Chapter 2

“Mom, what are you talking about? What’s wrong with me?”

Hearing Ye Chunlan say that she was not good-looking, Jiang Mo felt hurt and became relentless. Ye Chunlan gave her a look that told her to stop making trouble and looked at Jiang Yan to continue coaxing her.

“Besides, you don’t have a job now, so according to the policy, you have to go to the countryside. Dad is a staff member of the Revolutionary Committee, so it’s not easy for him to be openly partial. If you really don’t want to marry Lu Yunsheng, Mom can ask Dad to prepare for you to go to the countryside.”

“But if you go to the countryside, you will be randomly assigned. What if you go to the northwest or the even colder Heilongjiang Province? Not only will you have to work in the fields, but you will also have to go hungry. You have been in poor health since childhood, so I’m afraid you can’t stand it.”

These words were threats both explicitly and implicitly, so Jiang Yan took them seriously.

According to the memory she received, it was now March 1972. She didn’t know much about this era, but the general impression of later generations was that they were hungry.

And in the original owner’s memory, the Jiang family also lived a very tight life.

Although they were not starving, they were not well off either. All daily necessities were in short supply, even the officials of the Revolutionary Committee were in short supply.

It is conceivable how difficult life is for ordinary people.

After a brief thought, Jiang Yan made a decision. She looked at Ye Chunlan and said, “If you want me to marry you, I’ll give you 200 yuan plus 100 kilograms of national food coupons, 100 kilograms of meat coupons, 50 kilograms of oil coupons, and 50 feet of cloth coupons.”

“What? You’re asking for too much. It’s impossible, absolutely impossible.”

When Ye Chunlan heard Jiang Yan’s request, she exploded.

Their family has two working parents, and they only have less than two kilograms of meat and one kilogram of oil rationed per month, and only a few feet of cloth coupons in a year.

As soon as Jiang Yan opened her mouth, she asked for several years’ salary of her family. Even if Jiang Yuan wanted to be promoted, it was impossible for him to agree, and the family did not have that much money.

Jiang Yan shrugged. “Then you guys can do whatever you want. Without any guarantee, I can’t go with the army.”

Ye Chunlan frowned, not knowing what she was thinking.

Jiang Mo looked at Jiang Yan and saw that she was fearless. She began to worry and pulled Ye Chunlan’s sleeve. “Mom, promise her. At most, we can give her less.”

His father is determined to get involved with the Lu family. If Jiang Yan can’t get married, her father will most likely let her marry him. She doesn’t want to be a widow.

Ye Chunlan naturally knew that Jiang Yuan was determined to get her, and she didn’t want her precious daughter to marry so far away.

After hesitating for a while, Ye Chunlan compromised with a painful heart: “Your request cannot be met even by the gods, but I can give you 100 yuan, 50 catties of grain coupons, 15 catties of meat coupons, 5 catties of oil coupons and 20 feet of cloth coupons.”

“If you agree, then agree. If you don’t agree, forget it. Let Jiang Yuan talk to you, but he won’t be as polite as us.”

Among the three members of the Jiang family, Jiang Yuan is the worst. Even Ye Chunlan and Jiang Mo are a little afraid of him.

Without much hesitation, Jiang Yan agreed. She decided to get married. It was better than going to the countryside to farm and starve.

After all, she is not the original owner. If she stays there for too long, she will inevitably reveal her flaws. It would be best to go to a place where no one knows her.

And if she resisted strongly, even if she stayed, Jiang Yuan and Ye Chunlan would not let her go.

As the saying goes, the people should not fight against the officials. How could an orphan like her who didn’t even have a job fight against an old fox in the officialdom who had been in power for 10 to 20 years?

Seeing Jiang Yan agreed, Ye Chunlan and Jiang Mo were delighted.

Jiang Yan also took the opportunity to ask to go to the hospital for treatment. Her fever had not subsided yet. If she didn’t take medicine quickly, she might have to go down to accompany the original owner.

Jiang Yan agreed to get married, so Ye Chunlan naturally would not refuse this request. She immediately decided to accompany Jiang Yan to see the doctor in person, and at the same time asked Jiang Mo to send the message to Jiang Yuan.

This matter has been delayed for a long time. To avoid any further complications, Jiang Yan should be sent to the train as soon as possible so that her husband can be promoted as soon as possible.

The nearest hospital was not far from the compound, only about ten minutes’ walk away. Ye Chunlan quickly brought Jiang Yan to the hospital. The doctor prescribed a fever-reducing injection and some medicine, and then let the two go back.

When I got home, Jiang Yuan and his daughter had already returned.

As soon as she entered the door, Jiang Yan heard Jiang Yuan praising Jiang Mo for being obedient and sensible, a scene of a loving father and a filial daughter.

Hearing the noise outside the door, Jiang Mo glanced smugly at Jiang Yan, her expression clearly saying, “I have a father’s love, and you don’t” — the kind of look that made people want to punch her.

But Jiang Yan is not the original owner, so she has no feelings about this.

Jiang Yuan also looked over and for the first time showed an expression of satisfaction towards his adopted daughter.

“You’re quite sensible. Since you’re sick, just go inside and rest. You don’t have to cook. I’ll ask your mother to prepare the money and give it to you when you get on the train in two days.”

Fearing that Jiang Yan was cheating, Jiang Yuan held back and did not give her the money and tickets immediately, but waited until Jiang Yan got on the train.

In this era, you need a letter of introduction to go out, and you have to go to the place indicated on the letter of introduction. You cannot buy tickets to other places.

Moreover, everything was nationalized. If your address was wrong, you couldn’t even stay in a guesthouse and would have to sleep on the streets and become a vagrant. Your fate would be even worse than going to the countryside.

Jiang Yan naturally knew the purpose of Jiang Yuan’s action, but she didn’t want to confront him head-on, so she nodded and walked towards her bedroom.

She was feeling very dizzy now and just wanted to lie down on the bed and have a good sleep.

Before entering the bedroom, Jiang Yan walked to the brand new mahogany cabinet in the living room, opened the door and took out a bag of snacks.

“I’ll take this packet of snacks and I won’t eat.”

“you……”

The snacks were very expensive and they were reluctant to eat them, but Jiang Yan actually took them all away.

Jiang Mo was very angry and was about to speak when she was stopped by her mother Ye Chunlan.

Ye Chunlan held her daughter and shook her head. The bulk of the money had been given away, so there was no need to make a fuss about it. The most important thing now was to get Jiang Yan on the train to the island smoothly.

Seeing no objection, Jiang Yan took the thermos and her own cup in.

After eating most of the snacks and feeling full, she went to bed. She was very weak and after all the tossing and turning, she soon fell into a deep sleep.

the next day.

Jiang Yan was awakened by hunger. She sat up from the bed and stretched comfortably.

The fever has gone away and she is in such good condition that she can eat a whole cow.

After getting out of bed and folding the quilt, Jiang Yan poured herself a cup of hot water and ate the remaining snacks from last night with it.

Smelling the greasy aroma of the snacks, Jiang Yan’s appetite was whetted.

The original owner had always been in poor health and had never had enough to eat while at the Jiang family.

Not only does she wash clothes, cook, and clean every day, and serve a family of three, but Ye Chunlan will be dissatisfied if they eat a little more and will always find fault and make trouble.

Compared to living in the countryside, the original owner’s life was not much better. The only advantage was that he could study until he graduated from high school.

But this was not out of kindness on the part of the Jiang family. As a public official of the Revolutionary Committee, it was obviously not right for Jiang Yuan not to let his daughter go to school. He let the original owner go to school for fear of giving people a chance to criticize him.

Thinking of the grievances suffered by the original owner, Jiang Yan turned her grief and anger into appetite and ate the greasy snacks in big mouthfuls.

Ye Chunlan was reluctant to eat the snacks. She had to finish them all so that the family of three wouldn’t get any of them for free.