Chapter 3

Chen Sui’an looked at his older sister and said: “I’m not afraid of hardship. I want to join the army. Sister, once I’m assigned to the Military Unit, I will write you letters, and when I get paid, I’ll send all the money to you. That way, you won’t have to work hard in the countryside.”

“No, no.” Chen Suihuan replied. “You keep your salary and don’t worry about me. When you have a holiday, come visit me. Of course, when I have time, I will also come to see you.” She reached out and gently rubbed her brother’s head, feeling very warm inside.

“Okay.” Chen Sui’an nodded firmly.

“Since you’ve decided to join the army, then do your best. Tomorrow, go find Uncle Qin and ask if you can report to the Military Unit early. With Grandma and the others causing such trouble, I’m afraid that if we delay, things might get worse. If we can, we should hurry.”

With how Grandmother Chen behaved, she was capable of anything. Based on her understanding of Grandmother Chen’s character, Chen Suihuan was a little afraid that her grandmother might sell her off to an old bachelor as a wife.

This wasn’t an exaggeration. Grandmother Chen had long entertained such thoughts.

After Chen Suihuan graduated from high school, Grandmother Chen wanted to arrange a marriage for her. But the candidates were always the kind of men who were either crippled, divorced, or already had children from previous marriages.

The only thing consistent was that the betrothal gifts they offered were always generous.

Grandmother Chen was shameless and thick-skinned enough to actually do such things.

Chen Sui’an understood this reasoning too. Seeing his sister’s forehead was still a bit red and swollen, he nodded in agreement.

The siblings finished their meal and talked through the night, only resting briefly as dawn approached.

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Early the next morning, Chen Suihuan drank another bowl of Spiritual spring water, and also used some of it to cook breakfast: plain rice porridge made from a small handful of rice taken out from the space storage, and a stir-fried cabbage.

After breakfast, Chen Sui’an went to find Qin Jianhua, an old comrade of their father, to discuss the matter of joining the army.

Chen Suihuan went to the Textile Factory to find Mother Chen’s supervisor and close friend, Director Ji Muxuan.

Mother Chen and Ji Muxuan had been good friends for many years and had a deep bond. Moreover, Ji held real power at the factory, so Chen Suihuan was confident Ji would help with selling the job position.

“Ah! Huaihuan, what happened to your forehead?” Director Ji was surprised as soon as she saw Chen Suihuan’s swollen forehead.

Chen Suihuan’s eyes immediately turned red as she recounted what had happened in recent days.

“Aunt Ji, if I stay here any longer, my brother and I won’t survive. So we plan to sell my mother’s official work quota and convert it into money. I’ll go down to the countryside, and An’an will join the army.”

Hearing this, Director Ji felt both heartache and anger. “Your grandmother and Eldest Uncle and Little Uncle are truly shameless. When your mother was still alive, they bullied her a lot. Now that your parents have just been buried, they come to bully you two children again. What a disgrace!

You are so sensible to think of this plan. Don’t worry, leave this matter to Aunt Ji.

I have a distant cousin who doesn’t want to go down to the countryside and has been looking for a job. I’ll sell it to her. You can rest assured, since it’s within the family, I won’t shortchange you.

How about 1,000 yuan? If you agree, I’ll give you the money tomorrow.”

These official job positions were highly sought after now, so they sold well. Besides, Chen Suihuan’s was a formal position with a monthly salary of 35 yuan.

In two years, the money would more than cover the 1,000 yuan price.

Director Ji’s offer was relatively high. Normally, such a position would go for 800 or 900 yuan.

Chen Suihuan quickly agreed to sell it and talked with Director Ji a bit longer before saying goodbye.

After leaving the Textile Factory, Chen Suihuan went to the Neighborhood Committee. The job was sold; now it was time to deal with the house.

Currently, official private buying and selling of houses was forbidden, but as long as it wasn’t publicly exposed, it was possible.

The Eldest Aunt at the Neighborhood Committee had a nephew who was about to get married but lacked a wedding house. Chen Suihuan had heard about this situation.

“Isn’t this Huaihuan? Why are you here? What happened to your forehead? Scars on a little girl’s face are really not good!” Aunt Ye from the Neighborhood Committee said, a middle-aged woman who was short and slightly plump.

Her husband had once been helped by Chen Suihuan’s father, Chen Weiguo, so they still cared quite a bit for Chen Suihuan’s family.

“Aunt Ye, I came to talk to you about a personal matter.” Chen Suihuan gave Aunt Ye a meaningful look.

Aunt Ye’s eyes flicked as she pulled Chen Suihuan into a corner where no one could hear.

Chen Suihuan directly explained her purpose.

After hearing the whole story, Aunt Ye’s face immediately blossomed into a smile. She said: “My nephew is getting married and has been looking for a bigger house as a wedding home. Are you really going to sell your house? If it’s true, I’ll make sure—we’ll buy your house.”

Chen Suihuan nodded.

Aunt Ye was straightforward and quickly sent her son to fetch her nephew. By evening, the money had been delivered.

Chen Suihuan’s house was quite large—three bedrooms and a living room, over eighty square meters. At first, Aunt Ye’s nephew offered 1,200 yuan, but after some negotiation, they finally agreed on 1,500 yuan.

“Then tomorrow morning, we’ll go to transfer the deed. After the transfer, I guess we’ll still need to live here a couple more days.” Chen Suihuan said to Aunt Ye.

These small matters were easily agreed upon between them. After settling everything, they left during the night.

Not long after they left, Chen Sui’an returned.

“Sis, I spoke to Uncle Qin. He said he will take me there in three days.” Chen Sui’an said reluctantly, looking at Chen Suihuan.

Chen Suihuan patted Chen Sui’an’s shoulder. “Good. When you join the army, take good care of yourself.

Sis will register to go down to the countryside tomorrow. It will probably take two or three days before I leave. You’ll be at the Military Unit by yourself. You have to take care of yourself, and come visit me when you have holidays.” Chen Sui’an nodded firmly.

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Early the next morning, Chen Suihuan got up and went to the Educated Youth Office to register for going down to the countryside.

“Hello, Comrade! I want to actively respond to the country’s call and prepare to go down to the countryside, so I’m here to register.”

At that moment, there was only one staff member at the Educated Youth Office, a woman in her twenties.

She smiled immediately when she heard Chen Suihuan’s words and asked where Chen Suihuan planned to go.

Chen Suihuan said Northeast.

The Northeast was very cold; although it was vast and resource-rich, not many wanted to go there, so there were still many quotas available.

The staff quickly processed everything and chose a good location for Chen Suihuan.

“Hello, Comrade. Your destination is Pingzhen Shengli Commune, Shengli Brigade, in Northeast Heilongjiang. There are many fields there. If you’re willing to work hard, you won’t have to worry about food.” the Educated Youth Office staff said.

Chen Suihuan nodded: “Thank you, Comrade. May I ask when we depart?”

The staff replied: “At 8 a.m. in three days. Here is the 120 yuan subsidy for the educated youth and some ration coupons. This certificate will allow you to buy train tickets.”

Chen Suihuan responded and carefully stored everything in her space storage, then turned and headed home.

Just as she reached the doorstep, she saw Aunt Ye’s nephew waiting at the door, probably there to meet her to complete the deed transfer.

Since everything had been agreed upon yesterday, the two of them went straight to handle the transfer.