Yuan Xiu sat slouched on the edge of the bed, surrounded by her personal belongings she had dug out from the cabinet. Wrapped in a handkerchief embroidered with magpies on plum branches—a symbol of joy—was the money her parents had secretly left for her, along with what she had earned over the years from gathering and selling medicinal herbs. The total came to three hundred fifty-eight yuan, seventy cents, and two fen.
Beside the handkerchief lay two envelopes. One contained the letter sent years ago by the prospective groom’s parents, bearing an address and a telephone number. The other held a deed detailing the allocation of the house, stamped with the commune’s seal and signed by several witnesses from the production brigade.
This deed had been written by her father when the house was first built, to prevent future disputes. It clearly specified the ownership of each of the four rooms.
Yuan Xiu tucked these items close to her body, then dragged a rattan trunk from under the bed and began packing.
She didn’t have much—a rattan trunk and a small bundle would suffice. Once her belongings were packed, she searched the room for rope, planning to take the quilt she currently used when she left the next morning.
Footsteps sounded outside the door. Yuan Xiu shoved the rattan trunk back under the bed, hid the small bundle beneath the quilt, kicked off her shoes, and lay down on the bed.
The next moment, the door creaked open, and Old Mrs. Yuan’s voice called out, “Xiu’er, isn’t it time to start dinner?”
Yuan Xiu remained silent.
Old Mrs. Yuan called twice more before closing the door and leaving.
Voices drifted in from outside: “What’s wrong?”
“She’s asleep. Probably feeling down. Never mind, I’ll make dinner. You go pick some scallions from the garden. We’ll have cornmeal noodles tonight…”
Yuan Xiu “woke up” just in time. When the aroma from the kitchen wafted out, she opened her door, fetched her bowl of noodles, and sat by the doorway to eat.
The old couple exchanged glances, sharing a single thought: the lack of response from the groom’s side had clearly affected their granddaughter deeply.
Yuan Xiu slurped down her bowl of noodles, wiped her mouth, set the bowl aside, and retreated back into her room.
Old Mrs. Yuan glanced at the bowls on the stove and called after Yuan Xiu’s retreating figure, “Xiu’er, don’t overthink it. Go to bed early tonight. Get a good night’s sleep, and everything will feel better tomorrow.”
Yuan Xiu did go to bed early that night. She woke at five the next morning, unsure whether she had slept enough or if it was the habit ingrained over more than twenty years that roused her at this hour.
She got up and went to the kitchen to make dough for flatbread. Spotting a basket of eggs, she went to the chicken coop and collected three still-warm eggs, then tossed them all into the pot.
Once the eggs were boiled, she counted them as she packed them into a cloth bag—exactly thirty, no more, no less.
The noise from the kitchen woke the old couple next door. Old Mr. Yuan sniffed the air with his eyes closed. “Xiu’er’s making flatbread this morning, smells delicious!”
Old Mrs. Yuan grumbled and turned over. “How much oil did she use? That girl still needs teaching…”
After these remarks, the old couple drifted back to sleep. Breakfast wasn’t ready yet; they could still doze for another half-hour.
In the kitchen, Yuan Xiu finished the last batch of flatbread and packed all twelve pieces into the cloth bag without leaving a single one behind.
Before dawn broke, Yuan Xiu picked up her rattan trunk, shouldered the bundled quilt and her provisions, and left home.
She had no flashlight, but the lingering moonlight and the first light of dawn illuminated the path ahead. Even though the road was rough and pitted, she didn’t stumble once.
Yuan Xiu ate her breakfast on the way—an egg and a flatbread, swallowed down along with the tears she couldn’t hold back.
By the time she reached the town, the sky was already bright. Wispy cooking smoke mingled with the morning mist as it rose. The place where Yuan Juan’s family lived in town was in the staff housing compound behind the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
Ten years later, they would buy a plot of land at the eastern end of town and build a three-story house.
Back then, she had wondered where they got so much money. Now, thinking about it, with a daughter like Yuan Juan, building a house was nothing.
Yuan Xiu wasn’t entirely sure whether, at this point, Yuan Juan had already taken the reply letter and gone to the military unit. After all, in her Previous Life, she had no idea when Yuan Juan had started “seeing someone.” By the time she found out, Yuan Juan had already “married far away.”
But she instinctively felt that Yuan Juan was probably no longer in town.
“Huh? Yuan Xiu, why are you in town so early?”
A girl about Yuan Xiu’s age emerged from a house by the roadside, holding a cup and a toothbrush, with a white towel draped around her neck.
Yuan Xiu recognized her—a girl who was close with Yuan Juan. Back when Yuan Juan was still around, she had even brought her to the countryside to play. Later, after Yuan Juan married far away, whenever Yuan Xiu came to town for the market, she would run into this girl about half the time. And every time they met, the girl would inevitably ask her about Yuan Juan.
Back then, Yuan Xiu knew no more than the girl did.
The girl squatted down by the curb, took a mouthful of water, spat it into the ditch in front of the house, and spoke to Yuan Xiu while brushing her teeth. “Are you here to deliver something to Yuan Juan’s family again?”
The girl didn’t expect an answer from Yuan Xiu and chattered away, revealing exactly what Yuan Xiu wanted to know.
“…A few days ago, I saw Yuan Juan carrying a bundle and getting on the bus to the county town. She said she was visiting relatives, but I don’t know when she’ll be back. Oh, do you know when she’ll be back? We made plans to go to the tailor’s together to get new clothes made…”
Yuan Xiu’s eyes turned cold, and she replied indifferently, “I don’t know.”
After hearing what she wanted to hear, Yuan Xiu turned and walked away.
What city relatives did Yuan Juan’s family have? Her mother’s family was in the neighboring village, with only one uncle. Not only did they have no relatives in the city, they didn’t even have relatives outside the commune!
Why would she need to take a bus to the county town to visit relatives?
“Hey, hey, aren’t you going to Yuan Juan’s house?”
No one answered her question.