After the three of them finished eating, Su’s second sister left early for work, and Su’s younger brother had been called out by friends long before. Su Yun rested at home for a bit and was just about to head out when she heard faint sounds of commotion coming from outside the yard.
She craned her neck to look and saw a crowd of neighbors gathered not far away. She quickly locked the gate and jogged over.
When there’s drama to watch, you’ve got to move fast!
Su Yun had always loved scrolling through gossip online in her past life — those celebrity scandals were always so juicy and full of twists! Plot twists on top of plot twists.
She was like a melon-loving groundhog in a patch, taking a bite here and a nibble there.
She wondered if the gossip here would be just as sweet.
With her slender frame, Su Yun squeezed through the crowd to the front. One look and — oh ho!
So it was this family! Su Yun curled her lip.
A circle of neighbors was gathered outside this household’s gate, jostling and pressing forward to get a better view. Some had even stacked a few bricks to stand on, peeking over the courtyard wall.
In the center of the yard stood two public security officers, wearing blue peaked caps and looking thoroughly authoritative.
The male homeowner was talking to the officers, gesturing animatedly, while the female homeowner sat on the ground, slapping her thigh and wailing with her mouth wide open.
Her mouth was so wide that Su Yun could see straight down her throat!
“Pfft! Serves them right!” “Exactly — who can they blame but themselves…”
A murmur of whispers rippled through the crowd, accompanied by looks of contempt directed at the family.
Su Yun pricked up her ears and listened for a while before piecing together what had happened.
Turns out, their son had run away!
He’d been gone for two whole days, and his parents hadn’t even bothered to check on him. Only today did they discover that all their money was missing!
The little brat had cleaned out their cash and bolted!
He’d been gone for two days already!
The family had called the police and searched all their friends’ and relatives’ houses, but no one had seen their son. The officers were still conducting interviews and investigations.
Su Yun felt like clapping. Good riddance! Run far, run fast — run as far as you can!
And everyone around her was probably thinking the same thing.
This family’s surname was Li. The father — no one really knew his full name — was called “Li Yidao” (One-Knife Li) by the neighbors. He used to be a butcher and now worked at the meat processing plant slaughtering pigs.
He boasted that he only needed one cut to get the exact amount of meat — hence the nickname.
The couple had three sons. The two older ones were already married and had moved out. The one who’d run away was the youngest, Li Xiaoshu.
And Li Yidao was one of the two people on this street who beat their children mercilessly. The other was Su’s father.
Li Xiaoshu was a few years younger than Su’s eldest brother — just turned 17, only a year older than Su Yun.
Like Su’s eldest brother, he’d been beaten daily since childhood, used as his father’s punching bag.
The only difference was that Su’s father only beat the kids, not his wife — but Li’s father didn’t discriminate.
When he beat the children, if Li’s mother tried to stop him, he’d beat her too. Over time, to protect herself, she stopped intervening and just shut the door and pretended not to see.
Li’s father also loved beating his children out in the open — the more onlookers, the happier he got, and the harder he swung. He and Su’s father were practically soulmates in madness!
He used to be a butcher, frequently helping families slaughter pigs and process various game. He had a sturdy wooden rack in the yard for tying up animals. Later, when he started working at the meat plant, the rack was no longer needed but stayed in the yard.
Every time, he’d tie Li Xiaoshu’s hands and hang him from the wooden rack like livestock, with only his toes barely touching the ground. Then he’d lash him viciously with a belt or bamboo pole!
The worst beating the original owner remembered happened one winter when heavy snow was falling like goose feathers.
Li Xiaoshu had been about fourteen then, stripped naked and hung up to be flogged.
Some neighbors couldn’t stand it and tried to intervene, but nothing worked. Like Su’s father, he’d pretend to go after whoever tried to stop him.
Once in a while, someone would actually physically block him, and he’d threaten to burn their house down. Naturally, no one dared to interfere further.
These two were such scoundrels — who knew if they’d really set your house on fire in the middle of the night? You couldn’t sacrifice yourself for someone else’s sake, could you?
Li Yidao’s two older sons had moved out the moment they got married — one became a live-in son-in-law at his wife’s house, with the children taking the wife’s surname instead of Li; the other rented a place far away and rarely contacted the family.
So in recent years, Li Xiaoshu had been the sole target of the beatings. Even the Eighteen Bronze Men couldn’t withstand that!
At 17, Li Xiaoshu had no choice but to run. Otherwise, whether through marriage or work, he’d still have to endure several more years in that hellhole before he could escape.
Su Yun clasped her hands together and silently prayed that he wouldn’t be caught.
Pfft!
What kind of people are even qualified to be parents?
Su Yun didn’t watch any longer. She turned around and headed east.
…
Heading east, the closest place was the textile factory where Su’s second sister worked — just a few minutes’ walk and a turn.
The farthest was the cannery where Su’s father and mother worked — a ten-minute bike ride, which would take Su Yun about forty minutes on foot. Inside, she was already weeping rivers of tears.
The bank was at an intersection between the two — just a few steps in from the main road.
Su Yun went to the textile factory first, but unfortunately, she was turned away at the gate. These factories all had security guards, and the main gates were kept closed — ordinary people weren’t allowed in.
Thinking quickly, she snuck over to the factory wall, pressed herself against the corner, and pressed the check-in button.
[Check-in successful! Location: Jing City Textile Factory]
[Congratulations, host! You have received: Fabric ×2]
Su Yun’s eyes lit up. So it worked!
She’d worried that she’d need to actually get inside to check in, but apparently, as long as she was on their turf, even without entering, it counted.
Ignoring the guard’s strange look and his motion to stand up, she shamelessly turned and hurried away.
Next stop — the Food Factory.
Let’s go! Gogogo~
[Check-in successful! Location: Jing City Food Factory]
[Congratulations, host! You have received: 1 basket of green dates]
Su Yun was a bit surprised. She’d expected to get pastries or snacks from a food factory, since Jing City’s food factory mainly produced things like twisted dough sticks, crisp pastries, jujube cakes, as well as fried treats for the New Year like oil fruits and sesame leaves.
The bulk snacks sold at the supply cooperative basically all came from the food factory.
So she was taken aback to get fruit instead.
But the green dates came in a bamboo basket, and there seemed to be quite a lot of them. Once she’d eaten the dates, she could use the basket for other things — not bad at all!
After walking another ten minutes or so, she finally spotted the bank’s sign.
The sign read “People’s Bank of China” in large characters. It was a three-story building that looked newly built — the walls, doors, and windows were all very clean.
As she checked in at the entrance, Su Yun craned her neck curiously, peeking inside to see what it looked like.
To her surprise, it wasn’t all that different from modern banks — except the bulletproof glass was replaced by metal grilles, and there were no waiting chairs outside; people had to queue standing up.
[Check-in successful! Location: Jing City People’s Bank]
[Congratulations, host! You have received: 3 × 10-yuan notes]
Su Yun felt a surge of excitement. She was no longer a penniless beggar!
Following her original plan, she just needed to visit the cannery next, and she’d still have one check-in attempt left. Why not use it now?
[Check-in successful! Location: Jing City People’s Bank]
[Congratulations, host! You have received: 2 × 10-yuan notes]
That was ten yuan less than last time — she wasn’t sure if it was random or because she’d checked in at the same place twice in quick succession.
She didn’t dwell on it. Two check-ins had netted her fifty yuan — which, by current wages, was equivalent to two months’ salary for a regular worker!
Too bad she was still outside — she’d have loved to take the money out and have a look. She’d never even seen currency from this era before!
…
By the time Su Yun got back to the Su house, it was nearly five o’clock. If she dawdled any longer, the Su family members would be back from work.
She sat on the edge of the bed and massaged her calves — she was exhausted!
She’d walked almost two hours round trip. Her legs would probably ache tomorrow.
Unexpectedly, at the cannery, she’d checked in and received two jin of pork!
She figured it was probably something from the factory canteen that the check-in system had duplicated.
She’d originally expected to get canned oranges — she was curious how they’d taste compared to the ones she’d eaten before.
Jing City wasn’t a peach-growing region, and the few peach trees that survived there didn’t produce very good fruit — small and sour. So the cannery didn’t make yellow peach cans.
Probably due to climate and soil conditions, the area mostly had jujube trees, persimmon trees, orange trees, pear trees, and a small number of loquat and apricot trees.
The cannery mainly made canned fruit from oranges — but these weren’t sugar tangerines. They were large, thick-skinned green oranges, tart and sweet, with most being more sour than sweet — one bite would make you pucker up.
And the pears weren’t the Ya pears either — they were a brown-skinned round variety with lots of speckles, thick skin, and coarse flesh, but extremely juicy.
They were said to be very refreshing and sweet. As for why I say “said to be”… well, of course, it’s because the original owner had never tried them — and neither had Su Yun!
But she’d definitely get to taste them someday!
Su Yun clenched her fists in encouragement. (ò_ó)