Chapter 1 Settling Down

After dinner, the Xie brothers stood in the backyard enjoying the breeze. Xie Baoshan squatted on a rock, lit a cigarette with a match, took a puff, and then asked Xie Wei, "Want some?"

Xie Wei wasn't addicted to cigarettes; he would only smoke one offered by someone. This time, however, he didn't refuse. He took the cigarette and matches from his older brother, lit them, and handed them back to him, asking, "What did you mean when you said that it was difficult to arrange Lin Qingqing's whereabouts?"

"Don't ask me about this yet," Xie Baoshan squinted, "Tell me first, wasn't it you who instigated Secretary Zhou's visit to the countryside?"

Xie Wei knew that his older brother was the type to not act until he saw a clear benefit, and that he had been thinking about this for several days. He wouldn't answer Xie Wei's questions without hearing his brother's honest explanation, so he nodded and said, "Okay."

"Comrade Lin Qingqing, are you begging me?"

"Um."

Who came up with the idea?

"Half and half."

Xie Baoshan was genuinely surprised. Although he had guessed that Lin Qingqing had approached Xie Wei, he hadn't expected her to offer advice. He praised her, "This young lady is capable! She's courageous and insightful, not bad."

Xie Wei, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, glanced at Xie Baoshan and said, "Speak quickly if you have something to say, don't dawdle."

“Xiao San, your temper won’t do. You’ll have a hard time finding a wife.” Xie Baoshan looked at Xie Wei and lectured him like an older brother. When he saw Xie Wei’s eyebrows furrow, he quickly said, “It’s like this. Lin Qingqing’s adoptive mother’s behavior is terrible. Secretary Zhou is very angry and intends to make this a typical case.”

Xie Wei nodded; he knew about it.

"In my opinion, even if her adoptive mother doesn't go to jail, she will definitely have to undergo labor reform. Under these circumstances, she definitely can't stay in the Lin family anymore, and her household registration will have to be transferred out."

Xie Wei had also anticipated this outcome; this was their plan from the beginning. He asked, "And then?"

"Where will Comrade Lin Qingqing's household registration be placed after she moves out? That's a difficult matter," Xie Baoshan said, taking a drag of his cigarette. "I heard that she herself doesn't really want to settle in Linjiazu Brigade. I can understand that. Old Mrs. Lin was arrested, but the rest of the Lin family is fine. I heard that the two Lin brothers are both tall and strong. You run into them every day in the brigade. No one can guarantee what they might do."

"Then move out."

"It's easy to say we're moving out, but where will we settle down?" Xie Baoshan asked rhetorically. Although more people mean more labor, each brigade only has so much land. More labor won't mean more food; instead, it will just mean more people to share the food rations. So, not many brigades are willing to accept Lin Qingqing as their new home.

"You didn't agree either?" Xie Wei asked.

"How can we agree? You know that last year the commune assigned several educated youths to our brigade, and they were all spoiled and pampered. Many of the brigade members were unhappy about it. What would they think if Comrade Lin Qingqing settled in our brigade? Besides, it's not easy to arrange for her to come. She's a young woman, so she definitely can't live alone. If we arrange for her to live with a member of the brigade, the member might not be happy. It's troublesome."

Xie Wei's cigarette burned down to the butt. He threw the cigarette butt on the ground, crushed it with his foot, and said, "Then arrange for him to be sent to the educated youth settlement."

"No, didn't you hear what I said? The important thing isn't where we live, but that we cadres have to consider the villagers' thoughts when making decisions," Xie Baoshan said, frowning.

“She is different from the educated youth. The educated youth were all city kids, pampered and unable to do the work, so of course the people in the brigade were unhappy. But she started earning work points when she was around ten years old and is an experienced farmer. She won’t be a burden if she comes. Moreover, many people in our brigade have married into the Linjiazui brigade. These people have watched Comrade Lin grow up and naturally feel close to her. So I think that her settling down in our brigade will not cause dissatisfaction among the brigade members.”

Hearing this, Xie Baoshan felt there was some truth to it. "Although that's the case, this isn't something I can decide on my own."

"Tell me if anyone has any objections, and I'll talk to them."

Seeing Xie Wei's resolute attitude, Xie Baoshan knew he was determined. But something felt off, so he narrowed his eyes and said, "Didn't you say you weren't going to handle this? Why are you suddenly so interested?"

Xie Wei paused for a moment, then denied "helping someone to the very end."

That was indeed Xie Wei's temperament. Xie Baoshan shrugged and said, "I will think about what you said."

"Consider?" Xie Wei raised an eyebrow.

Xie Baoshan and Xie Wei had been brothers for so many years, how could he not understand what he meant? Helplessly, he said, "I'll go to the commune tomorrow and get this settled, okay?"

Xie Wei thought for a moment and said, "I'll go with you."

"I'm your brother, do you think I'd lie to you?" Xie Baoshan thought he didn't trust him and wanted to come along to keep an eye on him, so he said irritably.

"I'm going to the police station," Xie Wei said calmly.

Xie Baoshan was taken aback. Xie Wei turned and went back into the house, and he quickly followed, asking, "What were you doing at the police station? Inquiring about the case..."

However, he was met with the loud slamming of the door.

...

"The first column at the top is for the room number, and the first column on the left is for the date. If someone checks in or the rooms are booked for the next few days, check the corresponding box. If it's empty, it means no one is staying there. When people come in the future, you can just look at the table to see which rooms are occupied and which are not."

Lin Qingqing sat at the counter with a notebook in front of her. On the first page, she had drawn cross lines with a blue pen to make a table. Holding a pen in her hand, she explained the contents to He Xiaoli: "At the end of the month, you can use the table to calculate how many days each room is occupied. Multiply that by the accommodation fee and you'll get the monthly revenue for each room."

"That way, we can calculate the guesthouse's monthly income very quickly!" He Xiaoli exclaimed in sudden realization. "Qingqing, you're so clever! How did you come up with this... form?"

Lin Qingqing's expression froze, and she grunted as she explained, "I saw my third sister draw up a table before. It's quite simple; you can memorize it after looking at it once."

He Xiaoli had seen Lin Qingqing read before; she was practically a prodigy, if not a photographic memory. Although she had only been learning to read for a few days, she had already finished reading the second-grade curriculum, so He Xiaoli believed her without a doubt.

Seeing that she believed her, Lin Qingqing raised her hand to wipe away non-existent sweat from her forehead and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

When Lin Qingqing came downstairs, she saw He Xiaoli looking sullen. After asking her, she learned that He Xiaoli had mistakenly remembered the vacant room number when the guests checked in, and had led them to their room and unlocked it. Although the other party did not pursue the matter after she apologized repeatedly, He Xiaoli still felt that she had done something wrong.

Lin Qingqing knew that when He Xiaoli checked guests in, she would record the guest's name, where they were coming from, what they were doing, how many days they would stay, and their room number. However, these were all individual records, not a summary. Therefore, when there were many guests, it would take a long time to flip through the notebook during check-in, and most of the time the front desk staff would rely on their memory.

He Xiaoli had simply remembered the wrong room number, which is why she led the person to a room that was occupied.

Seeing He Xiaoli's self-reproach, Lin Qingqing impulsively drew up a table for her to make statistics and queries easier. When teaching her, Lin Qingqing didn't think there was anything wrong with it, because a table is so basic that anyone with a little computer knowledge in modern times could create it. However, she forgot that the original owner of this body had never been to school.

Fortunately, He Xiaoli believed her.

...

After teaching He Xiaoli, Lin Qingqing went to help in the kitchen.

Her story caused quite a stir in the commune. Aunt Wang already sympathized with her, and seeing how quick and efficient she was at work, she thought she was a good person. Yesterday, she was even talking about wanting her to stay at the guesthouse.

That's impossible, of course. The guesthouse isn't big, and the current staff is enough; there's no need to add more. Even if more people were to be added, there would definitely be many leaders watching, and it wouldn't be someone like Lin Qingqing with no connections. Aunt Wang obviously knew all this too. After muttering to herself, she sighed and then said she would teach Lin Qingqing how to cook.

Sun, the Women's Federation cadre, frequently visited the guesthouse, bringing the latest news about Old Lady Lin's investigation. Aunt Wang knew that Lin Qingqing wouldn't be staying at the guesthouse for long. Thinking that she couldn't stay, she wanted to take advantage of the time to teach her a few more dishes.

Since Aunt Wang was willing to teach, Lin Qingqing naturally wouldn't refuse to learn. She didn't rush to read in the morning; she got up and prepared to go to the kitchen to find Aunt Wang, but was delayed for a while because of He Xiaoli's matter.

When Lin Qingqing entered the kitchen, Aunt Wang was kneading dough. Seeing Lin Qingqing come in, she asked, "Do you know how to knead dough?"

Lin Qingqing knew that Aunt Wang was going to make hand-pulled noodles, so she said, "I know a little bit, but I mainly make steamed buns and dumplings."

“That’s different. Here, you knead it, and I’ll tell you how to knead the dough and roll out the noodles.” Aunt Wang said, giving her seat to Lin Qingqing.

Lin Qingqing responded and went to the kitchen to wash her hands before kneading the dough. As she kneaded, Aunt Wang spoke beside her.

Aunt Wang was a very honest person; she taught without hesitation, sharing everything she knew with Lin Qingqing. Lin Qingqing was also clever and quick to learn; the noodles she made were quite presentable and had a good chewy texture.

Aunt Liu took a bite of the noodles and could hardly believe that Lin Qingqing was making noodles for the first time. She said, "You must have made noodles at home before. I've been cooking for decades, and the noodles I make are never as good as yours."

"It's all thanks to Aunt Wang's excellent teaching," Lin Qingqing said with a slight smile.

"It's because you're talented. If you were stupid, I wouldn't teach you even if you asked me to," Aunt Wang said proudly.

Aunt Liu laughed as she listened, pointing at the two of them and saying, "Look at you two, is this humility or showing off? Are you proud that you've taken on such a good apprentice?"

Aunt Wang retorted, "Shouldn't I be proud?"

They were chatting and laughing in the cafeteria when someone walked in from outside and called out, "Is anyone here?"

"Who is it?" He Xiaoli walked out with her bowl and saw two young men in police uniforms standing in the courtyard. She asked, "Who are you looking for?"

The young man walking in front said, "Oh, I'm looking for Comrade Lin Qingqing. Our leader told us to call her to the police station to give a statement."

Hearing the noise from inside the house, Lin Qingqing went out, recognized the leader, and called out, "Comrade Zhang."

When the policeman surnamed Zhang saw her come out, he repeated what he had just said. Lin Qingqing said, "Okay, could you wait for me for a moment? I'll be right there."

Comrade Zhang responded and said, "We'll wait for you outside."

As Lin Qingqing spoke, she turned and went back to the cafeteria. He Xiaoli quickened her pace and followed, asking, "What does the police officer want with you?"

"They're probably asking about the previous case," Lin Qingqing said to Aunt Wang after quickly finishing her noodles in the kitchen. "Auntie, I'm going to the police station. If I'm late..."

"Don't worry about these things, I'll handle them," Aunt Wang said, taking the empty bowl from Lin Qingqing's hand as she finished eating her noodles and was about to take it into the kitchen. "You go on your way, if you're delayed, I'll clean up the mess!"

Lin Qingqing's hand fell empty, and seeing the others urging her on, she said helplessly, "Then I'll go first."

"Hurry up!"