The summer of 1980.
Hai City.
The sky was gloomy. Though it was only five in the evening, it looked as dark as night.
Lightning flashed in the distance, and the wind carried the faint, fishy smell of rain.
Listening to the wind howling outside, Bei Qinghuan hurried to close the window. She turned and asked her mother, Yan Guifang, “Mom, did Auntie Mei say why she’s coming over today? It’s about to pour. I don’t think she’ll come, will she?”
One of Yan Guifang’s arms was still in a splint, held in a sling around her neck. She glanced outside and frowned.
“She didn’t say. I imagine she’s coming to discuss your marriage to Qin Zhenghua. After all, you’re both at that age. It wouldn’t be right for her, the mother-in-law, not to bring it up.”
Bei Qinghuan paused for a moment, then scoffed. “I think it’s more likely she’s coming to break off the engagement! The last time she saw me on the street, she pretended she didn’t and just turned and walked away!”
“How could she do such a thing?” Yan Guifang frowned.
After a moment’s pause, she began to rant in a fit of pique, “If they want to break it off, they should do it quickly! Their whole family are factory workers now, so high and mighty! As soon as Qin Zhenghua returned to the city, Mei Suqin pulled some strings to get him a job at the supply and marketing cooperative. How impressive. It’s no wonder they look down on us. But if they really want to break off the engagement, they’ve delayed you for so many years. They have to give our family an explanation, or I’ll raise hell at the factory office!
“Back then, it was thanks to your father’s connections that they were able to get into Factory 3508. And wasn’t it because of your father’s years of mentorship that Qin Dagang became the deputy director? Now your father has only been dead for a few years, and this is how they act! To be honest, if it weren’t for the betrothal your grandfather arranged, I wouldn’t think much of the Qin family at all! A bunch of snobs!”
3508 was a factory that specialized in making military uniforms and special equipment.
Whether in the previous decade or now, the benefits were excellent, and it was very difficult to get in.
Back then, thanks to Bei Qinghuan’s father being the factory director, he had recommended both Qin Dagang and his wife for jobs there.
But unfortunately, Bei Qinghuan’s father had passed away from an illness nine years ago.
Yan Guifang’s health was poor, and she was often sick. She could only do trivial, light work at Factory 3508 for a low wage.
With her savings over the years, she had to pay for her own medicine and marry off her elder daughter, leaving her with very little to spare.
And now, her younger daughter had finally managed to return to the city but still hadn’t found a job.
Originally, Yan Guifang’s plan was that if the Qin family could propose marriage to Bei Qinghuan soon, it would be one less thing to worry about.
But it had been almost two months since Bei Qinghuan’s return to the city, and the Qins hadn’t even come to visit once.
They knew full well that with the peak of educated youth returning to the city, jobs were hard to find, yet they didn’t even bother to ask.
This was very awkward!
They were the woman’s family; they couldn’t very well be the ones to rush the marriage, could they?
Bei Qinghuan, however, was indifferent.
Over the years, her father’s death had shown her the fickleness of human relationships, and her time in the countryside had been full of hardship.
When she needed care the most, her fiancé Qin Zhenghua, whom she had known since childhood, had almost never appeared and rarely wrote.
So, even if she had once harbored fantasies about Qin Zhenghua in her budding romantic heart, she was no longer enthusiastic.
Seeing her mother upset now, she even tried to offer some comfort.
“Mom, I was just saying. Don’t be angry. Maybe that’s not it. Whether they break it off or not, I don’t care. The national policy is different now. They say those who return to the city and can’t find work can set up an educated youth cooperative or something. I also have the acupuncture skills my maternal grandfather passed down to me. If that doesn’t work out, I can talk to the neighborhood committee about opening an acupuncture room nearby.”
What educated youth cooperative? Wasn’t that just what people called being a private business owner? If she really did that, the Qin family would look down on them even more!
Unhappy, Yan Guifang didn’t respond, instead staring blankly at the dishes on the table.
Because Mei Suqin had said she was coming today, she had specially asked Bei Qinghuan to cook two dishes: scrambled eggs with tomatoes and braised pork belly.
Although meat rations weren’t as tight as before, with only her as a semi-able worker, her monthly salary was very limited. It was a rare treat for them to eat a pure meat dish like this, and now she was using it to entertain the snobbish Mei Suqin. She felt indignant!
Yan Guifang instructed Bei Qinghuan, “Put the braised pork away. Don’t let Mei Suqin eat it. Otherwise, it’ll look like we’re desperately trying to curry favor with them…”
She was halfway through her sentence when voices came from outside.
“Well, isn’t this the deputy director’s wife? What brings you to grace our tube-shaped apartment building today?”
“Ahem, Master Jin, I’m here to see Yan Guifang.”
“Oh, what an honor for your esteemed feet to tread on our humble ground. It’s a great honor for our building.”
Inside the room, Yan Guifang said, “Quick, quick, put the dishes away before you open the door!”
With swift hands, Bei Qinghuan carried the two plates to the kitchen.
The moment she turned back to open the door, she came face to face with Mei Suqin.
The woman was in her forties and had lived comfortably these past few years. Her hair was permed, and the two patches of red on her cheekbones might have been rouge. At first glance, she looked quite young.
But her eyes were the same as five years ago, triangular and sizing people up, full of calculation.
Since Bei Qinghuan expected her to come and break off the engagement, her face showed little warmth. She greeted her coolly, “Auntie Mei, you’re here. Please come in.”
Mei Suqin was also sizing up Bei Qinghuan.
This girl should be turning twenty-one this year, right?
If she had stayed in the city, she would be quite fashionable at this age!
Like her own daughter, who only cared about the latest trends and dressed like a social butterfly.
Unfortunately, Bei Qinghuan had just returned after five years in the countryside. She was wearing a very old shirt and trousers, looking like a country bumpkin, dark-skinned and rustic.
But…
[For the sake of the money and the kidney, it’s still a good deal.]
As Mei Suqin calculated in her mind, she took Bei Qinghuan’s hand, her face wreathed in a smile, acting incredibly close. “Huanhuan, you’re a grown-up girl now. Why didn’t you come visit us after you got back?”
Bei Qinghuan, however, was looking from side to side.
Just now, she thought she heard a sentence, something about “for the sake of the money,” and it sounded a bit like Mei Suqin’s voice.
But Mei Suqin was holding her hand and feigning intimacy; it clearly wasn’t her who had spoken.
It was a little strange.
Bei Qinghuan gently pulled her hand away. “Auntie Mei, please come in and talk. My mother and I haven’t eaten yet. We’ll eat after you’re done.”
So please cut the crap.
Bei Qinghuan figured that since the engagement was going to be broken off anyway, she didn’t need to worry about Mei Suqin reading between the lines. After speaking, she started walking inside.
But then she heard a sentence from behind her:
[Still the same impulsive temper, wears everything on her face. So stupid. Just wait and see how I’ll deal with you in the future!]
Bei Qinghuan spun around at once, her almond-shaped eyes widening. “What did you say about me?”
Mei Suqin looked back at Bei Qinghuan, surprised. “Huh? I didn’t say anything about you… Huanhuan, what’s wrong?”
The shock and confusion on her face didn’t seem fake.
Bei Qinghuan’s mouth opened, but she couldn’t say anything.
That sentence just now, was it not Mei Suqin who said it?
Then who said it? Or was she hearing things?