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

Jiang Yuan sensed that Bao Ya had jumped out of the car and run away, so he quickly stopped, turned the car around, and headed towards the big tree.

Bao Ya was calling an old man with gray hair "brother-in-law".

The expression on the face of Liu Yutian, the brigade leader standing next to him, was quite interesting; one glance was enough to tell that he was cursing under his breath.

"Uncle Captain, Grandfather..."

Jiang Yuan got out of the car and greeted everyone present.

Just as Captain Liu was about to speak to him, Bao Ya patted him on the shoulder and pointed to the old man sitting under the tree, saying:

"Don't call him that. He's my brother-in-law. You're calling him someone of a lower generation."

"Well……"

Everyone present was annoyed, thinking, "Is it really okay for you to give yourself such a high seniority?"

Bao Ya wasn't making things up. The old man's wife was the aunt of the Su family in Nanshan Brigade. According to seniority, Bao Ya should call her "elder sister," which means the old man was the Su family's son-in-law.

When the old aunt was alive, the old man would accompany her back to her parents' home every year. Bao Ya met her when she was little.

Now the old man's sons visit Nanshan Village every year to pay New Year's greetings.

The old man looked at Bao Ya with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, then glanced at his nephew's bitter face and knew that the girl was doing it on purpose.

"Uncle Captain, do you think I'm right?"

"Hey, no, don't call him that. He's my uncle. We're from different generations."

Captain Liu quickly waved his hand, warning that if he dared to agree, his uncle would surely beat him up later.

"It's alright, let's discuss this separately."

"No, please don't."

Captain Liu waved his hand and backed away, feeling an urge to run away; he couldn't stay there any longer.

He didn't check the almanac before going out today; he shouldn't have come this way.

Bao Ya didn't dwell on it, and turned to the old man, saying:

"Brother-in-law, come to my house for drinks tonight. We bought two pounds of meat today, let's all have a good time together."

When she said she would treat him to drinks and meat that night, the old man immediately beamed with joy. Because of this, his nephew's call for his aunt was well-deserved.

"Okay, let's go to your place for drinks tonight."

"Uncle Captain, you should come too."

After Bao Ya finished speaking, she pulled Jiang Yuan away, leaving the uncle and nephew looking at each other in bewilderment under the big tree, along with a few onlookers.

"Yutian, she calls you 'uncle,' and you call your uncle 'brother-in-law.' How will your family's generational hierarchy be determined from now on?"

"Yeah, which side should we talk about? Tsk, should you call Jiang Laoshan 'Grandpa' or 'Brother' from now on?"

"Get lost..."

Bao Ya did it on purpose. It was her first time meeting her in-laws, so she wanted to impress them by presenting herself as an elder.

The nearby villages are all related by blood, and the generations are all mixed up, but that doesn't stop her from using them.

"Father~, Mother~"

As soon as she entered the house, Bao Ya shouted loudly into the house. The neighbors all heard her and looked over at her house.

My grandmother in my past life told me that no matter what the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is like, I must appear enthusiastic in front of outsiders and keep up appearances.

When Liao Chunhua saw that it was her youngest son and daughter-in-law returning, she immediately came out to greet them with a big smile.

"Hey, you're back. Come inside and warm up."

He quickly helped them carry their things into the house and told them to stay on the kang (heated brick bed). He also filled a teacup with water and brought it to them.

Jiang Laoshan also got up to gather firewood and heat up the kang (a heated brick bed), and also heated up the kang in their room.

"Dad, Mom, don't bother. Try the shoes on first to see if they fit. I don't know what size you wear."

Seeing that they had almost finished their work, Bao Ya took out the two newly made pairs of shoes.

The old couple were even happier when they heard that their daughter-in-law had made shoes for them. Of their three daughters-in-law, this was the first one to make shoes for them.

"Okay, just right."

Jiang Laoshan put on his new shoes and chuckled to himself. These days, villagers consider shoes a good fit as long as their feet can fit in; a little too big doesn't matter.

When the shoes were being made, winter arrived, so Bao Ya made cotton-padded shoes. The elderly couple felt warm and cozy on their feet, which made them feel even more comfortable.

"Are you two hungry? What would you like to eat for lunch?"

Liao Chunhua handed the basket filled with hazelnuts and walnuts to Bao Ya, pondering what to cook for them for lunch.

"Mom, we ran into Uncle Team Leader at the village entrance. Third Brother invited him over for drinks tonight. We'll just have something simple for lunch."

Bao Ya didn't dare say that she had invited them; it would be inappropriate to invite someone home for dinner on their first visit.

"Okay, I got it. We still have some dried rabbit at home; I'll stew it tonight."

Liao Chunhua felt warm inside as Bao Ya called her "Mother" repeatedly; of her three daughters-in-law, this was the first one she liked so much.

The eldest son, Jiang Tao, married the daughter of a leader in the army. They have been married for almost ten years, and he has only come back once.

The daughter-in-law's disdain for their family was impossible to hide. They still hadn't seen their eldest grandson.

The second son, Jiang Cheng, married his master's only daughter and has been living at his father-in-law's house ever since, occasionally bringing his children back to visit.

The second daughter-in-law is like a delicate lamp, the kind that breaks easily if you blow on it; you're afraid of scaring her if you make a loud noise.

The first two sons gave money and gifts, but they never saw him.

The youngest son was adopted by the eldest brother, and the elderly couple lived a rather lonely life. They were overjoyed to see them come back.

Jiang Yuan listened without saying a word, and his wife said that he had invited them, so he had invited them.

After the four of them had a simple lunch, Bao Ya asked Jiang Yuan to take her up the mountain.

The weather is nice today; the afternoon sun shines warmly through the sparse leaves.

Jiang Yuan held Bao Ya's hand and stepped on the thick layer of fallen leaves, making a rustling sound.

"Third Brother, is it still possible to catch prey this time?"

Bao Ya looked around, but apart from a few birds overhead, she didn't see any living creatures.

"Let's check out those traps up ahead; they've been set before, maybe we can find something there."

Jiang Yuan wasn't in a hurry. He knew where the traps they had set before, as well as those set by others, were located.

The two walked along, stopping occasionally, picking up bits and pieces of hazelnuts, walnuts, pine cones, and some wild grapes and hawthorns that others had left behind. They wandered for two hours without finding any prey.

They came to a trap, and there was a pheasant inside. Jiang Yuan went over and took the pheasant out of the trap, took out a piece of straw rope from his pocket and tied it to the pheasant's beak and feet. He then threw it into his basket.

"Hey, that's a trap we set, don't move."

Looking up, they saw a person running towards them, shouting as they ran. Behind them, another person was walking slowly towards them.

When the man got closer, he was about to tell them to put the chicken down, but when he saw Lin Baoya, he didn't hesitate for a moment. He turned around and ran back, hiding behind the man behind him, not daring to look at them.

"Liu San, why are you running? Come here and let me introduce you. This is your sister-in-law."

Jiang Yuan saw him and grinned mischievously, calling out for him to come over.

Bao Ya also got a good look at the person from earlier. He was about eighteen or nineteen years old, about 1.75 meters tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and looked a bit simple-minded.

This looks like one of the original owner's classmates, the one whose head she cracked open. Tsk, the original owner really had a lot of enemies.

The one walking in front of him looks very similar to the one behind him; he appears more mature.

"Jiang Yuan, did you bully my brother again?"

Before Liu Erge even arrived, he spoke to Jiang Yuan with a reproachful tone, not an angry one.

"No way, he ran away without saying a word. What? You've grown up and now you know how to be shy?"

Jiang Yuan said to Liu Erge with a grin, while glancing at Liu San behind him.

Liu San hid behind Liu Erge, looking embarrassed and hesitant to come out.

Actually, Bao Ya also wanted to hide. The original owner had cracked someone's head open, but the other person's parents didn't come to make a scene. Isn't that strange?