A Young Woman's Heart

Even though she doesn't talk much, she still manages to be interesting.

After Wu Shanshan had almost dried the clothes, she restarted the tricycle and sped along the dirt road by the fields back to her doorstep.

Jiang Yuruo's grandfather brought out a coal stove and was stuffing coal briquettes into it one by one.

"Hey, you're back! How was your time?"

"We caught so many things!" Jiang Yuruo said, gesturing with her arms outstretched.

"So, how about it? Do you have any small crabs or snails?"

"Ok!"

"But Ruoruo put them all back." Wu Shanshan pouted. Although she didn't actually want to eat them, she still felt it was a bit of a pity.

After all, some of them were ones she had caught.

"Haha, that's how Ruoruo is. When her family used to keep goldfish, she liked to use a small fishing rod to catch them and then put them back."

"Pfft..." Yu Shu couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh when she thought of the goldfish with several holes poked in it by the fishhook. "Poor goldfish..."

"Right, haha, this kid has always liked to do weird and unusual things since he was little."

"Grandpa!" Yu Shu and Wu Shanshan had just climbed out of the car when Jiang Yuruo ran into the house. "Where did you put the dumpling wrappers?"

"You're craving fried dumpling wrappers again today?"

"Ok!"

"Don't rush, don't rush, I'll get it. Is there anything else you'd like to eat?"

"Leftovers from breakfast!"

"Huh?" Yu Shu didn't know what she wanted to cook.

"It's rare to start frying oil, so of course we should fry a lot of things, haha. And what about the wild vegetables we picked yesterday? Let's coat them in flour and fry them too, shall we?" Grandpa answered Yu Shu's question with a smile.

Then, Jiang Yuruo brought out various ingredients, coating them with flour, spreading them with egg wash, or putting them directly into the pot.

And so it started to fry, bubbling and popping.

"Ruoruo loves fried food the most."

"Mmm! Convenient and delicious!" Jiang Yuruo used her long chopsticks to pick up a piece of golden and crispy fried dumpling skin and stuffed it into her mouth, chewing it with a 'crunch crunch' sound.

Yu Shu, however, took the fried rice ball handed to her by her grandfather with some curiosity.

These things themselves don't have much flavor; you need to add some seasonings yourself, such as pepper, cumin, and salt and pepper.

"Are the fried rice balls delicious?" Wu Shanshan asked, tilting her head as she looked at Yu Shu, holding a piece of wild vegetable coated in flour and deep-fried.

"Mmm! It's delicious."

"Haha, a beer is just what you need at times like this!" Jiang Yuruo's grandfather was a hearty man. He used a stool to pry open the bottle cap and gulped it down.

"I also want!"

"Huh? Ruoruo drinks alcohol?" Yu Shu asked, somewhat surprised.

For underage children like her, especially well-behaved ones, a minor who likes to drink alcohol seems to be equated with a delinquent.

"Hmm? Beer counts as alcohol...?" Jiang Yu Ruo asked, somewhat puzzled. Her innocent eyes blinked rapidly, as if she genuinely believed it.

"Eh? Eh? Doesn't it count?" Yu Shu asked timidly.

After all—she's the kind of person who can get drunk with just one sip of beer.

……

Chapter 257 Old Memories

Wu Shanshan's home is a detached house on the outskirts of the city.

Calling it a farmer's house isn't quite accurate, because it's neither that big nor does it have a yard.

The exterior looks quite rudimentary, with only bricks covering the walls and no paint applied.

“My dad used to work at a steel mill, and this is the house we were allocated back then.” Wu Shanshan patted the wooden doorplate. “It used to be very close to the factory.”

Jiang Yuru tilted her head, looking around curiously.

There were only a few bustling construction sites all around, with no factories in sight.

Seemingly sensing her confusion, Wu Shanshan explained while taking out her keys: "During the wave of layoffs, the steel mills gradually stopped production. The state-owned factories became private, and then they used the land here to build houses. The factories moved to more suburban areas and their scale was greatly reduced."

"What was it like back then?" Yu Shu asked softly, her small hand gently touching the phone on her chest.

"Back then?" Wu Shanshan's words were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. She pushed the door open with a 'click', revealing a nicely decorated room.

—For that era.

The floor was painted a light blue, like a swimming pool, and the walls were painted white, but the lower half was painted green.

The furniture is all made of metal, and even the shoe cabinet is made from discarded chair legs, giving it a distinct industrial feel from that era.

"What was it like back then?" Jiang Yu asked, prompting her to finish the story she hadn't told earlier.

"Have a seat first." Wu Shanshan pulled out two chairs made of scrap iron, coated with a layer of black paint, seemingly to prevent rusting.

The table was also an iron table, covered with a perfectly cut piece of glass. Although it wasn't glued together, it was quite sturdy.

Wu Shanshan took three cans of Coke from the old-fashioned refrigerator at home, and then sat down in a wicker chair with a "whoosh".

Behind her was a window, not very big, but it was well-lit, so it was quite bright.

The evening sun is slowly setting, dyeing the clouds on the horizon red.

"Back then, the air quality was terrible."

"Crunch." Jiang Yuruo unzipped the Coke, took a small sip, and looked all ears.

“The factory is right next door, and thick black smoke is billowing out of that very thick chimney.” Wu Shanshan sat cross-legged with her hands on her thighs. “Every day when I go out, it feels gloomy, there is dust everywhere, and there is always a smell of something burning in the air. The surrounding farmland is always covered with sheds, just to prevent the dust from falling on the vegetables.”

Yu Shu held the cola but didn't open it. She felt that what Wu Shanshan said about the past was both familiar and strange.

After all, the place she lived when she was a child wasn't that close to the factory.

“Back then, a steel plant was like a small country to me. There were kindergartens, primary schools, even junior high schools, rows of dormitories, and even detached houses allocated to outstanding engineers like my dad.” Wu Shanshan’s eyes were a little unfocused, as if she had returned to that era when the industry was just beginning to develop and was constantly striving to catch up. “Actually, after a while, you get used to the gray sky and the scorched air.”

Jiang Yuruo and Yu Shu listened attentively without interrupting.

So Wu Shanshan continued, "When I was little, I felt that everything was unchanging. I thought I would go from kindergarten to primary school in the factory, then to junior high school, and after graduation I would go to the factory to work as a technician and learn engineering design from my dad. At that time, I felt that time was so slow... When I was little, I could always buy what I wanted."

"Then came the Spring Festival of 1998. I remember that year very clearly. Every year, everyone was very happy, celebrating and setting off lots and lots of fireworks. The factory would give everyone money and supplies, food, daily necessities, clothes... everything. Everyone gathered together. The steel plant had thousands of people, just like one big family... But in the last two years, things started to become more mundane. At that time, I had a feeling that my peaceful life was about to be disrupted."

"Then that Spring Festival... I felt like my parents were waiting for some kind of verdict, and then suddenly one day they stopped going to work, the number of people living around suddenly decreased, the factory became extremely deserted, and things were constantly being moved out..."

"In the end, even the entire factory was demolished, the kindergarten closed down, the primary school merged with others, and the junior high school stopped enrolling new students..." Wu Shanshan took a deep breath, "At that time, I felt that nothing is forever."

The wave of layoffs began in 1997 and ended around 1999.

At that time, countless people lost their jobs, possessing great skills but unable to find work, and many families were broken apart. There was no war on the land of China, but it was stained with blood and tears.

In fact, it's only 2002 now, not long ago, but the aftermath of the layoffs seems to be fading away.

The people of this land seem to possess great resilience and stress resistance, like platelets in the human body, constantly repairing the wounds of this land—at their own expense.

“Hmm…” Yu Shu nodded gently, “Back then, my parents were also laid off for a while… My mother worked as a nanny, and my father worked as a dockworker. It was only after two years that they found an opportunity to become teachers again.”

Jiang Yuru tilted her head. She didn't have much of an impression of these things. The wave of layoffs didn't seem to have much impact on her village. She only remembered that it was a bit difficult to buy daily necessities during that period. As for food, she had never had to worry about it.

The world outside the window was still filled with smoke and dust, but the burnt smell was gone.

That's dust from the construction site.

What are the plans for this place in the future?

"It looks like they're going to build residential buildings and a commercial street..." Wu Shanshan stood up, holding her Coke. "Want to come to my room?"

"Okay, okay." Jiang Yuru nodded vigorously.

The small detached house has three floors, with each floor being about 30 square meters. Wu Shanshan said it was built in 1979, which was considered quite luxurious at that time.

The first floor has a living room and kitchen, the second floor has a balcony and a bathroom, and the third floor has been partitioned into two rooms, the one on the left is Wu Shanshan's.

The room was furnished simply, with only a wire bed, a wooden table and chairs, and a bookshelf that looked to be welded from the same material as the shoe rack.

The ground was painted a light pink color, and if you looked closely, you could see a light blue layer underneath.

It was probably repainted after my daughter was born.

"Heave-ho..." Wu Shanshan wiped her sweat and put down the chair she had brought up from downstairs. "Alright, alright, sit down. There aren't many snacks at home, just some meat floss and sausages. Shall we use those to make dough tonight?"

"Okay." Yu Shu wasn't hungry at all, since she had already eaten quite a bit at Jiang Yu Ruo's house.

“I have a Monopoly toy at home, which I bought when I was in elementary school…” Wu Shanshan tiptoed and picked up a slightly yellowed box from the bookshelf next to her.

It was a box entirely in English, and back then it probably wasn't so easy to buy it.

"Speaking of which, the senior students must have been playing all day, right? I wonder if they had a good time," Wu Shanshan said, looking up with a hint of envy.

"Hmm...right, I think I just received a text message..." Yu Shu had just picked up her phone when it rang. She hurriedly answered the call, and Mo Xueyao's voice came from the other end.

However, her voice was somewhat muffled because the background noise was too loud.

"Hello—Yu Shu? Are you home?"

"Eh? Eh..." Yu Shu glanced at Wu Shanshan and Jiang Yuruo sitting next to her, then looked out the window at the clouds that looked like they were on fire, "...about right."

Jiang Yuruo and Wu Shanshan curiously came over to listen to the sounds coming from the phone.

"Are you on holiday?"

"Pfft..." This somewhat silly question made Wu Shanshan and Jiang Yuruo cover their mouths. In fact, it was already the second day of their holiday.

"Hmm." Yu Shu was a little confused and responded blankly.

“We’re planning to bring you some local specialties as a gift. Do you like, uh—seashells, pretty stones, conch shells, or something to eat?” The voice on the other end of the phone became noisy again, so Yu Shu only heard the first half of the sentence.

"Huh..." She wanted to ask what was said next, but the words that came out were replaced with another answer, "Is...is it all okay?"

"Ah—we just don't know what to bring you, so, would you like something to eat or some handicrafts?"

"...Is that okay?" This time, Yu Shu finally understood.