Reborn in 1966

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Thoughts

Shen Peihong's youngest daughter, nicknamed Er Ya, followed her mother, holding the sack. Seeing that the storekeeper had weighed out so little grain for their family, it seemed like it wouldn't be enough to feed them for a year. Thinking of her father, who was still lying on the kang (heated brick bed) at home, Er Ya sighed deeply. Her older sister had already escaped this quagmire, but with the family in such a state, it seemed she would have to find a husband to marry into the family. Otherwise, if she married out, would her mother and grandmother still have a way to survive? Although her sister's husband was a good man, and he often brought home some food and drink, life had to go on for a long time. It couldn't always be like this. When her sister had children, their burden would be heavier, and the amount they could take from their parents' home would be limited. Moreover, she couldn't guarantee that she could find a man better than her sister's husband.

The mother and daughter pushed the two sacks of grain back home in a wheelbarrow. Shen Peihong's wife hadn't said a word since they started distributing the grain. When they got home and saw Shen Peihong still lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), she couldn't contain her anger any longer. Before she even unloaded the grain from the wheelbarrow, she grabbed the small broom used for sweeping the kang and started attacking Shen Peihong without warning.

Shen Peihong is a lazy, good-for-nothing man. Even though he's over forty, he still often goes to visit friends in faraway places. In some eras, this would be considered the behavior of a scholar or gentleman. But in this era where you don't get work points if you don't work, and you don't get food if you don't work, it means you'll go hungry. As Shen Peihong's wife and children, they must have suffered greatly because of this.

While waving a broom at Shen Peihong, who was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), Shen Peihong's wife cried and cursed, "What sins did I commit in my past life to marry you? My parents really ruined me. How could they have found me someone like you? I'm going to die of anger every day."

Shen Peihong was half-asleep when his wife hit him, and he was stunned. The broom handle looked insignificant, but it hurt a lot when it hit him. Now, Shen Peihong just covered his head and let his wife hit him.

Hearing the commotion, Shen Peihong's mother rushed into the house to see what was going on. Seeing her daughter-in-law hitting her son, she was unwilling, but thinking of the little grain on the cart in the yard and her son's usual behavior, she wiped away her tears and pleaded with her daughter-in-law: "Da Ya's mother, please don't hit him anymore, calm down, calm down."

When Shen Peihong's daughter-in-law saw her mother-in-law's thin, withered face streaked with tears, she felt a pang of heartache. She threw down the broom in her hand, sat on the kang (a heated brick bed), and burst into tears.

In the past year or so, although Shen Peihong's wife has gradually changed from a soft-spoken girl to a more assertive one, she still can't completely control Shen Peihong. There's nothing that can be done when Shen Peihong doesn't want to work or go to the fields, but it's still a change, isn't it?

Shen Peihong's wife cried and said to her mother-in-law, "Mother, we only received this much grain in a year. How are we supposed to live? How are we supposed to survive?"

Shen Peihong's mother held her daughter-in-law's hand and said, "Da Ya's mother, don't worry, I'll go find your sisters. Do you think your sisters would just watch us starve to death?"

Shen Peihong has several older sisters and was pampered by her family from a young age, which is why she developed such a willful attitude. Otherwise, children from poor families would have to learn to be independent early, unlike now, when she is already the head of the household but still acts like a child.

Er Ya leaned against the door frame, watching her mother and grandmother hugging and crying inside. Her father was sitting on the kang with his head down, his expression hidden. Her resolve hardened; she was determined to find an honest and obedient son-in-law to support her in her old age, and she couldn't find someone like her father. Thinking of this, Er Ya realized she was already fifteen years old and it was time to start looking for such a person.

The adults in the family are still unaware that their youngest daughter and granddaughter have already decided on the future direction of their family. Shen Peihong's mother said, "Da Ya's mother, don't be angry. Our family is small, so if we get less food, we'll eat carefully. If we can make a living slowly, we can still live well. If we get less, we'll borrow some from our relatives. We're not going to starve to death, are we?"

Shen Peihong's wife said, "Mother, you don't know, no other family in our village gets such a small amount of grain as we do. The three of us work hard and end up getting so little grain. It's embarrassing. I'm not the kind of person who likes to be first, but I've put in a lot of effort all year round and I'm ashamed to get so little."

Shen Peihong's mother said, "It's alright, it's alright. From now on, we'll take good care of Da Ya's father. When the village is hiring husbands in a few days, I'll register him so he can go with us. That way, our family can save some food."

Marrying is hard work, and no family in the village with enough to eat and drink and whose social class isn't too bad is willing to do it. Since Shen Peihong's mother has this plan, it means she wants to teach her good-for-nothing son a lesson.

Shen Peihong listened to her mother, looked up at her, saw her mother's full head of white hair, opened her mouth but didn't say anything.

Er Ya strolled out of the house, thinking about her family's troubles and wanting to talk to someone. After thinking for a long time, she couldn't think of anyone to talk to. In the distance, she saw Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan leading Pei Yin, Shen Shengsi's daughter, towards her.

Looking at the clothes on the two of them, and then at the clothes on her own body that her sister had fallen over and whoever she had picked up, she sighed and didn't say hello. But Shen Jinhua had already seen Er Ya and pulled Meng Ruolan to Er Ya's side.

Er Ya was considered an obedient and good child by the village elders. Aunt Shengquan once told Pei Yin's mother that Er Ya, the daughter of Shen Peihong, might not be talkative, but she was a straightforward person. Just wait and see, sooner or later this girl would be in charge of the Shen Peihong family.

Shen Jinhua said, "Er Ya, there's nothing much going on in the team these days, why don't you come to school with us?"

Er Ya said, "Sigh, Jin Hua, my family only received such a small amount of grain, I'm so worried, I won't be able to have any fun if I go."

Shen Jinhua said, "Look at you, a living person can't be killed by holding in their pee, don't worry, Ruolan has several comic books, let's go and take a look, worrying here won't solve anything."

Meng Ruolan said, "That's right, Er Ya, let's go, let's go." Without saying another word, the two of them grabbed Er Ya's hand and headed towards the school. Pei Yin, who was standing next to her, thought about Er Ya's behavior on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and then looked at Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan's attitude towards Er Ya. Moreover, Er Ya immediately complained about her family troubles to the two of them. She knew that the relationship between the three of them was not ordinary.

The school's autumn break wasn't over yet, and there weren't many people on campus. Teacher Wang, who shared a room with Meng Ruolan, had also gone home and wasn't there. The campus was deserted.

Pei Yin saw that the two innermost rooms in the row of dormitories were the female educated youth's dormitory and the educated youth's kitchen. Secretary Tian arranged the kitchen here because he thought that girls could do housework, so he gave the room next to the female educated youth's dormitory to the educated youth as their kitchen. The cooking utensils inside were provided by the village.

There were five houses in a row, all tiled with blue bricks. There were very few houses like that in the village. The Shen family's courtyard was also a tiled house with young and strong members, but the blue bricks were covered with yellow mud, making it look like an ordinary mud house. Grandpa had his reasons for doing this. The mountains of Qinghe were only a few dozen miles away, and there were bandits there. Someone in Xiping County had been kidnapped by bandits before. If he made his house magnificent when he returned to the village, wouldn't that bring trouble upon himself? So when the house was built, a thick layer of yellow mud was plastered on the outside of the blue bricks.

Meng Ruolan's dormitory was a place the three of them often visited. As soon as Er Ya arrived, she lay down on Meng Ruolan's bed and said, "I've figured it out today. I need to find a man to marry into my family, and he has to be an obedient man, not like my father, who only thinks about himself."

Shen Jinhua and Meng Ruolan were both startled. In this day and age, what young woman would so openly talk about her marriage like Er Ya?

Pei Yin couldn't help but look at Er Ya with new respect.

Meng Ruolan took a pastry box from the drawer, placed it on the table, and said, "Er Ya, are you upset about something?"

Er Ya sat up straight and said, "My mother came home crying and making a scene. If only she had known this would happen, she wouldn't have done it in the first place. I think my mother is also responsible for my father's behavior. If she had kept my father in check from the beginning, none of this would have happened. You don't know my father. He's like a broken-down car. He won't move unless you break him or fix him. He has no other hobbies. He just likes to go out and see friends. I don't know where he got so many friends. You all know what happened to my family last year. My family didn't know anything about what was going on. They found a husband for my sister in Qinghe Mountain. Luckily, that family had already arranged a marriage for her. Otherwise, I think my sister would have hanged herself."

Shen Jinhua said, "Don't make it sound so scary. How could Sister Daya be so suicidal?"

Er Ya said, "No girl here is like my sister. She was arranged to marry by her grandmother early on, and her father had already arranged a marriage for her. Although reputation is not that important, how will my sister live with her husband in the future?"

Meng Ruolan nodded and said, "That's true, but you're only fifteen this year. Isn't it a bit much to be thinking about finding a husband so early?"

Er Ya waved her hand at Meng Ruolan and said, "It's not that I'm looking for a husband's family, it's that I'm looking for a man to live with. I'm having a son-in-law marry into my family. He'll have to live with my family from now on. As for the children's surname, if we have a lot of children, we'll find someone with the surname Shen. That way, when I die, there will be someone to burn paper money for us."

Pei Yin stared intently at Er Ya. She hadn't expected that Er Ya, who looked so unremarkable, was such a knowledgeable person. She was only a few years old and already had such ideas. If she were to grow up for another ten years or so, she would probably become a strong woman.

Er Ya noticed the way Pei Yin was looking at her, then turned to Shen Jinhua and said, "Look at the way Pei Yin is looking at me, it makes my hair stand on end."

Shen Jinhua looked at Pei Yin with a somewhat eager gaze, patted Pei Yin's little head, took out a cookie from the cookie box, and said, "Pei Yin, here's a cookie for you."

Pei Yin took the biscuits, gave Shen Jinhua a sweet smile, and then turned back to stare at Er Ya.