Chapter 4: Dad, Mom, Are You Willing to Go Back to Beijing with Me?

Yes, no matter what you’re like, I like you!!

It wasn’t until many years later that Su Jinyan deeply understood these words.

No matter what she was like, whether she grew old, whether she became irritable after giving birth, his feelings for her remained the same.

After a long while, the two separated. Su Jinyan affectionately kissed him and then jumped off the kang to wash up. Zhao Yuanyi had already prepared the towel, soap, toothbrush, and toothpaste. His meticulousness made Su Jinyan, who usually liked to do things herself, feel embarrassed.

At this moment, Zhao Yuanyi sat on the edge of the kang, watching Su Jinyan wash up. His face was flushed, looking like a cat that had stolen fish, even more innocent than a young boy experiencing his first love.

Su Jinyan raised her eyes and glared at him playfully. He was so easily teased.

She had only kissed him once, and his whole body had reacted. She wondered how he had endured all these years; hadn’t he been stifled?

However, her heart was also very sweet. She smiled happily as she watched Zhao Yuanyi take a piece of clothing to cover his lap.

The result was good!

Suddenly, she frowned and froze, realizing how foolish she had been.

She hadn’t even been in love and had already gotten a husband and two children. Such a sudden change, and she had actually accepted it willingly. Wasn’t that just being brainless?

Could it be true what they said: women in love become brainless?

Was she in love?

Thankfully, Zhao Yuanyi wasn’t ugly. Not only was he not ugly, but he was also very pleasing to the eye, the kind who became more handsome the more you looked at him.

He was tall, seemingly thin but muscular to the touch, a typical clothes hanger, a walking model. His skin was wheat-colored, looking very rugged, with thick eyebrows and large eyes. His dark, cold eyes usually looked a bit fierce, except when he looked at her. He had dense eyelashes, a straight nose, and the attractive thin lips of a man.

If he hadn’t been good-looking, the original owner, that high-minded young lady, wouldn’t have “settled” for him.

After washing up, Zhao Yuanyi had already set up the kang table and brought in the food.

Breakfast consisted of two cornmeal buns, a bowl of millet porridge, and an egg.

She knew that although the millet porridge was thin, only the original owner and her son drank it in the family. Her in-laws and Zhao Yuanyi ate very watery corn grits porridge.

It was a life of having food served and clothes handed to her.

It had been like this for three or four years, so she didn’t mind this one morning. She sat on the edge of the kang, quickly finished the porridge, ate one bun and the egg, and gave the other bun to Zhao Yuanyi.

“Yuanyi, let’s go.”

“Okay, okay, you put on your clothes first. It’s cold today, wear something thick.”

Zhao Yuanyi said happily, wiped the table with a rag, and took the bowl out of the room.

Su Jinyan put on her clothes, packed the money Zhao Yuanyi had given her yesterday, and also took fifty yuan, fifteen feet of cloth coupons, half a catty of sugar coupons, two catties of meat coupons, and five catties of grain coupons before leaving the room.

Zhao Yuanyi was going to Beijing to study, so he needed some decent clothes. Moreover, they would likely meet the Su family as soon as they got off the train, and she couldn’t let him feel embarrassed.

She didn’t have many cloth coupons now, just enough to buy two sets of clothes. The original owner and the children had new clothes every year, so there was no need to buy for them. She planned to use the remaining cloth coupons to buy clothes for Zhao’s parents. The original owner had never seen them wear clothes without patches.

Making a trip in the cold winter was too much suffering. They would definitely want to eat a hot meal at noon, so she needed to prepare everything thoroughly.

When she left the room, she heard her son’s cheerful voice from the east room, teasing his younger sister, as well as Zhao’s mother, Sun Shi, speaking.

She thought for a moment and then walked into the east room.

The original owner had rarely entered the east room before.

As soon as she entered, Zhao Qi, who was playing with his younger sister on the kang, rushed towards Su Jinyan. “Mama, are you going to the city with Papa? Take me, take me with you, please?!”

Su Jinyan pinched his cheek. “It’s so cold outside. What if you catch a cold? Wait a couple of days, and Mama will take you.”

Zhao Qi pouted unhappily but obediently stopped clamoring to go with them.

“Okay, Mama will bring you something delicious when she comes back.”

On the kang, her father-in-law was sitting propped up against the kang cabinet, and her mother-in-law was playing with her eight-month-old daughter.

This father-in-law didn’t like the original owner very much. In the more than four years of their marriage, they hadn’t spoken more than ten sentences in total.

The little daughter saw her and gurgled happily, reaching out.

The east room was an old house, low, dilapidated, and the paper windows hadn’t been replaced for more than two years, turning black and yellow. The walls were also uneven, revealing the adobe underneath, with several cracks. Living in such a room for a long time was very depressing.

Although the original owner’s memories contained those of her in-laws, when she saw the thin Sun Shi in worn-out clothes full of patches, and her father-in-law with his legs covered by a patched small quilt, his hair gray and his face sallow, she still found it a bit hard to accept.

Although she hadn’t been born into a wealthy family in her previous life, she had been from a well-off middle-class family. After graduation, through her own efforts, she had her own studio, a house, and a car, living a comfortable life. But overnight, she had become a resident of a slum?

Sighing inwardly, she repeatedly hypnotized herself: she couldn’t run away. The children were her own, the man loved her. Since she was here, she should make the best of it.

Seeing her little daughter open her arms and gurgle, wanting her to hold her, she pursed her lips, walked forward, and carefully took the child from Sun Shi’s arms. “Mom, let me hold her.”

The little daughter looked like the original owner, fair-skinned with large almond eyes and pouty lips, so cute that she melted her heart.

Those in the village who disliked the original owner also liked to praise the two children when they saw them.
Sun Shi looked at Su Jinyan with both happiness and a cautious attempt to please her. “Yan’yan, are you leaving? Mom has warmed up the quilts. We’ll put them in the cart later to keep you warm.”

Zhao Zhengjun and Sun Shi both knew that the two were going to get their marriage certificate today and had also heard their son’s plans. They were both very happy.

They felt like they were finally getting rid of bad luck and seeing the sun after the clouds.

They could finally hold their heads high in the village and finally vent some pent-up resentment.

Although they were reluctant to leave their hometown, what did it matter if they went to an unfamiliar place for the sake of their son and to show off in front of those people in the old house?

As Sun Shi spoke, she took out a one-yuan bill from her pocket. “Yan’yan, take this money. When you get to town, have a hot bowl of noodles.”

Although she said this, she felt quite embarrassed because she didn’t even have any grain coupons to go with it.

Looking at the neatly folded one-yuan bill, Su Jinyan felt a bit touched.

These two old people were so poor that they only ate one meal a day, yet they were giving her a whole yuan for her trip to town.

One yuan could buy more than ten catties of cornmeal!

“Mom, I have money.”

Saying this, she took out the fifty yuan in small bills and added a twenty-yuan bill. “Dad, Mom, we’re about to leave, so we can’t give people a reason to gossip. This is the money Yuanyi gave me yesterday, and this twenty is for you to pay back the villagers’ money and Dad’s debts.”

“No, no, Yan’yan, you’re going to university. How can you not have any money? What’s more, Yuanyi is also going to school now. We’ll repay this money later.”

Su Jinyan shook her head. The Zhao family had been honest people their whole lives and had a good reputation in the village. She couldn’t let them leave a bad impression on the villagers.

The villagers’ lives were not easy. They couldn’t have money in hand and then just leave, making the villagers worry whether they could ever get their money back.

“I have money, don’t worry.”

“Dad, Mom, Yuanyi told you, right? Are you willing to go to Beijing with us?”

“You child…” Sun Shi said, raising her hand to rub her blind eye. “As long as you and Yuanyi live well, your dad and I will be fine. We’ll listen to your arrangements.”

The old couple were very happy that their son could go to university and were naturally willing to go and see their grandson.

At this moment, Zhao Yuanyi entered the room. Hearing Sun Shi’s words, he frowned and said unhappily, “Mom, what are you saying?”
Sun Shi said embarrassedly, “Yes, yes, Mom doesn’t know how to talk. Our Yan’yan is kind, not like those other educated youths who, after receiving their admission letters, just packed up and ran, leaving their husbands, wives, and children behind.”

In the past few days, several people in the production team who had received university admission letters had left. Some of those who were married divorced directly before leaving, while others spoke nicely, saying they would go back to settle down first. There were many excuses, but none of them brought their wives/husbands and children back with them.

“Mom, take this money. Pay back the debts today and tidy up the house. We’ll go today and see if we can buy tickets for the day after tomorrow. I want to go back the day after tomorrow.”
“Ay, ay, don’t worry. There aren’t many things in the house. Mom will pack everything up properly today.”

Although their family was so poor that even thieves would scorn it, when it was time to leave, they felt that everything was valuable.

“Dad, Mom, pack up your valuable belongings. Don’t bother with the useless things. When we get to Beijing, you won’t need to farm or raise poultry. There’s no use bringing them.”

People who had been poor their whole lives couldn’t bear to throw away their belongings. But although it pained them, they nodded happily.

As for the current house, it was the old house where the Zhao family had originally lived, very dilapidated and nothing to be nostalgic about.

These parents were truly good to the original owner. Since the original owner didn’t cherish them, she would definitely take good care of them. When they returned, she would make them radiant and make those people in the old house regret their actions and become the envy of the whole village.

Su Jinyan teased her daughter and handed her to Sun Shi.

Her breast milk wasn’t good, and both children had been weaned after six months. The little daughter was still drinking milk powder, which Zhao Yuanyi had managed to buy.
Having read the book, she knew that Zhao Yuanyi worked sporadically, not because he was lazy, but because relying solely on his work points couldn’t support this large family of old, weak, sick, and disabled members. So, he often frequented the black market, trading goods back and forth to earn the price difference.

This was why she didn’t have to spend a single penny and could have millet porridge every day and white flour occasionally, and why her son and daughter could drink milk powder.

Zhao Yuanyi spread the bedding on the oxcart. Su Jinyan burrowed into the quilt. Under the repeated instructions of her mother-in-law, Sun Shi, the two set off for town.

Su Jinyan didn’t get along with the villagers, and Zhao Yuanyi didn’t want his wife to suffer by listening to their gossip, so they deliberately took a path along the edge of the village and didn’t encounter a single person on the way.