The wind and rain outside didn’t bother Li Shulan at all.
After Qin Dechang left, she tidied up a bit and slept straight through till morning.
She first prepared breakfast for her two daughters-in-law—she steamed eight dried-long-bean and cured-meat buns.
She also prepared lunch and left it on the stove so that at noon the two daughters-in-law only needed to heat it up.
After finishing all that, she didn’t wait for them to come back from their early shift. She ate two buns herself, packed two more, grabbed a cloth bag, and headed out.
She was going to the county town today to buy a sewing machine, and riding a bicycle definitely wouldn’t work.
Fortunately, the production team had an ox cart going out today.
She planned to ride it to the town, then take the bus from town to the county.Later, she could have the sewing machine transported back on the bus as well.
When she arrived at the spot where the ox cart stopped, three people were already waiting.
One was Yang Ladi—the same woman whose scandal she had exposed yesterday, the one who bore a child with her brother-in-law.
Another was Qin Mei, the third daughter of her good friend Zhou Wanxiang.
The last was the brigade leader’s wife, Xia Chunhua.
When Yang Ladi saw Li Shulan, the corners of her mouth twitched, her eyes full of hatred. But remembering how this woman had been acting like a madwoman lately—daring to say anything—she didn’t dare open her mouth to curse.
Qin Mei and Xia Chunhua, however, greeted her with smiles.
“Auntie Lan, you’re going to town today too? If I’d known, I would’ve come with you,” Qin Mei said cheerfully.
Xia Chunhua simply smiled and greeted her, “Shulan.”
Li Shulan smiled back.
“I’m going to the county. I’ve been busy with work lately and haven’t had time. I still haven’t prepared the bride-price gifts for my two daughters-in-law. Today I want to buy them a sewing machine, then buy some fabric to make them each two sets of clothes. And leather shoes—I’ll get two pairs too, so they can wear them for visiting relatives in the future.”
Qin Mei laughed. “Auntie Lan, you’re so kind. Last time my mom told me you made two beautiful dresses for your two daughters-in-law. And now you’re going to the county to buy fabric to make them clothes again. Being your daughter-in-law is like having a real mother.”
“I don’t have daughters myself,” Li Shulan smiled. “Aren’t daughters-in-law just like daughters?”Then she looked at Qin Mei’s basket. “Are you going to town to trade eggs?”
“Yes. My mom hasn’t slept well for several nights taking care of my nephew. I want to trade these eggs and buy her some brown sugar from the supply shop, to improve her health.”
“Ah, daughters really are thoughtful,” Li Shulan sighed. “You know when your mother has suffered. Chunhua, I remember your two daughters come back to see you every few days, right? I heard that every time they come, your sons-in-law even fight to help with field work. Not like my two brats—they don’t even come home twice a year. Last New Year, neither even came back!”
Hearing her praise her sons-in-law, Xia Chunhua’s smile deepened.
“I told those two girls not to come back too often, afraid their mothers-in-law would complain. But their husbands got even more upset than they did—afraid I might have nothing to eat here. They said they’d come once every week!”
“And isn’t that good? They’re more filial than some people’s sons! That’s why you don’t necessarily have to have sons. Raise a daughter well, teach her well, and she can be even more filial than a son.”
“Hmph. That’s because you have two sons. If you had two daughters, let’s see if you’d still talk like that,” Yang Ladi scoffed.
“What’s wrong with daughters? If I had daughters, I’d send them to school too. And don’t talk about female leaders in towns and counties—even in my eldest son’s factory, there are lots of female lathe workers, welders, and even female engineers. Their salaries are higher than some men’s!”
“What good is a high salary? She’ll have to marry eventually, and the money will go to someone else.”
Li Shulan rolled her eyes. “Who says daughters must get married? In the past, families could take in a live-in son-in-law. As long as the girl’s family is capable, they can still take one in. The children would take the daughter’s surname. Then not only is her own money still hers, even her husband’s becomes yours!”
Xia Chunhua laughed. “Honestly, Shulan, that doesn’t sound bad.”
“That’s not my idea,” Li Shulan said. “It’s what my daughters-in-law told me while chatting. They said many educated youth back then who were forced to go to the countryside—especially girls from well-off families—avoided it by taking in a live-in husband. Once they married, the girl didn’t have to be sent down.”
She continued, “Of course, not just anyone could be a live-in husband. My daughters-in-law said the parents mainly chose good-looking, smart men, especially those from poor or troubled families—said something about high investment return. Basically, they grabbed those men while they were down, and once the man succeeded later, the family would enjoy the benefits. I heard this was common in the cities.”
Yang Ladi snorted. “Isn’t that just like those years when villagers married educated-youth girls, hoping that when the girls returned to the city, their sons would get urban household registration? But look, after all these years, which one actually returned?”
Li Shulan rolled her eyes again.
“You not knowing doesn’t mean they don’t exist. My eldest son told me that in the south, some educated youth not only returned to the city but were even given jobs by the state. And weren’t there worker-peasant-soldier colleges back then? If you got admitted, you could return to the city. Only thing is, you need a recommendation. Not something ordinary people can get.”
Yang Ladi rolled her eyes back. “And you know very well that ordinary people can’t get that recommendation.”
Li Shulan didn’t get angry. “Even without that, they can still take the exam for jobs in town. People who studied in cities aren’t like us farmers—taking exams is like eating to them. I remember the nearby brigade that took in a male educated-youth son-in-law. He passed the county’s food processing factory exam the next year—over 30 yuan a month! Didn’t that let the daughter eat city-grain too?”
Yang Ladi choked on her words; that case was real, and she couldn’t refute it.
Xia Chunhua fell silent as well, lost in thought.
..
Soon, the ox cart arrived, and the four stopped talking.
When they reached the town, Li Shulan paid the ox-cart driver fifty cents and asked him to wait for her return from the county before leaving.
Then she boarded the bus to the county.
After nearly an hour of bumpy riding, she finally arrived.
The county town was far more prosperous than their local town—the supply and marketing cooperative alone was two or three times larger.
There was also a department store, even bigger and better stocked.
But Li Shulan didn’t rush into the department store.
She first went into a side alley to disguise herself.
Then she went to the black market, where she bought a good amount of meat without ration tickets.
She even found two bags of milk powder that didn’t require tickets—900g per bag, 18 yuan each, non-negotiable. She didn’t hesitate and bought both.
After storing the meat in her space, she took her ration coupons and went to the department store.
She started with smaller items:Plum Blossom watches—220 yuan each plus a watch coupon or 44 industrial coupons. She bought two.
She then bought six cans of 500g malted milk powder, costing 33 yuan plus six jin of sugar coupons.
White Rabbit candy—2 yuan per jin—she bought three jin.She also stocked up on peach crisps, glutinous rice sticks, mung-bean cakes… She even found chocolate wafers, 0.25 yuan per small pack; she bought thirty packs without blinking.
Next came rice and flour—100 jin each.
She also bought fruit: apples, bananas, peaches—five or six jin each.
After that, she used her meat coupons to buy every kind of meat she could find on the shelves—even bones weren’t spared.
The big marrow bones made delicious soup for noodles…