It was also because rural houses weren’t very well sealed—the windows and doors let in slight drafts, and there was a dedicated vent hole near the roof—that she dared to seal up the stove like this. In a tightly sealed room, this method couldn’t be used, as it could easily cause carbon monoxide poisoning.
When winter arrived, Zhao Fengxia no longer had to work in the fields and managed the household at home. When Ning An came home from work, everything was arranged perfectly, and she didn’t have to worry about a single thing.
All she had to do was look at the little rabbits and watch them change a little each day.
Life couldn’t have been more comfortable.
Before Spring Festival came, when the little rabbits were two months old, the mother rabbit had her second litter.
The little rabbits, which Ning An had raised until they were plump—just over two months old and already weighing a bit more than two jin—were all caught and sold by Jiang Xuegong. One yuan apiece, eight yuan in total, all of which was given to Ning An.
This was because Jiang Xuegong and Zhao Fengxia didn’t want to attract too much attention. Although side businesses were allowed for farmers where they lived, if you did too much, it might make people jealous. If someone saw it and secretly sabotaged them, that would be bad. Especially since their family was already well-off—if raising rabbits made people jealous of them, who knew what tricks someone might pull off?
Afraid that Ning An would be heartbroken over her little rabbits, Zhao Fengxia specially explained things to her.
Ning An acted just like a proper naive sweetheart: “No way? I think everyone in our village is really nice.”
Zhao Fengxia poked her forehead and said, “You—spoiled silly by me and your dad. People’s hearts aren’t as simple as you think. Take Old Man Yang at the west end of the village. You see him smiling cheerfully all day—he seems like a good-natured old man, right?”
Ning An nodded: “Mm-hmm, Grandpa Yang is really nice.”
Zhao Fengxia lowered her voice and muttered, “A couple of years ago, one of his own clansmen was drinking and chatting with him and said just one thing—that the Nationalist army wasn’t all that bad—and he reported him. Things were tense back then, and his clansman was locked up in the cattle shed for half a month. It was the depths of winter, and the cattle shed let the wind in from all sides. His clansman nearly froze to death in there.”
Ning An was astonished: “Something like that actually happened?”
“What did you think? Everyone acts friendly on the surface, but who knows what they might do behind your back? You need to be more careful-minded. Don’t believe everything people say or think everyone is a good person. Be careful with what you say and do outside too.”
Ning An patted her chest and promised, “I understand, Mom. Don’t worry.”
“Watching you like this, I can’t help but worry.”
Ning An: …
The original owner really had been a naive sweetheart. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so easily deceived by Li Changwei’s facade.
After the rabbits were sold, Zhao Fengxia remarked, “Turns out raising rabbits is pretty profitable. If we raised a few more pairs, the money earned would be about the same as a worker’s wages.”
Jiang Xuegong said, “We got lucky—the litter was big, and we raised every single one. Some rabbits only have three or four in a litter, and maybe only one or two survive. Then you wouldn’t make much at all. Plus, you have time now and take such good care of them. A lot of families just raise rabbits casually, so they can’t earn this much.”
Zhao Fengxia said, “I was just saying. I wouldn’t dare raise too many now anyway.”
“Yes, that’s the right way to think about it. Let’s be cautious. Besides, once spring comes, you’ll be busy again—raising pigs and chickens, tending the private plot. If you take on rabbits too, you’ll be worn out. Our family doesn’t lack that little bit of money. I’d rather you have it a bit easier.”
A smile spread across Zhao Fengxia’s face without her even realizing it.
“Don’t you and An’an help me with the housework? I’m not that busy. Compared to others, I’ve got it so much better already.”
Which of the village women didn’t work in the fields, then come home to wash clothes, cook, clean, feed the pigs and chickens, and tend the private plot? The men, the moment they got home, collapsed like dead weight, not lifting a finger.
Ask them to help and you’d get cursed at—”I’ve worked all damn day,” “Why did I even marry you if I have to do chores?”—as if the women hadn’t toiled outside too. Was marrying him supposed to mean becoming his slave? Hah! Absolute scum!
People, you see, fear comparison. Compared to others, Zhao Fengxia was living in a nest of blessings. A hardworking, considerate husband, an obedient and promising daughter—what more could she possibly want?
Before the New Year, the production team tallied work points and distributed grain and money to the commune members, and the commune’s food station came to the village to purchase livestock and poultry. Pigs were graded from first to sixth class, with different purchase prices for each. First-class pigs fetched the highest price at fifty-four cents a jin, while sixth-class pigs, the worst, got only forty-two cents.
Ning An’s family’s pig was rated first-class. It weighed 168 jin and sold for 90 yuan 72 cents—the most expensive pig in the village. Had it been rated sixth-class, it would have fetched only fifty or sixty yuan.
Besides money, the food station also gave out cloth coupons, meat coupons, and oil coupons for pigs. All in all, it was a fair deal—the common folk weren’t cheated. Families willing to work harder, gathering extra pig fodder and raising an extra pig, could earn more money. It was the most important source of income in the countryside besides work points.
The days around the New Year were the liveliest, happiest time for the whole village. During the New Year, crying was unlucky, quarreling was unlucky, fighting even more so—everyone did their best to hold their tempers in check. Even the households that normally bickered and brawled entered a truce, terrified of scaring the good fortune away. Everywhere was joy and harmony.
As for all the grievances and pent-up resentment accumulated over the New Year? Well, once work resumed after the holiday, several households in the village were bound to erupt into full-blown domestic wars—the kind that required the brigade leader, the security officer, and the women’s director to personally come mediate!
Spring Festival meant something “extraordinary” for Jiang Xuegong and Ning An. As glorious members of the working class, they became even busier! The coal mine had to work overtime to keep production up, and the Gongxiaoshe had to serve the people better and guarantee supplies during the Spring Festival. Neither post got a holiday.
Ning An was even temporarily reassigned to help at the storefront—there were so many shoppers that the sales clerks couldn’t keep up. It wasn’t just her; even the director and deputy director came out to help sell goods. The entire Gongxiaoshe storefront was packed with a sea of people.
The educated youths came to shop too—even Li Changwei showed up. Although Li Changling had stopped sending him money, he had worked for three months, and with the production team distributing grain and money according to work points, he had gotten over twenty yuan.
Ning An noticed that after a few days of rest, the man had recovered somewhat, tidied himself up nicely, regained a bit of his energy—and had squeezed his way into the candy section that Ning An was in charge of.
The moment Ning An saw him, she knew he was up to no good.
“Hello, Comrade Jiang. I’d like half a jin of milk candy.”
“Seven mao five.”
Ning An said as she weighed it.
The supply of goods for this year’s Spring Festival was decent, and quite a few things that didn’t require ration coupons had come in.
Their Gongxiaoshe had even received a batch of cuttlefish at one mao per jin!
Ande Shi wasn’t on the coast, so the locals weren’t familiar with seafood and didn’t know how to cook it. Even so, plenty of people were buying it—it was meat, after all, and only one fen more expensive than coarse grain. Even if you just boiled it however, it had to taste better than coarse grain, right?
Li Changwei counted out seven mao five fen, handed it to Ning An, and said with a smile, “Comrade Jiang, you’re from Erdaogou, aren’t you? I came from the capital and I’m an educated youth in Erdaogou. I suppose that makes us fellow townsfolk.”
If she didn’t know his true nature, it would be easy to be fooled by his facade. When he wanted to win someone over, the aura he projected was remarkably affable. You couldn’t blame the original owner for being guileless—you could only blame the villain for being so cunning!
On the surface, his smile was as warm as a spring breeze, but if you looked closely, you’d see nothing but coldness in his eyes.
Scoundrel! He had set his sights on her money—he’d even found out her surname was Jiang! And much earlier than in the original plot. In the original story, it wasn’t until after the wheat harvest in ’71 that he couldn’t stand the hardships of life any longer and chose to bow to reality.
In this life, he’d moved things up by so long!
It seemed poverty really could break a person’s already fragile will that much faster.
Ning An glanced at him and said, “The educated youth from Erdaogou? I know about them. The whole brigade was covered in big-character posters back then—I went to see them. As I recall, there was only one educated youth from the capital, and his whole family was…”
Demoted and sent down!
Before she could say those last three words, Li Changwei squeezed out of the crowd and ran off.
A customer behind him asked, “What about his whole family?”
Ning An didn’t want to come across as a gossip, so she changed the subject: “What can I get you, Comrade?”
“A jin of fruit candy.”
“One mao two.”
The comrade didn’t press further.
She wasn’t one to pry—or rather, she knew the salesclerk was busy and had no time to chat with her. But that was fine. Since the whole village had been plastered with big-character posters, she could just go ask around. When it came to which village’s educated youth had been posted about, one inquiry would surely turn up the answer.
Li Changwei had tested Ning An’s attitude and immediately retreated. He was quite good at reading the situation—seeing that Ning An wasn’t someone who could be easily fooled, he gave up.
After the river works ended, Li Changwei, having had his fill of hardship, decided to change his living situation.
He scouted around Erdaogou and, after careful selection, settled on Ning An. An only daughter, with amiable parents, and a simple girl who was easy to manipulate. If they married, he was confident he could get the entire Jiang family in the palm of his hand.
He just hadn’t expected to misjudge her. Simple she might be, but she was also a blockhead—she didn’t know how to speak tactfully, didn’t know how to save face for anyone, and blurted out everything without a filter.
Then he couldn’t choose her. He wanted to find someone to marry in order to live a good life, not to actually throw himself into the fire.