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

Since Bao Ya took on the job of making velvet flowers, she hasn't left the house for two days. The next time she goes out is to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to make velvet flowers.

When I came back, I had five yuan more in my hand and materials for the next trip.

As she rolled out velvet flowers at home, she cursed under her breath. That lousy university she attended in her past life—she learned nothing but handicrafts.

I thought I'd be going to Paris after graduation, but I ended up in Balizhuang instead.

The Ye family has been making a fuss these past few days. I live far away and don't know what they're arguing about, but the wedding will still take place as scheduled this weekend.

"Third brother, what's going on with the Niu family across the street? The old lady's eyes were really scary when she looked at me."

While eating, Bao Ya told Jiang Yuan that Zhou Pozi and Shi Zhenxiang had been glaring at her every time they saw her these past few days, and there was a reason for that. However, she was a magnanimous person and wouldn't hold it against them.

But the old lady from the Niu family was so old, her face looked like a dead person's, and she looked at her so eerily every day, it was quite frightening.

If she were to suddenly disappear one day, Bao Ya would suspect that she would come back to find her.

"Did she cause you trouble?"

"No, it's just that he keeps looking at me like that, it's kind of scary."

It's precisely because she wasn't targeted that she's so intimidating; if they had actually fought a war, her behavior would be quite normal.

"Don't pay any attention to her, her family has their eyes on our house."

She has four grandsons, and the family of seven lives in the two rooms across the street. She had previously told me that she wanted to exchange houses with ours, but I didn't agree, and they've held a grudge ever since.

Stay away from them. If they cause you trouble, ignore them. I'll deal with them later.

Jiang Yuan said nonchalantly that the old lady had approached him several times before, but he had ignored her and was still not giving up.

Behind them in this row were old houses built before liberation, originally the family quarters of collaborating military officers. After liberation, a meat processing plant was established, and people could buy or rent the houses if they wanted to.

At that time, Jiang Yuan's uncle adopted Jiang Yuan and bought this house.

Across the street from them were the staff housing built later by the meat processing plant. Each family had only two rooms, and the three rows of houses were in a large courtyard.

The last row of houses facing the street has a distance of about one meter between the back and the wall. They sealed off the front yard and opened a door at the back for people to enter and exit through this side.

It's no wonder they were envious; none of the families in that row had many members.

There was only her and Jiang Yuan in their family. To the west was a widowed mother with her son and daughter-in-law, and to the east was Grandma Liu's house, where only the elderly couple usually lived. Their three sons had been allocated housing by their work units and only came to stay during holidays.

Looking at the families across the street, each family has at least two children, and all of them are of marriageable age. The Niu family has four sons: the eldest is 23, the second is 21, the third is 19, and the youngest is 17. The eldest son has been considered by several women, but they are all stuck on the issue of housing.

After working the night shift for a week, Jiang Yuan returned to the regular shift, but he started heading to the factory at 7:30 every morning.

The young couple were deeply in love, often staying up very late at night, and Bao Ya couldn't get up at all in the morning.

Jiang Yuan would heat up Bao Ya's breakfast in a pot every day before going to work, and she could eat it whenever she got up.

That morning, after Jiang Yuan went to work, Bao Ya was still taking a nap in her room. Then there was a loud knocking at the door.

At first, Bao Ya ignored it and continued sleeping, but the knocking at the door didn't stop; instead, it got even louder.

Bao Ya couldn't sleep because of the noise, so she quickly got dressed and went out to see what had happened.

As soon as the door opened, Granny Zhou and Shi Zhenxiang were at the door, peering through the crack in the door.

Bao Ya suddenly opened the door, and the two of them, not paying attention, almost fell to the ground.

"Aunt Zhou, is something the matter?"

Seeing that Bao Ya's hair hadn't been combed yet, the two men exchanged glances and then looked at Bao Ya with ill intent.

"Bao Ya, why aren't you up yet? My Tingting got up early to go to work."

Shi Zhenxiang spoke first, looking at Bao Ya with disdain.

She remembered how badly Lin Baoya had been embarrassed last time, and how she had to pay an extra hundred yuan in betrothal gifts to appease her daughter-in-law. Today, she was determined to make Lin Baoya look bad.

"She also has a useless mother-in-law to support, so of course she has to get up early."

Auntie, you're not getting any younger. You should find something to do to ease the burden on your children.

"Gossiping about everyone all day long, won't your daughter-in-law be dragged down with you?"

"you……"

Shi Zhenxiang felt another lump in her throat. That brat always had something to say to her.

"Baoya, you can't say that. What can we do at our age? We can only stay at home and take care of our grandchildren. You can't expect us to do manual labor to support the young ones."

Granny Zhou pouted, her face full of disapproval.

"Your grandson is already in school, you don't need to look after him. Aunt Shi's grandson is nowhere to be seen yet."

Don't make excuses for your laziness. Even someone as lazy as me goes to the supply and marketing cooperative to do manual labor. You two, who consider yourselves diligent, just laze around at home eating for free, and you still have the nerve to criticize others? It's like a pig laughing at a crow for its own sins.

After saying that, Bao Ya ignored them and reached out to close the door.

Granny Zhou and Shi Zhenxiang were speechless. Who was picking a fight with whom? They came here to settle scores, so why were they being rebuffed again?

Shi Zhenxiang was furious and wanted to rush over to argue, but ended up bumping her nose into the door.

"Ouch..."

Shi Zhenxiang, in pain, covered her nose and squatted on the ground, pointing at Lin Baoya with one finger, unable to speak.

Granny Zhou quickly squatted down to check, and Bao Ya came out to look at the door, even touching it twice:

"Why did you bang on my door? If you break it, you have to pay for a new one."

After saying that, he slammed the door shut.

"you……"

Shi Zhenxiang was so angry she couldn't speak. She pointed at the door, trembling with rage.

Waking up, Bao Ya lost her will to sleep. She got up, tidied up, ate breakfast, and started working.

This job is so easy, I finished making all the velvet flower sticks in one morning.

This time she planned to work slower. Last time she went to the supply and marketing cooperative to sell velvet flowers, the way people looked at her was strange. Earning five yuan in two days was indeed enviable.

The next morning, after Jiang Yuan left, there was another knock on her door. Bao Ya opened her eyes, looked at the roof beam for a while, and then slowly got up.

Knowing who it was, she wasn't in a hurry to open the door. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair, getting herself ready little by little. Seeing that it was almost 8:30, Bao Ya leisurely went to open the door.

The next few days were like this: every morning, those two old folks would come to her house and knock on the door to wake her up.

Finally, just when she felt she was about to turn into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Jiang Yuan started working the early shift.

Around 1 a.m. that day, Bao Ya got out of her warm bed and even made breakfast for Jiang Yuan.

"You don't need to get up so early. I'll just grab a bite. I'm leaving now, so you can go back to sleep."

As Jiang Yuan put on his coat, he said, "The weather is getting colder and colder, and my wife is still getting up so early to cook for me. I am so lucky to have married such a good wife."

"It's nothing, I just did it on the spur of the moment. I can't sleep soundly without you around."

While searching for a suitable tool in the room, Bao Ya said absentmindedly.

Uh... is that so? Then I'll have to find some connections as soon as possible to get a job that doesn't require night shifts.

As Jiang Yuan was thinking to himself, he walked towards the door. Just as he was about to lock the main house door, he saw his wife following behind him, carrying a broken aluminum basin with its bottom showing in one hand and a fire poker in the other.