Watching the two figures flee in panic, Leng Hui turned around, bid farewell to the personnel department staff, and headed to the finance office.
Tang Lin was a university graduate majoring in mechanical engineering. Having worked at the Mechanical Factory for many years, she had advanced through technical ratings and now earned a Level 14 technician’s salary of forty-eight yuan per month—over ten yuan more than Leng Yongkang’s wages.
In 1970, forty-eight yuan could support a family of four. Yet despite this, Tang Lin, who had transmigrated here, couldn’t even afford the most basic surgical fees.
This situation arose because the Leng Family had refused to divide the household to continue supporting the second branch. The monthly salaries of the eldest branch couple were used to subsidize the family expenses, effectively indirectly supporting the second branch.
Under such circumstances, Sun Xiaojuan still dared to scheme against Tang Lin. How could Leng Hui possibly give her a friendly face?
Naturally, Tang Lin had taken sick leave for the following month due to health reasons and would only receive her base salary, without overtime subsidies or benefits.
Even with just the base salary, when Leng Hui left the finance office, her pockets were heavier by thirty-five yuan, sixty cents, and some Food Stamps.
Exiting the Mechanical Factory, she slowly walked back along the street.
During this time of day, hardly any middle-aged or young adults could be seen on the streets, as both generations were at their workplaces.
The streets were mostly populated by housewives, young children, retired elderly, and teenagers.
These teenagers were typically junior high graduates who hadn’t continued to high school, along with some high school graduates. Unable to find jobs in the city, they loitered on the streets, commonly known as Street Loafers.
Whenever Leng Hui saw groups of teenagers gathered on the streets, she would carefully observe their youthful faces. In their eyes, she saw no traces of life’s hardships, only arrogance or contempt.
At the slightest provocation, they might band together to attack, commonly known as gang fights.
This was also why the authorities continuously encouraged or organized educated youth to go to the countryside and mountainous areas to contribute to the nation’s development in the vast rural regions.
Even though the streets organized educated youth to go to the countryside every year, the number of unemployed youth in the city remained substantial.
Previously, Leng Hui hadn’t worked or gone to the countryside because she wasn’t old enough. Now that she had reached the age, if she still couldn’t find a job, the street committee would come to persuade her to go to the countryside this year or the next.
A Street Loafer, cigarette dangling from his mouth, noticed Leng Hui staring intently at them. He blew a smoke ring toward her, “Hey little sister, we’re heading to the fields outside the city to catch some loaches. Wanna join us for a feast?”
Courtesy demands reciprocity.
Leng Hui rolled her eyes at them and cursed under her breath, “Good-for-nothing!”
The Street Loafer didn’t catch what she said. Seeing her quicken her pace, he scoffed from behind and didn’t think much of it.
Seeing that the Street Loafers hadn’t followed her, Leng Hui’s attention was drawn to the green sprouts emerging from the cracks in the street stones.
Looking at the vibrant green grass, the first question that popped into Leng Hui’s mind was whether these plants were poisonous or edible.
In the post-apocalyptic world, the primary concern upon seeing wild vegetables was whether they were contaminated.
Then, gazing at the verdant mountains in the distance, she felt she was being absurd—this world was no longer the post-apocalyptic era.
After nervously returning to the hospital room, Tang Lin learned that Leng Hui had indeed withdrawn her wages and couldn’t help laughing: “If Old Lady Leng finds out you withdrew my salary, she’ll probably curse for three days and nights at home.”
“Let her curse at home—we won’t hear it in the hospital anyway. I’m just afraid she might come here to make trouble out of resentment.”
Truth be told, Leng Hui wasn’t particularly worried about Old Lady Leng causing a scene at the hospital.
As long as she kept quiet, it would be difficult for Old Lady Leng to discover this recently.
“How the original owner indulged her was their business. Now that I’m here, if she thinks she can still control us, she’s dreaming.”
Tang Lin had no intention of handing over her hard-earned monthly wages to Old Woman Leng’s control, living miserably just to benefit others.
“If you stop indulging them, they’ll only try harder to scheme against you and take away your livelihood.” Leng Hui told her what had happened at the Mechanical Factory.
Tang Lin
During this era, coal was supplied based on a fixed quota per person. Urban residents needed to present either a coal certificate or coal purchase voucher to buy coal from shops operated by the fuel company.
The rationed supply generally couldn’t fully meet a household’s normal needs. Some families living in corridor-style apartment buildings, despite using coal stoves, still had to gather a significant amount of firewood to burn.
Burning firewood in a coal stove was highly inconvenient, but there was no other choice—they had to chop the wood into small pieces.
Anyone who had lived in a corridor-style apartment building knew that whenever a household used firewood for cooking or stir-frying, the entire building would be filled with thick smoke, leaving everyone with streaming eyes and runny noses.
“Where did Leng Mei and that boy get so much coal?”
Leng Hui stood in a blind spot, watching the boy pull the cart away. She felt this matter was worth pondering.