Chapter 7: Going Out

Yuan Guifang hadn’t expected that Yu Wei, who had been so stubborn in the morning, insisting on breaking things off with Director Luo, would now suddenly be willing to compromise.

She stood there in shock, the insults she was about to hurl getting stuck in her throat, unable to come out. She ended up putting on a Sichuan opera-style face-changing act instead.

She breathed a sigh of relief, “I knew it! I knew you couldn’t resist such a good offer. I’ve been telling you, Director Luo really is an excellent match…”

While Yuan Guifang kept praising Luo Dongshen, Yu Wei was inwardly marvelling at her. Just look at how quickly she can switch faces—there’s a lot to learn there.

Finally, a moment of peace arrived. As soon as Yu Wei spoke, not only Yuan Guifang but even Jiang Min also relaxed. When her eldest brother and father came home from work, they kept saying how the second sister had finally come to her senses and hoped she wouldn’t act as foolish as she had in the past few days!

Yu Wei was speechless. She was still thinking about what to say to Director Luo tomorrow when she went to the factory. Should she bluntly say that she’s quitting and doesn’t care who takes the position, or should she be a bit more gentle?

Forget it, she’ll deal with tomorrow’s problems tomorrow.

With these thoughts, the Yu family sat down for Yu Wei’s second meal, dinner.

Because Yu Wei had suddenly compromised with Yuan Guifang, the idea of asking her to cook was dropped. So, once again, Jiang Min was in charge of the meal tonight.

However, when Yu Wei saw how different the dinner was from lunch, her appetite vanished.

At noon, she had thought that although the food in this household wasn’t as delicious as what she was used to, at least there was a variety of meat and vegetables, enough to fill the stomach. For an average family in these times, taste wasn’t something you could be picky about.

But she never expected the meal to be this plain and coarse.

She truly couldn’t understand—besides some watery porridge and steamed buns, were the only side dishes really just pickled vegetables and fermented radishes? 

There were three family members working in the factory; their monthly wages should be enough to afford better food. How could they be this stingy?

Alright, it seemed that Jiang Min had heard her inner thoughts and quickly brought over a plate of boiled cabbage, saying it was dipped in soy sauce for flavour…

“Why aren’t you eating?”

Holding her rice bowl, Yu Wei looked at the others who were eating heartily, and her lips twitched twice. “I’m not very hungry.”

Yeah, right.

“Not hungry? You barely ate anything at lunch!” Yuan Guifang’s tone softened a bit. “Our dinners are always like this; it’s not like it’s your first day knowing that. Eat more and put some meat back on your bones. When Director Luo sees you all skin and bones, he might think we’ve been mistreating you!”

Yu Wei: “…”

In the end, Yu Wei still couldn’t force herself to eat more of the food.

Yuan Guifang thought her daughter was deliberately defying her. Fine, if she didn’t want to eat, then let her starve!

In a fit of anger, after everyone else had finished eating, Yuan Guifang took the last two steamed buns and hid them in her room, not caring whether Yu Wei had eaten enough.

She wanted to see how long this defiant child could hold out.

No one seemed to notice that little Yu Hui, who was sitting on a small stool, suddenly stopped eating his steamed bun when he saw his grandma taking all the food away.

After dinner, he quietly went back to his room and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Yu Wei to come in. When she finished the household chores and sat beside him, stretching her sore neck, a half-eaten steamed bun appeared in front of her.

Yu Wei was stunned. Little Yu Hui raised the half-eaten bun high, looking at her with wide eyes but saying nothing. His long eyelashes quivered, and Yu Wei knew exactly what he meant.

He had secretly saved the bun for her.

In an instant, her heart was filled with emotion, and her eyes stung. She was deeply moved by the child’s gesture. Blinking a few times, she crouched down and gently hugged him, speaking softly, “Mommy’s not hungry, you eat it.”

In the end, the deformed bun was fed back into the little guy’s belly. She didn’t like eating buns anyway, and there was no way she would let him go hungry for her. A child’s health couldn’t be compromised.

Fortunately, little Yu Hui didn’t insist. Seeing that she truly wasn’t eating, he obediently finished the bun himself.

After the chores were done, Yu Wei carried her son to bed, and the two of them settled down to rest. She had finally sorted out the relationships and situation in this household.

Besides her and Yu Hui, there were five other people in the house: her parents, her older brother Yu Yi, her sister-in-law Jiang Min, and a younger brother who had yet to make an appearance. Apparently, he was already seventeen years old but spent all his time messing around outside, rarely showing up at home.

After dinner, the sky hadn’t even fully darkened yet. It was six o’clock in the summer, and the sun had just set. The kids were still running around everywhere. When they got tired of running here, they’d run somewhere else. There wasn’t much to do for fun, so they just gathered to laugh and play.

Entertainment options were scarce in those days. Even something as common as watching TV was a rare luxury.

In fact, there wasn’t a single household in their alley that owned a television.

It was said that a family in the next alley had a daughter who married a director from the meat processing plant. Six months after her wedding, she bought her parents a TV. 

Everyone in the neighbourhood envied them, and people were already speculating that once Yu Wei married Director Luo, their family would surpass that. Not only would they get a TV, but also a sewing machine and a refrigerator!

By then, everyone could come over to watch TV. Wouldn’t that be great?

By now, the factory workers who worked the day shift were already home. The men were playing cards and chatting, while the women were gossiping and knitting sweaters, their hands never idle.

Even though it was only August and still hot, they had already started knitting sweaters.

As their fingers flew, Yu Wei led little Yu Hui out of the courtyard.

“Hey! Yu Wei, where are you taking Dabao?” Yuan Guifang shouted after her.

“Just going for a walk.”

Yu Wei strode out of the courtyard, feeling as if she had escaped from a cage, finally free. The air outside was sweet. These wide streets and quiet alleys were what she loved.

After just one day, Yu Wei nearly went crazy. When she reached into her pocket and felt the small bills, she finally calmed down.

“Huihui, what do you want to eat?”

This little guy wasn’t much of a talker, held the lowest status in the household, and was treated the worst. Yu Wei’s heart filled with sympathy and pity.

Ever since he was born, Yu Hui had rarely left the Yuan family’s house in the past four years. It was a rare occasion for him to step outside, let alone on such wide and bright streets. The people outside were different from those in the courtyard, and the bicycles seemed strange to him.

For ordinary people, the scene in front of him was nothing unusual, but to little Yu Hui, everything was so fascinating that he couldn’t stop staring.

He didn’t speak, which Yu Wei had expected, so she led the little one around, wandering aimlessly.

She was no different from him, experiencing the streets for the first time. The trip to the hospital in the morning didn’t count.

The streets weren’t paved with concrete or asphalt like in later years, but they were smooth and clean. There were many pedestrians, most of them relaxed, unlike the hurried, fast-paced lives people would live in the future.

Shops lined both sides of the streets. Since the economic opening had only begun five or six years earlier, it wasn’t as prosperous as it would be in the future, but it met daily needs.

The shops in the 1980s weren’t as abundant or varied as they would be later, mostly catering to essentials like food, oil, and daily necessities.

Before she knew it, Yu Wei had brought the little one to a small convenience store. The selection was pitifully small, though snacks were plentiful, indicating that the neighbourhood children must frequent the place.

The store wasn’t big, and you didn’t need to go inside to shop. The shelves were placed at the entrance, so you could make your purchases from outside.

It was a three-tiered wooden shelf. The most visible items on the top shelf were foods, with a few large glass jars at the end containing snacks like twisted candy. Red paper labels marked the items.

“Which one do you want?” Yu Wei asked Yu Hui again.