During the compound renovations, it rained several times in a row, construction couldn’t proceed on rainy days, but luckily everyone’s rentals were leased for at least a full quarter, so there was no need to worry.
Last time, Gu Liansheng had gotten caught in the rain on his way home, and today it was raining again. Shuisheng said, “My brother didn’t bring an umbrella. I’ll go meet him at the bus stop.”
Lin Huinan said, “Are you dumb? If brother-in-law didn’t bring an umbrella, he’ll already be soaked from leaving work to getting on the bus, whether you meet him or not, he’ll be drenched either way.”
Lin Wanying said, “But what if your brother-in-law gets off work and shares an umbrella with a coworker while waiting for the bus? Him getting rained on is his problem, meeting him or not is ours. I’ll go meet him.”
Lin Wanying grabbed two umbrellas and went out.
Shuisheng, a bit confused, asked Lin Huinan: “Wouldn’t one umbrella be enough for sister-in-law to meet my brother?”
Lin Huinan laughed: “My sister has a bit of a psychological scar over this. Right after she and her ex-husband got married, wanting to grow closer, she brought only one umbrella to meet him. Her ex-husband refused to share it with her and walked home soaked in the rain instead, then didn’t speak to her for several days afterward. I really wanted to punch him at the time, but the marriage was one my sister chose herself, so she just had to bear it.”
Gu Shuisheng couldn’t understand: “Your former brother-in-law married her willingly, why would he give her attitude after the wedding?”
“My sister’s mentor said it’s about pride, he felt like my sister took advantage of him at a weak moment, hurting his pride, making him betray his feelings for his first love. But my sister didn’t listen to her mentor’s advice back then, so learning a hard lesson from it was fair enough.”
…
On previous business trips, the green-skin trains had run two or three hours late, and Gu Liansheng had waited without a hint of impatience, so Lin Wanying waiting a while at the bus stop was only fair.
After just a few buses had passed, Gu Liansheng got off along with Xu Youcheng, who’d also worked overtime, both of their clothes were dry, but neither had an umbrella in hand.
Lin Wanying handed Gu Liansheng an umbrella, and he felt a rush of happiness, if only they could share one umbrella together.
He then handed the unopened umbrella to Xu Youcheng: “Want this?”
Xu Youcheng nodded, took it, opened it, and said, “Thanks”, then dashed straight off into the rain mist.
Lin Wanying: …… “Why’d you give him an umbrella? Do you think we’re still friends with them or something?”
Gu Liansheng laughed: “I was just being polite, didn’t expect he’d actually take it. Don’t you think he’s changed a bit?”
“No. Still just as annoying as ever. I can’t even figure out what I saw in him five years ago.”
That was the honest truth. Five years ago, her mentor had objected, and she hadn’t listened, thinking Xu Youcheng’s whole air about him was more captivating than any farmhand she’d ever met, her eyes had been clouded. Not anymore.
Gu Liansheng had noticed a slight change in Xu Youcheng. Since moving to the rented rooms, at first he and Li Qiuzhen would still walk hand in hand, but lately he’d been working overtime more and more frequently, and always right around dinnertime.
Wasn’t this just him avoiding the hassle of deciding what to eat with Li Qiuzhen every night, deliberately dodging it? Maybe because they were both men, Gu Liansheng caught onto it right away.
…
The compound was fully renovated inside and out, new doors and windows, tiled floors indoors, new roof tiles too, walls freshly painted, and the courtyard paved with bluestone tiles, with drainage channels laid in. Next time it rained, they could sit under the eaves and watch the rain fall on the banana leaves.
Every household was satisfied, and they arranged to move back together over the weekend.
The shared areas, outer walls, doors, windows, and roof were all renovated identically across the six households, but each household’s interior painting differed according to their own preferences.
Uncle Zhang’s house hadn’t been renovated, and by comparison it looked shabby and grimy. He got upset about it and made a scene, claiming that neighbors of decades were ganging up to bully him, that his stall wasn’t given to him, and now the renovation wasn’t even fair, making a fuss that held up everyone’s move.
This time it sparked public anger. Lin Wanying said only one thing: “If it’s about the house, talk about the house, how did the stall get dragged into this? I’ve been working at the district office for a while now, I’m no longer with the management office. There’s no use coming to me over this.”
This time even Auntie Liu wouldn’t let it slide: “Your roof, outer walls, doors, and windows were split evenly among us five households, still not satisfied? We’re moving back this weekend. If you won’t honor decades of neighborly ties, neither will we. If you try to stop us, we’ll call the police, do you really want to take it that far?”
…
Uncle Zhang, this old man, was purely jealous. His children came around to apologize to each household, offering to refund the shared renovation money and pay themselves to redo his interior, asking everyone to wait another half a month before moving.
With the other side backing down a step, everyone was willing to give a little too, allowing half a month for Uncle Zhang’s family to finish their interior renovation.
Fortunately, the rentals had all been paid a full quarter in advance, leaving some margin, but Lin Wanying had no goodwill left for Uncle Zhang’s children.
“Playing dumb for two months, wasn’t this just to see whether the five of us would cave again and help pay for his interior renovation too? Not one shred of self-awareness.”
Gu Liansheng said, “This compound of ours counts as pretty united, all things considered, it’s all about money causing trouble. Back when every household had roughly the same conditions, you couldn’t tell the difference, but now that some have gotten ahead, the friction shows.”
Lin Wanying said, “Well, I intend to be one of the ones who gets ahead. If Uncle Zhang thinks decades of being neighbors means everyone should get rich hand in hand, he’s dreaming at his age.”
…
They waited the extra half month, and finally made it back into the renovated compound just before the New Year.
Shuisheng and Huinan’s room got custom-built bunk beds on either side, a long desk in the middle, and a row of wardrobes against the wall, they were thrilled beyond words.
Lin Wanying furnished her own room completely this time, with a carpenter-made wardrobe, a five-drawer dresser, a desk, and a bed, quite respectable.
…
After the New Year, Shuisheng failed his pre-exam and got an early high school diploma instead, so he threw himself entirely into earning money, saying he wanted to go work sales at the chemical factory, following Cui Yushan, to train up his weaker points.
Sales work really does temper a person, the worry was whether Shuisheng could handle the hardship of it, since rejection was the norm, but Shuisheng stuck with it.
The chemical factory offered a high sales commission, and Shuisheng started earning money, but trouble followed. A girl in his high school class had excellent grades, scoring very high on the pre-exam, but her family didn’t value a girl’s education, and had arranged a marriage match for her, with the other side offering a hefty betrothal gift of six hundred sixty yuan.
The girl, knowing Shuisheng had been doing business for most of a year and had money on hand, came and begged to borrow the six hundred sixty yuan, to give to her parents so she could return to school and keep studying.
Shuisheng was good in every way except that he was a bit soft-hearted. He discussed it with the family: “I’m not using this money right now, so why not lend it to her, it could change her fate.”
Lin Huinan said, “There are plenty of people in this world who need help. More than half of your sixty-some classmates are struggling too, why should she suddenly be able to borrow six hundred yuan just like that? That’s her family’s problem, her own cause and effect, why get mixed up in it?”
Gu Liansheng weighed his wife’s likely take on it, then said: “Second Brother has a wife now, talk it over with your sister-in-law on everything, let her weigh in.”
…
Lin Wanying had no objections, saying: “Money you earned yourself, you have the right to decide what to do with it. I’ll just remind you, be prepared for her to default on the debt, or even treat you as her lifeline. If she comes asking for a second loan, will you turn her down or keep lending? Think it through clearly, and if you can handle the consequences, then lend it.”
Shuisheng, no longer feeling burdened, happily said he’d lend it, he believed she’d get into college, and since jobs were guaranteed for graduates back then, she’d surely be able to pay it back.
Lin Wanying sighed again and had Lin Huinan tag along, insisting the girl’s parents and older brother write up a guarantee document, if they wouldn’t write one, Huinan should scuttle the loan entirely.
…
Lin Huinan carried out his sister’s instructions to the letter. The family didn’t have to marry off their daughter and still got six hundred sixty yuan, with a six-year repayment term, to be repaid by the girl herself in the future, the whole family agreed and signed the guarantee document.
Sure enough, within a few days, the girl came back to borrow money from Shuisheng again, saying her family had found another excuse, claiming they had no money for her college and wouldn’t let her take the exam, wanting to borrow living expenses from Huinan instead.
The girl’s family’s greed had no end, they were simply testing Shuisheng’s limits. Shuisheng’s kindness had been exploited, and he was thoroughly disheartened, firmly refusing to lend any more.
The other family then had the nerve to propose that the girl get engaged to Shuisheng instead, if she got into college, Shuisheng would support her through all four years, and they’d marry after graduation, counting the six hundred sixty yuan as an early betrothal gift. Truly shameless to the core.
…
Lin Wanying stepped in to handle it, wasting no words, bringing along police from the local station to mediate.
The guarantee document was legally binding, either they repay the money now, or they support their daughter through college and let her repay it herself later.
Lin Wanying said, “Save the nonsense for someone else. Either take it to court, or pay up right now. Let’s see if your rotten egg of a scheme can crack this rock of mine.”
Of course it couldn’t. They had no choice but to follow the original plan, support their daughter through college, and let her repay the debt herself after graduation.
…
The matter was resolved, but Shuisheng was terribly upset, couldn’t even eat.
Lin Wanying comforted him: “You’ll earn a lot more money in the future, by then, a moment of soft-heartedness won’t cost you six hundred sixty yuan again. Taking a small loss early on isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Stop moping.”
Lin Huinan thought it was a small matter too, and comforted him: “Everyone grows up this way. You only paid the price of six hundred-some yuan, my sister spent five whole years before she understood that forcing a melon off the vine doesn’t make it sweet [1]a melon picked by force isn’t sweet (qiǎng niǔ de guā bù tián, 強扭的瓜不甜), Proverb, a farming image, twisting a melon off its vine before it has ripened on its own only yields … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3158675_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3158675_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Have you seen her lose her appetite over it?”
Six hundred-some yuan only feels small once you’re capable of earning it.
Gu Liansheng couldn’t help but sigh, and told his brother: “This whole thing is infuriating enough already, if you keep moping and upset your sister-in-law on top of it, wouldn’t that be an even bigger loss? Learn the lesson, don’t make the same mistake next time, and consider this loss worth it.”
…
Back at the compound, Uncle Zhang and the neighbors couldn’t go back to how things used to be. Seeing everyone else earning money made him bitter, and he simply sold his two rooms and moved in with his son.
The new residents were a young couple, just pregnant, who handed out candy to celebrate the housewarming.
Lin Wanying, noticing there was tangerine peel candy among it, suddenly had a craving and unwrapped one. She’d been squatting down, and when she stood up, she felt a sudden wave of dizziness and quickly grabbed onto Gu Liansheng beside her for support.
Gu Liansheng was scared out of his wits. Lin Wanying said she just needed to rest a moment and would be fine, but Gu Liansheng insisted on a hospital trip to be sure.
The doctor, with plenty of experience, ran a blood test and offered congratulations: “You’re a month and a half pregnant. Slightly anemic, but with better nutrition once you’re home, you’ll be fine.”
Never expected it would be a pregnancy, both of them were overjoyed. Now they could raise a child that belonged to the two of them.
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