The two of them slept through the night, each under their own blanket.
The next morning, the weather had cleared up considerably. That morning, the Liu family came on their own and took Meng Yuanzheng to the clinic to get his injuries treated.
Lin Miaoyin was also given a few days off from work so she could stay home and take care of Meng Yuanzheng.
Of course, if she didn’t work, she wouldn’t earn any work points. But Party Secretary Li had ordered the Liu family to do their share of the work for them as a way of showing that they were sincerely sorry for what they had done.
Even though the Liu family was extremely unwilling, they had no choice.
Lin Miaoyin didn’t plan to go to the clinic with them.
Judging from how Meng Yuanzheng had looked the night before, his injuries shouldn’t be too serious. So she decided to do something important today.
She was going to the black market to buy meat and, while she was there, get some seasonings for the snake meat.
She searched through all the money in the house.
They had no meat coupons left, but there were still a few kilograms’ worth of grain coupons, which had been given to them by the Lin family.
There were also a few yuan left. That money had been part of her dowry when she got married. In those days, having money without coupons was practically useless, so the original couple hadn’t spent it all.
Lin Miaoyin used Meng Yuanzheng’s little shaving mirror to comb her hair into two braids and clipped them in place. She put on a floral long-sleeved shirt, straightened her collar, slipped on her cloth shoes, and carried a military-green cloth shoulder bag.
Looking neat and tidy, she left the house.
The commune wasn’t far from Niutouwan, only a few kilometers away. Lin Miaoyin walked quickly and arrived in less than an hour.
The commune was the predecessor of what would later become a town. Compared with the countryside, it was somewhat more developed. There were buildings and even a bus station with routes to the county town.
At this time, there were almost no street vendors. The only places selling goods were the supply cooperative and the state-run restaurant.
Lin Miaoyin first walked around and saw that there was already a long line outside the supply cooperative.
She squeezed her way inside to take a look.
The good cuts of meat had already been snapped up, leaving only some pig offal and bones.
There was also chicken and other meat, but those required coupons.
She touched the small bills and coins in her pocket and looked up at the sky.
It was only around eight in the morning.
She continued walking around.
As the sun gradually rose, she began to feel hot.
But she still hadn’t seen even a trace of the black market.
She found a shady step and sat down. Taking off her straw hat, she used it as a fan while observing the people coming and going.
A few children caught her attention.
They were all around seven or eight years old. They were playing shuttlecock and jumping rope near the entrance of an alley. On the surface, everything looked perfectly normal.
Lin Miaoyin had played these games when she was young too, so she felt a little nostalgic and couldn’t help watching them.
But after watching for a while, she suddenly felt that something was wrong.
She remembered that in this era, seven- or eight-year-old children were already expected to act like half-grown adults. They were either gathering grass for the pigs and collecting firewood at home, or cooking, feeding the chickens and ducks, and taking care of their younger brothers and sisters.
Children from better-off families might be able to attend school.
So why were these children playing jump rope here in the middle of the morning?
Looking more carefully, she noticed that the children were all secretly glancing at her.
They were still children, so no matter how hard they tried to hide it, they couldn’t completely conceal their behavior.
Soon, one of them stopped playing and ran into the old alley behind them.
The alley was lined with a mixture of old earthen houses and tiled-roof houses. Some had already been abandoned.
There was even an old Taoist temple nearby. During the early Cultural Revolution, when the campaign to destroy the “Four Olds” was carried out, it had been badly damaged, leaving behind only broken walls and ruins.
Lin Miaoyin continued watching.
Before long, several people began appearing one after another from deep inside the alley.
Some carried baskets on their backs, some carried bamboo baskets, and others had cloth bags.
None of them came out empty-handed.
They all looked somewhat nervous, glancing around before leaving.
Something was definitely strange.
Could this be the black market?
She stood up and dusted off the dirt from her clothes.
She was about to go inside and take a look when she suddenly stopped.
The person who had just come out…
Why did he look so familiar?
Everyone else was dressed in dull, gray clothes. They were also short because of poor nutrition and had pale, unhealthy-looking faces.
But this man was completely different.
He was tall, fair-skinned, and dressed in a white shirt, black trousers, and black leather shoes. He walked confidently and naturally.
His whole appearance practically screamed:
“I’m rich! Come and take advantage of me!”
He was also carrying several packages, all wrapped up tightly.
Lin Miaoyin immediately recognized him.
She became furious.
This man had just lectured her last night, telling her that she wasn’t allowed to go to the black market and that he would report her if she did.
And now, the very next day, he had come here himself!
She understood immediately.
He must have some secret savings hidden away, or perhaps his family had sent him coupons.
He told her not to go to the black market while secretly coming here himself to buy good food.
What a selfish man!
Lin Miaoyin quickly hid herself somewhere Meng Yuanzheng couldn’t see her and poked half her head out to watch him.
Meng Yuanzheng didn’t notice her.
He simply carried his things and walked away.
Only after he had gone far enough did Lin Miaoyin cautiously come out.
She looked around and saw that there was no one nearby. The children who had been playing jump rope were gone too.
She entered the alley.
But once inside, all she found were abandoned, rundown houses.
Apart from the many footprints on the ground, there was nothing else.
What was going on?
Had she seen a ghost?
She walked around and looked carefully.
She realized that this must be the back courtyard of the destroyed Taoist temple.
Sure enough, she found a small door leading to another area.
Those people must have mistaken her for someone from the authorities and quickly evacuated.
What terrible luck.
She had spent the entire morning and hadn’t bought a single thing.
Grumpily, she dragged her empty cloth bag home.
After walking for a while, she was lucky enough to encounter a fellow villager from her brigade driving the brigade’s ox cart along the road.
Since she was Captain Lin’s daughter, of course the villager invited her onto the cart.
Lin Miaoyin thanked him and climbed aboard.
The villager called to the ox, and the cart began rumbling along.
She leaned against the wooden railing of the cart, using her straw hat to shield her head from the sun.
Turning her head, she looked at the rice fields along the roadside.
As far as she could see, everything was green.
Apart from the occasional villager standing up, wearing a straw hat while working in the fields, there was nothing but endless stretches of green.
Whenever the wind blew, the rice plants rustled together.
Lin Miaoyin had been born in the late 1980s in her previous life and had also grown up in the countryside.
Although rural areas had already changed greatly by then, the scene before her still looked much like the countryside in her memories.
It gave her a strange sense of familiarity.
After passing through the flat rice fields, they reached a slightly hilly cornfield.
Corn stalks taller than people stood on both sides of the road, creating the illusion that they could block out the sky and sun.
Suddenly, Lin Miaoyin spotted two people walking side by side ahead.
A tall man and a pretty woman—they looked like a perfect match.
The woman was wearing a long white dress, sandals with white socks, and had slender calves exposed below the hem.
As she walked, she looked almost like a fairy.
Lin Miaoyin tightened her grip on her cloth bag.
That damn man!
He had just come out of the black market, and now he was already running off to find a woman and show off.
Was he planning to give everything he had bought to her?
He had only promised her yesterday that he would stay away from Zhu Wanqin.
So how had they suddenly ended up walking side by side today?
Lin Miaoyin was so angry that her chest hurt.
She sat on the ox cart and waited for it to rumble past the two people by the roadside.
The two of them stopped and stepped to the side to let the cart pass.
Lin Miaoyin had already recognized the woman.
It was Zhu Wanqin.
This female lead was something else.
Meng Yuanzheng was already married. How could she still be getting so close to him?
And this damn man clearly hadn’t given up on his intentions.
Even after losing his memory, he had somehow automatically ended up beside the female lead again.
She wasn’t jealous.
She just felt strangely betrayed.
When the two people saw Lin Miaoyin sitting on the ox cart, Zhu Wanqin’s eyes widened slightly.
“Miaoyin?”
Hmph. What Miaoyin? Don’t act like we’re so close.
Lin Miaoyin ignored her thoughts and told the man driving the cart to stop.
Then she glared fiercely at Meng Yuanzheng.
“Meng Yuanzheng! Get on the cart! You’re coming home with me!”