The whole village had gathered at the threshing ground to talk about this matter, creating a deafening roar of voices. The villagers were generally loud—normal conversation sounded like arguing—let alone at such an exciting moment.
With so many people packed together, the racket made one’s head buzz.
Ning An watched the scene for a bit, then quickly made her escape.
“Mom, I’m heading home.”
“Go on back. This kind of occasion isn’t for you.”
“Hehe. My mom really gets me.”
A mother knows her daughter best, and that saying couldn’t be truer in her family. The original owner had loved quiet, and Ning An couldn’t stand this kind of noise even more. Scenes like this gave her the same irritable feeling she’d gotten in her original world when encountering mutant beast herds—like she wanted to fight.
Ning An squeezed out of the crowd and glanced back to find the brigade leader stepping onto the stage again, shouting through a megaphone: “Don’t all crowd here! There are ones posted outside the brigade office, outside the elementary school, at the crossroads—spread out and go look there! What can you see all squished together like this?”
At his hollering, the crowd gradually dispersed.
The villagers were all there for the spectacle, venting every emotion through their lips without any of it touching their hearts.
The zhiqing, however, were in a far more delicate state of mind.
Early that morning, they had heard the gongs and rushed out—only to see the big-character posters pasted at the entrance of the Zhiqingyuan.
All five of them were stunned!
Li Changwei’s heart was churning. Who posted these? Who knew so much about his situation? Who was trying to bring him down? What impact would this exposure have on him? How would the commune members see him? How would the other zhiqing see him? Would they ostracize him? Would they assign him the filthiest, most exhausting work?
He thought a great deal but came up with nothing, no clue at all.
The other zhiqing were much better off than he was. They all came from worker families, without the landmine of bad class background, and there was nothing about their family situations that couldn’t be spoken of.
Still, it was strange—who knew them this well? None of the neighbors who’d gone down to the countryside before had ever mentioned getting big-character posters posted about them after arriving in the village.
Wang Baohong was the first to speak: “Who did this? Even knowing I have a fiancée?”
Everyone: …
So this guy really did have a fiancée. The posters must all be true.
In any case, everything said about their family situations was true, as if someone had seen it with their own eyes. It was damned absurd! Even next-door neighbors wouldn’t necessarily know who slept in which room with whom in their homes!
Which meant that Comrade Li Changwei’s family problems were probably true as well.
Everyone, as if by unspoken agreement, shuffled their feet a little, moving just slightly farther away from him.
There was no helping it—they were afraid! These days, some people had no reason in them. Get a little close to the wrong person, and you could be branded an accomplice, tarred by association. Why else did so many people sever family ties! Li Changwei himself could cut off his parents and grandparents—surely he could understand them keeping a little distance?
Though Li Changwei appeared lost in thought, he had been keeping a sliver of an eye on everyone’s movements. Seeing their little maneuver, a bitter smile rose in his heart.
It seemed his life in the countryside was destined not to be easy. This beginning already boded ill.
Fortunately, it was he who had come. If it had been Changling, who knew how badly she’d be falling apart right now.
No matter how hard the few of them racked their brains, they couldn’t figure out who had posted those big-character posters. But on one point, they were all in agreement: there was no way the villagers had posted them. The villagers couldn’t possibly have known all that information, and the writing was in printed type—no villager could write characters that standard.
The educated youths hesitated at the door for a moment, then finally headed toward the threshing ground.
What had to be faced would have to be faced.
Along the way, whenever commune members saw them, they all couldn’t wait to stay eight zhang away. Hmph! You don’t want to deal with us mud-legged peasants? Well, we mud-legged peasants don’t feel like dealing with you either!
As if anyone wanted you around! Weren’t you only here because you couldn’t make it in the city, so you came to the countryside to take a share of our grain?
The brigade leader also adjusted the educated youths’ work arrangements accordingly. Originally, he had arranged for them to work alongside the commune members, with experienced old farmers showing them the ropes, passing on their know-how, and occasionally lending a hand. But now, clearly, that arrangement wouldn’t work.
So he changed it: the five educated youths would work together, separate from the commune members, doing the same work as everyone else, assessed and scored by the same standards—whatever it came to, that’s what it was, without a bit of favoritism.
Of course, the brigade leader wasn’t deliberately making things difficult for them.
The educated youths couldn’t say anything against this arrangement.
Li Changwei tried his best to act as if nothing was wrong. He had already severed ties; politically, he was in the clear.
He said, “Brigade leader, we’ve never done this kind of work before. If there’s anything we don’t know how to do, we’ll have to ask the commune member comrades for guidance a lot.”
The brigade leader rather approved of this attitude. Young as they were, they could keep their composure.
“No problem. Just ask away. Everyone in our brigade is warm-hearted. Whatever we can teach, we will.”
Li Changwei breathed a sigh of relief inside. Good—at least they weren’t being targeted.
Before long, Li Changwei would discover that he had relaxed too soon. It was true they weren’t being targeted, but there was not the slightest possibility of them fitting into this production team anymore.
Ning An returned home in high spirits, met up with her dad, who had just finished washing the dishes, and they set off for work together.
Jiang Xuegong asked her, “When will your mom’s clothes be ready?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
“You had a tailor make them?”
“Mm. I thought it over and decided not to make them myself. If I ruined the fabric, wouldn’t my mom be heartbroken?”
“Your mom would secretly take them apart and resew them.”
“Wouldn’t that just mean my mom wearing herself out? Forget it—finding a tailor is easier.”
“That winter coat of mine from last year—I don’t even know if I’ll still be able to wear it this year.”
Hearing Jiang Xuegong’s sighs, Ning An’s mouth twitched. Your figure has stayed the same for over a decade—not fat, not thin, not changed one bit. What do you mean you can’t wear it? If you want new clothes, just say so.
“Whether you can wear it or not, who cares—I’ll get you a new outfit too.”
Jiang Xuegong tried his best to hold back his laughter. His daughter was so sweet and sensible—the old father’s heart was bursting with joy.
He grinned wide and asked, “Does your Gongxiaoshe have that much flawed fabric?”
“Why does it have to be flawed fabric? I have cloth ration coupons. If there’s no flawed fabric, I’ll just buy regular fabric.”
“Are your coupons enough? If not, Dad will scrounge up some more for you—buy yourself an outfit too. Let’s all wear new clothes.”
“Enough, don’t worry. All the coupons Mom saved up are with me.”
Her father’s work unit issued a zhang and a half of cloth coupons a year, and she herself got one zhang and two chi—more than enough.
Shopping was very convenient for Ning An. She went straight to the fabric section of the store and picked out two bolts of cloth: one dark blue cotton, enough to make a Zhongshan suit for Jiang Xuegong; and one brown corduroy for a coat for herself. She also added a piece of light blue work cloth to make herself a pair of pants—something like soft jeans in effect.
After thinking it over, Ning An bought another piece of small-check cotton to line the corduroy coat, which would make it look a bit more structured.
Once the clothes were finished, her parents couldn’t bear to wear them. Zhao Fengxia said she’d wait a few days, until the farm work was completely done, and then take a good bath before putting hers on. Jiang Xuegong said he’d wait to wear his together with Daxia. Ning An had no choice but to put her own set away too, planning to join her parents in creating the stunning effect of the whole family going out in new clothes at once.
That day soon arrived: October 25th, a Sunday.
Everyone who worked or went out to labor had the day off.
After breakfast, the family put on their new clothes and headed out.
Ning An walked arm in arm with Zhao Fengxia, with Jiang Xuegong trailing behind the two of them, and the three of them strolled around the village.
People they met on the road greeted them one after another:
“Xuegong, day off today?”
“Ning An, you’re looking sharp.”
“Oh my, Daxia, that outfit is really smart. Your clothes finally look a bit different from before.”
“Xuegong and Ning An’s clothes are new too, aren’t they?”
Jiang Xuegong and Zhao Fengxia beamed as they replied: “An’an bought them for us. This child—as soon as she got paid, she thought of buying things for us. Tell me, we never even taught her to do that.”
Everyone’s expressions stiffened a little, though they kept smiling: “…Hahaha, what a filial child.”
Ning An’s face was nearly frozen from smiling.