Chapter 32

Deputy Director Gu’s response made Lin Yao very satisfied.

What made her even happier came afterward. After finishing his midnight snack, Gu Shi’an rolled up his sleeves, went to the kitchen, and washed the dishes, neatly arranging them in the cupboard. Then he handed Lin Yao a kraft paper envelope, inside of which was a stack of bills.

Lin Yao asked, “Did your salary come in already?”

“The salary is paid at the end of the month. This is the bonus from the bureau.”

The robbery case had been solved, bringing relief to the leaders of Yunshui County and ensuring that the people could live in peace, which in turn would stabilize the county’s economy.

Because of this, the old secretary had specially approved a bonus to reward the officers of the Public Security Bureau.

Gu Shi’an returned with a bamboo thermos, washed his hands, and while answering, pulled the young woman back into his arms.

Whether it was salary or a bonus, as long as there was money coming in, Lin Yao was happy.

She, being quite a little miser, counted the stack of bills several times. The stack contained quite a few large bills and some small ones, totaling 135.20 yuan. 130 yuan was the bonus, and the remaining 5.20 yuan was Deputy Director Gu’s private savings, which he had handed over without keeping any for himself.

Lin Yao rewarded him with two kisses.

However, Gu Shi’an wasn’t satisfied with just a little affection. Eventually, Lin Yao found herself wrapped in his arms, experiencing what it meant to be passionately loved.

That night, the “dog man” devoured her completely.

Afterward, Lin Yao was so exhausted that she could barely lift her slender, pale arms and angrily bit Gu Shi’an several times.

With gentle eyes, Gu Shi’an wrapped the girl in a towel, fetched water to clean both of their bodies and then returned to the bedroom to change the bed linens. Once everything was tidied up, the young couple finally fell into a deep sleep.

After a night of stormy passion, the next morning, the rain outside had stopped, but the sky remained overcast, with a cool breeze carrying a hint of dampness through the window.

Zhang Cuilan got up early and stepped outside. The courtyard was clean and tidy. The rain-soaked leaves on the ground had been cleared away, the firewood for the winter was neatly stacked in the corner, and the two rabbits in the hutch were happily munching on cabbage leaves. On the clothesline hung a wrung-out bed sheet.

Gu Shi’an was chopping bamboo, planning to reinforce the gourd trellis in the yard.

Zhang Cuilan glanced at the dripping bed sheet but didn’t think much of it. Her eldest son had always been diligent, and as long as he was home, she didn’t have to worry about the household chores. As for the bed sheets, except for her eldest son, who was a bit of a neat freak, the rest of the family had gotten into the habit of changing them every three to five days, unlike others who could go half a month without changing theirs.

Comrade Cuilan then looked at the closed windows of the east wing. There was no movement inside, which meant Yaoyao was still asleep. More sleep was good for the skin, and when she had children in the future, their skin would be fair too!

The old mother then happily imagined a future where she would be surrounded by grandchildren and cheerfully went back inside to rummage through the chests.

Gu Mancang was sitting in the house, putting on socks. In those days, the socks sold at the supply and marketing cooperative were nylon, meant for women. As a big man, he either went barefoot or wore socks made at home.

Men wore out socks quickly, and a pair of homespun socks would be worn through in just a few days.

Gu Mancang, holding a sock with a hole at the toe, called his wife to mend it.

Zhang Cuilan, busy rummaging through the chests, waved him off, saying, “Can’t you see I’m busy?” and told him to mend it himself.

Gu Mancang had no choice but to fend for himself, clumsily threading a needle.

When he finished, he realized that Comrade Cuilan had been looking for fabric at the bottom of the chest to make clothes for their future grandchild.

Gu Mancang’s face lit up with joy. “Wife, do we have good news?”

“No, I’m just getting these out early to make a couple of outfits to satisfy my urge to be a grandmother.”

Comrade Cuilan was beaming with delight.

Gu Mancang: “……..”

Alright then.

*

Recently, the meals at the commune’s canteen had been quite consistent: cornmeal buns and coarse grain porridge in the morning, stewed winter melon or potatoes and potato rice for lunch, and mixed grain porridge with pickled vegetables for dinner.

Day after day of such meals, with no meat in sight, everyone was looking pale and sickly.

Those with the means at home were cooking for themselves or sneaking snacks to satisfy their cravings.

Lin Yao had noticed several times that Dongzi’s mouth was covered in crumbs from secretly eating snacks.

When she asked him about it, the little rascal would just wink and deny everything.

This morning’s meal was decent, with mixed grain porridge, buckwheat buns, and a plate of scrambled eggs fried at home, the eggs golden and fragrant with lard.

The aroma was so enticing that even Lin Yao, who loved to sleep in, was lured out of bed.

Mixed grain porridge wasn’t very filling, and Gu Shi’an had a big appetite. After two bowls of porridge and two buns, the family’s food basket was almost empty.

Gu Shi’an was clearly still hungry, so Lin Yao stuffed five yuan and some meat and grain coupons into his pocket, telling him to buy something on the way to work to fill up.

Gu Shi’an nodded, put on his cap, and went out to the yard to get his bicycle.

Their son and daughter-in-law were getting along well, and Zhang Cuilan and her husband were grinning from ear to ear.

Gu Chunmei wanted to laugh along, but thinking of how sharp-tongued Yaoyao could be, she just lowered her head and continued eating.

Dongzi, that little rascal, came over, claiming he was still hungry, and looked at his sister-in-law with hopeful eyes.

Lin Yao wasn’t about to spoil him. She broke off a piece of cornbread and handed it to him with a smile, saying, “If you’re still hungry, have some more.”

Dongzi took the cornbread reluctantly. Gu Chunmei then added a piece of their homemade pickled cucumber and said, “This pickled cucumber was made by your sister herself. The first bite is yours.”

Dongzi hesitated, not wanting to eat it. His sister’s pickled cucumbers were edible, sure, but just the other day, Brother Da Tou almost had a meltdown after trying her chili sauce—it was too salty and spicy. He barely survived it!

The little rascal hesitated, but with his fierce sister glaring at him and their parents not stepping in, and his sister-in-law laughing nearby, he nervously took a small bite. “Oh no, isn’t this supposed to be a pickled cucumber? Why is it so spicy?!”

The heat had Dongzi nearly in tears, and he grabbed the water jug to chug down some water.

Gu Chunmei slapped the table in realization. “No wonder it smelled off. You can’t add chili peppers when pickling cucumbers!”

It was a good thing they made Dongzi try it first, or Brother Da Tou would have been the one suffering again.

After breakfast, everyone went their separate ways to work.

From the neighboring yard, Hutou came over with a bamboo pole fitted with a net, calling for Gu Shidong to go catch cicadas in the woods.

Recently, food had been scarce, and the boys in the neighborhood were craving meat, so they’d head to the woods on the outskirts of the city to catch cicadas and fry them up.

Dongzi grabbed an empty beer bottle and told Lin Yao he was going, and the two rascals took off running.

Around noon, Aunt Dafu from next door brought over half a bag of sunflower seeds, saying they were from her relatives back home, and her family couldn’t finish them all, so she brought some for the Gu family.

These sunflower seeds weren’t to be underestimated. Once dried and roasted, they would be a delicious treat.

Lin Yao thanked Aunt Dafu and accepted the seeds, then sent her home with a basket of cucumbers.

Aunt Dafu’s family didn’t grow any vegetables, and she’d been eating in the cafeteria every day during the hot summer, where the food wasn’t to her liking. Some cucumbers mixed with garlic would make a nice dish.

Aunt Dafu praised how well the cucumbers had grown and went inside to get a sieve so she could sit and chat with Lin Yao.

In the front courtyard, Wang Shengcai’s wife was also home. She had slapped Liu Laidi so hard that half her face was swollen, and she couldn’t go to work, so she was stuck at home recovering.

In these times, without phones or televisions, Wang Shengcai’s wife was bored out of her mind lying on the kang.

She heard voices coming from the backyard and felt restless. Covering her face with a scarf, she couldn’t wait to go outside. As she passed Old Zheng’s house, she didn’t forget to spit and curse a couple of times.

Aunt Dafu and Lin Yao were chatting and laughing when Wang Shengcai’s wife thick-skinnedly came over to join the conversation. They couldn’t just ignore her.

After all, when you live in the same courtyard, you have to keep up appearances.

It used to be that Wang Shengchai’s wife was closest to Liu Laidi.

The large courtyard was divided into front and back yards. The front yard housed three families, with Grandpa Sun’s family keeping to themselves. The Gu and Fu families in the back got along well, so Wang Shengcai’s wife naturally teamed up with Liu Laidi.

In the courtyard of five families, there wasn’t a single person Wang Shengcai’s wife liked. She couldn’t be bothered with Grandma Sun, and as for the backyard, there was Zhang Cuilan, who worked as a butcher, Aunt Dafu, who was a farmer, and Liu Laidi, who was a village woman. They were all from the countryside, and even though they married into the city, they were still country bumpkins!

And then there was that newly married woman, what was her name? Lin Yao.

Clearly, she was just a country girl, but she had such a delicate and charming appearance, like a vixen. She acted more pampered than the city girls, lazing around at home every day. She’d been married for months, and there was no sign of a baby bump.

She was probably just a hen that couldn’t lay eggs!

What good is a woman who can’t have children?

Wang Shengcai’s wife sneered at Lin Yao’s slender arms and legs, struggling to carry even a bucket of water, and her words dripped with disdain.

Her eyes wandered over to the rabbit hutch by the vegetable patch, and she exaggeratedly covered her nose, saying, “Oh my, why are you raising rabbits? These things stink! The smell is awful, it’s enough to choke someone. It’s not clean or sanitary. Only country folk would raise these things. Look at those rabbits, they’re so fat. They must poop a lot, right? Must be a pain to clean up. Typical of someone from the countryside, no sense of propriety.”

Wang Shengcai’s wife kept going on about country people, and Lin Yao raised an eyebrow, just about ready to teach her a lesson.

But Aunt Dafu’s face darkened first, and she snapped, “What’s wrong with being from the countryside? Without country folks planting crops, growing vegetables, and raising pigs, what would city people eat? Without the countryside, city folks would starve! Besides, who in the city didn’t come from the countryside? Li Gouya, weren’t your parents also from the countryside, carrying night soil? What’s the big deal? Your parents cleaned toilets, didn’t that stink? You’ve been in the city for a few days eating rationed food, and now you think you’re something special?”

Aunt Dafu’s scolding left Wang Shengcai’s wife red-faced, and she ran off, covering her face.

Wang Shengcai’s wife’s parents were indeed from the countryside. She had three older sisters and a younger brother, and neither parent favored her. They didn’t even bother giving her a proper name—her little brother was called Bao Dan, and she was called Gouya, full name Li Gouya.

As the saying goes, people like to show off what they lack. Li Gouya wasn’t cherished at home, and it wasn’t until she was about ten years old that she followed her family to the city. Her parents worked as toilet cleaners, and the whole family was sloppy, naturally giving them a bad odor.

Li Gouya hated being called a country bumpkin the most. The more people called her that, the angrier she got.

Ever since she married into the courtyard, she’d looked down on the other women who had married into the city from the countryside, feeling superior and always flaunting that she was a city girl.

Aunt Dafu had long been fed up with her.

That evening, when Gu Shi’an came home, Lin Yao mentioned the incident to him casually before going off to take a bath, not noticing that his eyes grew cold.

A few days later, Li Gouya recovered and returned to work, only to be stunned.

She’d lost her temporary job!