20: Brother
After Chuncao got married, the smile on her mother’s face appeared much more often. One day, when Lu Guoguo and her mother happened to be assigned to work alongside Chuncao’s mother, Sun Zhaodi asked about Chuncao.
A smile appeared on Chuncao mother’s thin, sun-darkened face. “On the day she came home to visit, she told me her in-laws and husband are very good to her. I could also see that her life is indeed much better than at home. I was so happy, I didn’t know how to express it.”
“It’s the greatest comfort when a child is doing well.”
Sun Zhaodi said.
“Yes,” Chuncao’s mother nodded repeatedly. “Now I can rest assured.”
She lowered her head and continued working, her movements still quick and efficient.
Lu Guoguo listened quietly from the side. Later, when she had a chance to sit and rest with Huang Chunfeng and the others, Qi Shenshen lowered her voice. “After Chuncao got married, Auntie isn’t afraid of Chuncao’s dad at home anymore. No matter how much he yells, Auntie just pretends not to hear. And when I went to their house to deliver something, I noticed Auntie is now sleeping in the room Chuncao and her sister used to share.”
Huang Chunfeng gave a light snort, twirling a blade of cogongrass in her hand. “Now her dad can’t say things like ‘if you don’t behave, I’ll sell the girls off again’ anymore.”
Lu Guoguo sat between them, resting her cheeks on her hands, listening. When they finished work and headed home, they even ran into Chuncao’s father loudly bragging to someone about the gifts Chuncao and her husband had brought when they visited, and how respectful his son-in-law was.
Sun Zhaodi pulled Lu Guoguo along, quickly walking past him.
Early on the morning of the first day of the fifth lunar month, Lu Guoguo’s entire family went to Lu Laoer’s house to help with the wedding preparations.
Lu Jianjun was wearing new clothes his mother had made for him, with a red cloth flower pinned to his chest. He was beaming with joy, his face all smiles as he greeted them to come in and have breakfast first.
“We already ate before coming.”
Lu Laoba patted him on the shoulder. “Good lad, you’re starting a family before you know it. Zaiyang, if you don’t get a move on, later on your kids and his won’t even be able to play together.”
“Why?”
Lu Guoguo asked, puzzled.
“Too big an age gap,” Lu Laoba laughed heartily. Lu Zaiyang had already gone off to help borrow tables and benches; their own table and stools had been brought over yesterday afternoon.
Sun Zhaodi and Lu Guoguo rolled up their sleeves and went to the kitchen to help prepare the ingredients.
Because Lu Zaiyang was going to escort the bride, when it was time to leave, he went with Lu Jianjun and the others to the bride’s house.
With the arrival of Third Aunt and Seventh Aunt, the kitchen was practically bursting at the seams, so Lu Guoguo and a few of her older cousins were free to go out and watch the excitement.
“Do you know where this future sister-in-law of yours is from?”
Huang Chunfeng and Qi Shenshen waved her over as soon as they saw her come out, and the three of them sat down together to chat.
“Somewhere near the county town, I don’t know which production team.”
Lu Guoguo answered honestly.
“So close to the county town, why would she come all the way out here to our mountains?”
Qi Shenshen asked, puzzled.
Huang Chunfeng shot her a glare. “Is that any way to talk?”
Qi Shenshen, remembering Lu Guoguo’s family relationship with Lu Laoer’s family, quickly explained, “I’m just curious, I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know,” Lu Guoguo nodded. “I don’t really know about this, haven’t heard my family mention it. You know my brother doesn’t like talking about this kind of stuff.”
“Your brother is pretty fierce. My brother says he used to get beaten up by your brother when they were kids.”
“My brother got beaten up by your brother too.”
Lu Guoguo scratched her head. “So, my brother was pretty tough when he was little, huh.”
Because the bride’s family lived quite far away, they didn’t arrive home until after three in the afternoon. Lunch was delayed until this time, and the guests had long since gotten hungry, though they understood given the distance between the two families.
Lu Guoguo sat at a table with Sun Zhaodi. Lu Zaiyang eventually joined them as well.
Someone deliberately asked Lu Zaiyang why he hadn’t seen the bride’s dowry.
Lu Zaiyang’s mouth twitched. Just as he was about to speak, Sun Zhaodi retorted directly, “You’re so curious about that? Can’t even food shut your mouth?”
“What’s with the aggression? I was just asking casually.”
“And I was just answering casually. Now eat up.”
It was only after they got home that Lu Guoguo learned from Sun Zhaodi that the new sister-in-law hadn’t had a good life in her own family. Her biological father had passed away early, and later her grandmother arranged for her mother to take another man into the household as a live-in son-in-law.
This stepfather had his own son, so naturally, he wasn’t willing to give much of a dowry.
“On the surface, they didn’t prepare any big items, but privately, they didn’t leave her with absolutely nothing. Those people just wanted to watch the drama unfold. Knowing full well the situation in her family, they still deliberately asked that question. They’re out of their minds!”
That evening, Third Aunt came to stay at their house. Seventh Aunt went to stay at Fourth Uncle’s place.
Third Aunt brought Wen Mei with her this time. Wen Mei came over from Second Uncle’s house a bit later and slept next to Lu Guoguo.
The two sisters chattered away in bed for what felt like half the night before finally falling asleep. They were yawning continuously when they got up the next morning, which made Third Aunt smile.
Lu Zaiyang had gone out at dawn to fetch water. When Lu Guoguo scooped some water and saw the vat was completely full, she didn’t dare imagine what time he had gotten up. He was too industrious.
Wen Mei directly turned her head and asked, “Cousin, when did you get up?”
“Just around daybreak,” Lu Zaiyang said, rolling up his sleeves, preparing to chop firewood.
“I feel like I can never sleep enough these days. If I stay in bed just a little bit at home, my grandmother nags me all morning,” Wen Mei sighed, helping Lu Guoguo carry half a bucket of water into the kitchen.
As soon as they entered, they heard Third Aunt telling Sun Zhaodi about the “good deeds” her mother-in-law had been doing outside.
After listening, Lu Guoguo felt that what Lu Zaiyang said was right: you can know a person’s face but not their heart.
After breakfast, Third Aunt and the others went home.
Wen Mei held Lu Guoguo’s hand and repeatedly urged her to come visit whenever she had time.
Lu Guoguo quite liked this younger cousin. Whether she had time or not, agreeing was the right thing to do.
No tasks appeared, so Lu Guoguo dutifully followed her family to work. Today, she was assigned to work alongside a female educated youth surnamed Chen.
Educated Youth Chen had thick, lustrous black hair that fell to her shoulders, big eyes and thick eyebrows, and when she smiled, two small dimples appeared on her face.
This was the first time Lu Guoguo had been assigned to work with an educated youth. Educated Youth Chen had relatively little strength and wasn’t very physically fit. She needed a rest almost every half hour, which displeased the team leader.
Educated Youth Chen smiled wryly. “I’m holding you back.”
“Not at all,” Lu Guoguo could tell she wasn’t pretending, but that her body truly couldn’t keep up. “You’re sweating so much, and your face is pale. Are you feeling unwell?”
“I’ve been like this since I was little,” Educated Youth Chen said, appreciating the concern in Lu Guoguo’s words, and smiled. “I feel better after resting a while.”
Regarding Educated Youth Chen, Lu Guoguo hadn’t read much about her in the book. Apart from the female lead, the educated youth compound had many background character educated youths, and Chen was one of them.
“If you really can’t hold on, you must say something,” Lu Guoguo advised before continuing with her work.
Educated Youth Chen looked at her figure and inexplicably felt her eyes sting a little.
She hadn’t volunteered to go to the countryside. Because of her poor health, she became a burden in the eyes of her siblings. Her eldest brother took the initiative to sign her up. After arriving here, no one from her family had written her a letter. It was as if she hadn’t gone to the countryside, but had simply ceased to exist.
Because her work couldn’t keep up with ordinary people, although she wasn’t exactly ostracized in the educated youth compound, no one was willing to be assigned to work with her, let alone care about her.
Educated Youth Chen lowered her head and took a deep breath. Under the team leader’s watchful gaze once more, she got up and continued working.
Lu Guoguo worked alongside Educated Youth Chen for half a month. During this half month, the two grew increasingly familiar with each other. Educated Youth Chen had found a few books at the county’s garbage dump and, knowing Lu Guoguo wanted to read middle school textbooks, lent her several first-year junior middle school books.
The original owner had attended primary school. It wasn’t that Sun Zhaodi hadn’t wanted to send her to middle school; the original owner herself hadn’t wanted to go.
Still harboring a dream of attending university, Lu Guoguo cherished the books as she took them. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Educated Youth Chen waved her hand. “Note down anything you don’t understand, and I’ll explain it to you.”
“Okay.”
After bringing them home, Lu Guoguo washed her hands and sat at the table in the main room, carefully flipping through them. The content of textbooks from this era was, of course, very different from what she had learned. The wording, phrasing, and even many concepts required caution; a slight inattention could lead to “mistakes.”
So, for Lu Guoguo, these were things she had to learn anew, to memorize.
It was now the slack farming season. Lu Zaiyang had cut some bamboo and brought it back, planning to weave two larger baskets. When he entered the main room to get a knife, he saw Lu Guoguo reading. He walked over to her and glanced at the book she was looking at.
“Why the sudden interest in studying?”
“I need to learn,” Lu Guoguo said with a serious expression. “When I was young, I was foolish. When I had the chance to go to school, I didn’t. Now I regret it, so I borrowed a few first-year junior middle school books from Educated Youth Chen.”
“…Study hard. If there’s something you don’t understand, you can ask me.”
Lu Guoguo recalled that the male lead had also only completed primary school. Later, when the college entrance examination was reinstated, he studied on his own for a year and passed, getting into the best university in the province. At the time, some commenters complained that the author had given the male lead a superpower.
“Aren’t you the same as me, only having finished primary school?”
Lu Guoguo blinked, asking curiously.
“Not going to school doesn’t mean not studying,” Lu Zaiyang raised an eyebrow. “In short, if you don’t understand something, just ask me.”
“So how would be the best way to answer this question?”
Lu Guoguo quickly found a practice question from the lesson and asked him.
Lu Zaiyang glanced at it and immediately offered three different ways of thinking about the answer, leaving Lu Guoguo utterly bewildered.
So, the male lead hadn’t just studied on his own for one year; he had actually been secretly studying all along?
This underground study enthusiast!
Lu Guoguo looked at him with a hint of reproach.
“What’s with that look?”
[Today’s Task: Have Lu Zaiyang guide you in studying, duration variable.]
[Task Reward: Ten yuan.]
Lu Guoguo’s expression instantly became benevolent. “Brother, have a seat!”
She pulled the bewildered Lu Zaiyang down to sit. “There’s still a lot I don’t understand. Brother, teach me.”
Not in a hurry to weave the baskets, Lu Zaiyang decided to sit down and help her with the questions. After discovering that aside from math, her foundation in the other subjects was somewhat “weak,” Lu Zaiyang thought for a moment and pulled out the math book.
“Aside from math, your other subjects need to start from scratch. Today, let’s start with this one. Finish reading the first lesson, and ask me about anything you don’t understand.”
He pushed one of the books in front of Lu Guoguo. “If you’re serious about learning, then listen to me.”
“Of course, I’m serious,” Lu Guoguo made up an excuse. “Educated Youth Chen said our production team might set up a literacy class. Besides adults, kids will also go. Maybe they’ll need a few teachers. I want to be a teacher too; it’s bound to be better than working in the fields.”
“You’re overthinking it,” Lu Zaiyang scoffed. “Even if you became a teacher, you’d still have to work in the fields after class.”
Lu Guoguo: “…I still want to study!”
“Study then. Read all of this, memorize this whole section. I’ll quiz you on it later.”
Having said that, Lu Zaiyang got up and went to the yard to weave the baskets.
Lu Guoguo didn’t slack off either and honestly followed Lu Zaiyang’s instructions.
**