People who eat melon are in 70 - Chapter 23

Today, she was assigned to weeding duties again.

After two days of rain, the weeds in the soil had grown rapidly, some already as long as a finger.

Jiang Yutao now felt disgusted just seeing these weeds.

She felt like she was always weeding day after day. Often, as soon as one area was cleared, weeds would start growing back in the places she had originally weeded.

Seeing the frustration on Jiang Yutao’s face, Fourth Aunt Jiang smiled and said, “Don’t find weeding so bothersome. In about ten days, during the autumn harvest, you’ll long for the days of weeding.”

Autumn harvest is the most exhausting time, as it involves racing against both the weather and the crops in the field.

With frequent autumn rains, nothing can be done when it’s raining. Mature crops may end up rotting and molding in the fields. Most of the grain is already ripe in the fall, and people need to harvest it before it falls to the ground.

Work starts as soon as daylight breaks, with meals eaten in the fields, and people only return home when it gets dark. At night, someone has to patrol the fields. Once the crops are ripe, thieves who are used to stealing can’t hide their habits. Every year, production teams catch thieves stealing grain at night.

Working leisurely like this, with time to return home for a meal and a nap at noon, will no longer be possible.

Jiang Yutao had never worked in the fields before, but many of her classmates came from rural areas and would talk about the hardships of harvesting grain in the fall. Jiang Yutao was somewhat aware of this.

Jiang Yutao picked up a stalk of bamboo grass and tossed it aside, asking Fourth Aunt Jiang, “So, after we finish harvesting, will we be able to rest in the winter?”

She had heard that winters in the Northeast could be extremely cold, with snow sometimes blocking the doors. Jiang Yutao couldn’t imagine what kind of work would be done in such freezing weather.

Fourth Aunt Jiang mocked Jiang Yutao’s naivety. She pointed to the green plants at the end of the cornfield and said, “See that? Those are hemp plants. After the Double Ninth Festival, you know there’s a big pit at the village entrance, the one with water in it? We’ll need to cut down all these hemp plants and soak them in that pit. When winter comes, we’ll pull the hemp stalks out, peel off the skin, and the women will go to the big house next to the team’s office to process the hemp.”

“You can earn five work points a day from that, making just a little money. The men have it even worse. In winter, they can’t rest at all; they have to dig out frozen manure and transport it to the fields. With strong winds and sand blowing, it can cut your face. Their work points are higher, up to eight.”

Fourth Aunt Jiangi’s tone was flat. This was work they had to do every year, and it had been the same for many years. She was already used to it.

But Jiang Yutao felt like a heavy stone was blocking her heart, and she couldn’t shake it off.

In the era she grew up in, technology had become relatively advanced. Fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yield crops have made farming easier.

When she was in college, she had many classmates from the North. According to them, in winter, with a stove and heating in their rooms, they could spend the winter quite comfortably.

The strong winds, sand, and heavy snow outside didn’t matter much; going out fully equipped didn’t affect things too much.

But this was the 1970s, a time when the whole country was struggling to get enough to eat and stay warm. Farmers had no other means of livelihood and relied entirely on their crops, so even in the coldest winters, with temperatures dropping below freezing, they couldn’t afford to rest.

Fourth Aunt Jiang weeded quickly. Unlike Jiang Yutao, she didn’t wear gloves. Her hands were thick with calluses, and the flesh on her fingertips was marked with dark brown wounds from cracks that had healed and reopened.

Such wounds are the hardest to clean. Even scrubbing with a steel wool pad and washing with soap and detergent won’t restore their original color. They always remain dark and yellowish.

Jiang Yutao hadn’t seen hands like this for many years.

She lowered her head and focused on weeding.

She felt that her current mood could be summed up by a popular phrase from the internet: even though she herself wasn’t living perfectly, she still couldn’t bear to see others suffering.

Jiang Yutao knew that her life was actually much better than that of many others.

She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be transported to this era without her “melon-eating system.” She would probably have collapsed long ago.

Aunt Jiang Si didn’t notice Jiang Yutao’s inner turmoil. With an envious tone, she said, “It’s so much better in the city. You get to eat state-supplied grains, and even if you don’t do any work, you won’t go hungry.”

Aunt Zhang added, “Exactly. Otherwise, why would so many people be eager to move to the city?”

Jiang Yutao didn’t say anything or question why farming was so hard without fertilizers or make any remarks about the availability of meat.

At that time, fertilizer factories were few and couldn’t supply all rural areas across the country. Liushu Gou was in a remote location, clearly not a target for the fertilizer factories.

Because of this matter, Jiang Yutao was still a bit down when she finished work at noon.

Gu Nianwei rarely saw Jiang Yutao like this and asked her about it.

Jiang Yutao shared what she had heard from Fourth Aunt Jiang with Gu Nianwei, concluding with, “Farming is really hard work, you can’t be careless at all. From the beginning of the year to the end, the income is barely enough to get by. It’s really tough.”

Gu Nianwei fell silent.

Like Jiang Yutao, she had grown up in a time of affluence and peace. Moreover, she had experienced the hardships described by Fourth Aunt Jiang herself last year. She had already felt that kind of struggle.

But she felt powerless.

She had stockpiled many supplies, including food, clothing, housing, and transportation, but she did not have fertilizers or seeds.

Since she had never lived in the countryside, she didn’t understand how hard rural life could be, nor did she know what life was like for people in the countryside during this era.

Despite having traveled through time for so long, she had never considered helping the village generate income. She knew her own limits and did not have the capability or responsibility to handle such a large burden.

She just wanted to get through these few years comfortably and then, when policies were relaxed, go to other places to earn enough to buy ten or eight houses.

She didn’t lack food or drink and had never paid attention to whether others had enough.

As Gu Nianwei thought about this, she suddenly realized that over the past year, she seemed to have lost her empathy. She couldn’t see the struggles of others and didn’t even have the same feelings of discomfort as Jiang Yutao.

This shouldn’t be the case, and it wasn’t right.

Gu Nianwei pursed her lips in thought and suddenly remembered that she only felt sympathy for others in the presence of the Lin brothers. It was only during those times that her emotions seemed to become more active.

Gu Nianwei shuddered.

She recalled the dreams she had before she traveled through time, the space that had opened up just so conveniently, and her uncontrollable desire to give everything to the Lin brothers.

Gu Nianwei felt as if there were an invisible hand in the shadows, controlling every aspect of her life.

“Wei Wei, let’s go quickly. It’s your turn to cook today,” Jiang Yutao’s voice pulled Gu Nianwei back from her drifting thoughts.

Gu Nianwei came to her senses, smiled slightly at Jiang Yutao, and quickened her pace back to the youth station.

As they passed by the village head Su’s house, it was particularly lively these days.

At the end of the month, the village head’s eldest grandson was getting married.

They did not linger and went back to have their meal. Zhao Yonglan came in with a piece of sazi in her mouth.

According to local customs, pastries like sazi are a must for weddings. Su’s sazi was freshly fried, sweet and crispy.

Zhao Yonglan, who was staying with them, managed to grab a few pieces.

Zhao Yonglan bit into the sa zi loudly, but there was no one around to see her. After finishing the sa zi, she lay down on the kang and fell into a gloomy sleep.

At noon, they went to the field to meet Aunt Tao. Aunt Tao waved to Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei, and the two exchanged a glance before walking over to her.

Aunt Tao led them to a relatively secluded spot and spoke quietly, “I asked your uncle at noon. He said that land belongs to your youth station. As long as no one from your station objects, you can build there if you want.”

Jiang Yutao’s face brightened at the news. She grabbed Aunt Tao’s hand and thanked her profusely, “Thank you, Uncle, and thank you, Aunt Tao. Without your help, it would have been very difficult for us to get permission to build a house.”

In an era of food shortages, land for construction in the village was limited, and there were often fights over farmland and home sites.

Although the land at the youth station was different from the village’s residential land, everyone liked to hear good things. Jiang Yutao’s sincere and flattering words made Aunt Tao feel quite pleased.

Aunt Tao’s already narrow eyes squinted into a smile: “Little Jiang, you don’t need to say that. I didn’t do much; it was originally your youth station’s land. I just spoke a few words.”

Though Aunt Tao said this, she couldn’t hide the smug look on her face.

Gu Nianwei was very practical. She reached into her pocket and took out two pieces of beef jerky from her space, placing them in Aunt Tao’s hands.

“Aunt Tao, I won’t say much in gratitude. This is beef jerky that my cousin sent me; it’s from Inner Mongolia. Try it and see what you think.” The beef jerky she took out was quite large, about the size of a baby’s fist, with a brown color and sprinkled with unknown powdery spices and chili seeds.

The rich meat aroma combined with the spices was very appetizing.

Aunt Tao immediately put the two pieces into her pocket. “Oh my, I’ve lived for forty-odd years, and I’ve never tasted beef jerky before.”

Aunt Tao decided she would steam the beef jerky and cut it into strips to eat for lunch.

With the benefits in hand, Aunt Tao’s promise soon followed.

“Tell me how big you want the house. My son was planning to build a house next year and has made quite a few mud bricks. If you want to move in before autumn, I’ll make sure those bricks are set aside for you.”

Red bricks were not cheap in those days, and their quality couldn’t match that of later times. Green bricks were even harder to come by, even with money.

So, the local people used homemade mud bricks for building houses, which were reinforced with straw to make them less likely to break and also provided some insulation.

Aunt Tao’s family planned to build their house in the next autumn harvest, so they had another year. It was fine to let Jiang Youtao and the others use those mud bricks for now. Gu Nianwei and the others were willing to pay for them, and presumably, her daughter-in-law wouldn’t mind.

Gu Nianwei said, “Build a small house—two rooms and a kitchen. It should be about the size of your family’s wing room.”

Aunt Tao’s wing room was used by her youngest daughter; it had a kang and a table inside, leaving very little space. It was quite small.

Aunt Tao thought for a moment and said, “The mud bricks we have should be enough. You can find some people to move them directly from our place.”

“Thank you so much, Aunt. If you need anything in the future, just let us know. Whatever we can do, we will definitely do it.”

Jiang Yutao’s words made Aunt Tao smile even more, creating several more creases on her face.

These two young people were generous and seemed to come from a good family, with plenty of good things in hand. Thinking of her nephew who was about to marry a city girl, Aunt Tao asked, “Do you have any industrial tickets? My nephew is getting married soon, and I want to give him a thermos as a wedding gift.”

Gu Nianwei and Jiang Yutao exchanged a glance, and Gu Nianwei said, “I have some industrial tickets. I’ll bring them to you after work.”

“Great, great,” Aunt Tao seemed to already envision the envious and jealous looks she would get when she presented the thermos as a wedding gift at her nephew’s wedding.

The group leader was calling for all the team members to assemble, so Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei headed back.

Jiang Yutao quietly said to Gu Nianwei, “How much are the industrial tickets? When we build the house, I’ll give you the money for them along with the costs for bricks, tiles, and wood.”

Gu Nianwei didn’t care about the small amount of money. Whether Jiang Yutao gave it to her or not didn’t matter to her. She replied, “Alright, as you wish.”

Back in the group, Xu Dazui was very curious about why Aunt Tao had looked for Jiang Youtao: “Yutao, what did Aunt Tao want from you?”

Aunt Tao’s surname was Zhao. Because she liked to take advantage of situations and was always trying to get something for herself, she earned the nickname Zhao Dalouzi.

Jiang Youtao responded openly, “Wei Wei and I want to build a house for ourselves, so we asked Aunt Tao about the process.”

Xu Dazui was surprised when she heard that Jiang Yutao and Gu Nianwei wanted to build a house. She glanced toward Group One and whispered, “Why do you want to build a house with Gu Nianwei? Isn’t she supposed to marry Lin Jianzhong?”

Jiang Youtao looked at Xu Dazui seriously and said, “Aunt Xu, that’s nonsense! Weiwei hasn’t even met Lin Jianzhong. How could she marry him? I don’t know who spread these malicious rumors, but Weiwei even got into a fight because of it yesterday.”

“Aunt Xu, if you hear such rumors again, please help us clear them up. Weiwei is only nineteen, and Lin Jianzhong must be at least ten years older. He has three children, and our Wei Wei lacks nothing—she certainly has no reason to marry him. If I find out who started these rumors, I’ll make sure to tear their mouth apart.”

“Who cares about that Lin Jianzhong? He’s shameless, and our Weiwei deserves better.”

Xu Dazui and Aunt Tao exchanged glances. Aunt Tao said, “You have a point. Lin Jianzhong only returned yesterday, so Gu Nianwei couldn’t have met him. But the rumor that Gu Nianwei is going to marry him has been circulating for a while.”

Xu Dazui snorted, “It must be Lin Weihong’s doing. She’s done this kind of thing before. Don’t you remember how she ended up marrying Zhao Manzhu?”

Aunt Tao and Xu Dazui were older than Lin Weihong and had been living in Liushu Gou for several years by the time Lin Weihong got married. They knew the details of those events very well.

Seeing Jiang Yutao’s curious expression, Xu Dazui began to recount that old story.

“Zhao Manzhu used to be a worker at the brick factory, and back then, many young women wanted to marry him. Lin Weihong was not the one negotiating a marriage with him. Lin’s old woman had said that Lin Weihong’s intended bride was from Wangjiatun Commune, and she had some disabilities and was unattractive, although the bride price was high.”

“Lin Weihong’s family was already poor. When she saw that the intended bride was not willing to marry and did not want to be sold to someone else by the old woman, she set her sights on Zhao Manzhu, a worker.”

“Zhao Manzhu was actually two years younger than her. She staged several chance encounters with him, pretending to accidentally fall into his arms when he developed some feelings for her.”

“Quite coincidentally, this situation was seen by the village gossip, and soon rumors spread about Lin Weihong and Zhao Manzhu rolling around in the straw pile.”

“Lin’s old woman was delighted when she heard these rumors. Zhao Manzhu was a worker with a steady monthly income, and in Lin’s old woman’s eyes, he was like a hen who kept laying eggs. How could she let such a son-in-law slip away? She went straight to the Zhao family and forced Zhao Manzhu to marry Lin Weihong.”

Xu Dazui clicked her tongue and said, “You’ve seen Lin Weihong’s husband, right? Doesn’t he look decent? The key is that he has a good personality; if he didn’t, Lin Weihong wouldn’t have been able to manipulate him.”

Jiang Yutao had seen Zhao Manzhu before. Every time she saw him, he was always smiling, speaking and moving slowly, giving off a particularly gentle impression.

He was also very kind to Lin Weihong, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to consistently help Lin Jianzhong’s family for decades.

From what Jiang Yutao had observed of Lin Weihong and Zhao Manzhu’s interactions, she couldn’t detect any sign that the marriage had such an unseemly background.

In the small village of Liushu Village, Jiang Yutao’s impression of it was constantly being refreshed!

“It’s hard to believe that Aunt Weihong is such a person,” Jiang Yutao remarked. “Weiwei told me that Aunt Weihong had previously suggested that she go on a blind date with Lin Jianzhong, but she refused. She even warned me not to spread this matter.”

Xu Dazui and Fourth Aunt Jiang immediately became excited. “There’s this too? Oh, this must be Lin Weihong’s doing without a doubt. Tsk, tsk, tsk, I didn’t expect that after all these years, Lin Weihong’s methods haven’t improved much!”

Fourth Aunt Jiang said, “Why bother improving methods if they work? That’s what matters.” She looked at Jiang Yutao and solemnly promised, “Yutao, don’t worry. If anyone talks about this matter in the future, I’ll help clarify it for Comrade Gu.”

“Then I’ll thank you on behalf of Weiwei.”

“You can just call us Aunt, and we’ll be like family. No need for such formalities,” Fourth Aunt Jiang said. She then asked, “Do you need bricks, tiles, or wood for building? If you need wood, I have some. Your uncle just cut it down from the mountains a few days ago. If you need it, we can move it over to you.”

“I have some mud bricks and tiles left from when we repaired our house last year. If you need them, they’re yours,” added Aunt Zhangyi.

“We need everything. Thank you, Aunts,” Jiang Yutao said gratefully. She continued, “We want to move into the new house as soon as possible, so we’re looking for more people to help with the construction. If you know anyone who can help, please introduce them to us. We’ll pay them according to the going rates.”

Xu Dazui exchanged glances with Fourth Aunt Jiang. After all, every family has some men and grown sons.

Aunt Zhangyi said, “I know people, plenty of them. Just let us know when you’re ready to start, and we’ll get it done for you right away. Your uncle may be a bit of a bastard, but he’s good at laying down the bricks. I’ll make sure he does a good job for you.”

“Thank you, Aunt Zhang.”

During the break, Jiang Yutao shared the good news with Gu Nianwei. Gu Nianwei was thrilled at the thought of moving into a new place soon and smiled happily. “Tao Tao, you’re amazing. I’ll handle the arrangements on our side.”

Jiang Yutao nodded and returned to the group under the leader’s watchful gaze.

Lin Weihong was working next to Gu Nianwei. Hearing that Gu Nianwei was going to build a house, she felt anxious.

She quickly thought of something and said to Gu Nianwei, “Weiwei, remember you helped buy some medicine for my family last time? Uncle Manzhu wants to invite you over for dinner tonight. The dishes are all prepared, so you must come.”

The medicine purchase for the Zhao family was two months ago, and now they were finally showing their gratitude.

“Okay. I’m in charge of cooking tonight, so I’ll let Tao Tao replace me for the day.” Gu Nianwei wanted to see what kind of game Lin Weihong was playing.