“Of course I want some. How much fruit are factory employees allowed to buy?” Sun Hongmei asked.
“The pears are being transported here from another province by an entire trainload, so there’s quite a lot. Ordinary employees can buy five jin each. Since I work in the cafeteria’s purchasing department, I can buy a little more than others—up to ten jin. And the pears that don’t look very good or are slightly spoiled can also be taken home for free.
“Do you want a lot? You know that all three of us in our family work at the steel factory, and Jia Jia’s grandfather is a Level Eight worker, so he gets extra benefits. Altogether, we’re entitled to fifty jin. We can give half of our share to you.”
There were pear trees growing in the mountains around He Family Village. Every autumn, each household received quite a few pears, and they would even send some to the Qiao family.
So there was no way the Qiao family could finish all fifty jin of pears from the factory. They might as well use this opportunity to do Sun Hongmei a favor and give her some extra.
Sun Hongmei could not help marveling at how good the steel factory’s employee benefits were. It truly deserved its reputation as the province’s number-one state-owned factory.
She immediately said, “Then I’ll take all twenty-five jin. I’ll pay you at the outside market price of twelve fen per jin.”
Although He Yingying had said that steel factory employees only had to pay one fen per jin for the autumn pears, that was an employee benefit. Since Sun Hongmei was buying them, she naturally could not really pay just one fen.
More importantly, the issue was not even the money.
It was impossible to buy this much fruit all at once outside.
At this time, every family had a monthly quota for how much fruit they could buy. They had to bring their household grain ration book to the fruit shop. Once they had bought that month’s quota, the salesclerk would mark it in the ration book.
One person could buy at most one or two jin a month, and that was only if the fruit shop actually had fruit in stock.
Sometimes, if you were unlucky, there would not be a single piece of fruit at the counter. They might even put out radishes and pretend they were selling vegetables instead of fruit.
At times like that, even if you had money, there was nowhere to spend it.
Being able to buy twenty-five jin of fruit at once was practically like hitting the jackpot.
But when He Yingying heard Sun Hongmei’s offer, she waved her hand and refused.
“Just charge one fen per jin! There’s no way our family could finish this many pears anyway. Besides, I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye out for good fabric for me in the future. I was actually thinking of giving you the pears for free.”
Hearing this, Sun Hongmei did not argue with her any further.
She smiled. “Then thank you! Don’t worry. Whenever I get any good fabric in the future, I’ll definitely save some for you first.”
She would never make such a promise to just anyone.
If she went to all the trouble of setting aside fabric for someone and they suddenly decided they did not want it, wouldn’t she be stuck with it?
But things were different with He Yingying.
How had the two of them become acquainted in the first place?
He Yingying often came to the department store with her mother-in-law to buy fabric. It was obvious that the Qiao family was not short of money or fabric coupons. They were generous every time they bought something. Whenever they saw a beautiful fabric, they would never leave empty-handed.
They had money, and the whole family worked at the steel factory. Building a good relationship with a family like that would certainly bring mutual benefits.
Sun Hongmei was more than happy to set aside fabric for her.
Of course, there was another very important reason.
The fabric she saved for He Yingying actually came from her own employee benefits.
As an employee working at the department store’s fabric counter, she did not need to use fabric coupons to buy those employee-allocation fabrics. She only needed to purchase them at the internal employee price.
Then, when she sold the fabric to He Yingying, it was essentially like exchanging her employee benefits for cash.
Why wouldn’t she do it?
It was much easier than paying out of her own pocket first, having the fabric sit around at home, and then secretly finding time to take it to the black market or another province to sell.
Both He Yingying and Sun Hongmei got what they wanted.
After chatting for a while longer, the two happily said goodbye.
After putting the diliang fabric she had bought into her shoulder bag, He Yingying could not help saying happily to her daughter, “Tomorrow, after work, I’ll go to your Aunt Shu’s house and borrow her sewing machine. In another couple of days, you’ll be able to wear your new clothes.
“Your Aunt Sun saved more fabric for me than I expected. Perfect! Besides making you a dress, we can also make you one of those southern-style blouses.
“I saw that style in the newspaper last time, and I thought it looked so pretty. That white collar should be called a Peter Pan collar, right? And it has those pleated ruffles. It looks much more delicate than the blouse styles we have around here.
“We can make you a pair of black trousers to go with it. I think they’d look even better if we made the legs a little narrower and shorter.”
Once He Yingying started thinking about making new clothes for her daughter, ideas kept pouring out of her head.
However, when she looked at the fabric coupons remaining in her shoulder bag, she touched her nose awkwardly.
“The only problem is that I probably won’t be able to buy your cousin a new outfit this time.”
She had been rather busy recently and simply had not had the time to make clothes. And since they were going to her parents’ home that very afternoon, there was no time to make anything now.
Originally, He Yingying had planned to buy ready-made clothes at the department store. They would require a little more money and fabric coupons, but it would be much more convenient. She could take the clothes with her that afternoon.
The fabric coupons she had brought were more than enough to buy a little girl’s outfit, and she would still have plenty left.
But that was before she bought this batch of diliang fabric.
After buying the diliang, she did not have enough coupons left to buy even a blouse.
Fortunately, she had never told her niece beforehand that she would bring her new clothes that day. It had only been a sudden idea on her part.
Otherwise, if she had promised the child new clothes and her niece had waited excitedly only to be disappointed, she would certainly feel terrible.
She could, of course, give a few chi of the diliang fabric she had just bought to her niece and let her sister-in-law make her something. That way, she would not have to wait until next time.
But He Yingying really could not bring herself to part with it.
She loved her niece too, but in her heart, her precious daughter naturally came first.
Diliang fabric was expensive and extremely scarce. She had spent more than thirty yuan on these eight chi, almost as much as an entire month’s salary.
And no one knew when the next shipment would arrive.
Now that she had finally managed to buy some, she naturally wanted to use it for her own daughter first.
So she decided to come back tomorrow with more fabric coupons and buy some cotton fabric for her niece instead.
Since she no longer needed to give her niece clothes that very day, there was no need to buy a ready-made outfit either.
He Yingying lowered her head and said to her daughter, “Then let’s go buy something else for your cousin first. We’ll come back tomorrow with more fabric coupons and buy some fabric for her clothes. We can bring it to her the next time we visit Grandma and Grandpa.
“Have you decided what you want to buy for your cousin?”
Qiao Jia Jia had not thought of anything yet.
She hesitated for a few seconds before saying, “I’ll buy Cousin Rou Rou a metal pencil case!”
Her mother was already planning to buy her cousin pens, notebooks, and a shoulder bag.
If Jia Jia bought her a pencil case too, then she would have everything she needed for school.
The more Jia Jia thought about it, the more brilliant she felt her idea was.
She looked up at her mother with bright, sparkling eyes, waiting for praise.
He Yingying, as expected, nodded approvingly.
“Hmm, Jia Jia, that’s a wonderful gift. I’ll also buy your cousin a few pretty hair ties. We still have a few fabric coupons left. They’re not enough to buy clothes, but they’re enough for little things like that.
“I’ll buy some for you too! Then you can take turns wearing them.”
Jia Jia immediately grabbed her mother’s hand and refused.
“Mommy, I don’t want any more hair ties! We already have so many at home. I can’t even wear them all!”
At home, Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying took turns doing Jia Jia’s hair.
Qiao Heping, her father, had originally wanted to help too.
But he only knew how to do a few basic hairstyles, and his skills were terrible. His mother and wife simply refused to let him touch Jia Jia’s hair.
Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying styled their precious Jia Jia’s hair every day. They could change her hair tie every single day for half a month without repeating a style, and yet the two women still thought there were not enough varieties.
Every few days, they would go to the department store or one of the smaller department stores nearby to look around and see if they could find more pretty hair ties.
By now, the little drawer beside Jia Jia’s bed that was specifically used for hair ties was already completely full.
Buying any more really would mean she could never wear them all.
They had filled an entire drawer with nothing but hair ties.
In another household, the men would probably have complained long ago, saying their wives were wasting money and spending far too freely.
But in the Qiao family, the two men, Qiao Qiusheng and Qiao Heping, would not say a single harsh word.
Instead, they were more likely to worry that the women did not have enough money in their hands and would not be able to buy what they wanted.
And hair ties were not the only thing Jia Jia had plenty of.
Her wardrobe was overflowing with clothes.
She was only three years old, yet she probably already had enough clothes to rival what many people owned in their entire lives!
There was simply no helping it.
Qiao Zhufang and He Yingying were addicted to dressing up their precious little girl.
Even though Jia Jia already had so many clothes, they always felt that she needed something new. Before they knew it, they would bring home another outfit.
As for fabric coupons, if they did not have enough, they could simply spend money at the black market to get some.
The Qiao family had money, so they did not particularly care about it.
Besides, children in this era changed almost every day and grew very quickly.
A child could wear a new outfit for a short while before suddenly outgrowing it.
Jia Jia’s wardrobe already had at least a dozen outfits that had become too small for her.
In other families, to avoid wasting fabric, parents would deliberately make their children’s clothes one size larger.
But the Qiao family had only this one precious child.
How could they bear to make her uncomfortable just to save a little fabric?
So Jia Jia’s clothes were always made to fit her perfectly.
Most children in other families at this time wore clothes handed down from their older brothers and sisters.
The older children might even wear clothes passed down from their parents.
Wearing old clothes from relatives was completely normal in this era.
Unfortunately, Jia Jia’s cousin He Rou Rou was three years older than her, so she could not wear Jia Jia’s clothes at all.
Otherwise, He Yingying would certainly have taken all of Jia Jia’s outgrown clothes back to her parents’ home for her niece.
The niece could not wear them, and the nephews were all boys.
So the clothes Jia Jia had outgrown could only be stored away for now, perhaps to be reused later for something else.
He Yingying’s eldest uncle’s family did have several granddaughters, including girls around Jia Jia’s age.
But asking He Yingying to give the clothes to her eldest uncle’s family?
That would be worse than throwing them away.
He Yingying had never had a good impression of that family.
Mother and daughter quickly finished buying everything they needed and headed home without any intention of wandering around the department store any longer.
It was almost noon, and the weather was at its hottest.
The department store was also packed with people. Everyone was squeezed together. The heat was bad enough, but more importantly, the smell inside was overwhelming.
So He Yingying quickly took her daughter home.
When they passed the state-run meat shop on the way, He Yingying did not even go inside.
In the past, whenever she visited her parents’ home, she would always carry several jin of meat with her.
But ever since meat had started requiring ration coupons, she had stopped bringing meat home.
Nowadays, the family’s meat coupons all came from the black market.
Otherwise, considering how quickly the Qiao family ate meat, their monthly meat allocation would never be enough.
Other families might eat meat once every ten days or half a month.
The Qiao family, however, had some kind of meat dish on the table every couple of days.
Usually, less than a week after the beginning of each month, they had already used up all their meat coupons.
And that was despite Qiao Qiusheng being a Level Eight worker and receiving an additional meat allowance.
Without that extra allowance, they would have used up their coupons even faster.
So nowadays, when He Yingying and Qiao Heping went to He Family Village, they simply gave their relatives money instead.
Buying meat in the countryside was much more convenient than buying it in the city.
There was no need for grain or meat coupons in the countryside.
The grain and pork sold in the cities were supplied by the countryside. If rural families wanted to eat meat, they simply had to find out which household was slaughtering a pig and go over with cash to buy some.
There was no rule forbidding private households from raising pigs in the countryside.
In fact, people were even encouraged to do so.
After all, the pork eaten by people in the cities came from the countryside. If rural households were not allowed to raise pigs, where would the city’s pork come from?
At this time, not only were private households allowed to raise pigs, but communes and production teams were also given state procurement quotas.
In other words, farmers were assigned targets and told how many pigs they had to raise and sell to the state at a fixed low price.
If you raised pigs and sold them to the state, you were allowed to keep one pig for your own family to eat or sell.
But if you refused to raise pigs and sell them to the state, you did not receive that privilege.
At this time, slaughtering or selling a pig required a state procurement certificate. It proved that you had fulfilled your obligation to sell pigs to the state. Only then were you legally allowed to slaughter or sell another pig.
Otherwise, you could be arrested.
Almost every household around Red Star Commune, where He Family Village was located, raised pigs.
After raising the required pigs and turning them over to the state, each household could keep one for itself and slaughter it whenever they wanted.
There were no refrigerators in the cities, and there certainly weren’t any in the countryside.
Once a pig was slaughtered, the meat had to be eaten quickly. Otherwise, it would spoil.
Therefore, whenever a household slaughtered a pig, they would usually sell whatever meat their own family could not finish to other villagers.
Once, when He Yingying happened to be visiting her parents, someone in the eastern part of the village was slaughtering a pig.
She bought twenty jin of meat and brought it home.
It was winter at the time, so the meat was easy to preserve.
For more than half a month afterward, the Qiao family did not need to go to the black market to get meat coupons.
If they were extremely unlucky and no one in any of the nearby villages slaughtered a pig, then they would have to walk ten or twenty li to the town food station and use meat coupons to buy pork.
But rural people rarely did that.
After all, meat coupons could be saved and sold for money.
Why waste them buying pork at the food station?
If nobody in the village slaughtered a pig, then so be it. They could simply wait until someone did and eat meat then.
“Yingying, come over and take a look! The shower room is finished!”
Qiao Heping had spent most of the morning working alongside the cement workers.
As soon as he saw his wife return, he hurried over to call her.
He Yingying walked around the shower room, looking at it from every angle.
“Let’s put a shelf in here too. Then we won’t have to worry about where to put the soap and towels when we shower.”
“Of course! We were just discussing that. We’re also planning to make a small window up there so some light can come in.”
He Yingying immediately looked worried.
“But when we’re taking a shower, won’t people outside be able to see us?”
Qiao Heping smiled and explained, “It’s fine. The cement worker just told us that the glass factory makes a type of colored glass with a diamond-patterned surface and a frosted finish. You definitely won’t be able to see through it from outside.
“It’s a little expensive, but our window is small, so it won’t cost much.”
“That sounds good!”
He Yingying nodded with satisfaction.
The more she looked at the shower room, the more pleased she became.
“All right, the work is finished! Come eat!”
Qiao Zhufang called from the kitchen.
Today, Qiao Qiusheng and Qiao Heping had both been busy working on the shower room, so Qiao Zhufang had taken care of lunch herself.
Her cooking skills were only average, and she was afraid everyone would think the dishes tasted bad.
So she simply made two dishes that were almost impossible to mess up.
One was chilled cucumber salad, and the other was tomatoes mixed with sugar.
She then went outside and bought a plate of soy-braised pig’s head meat from the state-run cooked-meat shop.
That completed lunch.
There were only three dishes, but the portions were quite generous, so they were more than enough for the family.
“You’re going back to your parents’ home this afternoon. Do you have enough things to take with you? I noticed you didn’t bring much back just now,” Qiao Zhufang said during lunch.
“I bought a package of red bean cakes and a package of peach pastries. This time, I’m planning to give them some money, so I didn’t buy any meat or eggs on the way,” He Yingying replied.
“Then give them a little more,” Qiao Zhufang said. “Do you and Heping have enough money? If you don’t, I can go to the bedroom and get some for you.
“When we were stockpiling grain before, your brothers went to a lot of trouble helping us. They even lost time working in the fields and earning work points. You should properly thank them.
“If they refuse to accept money, then buy more things for them at the rural supply and marketing cooperative. You don’t need coupons there.”
He Yingying nodded.
“Okay, Mom. I understand.
“Oh, right. A woman from the neighborhood office stopped me earlier and told me to come home and ask you to get a certificate from the unit where you used to work. I don’t really understand what she meant. She said it and then hurried away.”
As soon as the topic came up, Qiao Zhufang smiled.
“Now that Jia Jia has started kindergarten, I take her there in the morning, and then all of you go to work. That leaves me alone at home, and it feels rather empty.
“So I thought I might as well find another job.
“Luckily, the neighborhood office was hiring. I have a city household registration and I can read and write, so they hired me.
“I’ll be working there as a clerk. Haven’t we started another round of literacy campaigns in the country? Once I begin working at the neighborhood office, I’ll be going out with the leaders to help carry out the literacy campaign.
“Tomorrow I’ll go to the steel factory and get the certificate. I should be able to start working at the neighborhood office in a few days.
“I’ll only be a temporary worker at first, but I’ll eventually become a regular employee.”
As her husband, Qiao Qiusheng had naturally known about this for quite some time.
But Qiao Heping and He Yingying were genuinely surprised.
They had never expected their mother to be so decisive.
She had said she wanted to find a job, and she had actually found one!
The couple were both very supportive of their mother returning to work.
Qiao Jia Jia also hugged her grandmother.
“Grandma is amazing!”
At the same time, the whole family was curious about the literacy campaign.
Everyone in the Qiao family could read and write, so although they had heard about the literacy campaign before, they had never actually witnessed it and did not really know how it was carried out.
Qiao Heping asked, “Does the literacy campaign mean setting up classes and having teachers teach people to read?”
Qiao Zhufang waved her hand.
“It doesn’t exactly make me a teacher. The teachers who specialize in running literacy classes are at the teachers’ college here in the provincial capital.
“As a neighborhood-office clerk, after I start working, I’ll basically put up a blackboard on the wall outside the neighborhood office, write a few characters on it, and lead everyone in reading them together.
“Then I’ll also go from house to house to encourage the residents in our neighborhood to come out and learn how to read.
“My main responsibility will be the women who stay at home.”
Hearing this, the whole family felt that Qiao Zhufang’s new job was even more meaningful.
They spent the rest of the time discussing it.
Because the conversation had distracted them, the family of five ended up chatting for quite a while.
It was already one o’clock when Qiao Heping and He Yingying finally took their daughter and set off for her maternal grandparents’ home.
“Little Sister, you’re here?”
As soon as He Yingying’s eldest brother came outside, he saw his younger sister, brother-in-law, and niece arriving.
He immediately called into the house, “Dad! Mom! Yingying and Heping are here!”
He Yingying’s parents quickly came out.
“Bring Jia Jia inside and sit down. It’s hot outside!” her mother called.
“You came at just the right time. Your father and your brothers haven’t gone out to work yet. You can sit down and have a good chat.
“It’s terribly hot today. Jia Jia must be thirsty after walking all this way, right?
“Come inside with Grandma. Grandma will make you some brown sugar water.”
Her mother bent down and took her granddaughter’s hand.
Jia Jia obediently followed her grandmother inside.
Once inside, her grandmother picked her up and placed her on the only bamboo chair in the room while she waited for her brown sugar water.
The bamboo chair was wonderfully cool to sit on during the summer.
Meanwhile, her cousins—both the girls and boys—ran outside and surrounded Qiao Heping and He Yingying.
To them, whenever their aunt and uncle from the city came, they always brought good things.
What they looked forward to most was having their city-dwelling aunt and uncle visit.
He Yingying held up the things in her hands.
“Red bean cakes and peach pastries!”
The six children immediately erupted into cheers.
He Yingying’s mother laughed and called out, “Don’t give them to them right now! They just finished eating!”
He Yingying smiled and nodded.
“I know, Mom!”
The children were not disappointed by their grandmother’s words.
They would get to eat them sooner or later anyway.
Surrounded by their nieces and nephews, Qiao Heping and He Yingying entered the house.
Once inside, He Yingying took the gifts out of her shoulder bag.
“Rou Rou is starting first grade this year, right? These are the pens and notebooks I bought for her.
“And Jia Jia found out that her cousin Rou Rou was going to school too, and she insisted on using her own pocket money to buy her a gift.
“This is the metal pencil case Jia Jia picked for her.”
He Rou Rou had already known that her aunt would give her pens and notebooks for starting school.
When her older brothers had started school, their aunt had also given them pens and notebooks.
What surprised He Rou Rou this time was the metal pencil case her little cousin had given her.
This was something even the local supply and marketing cooperative did not sell.
One of her classmates who owned a metal pencil case had told her that they were only sold in department stores in the cities. There was nowhere in the countryside to buy one.
He Rou Rou could already imagine how much attention she would receive when she brought the metal pencil case to school!
“Thank you, Jia Jia!”
He Rou Rou’s face turned red with excitement.
She held the brand-new metal pencil case in her hands, absolutely delighted.
Her five older brothers stared at the pencil case with envy.
It was a metal pencil case from the city!
In the entire commune’s elementary school, only two students even had metal pencil cases.
When Jia Jia had chosen the pencil case for her cousin, she had not known what kind of design Rou Rou would like.
After thinking about it for a long time, she had chosen the most colorful and eye-catching one in the store.
It was obviously beautiful at first glance.
Precisely because of that, anyone could tell from a distance that it was meant for a girl.
Rou Rou’s brothers were a little disappointed.
If the design had not been so pink and girly, they could have borrowed it from their little sister and used it for a few days.
Seeing how envious her sons were, the eldest sister-in-law could not help making a sour remark.
“Back when Chengcai and Chengzhu started school, you, Yingying, didn’t give them anything this nice. Why is Rou Rou getting completely different treatment? That’s awfully biased.”
Hearing his wife say that, the eldest brother immediately became angry.
“What are you talking about?
“Didn’t Little Sister just say that this was Jia Jia’s gift to her cousin Rou Rou? How can you compare the two?
“Yingying gave Rou Rou the same things she gave Chengcai and Chengzhu when they started school, didn’t she? They all got notebooks and pens. Where is the favoritism?”
His wife became even angrier after hearing that.
It was one thing for her own family to lose out, but now her husband was not even supporting her.
She had known for a long time that her husband had a close relationship with his younger sister and always took her side.
And now, with such an obvious difference in treatment, he still had the nerve to stand there and pretend otherwise!
She stiffened her neck.
“Jia Jia is only three years old. Where would she get the money to buy such an expensive gift?
“Wasn’t it really Yingying, her mother, who paid for it?
“I’m not saying that you had to give Chengcai and his brothers one each. I just think the difference shouldn’t be this big.”
He Yingying was not particularly angry.
Before she got married, her eldest sister-in-law had already married into the family, so the two of them had spent several years together.
She knew her sister-in-law was not a bad person.
She simply liked comparing herself with the second sister-in-law.
And Rou Rou happened to be the second sister-in-law’s daughter, so it was probably making her feel a little unbalanced.
He Yingying explained, “This time, I really didn’t pay for it myself.
“Sister-in-law, don’t underestimate Jia Jia just because she’s young. Our family gives her pocket money every month. Her grandparents especially spoil her and often put extra money into her little savings.
“So she had enough money to buy a gift for her cousin Rou Rou.
“In fact, when I offered to pay for it, she refused. She insisted on buying it with her own money.”
Seeing that her daughter had kindly given her niece a gift only to be criticized for it, He Yingying’s mother finally spoke up.
“As an aunt, Yingying buying things for her nieces and nephews is an act of kindness. Not buying them anything would be perfectly normal.
“I’ve never heard of a daughter going back to her parents’ home and bringing gifts every single time. Yingying does exactly that.
“Instead of being grateful, you’re comparing gifts?
“Besides, let me ask you something.
“Does our family now have six boys and only one girl?
“Rou Rou is the only girl in the entire family. Isn’t it natural that she should receive a little extra affection?
“And Yingying, as their aunt, has only given Rou Rou a little more attention because she’s the only girl.
“Doesn’t she treat the three nephews from your family and the two nephews from the second family exactly the same?
“She has never deliberately favored one household over another.
“Eldest daughter-in-law, you were wrong to say those things today. You shouldn’t behave like this.”
The eldest sister-in-law’s face turned bright red after being reprimanded by her mother-in-law.
In truth, she had already regretted what she had said almost immediately.
Yingying had always been exceptionally good to both families.
She had simply gotten carried away in the moment and blurted out those thoughtless words without considering how they sounded.