Reborn in 1966

Chapter Forty-One: Heartache

After dinner, Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan went to the Shen family home to visit Peihua, who had just returned home.

Grandma asked Meng Ruolan, "Ruolan, have you eaten? If not, Grandma will make you something to eat."

Ruolan smiled and said, "Grandma, no need. I already ate at Jinhua's house. Aunt Shengquan made us some pancakes."

Aunt Shengquan felt sorry for Meng Ruolan because she didn't have a mother by her side. Whenever she cooked something delicious, she would have Shen Jinhua call her over to eat. Although Professor Meng loved her granddaughter, she knew that a girl needed a female elder to guide her, so she was happy for Meng Ruolan to visit Aunt Shengquan's house often. The two families were very close behind the scenes. Of course, they still had to maintain a certain facade, otherwise, it would be bad if some of the rumors reached the ears of certain leaders in the commune.

Shen Jinhua said with a smile, "Grandma, you don't need to bother. We heard that Brother Peihua is back and came to see him."

Grandma said, "The children are all in my room, listening to Peihua talk about his marriage."

Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan entered their grandmother's main north room.

A group of children sat around a kang table. The dim oil lamp on the table only revealed a vague outline. Under this dim light, Peihua told them about his experiences over the past few days.

Through Peihua's description, the children learned about the vastness of the Yellow River, how gentle it is during the dry season, but how terrifying it is during the flood season, with turbid waves surging and flowing for thousands of miles, a magnificent and awe-inspiring sight. Shen's father added some supplementary information for Peihua. So, on this winter night, sitting on the warm kang (heated brick bed) and keeping watch by a dim oil lamp, the children gained a very intuitive understanding of the Yellow River, a word described in their textbooks.

Pei-Yin felt sorry for her. She was only seventeen years old and still a high school student. She had to go to the construction site to do such hard work. Pei-Hua made it sound simple, but she could imagine that the work was not easy.

Peihua recounted the story vividly, and Peiyin saw her mother turn away and wipe away the tears in her eyes.

Sometimes, Peijun and Peitian would exclaim in amazement, asking their older brother, "Brother, is the Yellow River really that wide? Is the wind and sand really that strong at the mouth of the Yellow River?" After receiving an affirmative answer, the two would sigh again: "No wonder they say that one is not a true hero until one has climbed the Great Wall, and one will not give up until one has reached the Yellow River. It turns out the Yellow River is so powerful!"

Because it was getting late, Shen's father instructed Peihua and Peijun to take Meng Ruolan and Shen Jinhua home. The children from the different families often played together until very late, which was a common occurrence. Professor Meng was not worried about his granddaughter returning home late.

As they were going to bed that night, Shen's father told Shen's mother that everyone in the village who met them said that their eldest son was a good man. Despite his young age, he worked like a little tiger on the construction site. Even the Party Secretary Tian told him that the cadres from the commune who went to the construction site also praised Peihua, saying that the boy was a really capable and good kid. It was just a pity that his family background was bad, otherwise he could have made something of himself whether he joined the army or was recruited as a worker.

Shen's mother said, "We've been so sorry for Peihua. If Peihua had been born into a family with a good class background, he wouldn't have had to suffer so much, and he might even have been able to join the army."

Mr. Shen sighed and said, "Yueran, don't say things like that anymore. It makes the child feel bad. We are his parents. Even if our class background is bad, we are still his parents. In Peihua's heart, no one can replace us. Okay, go to sleep quickly. You have to go to work tomorrow."

After a long sigh, there was a night of silence. Pei Yin felt terrible. Her family was being treated so unfairly just because of their family background.

The next morning, Grandma got up early to cook for her second uncle and aunt, who had to rush back to work at the factory.

Because it's winter and there's not much work to do in the fields, and with the twelfth lunar month fast approaching, the team has been busy calculating work points, taking stock of the grain in the warehouse, and figuring out how much grain and supplies each household can get. Since Shen's father is literate and good at math, he was called to the team to help.

During her year there, Pei Yin learned that although Shenjia Village was called Shenjia Village, only half of the families were surnamed Shen. Tian was also a common surname, and there were many other surnames. Because each family lived close to their uncles and brothers, people with the same surname often lived in clusters. The village was divided into production teams based on where people lived, which meant that many people in a team were from the same family. For example, in Pei Yin's production team No. 2, most of the people were surnamed Shen, and the team leader was also surnamed Shen, who was the father of Shen Shengmin, who was called "Fourth Grandfather".

Fourth Grandfather is a very fair person. Whether it's the work points during the workday or the year-end bonuses, he has always been fair and just. When people talk about Fourth Grandfather, they always give him a thumbs up and say, "Fourth Grandfather is a fair person."

This year the weather has been favorable, and the crops in the fields have yielded a good harvest. These past few days, everyone in the village has been beaming with joy. Everyone is happy to be able to have a slightly more prosperous New Year.

Shen's father left early and returned late every day. There were many families in the team. It was not only necessary to calculate who worked and how many centimeters they had recorded, but also to carefully check the figures. This was a matter of money, and not a single penny could be taken lightly.

The day finally arrived, after much anticipation and counting, when the wages were distributed.

In Shenjia Village, the money was distributed in production teams. Early in the morning, a table was set up in front of the production team's warehouse. The person in charge of recording work points sat behind the table, while Fourth Grandfather guarded a locked drawer, where the money to be distributed this time was kept.

Peihua had nothing to do at home, so he took Peiyin to collect their family's work points. When they arrived, they found that they were too late. There was already a long line in front of them. Fourth Grandfather distributed money to each household according to the already calculated work points, based on how much money was given per work point.

Behind Pei Yin's house was a family that lived not far from hers, also surnamed Shen. According to seniority, Pei Yin had to call the male head of the household "brother." The man who came this time was named Shen Pei Lian, who was in his thirties. He had a mother in her sixties, and in addition to the couple, there were three children, the oldest of whom was only twelve years old and was currently attending the village primary school.

Peihua politely greeted him as "Brother Peilian." Shen Peilian smiled warmly and said, "Peihua is here too. I heard from others that you went to be a husband and that you did a good job."

Peihua said, "It's not all just work; once you get there, you have to do it well."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, a noisy commotion suddenly came from the other end of the line.

Pei Yin craned her neck to see what was going on, and Pei Lian looked over and said, "It's Pei Hong's family's. Pei Hong hasn't been working much these past few days, so I guess she didn't get paid much."

Pei Yin heard a sharp voice coming from the other end: "You must have miscalculated. There are three of us in my family working, how could we only have this little money? Fourth Grandfather, please help me calculate it again."

Fourth Grandfather said, “Peihong’s wife, it’s true that three people in your family work, but you can’t get all the work points. How many work points can your two children get? Peihong’s wife, you still have elderly people to support. Go home and have a good talk with Peihong. It’s not good for him to be away from the kiln all the time.”

Hearing this, Pei Hong's family wiped away their tears and said, "Fourth Grandfather, we also want the whole family to go to work and earn more work points, but my husband won't listen to me. What can I do? Fourth Grandfather, please help me check again. There must be a mistake in the calculation. With just a few yuan, how can our family survive?"

The fourth grandfather looked at Pei Hong's wife, who was wiping away tears, with some difficulty. Shen Pei Hong was lazy and idle, and although she was over forty years old, she didn't care about the elderly in her family or her children. She only cared about herself and didn't think about the rest of the family. The family relied entirely on her wife and two children to work and earn work points. The older one was eighteen or nineteen years old, a girl, and not very strong. She couldn't earn even ten work points. The younger one was thirteen or fourteen years old, also a girl. She should have been in junior high school, but the family was poor and couldn't afford the tuition, so she worked with her mother and sister to earn work points. At the end of the year, when the money was distributed, the three of them had earned less work points than a strong laborer. Seeing that the family was short of rice, cloth, firewood, and flour, she finally became desperate.

Seeing Pei Hong's family wiping away tears, Fourth Grandfather also felt bad. There are two Shens, they are from the same ancestor. Other people's lives are getting better and better, but look at their family's life, it is getting worse and worse. It seems that even eating is becoming difficult. But Shen Pei Hong herself is not up to the task, and no one can do anything about it.

Fourth Grandfather asked Shen's father to stand in for him. He found the notebook for recording the work points and immediately recalculated the numbers with Shen Peihong's family. When they saw that the result was the same as before, Peihong's family started to cry. When her eldest daughter heard the news, she ran over and dragged her mother away.

Fourth Grandfather said to the onlookers, "Peihong is a real scoundrel. He's so old, yet he's still the same as when he was young. He doesn't know how to support his family. He'll suffer when he gets old."

One onlooker said, "Peihong is like this because he doesn't have any boys in his family. I think he's eyeing other people's boys, but he doesn't even glance at his own two girls."

Fourth Grandfather said, “What’s wrong with the girl? The girl is good. She’s grown up and she still knows to buy her father a couple of cents’ worth of wine and a few bags of tobacco. See if your son will buy them for you.”

Some people said, "That's right. I think Pei Hong's eldest daughter is a sensible and good girl. Pei Hong is taking her good fortune for granted."

This little incident was like a pebble thrown into a pond; once the ripples subsided, the surface of the water remained smooth and calm.

After receiving their hard-earned money for the year in a lively atmosphere, some families were happy while others were sad. The housewives, having received their cloth, oil, and meat coupons, started planning what to buy for the New Year. They wondered if they should cut some cloth for their children and make them new clothes. With the twelfth lunar month fast approaching, everything had to be done quickly.