Chapter 223 Extra Chapter 01: Entering the City
October 1951.
Big news from Fengshou Village—Guan Canghai, the second son of the Guan family, passed the recruitment exam for the Five Star Automobile Factory in the city and is going to work there.
The villagers kept busy, talking about all the new things as they worked.
In the two years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, many factories in the city have recruited workers directly from rural areas to work in the city. Although the number of recruits is not large, people from other villages have been recruited. This is the first time that Fengshou Village has done so.
Meanwhile, at the Guan family home, which was the subject of the discussion, Guan Canghai was busy packing his luggage.
There weren't many things, after all, everyone's conditions were poor these days. Having a room at home and a set of clothes for everyone was considered a good condition.
Guan Canghai's luggage to take into the city was actually just a small bundle containing a change of clothes, a chipped large bowl, a pair of chopsticks, and a few old tools he used for cutting hair.
The extra set of clothes was exchanged by his older brother, Guan Donglin, for the old pocket watch passed down from their parents. The hair-cutting tools were given to him by his master before he left when he was an apprentice at a barbershop in town for nearly ten years.
Don't be fooled by how light the little bundle is; it weighs almost as much as his newborn daughter.
These days, raising children is difficult. Adults are so thin they're practically skin and bones. How long a baby can live depends entirely on luck.
But his youngest daughter was lucky; she caught the right time when he was about to go to the city to work as a factory worker. He got a job and would have a salary. He didn't dare to think too much about settling down in the city; he just wanted his family to be able to eat half full every day.
"Daughter, when Dad comes back next time, I'll bring you his salary, and you can have some meat... Oh dear!"
Before he could finish speaking, his wife slapped him on the back. But she had only given birth a few days ago, so the force of her hand was light.
Jiang Guiying glared at him, "How old is she? What meat can she eat? Get your wages and buy a bone!"
There are only two rooms in the house. Her room is kept out of the wind, while the other three children are working or playing in the next room. As soon as they hear "buying bones," they all shout to ask when they can eat bones.
"Dad, I want to eat candy."
The second son had only been adopted by Guan Donglin and Chen Pei a few days ago, and was only five years old. He hadn't yet corrected his way of addressing people, and his mind was still a bit foggy. He called all four adults in the family "Dad" and "Mom".
Jiang Guiying softened her voice, corrected his form of address, and said, "When your second uncle gets his wages, he'll bring you candy back."
"I want one too! I want my second uncle to bring me one too!" the three-year-old girl said angrily.
"Bring them all!" Jiang Guiying exclaimed, exasperated. "Why are you calling him 'Second Uncle'? This is your father!"
"My dad doesn't bring me candy, but my second uncle does. Let him be my second uncle!"
They say you can tell what a person will be like at three years old. Jiang Guiying looked at her eldest daughter, who had just snorted again, and thought to herself that this child would definitely have a bad temper when she grew up, but this bad temper was strangely clever.
When Chen Pei returned from the fields, she and the other three began preparing dinner, and also got ready for Guan Canghai's rations for his trip to the city the next day.
The distance from Fengshou Village to the Wuxing Automobile Factory in the city is quite far.
Guan Canghai hitched a ride on someone else's bicycle to apply for a job last time, but the guy with the bicycle didn't pass the interview, so he had no bike to hitch a ride on and had to walk.
If he walks faster, he can get to the factory office before the people leave work, so he can start working earlier and have a place to stay at night.
When Guan Donglin returned from town, dinner had just been prepared. He wiped the sweat from his brow and called Guan Canghai, who was chopping wood, to eat.
"I'll come after I finish chopping this pile." After he went to the city, the burden of heavy housework fell on his brother, sister-in-law, and wife.
His elder brother and sister-in-law have no children, while he has four children. His parents passed away early, and he relies entirely on his elder brother and sister-in-law for support.
For dinner, the four adults and four children squeezed into a small room.
No one spoke; they just buried themselves in their food as soon as they sat down at the table.
There was also a baby wrapped in a blanket, crying softly.
Jiang Guiying turned around, dipped her chopsticks in the soup, and let the baby sip some.
After the meal, everyone's bowls and chopsticks were spotless, with not a drop of soup left.
Guan Donglin: "Once you're in the city, go visit Huijun when you have time."
"become."
Guan Huijun is their younger sister. She married a city worker through an introduction. They live far apart and can only see each other once or twice a year. They don't know how she's doing in her husband's family.
The next day, as soon as it was light, Guan Canghai took his small bundle and went out.
"Go back now, I'll be back after I've rested."
Guan Canghai kept turning back as he left, but in his haste to get somewhere, his figure quickly became a black dot on the winding path.
Less than a month later, Guan Canghai returned excitedly.
The Five Star Automobile Factory was allocated a whole alley of houses, as the factory was going to allocate houses to workers who came to the city from the countryside through recruitment.
“I’m the only worker in our family, so I’ll get a room. Now that the house is allocated, Guiying, we can take the kids and move to the city to live our lives!”
"Really?!" Jiang Guiying instantly forgot to ask him how much salary he would get. When she heard that they had actually been allocated a room in the city, she was so happy that she slapped her thigh and wiped away tears.
Her parents and their entire family had moved to the city before the founding of the People's Republic of China. Due to the distance and the large number of children and responsibilities in the family, the last time they met was right after the founding of the PRC.
Then, Jiang Guiying asked a series of questions.
"How big is the house our family was allocated? Which area is it in? Is it close to the car factory...?"
Guan Canghai replied to each of them: "The place isn't big, a bit smaller than the room we're staying in. Before we came back, the factory organized workers to repair the walls and tiles, and now it's habitable. It's just that it's quite far from the factory. The workers who came later were all assigned to that area... Oh, by the way, that place is called Ginkgo Alley."
As they spoke, Guan Canghai handed over the tens of thousands of yuan in wages he had brought back to Jiang Guiying.
Rice outside costs 1,200 yuan per kilogram, and flour costs 1,700 yuan. This sounds like a lot of money, but it doesn't last long at all.
Good rice and flour are rarely available, so the money has to be spent wisely, mainly on coarse grains.
These days, being full is much more important than eating well.
A short while later, the other adults and children in the family returned, and Guan Canghai excitedly repeated the story.
Adults and children alike were happy.
The adults were happy that Guan Canghai had come at a good time, and the children were happy that Guan Canghai had really brought them candy. Each of them received a piece in their hand. When they learned that they were going to live in the city, they thought that they would be able to eat candy more often in the future!
The happiest person was the one sitting in the middle.
That's right, their current names are Dafu, Dagui, and Dahua, and the smaller one in the bed is called Xiaohua.
Don't be fooled by the fact that their parents' names sound quite respectable. They actually had someone who could read and write give them these names. All four adults were illiterate and knew very few characters. So, they picked and chose from the few characters they did know and ended up with these few hastily written names.
Logically, a village chief should at least be literate, but Guan Donglin's situation is special. In the past, things were chaotic, and literate village chiefs only cared about their own families. Guan Donglin, however, led the men, women, and children of the village to protect the village together, and that's how he was recognized by the villagers as their village chief, a position he has held ever since.
But the higher-ups said that a village chief can't be illiterate, so Guan Donglin now has to go to the town to attend literacy classes every day after finishing his work.
The family plans to give their children proper names in two years.
While Da Gui was having a good time, he realized that the next morning, his parents had only taken his older brother and two younger sisters with them. He let out a loud groan and started rolling around on the ground in a rage.
Guan Donglin and Chen Peiwei are very rare.
The child was given to the couple, and they were sure he would live with them in the village. But seeing the child crying like this, they couldn't bear it.
"Da Gui, don't cry. Your father is going to town to study. You should go with him. Here's some money. Go with your father to buy candy."
Guan Donglin softened his voice, as if it were a rare occurrence, and coaxed, "Dad will take you out to eat meat, you can eat by yourself."
Da Gui's wailing stopped abruptly. He climbed onto his new father's back, waved to his new mother, and happily swung his toes towards town.
He went to the literacy class with his new father and was forced to learn to read as well. After finishing their lessons each day, the father and son would go home and then become teachers to Chen Pei.
"We won't be illiterate anymore," Guan Donglin said, quite satisfied with their current life. He even looked forward to it, saying, "When Da Gui gets a little older, we'll send him to school. Old Li from the next village sent both of his kids to school..."
On the other side, Guan Canghai and Jiang Guiying, with their families in tow and carrying large and small bags, walked for most of the day before finally arriving at Ginkgo Alley.
There were even more people coming and going in the alley than the previous two days.
Guan Canghai greeted acquaintances as he led his wife and children inside.
"The factory only gave me two days to settle down at home. I probably won't have time to rest for the next few months because they're busy rushing to meet production targets. The workshop is constantly running, and I'm the only one in the factory responsible for cutting hair..."
Most people would just get their hair cut short when it gets long. Now that the factory has a barber, the workers can get their hair cut by him for much less than at a barbershop outside. But few are willing to pay him to cut their hair. So, when no one comes to get their hair cut, he has to help with other jobs, like moving things and unloading goods.
Supplies are scarce everywhere, and factories across the country are in the same boat, working in three shifts to keep up with production. He doesn't know when he'll get his next break.
So, when Guan Canghai went home yesterday and told Guan Donglin the news, Guan Donglin decided to "divide" the family property, allowing him to take his wife and children to live in the city.
Although it was called a division of property, the two brothers had always lived together, so there wasn't really anything to divide.
The house is the most valuable thing in the house; the rest are just some dishes, chopsticks, clothes, and blankets.
The neighbors who had just moved in were in a similar situation.
Jiang Guiying, holding her one-month-old baby girl and pulling her three-year-old daughter along, stepped into the room near the main gate in the east wing of courtyard number five.
The room was empty, and the doors and windows looked like they had just been repaired. A wooden plank was placed against the wall; that was the "bed."
To be honest, this house isn't much better than the house back in the countryside.
But Jiang Guiying was overjoyed; she had actually moved into a house in the city!
The house could be swept in a glance, and just as I was about to get to work, my neighbor from next door came over with a smile and said, "Hey, did you just move in today? I brought a broom with me, I'll take it to you."
"Thank you. You can just call me Guiying. We'll be neighbors from now on."
"Yes, my name is Fang Qin. This is my eldest son, and I also have a little girl who is only a few months old. She's sleeping inside."
"Oh! My little girl is only a month old. These two children are about the same age, so they can play together in the future."
Jiang Guiying chatted a lot with her new neighbors and learned a great deal about what was happening in the alley.
They never imagined that they would live in Ginkgo Alley for most of their lives.
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These side stories are just prequels and sequels to the main story. I'm not sure how many I'll write; I plan to finish the original outline and complete all the deleted supporting characters and subplots. (The original content was too much, and some parts weren't really related to Yuehe, so including them in the main story felt inappropriate. These side stories can fill in the gaps. I expect it to take me more than half a month to write.)
The previous content is also being revised; I just haven't replaced the published version yet. Some names, such as Grandpa Lin and Grandma Fang, need to be added (I hate how lazy I was before).
There are still some typos and minor bugs that are being corrected.
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