Now that Deng Minghao had graduated from high school, his job assignment was nowhere in sight, and at home he suffered plenty of scorn from his parents and his elder brother and sister-in-law.
He had come here to clear his head, never expecting to run into Li Ruolan trying to end her life—and he had lost his own life saving her.
“The first time the names Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao appear in the novel is on the train heading to the countryside, when the male and female leads introduce themselves to each other.
So Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao must have signed up to go to the countryside to escape their families. In that case, let’s go sign up to be sent-down youth right now.”
Actually, as long as Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao got a marriage certificate, neither of them would have to go to the countryside, Li Ruolan could escape her fate of being sold off, and Deng Minghao could move out of his elder brother and sister-in-law’s home.
But with families like theirs, if they didn’t get far away, trouble would surely follow them endlessly. Living their own quiet little life would be nearly impossible. It was easier to just flee far away to the countryside.
Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao wasted no time. They dried their clothes in the Dimensional Space, then went to the street office to sign up for the countryside.
After discussing it, they decided to go to the Northeast. It was cold there, but farm work only lasted six months a year, and the remaining six months were spent at home hibernating through the winter.
Perfect for the two of them, who weren’t too keen on farm work.
Deng Minghao gave a few cigarettes to the older brother at the Sent-Down Youth Office—cigarettes that had been on the original Deng Minghao. The original had earned his own money for school since childhood and had long since learned the ropes of dealing with people like this.
Thanks to those few cigarettes, the two of them were successfully assigned to the same brigade, departing in ten days.
Li Ruolan took a look—it was indeed Qianjin Village, Shengli Brigade, where the male and female leads were headed.
After collecting the 135 yuan settling-in allowance for sent-down youth and a voucher for purchasing a train ticket, Li Ruolan and Deng Minghao parted ways, each returning to their own home.
Following her memories, Li Ruolan made her way back to the Li family home, located in the residential compound behind the garment factory. The assigned housing was a two-bedroom apartment with a living room.
It was a narrow, cramped tenement building packed with people. The moment Li Ruolan stepped inside, she was hit by all sorts of strange smells and nearly gagged.
Her family lived on the third floor, far right unit. When Li Ruolan got home, she found the place empty. Li Baozong must have been at school, while Li Hongjun and Mother Li were still at work.
Once home, Li Ruolan dug out all the money and ration coupons she had saved over the years—8 yuan and 5 jiao in total, and pitifully few coupons: just one soap coupon and one toilet paper coupon.
Even a tiny mosquito is still meat. She organized everything and put it all into the Dimensional Space.
By then it was past five in the afternoon. Normally, Li Ruolan cooked all the meals for the family of four, and she didn’t want to stir up any trouble at this point.
There were only ten days left until she left for the countryside. Once she got through those ten days, she’d have nothing more to fear.
After cooking, Li Ruolan first set aside two steamed buns and put them in the Dimensional Space. Mother Li never let the original Li Ruolan eat her fill—normally she only got half a bun and half a bowl of thin porridge per meal.
But Li Ruolan was not about to go hungry. No one was going to make her go hungry.
Although the apartment had two bedrooms and a living room, the daughter was grown up now, so Li Hongjun had partitioned one of the larger rooms down the middle for Li Ruolan and Li Baozong to sleep in.
Li Ruolan lay on her bed in her room, then entered the Dimensional Space. Using the original owner’s white porcelain tea mug with its peeling paint, she scooped up a cup of spiritual spring water and drank it down.
The spiritual spring water didn’t have the legendary body-cleansing and marrow-refining effects; it only gradually and imperceptibly improved one’s constitution, and it also made a person’s strength grow greater and greater.
Although this body of Li Ruolan’s was young, years of not getting enough to eat had left it painfully thin and weak, with little strength to speak of.
She had to take advantage of the next ten-odd days to drink plenty of spiritual spring water and improve her constitution. Otherwise, once she was sent down to the countryside, she was bound to suffer terribly.
She had just finished a cup of spiritual spring water when Deng Minghao entered the Dimensional Space, his face looking terrible.
“What’s wrong?” Li Ruolan asked curiously.
Deng Minghao scratched his head in frustration. “The moment I got home, I got yelled at. My sister-in-law is pregnant, so there’s going to be another mouth to feed, and seeing me put them in a bad mood.
They pointed at me and called me a freeloader. Even my own mom and dad joined my sister-in-law in scolding me. I got angry and walked out.”
As Deng Minghao grumbled angrily, he grabbed some fresh corn cobs and sweet potatoes, washed them clean, and put them in a pot to boil.
Who knew how long it had been since Deng Minghao last ate? His stomach was so empty his front was stuck to his back—he felt hungry enough to eat a whole cow.
Then he went and got a few eggs, paired them with chili peppers, and stir-fried scrambled eggs with chili. Li Ruolan brought out the two steamed buns she had secretly stashed away, and the two of them made do with a simple meal.
“Tomorrow, I’m planning to take some flour and eggs out to sell. We’re not short on money now—the resettlement allowances add up to over 200 yuan—but we are short on ration coupons.
These days, it’s hard to buy anything without coupons, so I’m planning to trade the flour and eggs for some.” Deng Minghao said to Li Ruolan.
Li Ruolan nodded. “That’s fine, but I think it’s best not to go to the black market. Speculation and profiteering are strictly crack down on right now.
To be safe, you could go to the steel factory family compound and around the hospital, selling door to door. Just don’t go to the black market.
When reading novels, it always seemed so simple—just take whatever you have to the black market and you can make money.
But now that we’ve transmigrated here, we have to treat this as a real, normal world. If we want to live long lives, we’d better play by the rules.”
After all, a novel was just a novel—reality was always crueler than fiction.
Selling door to door would still bring in money anyway; it would just be a little slower, and they didn’t care about losing that bit of time.
Deng Minghao nodded. “Don’t worry, I have connections. I won’t go to the black market.” With that, Deng Minghao left the Dimensional Space.
Li Ruolan didn’t dare linger in the space either. Thinking that Li Hongjun and the others would be back soon, she hurriedly left the Dimensional Space. The moment she stepped out, she heard the door open.
Li Hongjun, Mother Li, and Li Baozong came back together. Seeing the food already prepared on the table, all three went to wash their hands and eat.
To avoid giving anything away, Li Ruolan also took her seat, keeping her head down and eating quietly.
Suddenly, Li Baozong’s nose twitched, and he leaned toward Li Ruolan. “Did you sneak some eggs? Why do I smell stir-fried eggs with chili on you?”
The moment Li Baozong said this, Mother Li shot to her feet, rushed into the kitchen in a few quick strides, and went to check the count of the eggs.
“I didn’t, I just smelled someone frying eggs on the way back—maybe a bit of the smell got on me.” Li Ruolan pretended everything was normal, not even daring to lift her head, and spoke in a low voice.
Mother Li came back and sat down. “You must have smelled wrong. None of our eggs are missing.”
Li Baozong slammed his chopsticks down and shouted, “Mom, other people get to eat eggs, and I want to eat eggs too! Go fry me an egg!”
Faced with her son’s unreasonable tantrum, Mother Li wasn’t angry at all—she just nodded with a smile. “All right, Mom will go fry you an egg right now.”