While Jiang Yun stir-fried the dishes, Mu Xi sat beside her tending the fire and learning at the same time.
From time to time, she even asked a couple of questions.
She made it perfectly clear that she was seriously learning.
At the dinner table, Mu Xi took the initiative to say that she planned to go to the subdistrict office tomorrow to register to be sent down to the countryside.
Mu Changhong’s chopsticks paused. He wanted to say something, but no words came out.
Jiang Yun’s eyes immediately grew moist. “Why are you suddenly in such a hurry? There are still a few days left. Maybe we’ll find a way for you to stay in the city. Let’s wait another two days!”
“Mom, we both know our family’s situation. How could there possibly be an exception? Since going to the countryside is already a foregone conclusion, we might as well actively answer the country’s call. Maybe because we’re being cooperative, the Educated Youth Office can arrange a good place for me.
“If we keep dragging it out until the Educated Youth Office has to repeatedly chase us down, what if they turn around and make things difficult for me by sending me somewhere like the Great Northwest? Who would I complain to then? Don’t you think so?”
Mu Xi wasn’t just making things up.
It really could happen. After all, the Mu family was merely an ordinary working-class family. Even if the Educated Youth Office deliberately assigned her somewhere difficult, there was nothing they could do about it.
With that, Jiang Yun and Mu Changhong could only nod.
“All right. I’ll go with you to register tomorrow,” Jiang Yun said.
“No need. I can go by myself. Mom, just focus on your work. I’m already this old and I’ll be going to the countryside soon. I have to learn to be independent, don’t I?”
Hearing those words, Jiang Yun nearly burst into tears.
The child she had raised with her own hands was now being forced to become independent and self-reliant. When would this damned society finally get better?
At the dinner table, Mu Changhong didn’t say a single word. It was only after returning to their room that he told Jiang Yun to prepare more money and coupons.
When traveling far from home, it was always better to have extra money. With more money and coupons on hand, their daughter would at least be able to live a little more comfortably.
At the same time, he didn’t forget to tell Jiang Yun to send some additional money and coupons to their eldest daughter as well. When it came to their children, the husband and wife had always treated them equally.
Early the next morning, Mu Xi got up and discovered several identification documents on the table in the living room.
She leisurely washed up, ate the breakfast Jiang Yun had left for her, then gathered the documents, placed them in a small cloth shoulder bag, and left the house.
She headed straight for the Educated Youth Office.
After explaining her situation, she readily let the clerk register her information.
The clerk was delighted and repeatedly reminded her what she needed to prepare before going to the countryside. The clerk even picked out three places and let her choose for herself.
Mu Xi: “…”
She had gotten what she wanted without any effort at all. In that case, she absolutely had to head for the Northeast!
Although the winters there were extremely cold, she wouldn’t have to work for several months. That was something other places simply couldn’t compare with.
When the clerk saw that she had chosen the Northeast, she initially wanted to persuade her otherwise. After all, in their eyes, the Northeast was simply too cold. But after thinking about it, the long period of rest really did make it a good destination. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been among the places offered for Mu Xi to choose from.
And so, Mu Xi successfully registered and got the destination she wanted, while the clerk fulfilled one of their quotas.
It was a win-win situation.
With her resettlement allowance in hand, Mu Xi headed straight for the supply and marketing cooperative.
As she walked, she suddenly remembered that the place where the original owner had been sent down in the book seemed to be the Northeast as well. After all, eighty percent of period novels involving youths being sent to the countryside seemed to choose the Northeast.
That was because there were long periods when no work needed to be done, and characters could also go into the mountains to gather supplies and hunt wild game. There was plenty to write about, and it made for an exciting story, so authors were especially fond of the setting.
What Mu Xi was thinking, however, was that the gears of fate had begun to turn.
She really needed to carefully consider what kind of ending she should arrange for the original male and female leads.
The original owner’s predetermined fate had simply been too miserable.
Should she slowly torment them, or just eliminate them outright and be done with it?
That truly was a question worth considering.
If she slowly tormented them, the reader fairies would probably think she was dragging things out. But if she simply eliminated them, it felt like they would be getting off too easily.
Sigh~
What a difficult choice~