Quick Wear: Men Farming and Women Weaving

“This family can’t survive.”

"Without him, there would be no me"

There was a burst of noise, a man and a woman were arguing outside, talking loudly. They were Lu Qinghai's father and stepmother.

Lu Qinghai was lying in the attic, listening to the noise coming from downstairs. His stepmother had started to dislike him five years ago. She gave birth to another son and thought that everything in the house belonged to her son. Lu Qinghai's father, Lu Dawei, relied on his ex-wife's nepotism to become a small clerk. After his ex-wife died of illness, he immediately married the daughter of his current leader. He didn't care about anything at home, and everything was managed by his current wife. He relied on his step-wife to be promoted to a cadre, and his father-in-law continued to be his leader.

When his mother was seriously ill, Lu Dawei had an affair with his current stepmother. Although his mother was seriously ill, she could still see Lu Dawei's thoughts. For the sake of her children, she gave all the money that Lu Dawei didn't know about to Lu Qinghai and asked him to hide it. She told him that there were two boxes under the floor behind his closet, which were her dowry, and asked him to put them away. The things left by his father were all in the secret room of the deserted house. She took out a jade pendant from her neck and gave it to Lu Qinghai, saying it was the key to open the secret room. The jade pendant was in the style of a roaring unicorn. No one would want to carve such a jade pendant, which made it unique.

After my mother passed away, I hid all my belongings in the space. I sneaked into the deserted house at night and found the location. This location was really great. My grandfather actually built the secret room under the main door. Every day, people came and went, and everyone walked on the treasure room. Many Red Guards ignored this door when they searched the house.

I took the jade pendant and pressed it in. It just matched the pattern inside. I pressed it down with my left hand. I heard the sound of the cover rotating behind me. I stood up and looked. I was shocked. The marble was like a mechanism hanging vertically in the air. A staircase appeared inside. I walked down quickly. In the light of the flashlight, there were large wooden boxes piled up around, at least 3 meters high. I opened a box and saw that it was full of gold bars, silver ingots, antiques, calligraphy and paintings. All the books were hidden here. On the other side were some things hidden in recent years. A box of more expensive medicinal materials, Ganoderma lucidum and ginseng were stored in a special jade box, and there were also some deer antlers, Polygonum multiflorum, Cordyceps sinensis and Panax notoginseng. There were ten boxes outside, all of which were leather.

There was also a small box on top of the big box. When I opened it, I saw that the name under the topmost deed was his. My grandfather must have known what was going to happen, so he arranged in advance to replace the deed with his name.

Put all the things into the space. The living room, bedroom and guest room are all full. Even the bathroom is piled with more than ten boxes. Take out the fine soil and fan prepared in advance, and clean all the traces. Make the dust very thick to cover the traces of the original boxes.

When I was about to go back, I picked up the jade pendant, put it into the space and left. I spent too long at night, so I hurried back.

Five years passed like this. During these five years, he was driven to live in the attic by his stepmother, and his room was given to his 5-year-old brother.

Now that he has grown up and is almost 16 years old, his stepmother is worried that the family's resources will be tilted towards Lu Qinghai, so she tries every means to drive him away.

Lu Qinghai wanted to move his household registration out and register the abandoned house under his own name. Lu Dawei didn't want his son to be out of his sight, so he was looking for his ex-wife's inheritance. However, his relationship with his current wife was special. Her father was his top leader and his father-in-law. The barrier to promotion was with his father-in-law. So he didn't dare to offend her.

The next day, the stepmother sat there with a stern face and ignored Lu Dawei. After breakfast, she took her son back to her parents' home. In the evening, the stepmother came back happily and mysteriously. Especially during this period, her attitude towards Lu Qinghai was very good.

On the third day, during dinner, he threw a notice of sending educated youth to the countryside on the table and said, "I have registered you to go to the countryside, and the subsidies are all here." He took out 100 yuan in cash from his pocket and put it in front of Lu Qinghai.

"The address is Hongqi Commune, Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. Take the train in three days. Pack up and leave." The household registration transfer certificate and letter of introduction were given to Lu Qinghai.

Lu Dawei looked at her with an unhappy face and blamed her for not discussing it with him in advance and making the decision at will. The two argued again. The stepmother said it was too late now, and the matter had been decided anyway.

Lu Qinghai said to his father and wife, "It's very cold in the Northeast, so you need to bring some things with you. You need tickets to buy things." He asked for food coupons, cloth coupons, and industrial coupons.

In order to let him leave smoothly, the woman went back to the room to get the ticket. Lu Dawei asked his silent son whether his biological mother had said anything. He wanted to know where the Fang family's property was.

"No, they just asked me to study hard and arrange my funeral arrangements," Lu Qinghai said calmly.

When the man saw the woman coming out, he stopped talking.

He threw more than 20 bills in front of him and told him to pack up his things and get out in three days. Lu Qinghai packed up his things and left, went back to the attic to pack his luggage, put all his books in the space, and went to school the next morning to apply for his graduation certificate. His teacher did not ask him anything, but just told him to study hard and take good care of himself in the countryside.

I took my prepared luggage to the post office to send it to the Northeast Commune. I watched the post office staff registering stamps and thought of the out-of-print stamps. I asked the staff if I could have a complete sheet of each stamp.

The employees inside know that some people like to collect stamps, but they only buy one. But he wants every kind, and a whole sheet, which is rare. But he is not curious about it. As long as he can sell it, it is his credit.

"Okay, I'll go find them for you in the back. Some of them are old and no longer in use. Do you want them too?"

"The old ones are no longer in use, so I'll do it"

The warehouse at the back took out a large bag of old stamps and put them on the counter. Each one looked very old and some were very collectible. Opera, acrobatics, Beijing, Tiananmen. Five full sheets of each were picked out. Among the stamps currently in use, I also saw "The Mountains and Rivers Are Red", which is an out-of-print stamp. Only two editions were issued and have not been returned for destruction. It cost more than 2 yuan in total.

I bought daily necessities at the supply and marketing cooperative, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, and soap. I didn’t have tickets for things I couldn’t buy. I also bought a large bag of White Rabbit candy. In the afternoon, I went to the street office to register the land deed, otherwise it would be handled or sold at will by the street office.

Director Li in the subdistrict office looked at the deed in his hand. The yard in the west of the city had been abandoned for more than ten years and no one lived there. It was almost as if there was no heir. Looking at the young man who came, he knew that he was the descendant of this yard. It was not difficult to re-apply for the property certificate.

Lu Qinghai returned to the deserted house and prepared to put a lock on it to prevent it from being occupied by others before he came back.

He sent everything he could in the past three days, including the large iron pot in the space. When he was leaving for the train, no one at home came to see him off. Seeing that no one was at home, he came up with a bad idea and packed up all the food at home and took it away.