Chapter 1 Reborn in 1972, facing the prospect of being sent to the countryside at the start.

Liu Li was awakened by a headache. When she opened her eyes, her nostrils were filled with the smell of disinfectant mixed with the musty smell of the old house—there was not a trace of the air conditioner smell in the office.

Beneath her was a hard wooden bed, the pressure making her lower back ache. The heavy quilt, its edges frayed, was made of coarse cloth, the kind only her grandmother's generation would use. The noise was deafening; the strains of the "Learn from Dazhai in Agriculture" propaganda blared from the distant radio, while her mother, Wang Guifen, rambled on, her voice trembling with tears, one sentence after another piercing her ears: "...What are we going to do? Lili's fever just broke, and Director Liu from the neighborhood committee came again this afternoon, saying Lili is a 'must-have' and she absolutely has to go..."

"What else can we do if we don't go?" Her father, Liu Weiguo, asked in a muffled voice, "With our family's circumstances, we can forget about getting a spot in the city. If we go early, we might get assigned to a team closer to the water source and suffer less."

Liu Li suddenly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the newspaper pasted on the ceiling was still there, with yellowed and curled edges, and the date "1972 x month x day" printed on it.

It's not a dream.

She had clearly finished the project report and fallen asleep at her desk, so how did she suddenly transform from a 21st-century manufacturing project manager into an unemployed youth in 1972 when she opened her eyes? Her throat was so dry it felt like it was on fire, and she couldn't help but cough twice.

"Lily! You're awake?" Wang Guifen was sitting by the bed pasting paper boxes. Hearing the noise, she looked up abruptly, the paste brush in her hand falling onto the pile of paper with a "plop." She got up and touched Lily's forehead, her palm sticky with paste. "Thank goodness! The fever has lasted for three days, but it's finally gone! Are you hungry? Mom will make you a bowl of brown sugar water, it's still warm on the stove."

Liu Weiguo also came over, his navy blue overalls faded from washing, the cuffs frayed, and he frowned. He looked at his daughter's pale face, his lips moved, and finally he could only squeeze out one sentence: "It's good that you're awake. Things... always have to be faced."

Liu Li propped herself up on the wooden bed, her hands still trembling. The cold touch of the wall against her back brought her back to her senses. The room was less than fifteen square meters, divided in two by a faded blue curtain. Her parents' bed was inside the curtain, and hers was outside. The wooden cabinet against the wall had peeling paint, revealing a light brown interior. On it sat an enamel mug with the four large red characters "Serve the People" printed on it.

This scene reminded her of the TV series "The People of the Alley" she had watched before. It was a tenement building on TV, but the rooms in the series were much brighter than this one.

"How long... have I been asleep?" she asked in a low voice, her throat aching with every word.

“Three days!” Wang Guifen returned with a bowl of brown sugar water, the enamel mug still stained with brown sugar granules. “When you heard Director Liu say that if you didn’t have a job, you would have to go to the countryside, you collapsed to the ground and then started burning up… Lili, Mom knows you’re unwilling, but this policy… sigh!”

Fragmented memories crept into her head along with her headache, and Liu Li finally pieced together her current situation. In 1972, she had just turned eighteen, graduated from high school, and was unemployed, so according to the rules, she was to be sent to the countryside. Her father was a maintenance worker in a textile factory, and her mother did odd jobs in a cardboard box factory. She had developed health problems after giving birth to her younger brother, leaving her and her brother as the only children in the family. With no connections or influence, a spot to stay in the city was out of the question.

"Dad, Mom," Liu Li took a deep breath. The sweetness of the brown sugar water didn't calm her anxiety; instead, it made her even clearer—she couldn't go to the countryside. Based on her historical knowledge, she knew the hardships of rural life: working in the fields before dawn to earn work points for food rations, going hungry in years of famine, and with no guarantee of returning to the city. The mere thought of going to the countryside made her dizzy; with such a weak constitution, going would be practically suicide.

"Is there really no other way besides going to the countryside?" she asked, clinging to her last shred of hope.

Liu Weiguo pulled out his pipe, filled with cigarettes he'd rolled himself. He brought it to his lips, then stopped, his knuckles white as he clenched it back into his pocket. "I've thought of everything. Taking over the job? Your mother and I still have over a decade to go. Staying in bed because of the illness? Once your fever breaks, there'll be no reason for it to continue. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Wang Guifen leaned forward, her eyes brightening.

“Unless I can find a job, be accepted by a company, and become a formal worker.” Liu Weiguo said, then sighed, “But these days, every job is in a limited number of openings, and recruitment quotas are more precious than gold. So many people are eyeing them. We don’t have those connections.”

Looking for a job... Liu Li's heart skipped a beat. It wasn't that she lacked advantages; she still had a foundation in mechanical engineering, including drawing, blueprint reading, mechanical principles, and the production management methods she had learned later. Surely these could be useful in a factory?

“Dad,” she said, her gaze hardening, the weakness from the fever seemingly suppressed by this surge of energy, “Do you know any factories… that might be hiring recently? Even if there’s only a sliver of hope, we have to give it a try.”

Liu Weiguo pondered: "The largest factory in the city is Hongxing Machinery Factory, then there's the textile factory where I work, as well as the chemical plant, the steel plant... But recruitment information is known internally first, and by the time it's posted, the positions have already been almost entirely reserved."

Hongxing Machinery Factory! Liu Li's heart skipped a beat; this was the perfect match for her major.

"Sis, are you looking for a job too?" Liu Xiaofeng, the younger brother, squeezed in from outside the door, clutching a slingshot in his hand. "My classmate's brother, in order to get into the factory, he's been camping out at the factory office every day, just having a cold cornbread for breakfast. He's been doing this for almost half a month, and his legs are swollen, but he hasn't seen a single sign of success."

Wang Guifen also worried: "Yes, Lili, even if they recruit workers, they'll mostly be factory workers, and you're just a young woman..."

“Mom, ‘Women hold up half the sky,’ why can’t girls be factory workers?” Liu Li interrupted her. “Compared to going to the countryside, going to the factory is paradise—no matter how tiring it is, it’s in the city, and you can go home. It’s better than going to a strange place.”

She looked at Liu Weiguo, her voice tense: "Dad, you know a lot of people at the factory. When you start work tomorrow, why don't you go to the personnel department and ask? Even a temporary job will do! As long as there's a chance to take the exam, I have to try!"

Seeing the determination in his daughter's eyes, Liu Weiguo steeled his resolve and nodded, "Alright! Tomorrow I'll risk all my pride and go ask her!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than there was a knock on the door, and a crisp voice asked, "Is Guifen home? Is Lili feeling better?"

The curtain was lifted, and a middle-aged woman in a gray Lenin suit entered. Her short hair was neatly combed, and her face was stern—it was Director Liu from the neighborhood committee.

Wang Guifen's heart tightened, and she quickly went to greet him: "Director Liu, what brings you here?"

"I heard Lily was sick, so I came to see her." Director Liu's tone was relatively warm, but his eyes swept over Liu Li's face as if he were sizing her up. "If she gets better, she'll have to hurry up and prepare to go to the countryside. Going to the countryside is responding to the call, it's such an honorable thing, she can't be delayed because of a little illness. These past few days, other streets have all exceeded their quotas, but in our area, there are still a few 'holdouts' like Lily, my work is very difficult."

Liu Li's heart sank—she had only just woken up, and they were already urging her to get up.

Wang Guifen's face turned pale instantly, and Liu Weiguo also kept a straight face and didn't say anything.

Director Liu sat down by himself, picked up the cardboard box on the table, touched it, and began to mutter: "I know you're worried about the child and afraid she'll suffer in the countryside. But you have to think long-term! There's so much to be done in the vast countryside! It's such a good opportunity for educated youth to go to the countryside for re-education and to forge their patriotic hearts..."

She finished her speech so fluently it sounded like she was reciting a script. Liu Li listened, and she understood perfectly well—if it were really that good, why were all her own children staying in the city? But she couldn't say it out loud, or she would be labeled as "outdated," which would be even more troublesome.

While Director Liu was catching her breath, Liu Li slowly spoke, her voice very weak: "Aunt Liu, thank you for your concern. I understand what you mean; going to the countryside is an honorable mission. But my illness has just improved, and I'm still weak. Dr. Zhang from the hospital came to see me yesterday and said I need to rest and can't do heavy work. If I go to the countryside now, it won't be responding to the call, but rather causing trouble for the farmers. Could you please give me some more time? Once I've recovered, I will definitely cooperate with your work."

Director Liu had expected her to cry and make a scene, but her words were surprisingly reasonable, which surprised her. She paused for a moment. Seeing that Liu Li's face was indeed pale and her lips were bloodless, which didn't seem like she was faking it, she finally relented: "I've brought the medical examination form. Since you're really sick, I can't force you. At most... at most I'll give you another week. After a week, you must give me a definite answer. If you're healthy by then, you'll have to go to the countryside."

She slammed the blank medical examination form on the table, her tone leaving no room for negotiation.

One week!

Liu Li's heart tightened suddenly, and her hands unconsciously gripped the blanket tightly—she had to find a job this week! Otherwise, she'd have to go to the countryside. She wanted to cry t﹏t

After seeing Director Liu off, the room grew even heavier. Wang Guifen picked up the medical examination form, her fingers trembling as she gripped the edge of the paper. Tears fell onto the paper, blurring a small stain, as she muttered, "A week, where am I supposed to find him?" Liu Weiguo paced back and forth in the room, his brow furrowed even more deeply.