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

Lin Dahe's smile froze. Fifty yuan? She really dared to ask for that much.

"If your uncle isn't sincere about giving it, then forget it. Simao, you should still make the trip!"

"Here you go, Uncle is giving this sincerely!"

Lin Dahe gritted his teeth and said he could tell that this brat was deliberately causing trouble. He looked up into the crowd, trying to find Lin Laosan, who had disappeared when his father said he would give him twenty yuan. If the money was in his daughter's hands, they wouldn't be able to get it back; but if it was in his hands, his mother would definitely throw a tantrum and demand it back.

"This money was given to me by my eldest uncle. When we divide the family property, it should be deducted from his share. If we use the public account, people will say that my eldest uncle is taking advantage of us again."

When Li Jinxiang saw that no one was paying attention to her and that she was going to give Bao Ya fifty yuan, she became unhappy and jumped up and rushed towards Bao Ya.

"Why should I...?"

Lin Dahe reacted quickly and kicked her aside. That wretched woman always ruins things. This matter could have been easily resolved, but why did he have Bao Ya wash clothes? Not only did he lose a basin of clothes, but now he's also lost fifty yuan.

"That's for sure."

Lin Dahe's smile was more like a grimace. Dividing the family? Thinking of his runaway third brother and his never-showing second brother, it seemed they were considering dividing the family.

Under Old Man Lin's pressure, Old Woman Lin reluctantly handed over fifty yuan. Bao Ya also had the village elder write a written agreement, specifying that the amount would be deducted from Old Man Lin's share during the family division. Finally, she demanded that Lin Siya and Li Jinxiang apologize to Bao Ya at the village meeting.

She had considered this carefully. Extorting some money was the best option. After all, Lin Siya pushing her into the water hadn't resulted in anyone's death. If she said the original owner was gone and she was a transmigrator, no one would believe her. Reporting it to the police would just be treated as a domestic dispute, and they might just settle things with a few eggs. Extorting some money was the best outcome for her now.

However, the Lin family is quite something; they paid fifty yuan without much haggling. Earning work points might not even yield fifty yuan in a year. It seems there's some income I'm unaware of; I need to find a way to investigate.

After resolving these matters, Bao Ya went home with her grandmother to sleep, completely satisfied. Before leaving, she specifically told Old Man Lin that she would eat here during the day and go back to the Su family's house to sleep at night.

Old Man Lin reluctantly agreed with a smile.

The Lin family was destined for a turbulent night; the old lady and Li Jinxiang's curses echoed from their respective rooms, finally ceasing around midnight.

Zhang Laidi also mustered up the courage to bring up the matter of dividing the family property with Lin Lao Er.

Lin Laosan and Su Ruyi marveled at their daughter's intelligence, and even Xiao Gou Dan felt proud of her.

Over the course of a few days, she gradually gained some understanding of the original owner's situation.

The Lin family: Old Man Lin and Old Woman Lin had three sons and two daughters. The two daughters are already married, and the three sons have not yet separated from the family.

Lin Laoda, the eldest son, married Li Jinxiang, a niece from a neighboring family of Lin Laotai. They had three sons and two daughters. Their eldest daughter, Lin Daya, married a worker in the city a few years ago. Their eldest son, Lin Xiaoquan, got a job a year and a half ago with the family's help and also married a girl from the city. He now lives in the factory dormitory.

The second son, Lin Xiaohong, is twenty years old and works as a farmer.

The second daughter, Lin Siya, is a few days younger than Lin Baoya and is not yet married.

The youngest son, Lin Xiaowen, is studying at a high school in the county town.

Because she was the old lady's niece and had given birth to three sons, she was very proud at home and felt superior to others.

The second son, Lin Dajiang, wasn't very noticeable at home, but he was quite strong, standing on his 10-centimeter frame every day, and served as a strong laborer. He married Zhang Laidi from the neighboring village, and they had three daughters and one son: Lin Erya, Lin Wuya, Lin Liuya, and their youngest son, Tiedan. The couple cherished their son, whom they had waited for for over ten years after their marriage.

The third son, Lin Dahai, is Lin Baoya's biological father. He married Su Ruyi, the brigade leader's sister, and they had a daughter and a son. The eldest daughter, Lin Baoya, is the original owner of this body and is eighteen years old this year; the youngest son, Gou Dan, is eight years old this year. They are the family that Old Madam Lin dislikes the most.

Logically speaking, one should consider the Buddha's feelings even if one doesn't care about the monk. Su Ruyi is the brigade leader's younger sister, so Granny Lin shouldn't be so disgusting. But that's just the way things are.

This story begins with Granny Su, Lin Baoya's maternal grandmother. When Granny Su was young, she was the most beautiful girl in the village, and naturally had many suitors, including Old Man Lin.

Old Man Lin's family had fled famine and had no real connections in the village. They also had few brothers, and Old Man Lin's mother was a petty and mean-spirited person. So, Old Lady Su's family never even considered him.

But the hot-blooded young man was not convinced and did many foolish things. In the end, Old Lady Su still married into the Su family. The Su family is a common surname in the village. Before liberation, most people in the village had the surname Su. During the war, many people came to the village to escape famine. Now, at least half of the villagers still have the surname Su, and most of the remaining people are related to the Su family.

Old Man Lin later married a girl from the Li family in the neighboring village, who is now known as Granny Lin. Granny Lin was not bad-looking and had high aspirations. She was full of longing for married life, but reality slapped her in the face. Her mother-in-law was stingy and mean, and she was always on guard against her, afraid that she would support her family. Not only did outsiders compare her to Old Lady Su from time to time, but even her own mother-in-law and sisters-in-law always used Granny Su to belittle her.

The most fatal thing is that she also saw her husband's face turn red to the roots of his ears after saying a few words to Grandma Su. This sour feeling has been there since he was young.

When arranging marriages for her son and daughter, they avoided Su's house. Who knew that her youngest son, Lin Dahai, would fall in love with Su's youngest daughter? She certainly couldn't agree to it, so she threatened to kill herself if her youngest son dared to marry a girl from the Su family.

This stunned everyone. What could possibly cause such a deep grievance? No one understood how things had come to this. After all, the bitterness was only brewing in her own heart, and no one except Old Man Lin knew about it.

The two young people's passionate feelings did not cool down, but instead became even stronger. Just in time for the land reform in the village, the two went to get their marriage certificate under the guidance of the work team.

Lin Dahai and his wife were the first couple in the village to get their marriage certificate. They were publicly praised and used as a positive example. Leaders from the new government came one after another to congratulate them. Even if Lin's mother was unwilling, she had to accept it.

Feeling she had been wronged, Granny Lin became even more unrestrained after her mother-in-law was no longer there to control her. She became an even more mean-spirited mother-in-law than her own. She couldn't easily harm her eldest daughter-in-law, who was her niece, but she had no scruples when her second daughter-in-law was not valued by her family. Su Ruyi's arrival only made things worse, and she came up with even more ways to torment people.

Unfortunately, she forgot that the Su family was no pushover. They all lived in the same village, and if anything happened, their family would come running immediately. When Su Ruyi gave birth to Lin Baoya prematurely, the Lin family's house was completely ransacked by the Su family. Lin Laosan even threatened that if she continued to mistreat his wife, he would become a live-in son-in-law in the Su family.