"Comrade Lu, we, the Zhuang family, will not acknowledge you."
Looking at Lu Fangfang, Zhuang's mother tried her best to calm herself down.
She traveled for a week by train, enduring countless hardships, from Beijing to the Northwest, not to find a village woman to be her daughter-in-law.
"Your surname is Zhou, right?"
"Zhou Huairu".
Lu Fangfang was taken aback; she hadn't expected the old lady's name to be so elegant.
"Comrade Zhou Huairu, I have no interest in entering your Zhuang family. As long as Mingcheng is willing, I can marry him and let him enter my Lu family."
She wasn't without a temper, so fine, since she didn't acknowledge herself, she was too lazy to acknowledge "Mom" either.
"You're being rude! Don't even think about it!"
This time, Mrs. Zhuang was truly furious. She said coldly, "Is this what your upbringing is like—to address your elders by their first names?"
But the thought of her son sent a chill down her spine; given Mingcheng's personality, he might actually agree.
She absolutely could not accept this outcome.
She was going to send the woman away, not kick her son out.
Taking a deep breath, Madam Zhuang waved her hand, "It's getting late, I need to rest. Think it over carefully tonight, not everyone has the opportunity to go to the capital."
After saying that, Mrs. Zhuang walked to the suitcase, bent down to open it, and then took out brand new quilt covers and sheets.
She strode to the bedside, tore off the old clothes, and changed into her own.
Lu Fangfang glanced at it, feeling uneasy.
All your hard work and preparation is seen as worthless by others; they don't take it seriously at all.
She told herself not to argue with the "fussy woman" and reached out to pick up the sheets and blankets that her mother had torn off.
"Comrade Zhou! Good night."
"Comrade Zhou?" Mrs. Zhuang was taken aback.
Regardless of what Zhuang's mother thought, Lu Fangfang greeted her politely, picked up Xiaohua from the chair, and turned to go into the inner room.
She placed Xiaohua on the head of the kang (a heated brick bed), then took a bed sheet and spread it on the kang where she was going to sleep.
It's better not to use it; she'll use it herself.
Kneeling on the kang (a heated brick bed), she tidied herself up carefully, then took off her shoes and lay down.
Sleeping on the heated kang bed she had built herself, she felt a bit curious and unconsciously rolled around a few times.
The kang (heated brick bed) is made of sturdy adobe bricks and stones.
The kang (heated brick bed) was quite large; she rolled three times outwards without falling off.
She lifted her military overcoat and draped it over herself, closed her eyes, stopped thinking about her worries, and soon fell asleep.
The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Lu Fangfang woke up as usual.
She stared blankly at the ceiling for a long while before finally getting up.
Today, Zhuang's mother came, so she's not planning to go to the snow mountain to dig for caterpillar fungus anymore. However, she needs to tell Sister Shufen about this.
After getting dressed, she went to the outer room and glanced to the west, only to find that her mother was still asleep in bed.
She carefully washed her face, then took the cordyceps she had brushed up the night before and went to Commissar Xiao's house.
Wang Shufen was making breakfast in the house when she saw her younger sister come over. She asked curiously, "Sister, how's your mother-in-law? I saw her last night. She's definitely not an easy person to get along with. Did she make things difficult for you?"
Lu Fangfang opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
After a long pause, she replied dejectedly, "She gave me a letter of introduction and asked me to work as a factory worker in a textile factory in Beijing."
"hiss……"
Wang Shufen was startled, then filled with envy.
Grabbing Lu Fangfang's arm, she said happily, "Sister! Sister! I'm so happy for you. Going to the capital to be a worker, oh my, you're such a good mother-in-law."
Seeing the excited Wang Shufen, Lu Fangfang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
She shook her head and quickly explained, "Sister Shufen, I didn't agree. I'm not going to Beijing."
"What? Girl, don't be silly, those are workers from the capital! The capital!"
Wang Shufen immediately became anxious. She grabbed Lu Fangfang's arm and hurriedly said, "Sister, there are so many pretty girls in our village who are being picked up by those disabled men in the city. This is such a good opportunity, why don't you agree?"
She has a cousin from her hometown who is extremely beautiful.
In the end, she married an older man in his thirties from the city who had difficulty walking. Everyone in the village envied her for this.
What's the point? Isn't it just that the man has a worker's status and an urban household registration? I've never heard of someone starving to death while receiving government-subsidized grain rations.
"Sister Shufen, she wants me to go to Beijing to work as a laborer, on the condition that I don't get together with Mingcheng. She thinks I'm not good enough for her son."
"What?"
Wang Shufen stood there speechless, not knowing how to comfort her sister after hearing these words.
Patting Lu Fangfang on the shoulder, she said irritably, "Then we can't go. Ugh, I knew that old lady was hard to get along with. My sister is so hardworking, what kind of person wouldn't be good enough for her?"
"Forget it, let's not talk about her anymore." Lu Fangfang shook her head with a wry smile.
Actually, this is quite good. If there were no other conditions, she might have been genuinely moved by that letter of introduction.
"Sister Shufen, I won't go dig for caterpillar fungus today. Oh, by the way, bring out the basket. I'm taking the quail back with me; they've been sitting there for several days."
Wang Shufen patted the girl's shoulder reassuringly, then went into the inner room.
After a while, she came out carrying a basket.
"Chirp chirp..."
Just a few days later, the baby quails in the basket had grown a size bigger and were all chirping and twittering inside.
Lu Fangfang leaned closer and counted them; there were thirty in total.
"Um?"
If she remembered correctly, there were definitely twenty-eight. How come there were two more? She turned to ask Sister Shufen.
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