Yang Wenping went to cook, while Yang Yuan sorted through the ration coupons.
This was truly an eye-opener. From national-level down to village commune level, there were all kinds of coupons—everything imaginable, covering every aspect of eating, drinking, and daily life.
Cloth coupons and grain coupons were one thing—at most she glanced at them to note their face values—but there was even a coupon for sanitary belts. How unreasonable could things get?
Among soap coupons, thermos coupons, meat coupons, pastry coupons, and coal briquette coupons, she also discovered a urine coupon. A urine coupon!
Good grief, Yang Yuan couldn’t believe it. Did you even need a coupon to use the toilet?? Was there no justice in the world?
Finally, she saw a cloth coupon marked “one cun.” Her mind automatically started converting—one cun equals 3.3 centimeters. Thinking of the length of a one-inch photo, she was stunned. What could you possibly do with such a tiny scrap of cloth? And how would anyone even cut it?
“Thinking about buying a hair tie again?” Yang Wenping brought over two bowls of noodles, then fished out two pickled radishes, shredded them, and mixed in a bit of sesame oil.
So this—this was cloth for buying hair ties? Yang Yuan immediately understood. Of course—a finger-length strip of cloth was exactly the material for hair ties.
“And what about this one?” She pulled out the urine coupon to show Yang Wenping. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a urine coupon. What’s it for? For using the toilet?”
This made Yang Wenping burst out laughing. “Of course not. If toilet use were rationed, even the old landlords never squeezed people that hard.”
“No wonder you haven’t heard of it—these coupons are very rare. Where they exist, it’s only in impoverished areas, issued by county and township agricultural supply stations. They have nothing to do with using the toilet—they’re for fertilizer. Usually there’s no face value marked; it’s just assumed to be a thousand jin.”
After laughing, Yang Wenping grew a bit curious. Where had Mother Yang gotten such a coupon? Their city had no use for it, and the communes below collected fertilizer locally. Only remote areas would issue these homemade fertilizer coupons on a small scale, and they weren’t even official.
Yang Yuan was already slurping down her noodles. Who would have thought that after arriving here, even eating plain white noodles had become a luxury.
Yang Wenping found it amusing. Sure, it had been a long time since they’d had noodles, but they had just finished the New Year celebrations—there had been dumplings and steamed dishes, and Mom had also fried meatballs and made pork skin aspic. Especially this year, they’d had good luck—he had managed to snag a fish, and Father Yang had personally cooked it into braised fish in soy sauce.
When had she ever lacked meat and fish? Yet she acted like eating noodles was such a treat. Yang Wenping shook his head, unable to understand.
Yang Yuan first passed three hundred yuan to Song Can over the courtyard wall, then took Yang Wenping around to the Song family’s door, picked her up, and they headed to the textile factory together.
The second brother-in-law had already made arrangements, so they could go straight there. Yang Wenping waited outside while Song Can and Yang Yuan went in to speak with the director of the personnel department.
The director’s surname was also Yang. He had apparently been informed in advance, because he was all smiles and very agreeable. “Have you thought this through? Once I make the change, there’s no going back. The job will become Yang Yuan’s. In a big unit like ours, we can’t just let you do whatever you want.”
Song Can nodded firmly. “Thank you, Director Yang. I have no regrets. From now on, the job belongs to Yang Yuan.”
The hiring list hadn’t been posted yet, and work hadn’t started, so all they had to do was remove Song Can’s file from the internal personnel records and replace it with Yang Yuan’s, attaching Yang Yuan’s letter of introduction.
These records would also need to be reported to the labor union later.
“Come to work next Monday. Remember to bring your household registration booklet and grain and oil ration records. Everything will be processed together then.”
After leaving the textile factory, Yang Wenping took out a paper packet and handed it to Song Can. Inside was a stack of money and a stack of coupons.
“Cotton is in high demand right now, hard to get hold of. You’ll have to wait a few days. If you’re really pressed for time, we can make you a cotton quilt.”
“Thanks, Fourth Brother Yang. The Educated Youth Office hasn’t sent me notice yet, so I don’t know the exact departure date, but it’s usually ten days out.” Song Can was quite familiar with Yang Wenping too—they had simply seen less of each other after growing up.
Yang Yuan suddenly remembered something. Song Can’s first love had once given the original owner a letter, asking her to pass it on to Song Can, but the original owner had burned it the moment she turned away.
Now that she was on decent terms with Song Can, she felt a twinge of guilt about it.
She swallowed and steeled herself.
“Song Can, there’s something I need to tell you.” Meeting Song Can’s gaze, even though it hadn’t been her doing, she still felt guilty.
“Before New Year, when I was shopping for holiday goods, I ran into Liu Quanzhi. She gave me a letter to pass on to you. I… I had bought a lot of stuff that day and lost it. I never found the courage to tell you. I’m sorry.”
Yang Yuan couldn’t bring herself to say she had burned it on purpose. Even though the original owner really had been that unscrupulous, now that she was here, she had to maintain her image and redeem herself.
The moment Song Can heard this, she guessed the truth. With Yang Yuan’s character, how could it be as simple as losing a letter? Still, even if she had no interest in Liu Quanzhi’s letter, she couldn’t just let Yang Yuan trample over her like this.
“Yang Yuan, in the future, if you don’t want to help with something like this, just refuse. But you agreed and then carelessly lost my letter. That’s no way to treat people, is it?” Song Can’s eyes were clear and sharp, making Yang Yuan unable to straighten her back.
“You’re right, it was my fault. I won’t casually pass along letters anymore. My mom has scolded me for being careless too, and told me to stay out of things that don’t concern me. I’m truly sorry.”
Now that the money and goods had changed hands, whether Song Can went to the countryside to suffer or rose to glory, it would have nothing to do with Yang Yuan. With this matter cleared up, she and Song Can would have no more entanglements—they would each live their own lives.
Song Can hadn’t meant to put on a cold face; she just didn’t want Yang Yuan treating her like a pushover who was easy to bully. She hadn’t expected Yang Yuan’s attitude to be so much better than before.
Yang Yuan was dying to know why the book said Liu Quanzhi was Song Can’s first love, yet Song Can’s reaction now showed she didn’t care at all. She reacted less to this than to the things Yang Yuan had been hiding from her.
After getting off the bus, home wasn’t far away. Thinking that they wouldn’t have much to do with each other in the future, Yang Yuan couldn’t resist her gossip-loving nature and asked, “Are you and Liu Quanzhi really dating?”
Song Can was stunned—she hadn’t expected Yang Yuan to actually ask. In the past, Yang Yuan would never have said “Liu Quanzhi” in that tone, because Yang Yuan liked Liu Quanzhi, and had even mocked her openly and covertly plenty of times just because she had once been close to him.
“Liu Quanzhi’s mother came to see me, saying I was dreaming of becoming a phoenix flying up to the branch. We haven’t seen each other since. I’ve never dated him. I’m not interested.”
So you—do whatever you want.
With a look of disdain, Song Can strolled home, leaving Yang Yuan standing there, marveling at the power of true destiny. Sure enough, the female lead was fated for the countryside—she wouldn’t even spare a glance for the wildflowers along the road.
Yang Wenping, walking behind her, looked displeased and gave Yang Yuan a hard flick on the head without a shred of sympathy.
“Ow—” She jumped back several steps, clutching her head, eyes blazing.
Yang Wenping shoved his hands in his pockets. “Who’s Liu Quanzhi?”
“Just a classmate.”
“Nothing more? Hmph… Let me tell you, Yang Yuan, if you dare to casually start dating someone, I’ll break your legs.”