Reborn in 1966

Chapter 102 Willing

Aunt Shengquan said, "Aunt Hua, is there something you want to discuss with me?"

Aunt Hua said, "This afternoon, Qi Xiangnan and Li Lei came to my house and asked me to help Li Lei find a wife. The young man said he wants to settle down in our Shenjia Village. I'm not sure if he's suitable, so I came to talk to you and see if you know anyone suitable."

After listening to Aunt Hua's words, Aunt Shengquan thought for a while and said, "Aunt Hua, Li Lei is a good young man, but he's not from around here after all. We can't decide the policy. What if one day a new policy comes out that makes them go back to where they came from? What will happen to his wife then?"

Aunt Hua said, "That's what I told him too. Li Lei said he wouldn't go anywhere else from now on, he'd just stay in our Shenjia Village."

Aunt Shengquan said, "This person changes his mind every now and then. What if he regrets it later?"

Aunt Hua said, "I'm also worried about that. I was thinking of mentioning it to Er Ya to see if Li Lei could go to their house."

Aunt Shengquan said, "Er Ya keeps saying she wants to find a son-in-law to take care of her in her old age. Li Lei is from the city, is he capable of doing that?"

At this moment, Er Ya suddenly lifted the curtain at the door and said, "Grandma Hua, I want to talk to Li Lei."

Neither of the adults in the room expected that the little girls would be squatting at the door eavesdropping on their conversation. Aunt Shengquan stood up from the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), walked to the door, and scolded with a smile, "What are you doing, you little brats? You've even learned to eavesdrop on adults' conversations, huh?"

The girls came out of the main room laughing and joking. Pei Yin, holding Pei Jing's hand, brought up the rear and turned back to Aunt Sheng Quan with a smile, saying, "Auntie, the sisters all say this is a happy occasion. Does this mean we'll get wedding candy?"

Aunt Shengquan said, "The wedding candy is a bit early, but you can't go around saying things like that. It's not even close to happening yet."

Inside the house, Er Ya sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and said to Grandma Hua, "Grandma Hua, I said that finding a son-in-law to take care of my parents is just for them to live in our house. It's convenient for them to take care of my grandma and my parents. When they have children, they can keep their own surnames. It's not like they have to take our surname, Shen. Besides, I'm married to Li Lei. If he regrets it and wants to go back to the city, he can go. I just need to have my children to take care of me."

Aunt Hua said, "Nonsense, Er Ya, do you think getting married is like playing house? Once you're married, you're family, and you can't easily separate. If you separate, can you still call yourself family? Besides, you said you're taking care of the child by yourself. Do you think it's a game for a woman to raise a child alone? Raising a child is not like playing house."

Er Ya said, "I still want to talk to Li Lei, Grandma Hua. I'm turning eighteen soon, and it's time to find someone to marry me. Anyway, I don't plan to marry into another family. If we get married, I can only live in my house. Li Lei is so far away and he's here all by himself. If we get married, he won't have to find a place to live anymore."

As Aunt Shengquan entered from the main room, she smiled and said, "What a personality you have! You've never blushed when it came to finding a husband and getting married."

Er Ya said, "Grandma, why are you blushing? When people grow up, they will all get married soon. I don't think there's any need to blush."

Er Ya had a good impression of Li Lei, thinking he was a down-to-earth and hardworking young man. After Aunt Hua told Er Ya about Li Lei, Er Ya actually had a feeling of "thank goodness it was him".

After meeting once, the two decided to get married and agreed to hold the wedding at the end of the year.

After Li Lei wrote a letter to his family about his marriage, a while later his family received a letter with a package containing the backs of two beds.

Li Lei was depressed for several days after reading the letter. Qi Xiangnan found it strange and asked, "Don't your family agree? Didn't they send you things for the wedding?"

Li Lei lit another cigarette for himself and said, "They didn't disagree at all. They said they fully supported my decision. They didn't have much money at home, so they gave me two yuan with the back side down. They also said that it's not easy to go back home since I live so far away, so I don't need to bring my wife back with me."

Qi Xiangnan was speechless after hearing Li Lei's words. He hadn't even met the new bride yet, and he said he didn't need to take her back. It didn't seem normal at all.

Li Lei finished his cigarette with his head down and said, "That's how it is. It's always been like this since I was a child. I'm used to always giving the best things to my younger siblings first."

Qi Xiangnan patted Li Lei on the shoulder and said, "Li Lei, live a good life with Shen Lan. It's better for you two to live a good life than anything else." Er Ya's real name is "Shen Lan".

Li Lei said, "I know," but his face still showed signs of resentment.

The autumn harvest in Shenjia Village was just like every year. The villagers were full of enthusiasm. The heavy harvest fruits were transported to the village threshing ground little by little, and finally, the grain was stored in the village warehouse after the public grain was handed over.

This year's harvest was as good as ever. By the time the grain was distributed in the village, the autumn wind was already blowing. Because he was going to marry Shen Lan, Li Lei spent his free time helping to tidy up the house at Shen Lan's house. After they got married, they lived in Shen Peihong's house. Some villagers envied Li Lei and Shen Lan's marriage, some were disdainful, and some were gloating. In short, there were all sorts of opinions.

Shen Lan, also known as Er Ya, made a pair of mandarin duck pillowcases with the help of Aunt Sheng Quan these past two days. Girls from respectable families in the village would prepare this themselves, as it is a kind of expectation for their future marriage.

The Shen family's house consisted of three main rooms facing north and two rooms facing east. To the west was a kitchen and a small shed for storing miscellaneous items. Li Lei and Shen Lan's new house was located in the east wing. Several educated youths helped renovate the house, bought some whitewash and painted it several times. Shen Peihong took out some timber she had stored at home and asked the village carpenter to make some simple furniture. A kang (heated brick bed) was built in front of the window of the east wing, along with a heated wall and a large stove. A large pot was placed on the stove. Winters in the north are still very cold. With a kang and a large stove, they could heat some water to warm the house. It would be very comfortable for anyone to sleep on the warm kang at night.

Er Ya was full of hope for the future. This woman, who greatly admired scholars, found it hard to believe that she could marry a young intellectual from the city. After meeting Li Lei a few times, she was completely captivated by this quiet but considerate man.

Li Lei greatly admires Er Ya's straightforwardness and feels that having a cheerful, knowledgeable, and reasonable rural woman as his other half would be something to look forward to.

The news of Li Lei and Er Ya's upcoming marriage deeply moved the other educated youth. Wu Jiajia couldn't calm down when Wang Si and Zheng Tonghui went through the procedures for returning to the city. Her father had already written to her, saying he was working on it to help her return to the city as soon as possible, but so many days had passed and there was still no definite reply. Wu Jiajia felt restless, unsure of where to direct her efforts.

Qian Xiuju and Zhou Qian's families were not well-off. Their families had already told them that they had no way to help them return to the city. Besides, what difference would it make if they went back to the city? They would still have to work and earn money. After thinking it through, the two of them felt no more guilty and continued to work in the fields with the production team as usual. Because of their years of working in the fields, they were getting better and better at their work and no longer felt guilty.

Qian Xiuju thought a lot about Li Lei and Shen Lan's marriage. She was already twenty years old and it was time for her to get married. If she couldn't go back to the city now, she didn't want to find someone in the countryside. But she couldn't keep putting it off. The best way was to find a former educated youth, so that even if she went back to the city later, they could be together. So, Qian Xiuju looked around among her classmates in the surrounding villages to see if she could find a partner.

Zhou Qian is still young, only sixteen or seventeen years old. In the past two years, she has become friends with Meng Ruolan and Shen Jinhua, who are the same age. Even the marriage of Er Ya, who often plays with her, to Li Lei did not stir any ripples in Zhou Qian's heart. She felt that getting married was too far away from her. She was still concerned about whether she could get more grain after the autumn harvest and whether she could get a leave to visit relatives during the Spring Festival.

Secretary Tian had mixed feelings about Li Lei and Er Ya's marriage. He was happy that a young educated youth from his village was marrying a local woman, which was a good response to the central government's call for educated youth to take root in the countryside and the frontier. His village had Li Lei as a model, the first of its kind in the entire commune, and the commune had praised him several times at meetings for this example, proving his effective leadership. However, he was worried that if policies changed in the future, these educated youth would have to return to where they came from, and what would happen to Shen Peihong's family? Er Ya, despite her straightforward personality, was a strong-willed woman; what would happen to the elderly in her family if she had a change of heart?

On his way back to the village from the commune meeting, Party Secretary Tian pondered for a long time on his bicycle, but he didn't know where to begin. So he simply stopped thinking about it and took the wedding gift that the commune had given to Li Lei, a progressive educated youth, back to the brigade headquarters.

There are now four male educated youth living in the dormitory. Wang Si and Zheng Tonghui returned to the city a couple of days ago. Secretary Tian thought it was good that the two boys left, because they didn't work properly and always came up with crooked ideas. Every winter, one or two big trees would go missing from the ridge of Shenjia Village and the forests of other villages. Secretary Tian knew that some educated youth had secretly cut them down and sold them in the city for firewood. There were quite a few of these tree cutters, and Secretary Tian felt that Wang Si and Zheng Tonghui must be among them.

When Secretary Tian arrived at the brigade headquarters, everyone from the educated youth dormitory was already there.

Secretary Tian knocked on the door and went in. He saw Li Lei tidying up his things, and Qi Xiangnan and two other educated youths each holding a book. Secretary Tian was immediately pleased. Although people now call intellectuals "stinking old ninth category" (a derogatory term for intellectuals), being illiterate and uncultured is unacceptable. Every night, Secretary Tian had Qi Xiangnan and several other educated youths teach the villagers to read at the village's night school. At the very least, you need to know how to write your name. Otherwise, if you need to sign something in the future, can you just press your fingerprint? The working people of the new society must be different from those illiterate old farmers of the old society. The new society must have a new look.