How could Hu Shifu possibly agree to Qiao Heping’s suggestion? He had borrowed money from several families in the building. If he repaid the Qiao family first, what about everyone else?
So he put on a pitiful expression and said, “Heping, it’s not that Uncle Hu doesn’t want to pay you back. But look at all these people I owe money to. We’re neighbors, aren’t we? Surely our relationship is closer than theirs. How about I pay you back later? Once I’ve finished paying them, we’ll talk about your money!”
Closer than people outside? What a load of crap!
You were insulting my daughter as a useless girl just yesterday, and now you’re trying to act friendly because you don’t want to repay us? Not a chance!
Qiao Heping immediately shook his head.
“Uncle Hu, you’re playing favorites. Since we’re neighbors and supposedly closer than the people from outside, shouldn’t you repay your neighbors first?
“But I understand your family’s difficulties too. How about this? You can repay us with the vegetables you’ve grown.
“I’ve noticed that the tomatoes in your vegetable patch are doing quite well. There must be at least a hundred or two hundred jin of tomatoes growing there. Tomatoes are fifteen cents per jin right now, so all the tomatoes from this plot should be worth around twenty or thirty yuan, right?”
At that time, cucumbers, cabbage, radishes, pumpkins, and leafy vegetables sold at the state-run vegetable shops were generally only one or two cents per jin. Very few cost more than five cents, so vegetables were extremely cheap.
Tomatoes were different. At fifteen cents per jin, they were considered quite expensive.
Someone at the factory had somehow obtained tomato seeds and distributed them around, so most of the families living in the apartment building had planted tomatoes in the vegetable plots allocated to them downstairs.
The Hu family was no exception.
Qiao Heping continued, “Didn’t several other families also lend you ten yuan each back then? We can divide the tomatoes from this plot among all of us. That should work out perfectly!
“I happen to have nothing else to do, so I’ll help you inform those families. I’ll tell them to come and pick the tomatoes whenever they have time. They’ll definitely be happy to hear that you’re using tomatoes to repay your debts.
“I’ve just helped Uncle Hu solve a huge problem. But there’s no need to thank me! We’ve been neighbors for several years. We’re practically family!”
After saying that, Qiao Heping called out several times to the neighbors in the apartment building.
Everyone had already returned from work by then. The commotion outside the Hu family’s home had been so loud that many people had opened their windows to watch.
When the people who had lent money to the Hu family heard Qiao Heping, they immediately hurried downstairs.
They were thrilled.
The shortest amount of time Hu Shifu had owed them was already a year, while some had been waiting two or three years for their money.
No matter what era it was, people who owed money often acted like they were the ones with all the power. Hu Shifu had shamelessly refused to repay them for ages.
The neighbors who had lent him money, on the other hand, were too embarrassed to push the issue. They believed in keeping the peace, especially since they still had to remain neighbors for many years.
They didn’t want to ruin their relationships over ten or twenty yuan, so they had been reluctant to demand repayment.
Their debts were almost turning into bad debts.
Now that someone had taken the lead and openly demanded that the Hu family repay them, everyone was naturally willing to join in.
Using vegetables to repay the debts was admittedly troublesome, but it was still better than letting the Hu family keep delaying payment until their money disappeared completely.
So, after Qiao Heping told the other neighbors who had also lent money to the Hu family, it took less than half an hour before people started arriving with sacks to collect tomatoes.
Eventually, all the people who had come to demand money left.
Hu Shifu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But when he thought about how more than half of the wages he had just received that month were gone in an instant, his face turned livid.
And when he remembered that most of next month’s wages would also have to be handed over, his heart hurt even more.
Looking outside, he saw that all the ripe tomatoes in his vegetable patch had already been picked.
As for the tomatoes that were still green, the neighbors had already agreed to come back in a couple of days for another round.
The Hu family was in a miserable state, but very few people living in the same building felt sorry for them.
After all, they all worked at the same factory and had been neighbors for several years. Who didn’t know what kind of people the Hu family were?
First, they had married off their two daughters carelessly just to collect bride prices. Then they had tried to squeeze money out of those daughters to fund their efforts to have a son. Their sons-in-law had even come to their home to make a scene, nearly divorcing their daughters.
The Hu family’s reputation had long been ruined.
As for the neighbors who had lent money to Hu Shifu and never gotten it back, they normally kept quiet out of consideration for appearances.
But now, none of them was going to say a good word for the Hu family.
They all felt the family deserved what was happening.
Some were even secretly pleased that they had been able to recover their own money while the people from outside were blocking the Hu family’s door and demanding repayment.
In the end, the only family surrounded by gloom and anxiety was the Hu family.
Not a single other household in the building cared about their misfortune.
One of the factory’s workshop supervisors, Kong Xingwang, also lived in the building.
Naturally, he had no sympathy for the Hu family either. However, he had a grudge against the Qiao family.
When the apartments had originally been allocated, if it hadn’t been for Qiao Qiusheng, that three-bedroom apartment would have gone to him.
Because of that, he had held a grudge against the Qiao family ever since.
When he saw what was happening that day, Kong Xingwang had initially planned to make an issue out of Qiao Heping taking the tomatoes from the Hu family’s vegetable plot.
He wanted to criticize Qiao Heping for being too calculating with his neighbors.
But when he saw several other neighbors going into the vegetable plot with Qiao Heping and carrying away sacks of tomatoes, he abandoned the idea.
There was no point offending all those neighbors just because of Qiao Heping.
Naturally, Qiao Heping had no idea that Kong Xingwang had originally been planning to cause trouble for him.
He was busy preparing for his daughter’s first birthday.
The birthday fell on a Sunday, so neither he nor He Yingying had to go to work at the factory. It was the perfect opportunity to celebrate their daughter’s birthday at home.
The Qiao family did not have many relatives. Neither Qiao Qiusheng nor Qiao Zhufang had any close relatives, so just like when they had celebrated Jia Jia’s one-month birthday, they planned to invite a few close friends and coworkers, as well as He Yingying’s family.
They would cook everything themselves and host everyone at home. One table would be enough.
Qiao Heping and He Yingying had gone to He Family Village two days earlier for precisely this reason.
They did not know whether He Yingying’s parents, as Jia Jia’s maternal grandparents, would have time to come, but regardless, they felt they should invite them.
After hearing about the birthday celebration, He Yingying’s parents naturally said they would definitely come.
They had already attended their granddaughter’s one-month celebration, so since their daughter and son-in-law had invited them to her first birthday, of course they would go.
For rural families, however, it was actually quite uncommon to put aside an entire day’s farm work just to celebrate a granddaughter’s birthday.
In the countryside, it was also rare to hold elaborate first-birthday celebrations for girls. Most people’s thinking was still rather conservative, and preference for sons over daughters was very strong.
More commonly, when a daughter gave birth, her mother might carry a few eggs to visit her during her confinement. She would sit for a little while and then leave so she wouldn’t miss too much farm work.
He Yingying’s father was a traditional man and had always favored sons to some degree.
He Yingying was the youngest child and the only girl in the family. Although, unlike many girls her age, she had not been forced to do all kinds of exhausting housework, she was still somewhat overlooked compared with her two older brothers.
It was only after she married, moved to the city, and became a factory worker that her father gradually began to value her more.
Whenever He Yingying returned to her parents’ home, she was treated almost like an honored guest.
As for his granddaughter, Qiao Jia Jia, He Yingying’s father did not think particularly highly of her.
He did not think there was anything special about making a big fuss over a little girl’s first birthday.
However, he never showed these feelings on the surface.
Whether it was Jia Jia’s one-month celebration or her upcoming first birthday, he always acted as though he considered them very important. Whenever he saw his granddaughter, he also appeared to dote on her.
It wasn’t because he particularly loved his granddaughter.
After all, a granddaughter could never be as close to him as a grandson.
The main reason was that he valued his son-in-law, Qiao Heping, as well as his in-law, Qiao Qiusheng.
Both men were capable and successful people. In the years since He Yingying’s marriage, she had often sent things back to her parents’ home.
That had made the family’s life a little more comfortable.
He Yingying’s father was also hoping that, in the future, one of his grandsons might have the opportunity to go to the city and become a factory worker.
When that time came, he would have to rely on his daughter and son-in-law, who were already living in the city.
He was a sensible man.
Under these circumstances, no matter how much he favored sons over daughters, he still knew that he needed to treat his granddaughter, Qiao Jia Jia, well.
“Dad, why don’t you take Chengcai and Chengzhu with you?” Second Brother He suggested.
Chengcai was his eldest brother’s third son, while Chengzhu was his own youngest son.
If their father took only his son, his eldest brother’s family would definitely complain.
It would be better for each family to send one child.
Second Sister-in-law He agreed immediately.
After all, their little sister was married into a wealthy family, and this was a birthday celebration. There would certainly be meat to eat, and they might even be able to bring some things home afterward.
Their little sister’s mother-in-law was always generous.
Just as Second Sister-in-law He was happily imagining all this, her husband frowned and said,
“Dad, I think we should leave the children at home.
“Qiao’s family is celebrating Jia Jia’s birthday. Apart from us, her mother’s family, they’ll definitely invite some of their city coworkers.
“People from the city have always looked down on us rural folks. If Chengcai and Chengzhu go along and start eating like they’ve never seen food before, they’ll embarrass their little aunt.
“Let’s not make things difficult for her.”
People in the countryside were poor at that time, and meat was a rare treat.
Families also had many children.
The He family, for example, had six children.
At mealtimes, they often had to have someone specifically divide the food and dishes among the children. Otherwise, it would turn into another battle, with the children fighting over whatever they could grab.
That was fine when they were at home. No outsiders saw it.
But if they behaved like that at the Qiao family’s home, wouldn’t it embarrass their aunt?
The eldest brother was practically like a father to his younger siblings, and He Yingying’s eldest brother had always cared deeply about his little sister.
Every time Yingying returned to her parents’ home, she brought back quite a lot of things.
Although she had bought them with her own wages, they were still gifts benefiting her parents’ family.
Her mother-in-law could easily become unhappy with her over that.
But Yingying always said that everything she brought home had been given by her mother-in-law and that her mother-in-law had never objected.
Still, her eldest brother suspected that she was simply hiding her hardships and only reporting the good things.
There wasn’t much he could do as her older brother.
The only thing he could do was make sure she took plenty of vegetables and fruit with her when she left, so that her in-laws would be happier with her when she returned home.
Thinking about their parents going to the Qiao family the next day, He Yingying’s eldest brother began planning what else he could give them to take along.
How about a sack of sweet potatoes and radishes?
Besides those, he could take another look later and see what other vegetables they had available.
While he was lost in thought, his wife suddenly pinched him hard around the waist.
She was thinking angrily, Why do you have to overthink everything? The children finally have a chance to eat some good food, and you’re still trying to ruin it!
He had no idea why his wife had suddenly become angry and did not pay any attention to it.
However, after hearing what his eldest son said, He Yingying’s father felt that he had a point.
They really could not embarrass their daughter.
Yingying had been married for five or six years without having a child. Now that she had finally given birth, she had only had a girl.
Although the Qiao family did not say anything openly, there was no guarantee that they did not secretly have some dissatisfaction.
He Yingying’s father thought that if this were his own family—for example, if his eldest son’s wife had been married for five or six years and only given birth to a daughter—he certainly would not have been happy.
He would certainly not have wanted such a daughter-in-law to keep helping her own parents either.
She can’t even give our family a son, yet she still wants to take good things back to her parents’ home? What kind of daughter-in-law would that be?
If Yingying had given the Qiao family a son, they could go there with complete peace of mind. After all, the Qiao family had only one male line, and if Yingying had given them a son, she would have made a tremendous contribution.
But now she had given birth to a daughter.
That meant they were somewhat in the wrong.
If they caused another embarrassing scene at the dinner table and made their in-laws lose face in front of their coworkers, all these things combined might cause the Qiao family to resent Yingying.
And if that happened, they would probably think even less of her parents’ family.
Thinking of this, He Yingying’s father immediately said,
“Don’t take Chengcai or Chengdong. Your mother and I will go.”
He Yingying’s mother thought about it before stepping forward to persuade him.
“Why don’t we take one child after all? Last time, when Jia Jia had her one-month celebration, your in-laws even asked why we hadn’t brought a child along to play.
“Let’s take Rou Rou. She’s only four and she’s always been well-behaved. She definitely won’t cause trouble at the table.
“And Yingying likes her too!”
After hearing that, He Yingying’s father felt that his wife had a point.
“All right. Then we’ll take Rou Rou.”
Second Brother He was delighted.
Although his son couldn’t go, it was still good that his daughter could accompany them.
Second Sister-in-law He was unhappy about it, but there was nothing she could do.
Their family was the only one with a daughter, and their parents-in-law had already made the decision, so she did not dare to object.
Fortunately, her parents-in-law were fairly fair. Even if they brought back some good things from the Qiao family, they would surely divide them among everyone rather than letting Rou Rou keep everything for herself.
Meanwhile, at the Qiao family’s home, early Sunday morning, Qiao Qiusheng and his son Qiao Heping went to the vegetable shop together to buy ingredients.
After all, the two of them were going to be the ones cooking that day.
Qiao Zhufang was completely hopeless when it came to cooking.
When her own mother and wet nurse had still been around, they had never made her do any cooking.
She was their beloved daughter, after all. They had even been reluctant to marry her off and had instead brought a husband into the family.
So how could they possibly have made her do housework?