In the cafeteria, Lin Yingxian and Jiang Lixia were discussing what dishes to order.
Jiang Lixia looked toward the window serving stir-fried dishes. "Yingxian, I want to try the scallion beef stir-fry." Beef wasn't often available in the cafeteria, and whenever beef dishes were served, they would be snatched up in no time.
Lin Yingxian also found the enticing scallion beef stir-fry tempting. "I want it too. Let's go with that. I'll get a serving of diced potatoes, green peppers, and eggplant."
Jiang Lixia and Lin Yingxian often had lunch together, each buying one dish to share. If one bought a meat dish today, the other would buy one tomorrow, taking turns so neither felt taken advantage of.
After getting their food, the two found seats and began their lunch.
Lin Yingxian avoided eating the eggplant in the diced potatoes, green peppers, and eggplant dish, preferring the potatoes instead. She felt eggplant absorbed too much oil and had a mushy texture, like eating a piece of fatty pork without any lean meat—something she couldn't stand.
Jiang Lixia, however, loved eggplant, finding it oily, fragrant, and tender. She disliked potatoes, having grown tired of them during the famine years of her childhood.
Though the diced potatoes, green peppers, and eggplant dish contained ingredients neither liked, they still ordered it because it allowed them to enjoy their preferred parts with just one meal ticket.
While eating, Jiang Lixia quietly shared some news with Lin Yingxian. "The new staff housing being jointly built by the Pharmaceutical Factory and the research institute is almost halfway done. I heard the housing allocation plan is already on the agenda. I've seen the architectural drawings for the staff building—it's different from the tube-shaped building my family lives in. Once completed, it'll be spacious and bright." Jiang Lixia's tone grew envious, wondering who would get to live in such a place.
"What are the conditions for this housing allocation?" Lin Yingxian desperately wanted a place of her own, even if it was just a single room—it was her dream. Her family also lived in a tube-shaped building, a space of just over ten square meters housing six people: her parents, her eldest brother and his wife, herself, and her younger sister. Her eldest brother and his wife had been married for two years but hadn't dared to have children because there was no room. Their workplace's housing allocation seemed like a distant hope. Such living conditions were common in the 1970s.
"I'm not too sure. The leadership hasn't revealed anything yet. Based on other factories' practices, priority goes to employees with over ten years of seniority who are married and have families. You and I still have eight years to go before we even meet the threshold. But what's the use of meeting it? The next housing allocation might be ages away."
Society wasn't wealthy at the time, and constructing residential buildings was a costly undertaking, so workplace housing allocations happened only once every few years. The Pharmaceutical Factory had money, but it belonged to the state and had to be turned over to the treasury—it couldn't be casually spent on large projects.
The old staff housing at the Pharmaceutical Factory was already at full capacity, far from meeting employees' needs. Taking advantage of the research institute's plan to build staff housing, the factory seized the opportunity to apply for new housing construction. The higher authorities approved the application but, due to tight finances, required the Pharmaceutical Factory and the research institute to jointly build the housing to save on expenses.
The Pharmaceutical Factory's actions made the research institute director curse them as treacherous, taking advantage of the institute and causing it financial losses. To quell the institute's anger, prevent a rift between the two units, and maintain good cooperation, the Pharmaceutical Factory took the initiative to undertake the construction of the new staff housing project, contributing both manpower and resources. In the end, the number of houses was split equally between them. The research institute and the Pharmaceutical Factory shook hands and made peace.
Precisely because the next housing allocation would be in the distant future, Lin Yingxian, despite knowing that she had no partner, had short seniority, and her chances of getting a house were almost zero, still wanted to give it her all. She didn’t want to live in a cramped, narrow tube-shaped building with no privacy, nor did she want to keep living with the original host’s family. Lin Yingxian was aloof by nature, a self-interested individualist…
After finishing work in the evening, Lin Yingxian rode her bicycle home. As soon as she arrived at the foot of the textile factory’s residential building, her younger sister Lin Yingwan came downstairs to greet her.
Seeing this, Lin Yingxian knew something related to her must have happened upstairs. Her relationship with Lin Yingwan was average, so Lin Yingwan wouldn’t come downstairs to meet her for no reason.
Lin Yingwan walked up to the bicycle and said, "Lin Yingxian, lend me your bike for a day tomorrow. I have something to do."
The Lin Family only had two bicycles. One belonged to the eldest brother, Lin Yingwei, which was purchased when he got married. The other was the Phoenix-brand bicycle Lin Yingxian was riding now. It had cost over 200 yuan, including the bicycle ticket she had privately bought, which was equivalent to several months of Lin Yingwan’s salary.
Lin Yingwan also wanted a bicycle, but she could only dream about it. No matter how much their parents doted on her, they wouldn’t spend over 200 yuan to buy her one.
Lin Yingwan often tried to borrow Lin Yingxian’s bicycle but usually hit a wall. The number of times she successfully borrowed it was very few.
"I won’t lend it to you," Lin Yingxian flatly refused, squatting down to lock the bike.
Lin Yingwan knew that without offering something in return, Lin Yingxian wouldn’t lend her the bike. "I won’t borrow it for free. Do you know who’s waiting for you upstairs?"
Lin Yingxian looked up and asked, "Who?"
Lin Yingwan’s tone was gleeful. "Your fiancé from the countryside, an educated youth with a problematic class status. If you promise to lend me the bike for a month, I’ll help you mess up this marriage arrangement."
When Grandmother Lin was critically ill, she told her children that she and a close childhood friend had agreed to become in-laws and had even exchanged tokens. However, due to an unexpected separation and loss of contact, the arrangement couldn’t be fulfilled in their children’s generation. In their later years, they had exchanged letters and wanted to arrange a marriage between their grandchildren. Grandmother Lin wanted her children to fulfill her final wish.
Grandmother Lin was a fallen capitalist-class young lady, so her childhood friend must have had a similar class status. None of Grandmother Lin’s children wanted this marriage. Back then, if their father hadn’t become a martyr, and if Grandmother Lin hadn’t performed exceptionally well as a Model Worker in the factory, their family wouldn’t have become a pure red background martyr-worker family.
When the children refused the marriage, Grandmother Lin was so angry she nearly stopped breathing, saying all sorts of harsh words. In the end, Uncle Min and Aunt Yan pushed the marriage onto Mother Lin, who was the most obedient to Grandmother Lin. Forced into a corner, Mother Lin agreed to the arrangement, and Grandmother Lin passed away peacefully.
People always bully the weak and fear the strong, picking on the easy targets. Mother Lin gave the marriage arrangement to Lin Yingxian, who had just returned from the countryside. Lin Yingxian was only one year old when Mother Lin gave birth to Lin Yingwan. With Father Lin and Mother Lin unable to care for two infants, and Grandmother Lin unwilling to help—she wanted to look after her own grandchildren—Mother Lin had no choice but to send Lin Yingxian to her in-laws in a remote village far from Jiangcheng.
The journey was long, and Father Lin and Mother Lin rarely went back to see Lin Yingxian. At first, they missed her dearly, often sending letters and baby supplies to the old home. But gradually, their affection cooled, and they only occasionally inquired about Yingxian’s well-being in their letters. If not for the monthly money sent to support her in the countryside, everyone would have thought Father Lin and Mother Lin had abandoned Yingxian altogether.