“One day apart feels like three years.” Second Sister-in-law suddenly spoke up, looking Wei Yuanyang up and down several times. “Hongtashan cigarettes, Maotai liquor, a Terylene jacket, leather shoes – just these items alone add up to dozens of yuan! Wei Yuanyang, have you no conscience? When you were sent down to the countryside for three years, you didn’t have a single cent in your pocket. You deliberately got close to our Liang Xin, not only coaxing her into giving you all her food rations but also securing an opportunity to attend university. Even after entering university, she never missed sending you national food coupons every month. Yet after graduating, not only did you not return to the commune, but you also cut ties with Liang Xin. You’re utterly heartless!”
“Who are you talking about!” Wei’s Mother jumped up again, her face fierce and menacing. “What do you mean by ‘deliberately got close’? If you don’t know how to speak, then shut up! Don’t go around slinging mud at people. Who’s ever seen anything from you? What conditions does our family have that we’d need support from you country peasants?”
“Never seen anything from us?” Second Sister-in-law circled Wei Yuanyang, then suddenly reached out and grabbed his waistband, startling him so much he quickly dodged away.
“Aren’t you wearing it right now?”
Second Sister-in-law spat contemptuously. “The year before last, our family just received a Japanese fertilizer bag – the synthetic fiber was especially soft. Liang Xin specifically used half of the urea bag to make two pairs of men’s underpants and mailed them to Cai Yuan. This kind of imported Japanese fertilizer bag was only available to commune production team cadres. Wei Yuanyang, your mother says we country peasants don’t need to support you, so where did the underpants you’re wearing come from?”
Wei Yuanyang’s face turned bright red, unable to speak.
“Oh! Acting like a hooligan in public!” Wei’s Mother completely avoided answering the question. “This is a Military Compound, and our family are revolutionary martyrs’ relatives! How dare you act like a hooligan toward us here! Security, where are the security personnel? Quickly arrest this female hooligan and lock her up!”
Second Sister-in-law shrank back, instinctively hiding behind Liang Xin.
She had just been so overcome with anger that she grabbed Wei Yuanyang’s waistband to find evidence, forgetting this was the Military Compound.
In these times, even couples holding hands on the street could be accused of improper conduct. If Wei’s Mother really called the security personnel, she definitely wouldn’t be able to leave today.
Seeing that she had intimidated them, Wei’s Mother became even more imposing. Just as she was about to use both soft and hard tactics to thoroughly scare them away and prevent them from ruining things, she saw Liang Xin suddenly walk toward the guard, and her expression immediately changed.
“Comrade Guard.”
“Liang Xin!”
Wei Yuanyang chased after her and stopped Liang Xin, his face showing obvious panic. “What are you trying to do?”
“Helping your mother call the guard company.” Liang Xin took two steps back, maintaining distance from him. “Just as well, I have many things I’d like to say in front of the guard company too.”
Liang Xin’s retreating two steps made Wei Yuanyang’s heart clench.
Before, whenever he got slightly closer, Liang Xin would be like a little deer – shy and excited. She had never actively distanced herself from him.
He carefully studied Liang Xin’s expression, trying to find something familiar, but couldn’t detect even the slightest trace.
His heart suddenly panicked.
Although this was indeed what he wanted from Liang Xin, what he wanted was for Liang Xin to never appear again, not for her to appear before him looking completely indifferent.
“……..Just now, my mother didn’t understand the situation and spoke carelessly. Please don’t take it to heart.”
Wei’s Mother understood the situation perfectly, but seeing Liang Xin directly approach the guards gave her a fright, and her previously rising confidence instantly deflated.
As her confidence waned, Second Sister-in-law’s rose. “Exactly! Who’s afraid of going to the security office? We have plenty to say!”
Second Sister-in-law pointed at Wei’s Mother’s nose. “Besides the grain and fertilizer-pants, back when there was even a little white flour or rice, Liang Xin saved it all for your son to eat, going half-starved herself while doing collective labor to earn work points. When your son went to university and had no clothes to wear, Liang Xin even traded her mosquito net for fabric coupons. The fake collar your son is wearing now came from Liang Xin’s mosquito net!”
Wei’s Mother glanced at her son’s shirt collar, her lips trembling, but she couldn’t manage a word.
“Every season when she got scented soap coupons, because the cost of one scented soap could buy two regular soaps, Liang Xin never indulged in buying scented soap. Not only did she not use scented soap, she even skimped on regular soap, picking soapberries from trees herself and burning rice straw ash, saving all the soap for your son! At the end of the year when the brigade distributed money, she still wouldn’t buy herself a single piece of clothing, spending it all on cotton knit shirts, padded jackets, cotton pants, and cotton shoes to mail to your son!”
“Our Liang Xin would have drained the blood from her own veins for your son to drink! Your whole family is heartless and ungrateful. The moment he graduated and got assigned a job, you burned the bridge and turned your backs, utterly unafraid of karma!”
Wei’s Mother wanted to say something, but Second Sister-in-law didn’t let her open her mouth. “What? Are you going to say you didn’t see it again? Wei Yuanyang, if your mother won’t admit it, won’t you either?”
Wei Yuanyang looked at the guards in the distance, then turned a troubled expression toward Liang Xin.
Liang Xin would never put him in an awkward position.
It wasn’t as if no one had ever called him a freeloader before. Whenever that happened, Liang Xin would always jump in to explain on his behalf, sparing him the embarrassment.
“Every time I mailed things, the postal parcel forms clearly stated the sender’s and recipient’s names and detailed addresses, what was inside the package, its value, and the postmarks were all from our commune.”
Liang Xin spoke slowly, watching Wei Yuanyang’s look of disbelief, and added, “The post office can retrieve records of every shipment and receipt.”
Wei Yuanyang stared at Liang Xin in shock, feeling as if something had been hollowed out inside him, leaving an empty, indescribable ache.
“You… you… you sent all those things willingly.” Wei’s Mother finally spoke up, but didn’t dare maintain her earlier attitude. “No one forced you to do it, and no one tricked you into it. You did it because you wanted to, right? You can’t give something and then want it back.”
Liang Xin looked at Wei Yuanyang. “No one tricked me?”
Wei Yuanyang, still grappling with his inner panic and seeing Liang Xin’s complete indifference toward him, wanted to salvage something. “Liang Xin, is there anything you want? Whatever it is, I’ll give it to you.”
Liang Xin had always saved everything for him, never once asking him for anything, never letting him buy her a single thing.
This time would surely be the same.
“I want a black and white television.”
“……”
Wei Yuanyang stared at Liang Xin in surprise. “What?”
“A Panda brand black and white television.”
“……Liang Xin, Huaihua Village doesn’t have electricity.”
A hint of a smile appeared in Wei Yuanyang’s eyes, and the earlier emptiness inside him felt slightly filled.
Liang Xin was still Liang Xin after all, unwilling to take anything from him. Even when being unreasonable, she gave him a way out.
“I bought you a television, but you can’t even watch it.”
“We just got electricity last year.”
“……”
“I want to place a Red Lantern brand vacuum tube radio next to the television to listen to Central Station’s serialized long novels and popular science programs on time.” Liang Xin raised her wrist and shook it slightly. “Didn’t you say before that my wrist looked bare? I’ve decided – I’m missing a Diamond brand 17-jewel all-steel shockproof women’s watch.”
Wei Yuanyang was astonished, momentarily speechless and forgetting to respond.
Second Sister-in-law had been worried earlier, but upon hearing Liang Xin’s words, she couldn’t help breaking into laughter, looking triumphantly at the stunned mother and son.
Liang Xin examined his clothes, then glanced at her own. “That Terylene jacket of yours is quite fashionable. I’d like to buy six feet of corduroy fabric to make a zipper shirt. I heard the department store in the provincial capital sells apple green and bean green Dacron – I want to buy both colors to make shirts. As the weather gets colder, I’ll buy cashmere yarn to make a set of yarn shirts and pants. These are all inexpensive and won’t cost much. I don’t need a padded jacket – just make a padded jacket cover shirt from gabardine. Gabardine requires industrial coupons and is expensive, so I won’t use this fabric for the lower body. I’ll make do with wool-polyester fabric for two pairs of pants. As for shoes… originally I wanted velvet five-eye cotton shoes, but you know how country dirt roads turn into muddy swamps when it rains. Once hand tractors pass through, the roads become completely impassable. So it’s better to buy a pair of Niu Tou brand leather cotton shoes. Of course, if you could also gift me a Phoenix brand 28-inch bicycle so I wouldn’t have to walk, that would be even better.”
Wei Yuanyang: “……”
Wei’s Mother: “…….”
The current marriage trend was “three rounds and one sound” (sewing machine, bicycle, watch, and radio), but Liang Xin’s demands far exceeded even the highest standard for marrying a bride.
Even if Wei Yuanyang saved all his wages for five years without eating or drinking, and exhausted all his family connections across eight generations to obtain coupons, he couldn’t guarantee he could acquire half of these items.
Seeing the mother and son stunned speechless, Second Sister-in-law laughed outright. “Actually, if not for you, Wei Yuanyang, our younger sister might have already been living this kind of life long ago.”
Liang Xin smiled faintly. “We farmers haven’t seen much of the world, so these are all we can think of. Your family has better conditions and has seen more – knows more. If you look down on these and think there’s something better, I’d be happy to broaden my horizons. I have no objections.”
Wei’s Mother, who had been about to speak, found herself completely disoriented by these words, the words stuck in her throat like a fishbone, unable to come out.
Wei Yuanyang looked at Liang Xin as if he didn’t know her, his heart aching with waves of pain. “…You, you weren’t like this before.”
“You’ve always been someone who makes empty promises without ever delivering.”
“……”
Second Sister-in-law could no longer hold back. “Weren’t you the one who just said you’d give our younger sister whatever she wanted? What, can’t deliver now?”
Wei Yuanyang couldn’t stand anyone looking down on him his entire life. Hearing Second Sister-in-law’s words, he frowned and glanced at Liang Xin.
Finding her completely unmoved, his breathing grew heavier.
He desperately wanted to splurge extravagantly, but he clearly knew he didn’t have the capability.
Wei Yuanyang pulled the money from his pocket:
“Liang Xin, I’ve just started teaching at the university. Here’s twenty-one yuan. The dacron fabric at the department store is half price with cloth coupons. With these coupons you can make two shirts. As for the rest… I’ll owe you for now, but I’ll pay you back sooner or later.”
Liang Xin reached out and took the money and coupons.
Wei Yuanyang, who still held some hope: “……”
His heart ached again.
“I can wait.” Liang Xin put the money and coupons in her pocket, watching as Wei Yuanyang’s eyes lit up. “Wherever you go today, I’ll follow. I won’t leave until you’ve paid me back in full.”
Wei Yuanyang: “”
“That won’t do!” Wei’s Mother instinctively exclaimed. “We’re going to visit old comrades. Who do you think you are? What would it look like if you tagged along?”
“I don’t want to follow you either.” Liang Xin eyed the two bottles of liquor and cigarettes in Wei Yuanyang’s hands. “I’ll stop following once everything is paid off.”
Wei’s Mother’s face flushed crimson with anger. She snatched the net bag from her son’s hands and clutched it tightly. “I told you she had ulterior motives! Everything she gave you would have to be paid back eventually, and with interest!”
“Not paying is also an option.” Liang Xin looked at Wei’s Mother. “Just have your son marry me.”
Wei Yuanyang was momentarily stunned, then slowly, the corners of his mouth lifted.
His entire body relaxed.
As if he had finally understood something.
“Dream on!”
“If he doesn’t marry me today, I’ll follow you wherever you go.”
Wei’s Mother nearly choked on her anger, staggering backward. If not for her son’s support, she might have fallen over completely. Anxious and furious, she didn’t know how to deal with Liang Xin.
Wei Yuanyang whispered something in his mother’s ear, making her face grow even more livid.
The two of them murmured to each other for quite some time.
Wei’s Mother lifted her dual-purpose jacket and took out a handkerchief bundle from her vest pocket, opening it with her back to Liang Xin.
“Liang Xin.” Wei Yuanyang held out a paper ticket. “This is a Panda brand 12-inch dual-speaker black and white television ticket. Take it for now.”
Liang Xin accepted the ticket, examined it, then stuffed it into her pocket, continuing to watch him.
Wei Yuanyang took a deep breath and handed over the Great Unity notes he had been clutching. “This is one hundred yuan in total. You know I’ve been teaching for less than a year and was just rated with a junior professional title. My monthly salary is only thirty-one yuan. This is all my savings. I remember all your kindness toward me and everything you’ve done for me. I’ve never forgotten. I really have something important today. Please go back first. I’ll come find you during my break next week.”
Liang Xin accepted the hundred yuan without another word, her gaze shifting elsewhere.
Wei Yuanyang felt relieved and tried to lead his reluctant mother toward the main road of the residential compound.
After walking for some time and confirming that Liang Xin had left the Military Compound, his tense muscles finally relaxed completely.
Wei’s Mother looked pained and worried. “You said earlier that she wouldn’t actually take it, that even if she took it now she’d voluntarily return it. Will she really give it back?”
Wei Yuanyang hadn’t been completely sure before, but when he mentioned he would visit her, Liang Xin had immediately become compliant. His confidence was fully restored.
“I’ve known Liang Xin for six years. I understand her feelings toward me very well, Mom. Don’t worry. At most by next week, without me even having to go to Huaihua Commune, Liang Xin will mail every cent from today back to my school.”
“The television represents our family’s sincerity. I had to use all our old connections to get that ticket. We must get it back!”
Wei’s Mother scrutinized her son. “You mustn’t lose your head about this. A brigade party secretary may sound like a state cadre, but their household registration remains in the countryside—they’re just farmers earning work points. In this lifetime, no, even given several more lifetimes, they wouldn’t even come close to touching the Lu family’s doorstep.”
Wei Yuanyang remained silent.
Wei’s Mother grew anxious but, knowing her son’s temperament, maintained her patience. “If your father were still alive, our family wouldn’t be inferior to the Lu’s today. Had your Uncle Li not been sent down, we wouldn’t necessarily need to seek marriage with the Lu family. But now both your pillars of support are gone, leaving just the three of us. This isn’t just for our sake—it’s primarily for your future prospects.”
“The Lu family’s eldest son died honorably, leaving only Chongfeng and Yueji. Since Chongfeng joined the army, he’s been collecting meritorious service medals one after another—people say he has enough to play mahjong with. The father is outstanding and the son is remarkable. This marriage alliance could secure your entire future.”
Wei Yuanyang frowned. “Didn’t you say Chongfeng fell ill?”
“He did. Not only is he ill, but he also offended important people. His career is finished—this actually works better for you. With Yueji being their only remaining child, once you’re married, all the Lu family’s connections and resources will be at your disposal. When faced with choosing between a military region deputy commander and a brigade secretary for a son-in-law… If you still can’t see clearly after entering their household, then you’re no son of mine.”