Chapter 176 The Years of Educated Youth

An eerie friction sound came from the end of the corridor, like someone grinding grain on a stone mill, or like a rough hemp rope being dragged repeatedly across a piece of wood.

The sound grew closer, accompanied by a faint, tearful humming.

“Brother Gao Han…”

The call was uttered with a heavy Shaanxi accent, the last word drawn out softly and slowly, as if it were drifting from a great distance.

The old man trembled, and his cane slammed to the ground with a loud thud.

That voice...that address...

No one has called him that for fifty years.

Fifty years ago, in Tuodong Village, Baohe County.

Luo Gaohan rubbed his frozen hands as he entered the earthen house at the educated youth settlement and found an extra coarse cloth bundle on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Upon opening it, I found three golden-brown corn tortillas, still steaming hot.

“Luo Zhiqing, my father wants you to learn how to plow the fields.”

A crisp sound came from outside the door.

A round, rosy face peeked out from the doorway.

Tian Xiao'e's two jet-black braids hung down in front of her floral cotton-padded jacket, with a few snowflakes still clinging to the ends of her hair.

When she smiled, her eyes curved into crescent moons, shining brightly in the drab grayness of the educated youth settlement.

When plowing the fields in early spring, Luo Gaohan developed blisters on his palms.

Tian Xiao'e squatted on the edge of the field, holding his hand and frowning: "Brother Gao Han, you're not holding the hoe the right way."

Her fingertips were rough but warm.

Luo Gaohan suddenly grabbed those hands and said, "Then teach me properly?"

Tian Xiao'e cried out and tried to dodge, but he pulled her into his arms.

One July night, a rustling sound came from behind the haystack.

Tian Xiao'e handed him the insoles embroidered with mandarin ducks, saying, "Brother Gao Han, these are for you. This is the first time I've ever embroidered mandarin ducks, please don't mind them..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was pushed down into the haystack.

Luo Gaohan's nose brushed against the scent of soap behind her ear, and he vowed confidently, "Once the quota for returning to the city is approved, I'll immediately pick you up and take you to Beijing."

In the autumn, the Luo family managed to secure a spot to return to the city through connections.

Meanwhile, a family letter arrived in Luo Gaohan's hands after half a month.

The handwriting on the letter paper was so strong it seemed to penetrate the paper itself:

Gao Han:

Your family has already arranged a marriage for you with the daughter of Minister Zhou, a graduate of Peking University. The Zhou family has promised that you will be transferred back to Beijing to work in the Foreign Trade Bureau immediately after the wedding. Return home quickly and do not delay.

"Father"

Luo Gaohan stared blankly at the three characters "Foreign Trade Bureau".

Tian Xiao'e brought in a steaming bowl of buckwheat noodles. Seeing that he looked off, she asked softly, "Brother Gao Han, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." He crumpled the letter into a ball and stuffed it into his pocket. "The county has given me a quota to return to the city."

The bowl of noodles in Tian Xiao'e's hand crashed to the ground, splashing hot soup onto the legs of both of their trousers.

She clutched Luo Gaohan's sleeve, trembling, "But...I'm pregnant, I haven't had my period for two months..."

Luo Gaohan took out a crumpled twenty yuan note and stuffed it into her palm.

"Xiao'e, go to the county hospital for a check-up first, and take good care of your pregnancy. This is my home address: No. 28 Baihua Hutong, Nancheng District. Once I've settled down, I'll take you to Beijing."

He hastily tore a page from his notebook and wrote down an address.

He made it up on the spot; there is no such thing as Baihua Hutong in Beijing.

At four o'clock in the morning, the roar of tractors broke the silence of the village.

Luo Gaohan, in the driver's seat, never looked back until the heart-wrenching cry of "Brother Gaohan" disappeared into the morning mist.

Six months later.

Tian Xiao'e, her round belly protruding, huddled in a corner outside Beijing Railway Station, shivering.

She has been wandering around this unfamiliar city for half a month.

Clutching the crumpled piece of paper, Tian Xiao'e asked a passerby in a thick Shaanxi accent, "Comrade, how do I get to Baihua Hutong?"

The person being asked frowned: "Baihua Hutong? Never heard of it."

Undeterred, she dragged her swollen legs and walked through all the alleys in the southern part of the city.

An old policeman, feeling sorry for her, searched for her for a long time, then shook his head and said, "Young lady, there is no such place as Baihua Hutong in Beijing."

Standing at the entrance of the police station, Tian Xiao'e suddenly bent over and began to retch.

"Tian Xiao'e? It really is you!"

A familiar voice made her shudder.

Looking up, she saw Wang Xiaohong, a female educated youth who had gone to the countryside with Luo Gaohan, staring at her in surprise.

Wang Xiaohong's gaze fell on her protruding belly, and her face changed drastically: "My God! How could you..."

"Sister Xiaohong!" Tian Xiao'e's tears welled up instantly. "I was looking for Brother Gao Han, and he said he was waiting for me in Baihua Hutong..."

Wang Xiaohong caught her as she swayed, and gasped when she touched her burning forehead: "You have such a high fever!"

She took off her coat and wrapped it around Tian Xiao'e's thin body. "Let's go, let's go to the hospital first."

Three days later, when Wang Xiaohong finally found out the Luo family's address, Tian Xiao'e was already delirious from the fever.

In the corridor of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Wang Xiaohong, her eyes red-rimmed, placed a damp towel on her forehead, listening to her mutter intermittently, "Brother Gao Han said he'd take me to see the Forbidden City..."

As soon as Tian Xiao'e's fever subsided a bit, she secretly pulled out the IV needle from the back of her hand while Wang Xiaohong went to get food.

She trembled as she opened the notebook on the bedside table, which contained the Luo family's address that Wang Xiaohong had found out.

Every time she met a passerby, she would take out her notebook and point to the address on it.

Some people avoided the pale and thin pregnant woman with disgust, while a kind old lady gave her directions: "Go straight ahead, turn right when you see the red wall."

As dusk fell, she finally found the alley lined with sycamore trees.

Huddled in the corner, Tian Xiao'e stared intently at the magnificent courtyard house.

Black sedans came and went, their headlights glaring at her eyes.

"Brother Gao Han..." she called out in a hoarse voice, her voice lost in the wind.

Suddenly, her eyes widened.

Luo Gaohan stepped out of the car wearing a smart overcoat, with a girl in a red wool coat on his arm.

The two entered the courtyard chatting and laughing, and the guard saluted respectfully.

Tian Xiao'e tried to rush over, but a sharp abdominal pain forced her to kneel down.

Blood flowed down his trouser leg, leaving dark red stains on the ground.

Wang Xiaohong, who arrived promptly, took her to the hospital.

"The pregnant woman is experiencing severe bleeding and needs immediate surgery!"

The doctor demanded sternly, "Where are the family members?"

Tian Xiao'e's pale lips trembled incessantly, but she couldn't utter a sound.

Wang Xiaohong grabbed the surgical consent form: "I'll sign it!"

After the operating lights came on, Wang Xiaohong rushed into the post office.

Her voice trembled as she dialed the Foreign Trade Bureau: "Luo Gaohan! Tian Xiao'e is being treated at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Get over here right now!"

A bureaucratic tone came from the other end of the phone: "Comrade, please watch your words."

Luo Gaohan's voice was cold and condescending, "Comrade Tian Xiao'e and I are just ordinary comrades-in-arms from the Communist Youth League. Her conduct in the village..."

He deliberately lowered his voice, "I'm afraid you don't know, do you? She's been flirting with all the male educated youths."

Wang Xiaohong was trembling with rage, almost crushing the microphone in her hand: "You're talking nonsense! She's clearly pregnant with—"

"Beep, beep..."

The interruption sound cut off her roar.

After Tian Xiao'e's death, Wang Xiaohong wrote a seven-page letter of denunciation in her dormitory, bit her index finger to leave a bloody mark, and then put it in the mailbox.

Her letter went unanswered, and she was instead sent to a farm in Northwest China for "spreading rumors."

Before being sent down to the countryside, she used three months' salary from the chemical plant to buy a simple coffin for Tian Xiao'e in the suburbs.