“Yuanyuan! Yuanyuan!”
“Coming! What is it?”
Yang Yuan had deliberately taken a couple of days off to relax at home as a reward for surviving the previous month’s hard work.
When she heard Yang Wenping calling her from outside, she hurried toward the front door.
Yang Wenping came running through the gate, panting heavily.
His entire face was glowing with excitement.
Seeing him smiling so brightly, Yang Yuan couldn’t help smiling too, though she looked puzzled.
“Yuanyuan, look!”
“I got it!”
“I’ve been assigned a job!”
“I finally have a job!”
He waved a sheet of official paper in the air, practically shining with joy.
“Really?”
“That’s wonderful!”
“You’ve finally been assigned!”
“Let me see!”
She was genuinely happier for him than she’d been when she herself found work.
After all…
It hadn’t been easy for Yang Wenping to reach this day.
She looked down at the appointment notice.
Office of the Civil Affairs Bureau, Zhengqiu County.
Wow.
Never mind anything else.
Even in the future, countless people would fight tooth and nail for a government position.
She herself had occasionally worried about what she’d do once the state-owned enterprises eventually faced layoffs.
Yang Wenping, however…
Had skipped straight to the ultimate iron rice bowl.
She patted him firmly on the shoulder.
“Serve the people well.”
“Even if you never accomplish anything spectacular…”
“Just accumulate seniority.”
“Who knows?”
“Maybe someday our family will even produce a bureau director!”
Yang Wenping didn’t particularly agree with her philosophy of quietly coasting through life.
But he was far too happy to argue today.
Yang Yuan celebrated good news the only way she knew how—
By eating well.
She immediately changed her shoes and went out to buy pork.
Before leaving, she instructed Yang Wenping,
“Steam rice.”
“Real rice.”
“No coarse grains mixed in.”
“I want pure Northeast white rice.”
On the way home…
She stopped by the state-owned restaurant.
She bought two meat dishes to take away:
Braised Chicken with Mushrooms.
Red-Braised Pork.
That night’s dinner surpassed even New Year’s.
When Father Yang and Mother Yang returned home…
They laughed.
They cried.
For an ordinary working-class family…
Having a child attend college was already an extraordinary achievement.
Now…
That same child had entered government service.
In earlier generations…
This would have been the sort of event worthy of opening the ancestral shrine to inform the ancestors.
Father Yang drank until his face turned bright red.
He held onto Yang Wenping all evening, talking nonstop.
The conversation continued late into the night.
The times discouraged extravagance and promoted thrift.
Otherwise…
Mother Yang would’ve invited everyone within ten miles and hosted a three-day banquet.
Even so…
Once her day off arrived…
She carried bags of fruit candies from house to house visiting relatives.
Neighbors.
Friends.
Everyone in the surrounding streets soon learned:
The Yang family’s fourth son had made something of himself.
The Yang family had never enjoyed such prestige.
Mother Yang didn’t even begrudge the money she’d spent on candy and sunflower seeds.
She wanted certain people…
Those who had looked down on them…
Those who had looked down on her son…
To see for themselves.
My fourth son has finally made it.
As for those sour-faced people who secretly gossiped behind our backs…
Let’s see now who looks down on whom.
Yang Yuan couldn’t help laughing.
The pointed sarcasm was impossible to miss.
Mother Yang was obviously talking about the Zheng family.
Who could blame her?
Everyone knew the truth.
Back then…
The Zheng family had agreed to the engagement only because Yang Wenping had been accepted into college.
Later…
When his job assignment kept being delayed…
Zheng Yuyin suddenly no longer wanted to marry him.
What timing.
Not early.
Not late.
Exactly then.
Wasn’t it simply because they looked down on him?
Mother Yang firmly believed that if the Yang family had possessed greater status…
Zheng Yuyin would’ve never dared behave so outrageously.
She’d only dared because the Yangs lacked influence.
Because she believed they could do nothing about it.
Just wait.
Mother Yang had been quietly keeping track of everything.
She wanted to see just how wonderful Zheng Yuyin’s future would really be.
As for her own son…
She intended to find him a wife infinitely better.
A thousand times better.
Ten thousand times better.
Humph.
Father Yang and Mother Yang also brought gifts to inform Grandma Yang of the happy news.
The old lady was overjoyed.
With a wave of her hand she declared,
“Call everyone over.”
“If we can’t host a public feast…”
“We can at least celebrate together as a family.”
Yang Yuan wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic.
She’d honestly rather stay home.
The problem was…
The Yang family tree was so unbelievably complicated that she still couldn’t keep everyone straight.
Years ago…
Grandfather Yang had worked as a hired laborer for a wealthy household.
When times became chaotic…
That family was destroyed.
The only survivor was the young lady of the house, who returned home as a widow with her son.
Grandfather Yang looked after her.
Eventually…
They became husband and wife.
Together they had another son and daughter.
Later…
Grandfather Yang apprenticed himself to a sesame oil maker.
When his master died…
He entrusted his daughter to him.
Grandfather Yang married again.
Inherited the oil workshop.
Had another son and daughter.
And even adopted a beggar boy.
Then war separated everyone.
Grandfather Yang later met an impoverished female student.
They also became husband and wife.
Their son…
Was Father Yang.
This was his third wife.
A few years later…
She ran away.
Later still…
The fighting intensified.
While Father Yang was out buying grain…
He was seized off the street and conscripted into the army.
There he met Grandfather Yang’s fourth wife.
She bore another son and daughter.
She worked as a nurse.
Eventually…
She died shielding Grandfather Yang from gunfire.
One could only imagine…
How enormous the Yang clan had become.
All nine children survived.
Each married.
Had children of their own.
Those grandchildren married and produced yet another generation.
Father Yang himself was nearly fifty.
The eldest son from the wealthy widow’s previous marriage—
Whom Yang Yuan addressed as Eldest Uncle—
Was already sixty-five.
Just imagining the sea of people…
The endless chatter…
Made Yang Yuan’s scalp tingle.
The only surviving grandmother now was Grandfather Yang’s second wife.
She still lived in the old Yang family residence.
Though everyone called it the “Yang ancestral home,” it had actually belonged to Second Grandma Yang’s father.
The old residence consisted of two connected courtyards.
Although the government had once intended to redistribute it after Liberation…
The Yang family was simply too large.
They barely had enough room for themselves.
So the house remained with the family.
Mother Yang practically dragged Yang Yuan there.
After all…
This was her own brother’s great achievement.
Not attending would’ve been unacceptable.
Grandfather Yang had passed away ten years earlier.
While alive…
He’d loved lively family gatherings.
He especially enjoyed seeing his sons and grandsons getting along harmoniously.
Even after his death…
His descendants maintained the tradition.
During holidays like New Year’s and Mid-Autumn Festival…
Every Yang family member gathered at the old house.
It had been here…
During New Year’s…
That the original Yang Yuan argued over unequal lucky money.
Someone pushed her down the steps.
She struck the back of her head.
And the present Yang Yuan arrived.
Now…
Aside from those sent to the countryside or living elsewhere…
Nearly every Yang family member in the city filled the courtyard.
“Wenping.”
“Come here.”
“Come sit beside Grandma.”
Grandma Yang was seventy-seven years old.
Deep wrinkles covered her face.
Sagging eyelids obscured half her vision.
Her eyes had long since lost their youthful brightness.
A cloth headband wrapped around her forehead.
Her white hair was neatly combed into a bun.
She still wore the loose, cross-collared clothing of the old era.
The bottoms of her trousers were tied tightly around her calves.
And beneath them…
She still had tiny bound feet.
Three-inch golden lotuses.
The white foot bindings bulged beneath her shoes.
She was truly a woman from another age.
Holding Yang Wenping’s hand…
She smiled broadly.
Having lost all her teeth years ago, only her gums remained.
“Except for your Eighth Uncle…”
“Whose whole family is in the army…”
“Among all the younger generation…”
“You’re the one who’s achieved the most.”
“If your grandfather were still alive…”
“He would’ve loved a child like you.”
“He spent his whole life bowing and scraping before others.”
“He never held even the smallest official position.”
“All he ever wished…”
“Was for his descendants to rise above their station.”
She squeezed Yang Wenping’s hand tightly.
“When you take office…”
“Be a good official.”
“From now on…”
“Our family’s future depends on you.”
“Bring honor to our ancestors.”
“And don’t forget your brothers and cousins.”
“Help them whenever you can.”
“If more members of our family become successful…”
“Then no one will ever dare bully us again.”