Zhao Mingyue thought she wouldn't be able to sleep, but she slept soundly through the night without any dreams. Just as dawn was breaking, she heard her father clearing his throat with a cough, a habit he had maintained for many years. Zhao Mingyue opened her eyes and, hearing that familiar sound, her eyes welled up with tears. It turned out that all of this was not a dream.

She groped her way into bed in the dark, then lifted the thick linen mosquito net and got out. Opening the door, she saw the main door was already open, and her mother was up, carrying a chicken coop as she walked out. Seeing her daughter, she said, "Mingyue, why are you up so early? Why don't you sleep a little longer?"

Zhao Mingyue hadn't had such a good night's sleep in a long time. She slept from seven or eight o'clock until five in the morning. Such a long sleep, in such a quiet and dark night—the quality was exceptional. She smiled and said, "I'm awake now." She went to the kitchen to fetch water, but found the bucket was gone. She guessed her father had gone to fetch water. "Mom, did Dad go to fetch water?"

Hu Nianchun said, "Okay, go and water our vegetable garden."

"good."

As dawn broke, people hurried to plant and water their vegetables before work began. Most of the land had been taken over by the public, leaving only a small plot for each household to grow vegetables. This small plot was extremely precious, as it determined the family's livelihood for the entire year. With so little land, everyone tried their best to plant short-cycle, high-yield vegetables to ensure they had enough to eat throughout the year.

After her parents passed away in her previous life, her older brother and sister-in-law moved to the city, and Zhao Mingyue rarely returned to her hometown. She was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to find the location of her family's vegetable garden, but she was obviously overthinking it. Even after so many years, when she walked in the familiar fields, her footsteps would still automatically find their way.

She walked to the edge of the vegetable patch, used a long-handled ladle to scoop water from the pond, and poured it onto the vegetable patch. It was May now, not yet the hottest time, so she only needed to water it once a day. But in the scorching heat of July and August, she would need to water it both morning and evening. Vegetables thrive in water; those lacking water become dry and tough, while water nourishes them, making them vibrant and fresh.

Zhao Mingyue was watering the plants when someone carrying a load came from the other side. When the person saw her, they gave her a shy smile and said, "Good morning."

Zhao Mingyue looked up and saw that it was Yu Youqing, from the same village and also Zhao Mingyue's classmate. She smiled and said, "You're not late either."

Yu Youqing lowered his head, walked to the dock of the pond, submerged the bucket in the water, filled it, and lifted it up: "I'm going to water the plants." His family's private plot was on the slope above, out of reach of a water ladle, so he had to carry water up there. The land there was much less fertile and more difficult to cultivate compared to the land by the water.

Looking at Yu Youqing's tall, thin figure, Zhao Mingyue's thoughts drifted. Yu Youqing's family background was even worse than hers; they were landlords. Before liberation, half of the tea plantations in Moon Bay belonged to the Yu family. Although his grandfather wasn't the kind of tyrant who committed all sorts of evil deeds, the status of a large landlord was enough to make them feel ashamed. Their family became the lowest-status family in Moon Bay, and they were completely excluded from good opportunities such as recruitment and education.

So, despite Yu Youqing's intelligence, he could only complete junior high school, just like her, and couldn't continue his education. Yu Youqing's older sister, Yu Youfen, was her third brother's classmate. She was very beautiful, and Zhao Minglang had even dated her. Once, a factory came to the village to recruit workers, and Yu Youfen met the requirements. Zhao Jinyun said that if Yu Youfen was willing to sleep with him, he would recommend her for the job. Yu Youfen was bewitched and believed Zhao Jinyun. As a result, Zhao Jinyun took advantage of her, and Yu Youfen was not hired. She also became pregnant. Overwhelmed with grief and shame, she attempted suicide by drowning, but was fortunately rescued. Yu Youfen's eldest brother, Yu Youyi, learned of this and was furious, beating Zhao Jinyun half to death.

Yu Youfen had an abortion and, unable to stay in her hometown, ran away to Xinjiang with her older brother. Yu Youqing took the college entrance exam in 1977 and was admitted to university. However, Zhao Jinyun, harboring resentment, prevented Yu Youqing from transferring his personnel file and household registration. Unable to transfer his file and household registration, Yu Youqing couldn't attend university. He even went to the university to help, but to no avail. Overwhelmed with anger, Yu Youqing beat Zhao Jinyun half to death, even breaking his leg, and fled to Xinjiang overnight to seek refuge with his older brother and sister.

Yu Youqing and his siblings had been away from their hometown for many years. The border region was harsh and cold, and Yu Youqing died in an avalanche when he was in his thirties. He never returned to his hometown.

In those days, without household registration, personnel files, and letters of introduction, it was nearly impossible to go anywhere, let alone go to school or find a job. A thin piece of paper, or even a single, casual remark, could determine a person's fate. A scoundrel like Zhao Jinyun, wielding a little power, ruined countless young women, blocked the futures of countless people, and manipulated the destinies of countless others.

Zhao Mingyue looked at Yu Youqing, who was about her age. A naive teenager, he was still growing, but he was as thin as a bean sprout. The pressure of his family's social class had made this intelligent boy quiet and reserved. If they had known all those hardships and obstacles beforehand and had avoided them, would their fates have taken a different turn?

When Zhao Mingyue finished watering, Yu Youqing was still carrying his fourth bucket of water, the two large wooden tubs pressing down on his thin back until it was hunched. Zhao Mingyue sighed softly, "Youqing, I've finished watering, I'm leaving now."

Yu Youqing was a little flattered: "Oh, okay." Although the two were classmates and from the same village, and had watched each other grow up, teenagers are at an age when they are just beginning to experience romantic feelings and understand the differences between men and women. It is very rare for someone like Zhao Mingyue to greet someone by their name so openly. At least Yu Youqing did not dare to call Zhao Mingyue by her name affectionately; if he did, he would call her by her surname.

Back home, my father and brothers were preparing to register for work at the production team. In those days, farmers worked the same jobs as factory workers. They would leave home around 6 a.m. to work for an hour, then come back for lunch. They worked three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon, and after those hours, they could rest.

Actually, it's quite leisurely. After all, the truly busy time in the countryside is only a short period. When it's time to go to work, all you have to do is show up. As for how much work you actually do, that's entirely up to your own conscience. So some lazy people just dawdle every day. They'll go to the fields with a hoe, do a little work when the team leader comes, and when no one's supervising, they'll just chatter and leave when it's time to go. They're typical examples of showing up but not putting in any effort.

Even though I know it's just a waste of time, I still have to go. If I don't go, I won't get work points, and without work points, I won't get money or food.

Outside of the busy farming season, Zhao Mingyue doesn't have to work in the fields. Her daily job is to go to the production team's mat-making area to weave mats. The material for weaving mats is reeds. The reed stalks are split into evenly thick reed strips by the reed pickers with knives. People then weave the reed strips into reed mats. Reed mats have many uses, such as making beds, drying grains, and serving as rain shelters.

The work is done by women: housewives, young wives, and unmarried girls. Three women make a scene, but there are more than three women working here—thirty or more—so it's always very lively.

After Zhao Mingyue finished registering at the scorekeeper's office, she saw several young women and wives already busy at work. Yu Youfen, who was already working, waved to her and said, "Mingyue, come over here and let's talk."

A young woman looked at Zhao Mingyue and said, "Mingyue, why didn't you go to the movies last night? Didn't I tell you yesterday morning? Someone was waiting for you for ages." This young woman was the niece-in-law of Aunt Luo Wu, named Cheng Meilai. She had married into the family from the neighboring Chengjia Village and was from the same village as Cheng Yonggang.

Zhao Mingyue thought for a moment, but couldn't remember anything about it, so she smiled apologetically: "I fell when I went to collect firewood yesterday, and my foot hurts a bit, so I didn't go."

Cheng Meilai looked at her in surprise: "You fell? Is it serious?"

Zhao Mingyue shook her head: "I'm much better today, I'm fine."

Cheng Mei said, "You're really diligent. You even went to gather firewood yourself. Why did you ask your brother to do it? Xiaogangshan is so far away, seven or eight li away. Carrying dozens of jin of firewood is tiring even for me. You're a scholar who's not used to heavy work. How can you handle it?"

Another daughter-in-law laughed and said, "In my opinion, Mingyue should stay at home and rest. Don't be like us, all dark-skinned and burly. When she finds a good husband, she won't have to do any of this rough work."

In the past, Zhao Mingyue would have blushed with embarrassment, but today she just smiled generously: "Now it's a new society, women are liberated, how can we not work? Who will support us? The government said that women can hold up half the sky."

Cheng Meilai clapped her hands and laughed, "Look at her, Mingyue's tongue is getting sharper and sharper. Her enemies will have a hard time in the future."

The young wife working alongside her chuckled and chimed in, "Mingyue is so beautiful and cultured, any guy would be happy to have her."

Zhao Mingyue knew that when women got together, they would talk about these mundane matters and say funny things. Unmarried girls were always the subject of jokes among married women, so she didn't mind and went to Yu Youfen's side to do her work.

Cheng Meilai laughed and said, "You two sisters-in-law are together again."

Yu Youfen blushed and said, "Sister-in-law Meilai, don't joke around." Her relationship with Zhao Minglang was not public, but secrets don't stay hidden forever, and they were bound to be discovered eventually.

Yu Youfen's family was even worse off than Zhao Mingyue's. Although her family was small, consisting of only three siblings, all of whom were adults and able-bodied, in those days, having more laborers didn't offer any advantage. More laborers meant more food. The majority of the grain distributed by the production team was allocated per person, with a smaller portion allocated based on labor capacity. In a family like Yu's, the allocated grain was far from enough, and they had to survive on sweet potatoes for most of the year.

Their family had a low social class and was poor. Yu Youfen's older brother, Yu Youyi, although handsome, was still unmarried at twenty-seven. In the future, twenty-seven would be considered young, but in those days, twenty-seven meant being an old bachelor, a super-leftover man. Zhao Mingyue remembered that at the end of that year, after Yu Youfen's accident, she left her hometown with her older brother Yu Youyi. The two siblings went to Xinjiang to make a living, and later Yu Youqing also went. Only the two elderly people were left in the Yu family, and their old age was further burdened by the pain of losing their son, making their later years quite bleak.

Yu Youfen was a very quiet and sensible girl. She was quick and efficient, but spoke very little. Perhaps because her parents had warned her from a young age that too much talk would lead to mistakes, and given her family background, she was not very outgoing. Zhao Mingyue always thought that her third brother would marry Yu Youfen, but Zhao Jinyun interfered, causing such a tragedy that almost cost her her life.

While Yu Youfen herself was certainly somewhat vain and lacked self-respect, given her background, she probably wanted to change her fate more than anyone else. In those days, escaping rural life meant changing the fate of the entire family; she was too eager for quick success. In the end, she failed to change her fate and was cruelly fooled by it.

Zhao Jinyun deserves to die, Zhao Mingyue thought bitterly. This time, she must prevent this tragedy from happening. Zhao Jinyun, such a clown, is already a rabbit's tail and won't last long.