◎ Dreaming Again ◎ 

Liang Baozhen dreamed of that man again. 

This time, Liang Baozhen was boiling some traditional Chinese medicine in her dream. She seemed a little angry and didn’t say a word. Behind her stood the man who had appeared in her dreams many times. The man had a cigarette in his mouth and was talking to her. 

But in her dream, she couldn’t make out what he was saying. After a while, Liang Baozhen snatched the cigarette from his mouth, threw it on the ground, and stomped it out. She then started to scold him angrily. The man, however, didn’t get upset. He looked at her with a smile and finally said something. 

Liang Baozhen woke up from her dream and sat half-leaning on the bed, feeling a little uncomfortable because she had just clearly heard what the man said in her dream: 

“I was wrong, wife.” 

*** 

Liang Baozhen, who hadn’t slept well in the second half of the night, got up early in the morning to deliver the urea bags to the team leader. 

Seeing his capable comrade successfully retrieve a few more urea bags, Wang Dali was very pleased. “Baozhen, you’re really something. I’ll have to send you next time too.” 

Liang Baozhen: “…” 

It wasn’t easy to earn that one yuan. She probably didn’t even know how much Director Liu resented her.

“Team Leader, Director Liu probably won’t let me in next time.” 

“Hahaha, that won’t happen.” Wang Dali was in a great mood. Once those urea bags were dyed and taken to a skilled tailor, they could be turned into a comfortable pair of pants, which saved a lot of money. “Baozhen, you’ve done a great job with this. How about this, the team will give you two sacks.” 

Liang Baozhen thought of the commune cadres wearing urea pants: ‘Big cadres, small cadres, each with a pair of cloth pants, with ‘RB’ written on the front and ‘urea’ written on the back.’ She couldn’t bring herself to wear them, but the urea pants could still be useful even if the dye couldn’t cover the words. “Thank you, Team Leader!” 

After all, there are still two men at home. 

At this time, Liang Baojun, the man of the Liang family, who had just ‘tricked’ two bottles of clam oil from the village party secretary by betting on moving stones yesterday was walking around.  

He sees the village secretary walking down the road today wearing a pair of urea pants, with the word ‘urea’ on the back of his buttocks and one on each thigh. 

“Uncle Jiu, those pants look really impressive on you.” 

The village secretary, Meng Guangtian, ranked ninth in his family and was affectionately called Uncle Jiu by the villagers. Although he’s the village secretary, he is very kind, and everyone feels comfortable around him. 

“You little rascal, are you trying to make fun of my urea pants again?” Meng Guangtian’s pants were actually from the commune two years ago, and they’re quite precious. 

“I wouldn’t dare! Only someone like you can wear those urea pants. I can’t, I don’t have that ability.” 

Meng Guangtian could tell this guy had something to say, so he told him to get to the point. “Stop beating around the bush. What do you want?” 

“Do you still have any clams oil?” Liang Baojun asked sincerely, as if he were trying not to make things difficult. “I don’t need more, just one is enough.” 

“Go away! Are you just trying to bother me?” Meng Guangtian started to chase after Liang Baojun to give him a few hits, but he couldn’t keep up with the young man, so he just watched as Liang Baojun ran up the mountain. 

Liang Baojun ran up the mountain without even breathing hard, he grab a hoe to look for iron thorn. He had no choice; his third sister asked him to dig up several dozen to a hundred pounds. 

By the time he had dug up around eighty to ninety pounds and could no longer straighten his back, Liang Baozhen and Liang Baoling came to help him and had already made several trips home. The items were heavy and hard, so each of them carried a basket back and forth. 

The last basket was carried by Liang Baozhen. Just as she dumped the iron thorn in the yard, she heard voices from her elder sister’s room. She quickly ran over—her elder sister’s family, who had been visiting relatives in the city, had returned! 

Liang Baoying and her husband Song Jianguo had recently returned to the city with their four-year-old daughter Mengmeng. Song Jianguo had only been able to return to the city three times in eight years, and this was the first time he had brought his wife and child with him.  

“Sister, why did you come back today? Wasn’t it supposed to be the day after tomorrow?” The introduction letter had been dated the day after tomorrow. The return date couldn’t be advanced or delayed; if they got caught, they might be arrested. 

Liang Baoying smiled as she explained to her younger sister, “It’s been quite a while, and since you’re getting married soon, I need to come back and help out.” 

“Third Aunt~” The little girl hadn’t seen her aunt for a while and missed her very much. 

She is the only child in the family and is doted on by everyone. After returning home with her parents from her grandparents’ house, she seemed even more clingy. She jumped straight into Liang Baozhen’s arms. 

Liang Zhigao, Liang Baojun, and Liang Baoling had just gone out of the house to do some work. Liang Baoying and Song Chunhua were sitting on the bed talking while Song Jianguo was sitting on a stool with two large bags at his feet. 

They had arrived with big and small bags, including a large bag of mountain goods and vegetables from the Liang family’s reserved land. On their way back, they brought two bags of gifts from the Song family to the Liang family. 

“Sister, brother-in-law,” Liang Baozhen greeted them, turned around, and hugged Mengmeng in her arms. They exchanged affectionate hugs for a while as Liang Baoying talked about the things she brought back from her in-laws. 

“Mother, Jianguo’s parents specifically asked us to bring back some candy and noodles for you.” 

Liang Baoying has a round face and a very kind appearance, especially when she smiles sweetly. She got married and had a baby in recent years and has become more mature than when she was a girl. 

“That’s very thoughtful of them. Did your in-laws enjoy the mountain goods and vegetables you brought?” Song Chunhua had prepared a bag of mountain goods along with homegrown pumpkins, tomatoes, and cucumbers for her daughter to take to her in-laws. She worried they might not be happy since Song Jianguo had married without consulting his parents after moving to the countryside. 

“They liked them very much and praised how delicious they were.” Liang Baoying was about to say more when she noticed Song Jianguo standing up. When he first came to the countryside, he was a fair-faced boy who was good at talking and doing things. Liang Baoying had always liked him secretly. But now, after working in the fields for several years, he had lost some of his youthful appearance. 

When he went back to visit his family, he looked much older than his brothers who had stayed in the city.

“Mother, I have to go out for something. You guys can talk slowly.” It seemed he had something important to attend to in the evening and needed to visit the team leader. 

Liang Baozhen was peeling the candy wrapper for Mengmeng. Seeing her brother-in-law’s serious expression, she felt something was wrong. She waited until her mother left the room, and then sent Mengmeng to give candy to her second uncle and aunt. Only then did she get the chance to ask. 

“Sister, what’s wrong with Brother-in-law?” 

Liang Baoying seemed surprised. The relaxed conversation she had with Song Chunhua vanished immediately, and she sighed lightly. “Your brother-in-law heard that if the educated youth from the countryside could find a job in the city, they could return.” 

Going back to the city? Liang Baozhen knew that the educated youth in the village were looking forward to it every day, even though they didn’t say it. 

“That’s a good thing. The educated youth have been away from their hometowns for a long time. When the time comes, you and Mengmeng can go back to the city with your brother-in-law.” 

“I don’t know if it will work.” Liang Baoying had gotten used to living in the village and was dependent on her family. The thought of moving to her in-laws’ home made her anxious. 

Since childhood, she had the best relationship with her third sister. When they were young, they would share secrets, and now she wasn’t holding back. 

“With Mother around, I don’t want her to worry. To be honest, when we go to Jianguo’s parents’ house, I always feel like they’re not too happy about Mengmeng and me.” 

“What’s the matter? They still don’t recognize their daughter-in-law and granddaughter?” Liang Baozhen got up from the stool, sat next to her eldest sister, and talked to her while holding her arm. 

This was the first time they went to her parents-in-law’s house, and the mother and daughter were very happy. At the beginning, everyone was very enthusiastic, and their words were pleasant to the ears. But after two days, they felt something was wrong. Although they seemed very enthusiastic, they were actually very distant. 

“Especially Jianguo’s father. When Mengmeng went to call him grandpa, he was a little indifferent. Later, Mengmeng didn’t even want to get close to him.” 

Children are very sensitive and can tell who cares about them and who doesn’t. “It’s not just Mengmeng. I also felt it. Jianguo’s parents treat us as outsiders. Later, I heard that Jianguo’s father doesn’t think highly of country people.” 

“Why is that? Didn’t my brother-in-law say anything?” Liang Baozhen was somewhat angry. Her elder sister had been pursued by Song Jianguo, and now his parents still look down on country people? Isn’t their son the one who wants to marry her sister? 

Liang Baoying shook her head, looking troubled. “What could he say? They didn’t beat us or scold us. Before we left, they even prepared a gift for me to bring back to Mother and Father.” 

But the more this happened, the more uncomfortable Liang Baoying felt. Only she and her daughter could feel the sense of being excluded. In the eyes of others, her in-laws treated her very well. 

So, thinking about actually moving to the city made her uneasy. 

“Sister, don’t think about it. You have to talk to your brother-in-law. They are his parents, and you are his wife. It’s not okay for him to ignore everything as a son and a husband.” 

“I understand. I’ll talk to him when I get a chance. But right now, he’s focused on returning to the city. This morning, I heard him asking his father if he could get a job. He couldn’t sit still and went to the team leader’s house and wanted to clarify things right away.” 

The two sisters talked for a while, and then went to look at the red cloth Liang Baozhen bought. Liang Baoying thought it was pretty good. “It’s better than the one I wore when I got married. You look good, so you will look even more beautiful in it.” 

“Sister, you were even more beautiful at your wedding. Brother-in-law’s eyes were practically glued to you.” 

“You’re just flattering me.” Liang Baoying smiled gently, her lips curving up. Then she remembered some news she’d heard about the neighbor’s family when she returned today and asked curiously, “Has Jiayan really changed her mind and decided not to marry?” 

“Yes, it seems so. We don’t know what she’s thinking. She changed her mind on the morning of the engagement ceremony. Aunt Yujiao has been looking worried these past few days.” 

Hearing this, Liang Baoying recalled something she had seen in the city yesterday and hesitantly said, “I think Jiayan might have another match. I saw her in the city yesterday.” 

“Another suitor? She does seem to have gone to the city a few times recently.” 

Liang Baoying made up her mind and said her own suspicion, “The man next to her looks familiar to me, but I can’t remember who he is.” 

There were many people on the street at that time, and she didn’t have time to follow and take a closer look. In the blink of an eye, the two people disappeared.