Reborn in 1966

Chapter Ten: Fate

The grain that Second Grandma carried not only saved the lives of several children in the Zhang family, but it was also enough. According to Grandma, Second Grandma also secretly sold some gold jewelry that Aunt Qiong had left at her parents' home when the Zhang family made the betrothal, and bought some grain. She didn't dare to take it all to Aunt Qiong's house at once, so she made an agreement with Aunt Qiong that her children would come to collect it every now and then. This is how Second Grandma helped Aunt Qiong's family get through those difficult years.

Peihua and Taiping were talking about the mass movement last year.

Peihua said, "I went to the county with some Red Guards from our village, but it was quite chaotic, so I came back. Tian Aiguo, the son of our village Party secretary, went to Beijing with Red Guards from the county high school. I heard he met Chairman Mao."

Taiping said, "I went with our commune's team. When we got to the city, we talked with some other teams and then came back. No one from our commune went to Beijing."

After saying this, Taiping looked at his younger siblings who were laughing and joking on the other side of the kang table, and whispered to Peihua, "Peihua, do you think this kind of networking is meaningful?"

Peihua looked up and then lowered his head and said softly, "Taiping, from now on, you should work hard with your younger siblings and Aunt Qiong to earn work points and live a good life. Try to participate in as few sports activities as possible. No one can predict what will happen in the future. We shouldn't be the ones to stand out, but we also shouldn't fall behind and be criticized or treated as a backward example."

Taiping said, “I think so too. Our family has a bad class background. I went through a lot of criticism and struggle sessions with my grandfather. I feel that this kind of movement is meaningless, but I can’t say what is meaningful. I want to talk to my eldest uncle. My mother said that my eldest uncle came from Beijing. Although he was labeled a rightist, he has a broad perspective and should be able to help me understand.”

Peihua said, "Why don't we invite my dad into this room after we finish eating so we can hear what he thinks?"

Taiping said, "Okay."

After dinner, Shen's father led Peihua and Taiping to the east wing. Peiyin closed her eyes to rest, but her ears were perked up, ready to hear what her father had to say.

Taiping said, "Uncle, I can't understand why I'm being criticized and struggled against all day long. My mother told me to talk to you and ask you to enlighten me."

Father Shen said, “This kind of criticism is because the critics and the criticized are from two different classes. Taiping, Peihua, I can’t say more, and I can’t say it well either. You two must remember that in the days to come, you should observe and listen more, and speak less. You are both the eldest children in the family, with several younger brothers and sisters. You are not only good helpers to your parents, but also role models for your younger brothers and sisters. So you two must restrain your words and actions. No matter where you are, no matter what you are going to say, you must think it through three times before you speak.”

Seeing his two children deep in thought, Mr. Shen said, “Peihua, Taiping, don’t look down on yourselves because of your class background. You need to be prepared that you will encounter many problems in the future because of your class background. When you encounter problems, you need to be open-minded. Remember, if one path is blocked, there will definitely be other paths for you to take. You not only need to be open-minded yourselves, but also help your younger siblings to be open-minded.”

The two teenagers nodded solemnly.

Shen's father said to Zhang Taiping, "Taiping, your mother is a magnanimous person. You can tell from what she has been through over the years. She is not someone who is easily defeated. You should teach your younger siblings to learn from your mother. When you encounter problems, don't argue with your emotions. A sapling bends in the wind and rain because it is not strong yet. When you grow into a big tree with thick branches and can withstand the wind and rain, you can stand upright in the wind and rain. So you must remember to bend down when you should."

Zhang Taiping nodded and said, "Uncle, I understand what you're saying."

Mr. Shen said, "It's good that you understand."

Zhang Taiping kept these words in his heart, and they accompanied him through many hardships in the years that followed. Many years later, when his brothers and sisters gathered together, Zhang Taiping said that if it weren't for his uncle's words, he didn't know if he could have endured those inhuman treatments. Of course, these are all stories for later.

Aunt Qiong's child has arrived, and Second Grandma is worried about Aunt Jue, who hasn't received any news.

The production team started working in the third year of junior high school.

After the start of spring, various crops need to be planted. At this time, the production team will organize everyone to prepare the land. The young members of the Shen family will go to work, while the older ones will either herd cattle or raise pigs. Shen's parents will go to the fields with the production team and can earn ten centimeters for a full day's work. Peihua can earn seven centimeters for a full day's work. The grandfather and second grandfather who herd cattle can earn eight centimeters. The third grandmother is a military dependent because her daughter guards the border. The village takes care of her and she receives a grain subsidy every year. The subsidized grain is enough for her to eat for a year. If she goes to work during the busy farming season, she can also earn centimeters.

Pei Yin lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) blowing bubbles, calculating the work points for her family. In the rural areas of this era, work points meant food, drink, and basic necessities for the family. Without earning work points, you would have no food to eat and no money to spend.

Until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, no one had come to Aunt Jue's house. Second Grandma couldn't sit still any longer, so she carried her bundle and headed to Aunt Jue's house early in the morning.

Aunt Jue's home is more than 20 miles away from Shenjia Village. It is not in the same commune as Shenjia Village. It is called Qinghe Village. The village is backed by green mountains and surrounded by Qinghe River. It is named after the Qinghe River that surrounds the village. There are about 30 households. Before liberation, most of them were hunters.

Aunt Jue married into this village because her second grandfather had a friend from this village. He brought a young man to Shenjia Village to meet him, and his second grandmother took a liking to him. He was the only son in the family, and the family made a living by hunting in the mountains. They also had a piece of land on the other side of the Qinghe River, so they were considered a well-off family.

Aunt Jue has been married into the family for over ten years and has given birth to two daughters and a son.

At that time, communication was basically done by shouting. The two families lived so far apart that no one they knew could send a message. The second grandmother was really anxious. After breakfast, she picked up her bundle and went out.

Besides Peitian and Peizhi, who were running around in the yard, only Peizhi was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed). Grandma busied herself tidying up, then took her sewing basket to the east wing to do needlework while watching the children.

Grandma was sewing a jacket that belonged to her eldest brother, Peihua. There was a large patch on each shoulder of the jacket, which was being sewn on neatly. This time, she was patching the elbows. Grandma cut two pieces of fabric from a piece of clothing that was so worn out that it was unwearable, and carefully sewed them to the holes. Peiyin thought to herself, "People in this era are really hardworking and frugal. In another thirty or forty years, clothes won't even be worn out; they'll just be thrown away when they're old. Unlike now, where you can patch and mend clothes every three years."

After a while, there was a commotion in the courtyard, and the Second Grandmother's voice could be heard. Grandmother quickly put down her needlework and went out to see what was going on.

A moment later, Grandma brought a woman in her thirties and three children into the house. The woman said with a smile, "Auntie, this is my eldest brother's youngest daughter. Let me take a look."

As she spoke, she rubbed her hands together, coaxing Pei Yin with "oh oh oh" sounds, gently picked her up, and said to her grandmother with a smile, "Oh dear, Auntie, this girl is so pretty. Let me see who she looks like."

Feeling a little sleepy, Pei Yin yawned and looked at the woman who was holding her. She was in her thirties, with smiling eyes that looked like two crescent moons. Her short hair, which reached her ears, was parted in a three-seven split, with two long black hair clips on the side with more hair.

The three children standing nearby saw their mother pick up the baby and quickly grabbed her arm, calling out, "Mommy, Mommy, let me see what the little sister looks like."

The woman said, "Slow down, slow down, don't scare the little sister. Come on, take a good look and see if the little sister is pretty."

There was a little girl who was eight or nine years old, and a little girl who was six or seven years old. Both little girls had pigtails, wore floral cotton-padded jackets, and coarse blue cotton pants over cotton-padded trousers. There was also a little boy who was about four years old, wearing a tiger-head hat. He was very sturdy. The three children were dressed neatly.

The little boy said, "My little sister is so pretty, Mom. Let's carry her home when we leave."

The woman said, "Oh dear, that won't do."

At this moment, the second grandmother walked in and said, "If you want a younger sister, have your mother give birth to another one for you."

The woman said to her second grandmother, somewhat embarrassed, "Mother, why are you telling the child these things?"

So this is the youngest daughter of Second Grandma, Aunt Jue, who married into Qinghe.

Grandma said, "You silly girl, you didn't even send us a message. Look how worried your mother was. She packed her bags and was about to go to your house early this morning. Luckily, we met on the way. What if we had gone astray?"

Aunt Jue said shyly, "Auntie, I was just thinking of bringing some of the wild boar meat I had prepared at home."

Grandma said, "Tell your aunt what happened. I heard from your mother that a herd of wild boars has entered your village."

Aunt Jue said, "I heard from the old folks in the village that the wild boars in Qinghe haven't come down from the mountain for many years. It's probably because of the heavy snowfalls before the New Year. The wild boars had nothing to eat on the mountain, so they came down to the village's wheat fields to root up the wheat and damage a lot of crops. I know that our Qinghe Village is about ten miles away from the nearest village, so the production team organized people to dig traps to catch wild boars. We started waiting for these wild boars from the 27th or 28th of the twelfth lunar month until the third day of the first lunar month. I wanted to come here on the second day, but Meixia's father was afraid that we would encounter wild boars on the way, so he didn't let me come. He said that it looked like these wild boars would come down from the mountain in a day or two. Sure enough, on the afternoon of the third day, a group of seven or eight wild boars came to the village. Luckily, there are many hunters in the village, and none of them escaped. The village divided up the wild boar meat, and that's how we brought the wild boar meat here."

At this moment, a man in his thirties entered the house, called out "Auntie" to his grandmother, and then said to his second grandmother, "Mother, I've hung the wild boar meat on the rafters of the woodshed. We can cut it up and eat it when it's time."

Second Grandma said, "Alright, alright, I'll cook you a good meal for lunch today. Jue, you and Meixia's father rest in this room for a while, I'll go to the kitchen to cook."

Grandma told the three children to take off their shoes and warm up on the kang (a heated brick bed). She asked Peizhi and Peitian to keep the three children company while they talked and ate. She also poured hot water for Aunt Jue and her husband and sat on the edge of the kang to talk.

Aunt Jue placed Pei Yin on the mattress, covered her with a small quilt on top of the swaddle blanket, and then picked up the hot water that Grandma had poured, telling Grandma about the recent situation at home.