Chapter 28

The county public security bureau had just closed for the day. The robbery case was solved, and the officers were celebrating with a meal at the state-owned restaurant. Those not attending had gone home, leaving only one young woman from the archives and two patrol officers on duty.

The young woman had just started her job. Her parents were both in the public security system. After graduating from a vocational school, they arranged for her to work in the county public security bureau. Her job was mostly organizing files and writing reports, with little to no stress.

However, new police recruits had to take turns on the evening shift until six o’clock—a long-standing rule in the bureau.

Because of Lin Daguo’s embarrassing antics today, coupled with Li Aifeng and Liu Taohong’s relentless bickering in the holding cell, hurling vulgar insults back and forth, the young woman was already annoyed.

Having grown up in a harmonious household in the city, she had never heard such awful language before. Words like “old hag” and “shameless wretch” naturally left her with a poor impression of Lin Daguo’s family, including Lin Hongna, who had come to handle the situation.

In this era, scandals like Lin Daguo’s affair could result in public humiliation and even forced labor on a collective farm. It was only thanks to their luck that the matter hadn’t escalated. The law enforcement officers simply brought them in for a stern warning, collected an eight-yuan fine, and released them after a family member signed for them.

Lin Hongwu, busy ingratiating himself with his future in-laws, turned a blind eye to his parents’ predicament.

Although Lin Hongna resented her parents, she had no choice but to step forward. Sun Jialiang’s patience with her was already wearing thin, and the old hag in the Sun family had never liked her. If they learned about today’s fiasco, she would lose her leverage entirely.

Inside the duty office of the county public security bureau, a photo of the chairman and a red silk banner hung on the whitewashed wall. The young woman on duty sat behind the desk, not even lifting her head at the sound of footsteps.

Assuming the woman was busy, Lin Hongna smiled what she thought was a polite and charming smile, extending her hand. “Hello, comrade. I’m Lin Daguo’s family member. I’m here to…”

The young woman cut her off with a cold snort and a curt “hmm” before pulling out a paper from beneath a stack of files. She said flatly, “Lin Daguo and Li Aifeng were fined eight yuan for inciting trouble, disrespecting the law, and damaging public morals. Pay the fine and sign here.”

Eight yuan for a fight? That was more than half her monthly salary of fifteen yuan!

Though her heart ached at the expense, it couldn’t surpass the humiliation of being looked down on.

Lin Hongna’s face darkened as she reluctantly handed over eight yuan from her bag. Without even counting it, she slammed the money onto the desk.

The girl on duty was even more aggressive than her. She frowned and said rudely, “Why are there so many bills? It’s so troublesome to count them. You have no money but you’re still causing trouble. You must have been kicked in the head by a donkey!”

Lin Hongna was so furious that she nearly ground her teeth to bits.

Liu Taohong family lived in the county. Upon hearing the news and fearing a bigger scandal that could tarnish their reputation, her maternal family rushed over immediately to pay the fine and take her away.

Li Aifeng, filled with rage and nowhere to vent it, clung to the iron bars of the cell and cursed Lin Daguo loudly.

As soon as the iron door of the detention room opened, the disheveled Li Aifeng charged out like a mad bull, chasing Lin Daguo relentlessly.

Lin Daguo, his face already covered in scratches, ran for his life with all the strength he had.

Despite her best efforts, Li Aifeng, being a woman, couldn’t outrun Lin Daguo. When she failed to catch him, she plopped onto the ground, sobbing and cursing, “Oh, Hongna, you’re finally here to save your mom! That heartless old scumbag of a father of yours, that ungrateful beast—he’s out there fooling around with some cheap woman! He has no conscience!”

She thought this was just some rural backwater where she could throw tantrums as she pleased, but Lin Hongna couldn’t even stop her.

A young police officer, who had just stepped out of the lounge to cool off for a moment, burst out in anger and shouted, “What’s going on? What’s going on? This is the police station! You just got out and you’re causing trouble again? Keep it up and I’ll throw you right back in!”

Li Aifeng instantly went silent, like a chicken with its neck wrung.

Lin Hongna quickly said a few good words and supported the barely-standing Li Aifeng as they hurried out.

The moment they left the police station, Li Aifeng, who had just been playing dead, immediately regained her energy. She wiped her nose on her shoe sole and asked, “Where’s Hongwu? Why didn’t he come?”

Lin Hongna frowned and took two steps back, “I couldn’t reach him.”

“Well, Hongwu is busy. He’s a capable man with a bright future. He’s going to achieve great things one day. If he couldn’t come, so be it,” Li Aifeng said, full of praise for her son.

Lin Hongna listened but didn’t argue, merely sneering internally.

That useless, ungrateful Lin Hongwu was only regarded as a treasure by Li Aifeng.

Li Aifeng rambled on endlessly. Her main point was that Lin Hongna should put more effort into winning over Sun Jialiang, so that when the time came, she could bask in the benefits and support her maternal family.

Irritated, Lin Hongna finally lost her patience and snapped, “Alright, Mom, stop nagging! I know what I’m doing!”

With that, she turned and walked away.

Li Aifeng stomped her feet and chased after her, yelling, “You ungrateful girl! You’re turning your back on your own mother now? Don’t forget you came out of my belly! If you don’t listen to me, who will you listen to? And what about your brother’s job? Why hasn’t he been made a full-time worker yet…”

*

The August summer evening was filled with vibrant clouds glowing in the sunset, casting a stunning backdrop of white walls and black tiles over the large shared courtyard. From afar, it looked as picturesque as a landscape painting.

On her way back, Lin Yao met Gu Shidong, who had run out to find her. The two of them, one big and one small, returned together.

Gu Shidong truly treated Lin Yao like family. Their personalities matched, and to him, his sister-in-law was like a playful companion.

In the courtyard, Zhang Cuilan was washing a basket of taro. When she saw Lin Yao return, she smiled and said, “Yao Yao, what’s that you bought that smells so good? Jasmine flowers? Oh, that’s nice! You can use them to freshen the room or dry them for tea—both are great.”

Lin Yao immediately perked up and eagerly brought over a small stool. Carefully, she picked out the fresh jasmine flowers to dry them for tea in the courtyard.

Gu Shidong happily trotted over to help.

Before long, Gu Mancang returned home with food from the canteen, beaming.

The little rascal immediately darted over and asked, “Dad, what delicious food did the canteen have today?”

Gu Mancang opened the lunchbox in the net bag: winter melon stewed with eggplant, sweet potato steamed buns, and wild vegetable porridge.

As soon as Gu Shidong saw it, he grumbled in displeasure, “Why is it wild vegetable porridge again? There’s no shrimp or meat in the dishes! Sister-in-law, Director Ge lied!”

Didn’t they promise the commune’s canteen would have meat and white steamed buns every day?

Lin Yao pulled the little rascal over and told him to lower his voice. If people outside heard, they might think he was dissatisfied with the commune’s canteen.

Gu Shidong whispered, “But I’m telling the truth. Why can’t I say it?”

Lin Yao rolled her eyes at the mischievous kid.

Sometimes the truth is precisely what you can’t say. Understand?

The little brat was about to grumble some more, but Zhang Cuilan’s patience ran out. She shouted, “You little rascal! You have food, and you still can’t stop complaining! Sweet potato buns and wild vegetable porridge are fine. What, you want gourmet delicacies? If you want it so badly, go earn it yourself. The state owes you nothing, feeding and clothing you as it is!”

The rascal pouted and ran off.

In truth, Zhang Cuilan wasn’t wrong.

Floods had hit the north, and southern grain was being sent to provide disaster relief. Even so, many northern communes couldn’t keep their canteens running and had to let families fend for themselves.

Yunshui County was relatively fortunate. Ensuring people didn’t go hungry was already an extraordinary effort by the government.

Gu Shidong wanted to earn money himself. How great it would be not to go to school anymore. But…

The little rascal looked at his 1.3-meter frame and short legs, feeling frustrated and dazed.

Sigh, when will he grow up? Surely life would be less troublesome then.

Fortunately, Gu Shi’an brought back two dishes from the state-run restaurant on his way home: one was stir-fried three vegetables, and the other was lamb soup.

Lamb soup was quite generous in this era—a full lunchbox of it, with nearly half of it filled with lamb meat.

When Deputy Director Gu opened the lunchbox, the entire Gu family’s eyes lit up.

After days of eating sweet potato buns and boiled greens, even though it was filling, the food had lacked flavor.

Although they had just eaten braised pork, there were only a few pieces, and with four or five people in the family, it was gone in no time, leaving them still hungry.

Unlike lamb soup, which not only had tender meat but also rich broth, making it so satisfying to drink.

Each member of the family took a small bowl of lamb soup. The soup was a little hot, but once it entered their mouths, it tasted fresh and rich, with a unique fragrance.

Lin Yao chewed on the meat with her cheeks puffed out, her pale face swollen like a little hamster sneaking food. Opposite her, Gu Shi’an suppressed a smile, afraid it would be too obvious and make the young lady angry.

But Lin Yao didn’t care whether Gu Shi’an smiled or not. She was focused on eating the meat and drinking the soup.

Tonight, the Gu family was full and satisfied.

Lin Yao chattered excitedly and tried to get Gu Chunmei to go with her to Aunt Dafu’s house to see the little rabbits. But Gu Chunmei didn’t have time; she had to visit Da Tou Brother in Guihua Alley.

Since Gu Chunmei wasn’t free, Lin Yao had to settle for second best and went with Gu Shi’an to see the rabbits.

Aunt Dafu’s rabbits were plump and cute, each one soft and adorable. Lin Yao stared at them, reluctant to leave.

Among them, there was a female rabbit with a noticeably swollen belly, looking like she was about to give birth.

Lin Yao didn’t dare touch it, but Gu Shi’an reached out and gently stroked the rabbit. “It’s about three or four weeks along. It should be soon. Generally, female rabbits give birth after five or six weeks.”

Lin Yao was surprised, “You’ve raised rabbits before?”

How does he know so much?

Gu Shi’an smiled, “When I was a child, I stayed with my grandmother in the countryside for a while, and we raised them. If you like rabbits, I can buy one for you tomorrow.”

Lin Yao’s face lit up with excitement, “Really? I want a female rabbit. Then we can eat its babies when they’re born.”

That way, she could have spicy rabbit meat or steamed rabbit dishes.

Gu Shi’an, who was planning to weave a rabbit cage with bamboo strips: “…”

*

In the end, Deputy Director Gu silently finished weaving the rabbit cage.

Gu Shidong was running around, causing trouble. The little rascal kept touching the bamboo strips, then grabbing some mud to play with, leaving his hands dirty.

Lin Yao filled a basin with warm water, took out a bar of soap, and called Gu Shi’an over to wash his hands.

Gu Shidong wanted to join but was met with a slap from Lin Yao. “If you want to wash your hands, go fetch some water yourself.”

Gu Shidong held his hand and cried out, “Sister-in-law, you’re being unfair!”

Lin Yao retorted, “I’m being unfair, so what?”

She then went to pour out the water.

Earlier, Gu Shi’an had been the one fetching water for her face and feet. Today, since he helped with the rabbit cage, she was in a good mood and decided to be a little more diligent than usual.

After dinner, Zhang Cuilan sat on the Eight Immortals chair, soaking her feet, and sighed, “Old man, do you think those rumors outside are true, or just nonsense? Do you think our Yunshui County will have a disaster too?”

Gu Mancang paused for a moment, “Hard to say. In the old days, floods lasted for months.”

The couple fell silent. Gu Mancang went outside to empty the foot-soak water.

Zhang Cuilan wiped her feet with the foot cloth, then put on cloth shoes and started swatting mosquitoes inside the house.

In the small side room next door, Gu Shidong was yelling at his brother to move the military books that were left in the room to the east wing.

Zhang Cuilan paused, then smiled, “Oh? When did Anzi and Yaoyao move in together?”

Zhang Cuilan was so excited. When Gu Mancang came back, they whispered together for a long time, then both showed a secret smile at the east wing.

The Gu family was about to welcome a new member.

Lin Yao had no idea what the couple was thinking. She was simply happy that tomorrow she could buy a female rabbit. After taking a bath and washing her clothes, she hummed a tune and went back to her room.

She dried her hair, then lay down on the bed, holding a small pillow, gazing at the rough mosquito net above her. She was excited to rest tonight and be full of energy tomorrow to get the marriage certificate and buy the rabbit.

But as soon as someone returned, they scooped her into their arms and rolled over on top of her.

Lin Yao: “!!!”