By the time she circled around to the alley south of Song Can’s house, she was still a step too late. Song Can had already left.
Although the Yang and Song households were separated by just one wall, the Yang family’s front door faced east while the Song family’s faced south—one was on the back street and the other on the front street, so they weren’t actually close at all.
Yang Yuan felt frustrated. The original text hadn’t gone into much detail about the female lead’s departure for the countryside; dealing with the stepmother, selling the job, and leaving by truck had all been covered in just two chapters.
So she really had no idea where Song Can had gone after storming out of the house following that big fight with her stepmother.
She looked around, saw no one, and figured it wasn’t yet eleven o’clock. She spent two cents on the shuttle bus to the textile factory.
The textile factory was the biggest factory in their area, with many smaller affiliated factories nearby. The position Song Can had tested for was a minor job at the printing and dyeing plant affiliated with the textile factory.
Security for the textile factory and all its affiliated plants was handled by a single security department. Though they were all guards, they were nothing like the security guards of later eras—most were retired soldiers, and their equipment was quite impressive. From every needle and thread in the factory down to people’s very lives, everything fell under their jurisdiction.
The person Yang Yuan was looking for was one of the security officers at the textile factory—her second brother-in-law.
“Yuanyuan, what brings you here?” The man was tall and thin, a bit dark-skinned, and clearly surprised to see her.
Yang Yuan got straight to the point. “Brother-in-law, I need a favor. Do you know anyone in the factory’s personnel department you could talk to?”
Her second brother-in-law scratched his head. “I just started here not long ago, so my connections are still shallow. What do you need, Yuanyuan? If it doesn’t work out, I can ask my supervisor for help.”
He wasn’t just brushing her off—her second brother-in-law had only been discharged from the army six months ago and had been working for less than three months.
“My classmate passed the exam for a position at the textile factory, but she’s already signed up to go to the countryside. I want to buy her job from her. But we’re just two young girls, and I’m afraid the factory won’t process the transfer for us.”
“She got a job? That’s wonderful news!” Her second brother-in-law broke into a grin showing a row of big white teeth. “Leave it to me. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely find someone to transfer the job for you. When are you coming?”
At this, Yang Yuan’s face showed hesitation. She only said, “Brother-in-law, I haven’t told my parents yet. My classmate scored well—her position is in an office. They’re asking for quite a lot, and I’m afraid my mom won’t agree.”
Hearing this, her second brother-in-law had to admit it made sense. A job was a big deal, and such a good position would surely cost no small sum.
But without a job, she’d have to go to the countryside. Besides, a girl with a job would marry into a different kind of family. This was a major life matter.
“Yuanyuan, a job isn’t a small matter. Talk it over properly with your mom and dad. I know a job this good must cost a lot. I’ll discuss it with your sister when I get home, and we can help you out a little.
As for the factory, don’t worry. I’ll get the person lined up first. Whenever you come, we’ll take you over right away.”
From her memories, Yang Yuan knew this brother-in-law was an honest man—if he could help even a little, he would, never stalling or brushing people off. After thanking him, she declined his invitation to stay for a meal and left the textile factory.
She didn’t take the bus, choosing instead to walk along the road and look around. Aside from a few two-story buildings that could be glimpsed from afar inside the factory grounds, most of the street was lined with single-story houses of gray brick and earthen walls, on which were written the words: “Revolutionary soldiers are like bricks—move them wherever they’re needed.”
This area was considered an “industrial new district.” All the factories big and small that had sprung up after the founding of the nation were concentrated here. With so many workers around, this former suburb was actually livelier than the old city center.
The road underfoot had been packed hard by all the heavy trucks passing through. Yang Yuan jogged along, going to quite a few places, but saw no sign of Song Can anywhere.
She even took a detour past the school, where a crowd of half-grown boys were raucously milling about, shouting and hollering from the flag-raising platform. She glanced at them from a distance and immediately ran off. She wasn’t going to comment on or get involved in that kind of thing—she just wanted to live her own life well.
More and more workers were getting off work on the streets—some riding bicycles, some walking in twos and threes. Yang Yuan looked at the gray, blue, and green filling the streets and pressed her lips together. Yep, pretty plain. She herself was still wearing a black-gray padded jacket.
In the book, the timeline of that half month before the female lead went to the countryside was written vaguely. Yang Yuan didn’t know on which day Song Can would go looking for someone to buy her job slot. But Song Can was a decisive, level-headed girl—maybe she was out looking for a buyer right now. Yang Yuan had to find her fast.
Yang Yuan headed home first. All that walking had left her legs like jelly.
The original owner’s fourth brother, Yang Wenping, had come back from junior college last year and, still waiting for a job assignment, had taken the initiative to help out with clerical work at the neighborhood committee.
“Bro, bro, is dinner ready? Hurry up, I’m starving.”
Yang Yuan showed no politeness at all, plopping down by the stove to warm herself before anyone else.
Yang Wenping set down a small basin of noodle soup with a clatter. “Where’d you run off to this time? Mom told you not to wander around—why don’t you ever listen? If you’ve got nothing to do, why not make dinner? I come home to a cold stove and cold pot—everyone else is already eating and our family hasn’t even lit the fire.”
Yang Yuan could only grin shamelessly. “Fourth Brother, the neighborhood committee’s not busy anyway. Practice your skills more—you’ll win over a future sister-in-law someday, won’t you? Besides, I was out on serious business.”
Yang Wenping snorted coldly and ate his food, ignoring her. He knew exactly what kind of person this little sister was. Serious business? It’d be something if she didn’t cause trouble.
Yang Wenping hadn’t expected her to actually have real business. Still—”Buy from whom? How much? Is it reliable? No one’s going to swindle you because you’re young, right?”
Under Yang Wenping’s skeptical gaze, Yang Yuan immediately told him about what happened at the south courtyard that morning.
“I even went to the textile mill to ask Second Brother-in-law about it. There really was a batch of people who took the exam recently. Second Brother-in-law even said, if he hadn’t been on leave recently and missed it, he would’ve tipped me off and told me to go take the test.”
Second Sister had just had a baby—her first—and Second Brother-in-law, worried about her, had taken a week off to be with her. That was also why Mother Yang wasn’t home lately; she’d been going straight to Second Sister’s place after work every day to help with the postpartum care.
Oh, give me a break. With your lousy exam scores, placing dead last would only embarrass Second Brother-in-law.
Yang Wenping grumbled this to himself but didn’t say it out loud. Still, when he heard it would cost several hundred yuan, his face turned sour.
Fair enough—these days money was counted in fen. Buying a jin of vegetables cost two or three fen, a jin of coarse grain was ten fen, and anything over a hundred yuan was a huge sum, let alone several hundred.
Their Father Yang worked at the steel mill and had only just been promoted to Grade 4 worker after the New Year. He hadn’t even received this month’s wages yet—before, he’d been paid 48.
Mother Yang just did the cooking. She didn’t even have an official position—technically just a temporary worker. The 23 yuan a month she got was only out of consideration for how long she’d been working there, let alone any talk of a raise.
At home, the two of them currently had no jobs, so they were basically freeloading.
Their eldest brother and third sister had been sent down to the countryside, and life was hard for them, so the family often sent them things, money, and ration coupons to help out. Especially their eldest brother—he had been sent down for a long time and was in the Northeast. After he got married, when his wife got pregnant and gave birth, the family sent him quite a lot of money and coupons as well.
Not to mention when Yang Wenping got engaged—for various reasons, the family had gritted their teeth and given the bride’s family 500 yuan, which completely drained their savings.
Yang Wenping did the math in his head and found he could no longer eat.
Yang Yuan bit her chopsticks and said nothing. In the original story, Song Can’s job had been bought for 800 yuan, and she didn’t want to take advantage of anyone either.
Though in modern times 800 yuan wouldn’t even cover her living expenses, here it was truly a huge sum.
Of course, she didn’t intend to ask the family for all the money—she just needed to mention it so everyone knew about her difficulties. For one thing, this was a big matter that had to be brought up; for another, even if the family had no large sums, surely they had some small money, right? If they could give her a little, at least she’d have a clear path forward.
As for where the money would come from and how to get it, she already had a plan.