“Slap!”
Qu Tong shoved away Old Woman Wang’s prying hand and offered a stiff, sarcastic smile. “Auntie, I don’t like it when people touch my things.”
More than just not liking it, Qu Tong actually wanted to slap this mean-spirited old woman across the face. Who did she think she was? Did they know each other? She started pawing at her the moment they met; she truly lived up to the stereotype of a rural woman—completely lacking in manners.
Old Woman Wang was thick-skinned. Still harboring thoughts of taking advantage of Qu Tong, she ignored the rejection entirely and kept on talking, as if to herself. “Touching clothes won’t break them. Besides, you’re a city girl; what’s one piece of clothing worth to you?”
Qu Tong didn’t give her an ounce of face. “The clothes won’t break, but they will get dirty.”
Hearing the overt disgust in her tone, Old Woman Wang’s face darkened to the point of turning black. “Where are your manners? How can a young girl talk to her elders like that!”
Ye Qiu leaned in and said with a bright smile, “Being an elder isn’t something you can just claim with your mouth, Auntie. So, are you planning to give us each a ‘meeting gift’?”
Stumped by her words, Old Woman Wang offered a sheepish laugh. She didn’t say another word and shut her mouth tight.
Ye Qiu considered herself a patient person who didn’t like to meddle, but Old Woman Wang was clearly bullying Qu Tong because she was a newcomer. If she just looked the other way now, it was only a matter of time before these people got emboldened enough to bully her, too.
Realizing that these new educated youths were not people to be trifled with, the other women on the cart stopped provoking them. Instead, they huddled together to whisper, casting meaningful, sidelong glances at the group from time to time. Ye Qiu and the others didn’t care; let them look—it wouldn’t cost them a piece of flesh.
Four legs move faster than two, and before long, they arrived in town.
The small town was livelier than they had expected. The group asked for directions to the post office, sent telegrams to their families to report their safety, and wrote letters to fill in the details they couldn’t fit in the telegrams.
Looking at the thick, bulging envelopes of the other three, Ye Qiu shook the thin letter in her hand with a sigh of helplessness. She wanted to write more, but she truly didn’t know what to say. The original owner of her body hadn’t been an eloquent person, and she had only transmigrated into this life for less than half a month—it was impossible to have cultivated any deep emotional attachment yet. She had no choice but to describe the situation at Qingshan Brigade in detail so the Ye parents could rest easy.
Biting the bullet, she dropped the letter into the postbox, exhaled in relief, and turned to look at the other three.
Qu Tong was doing fine. Fueled by her hopes for the future, she was brimming with energy, itching to dive into action. The two male educated youths were less resilient; their eyes were rimmed with red. Su Qing, in particular—who had been a socially graceful “big brother” just yesterday—now had eyes full of tears.
Ye Qiu was taken aback and offered a dry, awkward comfort: “Qingshan Brigade is a good place. I’d say we’re quite lucky; at least we won’t go hungry.”
Su Qing wiped his eyes, his emotions steadying. “You’re right. We need to pull ourselves together.”
“Are we splitting up to shop or staying together?”
Qu Tong stood on her tiptoes, looking at the bustling streets ahead. Having cast aside her earlier melancholy, she couldn’t wait to get started. Even though the town’s supplies were scarce and far below what she was used to in her previous life, she had never been to such an authentic, vintage-style market, and she was full of anticipation.
Ye Qiu thought for a moment and suggested, “Everyone needs different things. It’ll be more convenient if we split up.”
The other three readily agreed. They decided to split up and reconvene at the ox cart in two hours.
Having no urgent needs, Ye Qiu drifted with the flow of the crowd after leaving the post office. She discovered that the town had three small-to-medium factories—a soap factory, a cardboard box factory, and a textile mill—which explained why the town was so lively.
She had no interest in the factories, so after asking for directions, she headed straight for the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Even though she had braced herself, Ye Qiu hadn’t expected the place to be so crowded. People were packed tightly in front of the co-op, with no gaps between them. Everyone was waving their money and ration coupons, shouting for what they wanted to buy. From time to time, one could hear the sales clerks shouting to maintain order.
Ye Qiu stood at the entrance, hesitant. Honestly, is buying these things today absolutely necessary?
Three minutes later, as Ye Qiu struggled to worm her way through the throng, she thought: It seems it really is absolutely necessary.
Luckily, she had good luck today. Just as Ye Qiu managed to squeeze up to the counter, she happened to arrive when the clerk was restocking.
“I’ll have half a jin of sponge cake, two jin of White Rabbit creamy candies, one jin of mung bean cakes, and half a jin of fruit candies.”
As soon as Ye Qiu spoke, the clerk, who usually didn’t bother with customers, couldn’t help but ask: “Buying so much—did you bring enough ration coupons?”
“I brought enough.”
After buying her treats, Ye Qiu squeezed into other counters to buy fabric and daily necessities. By the time she walked to the assembly point with her spoils, the two male educated youths were staring at her in shock.
“You bought that much food?”
Although they also had bags of things, their purchases were all daily necessities. They hadn’t been as generous as Ye Qiu, who had bought such fine, delicate foods.
“It won’t go bad for a while. I’ll keep it and eat it slowly. It won’t be easy to come to town often in the future.”
Although she had come to the countryside, Ye Qiu didn’t intend to live on thin porridge and water. Since no one knew her background, she would just say it was subsidized by her family—no one could find fault with that. If she had a “cheat” and didn’t use it to improve her life, she’d be a fool to keep it hidden.
Qu Tong sighed with regret, “Why didn’t I think of that! If I had known, I would have bought more snacks to keep. The food at the hostel is truly terrible.”
To welcome the newcomers, the veteran educated youths had prepared a few good dishes and steamed some white flour buns. But they hadn’t expected four people to arrive at once; the food wasn’t enough, so they had to mix it with the sweet potato rice they usually ate. The food was so rough it scratched Qu Tong’s throat, and she put her bowl down after only a few bites.
Su Qing and Hu Kang exchanged an awkward glance. Well, both female educated youths have family subsidies, but the two of us are broke—not only can we not rely on our families, but we might even need to send money home.
Ye Qiu bypassed the embarrassing topic. “Have you gotten everything you need?”
“Almost, but I couldn’t buy cotton. Other things are still missing, too. The market is sold out of so many things; even if I want to buy them, there’s nowhere to go,” Su Qing said with a bitter smile. “Everything else is fine, but cotton is hard to find. If I don’t prepare it early, I worry I’ll freeze to death in winter.”
Winters in Sichuan weren’t as cold as in the north, but they could still be deadly.
“It’s still early; there’s time to prepare,” Ye Qiu reminded them. “If you really can’t buy it, you can ask around the brigade. The locals have more connections than we do. If that fails, you can trade for the surplus cotton the villagers keep at home. And if all else fails, there’s still the brigade captain. He certainly won’t stand by and watch us freeze to death.”
Regardless, she kept one rule in mind: when you reach the mountain, there will be a path. If you truly can’t solve a problem, go find the brigade captain for help.
Su Qing’s eyes lit up. “You’re right!”
Hu Kang nodded repeatedly. “It’s not like we’re looking for trouble; we’re genuinely in difficulty. I believe the captain wouldn’t just watch us die.”
Qu Tong wasn’t paying attention to their conversation; she just wanted to get back quickly. Her hands felt like they were about to break from carrying so many things.