In the original owner's memories, the female workers at the silk factory were all incredibly arrogant, and the employees at the vehicle factory were full of themselves. They dressed well, ate well, and often bought fabric, meat, and oil coupons on the black market.
The farmers toiled in the fields all year round. The grain they grew and the livestock, chickens, and ducks they raised were all turned over to the grain station and the cooperative. The money that ended up in their pockets wasn't even enough to buy a single decent set of clothes.
It seemed that no matter the era, farmers always had it the hardest.
'A man can't get rich without a windfall, just as a horse can't get fat without extra fodder. My only way out is to start a business and make money.'
No sooner said than done. She rolled out of bed, opened her bedroom door, and went into the kitchen. She grabbed a gourd ladle, opened the kitchen door, and went to the east wing.
With a CLICK, she pulled the light switch. She scooped a full ladle of broad beans, turned off the light, closed the door, and returned to the kitchen. She poured the beans into a ceramic basin and added water to soak them. Only then did she close the kitchen door, return to her room, pull up the covers, and lie down to sleep.
Little Douzi patted Lin Lan. "Mama, I have to pee-pee."
Lin Lan quickly bundled him in some clothes. "Mama will take you."
She glanced back and realized she'd left the chamber pot in the woodshed. She had no choice but to carry him to the outhouse. Pulling the switch for the dim yellow light, she held Little Douzi, who still had his eyes closed, as he peed.
Lin Lan quickly carried him back inside.
Nights in the fourth lunar month were still a bit cold. She worried that if he caught a cold from getting up at night, she wouldn't even have the money for a doctor. So, she went and fetched a chamber pot, placing it behind the kitchen door.
She lay down and slept until she was awoken by the intermittent crowing of roosters. Lin Lan rolled over and got up.
She tucked Little Douzi in, went to the backyard, and saw that the sky was just beginning to brighten. She could already hear voices from the houses behind hers.
The moment she stepped outside, a wave of fresh air washed over her, and Lin Lan immediately felt her spirits lift.
There was no smog, no pollution. The air carried the crisp scent of bamboo leaves and the faint fragrance of gardenias.
'In another twenty or thirty years, the bamboo groves, courtyards, and rice paddies will all disappear, replaced by towering skyscrapers of steel and concrete...'
Remembering all she had to do, Lin Lan pushed aside her thoughts. She changed the water for the soaking broad beans, then ladled some water into the pot. After heating it, she soaked the dirty duvet cover and blanket before finally starting the rest of the laundry.
Using the half-bald scrub brush, she scrubbed the dirty clothes soaking in the basin, then started on the duvet cover and blanket.
By the time she had scrubbed the duvet cover and blanket clean, the last bit of soap was gone.
Lin Lan thought of her empty pockets and sighed. 'Money is needed for everything.'
She put the scrubbed clothes and duvet cover into a large wooden basin, carried it out the courtyard gate, and went to the ditch to rinse them.
When she reached the ditch, she saw her next-door neighbor, Zhang Yazhen, was already there washing clothes.
Zhang Yazhen heard the footsteps, turned her head, and saw Lin Lan. She froze for a moment, then shifted her basin to the side and went back to rinsing her clothes, head down.
Seeing that she didn't say a word, Lin Lan had no desire to offer a warm greeting only to be met with a cold shoulder. She silently began rinsing her own laundry. The water in the ditch was high and clear, making it much more convenient for rinsing clothes than using the well water at home.
After Zhang Yazhen finished rinsing her last pair of pants, she carried her basin ashore. She glanced back at Lin Lan and muttered under her breath, "The sun must be rising in the west. The lazy hag is actually up early doing laundry."
Lin Lan worked efficiently. It didn't take her long to rinse all the laundry. Back in the courtyard, she wiped down the clothesline pole before starting to hang everything up to dry.
"Mama! Mama~" Little Douzi's panicked voice called out.
"Mama's in the courtyard hanging up the clothes!"
Lin Lan shouted back at the top of her lungs. Just as she put the blanket back in the basin, she turned to see Little Douzi running out, his shoes half on his feet.
As soon as he saw Lin Lan, he grinned, revealing a few tiny teeth. "Mama, I went potty."
Remembering that the latrine was just a hole over a large pit, Lin Lan quickly put the blanket down. "Mama will go with you."
The mother and son PITTER-PATTERED to the outhouse. After squatting down, Little Douzi covered his nose and looked at Lin Lan. "Mama, poop is stinky! You should stand farther away."
Lin Lan laughed. "You little rascal. Mama doesn't mind your stink, but you're disgusted with yourself."
"Stinky!" Little Douzi said, his eyes crinkling as he smiled at her.
When he was done, she remembered they didn't even have toilet paper here; people used bamboo slips to wipe themselves. After the two came out of the outhouse, Lin Lan washed her hands, hung the blanket to dry, and started making breakfast.
They finished their meal, but before she could even wash the bowls, the whistle to start work blared from the loudspeaker hanging on a tall utility pole on the tractor path.
Lin Lan looked at him. "Little Douzi, Mama's taking you to Great-Auntie's house."
"Okay!" Little Douzi agreed.
Lin Lan quickly picked him up, closed the courtyard gate, and ran to the old lady's back door. She saw the woman was waiting with the door open. "Great-Aunt, I'll have to trouble you with Little Douzi."
The old lady took Little Douzi's hand and waved her away. "Go on, quickly. Don't be late."
"Yes!" Lin Lan replied and ran to the tractor path, heading toward the rice seedling fields to the east. She crossed a bridge and turned east, passing the team's pig farm and the grain-drying ground. A little further on were the seedling fields.
When she reached the seedling fields, a woman in her early thirties with a melon-seed-shaped face stormed over. "So you finally decided to grace us with your presence at work today!"
Lin Lan saw it was Yang Guangming's third sister, Yang Liying. She smiled at her. "Third Sister, I had a cold yesterday. I'm all better after a good night's sleep."
Seeing her smile, Yang Liying was taken aback for a moment, and her tone softened. "They said you refused to pay your debts and even wounded Liu San. When the police came to arrest you, you went and got Ding Bang to speak for you. Then Ding Bang turned around and got the police to make Liu San pay you ten yuan in compensation and even let you off the hook for what you owed him?"
She could tell the gossipmonger was implying that Lin Lan had hooked up with Ding Bang.
Lin Lan frowned at Yang Liying. "Who did you hear that..."
"Lin Lan, go home," a man called out from behind her. "There's no spot for you to pull seedlings today."
Lin Lan turned her head and saw it was the sub-team leader, Zhang Jun. "Captain Zhang, why isn't there a spot for me? Am I not a member of the Lexing Team?"
Yang Liying also spoke up. "Zhang Jun, Lin Lan has always been pulling seedlings. She just took one day off because she was sick. How can there suddenly be no spot for her?"
Lin Lan hadn't expected Yang Liying to speak up for her and gave her a grateful smile.
Yang Liying rolled her eyes at her. "And you can still smile!"
Zhang Jun looked at the two women coolly and adopted a bureaucratic tone. "Lin Lan, look around. Is there anyone else in the team who comes and goes as they please like you do? If everyone were like you, who would build our prosperous socialist life?"
Lin Lan raised an eyebrow and retorted, "Captain Zhang, you're mistaken. It is precisely because this is socialism that I am allowed to rest when I'm sick.
It's because I have always supported and upheld the great cause of socialist construction with my humble efforts that I rushed back to work as soon as my cold was slightly better.
And yet now, you're telling me there's no spot for me. The one obstructing the great cause of socialist construction seems to be you, Captain Zhang!"
Yang Liying shot her a surprised glance. 'Well now! Listen to her talk. She's got more style than Zhang Jun himself.'
Zhang Jun frowned at Lin Lan. "Don't you get smart with me..."
"Zhang Jun!" A tall woman interrupted him with a smile. "Lin Lan is a single woman trying to earn work points to raise her son. If you don't let her work to earn those points, who's going to feed him?"