6
Waving in the Wind
Lu Xuanzhou’s mind instantly went blank with shock. He immediately clenched the panties in his hand and warily scanned his surroundings.
Fortunately, his insomnia had made him rise early, and no one had yet come to the courtyard to wash up.
He took a deep breath, slowly unclenched his fist, and stuffed Lin Jianchun’s panties to the bottom of the bucket.
If he washed all the other clothes but left out this one pair of panties, would Lin Jianchun think he found them disgusting?
Lu Xuanzhou sighed in resignation. Fine, he’d wash them this time. If she wasn’t comfortable with it next time, she’d probably hide them away herself.
After hanging the laundry on the clothesline in front of their door, only one pair of panties remained in the bucket…
He thought for a moment. The women in the Courtyard didn’t seem to hang their intimate garments outside.
Well, since she was his woman for the day, he ought to fulfill his duties properly.
Lu Xuanzhou strung a line across the window and hung the panties there.
By the time Lu Xuanzhou returned from the State-run Restaurant with breakfast, Mother Lu had just gotten up.
“Why are you up so early today?”
Lu Xuanzhou murmured an acknowledgment: “There’s still work at the factory. Breakfast is warming in the pot.”
Lin Jianchun climbed out of bed yawning and stretched lazily. Did she just see her panties fluttering proudly by the window?
Her mind went completely blank. Since being abandoned at the orphanage as a child and later adopted, she’d never experienced this. Around third grade, when her adoptive mother became pregnant, she accidentally overheard them planning to send her away. Her only thought then was that she might never get to study again if sent away, so she needed to read as much as possible before that happened.
Her intensive studying led to skipping grades. Because of her academic excellence, her adoptive parents abandoned the idea of sending her away, though they still expected her to feign affection toward them – something she couldn’t bring herself to do. After several conflicts, she used money to sever the adoption ties.
Therefore, for as long as Lin Jianchun could remember, no one had ever done her laundry, let alone washed such intimate garments.
Blushing with embarrassment and indignation, she took down the panties. She had to admit they were quite clean.
Still possessing some common sense, she knew panties needed sunlight to dry properly. The doorway, with its constant foot traffic, wasn’t suitable. Eventually, she hung them back where they were, letting them continue their proud flutter in the breeze.
“Daughter-in-law, are you up?” Mother Lu heard movement but hadn’t seen Lin Jianchun emerge for a while, thinking she might be having some trouble.
“I’m up, Mom.”
“Alright then, I’ll warm up breakfast for you.”
When Lin Jianchun left the room, only Mother Lu remained at home, busy assembling matchboxes. Lu Xuanzhou had already left for work, and Little Lu had gone to school.
Little Lu was in his second year of high school, with just one month until graduation – after which he would face being sent down to the countryside.
Mother Lu fetched water for Lin Jianchun to wash up with, then personally brought out her breakfast: a large bowl of hash soup and two sweet fried cakes.
After Lin Jianchun finished eating, Mother Lu proactively cleared the dishes, not letting her lift a finger.
“Daughter-in-law, could Mom discuss something with you?”
Lin Jianchun responded sweetly: “Mom, just tell me what to do. I’ll follow your instructions.”
Mother Lu spoke with some difficulty: “Tomorrow should be your day for returning to the bride’s parental home. Your family must be eagerly awaiting your return. Now that you’re part of our Lu family, we ought to visit your home and get acquainted. But the timing is rather rushed – could we postpone it for a few days? How about next Friday, and we’ll have A Zhou take two days off?”
She had visited her maiden home yesterday and gathered all the ration coupons she could find there. She was still short of some and had asked her sisters-in-law to help exchange for more.
Lin Jianchun thought it was something serious and agreed immediately. “Then I’ll make a call back to the village.”
“That would be best.” Mother Lu insisted on stuffing a ten-yuan bill into Lin Jianchun’s hand for her to make the call at the post office.
Lin Jianchun chuckled. “Mom, this is way too much.”
“When calling family, no amount of talking is ever too much.”
“Mom, you’re so kind.”
Lin Jianchun pocketed the money and took a bus to the post office.
She called the village and arranged to call back in twenty minutes.
“Xiaochun’er, are you alright?”
As soon as the call connected, an anxious voice came through. Lin Jianchun’s eyes stung, and she suddenly felt like crying.
“Xiaochun’er, why aren’t you speaking? Brigade Leader, could this phone be broken?”
Lin Jianchun cleared her throat. “Mom, I’m here.”
“You scared me! I thought the brigade leader was going to blame me for his broken phone.”
The vigorous voice of Lin’s mother, Du Fangqin, came through the receiver. Lin Jianchun recalled the book’s description of the original host’s family: a rogue father, a sharp-tongued mother, an ambitious brother determined to get into university, and a sister who dreamed of marrying her former brother-in-law to climb the social ladder—a whole family of eccentrics… In short, they were neither worthy of the male lead nor the female lead’s brother.
Lin’s father, Lin Xiushan, was also on the other end: “Phone calls are expensive. Don’t use up our daughter’s savings on this call.”
“Oh, right, right. Xiaochun’er, what did you call for?”
Lin Jianchun quickly summarized the situation about the arranged marriage exchange. “My mother-in-law said they’ll visit next Friday to formally meet the family. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now. This call might cost over five yuan.”
“So expensive? Then hang up quickly!”
After hanging up, Du Fangqin erupted in anger. “That damned Song family actually bullied our eldest daughter! No, I’m going to the city to stand up for her.”
Lin Xiushan’s face darkened. He had discovered a wild boar den in the mountains and planned to hunt them after dark. He originally wanted his daughter to bring back more meat when returning to her parental home to make a better impression…
“I can’t go. Take Xiaoliuer with you. She’s clever. If anything happens, have her call home, and I’ll bring the family over.”
Du Fangqin agreed. “One more thing—should we bring gifts for the new in-laws?”
“Go scope things out first. If these new in-laws are different from the Song family, have Xiaoliuer call home, and I’ll send gifts over.”
“Alright.”
…
Meanwhile, Lin Jianchun hung up and asked the staff: “Comrade, how much was that call just now?”
“Four cents.”
“Four cents?” While reading, she’d seen people spending several yuan on phone calls.
The staff explained: “Local calls are charged per call, not by duration. Long-distance calls are charged by distance and time, so they’re more expensive.”
“Oh, thank you, comrade.”
Lin Jianchun handed over the ten-yuan bill Mother Lu had given her. The staff member’s eyes widened in shock. “Don’t you have smaller change?”
Lin Jianchun shook her head apologetically. “I thought a phone call would cost at least four or five yuan.”
In the end, Lin Jianchun received a handful of change for her ten-yuan bill. The worried staff member even gave her an envelope to keep the money safe.
“Thank you.”
After leaving the post office, she headed straight for the State-run Restaurant.
She had promised Little Lu she would buy him roast duck, and without any meat coupons, she decided to try her luck at the State-run Restaurant.
At half past nine, the aroma of meat had just begun to waft from the State-run Restaurant.
“Comrade, do you have roast duck?”
“It’ll be another hour before it’s ready.”
The server was a woman in her thirties, with short, neat hair and an efficient demeanor. She pointed to the words written on a small blackboard. “Eight yuan per duck. How many would you like?”
“Two.”
Lin Jianchun leaned closer and whispered, “Comrade, I came out in a hurry and didn’t bring any coupons. Could I leave a deposit?”
She remembered reading in the book that the server at the State-run Restaurant near the post office had been reported by the female protagonist, Song Caiwei, for privately reselling coupons and had lost her job. Song Caiwei, having contributed to the exposure, was promoted and given a raise.
The woman didn’t respond until Lin Jianchun took out an envelope—the kind used internally by post office staff.
“You work at the post office?”
Lin Jianchun neither confirmed nor denied it, simply smiling as she handed over eighteen yuan.
The woman didn’t push it back. “Alright, these two yuan are the deposit. If you don’t bring the meat coupons tomorrow, the deposit won’t be refunded.”
“Of course, thank you for accommodating me, comrade. Otherwise, I might have made this trip for nothing.”
Zhou Ying accepted the money, a smile finally appearing on her face. She liked dealing with clever people. “My name is Zhou Ying. I’m probably a few years older than you. If you don’t mind, you can call me Sister Zhou.”
Lin Jianchun had no objections and immediately began addressing her as Sister Zhou. With an hour left before the roast duck was ready, she intended to use the time to build a good rapport with Zhou Ying.