Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 4 Go Home to See Your Mom
"His father, that girl is really not coming back, what do you think we should do?"

Zhang Guiqin was unhappy when she came back from outside. She sat on the kang and thought for a long time. The more she thought, the angrier she got.

Her voice was rough but sharp, and even from the sound of her voice one could tell that she was a strong and aggressive person. But in addition to anger, her words now contained more of a sense of helplessness and unwillingness.

"Ah!" A long sigh came from the outer room. It was clearly just a breath, but it was clear enough to be a little harsh.

"What can we do?" Lin Erchun sat on the chair, his voice stiff. He was obviously angry, but he didn't know whether he was directed at the woman in front of him or the "girl" she was talking about.

The room fell into a long silence and was filled with smoke. The little tobacco leaves in the pipe were not enough for the man to take a few puffs.

"What does the storytelling say? 'Most unfaithful people are scholars.' If you weren't so blind as to insist on finding an educated youth from a big city for your son, things wouldn't have turned out like this." Zhang Guiqin couldn't help but complain.

"It's all my fault, it's all my fault!" Lin Erchun's tone was a bit self-destructive, but his resentment was even stronger. He said sarcastically: "Why didn't you stop her from calling you 'Mom' when she called you 'Mom'?"

Zhang Guiqin was so teased that she was speechless and turned around to start scolding again.

“It is difficult to draw the bones of a dragon or a tiger, and you can know a person’s face but not his heart. How come she became like this after entering university, as she seemed to be such a decent girl before?
I just don't believe it. Can she live a good life if she dumps our Chaoyang?
If I get pushed to the limit, I will go to their school and make trouble. If it weren’t for Chaoyang from our family, would she be able to get into college? She’d be dead!”

Seeing his wife's words becoming more and more outrageous, the man shouted, "That's enough!"

He slammed his pipe heavily on the table and said, "Stop talking nonsense here. Do you think your home isn't annoying enough?"

Lin Erchun's word was law in the family. When he got angry, the woman would stop arguing but would continue to mutter all kinds of unpleasant words under her breath.

Lin Erchun was really upset by his wife's faint complaints. He rolled up the pipe, put it on his waistband and went out.

When he came to the yard, he picked up a shovel with annoyance and planned to clear the weeds in his private vegetable garden.

As soon as he left the door, the cursing in the room became louder.

"Erchun, what are you busy with?"

A neighbor passed by outside the fence and saw Lin Erchun standing in the yard and asked.

Afraid that others would hear his wife's chatter, Lin Erchun answered loudly: "I have nothing to do, so I tidy up the garden. What are you doing?"

"Go to the store to buy some soy sauce!"

Watching his neighbors leave, Lin Erchun squatted in the vegetable garden, waving a small shovel. He looked focused, but no one knew the distress in his heart.

The women under the locust tree were still chatting, and the topic circled around and came back to Lin Chaoyang and his educated youth partner Tao Yushu.

"Now that Tao Yushu is gone, it will be hard for Chaoyang to find a partner in the future!"

"If you ask me, this guy is just stupid. Others find a partner for fear that the partner will run away, but he is different. I heard that he gives money and effort, for fear that the partner will not run away fast enough."

"Of course I like her! That's why they say you shouldn't marry a wife who is too pretty. Look, she's already so infatuated with him before we even get married."

"In the final analysis, I'm still not worthy of her. Now that I've been admitted to university, I'm even less worthy of her."

……

The women seemed to gossip endlessly and with great devotion.

"Hey hey!" Everyone was chatting excitedly, and someone pointed at the dirt road at the entrance of the village and said in a surprised tone, "Look!"

Everyone looked up and saw from a distance a woman in a red dress carrying two suitcases walking towards them with difficulty.

"Oh my! Whose young wife is this? She's dressed so showy, just like the girls in the city."

"What a boast! Whose is this?"

The women were talking among themselves, and a woman in the distance was getting closer and closer carrying something, and someone could vaguely see her eyebrows and eyes.

"Oh my, isn't that Tao Yushu?" a woman exclaimed.

"Who? Tao Yushu?" The others stretched their necks to look carefully.

"Is it true? Let me take a look!"

"It seems to be true."

As more and more people recognized it, they were no longer willing to just stand there and watch, so they put down their work and took action.

"Oh, Yushu! It's really you!"

The people who gathered around were all women in their forties or fifties from the village. From Lin Chaoyang's side, Tao Yushu had to call them "Auntie", and some of them were even a generation older.

Tao Yushu was carrying something and greeting everyone with a smile on his face.

"Come on, come on, I'll help you carry it."

The women picked up Tao Yushu's things without saying a word, and their mouths were not idle either, asking questions all over the place with no sense of boundaries.

Having someone to help carry things, Tao Yushu was happy and relaxed. He answered those who were willing to answer, and pretended not to hear those who were not willing to answer.

The women didn't care. They came forward to help with the intention of just watching the fun, and didn't even care about the things under the tree.

While escorting Tao Yushu along the way, we met many members of the commune. Everyone was extremely surprised to see Tao Yushu. Nowadays, many educated youth returned to the city or were admitted to universities and left without any news.

Tao Yushu is back!

Everyone who saw her joined the team tacitly, all the way to the gate of Lin Erchun's house.

Lin Erchun was concentrating on tidying up the vegetable garden with his head down when he suddenly heard a noise at the gate of the yard and he couldn't help but look up.

I saw a woman with bright and elegant eyebrows and fair skin standing at the gate of the courtyard. She was tall and wore a red floral long skirt and a pair of white canvas sneakers. She looked western and fashionable.

The woman's appearance and clothing were too eye-catching in the rural Northeast in the 1970s. Perhaps it was because of the glaring sunlight, Lin Erchun used his hands to draw a curtain in front of his eyes.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

His voice was soft, with a unique Beijing accent. The word "Dad" was so kind and natural, as if he had been calling him that for many years, and it made Lin Erchun's depression disappear without a trace.

He stood up with a look of surprise on his face, "Yu... Yushu, why are you back?"

Tao Yushu had delicate features and a smile on his face. He said, "It's summer vacation now. Can I not go home?"

Her words left Lin Erchun speechless. After all, she was the daughter-in-law of their Lin family. Isn't it normal for her to come back during the summer vacation?

"No, I mean, why didn't you write a letter before you came back?"

The sudden surprise made Lin Erchun stutter a little. What surprised him even more was why he called him "Dad" in public?
Then, he suddenly understood.

Before leaving, Tao Yushu got married with Chaoyang, and changing his name to call Lin Erchun "mom and dad" was a private matter, and no one in the team knew about it.

There had been no news from her for more than half a year. Now she called out "Dad" in front of everyone in the team to bring honor to the Lin family.

As smart as Lin Erchun was, he figured out the reason in a moment and the smile on his face became even bigger.

Lin Erchun's surprise lasted only a moment. What was even more surprised and unexpected were the members who came to watch the fun.

Tao Yushu's call of "Dad" almost burned out everyone's CPU.

dad?
Didn’t you call him “Uncle” before?

When did you change your tone?

Chaoyang and Tao Yushu are married?
Why don't they know?

A huge mystery hangs in everyone's mind. A group of people are like dogs holding food bowls waiting to be fed, looking anxiously and crying for food.

Seeing Lin Erchun and Tao Yushu chatting and laughing, one of the members couldn't help but ask, "Uncle Erchun, why do you call me dad? When did this happen?"

Lin Erchun felt very proud at this moment, and said loudly: "When do I need to report to you? You are quite nosy!"

His words were tantamount to implicitly acknowledging that Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu were husband and wife. Everyone was surprised and couldn't help teasing Lin Erchun.

"Erchun, good job, you hid it well enough!"

The smug look on Lin Erchun's face was very restrained, and one had to observe carefully to notice it. He ignored everyone and went forward to help Tao Yushu carry the luggage.

Tao Yushu brought back a lot of luggage, two large bags in total, but unfortunately he was of no use at all, so the members who were eager to go in and watch the fun did it for him.

At this time, Tao Yushu said, "Writing a letter is not as fast as taking the train!"

Lin Erchun smiled and nodded, "That's true." As the two of them moved, the crowd that had been standing outside the yard watching the excitement also followed them into the yard.

As they got closer and closer to the house, they heard a burst of unpleasant words clearly coming from them.

Tao Yushu's expression remained unchanged, but Lin Erchun's face showed a bit of embarrassment, and he quickly shouted, "Why are you talking nonsense when I asked you to do something? Come out and see, Yushu is back!"

Just now, Zhang Guiqin was only busy venting her anger and depression, and she didn't forget to do needlework with her hands. She was concentrating on her work and kept her head down, so she didn't notice the movement in the yard.

When Lin Erchun's words were heard, the noise in the room stopped abruptly, followed by the sound of shoes shuffling, which revealed a bit of panic and anxiety.

Zhang Guiqin didn't even have time to put on her shoes. She leaned out of the house, holding the door frame with her hand, and saw Tao Yushu standing at the door. The expression on her face was one of surprise and joy, but also a little bit of embarrassment at being caught saying bad things behind her back.

"Hey, Yu Shu is back!"

Because of that slight embarrassment, Zhang Guiqin's tone and expression when she said this were a little too enthusiastic, and somewhat flattering in an attempt to atone for her sins.

"Mom!" Tao Yushu called out crisply.

"Hey!"

Zhang Guiqin responded hurriedly and came to help Tao Yushu carry the luggage in her slippers.

"Coming back by train?"

"Are you tired? Mom will pour you some water."

"Why didn't you tell me in advance that you were coming back? I could have asked Chaoyang to pick you up. Look how tired you must be carrying so many things!"

……

Comrade Zhang Guiqin held Tao Yushu's hand and spoke to him affectionately, as if the scolding just now was just an auditory hallucination of Tao Yushu and Lin Erchun.

Tao Yushu responded to her words one by one. The two talked for two minutes. Lin Erchun urged, "Let's talk later. The child has been traveling for almost two days. Hurry up and make some food for him. Let him have a nap after dinner. We can talk again when he wakes up."

Zhang Guiqin smiled and said, "Look at me, I'm so happy that I'm confused."

As she was about to go to the kitchen, Tao Yushu stopped her and said, "No need. Mom, I had lunch in the county, so I'm not hungry."

"That's good, and it's almost time for dinner. It's time to make dinner."

Zhang Guiqin insisted on cooking, so Tao Yushu stood up to help, but was stopped, "You can't cook with this dress, it will get dirty."

"Then I'll go change my clothes."

"No, no, just sit and wait for dinner."

Zhang Guiqin pressed Tao Yushu down on the chair, turned around and went out to get some firewood to prepare cooking.

Many neighbors stood in the yard and under the windows to watch the excitement. Zhang Guiqin, who had been keeping a low profile in the team for a long time, was now in high spirits. She raised her chin and shouted to the crowd of onlookers:

"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen college students before?"

Someone in the crowd responded, "Aunt Guiqin, you didn't have this attitude when Yushu didn't come back!"

Zhang Guiqin's face turned red and she became angry and embarrassed.

"Go, go, go! Go home and see your mother!"

The appearance of her daughter-in-law made Zhang Guiqin straighten her back again and restored her aggressive nature.

Everyone laughed continuously, and the people she scolded were not angry. Rural people joked about everything, regardless of whether it was meat or vegetables, and talked about it in a low voice.

"I never thought that Tao Yushu would come back."

"What's the use of coming back? He is a college student now. How can Chaoyang support him?"

"Indeed, it will turn yellow sooner or later."

"I think he might have come back this time just to end it all."

……

In Lu Xun's writing, farmers are numb, ignorant, and hopeless; in Zhao Shuli's writing, farmers are simple, hardworking, and proactive; in Shen Congwen's writing, farmers are kind, lovely, passionate, and romantic.

Judging from the descriptions in literary works, the image of farmers seems to have many different faces, but in fact there are not so many changes. It is nothing more than a reflection of human nature in different environments. Envy and jealousy are two sides of the same coin.

Whether the members tease you openly or ridicule you behind your back, it all comes from human nature.

Zhang Guiqin didn't let Tao Yushu work, so she got up and unzipped her luggage bag.

Tao Yushu brought back two luggage bags this time. One bag was filled with her spare clothes, toiletries and school supplies, and the other bag was full of things she brought for the Lin family.

Dried fruits bought at Dong'an Market, boxes of snacks from Daoxiang Village, Xiangshan brand cigarettes that only cadres can smoke, white Dacron shirts...

Things were taken out one by one, and the onlookers became more and more frightened as they watched.

In the end, Lin Erchun asked everyone what they were thinking: "Yushu, how much is this going to cost you?"

Tao Yushu smiled and said, "Not all Hui people bring so many. These are all what you can use."

"This is for you. You always smoke leaf tobacco, why don't you try rolling cigarettes? My dad smokes this, and he says it tastes good. And this shirt is for you, too."

Lin Erchun waved his hands quickly, "I can't wear this, let Chaoyang wear it."

"He has one too, look." Tao Yushu measured a Dacron shirt again.

Zhang Guiqin, who was cooking in the outer room, came into the house after listening to their conversation. She couldn't help but be amazed at the things placed along the edge of the kang. Tao Yushu took out the gift he had prepared for her, which was a red corduroy jacket.

"Ouch! How can I wear this!"

"How much does such a nice dress cost?"

Zhang Guiqin said this, but she couldn't hide the smile on her lips.

At this time, another woman in the crowd joked, "Zhang Guiqin, it's a waste for you to wear this dress."

Hearing this, Zhang Guiqin replied, "It's my business if it's useless. If you have the ability, ask your daughter-in-law to buy it for you!"

The man was speechless, and everyone burst into laughter again, chattering non-stop.

"After all, he's from the city. Look at what he's paid. It must be at least a hundred dollars, right? It's enough for us to work for a year. I really couldn't tell before."

"The votes haven't been counted yet. It doesn't look like they're coming back to make ends meet."

"Yushu is a good girl, unlike some people. Erchun's family will be blessed in the future, as she is a top student in Yanjing!"

There was a lot of joy inside the house and noise outside. Lin Erchun's yard was extremely lively.

Lin Chaoyang walked to the gate of the courtyard and looked at the crowds of people in the courtyard, and he already had some guesses in his mind.

After he entered the hospital, he was discovered by the people watching in the back row and immediately attracted a round of ridicule.

"Chaoyang, my wife is back!"

"My college student wife!"

Lin Chaoyang smiled calmly. In the past six months, he was used to hearing both good and bad things from the team, so he just laughed it off.

Everyone consciously made way for him. When he walked into the house, he saw a familiar figure.

Compared to when he left, Tao Yushu is now in much better spirits and energy than before, and it seems that the climate and soil of Yanjing have nourished him.

Her figure is a little thinner than before, but her cheeks have more flesh. She has sufficient collagen, looks youthful and beautiful, and is more beautiful than before.

Lin Chaoyang stood at the door and looked at Tao Yushu's eyes carefully. She was chatting and laughing with Lin's father and mother, but she seemed to notice something and turned around.

"Are you back?" Lin Chaoyang asked calmly.

Tao Yushu had a smile on her lips, and the sunlight reflected from the window glass shone on her face, bright and brilliant.

"came back."

(End of this chapter)