Su Yun had just pulled her hands out of the cooling water when a knock came at the door.
She opened it to find An Qin standing outside with a basin, also filled with the day’s dirty clothes.
“Come on, we got off work early today—the sun hasn’t even set yet. Everyone’s already down at the stream washing clothes. I came to get you.”
“Hold on, let me lock up.”
Su Yun grabbed her soap, put it in the wooden basin, locked the door, and headed to the stream with An Qin.
Aside from Liu Huan and the two on kitchen duty today, everyone else was already there washing clothes.
Su Yun didn’t even need to check to know that Liu Huan was probably still hiding under her blanket crying. But her family was well-off and she’d brought plenty of clothes, so going a day or two without washing wouldn’t leave her with nothing to wear.
As for the two male educated youth—normally one looked refined and the other rugged—they were now both squatting by the water, earnestly scrubbing their clothes. The sight was rather amusing.
Su Yun and An Qin found a spot where the water was shallow and safe, and took out their clothes to wash.
“Oh my! Washing clothes that only have a bit of dirt on them with soap! City folks sure are particular!”
A sarcastic female voice suddenly rang out from not too far away, tinged with a Southern accent and not sounding like a local.
Su Yun looked up. It was a middle-aged woman she hadn’t seen before, staring fixedly at the soap in her and An Qin’s hands.
Just as she was about to retort, the protective Li Xiaomei spoke up first.
“Auntie, if your son’s already working in the city, surely you’re not short on soap, are you?”
The moment the words left her mouth, the woman’s face fell. Her already sharp, mean-looking features became even more unpleasant. She yanked her clothes out of the water, turned her head, and marched dozens of meters downstream to continue washing.
That’s it? That’s all she’s got? With that little fight in her, she still came out to run her mouth. Unbelievable.
Su Yun pressed her lips together, speechless.
“Don’t mind her. She’s the most sour-tongued person in the village. Just keep your distance if you see her,” Li Xiaomei said with a roll of her eyes, warning the two of them.
“Who is she?” An Qin asked.
“The wife of the Zhou family at the end of the village. Even though her surname is Zhou too, she’s not related to the brigade leader’s family. Her maiden name is Wang—she married over from Wangjia Village. Her family fled from the South years ago, and since they also had the surname Wang, they settled there.”
“Why did she leave as soon as you mentioned her son?” Su Yun asked curiously.
“It’s a long story… She’s always favored her eldest son, spoiling him into a lazy good-for-nothing. Her younger son worked hard every day yet still got beaten. But in the end, he made something of himself—he went to the city and married into a woman’s family, becoming a live-in son-in-law.”
“The woman’s family bought him a job, and now he’s a factory worker in the city. He never comes back. Her husband and father-in-law thought it was shameful for a man to marry into a woman’s family, so they cut ties with the younger son back then.”
“Next time she comes bothering you, just bring up her younger son—I guarantee she’ll leave right away!”
Li Xiaomei wiped the water splashed on her face, wrung out her clothes with effort, and explained as she went.
After finishing their washing, they returned to the educated youth site and hung their wet clothes on the drying line in the yard.
With this weather, the clothes would be dry by morning.
Dinner was already ready. Su Yun went to the kitchen, got her bowl—it was no longer too hot to drink—and instead of taking it back to her room, she downed it in one go right there.
After washing her bowl and boiling some water to fill her thermos, Su Yun went back to her room to rest.
By now, it was already dark. She checked the time—it was past eight.
Su Yun lit the kerosene lamp, sat on the kang, and continued her sewing project, making herself some undergarments.
Actually, there were bras in this era, and they weren’t much different from modern ones. However, they were all imported from abroad and sold in the foreign exchange sections of department stores, requiring foreign exchange certificates to purchase.
Most women wore homemade half-length undershirts, and occasionally the supply cooperative would sell small undershirts too—though those required cloth coupons as well.
When she’d gone to the county supply cooperative yesterday, she’d asked Qian Yue about it and learned they were currently out of stock. So she had no choice but to come back and figure it out on her own.
Luckily, this body was still young and hadn’t developed much yet—she was flat enough to crack stones on her chest.
These past few days, Su Yun hadn’t worn anything underneath, and it hadn’t been noticeable. But once her nutrition improved, she’d probably fill out a bit.
That’s why she’d added two extra layers of fabric at the front when making her undershirt, to avoid any awkwardness.
Heavens knows how many women’s “little points” she’d seen in the past few days! It was so embarrassing she didn’t know where to look when talking to people.
In the summer, many village women wore just a thin undershirt under a thin short-sleeved top. Especially the older aunties and grannies—some didn’t wear anything at all under their shirts!
Su Yun’s inner voice screamed: Nope!
She absolutely could not accept that for herself.
Time flew by, and before she knew it, Su Yun had been working in the fields for over ten days.
After the weeding in the cornfield was finished, she proactively applied for the task of gathering pig feed. The brigade leader looked at Su Yun, who seemed even younger than his own daughter, and without a word, agreed.
The other female educated youth, who weren’t short on money, also took on light, low-paying jobs. Some watered the vegetable plots, others tended to seedlings—just earning two or three work points a day, coasting along.
Li Xiaomei and Wang Pan’er, however, took on the heavier task of fertilizing the potato fields, earning seven or eight work points a day.
The male educated youth weren’t split up—the brigade leader assigned them a large plot together to grow vegetables.
Today was the half-month rest day. Su Yun got up early and went to the village entrance with a few other educated youth to wait for the donkey cart.
Only Su Yun, Tao Yining, Zhao Jiayan, Li Feng, and Gu Beihai were heading to the county today.
Su Yun figured that aside from Tao Yining, the others were going mainly to treat themselves to a big meal at the state-run restaurant.
After half a month of work, some of the educated youth preferred to sleep in and didn’t go. They asked the others to pick up things for them, and entrusted letters to be mailed as well.
Su Yun had taken on commissions from An Qin and Liu Huan to bring back things for them.
“Get on!”
Uncle Wang showed up with his donkey cart, and the group crowded aboard.
Today, two donkeys were pulling the cart—both raised by Uncle Wang. When there were more passengers, he’d use both; otherwise, they took turns at the millstone. He took good care of them.
On this half-monthly rest day, Uncle Wang made two trips—one in the morning, returning at noon, and another around 1 p.m., returning at 5 p.m.
Most of the time, the cart wasn’t full. Only the young folks liked to go to the county. The aunties and grannies rarely bothered—in their words:
“With that half a day, I could go up the mountain and gather a whole basket of wild vegetables!”