After going home, Xu Shuang told Wang Ying everything.
Wang Ying’s mouth formed an “O” shape.
Seriously, were these people born with nerves of steel?
How could they do something like that!
Wang Ying exclaimed, “That beady-eyed Xie Yuejin, is he really that desperate for money? Isn’t his salary already decent?”
Salaries in the town were of course lower than in the city, but the cost of living in the town was also much lower.
The mountains were nearby, and people lived off the land. Compared to city dwellers who had to spend money every month just to buy food, it was a lot easier.
Take Xu Shuang, for example—if he didn’t send money to his brother each month, he could easily save most of his wages.
Xie Yuejin had been working at the state-run restaurant for several years now. His position hadn’t gone up, but his years of service had increased, so his monthly salary was around twenty yuan or so.
So how was it not enough?
Xu Shuang explained, “Xie Yuejin isn’t from Hongqi Commune or Shengli Commune. He’s from one of the communes downstream.”
Wang Ying became interested. “Then why didn’t he find a job in his own commune?”
A few years ago, junior high school graduates could still find some sort of job in the commune without much difficulty.
Xu Shuang gave her a strange look. “Haven’t you heard about that commune?”
Wang Ying laughed it off awkwardly. Of course she hadn’t—she wasn’t the original Xu Shuang.
Xu Shuang explained, “That commune is very poor. After the disaster a few years ago, they never recovered. They’ve been living off relief grain ever since. And after receiving that for so long, people got lazy—it’s known far and wide as the ‘lazy man’s commune.’”
And it wasn’t just the laziness. People there loved having children—when they had one, they’d have a whole string of them, and most were boys. Now nobody within ten miles wants to marry their daughters off to people from there. It’s not just poor; they don’t even split up family properties.
Xu Shuang added, “Xie Yuejin has seven siblings. He’s one of eight.”
Wang Ying was speechless: “…Eight? That’s intense.”
Was that womb made of iron or something? Eight kids in a row!
So Xu Shuang could understand why Xie Yuejin didn’t go back to his home commune—he’d just get squeezed for resources by all his siblings. If he went back, he wouldn’t be working but getting leeched by his whole family.
Xu Shuang said, “Xie Yuejin wants to settle down in town. I’ve seen him recently pestering Wan Guodong about getting assigned a house. He’s even started dating a young woman.”
Wang Ying clapped her hands. “Oh, right! You’ve been working for years now. Why haven’t you asked about getting a house assigned?”
Nowadays, everyone working for a government unit expects assigned housing—it’s tradition.
Xu Shuang replied helplessly, “Our brigade already gave me a plot of land to build on. I never even transferred my household registration (hukou).”
Seeing Wang Ying still didn’t quite get it, he explained further.
Basically, back then when he chose not to transfer his hukou, it was a conscious decision. Normally, since he worked in town, he should’ve transferred his registration to the unit’s collective household. But he figured, since he still had an elderly mother back home, it wasn’t necessary. So he didn’t transfer it, and because of that, his hukou stayed with the brigade—and thus, he got a housing plot.
You can’t have it both ways. If you’ve already got land, then of course you can’t be assigned housing in town.
Xu Shuang said, “If I move to the city in the future, I’ll probably have to transfer it.”
Otherwise, the city wouldn’t assign him a house, and he’d have nowhere to live.
Wang Ying suddenly had a thought. Right now, everyone was desperate to get a city hukou. Who’d have guessed that one day, everyone would envy having a rural hukou instead?
With a rural hukou, you could have land. In some newly developed rural areas, villagers even got annual dividends.
Wang Ying said, “Let’s ask around later—maybe it’s possible to move into the city without changing hukou.”
She still wanted to keep her own land and hukou, maybe even return someday and live on it when she was old.
Xu Shuang said, “Sure, we’ll ask.”
He wasn’t particularly attached to having a city hukou anyway, especially since he often went to the county to sell mountain goods. He’d met city people who didn’t eat or dress any better than him.
Wang Ying sighed, “Honestly, if it weren’t for medical care and education, our current life isn’t bad at all.”
Plenty of food, mountains and water, and clean air.
Xu Shuang patted her head. “Not many people think like you. Everyone’s dreaming of moving to the city. Just like our brigade’s old women’s affairs director—she sold her house and went through all sorts of trouble to find a city girl for her son. Just to marry her, she had to provide the three must-haves and three pieces of gold.”
Wang Ying’s eyes widened. “Three pieces of gold?”
Xu Shuang had heard his old lady talk about it often enough to remember the details. “Yup. It took a huge effort. It wasn’t super heavy gold, but it still cost quite a bit.”
Wang Ying clicked her tongue. In this day and age, people still buying the three gold pieces… they were really spending a fortune.
Their conversation eventually circled back to Xie Yuejin.
Xu Shuang said, “Chances are slim our unit will assign housing. I think Xie Yuejin will have to figure it out on his own.”
Even though the restaurant was called a “state-run restaurant,” it didn’t operate independently as a unit. It was part of a larger system, so housing assignments were decided at the top. Only when the quota came down could Wan Guodong choose who to give it to. If there’s no quota, he couldn’t help even if he wanted to.
Especially considering that Xie Yuejin didn’t have enough years of service yet. He’d have to wait a few more years before he even had a shot.
Xu Shuang said, “I wonder if his fiancée will still be willing.”
Xie Yuejin had been bragging at the restaurant, saying that the woman he was seeing was an official worker at the town’s thermos factory—and already a third-level worker.
Factory ranks started at level one and went up to eight. Being a level-three worker was already quite respectable. Her salary was probably even higher than Xie Yuejin’s.
Xie Yuejin found a partner like that, and recently even bought a bicycle—he was full of confidence and satisfaction.
Wang Ying stared at Xu Shuang for a while, making him a little confused. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Wang Ying leaned herself into Xu Shuang’s arms. “I feel like you’re not very happy.”
Xu Shuang sighed, feeling something he couldn’t quite explain. “Maybe it’s because I think someone like Xie Yuejin might end up living a pretty good life.”
What he said seemed disjointed, but Wang Ying understood him instantly.
Though Xu Shuang wasn’t very talkative, he wasn’t numb to the world. The more time Wang Ying spent with him, the more she could sense his internal principles.
For example, when cooking, if he said something must be added, it must be added. If missing one seasoning would ruin the dish, he’d either change the recipe or not cook it at all.
Even though he did some speculative business, the goods were always genuine—never a scam.
He believed that earning a living with his own hands was only proper. Working for the public? He’d never take advantage—also just proper.
But now, someone like Xie Yuejin, who clearly crossed the line, seemed to be building capital even faster.
Xu Shuang had worked hard for years, with great effort and risk, to save what little he had. Xie Yuejin managed to do the same in just one winter, without having to suffer through exhausting trips into the mountains.
What made it worse was that everyone, from Wang Guodong to the restaurant staff, treated Xie Yuejin very well.
Especially the waitresses. When Xu Shuang was managing the restaurant, he had everything running in perfect order and saved them tons of trouble, yet few ever showed him much gratitude.
Now, though, they all adored Xie Yuejin.
In that kind of environment, it was inevitable for Xu Shuang to feel down.
Wang Ying firmly stated, “You’re not wrong. The problem is the environment.”
Of course Xie Yuejin’s actions would win people over—when you give people money, they’re bound to be happy. But no one stops to wonder why he’s giving money to them, and not to Xu Shuang.
Once you take those benefits, you become an accomplice.
It’s not that Xie Yuejin didn’t want to offer Xu Shuang anything—it’s that he simply couldn’t.
Wang Ying said, “I like the way you are now. Don’t change.”
There were already plenty of slick, smooth-talking people in the world—no one needed another Xie Yuejin. But to Wang Ying, it was exactly Xu Shuang’s stubborn integrity that would lead him to a different kind of success.
People like Xie Yuejin—clever and calculating—would surely do well as long as they didn’t crash and burn.
But Wang Ying had seen many smart people like that. It was people like Xu Shuang she encountered rarely. And while those types didn’t always end up rich or powerful, they often gained unshakable positions in their chosen fields. They were also much more peaceful to be around—not as anxious and unsettled.
That peace came from having earned everything through persistence and hard work, and nothing else.
Wang Ying’s words made Xu Shuang’s eyes shine a little brighter. But what caught his attention wasn’t just her faith in him—
It was the fact that this was the first time Wang Ying had so clearly said she liked him.
With a burning gaze, Xu Shuang looked at her. Embarrassed, Wang Ying leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
That had become a little habit between them lately. After seeing Wang Ying kiss the little dog, Xu Shuang had mysteriously requested the same for himself.
Wang Ying had initially thought, “Why is he so clingy?” But now she happily indulged him with sweet little kisses. Thankfully, their yard had high walls—otherwise, being seen would’ve been quite the scandal.
Spring had arrived. After returning to the restaurant, Xu Shuang was busy for a while. Many townspeople came by to support them. Pot after pot of braised pig trotters sold out. Once sales settled down, the mountains behind the town slowly started to turn green again.
Xu Shuang and Wang Ying finally went up into the mountains again.
Besides catching fish, Wang Ying discovered many wild vegetables in the forest.
Tall elm trees were heavy with elm seeds, some locust trees were just about to bloom, and there were shepherd’s purse greens all over the ground.
Xu Shuang nodded knowingly. “This area’s a bit out of the way—probably got overlooked.”
People from the brigade had already rushed into the mountains as soon as winter ended. After a long winter, some families were running out of food, and it would be a while before the next grain distribution. During this in-between period, people relied on the mountains to get by.
Every single elm tree in the hills had already been picked clean by children.
What was left were only those hidden deeper, hard to reach.
Looking up at an elm tree that had been missed, Xu Shuang said, “Let’s pick this one clean.”
Otherwise, if someone else came and noticed the tree, that was one thing. But if they also discovered the nearby fish pond, that would be a real problem.
Wang Ying agreed. The two of them stripped the tree bare, filling two large baskets with elm seeds.
Xu Shuang kept one basket at home and sent the other into the county to give to Chen Dong, along with a few fish.
With the elm seeds he kept, Xu Shuang started experimenting with different recipes.
First up: elm seed rice. Since they weren’t short on grain, Xu Shuang didn’t just use cornmeal like others. He mixed it with white flour. After washing the elm seeds, he coated them in flour and steamed them. The steamed dish had a fresh, delicate aroma. Add a ladle of garlic sauce and a dash of chili oil, and the taste rivaled that of rice.
Next, he tried other creative methods: wrapping elm seeds with pickled radish into steamed buns, stir-frying them with eggs, and making elm seed pancakes…
Wang Ying found everything increasingly delicious. She even sent some elm seed rice to Qian Juhua and Cheng Shufen, which made Cheng Yu’s eyes light up in delight.
“This is amazing!”
She’d had elm seed rice in Beijing before, but that was just elm seeds with salt—it couldn’t compare to what she was eating now!
The garlic aroma didn’t overpower the fresh scent of the elm seeds. The mix of flour and elm seeds had a surprisingly good texture—soft and flavorful in every bite.
The eldest and second daughters also looked perfectly satisfied, their cheeks a little rounder now—making them all the more adorable.
Wang Ying wiped the crumbs off Er Ya’s face, and the little girl sensibly said thank you.
Wang Ying was surprised and couldn’t help but rub her chubby cheeks.
Qian Juhua was also very pleased. “It’s all thanks to Teacher Cheng. When I get busy and can’t keep an eye on the little ones, Cheng Yu helps me watch them, and Teacher Cheng has helped a lot too.”
It was only after Qian Juhua moved here that she realized—those so-called “bad elements” everyone talked about weren’t all that bad after all.
They said Cheng Shufen used to be an opera singer, but she carried a scholarly air about her, and her whole demeanor was very refined.
Once, Qian Juhua happened to see Cheng Shufen coaching Cheng Yu in reciting poetry, and she felt deeply envious. She had only managed to learn a few characters through the literacy campaign, and had named her daughters Da Ya, Er Ya, and Xiao Ya in sequence. She’d always held an idealized view of educated people.
So it didn’t take long before Cheng Shufen had two more students for poetry recitation—Da Ya and Er Ya both took it seriously. Da Ya even held Xiao Ya in her arms while listening. The kids quickly became close.
Qian Juhua felt like life was finally starting to feel like real life.
No husband, no sons, and yet life had somehow become much better.
She could afford to give her three daughters some good food. Cheng Yu occasionally even managed to catch a rabbit or a field mouse.
Cheng Shufen didn’t know how to deal with that kind of stuff, but Qian Juhua had no problem!
She would efficiently prepare the animals, and the two households would cook and eat together.
Though technically they were neighbors over a hundred meters apart, they interacted more frequently than most relatives in the brigade.
Qian Juhua wasn’t afraid of people accusing her of associating with a “bad element.” She was a woman raising three daughters—what were they going to do, arrest her?
Tian Youfu wouldn’t do something like that, and even the commune wouldn’t dare.
A couple of years ago, in another county, someone did try to publicly denounce a widow with several children, and ended up causing her death. The incident had a terrible impact, and neighboring brigades no longer dared to behave like that.
Besides, once they decided to raise pigs here, even fewer people came by. Raising pigs was filthy work—and it smelled.
Wang Ying asked, “Is the pigsty finished on your end? Have the piglets been delivered?”
Qian Juhua beamed with joy. “Yes, and they’re six sturdy little ones.”
Wang Ying went to take a look and saw that Qian Juhua had indeed built a water trough next to the sty, just as she had suggested.
The pigsty’s feed trough was connected directly to the water trough, and outside the trough was a small sluice gate to control the flow of water. In the middle, there was a small recessed basin to store water.
Wang Ying quietly added a few handfuls of spiritual spring water into the basin.
Qian Juhua’s household used this water too, and there was a shed and wooden boards covering the top, so it shouldn’t get dirty.
Once the water was added, Wang Ying felt at ease.
She figured she’d just visit every now and then, and there shouldn’t be any problems.
By the time the lambs were also delivered, Wang Ying felt the timing was just about right.
She took Cheng Yu and headed into the mountains.
