Quick Wear: Men Farming and Women Weaving

Wang Zhizhi locked the door, went to her stepmother's room, opened the door and walked in, looking at the simple furniture inside. Her actions were interrupted by her stepsister who suddenly came back before, so this time she wanted to find out about her father's savings and that woman's private money.

She opened all the bedside tables, turned over everything under the wooden bed, under the pillows, and at the foot of the bed, and checked everywhere that could be found under the bed, but couldn't find it.

Wang Zhizhi stared at the closet and dressing table. She searched the closet but couldn't find any money. She only found some old-fashioned cosmetics and vanishing cream in the dressing table. She threw them in angrily and kicked over a wooden stool, causing the secret compartment inside to fall out. She opened the stool with joy, but in the end she was disappointed because the secret compartment inside the stool was empty, with nothing in it.

Finally, I found the household registration book among two wooden boxes in the corner that were filled with winter clothes and quilts. I saw that there were only the household registrations of my father, stepmother, and my two sisters.

Wang Zhizhi had no idea what was going on in her mind and put the household registration booklet into her arms.

He tidied up the room, restored it to its original state, closed the door, and ran outside.

A neighbor aunt in the nearby corridor saw that Wang Zhizhi did not go to school. She was curious and wanted to ask her. But when she saw that Wang Zhizhi ran away without saying hello, she secretly cursed Wang Zhizhi for being rude.

Wang Zhizhi was nervous and looked around all the way until she arrived at the street office.

"Hello comrade, where is the office that handles the sending of educated youth to the countryside?" Wang Zhizhi asked the guard cautiously.

"It's the office at the corner in front." The security guard pointed out the direction with sympathy, seeing that the person was the educated youth. He had seen too many young people who were forced to go to the countryside crying and wailing in recent days.

Wang Zhizhi followed the direction to the open office door and knocked.

"Come in"

"What's the matter?" The street director looked down at the documents with a sad face.

“We are here to organize the educated youth to go to the countryside.”

"Oh? Going to the countryside." When the street director heard that someone was going to the countryside on his own initiative, he thought it was an illusion and looked up, only to find that it was a girl of about sixteen or seventeen years old.

"Where are your parents? Have they agreed to let you go to the countryside?"

Wang Zhizhi said timidly, "My dad agreed, and I have a younger sister."

"My stepmother said that my sister was too young, so she asked me to go to the countryside as an educated youth first," he handed the household registration book to the director.

"So that's how it is." The street director felt a little sorry for the little girl who was abused by her stepmother, but he couldn't stop her from going to the countryside. Otherwise, he would be criticized by his superiors if the list of educated youth going to the countryside was not completed.

"I want to leave within three days," Wang Zhizhi cried pitifully to the street director.

"I see there is a train heading to the Northeast within these three days. I can let you join the team. You will spend most of the winter there and only be busy with farm work for half a year." The street director looked at the list of educated youth and crossed out a name and wrote down Wang Zhizhi's name.

One of the educated youth on the list was his nephew. His second brother had two sons, so only one could be sent to the countryside. If someone volunteered to go to the countryside, he could make some arrangements and send his nephew to a nearby rural area.

The street director took out a train ticket from the drawer, ten kilograms of national grain coupons, 50 yuan of educated youth subsidy and handed them to her, as well as a letter of introduction with Wang Zhizhi's name and address written on it and a red seal on it.

"Put these things away. Don't be late for the 4 o'clock train on the third morning."

"Thank you, Director." Wang Zhizhi bowed with tears of gratitude.

By the time Wang Zhizhi came out of the street office, it was already late, so she put the thing tightly in her arms.

He ran to a secluded place and put the letter of introduction for going to the countryside, train tickets, food coupons and 50 yuan into the space.

He hurried back home and ran into his stepmother's room very quickly, put the household registration book away. He heard the sound coming from outside with his sensitive ears, and ran quickly into his own room.

At noon, after Wang Xiuxiu came back from school, she prepared to cook a pot of coarse grain porridge at home and waited for her stepfather and grandson's mother to come back.

Finding that the atmosphere at home was a little strange, he returned to the room where the two sisters lived, knocked on the door, and found that Wang Zhizhi was already lying on the bed resting.

She took off her cross-body bag and put it on the table. She ignored Wang Zhizhi and went to Sun's mother's room to check. She found that many things had been moved. There were signs that the clothes and bedding had been turned over, and the stool in front of the dressing table was no longer in its original place. Wang Xiuxiu breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she put all the things away in the morning, otherwise Wang Zhizhi would have gotten away with it.

At this moment, Wang Zhizhi in the bedroom was a little nervous and afraid of being discovered by Wang Xiuxiu. She lay on the bed covered with a quilt and closed her eyes.

At noon, Wang Deshun brought his grandson's mother back home to have a rest. Seeing that his stepdaughter had already prepared porridge, he smiled with satisfaction, handed the lunch box in his hand to his grandson's mother and poured it into the soup bowl.

"Today, there was stir-fried cabbage with minced meat in the canteen of the textile factory. I bought a whole box of it."

"Is Zhizhi back?" Wang Deshun sat at the dinner table.

"My sister is resting in the room." Wang Xiuxiu obediently filled the enamel teacup with water for her stepfather to drink.

"Hmph, her temper is getting more and more unreasonable." Wang Deshun was somewhat dissatisfied with his daughter's behavior during the confinement period.

"Old Wang, just wait until Zhizhi grows up and becomes sensible." Sun's mother served the porridge and placed it on the table.

"Xiu Xiu, go call her to eat." Wang Deshun still felt sorry for his daughter.

Wang Xiuxiu rolled her eyes in her heart, and following her mother's gaze, she went into the room and called her to eat.

"Sister, Dad asked you to go out for dinner"

Wang Zhizhi heard light footsteps and it was Wang Xiuxiu coming in. After hearing her words, she opened her eyes, stood up and walked out silently.

Wang Deshun saw that his daughter's temper was much calmer today. She was sitting obediently at the dinner table, quietly holding the porridge served by her stepmother and drinking it slowly.

Today, Wang Deshun told Sun's mother that many of his co-workers in the factory said that their children had reached the age to go to the countryside as educated youth, and they were constantly asking in the factory if there were any vacancies for apprenticeships so that they could arrange for their children to go to the factory to avoid becoming educated youth.

“Fortunately, our two daughters are not yet of age. Zhizhi still has half a year to go and will be able to find a suitable job after graduating from high school in the second half of the year,” Wang Deshun leaned leisurely back in his chair.

Wang Zhizhi heard what her father said and lowered her head feeling guilty. She finished her meal absentmindedly and hid in her room.

"I also saw many parents in the supply and marketing cooperative preparing luggage for their children to go to the countryside." Sun's mother didn't want her daughter to suffer the same misfortune. Anything can happen in the countryside, and farm work is very heavy. The autumn harvest is very tiring and people will be sunburned.

Wang Xiuxiu didn't interrupt and waited for her stepfather to go back to the bedroom to rest.

After pulling her mother into the kitchen and talking to her in a low voice, Wang Zhizhi went into her room again and rummaged through things.

"Mom, I put the things in the secret compartment in my bag before I left. When I came back, I found that your room had been searched."

Sun's mother was pulled into the kitchen. When she heard what her daughter said, she immediately became angry and was about to rush up to Wang Zhizhi to question her.

Since she married into the Wang family, she believed that she had not treated her stepdaughter unfairly. She had everything that her own daughter had.

Every household was so poor that it was good enough for them to have enough food to eat. She still wanted to eat well.

Wang Deshun only gave her living expenses out of his monthly salary. All the family’s daily necessities came from this salary, so it was already good enough that she had just enough living expenses.