Chapter 2: Back to the Village

From NTU to Qiaodong Village, you start at the East Gate, take Bus 21 to the Nancheng Passenger Station, and then transfer to Bus 8 to reach Qiaodong Village. The 21 bus departs from the university town and has frequent service, but sometimes you might have to wait an hour for Bus 8 to arrive. If everything goes smoothly, it takes about three hours to get home; if you have to wait a long time for transfers, it’s normal for it to take four hours or more.

Chen Jin returned home once every half month this semester, primarily to collect rent and check on the family orchard and small shop. Each time she went back, she would bring a bit of her winter clothes; now, all she had left in the dormitory were her summer clothes.

Although NTU is the best university in southern province, the job market for graduates isn’t as favorable as it was in previous years. The school can’t fully determine students’ paths after graduation, and they are now piloting a “dual-selection” employment model. Since the reform and opening up, private enterprises have sprung up like mushrooms after the rain, and in recent years, they have developed vigorously, while many state-owned enterprises have been declining. Even senior students in their major have revealed that salaries in private companies are significantly higher than those in state-owned enterprises.

She hadn’t really considered going to a private company. Originally, it was just her and her mother at home, and now she was all alone. Her mother often said that the income from their rental properties was enough for her daily needs, and finding a stable job would be just right.

So, she wanted to stay at the school as a teacher after graduation. Getting into the administrative office was tough, but she thought she could still strive to be a counselor.

Who would have thought!

Just feeling down, she looked up and saw Li Xingyi and his current girlfriend, Bai Ling.

She didn’t plan to go over and slap him, but Li Xingyi seemed to want to show off. He parked his new car, gifted by his father, right in front of her, rolled down the window, and, leaning over Bai Ling in the passenger seat, pretended to ask, “Chen Jin, do you want me to give you a ride home?”

Bai Ling glanced at the travel bag by Chen Jin’s feet and then at Chen Jin’s turned-away profile, feeling smug. “Yeah, Chen Jin, taking the bus back home must take several hours, right? It’s not very convenient living in the village… Oh?”

“Sure.” Chen Jin directly picked up her travel bag, stepped forward to pull the back seat door, but it wouldn’t budge after several strong attempts. She knocked on the door a few times, then sneered and walked over to the passenger side, leaning down to look at Li Xingyi, who had a grim expression, and then at the annoyed Bai Ling. “You two are such a pair—one cheating and the other a homewrecker. Must feel pretty proud, huh? Just remember to keep your distance from me. If you dare act up in front of me again, just see if I don’t slap you.”

She knocked on the car again. “Drive safely; you two short-lived fools, don’t get into an accident and involve others.”

Li Xingyi’s expression was ugly, but he seemed to take Chen Jin’s attitude well. After all, she had been like this back in high school. She’d only lost her temper a couple of times in her first year, and everyone learned not to provoke her. The next two years, she focused on her studies, so he had almost forgotten how she used to be.

However, Bai Ling clearly hadn’t learned her lesson yet; otherwise, she wouldn’t have dared to approach today. Once, in the Wanmin Mall downtown, Chen Jin had caught Li Xingyi and slapped him a few times. Another time, Bai Ling intentionally waited for Chen Jin after class and ended up being scolded to tears.

Now, faced with Chen Jin’s fierce expression and her barrage of insults, they couldn’t even get a word in. Both had come from well-off families, so even their insults were more roundabout, unlike Chen Jin, who was direct and loud. Her go-to phrase was “short-lived fools.”

“Tsk, crying, crying, crying—what are you acting all innocent for? Look at your face, it’s just so unlucky,” Chen Jin said disdainfully, rolling her eyes. She had come over herself, and when she couldn’t win the argument, she got teary-eyed and furrowed her brow. If it were Aunt Zhou from next door, she wouldn’t say a word, just roll up her sleeves and slap, scratch, and claw at them.

Li Xingyi shot her an angry glare, wanting to defend his girlfriend, but Chen Jin was already running off with her travel bag.

He was left gasping, his head buzzing with Chen Jin’s voice: “short-lived fools!”

Trying to insult Chen Jin had backfired, and Bai Ling vented her frustration on Li Xingyi. “You just watched her insult me? Are you still thinking about getting back with her? Just say it; if you’re still hung up on her, let’s just break up. It was your family that came to us in the first place, saying you were single, but look! Your mom lied when she said it was time to break up…”

“We really were going to break up back then; it should have happened sooner. But Chen Jin’s mother passed away last year. They’ve known each other for so many years; I couldn’t bring up a breakup at that time. I’m sorry; it was my fault today. But you know Chen Jin’s temperament. In the future, let’s just keep our distance when we see her.”

“Why should I avoid her? Who does she think she is? Just wait; if she wants to stay and be a counselor, I’ll go back and tell my uncle. Someone like her has no right to stay in school as a counselor! Chen Jin, Chen Jin, ah!”

As the bus passed by, Chen Jin leaned out to make a face at her, “Luo Luo Luo,” making Bai Ling tremble with anger.

The ticket collector saw this and shouted angrily, “Don’t stick your head out the window! Young lady, what’s wrong with you?”

Chen Jin sat back down, obediently apologizing to the ticket collector, saying she got too excited seeing a classmate. Although the collector sat right next to her and lectured her for half an hour, Chen Jin showed no signs of impatience.

The passengers on the bus noticed her good attitude and her pretty face and chimed in to help, “She knows she was wrong; she’s young, so give her a chance.”

At the next stop, which happened to be the Medical University, a dozen students boarded, forcing the ticket collector to move, and finally, Chen Jin’s ears quieted down.

The university student Chen Jin lives in the suburbs of the Beicheng (North) District, while half of the factories in the city are located in the Nancheng (South) District. Every time she goes home, it’s like a “cross-city operation” across Rong City.

There’s a stretch of road in the Nancheng District surrounded by factories. Further ahead is Qiaoxi Village, where the houses are built like concrete boxes stacked together. There’s only so much land for housing, but every family has built multiple houses. Most of the renters here are workers from the suburban factories, along with some workers who have jobs in the city but earn low wages.

The Zhang family in the Southern Province is a clan that bands together to do business under a family ancestral hall. If you don’t return during the holidays to pay respects to the ancestors, people will talk behind your back. Chen Jin goes with her mother, but for family gatherings and ancestor worship events, her grandparents living in Qiaoxi Village will call her over. They can call her ten times, and she might show up once. Whenever she returns, her grandparents’ house is always bustling with activity.

The aunts and uncles in Qiaoxi Village secretly refer to her as “Troublemaker Jin.”

As the bus passed by, she saw the newly tiled building of her grandparents’ house.

She left the east gate of the school at 1 PM and arrived at the entrance of Qiaodong Village at 4:30 PM.

Her home is close to the village entrance, and it only takes her three to four minutes to walk after getting off the bus.

Currently, there are only eighteen households left in Qiaodong Village, all of which have the surname Chen.

Indeed, Chen Jin takes her mother’s surname. When she was born, she wasn’t registered for household registration; it was only after her parents divorced that it was done. Her mother intended to name her with the character “Nian,” but the registration staff misread it and registered her as “Jin.”

Otherwise, Qiaoxi Village wouldn’t have come up with such a pointed nickname as “Troublemaker Jin.”

When she looked up, she saw the bare three floors of her family’s two buildings, which looked the same now as when they were built. An iron fence surrounded a yard, and there was a small house built in front; that was the family’s small shop. Right now, her third aunt’s niece, Tian Miao, is watching the store, earning a monthly salary of 100 yuan, with meals and accommodation at her third aunt’s house.

On her left is her eldest uncle Chen Wenqiang’s house, which originally had only a two-story elegant small western-style building, unique in Qiaodong Village. In March of last year, her eldest uncle came back in a frenzy and demolished the small building to construct two six-story buildings, only renovating the first floor for family use.

The two buildings of her eldest uncle take up more space than her family’s, and the original small garden is gone. This was a decision made without consultation, and when her eldest aunt found out, the couple fought for two months, almost reaching the point of divorce.

Her eldest uncle advised her mother to add more floors to their building, which took quite some effort. Her family had saved up for years to get 100,000 yuan, as her mother intended to buy a place for her in the city. However, her eldest uncle heard that the government might build an industrial park in Qiaoxi Village in ’93. Although the demolition wouldn’t reach Qiaodong Village, they could still take advantage of being near the industrial park to build rental properties.

Six other families in the village followed suit and began constructing new buildings, as they had long intended to build new ones.

Those six families completed their new buildings and started renting them out long ago. Only Chen Jin’s and Chen Wenqiang’s houses remain unrenovated after completion.

This is understandable. Chen Jin lives alone and has to attend school, so she doesn’t have time to handle family affairs for now. As for Chen Wenqiang’s family, building the house cost a lot, and they’re still waiting on final payments from the construction company while needing to pay the workers’ salaries. With money being tight, the renovations have been delayed.

People in the village say their two families are wasting money.

“Is Chen Jin on break?” Aunt Zhou is chatting with Tian Miao in the small shop, and the two, despite being over twenty years apart in age, seem to enjoy their conversation.

Tian Miao stood up to take a look and called out, “Third cousin!” Then she said, “My second aunt said to invite you for dinner at our house tonight.”

“Okay, got it. I’ll head back to drop off my stuff first.”

Chen Jin is ranked “3” among the sisters from her three uncles and two aunts. Her eldest uncle has two cousins and one cousin sister, her second uncle has one cousin sister, and her third uncle has one cousin brother and one cousin brother. Her third uncle is her mother’s cousin. Her third uncle’s parents and her maternal grandparents are siblings, and they are close, so their relationship is almost like that of a biological uncle. Besides her three uncles, Chen Jin also has two aunts; her eldest aunt is her mother’s biological sister, and her second aunt is her mother’s cousin.

The entire Qiaodong Village is descended from a common ancestor, and every family has some degree of kinship. The Chen clan is united and cohesive. Earlier this year, her grandfather’s side wanted to transfer her household registration back, but her eldest uncle’s temper nearly turned it into a collective brawl between Qiaodong and Qiaoxi Villages.

She has many relatives, but they are mainly concentrated in Qiaodong and Qiaoxi Villages. In Qiaodong Village, she is “the other person’s child,” while in Qiaoxi Village, she is “Troublemaker Jin.”

Sigh!

Chen Jin took out the key to the first floor from her bag. Between her family’s two buildings, there’s only a one-meter-wide space. Except for the first floor of the left building, which is reserved for family, the rest is all for rent.

The rental properties aren’t always fully occupied; sometimes tenants move out, and it takes a while for someone to rent again. They can’t afford to spend money on advertisements or marketing; most new tenants come from referrals by old tenants.

Although their rental properties are clean and tidy with cheap rent, the distance from workplaces makes it much less appealing compared to the rentals in Qiaoxi Village.

The first floor of her home has two doors. Upon entering, the kitchen is on the left, and the public bathroom is on the right. The living and dining area is spacious and integrated. The house has four rooms; her bedroom and study are adjacent, her mother occupies the master bedroom, which still has its original furnishings, and there’s an empty guest room for when her eldest aunt’s family comes to stay.

From the sofa and fridge down to the chopsticks and spoons, everything was gradually acquired through discussions between her and her mother, some of which have been used for several years.

She didn’t feel her home was spacious before, but now she notices the emptiness everywhere.

As she entered, she casually tapped a white puppy figurine on the shoe cabinet by the door; it would emit a sound saying, “You’re back, you’re back.”

She carried her bag to her bedroom, then went to her mother’s room and fumbled around for a while at the bottom layer of the big wardrobe before finding a mechanism she could press down. The wooden board at the bottom popped open, revealing a rectangular iron box inside.

The iron box contains her savings: the household registration book, property certificate, two land use certificates, and two savings books. One of the savings books has had money deposited into it gradually throughout the first half of this year, with a current balance of fifteen thousand. The other savings book has only had deposits since 1982, and it stopped last November, accumulating a total of twenty-three thousand over ten years.

This is all she can use—thirty-eight thousand.

The six additional floors built won’t be finished with just thirty-eight thousand for renovations, and there’s still no news about the demolition in Qiaoxi Village. She worries that if the renovations are completed, there won’t be enough tenants.

After tidying up her home and changing to new bed sheets, Chen Jin went to the small shop to settle accounts with Tian Miao, restocking any out-of-stock items.

Usually, Tian Miao goes to Chen Jin’s aunt’s house to get meals and brings them to the shop to eat. She closes the store at eight in the evening before going home. Today, Chen Jin asked her to close the shop early, eat dinner, and come back later.

“The tenant in Room 301 of Building No. 2 asked when the new building will be renovated; he has a few friends who want to rent a place. Third Cousin, when will the new house at home be renovated?”

“I don’t have the money, so let’s put it on hold for now,” Chen Jin replied, turning back to say, “Miao Miao, you sound like you’re from the Northeast now.”

Tian Miao sighed and glanced resentfully in the direction of Building No. 1. “There’s a couple from the Northeast living in Room 204 of Building No. 1. After work in the evenings, they come out to the small shop to chat, and they’ve influenced me a bit.”

“Tsk tsk, now three households from the Northeast are living in Building No. 1.” She couldn’t help but imagine if all these people got together after work, Building No. 1 would turn into a “Northeastern flavor” hub.

She went to Aunt Zhou’s fruit and vegetable shop next door and bought a large watermelon. After walking along the spacious village road for about five minutes, she arrived at her third uncle’s house. The plot of land for her third uncle’s house was small; they had only built one building, which reached six floors two years ago. Therefore, her eldest uncle couldn’t encourage her third uncle to continue building since there was no space left to expand.

Third Aunt was cooking in the kitchen, while her cousin Chen Yongan was playing on a little video game console in the living room. Hearing the noise, he looked up excitedly and waved, “Third sister, come quick!”

This little video game console belonged to Chen Jin; it was a gift from her mother when she saw that Chen Jin didn’t enjoy watching TV. As a result, she hardly played it and ended up giving it to Chen Yongan.

“You and Miao Miao can play; I’ll go help in the kitchen.” After putting the watermelon in the refrigerator, Chen Jin squeezed into the kitchen.

Third Aunt didn’t let her help, saying the food would be ready soon.

“I just saw Third Uncle go out with a hoe. What’s he doing?”

“Checking on his peach trees, what else? I don’t know what your eldest uncle is thinking.”

Great, another one tricked by the eldest uncle into planting peach trees.

“Those vacant plots are near Qiaoxi Village, but with the demolition happening, how could they possibly tear down to that side?” She thought to herself, is he hoping to mooch off soup after the demolition at Qiaoxi Village? It seemed like a waste of effort to her.

“By the way, when will your new house start renovation?” Third Aunt was busy in the kitchen, her mouth never stopping. “If you don’t have enough money, the family can lend you some. Since you’ve already added floors, you can’t leave it empty; it’s a waste of money. Luckily, you don’t have classes this semester, right? That means you can keep an eye on it at home. But if you have other things to do, just let us know in advance, so we can help.”

“Oh, and your grandpa called; he said there’s a village meeting and wants you to come home for a meal and meet some people.”

“I don’t have the surname Liu, so I’m not going.”

Third Aunt shot her a glare. “Why not? There have been rumors everywhere that the demolition notice for Qiaoxi Village is coming down soon. Even if you don’t have the surname Liu, your dad does! If they demolish, you’ll at least get something.”

It seemed that the demolition of Qiaoxi Village was really happening.

Chen Jin smiled and said, “Oh, in that case, I’ll go.”