The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

After packing the medicine, he left the clinic, slung his basket over his shoulder, and went into the courtyard. He waved the small medicine bag in his hand at Yu Mancang:

"Uncle, I've packed it all up, I'm off. Brother Zhu is here."

"Hitch up the donkey cart and haul back the tree branches from the roadside. A lot of them fell down during the recent windstorm," Zhu Zi said sheepishly, scratching his head. A blush crept onto his dark face, but thankfully his dark complexion covered it up.

"Bao Ya, tell your uncle not to use too much."

Yu Mancang said as he harnessed the cart.

"I know, just use a little bit with your fingernail."

"Okay, use it however you like."

After saying that, Bao Ya turned around and walked back.

"What's wrong with Baoya? Is she sick? And she needs medicine."

"No, the captain can't poop."

"The captain can't poop it out again..."

Uh……

Bao Ya, who had just stepped outside, twitched at the corner of her mouth upon hearing this. Did they all know about the time she couldn't poop? Could it be that the whole brigade knew this time that the brigade leader couldn't poop again?

I can't listen to this anymore, I'd better get out of here.

Carrying my little basket, I went for a stroll in the back mountain. I found a secluded spot, cut the paper I'd gotten from the clinic into small pieces, and then took out the large bag of croton charcoal. I divided it evenly into several small pieces of paper, wrapped them up one by one, and including the one wrapped in white paper, I made a total of eight bags. That should last me a while.

After finishing all that, she continued walking up the mountain. It was still early, and she wasn't going back so soon. This old woman Lin treated her like she was an enemy, constantly cursing and swearing, which was disgusting. She had never seen anyone like this in her 28 years of life. This was the first time she had encountered such a person in both her lives, and hearing her curse always gave her the urge to rush up and slap her.

Coming down from the mountain, we passed by the river. A group of girls and wives were washing clothes by the river, chatting and laughing happily.

Those with sharp eyes noticed her approaching and quickly pretended to cough, stopping everyone's conversation. For a moment, everyone was quiet except for the sound of running water and the pounding of clothes.

Bao Ya didn't intend to pay them any attention. She glanced at them and then walked back.

None of the people in this group liked her. She didn't have any close female friends in the village. Her five or six daughters were relatively close to her, and her second uncle's youngest daughter, Xiaoyu, liked to play with her. Xiaoyu went to school in the commune and only came back for two days a month, so she rarely saw her.

Besides that, nobody wanted to talk to her. From a young age, Sanmao and Simao would bring a bunch of little kids to play with her every day.

They were both girls who grew up in the village, in families that favored sons over daughters. While the others had endless chores, ate the least, and dressed the worst, she was different. The Lin family didn't like her; her uncles spoiled her rotten, giving her the best food and drink, new clothes every year, and even finding her a boyfriend from the city so she could enjoy a life of luxury there. She was an anomaly among them.

"Tch~, look at her, what a vixen!" A long-faced girl with braids muttered indignantly, afraid that she would hear her, yet desperately wanting her to hear.

A vixen? This is the first time I've heard such a comment about her appearance, and I'm quite pleased.

Hmm, we can talk to this girl.

Bao Ya found a large rock, aimed carefully, and threw it into the water with a "thump," splashing water everywhere and getting several people around her soaked.

"what!"

"what!"

"Lin Baoya, you've gone mad!"

Shi Xiaoyan was the first to shout it out, and the other girls glared at her angrily, expressing their dissatisfaction.

Bao Ya wasn't angry. She walked from behind the tree to the riverbank and chuckled softly as she spoke:

"Who do you think it is? Shi Xiaoyan, tsk tsk tsk, your face has gotten so long. No wonder you call others vixens. Compared to your donkey face, we're all vixens."

"Lin Baoya, you have no shame."

"No, you can have it, you shameless coward."

Shi Xiaoyan, the daughter of the brigade accountant and the younger sister of Shi Chuanxiang, Lin Siya's fiancé, has a long face, just like Yu Xiaojuan. She usually dislikes Lin Baoya the most.

After learning that Ishikawa Sho liked Lin Baoya, he was furious and spread rumors about her everywhere.

"You look like a vixen, seducing people everywhere, and you still have the nerve to flaunt it all over the world."

Shi Xiaoyan imitated her mother's way of scolding Bao Ya, wishing she could stab Bao Ya to death with her eyes.

"Oh? You saw it? How can I compare to you? You've learned how to be a matchmaker at such a young age. You were partly responsible for dragging Siya into the cornfield, weren't you? Did you learn it while you were there? Who's got your eye on you? When are you planning to drag someone into the cornfield too? Remember not to take money, taking money is illegal."

Shi Xiaoyan's face turned bright red, as if it could bleed. She hadn't expected Lin Baoya to be so shameless as to say such things in public.

Matchmakers are usually older people, and even if they are young, they must be married. It is indeed inappropriate for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl like Shi Xiaoyan to do this job.

Going into a cornfield is out of the question; even married women and their husbands wouldn't dare go there, let alone a young girl like her who was helping someone plot against her own brother.

Suddenly, everyone around her started looking at her differently. Lin Siya had gotten engaged, but the two families were already engaged, so the matter was considered closed for the time being, and they were just waiting to get married. What was going on with this young girl who didn't even have a boyfriend?

She did indeed contribute to the matter of Ishikawa Sho and Lin Siya. She felt that anyone could be her sister-in-law, especially Lin Siya, who didn't get along with Bao Ya.

She's still so young. She didn't even ask if the other person was interested in her family before assuming that they wanted to be her sister-in-law.

"You... no matter what you say, my brother will never marry you!"

So embarrassed he couldn't speak, and after a long pause, he managed to utter this one sentence.

"Ha, you should wake up from your dream. What good is it to be your sister-in-law? Are you after your family's debts, or because your chicken cakes are all moldy? You can't even eat the moldy ones, while I've already eaten my chickens."

Bao Ya glanced at Lin Siya, who was trying to make herself less noticeable, and without giving Shi Xiaoyan a chance to speak, turned to Lin Siya and said:

"Siya is here too. Look, your sister-in-law is furious, and you're just pretending not to see. She did all this for you, and you don't even want to help her? Seriously? Seriously? You want to dump her after you've used her?"

"That's true, she's not very useful. Once you marry into the family, you'll probably find her an eyesore."

As soon as she said that, Shi Xiaoyan's angry gaze immediately turned to Lin Siya, who was pretending to be invisible. She felt a tightness in her chest; for whom was Lin Siya doing this?!

How many sisters-in-law in the world are truly as close as sisters? When there's no conflict of interest, they get along well, but when there is, they tear each other apart more badly than anyone else.

Lin Siya has been avoiding Bao Ya these days; nothing good ever comes from running into her. That day, for some reason, she impulsively pushed Bao Ya into the water; just thinking about it now terrifies her.

When everyone remembered the incident of crawling through the cornfield, their gazes towards Lin Siya were filled with disdain.

"Hey! Baoya, if there's nothing else, hurry up and go. You're always teasing people and causing trouble..."

An older woman wanted to say something, urging Baoya to leave quickly to avoid a potential fight. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she realized she'd said the wrong thing.

"Haha, my sister-in-law is so insightful. I won't disturb the cats and dogs' meeting here."

After saying that, Bao Ya hummed a little tune and walked away.

The sister-in-law who had just spoken quickly rubbed her clothes a couple of times, grabbed the basin, and ran off.