead person. She doesn't move at all. Her husband puts some food in her mouth at regular intervals every day to take care of her. The only thing is that we can't strangle her."

(End of this chapter)