Accompanying the army was indeed something they needed to consider first.
“That’s still a long way off.” Jiang Father, being her father, was already reluctant to part with her and said,
Zhou Guiyun, on the other hand, said nothing. If things worked out, her daughter would have to go accompany the army. What sense did it make for a young married couple to live apart?
It wasn’t as though they lacked the means. If they had the means, she should go accompany the army!
Jiang Qian also said, “If it works out, I’ll definitely go accompany the army. I’m not going to live apart from my husband. It’s just that I may have to give up my job. Third Sister-in-law, would you like to take over?”
She was not the sort to waver. Moreover, she felt that if she missed out on Han Shiguo, given her current social circle, it would be difficult to meet anyone more handsome or more to her liking. So, as long as there were no major problems with his character, she genuinely wanted to marry him.
But her eager-to-marry remark made the whole family laugh heartily.
Jiang Father could only shake his head helplessly. Once a daughter grew up, she was bound to leave her parents!
Jiang Qian realized what she had said, and her face flushed bright red as she muttered, “We’re discussing serious business.”
“A Rou, you finished high school. Can you take over?” Zhao Aiying stopped teasing her younger sister-in-law, who had already fallen for someone, and asked the Third Sister-in-law with a smile.
Zhao Aifeng hurriedly asked her sister-in-law as well, “A Rou, you can do it, right?”
They had only reached the level of basic literacy, so there was no way they could take over this job. But selling it to someone else would be a waste. Although the township primary school’s salary was not high, it still paid fifteen yuan a month!
Don’t think fifteen yuan was little. In their area, it was absolutely an income that made people envious!
Because they were truly poor!
For example, after their family received its grain allocation that year, the money they ultimately received was only a little over one hundred yuan!
And that was only because they had Jiang Father, the Brigade Leader, as well as strong laborers such as Jiang Shouhai, Jiang Shoutao, and Jiang Shouhe!
There were also Zhao Aiying and Zhao Aifeng, the two sisters-in-law, who were skilled workers. They both received full work points as female laborers.
Su Zhirou was a little weaker, but she did not hold the others back. She could be considered to have passed.
Although Zhou Guiyun was no longer as strong as she had been when she was young, she still worked in the fields and earned work points, enough to receive her own grain ration!
Even then, that was all the income they had.
And that was already an income possessed by only a small number of families in the village!
Yet there were countless places where money was needed. Which aspect of clothing, food, housing, or transportation did not cost money?
Take food, for example. The grain ration distributed by the production brigade was only the basic allocation, but many people finished theirs before the next year’s grain arrived.
At that point, they had to take out money to buy grain from the production brigade. Those who could not produce the money could only buy on credit from the production brigade.
That was why some families even still owed the production brigade money, let alone having any money left to distribute!
Then there was clothing.
Did they know how expensive cloth was? As if being expensive were not enough, it was rationed too. How many cloth coupons did each household receive?
Although villagers would lend cloth to one another in emergencies, barely managing to gather enough to make clothes, even the cheapest homespun cloth cost eighty cents per foot!
A complete outfit for an adult cost eight or nine yuan!
And families with children needed even more cloth, of course!
That did not even include cotton and other things needed for winter. Which one of them did not cost money?
How could the money in their hands withstand such spending?
That was without even mentioning the cost of going to the health clinic for medicine when someone fell ill or developed a fever, other daily necessities, and expenses for social obligations.
After a whole year, if a family could save one-third of the money distributed by the production brigade, that meant the woman of the household was truly thrifty and good at managing the household!
Take the Jiang family, for example.
In fact, if they relied solely on farm work, they would not be able to save much money either.
Most of the family’s savings came from Fourth Child Jiang Shouchuan’s wages as a department-store purchasing agent in the city.
His salary was thirty-two yuan, twice as much as Jiang Qian’s.
In addition, Jiang Qian had increased the family’s income over the past two years. As a primary school teacher, she received fifteen yuan in cash each month, which amounted to one hundred and eighty yuan a year!
With such a salary, how could the villagers not be envious?
Quite a few families wanted to marry Jiang Qian into their households.
However, Zhou Guiyun of the village did not think highly of them. It was not that she was overly demanding; she did not dare hope for her daughter to become immensely rich or honored, but surely she could not look for someone worse than her, could she?
If she looked for someone worse and happened to meet a man who cherished her, that would still be fine.
What she feared was that an entire extended family would leech off her daughter, and in the end, she would not even gain a good reputation!
The risk of losing both the bride and the troops in such a deal was simply too great, so Zhou Guiyun had never considered it.
Besides, years ago, Zhou Guiyun and her husband had sent their daughter Jiang Qian to the city to attend high school together with Fourth Child Jiang Shouchuan.
That had also caused many villagers to grumble, saying, “What use is it for a girl to study so much? In the end, she’ll still marry out and become someone else’s daughter-in-law.”
But Zhou Guiyun and her husband ignored what others said. They simply wanted to educate a college student.
If their daughter or son had the ability to pass the exams, they would support them even if it meant selling everything they owned.
In truth, Jiang Shouchuan had only been accompanying the crown prince in his studies, because they knew what this youngest son was capable of. Even if he did not attend college, he could still return to the countryside. But their daughter had been physically weak since childhood; she could not do that.
The couple wanted their daughter, who could not handle farm work, to earn a living with her writing skill, so that she would have no worries for the rest of her life!
Unfortunately, Heaven did not grant their wish, and the college entrance examination was canceled. But then the situation took a fortunate turn: just when all seemed lost, the township primary school happened to be hiring teachers.
Their daughter passed and became a teacher at the township primary school, holding on firmly to that secure livelihood.
When she brought home her salary to support her parents, it made Zhou Guiyun and Jiang Father hold their heads high with pride.
Because Jiang Shouchuan and Jiang Qian, the fraternal twin siblings, each brought home a salary every month, the Jiang family’s circumstances could genuinely be ranked among the better ones in the village.
There was no need to say more about that for now.
As for the arrangements for Jiang Qian’s job, both Zhou Guiyun and the two sisters-in-law, Zhao Aiying and Zhao Aifeng, supported Su Zhirou taking it over.
Although the job could be sold, and one like this was worth roughly five hundred yuan, five hundred yuan looked like a huge sum. Yet with a monthly salary of fifteen yuan, the cost could be recovered in three years.
But the job could be held for a lifetime!
If someone in the family could take it over, that was naturally the best option!
That was one feature of this era: Jiang Qian’s job could be arranged this way.
Of course, Su Zhirou still had to attend an interview and take an examination. The school would assess her ability, and only if she passed could she take over the position.
“I can do it.” Su Zhirou did not back down either.
She was an educated youth sent to the countryside and had graduated from high school. Her grades at school had once been among the very best.
Teaching third grade at the township primary school would not be much of a problem.
Besides, to be honest, Su Zhirou was truly afraid of farm work. Even when she put all her strength into it, she could only barely avoid holding the others back and reach the passing line!
If she could teach, she would definitely work hard!
Hearing her Third Sister-in-law say that, Jiang Qian smiled. “All right, then it’s settled for now.”
Zhao Aiying and Zhao Aifeng knew that their sister-in-law could not do much farm work, so they were both happy that she could teach and increase the family’s income.
Zhou Guiyun was in an excellent mood and said with a smile, “Qianqian, eat breakfast first. After you finish, tidy yourself up properly. They’ll be coming to the house soon. And you, head of the household, change your clothes too. Their parents will be coming over later.”