“Dad, Mom… what if Grandpa sells Dad’s job? Would our whole family really be willing to stay in the village and farm forever?”
Xu Duoduo voiced the worst-case scenario she had been thinking about.
“Sell the job?”
“Next year, with how stupid Eryou is, there’s no way he’ll get into university after graduating high school. Eldest Aunt will definitely find a way to get him a job.”
Of course, next year there wouldn’t even be university entrance exams anymore.
But Xu Duoduo obviously couldn’t say that aloud yet.
“Right now, Eldest Aunt is definitely eyeing Grandpa’s position for Eryou. But Grandpa probably won’t agree immediately.”
“So in the end, Eldest Aunt will absolutely try stirring up trouble and pressure Grandpa into demanding Dad’s job for Eryou.”
“What happens then?”
“If Dad refuses, Grandma will definitely go make a scene at his workplace.”
“And even setting that aside…” Xu Duoduo continued seriously, “Dad’s workplace is really far from home now.”
“It already takes over two and a half hours just to travel from the county town to the commune by bus, and that doesn’t even include walking back to the village afterward.”
“Dad only gets one day off every week. Half the day would be wasted just traveling.”
“And if he keeps applying for travel permits every week just to come home, his workplace won’t keep approving them forever.”
By the time she finished talking, Xu Duoduo’s throat had gone dry.
She picked up the cooled boiled water by the window and gulped it down in huge swallows.
“Now that we’ve split from the family, won’t our household registration have to move too?”
“Our family doesn’t own a house in the county. Dad can probably attach his registration to his workplace, but Mom’s and ours can only be transferred back to the countryside.”
“Then Dad would end up alone in the county all by himself, unable to eat properly or take care of himself.”
“And even if his salary is much better than farming in the countryside, Grandpa and Grandma will absolutely find endless excuses to squeeze money out of him.”
“So instead of all that, wouldn’t it be better to just sell the job now, move back to the village together, and finally live peacefully?”
“At least we’d get a large sum of money from selling the job. Later, if there’s a chance, we could buy another position somewhere in the commune.”
“You don’t necessarily have to sell it.”
Xu Ergen suddenly spoke up, his thoughts broadening considerably after hearing her analysis.
“There’s a coworker at my factory whose wife works right here in our commune. Their family already lives separately in two places.”
“Tomorrow I’ll go back to the factory and see if I can arrange a job transfer with him.”
“If I can transfer my position into the commune, that’d be perfect.” Zhou Rong’s eyes lit up immediately. “Then you could come home every day.”
“And we can still make matchboxes in the village. The match factory’s actually closer to the commune than the county town anyway.”
Without the Xu family around, she also wouldn’t have to waste endless time doing household chores for everyone else.
All that extra time could go toward making more matchboxes and earning more money.
Back in the village, they could occasionally earn work points farming, grow vegetables around the house, and live far more comfortably than before.
The more Zhou Rong thought about it, the more hopeful she became for the future.
“Mom, why’s the courtyard gate shut in broad daylight?”
Xu Bu pushed open the courtyard gate from outside and walked in.
“Look! Aunt Lin traded me her fattest old hen!”
She lifted the chicken by its wings proudly for Xu Ergen and Zhou Rong to see.
Xu Duoduo smiled as she watched her elder sister enter.
“Dad, Mom… our family’s all women. We should probably replace the fence with a proper wall.”
“Safer that way.”
“Otherwise someone could sneak into the courtyard in the middle of the night and we’d never know.”
“Your father’s right,” Zhou Rong immediately agreed.
After all, there was a huge fortune hidden inside their kang bed tunnel right now.
“Fine.” Xu Ergen nodded. “Once I settle the job issue, we’ll build one.”
By noon, Old Man Zhou had returned with the roof tiles.
Eldest Uncle Zhou Qiang arrived with Zhou Jian and Zhou She, while Second Uncle Zhou Zhuang also came to help repair the roof.
“Uncles, sit down and rest for a bit. Have some water.”
Xu Duoduo carried over bowls of cooled boiled water.
“Duoduo, your injury hasn’t healed yet. Sit down properly.” Zhou Jian jumped directly off the ladder halfway down. “I’ll pour water for Grandpa and Uncle.”
“Mhm… looks like the roof’s finished.” Old Man Zhou entered the courtyard after finishing the production team’s assigned work. “Quite a lot of broken tiles left over, huh?”
“Qiang, Zhuang — rest for a bit, then help with one more thing.”
“Sort through these broken tiles and patch them together. I think there’s enough usable pieces to replace the thatch roof over the toilet.”
“Would be a waste to throw them away otherwise.”
“Grandpa, you’re the best!” Xu Ting immediately began buttering him up. “Now I won’t need to hold an umbrella while using the toilet when it rains!”
With thatched roofs, heavy rain outside usually meant light rain inside too.
“No need to rest. This little bit of work will be done quickly.”
Zhou Qiang immediately began sorting usable broken tiles.
Soon, several strong laborers started replacing the toilet roof with leftover tiles.
Back when Old Xu’s family had become better off in the county, he had spent considerable effort renovating the old ancestral village house for the sake of face.
The original one-and-a-half-room house had been expanded and connected into a larger structure:
Half a room served as the kitchen, with bedrooms on either side.
He had even built a private toilet in the back courtyard and dug a well in the front courtyard.
Later, when Old Madam Xu lived there with Xu Ergen, she had maintained the place carefully.
And after Old Madam Xu left last year, Zhou Rong’s mother — Old Madam Zhou — who lived in the same village, often came by to heat the kang bed and clean dust away.
Now that the roof had been replaced, the house looked almost new again.
Living there for several more years definitely wouldn’t be a problem.
Earlier, Zhou Rong had already prepared lunch.
While the men worked, she sent Xu Ting to Old Zhou’s house to invite Old Madam Zhou, both aunts, and all the children over to eat together.
Not only were the workers invited to stay for the meal, even the family members who hadn’t come to help were called over too.
The meal was generous — there was even stewed chicken.
Originally, the two sisters-in-law had worried this younger sister returning home meant she’d come asking for favors and resources.
But seeing the food spread out on the table, they finally relaxed and ate happily.
After dinner, Old Man Zhou returned home with his family.
“Bu,” Xu Ergen said that night, “tomorrow your mother and I will take Duoduo back to the county first.”
“I’m still worried, so your mother should accompany Duoduo back to the hospital for another checkup. I also need to return to work.”
“You and Tingting stay home and watch the house.”
“But Big Sister needs to go back too.” Xu Duoduo interrupted immediately. “Neither she nor I attended the start of our senior year classes yet. Shouldn’t we at least ask about graduation certificates before our household registration gets transferred back?”
“My sister and I are smart. Even if we stay in the village, we can still study properly and take the college entrance exam together next year.”
Obviously, Xu Duoduo couldn’t tell them that the college entrance exams would soon be suspended temporarily.
Her real goal was to get Xu Bu away from the county and somehow arrange for her to become an educated youth assigned to their own village.
That way she could stay safely under the family’s protection.
After all, in the original story, Old Xu and Old Madam Xu had sold Xu Bu off to that Revolutionary Committee deputy director.
But if Xu Bu became an educated youth, while her parents still lived in the village, transferring her household registration away without parental approval wouldn’t be easy.
And the production team leader happened to be close friends with Grandpa Zhou.
At that point, the Xu family wouldn’t be able to casually drag Xu Bu away anymore.
“Big Sister can accompany me to change my bandages,” Xu Duoduo continued calmly. “Mom staying home to guard the house is more important.”
She deliberately emphasized the word “important.”
Zhou Rong instantly understood.
There was still a fortune hidden inside the house.
“…Then let Bu go instead,” Xu Ergen agreed immediately after understanding as well. “You girls staying at your eldest aunt’s place will also be more convenient than your mother staying there.”
If both Xu Bu and Xu Ting stayed at Old Zhou’s house overnight while Zhou Rong went to the county, their home would be left empty.
And if someone stole from them…
The hidden money absolutely couldn’t be exposed.
So Zhou Rong needed to stay behind and guard the house personally.
“Alright.” Zhou Rong nodded. “Then Bu, take good care of Duoduo.”
“I’ll stay home tomorrow and clean up the other kang room too. Then the three sisters won’t need to squeeze together with us anymore.”
“Enough talking. Go to sleep.”
“Tomorrow morning Bu and Duoduo need to wake early to catch the bus.”
They had only returned to the village yesterday.
Today they had spent the entire day repairing roofs and cleaning house.
Though Xu Ergen’s family was physically exhausted, emotionally they felt freer than ever before.
Filled with hope and longing for their new life ahead…
the entire family drifted peacefully into sleep.