“Wang Meixia, can you please think straight for a moment? Since I was a teenager, my health has been getting better. Don’t you know that?”
At that moment, Wang Meixia suddenly remembered that Xiao Mandong had rarely gotten sick ever since she was a child and had put on that ancestral ring, and that ring had always hung around Xiao Mandong’s neck. There was no way the Xiao family would have turned it in. So she thought, if she could get that ring for herself, wouldn’t it also be good for the baby? Her tone softened accordingly:
“Mandong, I’m sorry. Whenever I think about how you had to drink herbal medicine all year round as a child, my heart aches, and I can’t help but think of the baby in your belly. I know you still hold some misunderstandings about me. I’ll slowly tell you about the past between me and your father in the future. And of course, because the divorce between your father and me caused you pain, I’ll try my best to make it up to you.”
Xiao Mandong laughed coldly inside. She simply waited for her mother to keep putting on the show.
“Can you lend me that ring of yours? When your little brother grows up later, I’ll give it back to you.”
See, there it was — her true intention finally out in the open. She even wanted her ring. Dream on.
“What ring? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Wang Meixia saw that Xiao Mandong was playing dumb, and the anger inside her could barely be contained.
“Xiao Mandong, that ring was passed down to me from your grandmother. I lent it to you for wearing. I’m just asking for my own thing back. What right do you have to keep it from me?”
“Which ring are you talking about? All the valuables in the house were confiscated. How could I possibly have kept a ring?”
“Besides, you’re no longer a daughter-in-law of the Xiao family. That ring is meant to be passed down to the Xiao family’s daughter-in-law. Even if I had it, it has nothing to do with you. And that little bastard in your belly — it’s not a Xiao child either. Why on earth would I give my family’s ancestral heirloom to her?”
The moment Xiao Mandong finished speaking, Zheng Chao charged forward, raising his hand to strike her. He had already been enduring this brat for quite a while. How dare this ill-bred wretch call his child a bastard.
“I’ll teach you a lesson today on behalf of your father — you unfilial girl!”
But just as his hand went up, someone grabbed it. Although Zhou Qichuan was leaning on a wooden cane, catching hold of a man who never exercised was effortless for him. He shoved the man back hard, and the brigade leader stepped in front to protect Zhou Qichuan from getting hurt again.
Zheng Chao saw Zhou Qichuan’s military uniform and knew he was in the wrong. He quickly explained, “I’m Xiao Mandong’s stepfather. I just wanted to discipline this girl a little.”
Even the brigade leader had had enough: “You’re just a stepfather. Hitting a young woman in her twenties? That doesn’t sit right. And she has a real father of her own. What business is it of yours to discipline her?”
“I didn’t plan to get involved in your family affairs, but Educated Youth Xiao is now a member of our Red Flag Brigade. Let anyone dare lay a finger on her!”
“Also, I just heard from the villagers — Educated Youth Xiao has made it clear that you two officially cut ties a year ago. Since she doesn’t want you staying here, there’s no reason for you to linger shamelessly. It’s almost dark now. You can rent a place from the villagers or go to a guesthouse in town. Stop pestering her. Everyone has to work in the fields tomorrow. We don’t have time to waste with you all.”
The brigade leader had heard Zhou Qichuan say that Xiao Mandong had saved a military regimental commander today, which counted as a meritorious deed. Besides, since this Xiao Mandong had arrived, the brigade’s coffers had grown considerably. She was practically a money tree.
Wang Fugui realized that they wouldn’t get what they wanted today. He might as well find a place to stay and take things slowly. The two sisters were surely in a bad mood today. After all, who wouldn’t be shocked if their mother suddenly showed up heavily pregnant with a stepfather in tow? He believed that blood was thicker than water, and in a couple of days, the two girls would come around.
Still, they needed to stay in the village to make it easier to talk to those two stubborn girls. If they stayed at a guesthouse, running back and forth every day would be too troublesome.
The villagers all wanted to earn some rent money, arguing heatedly as they pulled the Wang family members to look at houses.
Wang Meixia followed the Wangs, taking the opportunity to retreat for now. She would plan everything carefully and make sure to deal with that hateful girl eventually. In the end, the Wang family chose a somewhat decent room and rented it for fifteen days.
As for Old Lady Wang, she had been observing Zhou Qichuan the whole time. She had heard someone call that soldier “Company Commander Zhou.” This young man was handsome enough. If he could be matched with Wang Yuanyuan, then their family would have a company commander as a grandson-in-law. And if he got promoted in the future, wouldn’t that be even better?
That evening, the Wang family bought eggs and cornmeal from the villagers and cooked a meal over a clay stove. Wang Yuanyuan only came over after eating dinner at the educated youth point.
Old Lady Wang looked at this granddaughter with satisfaction. She was decent-looking enough, carrying the Wang family’s genes. Though she wasn’t as fair-skinned as Xiao Mandong and her sister — she hadn’t been light-skinned even before, and after all the sun exposure, she had gotten darker — but her base features were still fine. With a little care, it should be no problem.
Just thinking about those two hateful girls made her angry. They had that naturally cool, fair skin from birth, just like her daughter Wang Meixia. Blessed with such pretty faces, if only they had been obedient and sensible, she could have pointed them down a better path, and they would have enjoyed endless happiness in the future. Just like her daughter Wang Meixia, who before the Xiao family was sent down, had lived a life of comfort that everyone envied.
Although Wang Yuanyuan had been sent to the countryside for half a year, she still couldn’t get used to it. The big shared sleeping platform was packed tight, shoulder to shoulder. Even though some people would move to the stone house in a couple of days, she heard new educated youths were coming at the end of the year, so wouldn’t it be just as crowded again?
Besides, many people were unhygienic. The smell of sweat in the air every day was indescribable.
Cooking outside in the summer wasn’t so bad, but in the winter the kitchen was inside, and you’d see rats from time to time. Food had to be hung from the rafters. Every day, all you ate was cornbread and sweet potatoes; even vegetable cakes were rare. Everything was suffering. Back in the old days, though the Wang family wasn’t especially wealthy, with the Xiao family’s financial support, they’d had fine grains at least once a day.
Today, she had heard that the money the Xiao family left for Xiao Zhenyu was all in her grandmother’s possession. She wanted to beg her grandmother to buy her a job so she could return to the city. In the future, she could earn money and pay it back from her wages.
“Grandma, Dad, I want to go back to the city. This place is really too miserable. Look,”
Wang Yuanyuan held out her hands — they were very rough, with thick calluses.
“Grandma, if I return to the city now, I can still marry into a good family. If I marry well, I’ll definitely help our family just like Auntie did.” She knew exactly what her grandmother liked to hear.
“But if I wait another two years, my skin will be ruined by the sun, I’ll be older, and I won’t have this youthful face anymore. Then how could I find someone with good prospects?”
Wang Yuanyuan’s voice was choked with sobs. Before her family had arrived, she felt she could still hold on, but when she saw her aunt—twenty years her senior with skin far smoother than her own—her heart began to race with panic and dread. She didn’t want to spend her whole life in this place: waking before dawn every day to work, trudging up the mountains to chop firewood even in the bitter cold, and foraging for wild goods. People assumed that being sent to the countryside in the Northeast meant you could lie low for half the winter, but that wasn’t always true. If the lumber supply at Banzip Farm ran short, they even had to fell trees in the dead of winter. Now, whenever she thought about it, it felt like a living hell on earth.
Old Lady Wang held her granddaughter’s hand, her heart aching too. Though she favored sons over daughters, Wang Yuanyuan was her only granddaughter and had been doted on since childhood. But there was no way they could pull strings to get her back to the city—not unless they purchased a job assignment and found a work unit willing to take her. Yet the cheapest such arrangement cost at least a thousand yuan or more. She did have some money saved up, but it was earmarked as wedding funds for her two grandsons, and she wouldn’t dare touch it.
