Chapter 11 Packing (Catching Bugs)

Lin Guangming and Qiu Aiying were both stunned. They didn't expect Lin Xiang to agree so readily.

After all, everything today did not go their way, and Lin Xiang's generous agreement to give up her job made the two of them suspicious.

"Why, you don't want to?" Lin Xiang raised her eyebrows slightly, as if she didn't care much, and said casually, "It's better not to work..."

"Of course!" Qiu Aiying responded quickly.

That night, Lin Xiang followed Aunt He to the big courtyard, nominally to welcome her future mother-in-law, but in reality she was still worried that they would have a falling out today and that Lin Guangming and Qiu Aiying would do something bad.

Now she has little money and will have to rely on work to make some money in the end.

"Xiangxiang, today was really thrilling." Inside the large compound, Aunt He was still scared as she thought about what happened in the morning.

Lin Xiang has had a hard life. She has suffered so much scheming and grievances, but she is still smart enough to arrange everything. It really makes people feel sorry for her.

"Auntie, I'm grateful for your help." Lin Xiang knew very well how difficult life was in the 1970s, and that it was not even possible to break free from the shackles by herself.

That night, Aunt He gave Lin Xiang the address of her son's regiment headquarters and reminded her, "Just take the marriage certificate with you. The boy has gone on a mission. I've asked the operator to tell him that I'm worried about you taking the train alone. I heard there are kidnappers out there."

"It's okay." Lin Xiang was independent in her previous life and had lived alone since she was a child. She had learned to be careful about everything. "I will be careful. Besides, there are educated youth going to the countryside these days. It's safer to follow the main force."

The educated youth went to the countryside in large numbers. I heard that recently there were many parents and children crying on the platforms of train stations, because they were reluctant to let their children go to the countryside.

Aunt He gradually felt relieved after thinking about it. She didn't know why, but she always felt that this girl was a person with her own ideas. Although she looked weak on the outside, she was very determined on the inside, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to ruin the marriage planned by her biological father and stepmother.

After the two exchanged greetings for a while, Lin Xiang stayed with Aunt He at her relative's house and did not return to the Lin family.

The next morning, before going to work, Lin Xiang found her colleague Sister Li who was just about to leave the family compound.

Sister Li is very active in her work. She won the Model Worker Award two years ago. She is always the first one to arrive at the workshop. Lin Xiang took advantage of the time to find her early.

"Sister Li. Where is the buyer of the job you mentioned last time? I sold it just as I thought about it." Lin Xiang naturally told the truth at this time.

Sister Li was stunned when she heard this, but then she reacted immediately. After all, the Lin family's marriage proposal yesterday had problems again, and the matter of a child marriage popping up in the end was not a small matter, and it had already spread throughout the family compound.

She also didn't expect that Lin Guangming and Qiu Aiying, who looked like decent people on weekdays, were secretly looking for partners for their daughters. They were really cheating!

"It's better if you sell your job, so that your brother won't get the upper hand!" Sister Li had heard of Lin Jianxin. Although they were not in the same building, she often caught a glimpse of Lin Jianxin hanging out with a group of hooligans outside.

"Then please keep it a secret for me first. I'm worried that my parents won't agree." Lin Xiang spoke softly. How could Sister Li disagree?

"Don't worry, I'll pretend I don't know about this!" The fourth-level female worker in Sister Li's husband's unit is the workshop team leader. If I can help her family with this, it will be more convenient in the future. In short, this matter is killing two birds with one stone. "That person is from my husband's unit, working in a cotton textile factory. Her name is Chen Chunhua. She wants to buy a job for her daughter to avoid being forced to go to the countryside."

After Lin Xiang received the letter, under the guidance of Sister Li, she immediately went to meet Chen Chunhua and her daughter.

As an old employee of the cotton spinning factory, Chen Chunhua was a standard fourth-level female worker with dexterous hands, high salary and high status. If she had not been too straightforward and offended the deputy factory director, she would not have been unable to find a temporary job in the cotton spinning factory for her daughter.

Now the daughter has no job and is unmarried, and is about to be forced to go to the countryside. She took her daughter to some blind dates, but saw a bunch of ugly gays, and both mother and daughter looked down on them. Chen Chunhua's daughter was really at a loss, and kept saying that at worst she could just go to the countryside.

I would rather go to the countryside than marry an ugly man!

When Lin Xiang saw Chen Chunhua and her daughter, he almost wanted to say "you are my soulmate"!

But look at how well the mother treats her daughter. She would rather spend a huge sum of 700 yuan to buy a job for her daughter to stay in the city. Compared with Lin Guangming, the father, the gap is indeed too big.

The needs of both parties were clear and the details were agreed upon in a short while.

Chen Chunhua paid Lin Xiang 700 yuan to buy her job at the steel rolling mill for her daughter.

"Comrade Lin Xiang, thank you so much for this! But are you married? Are you going to move to the countryside if you lose your job?" It is very difficult to find a job in the city nowadays. She is a fourth-level female worker and her family has a lot of savings, but she can't find anyone willing to sell their jobs even though she has money. Lin Xiang really solved her urgent problem.

"Aunt Chen, you love your daughter so much. It just so happens that I'm getting married and joining the army, so I won't be in Xifeng City anymore." Lin Xiang wanted things to go smoothly, so she said seriously, "You just have to be mentally prepared. I sold this job secretly. My biological father and stepmother forced me to give it to my brother. Maybe they'll make trouble for you if they know the truth."

Chen Chunhua was a tough girl, and she said it was okay. She paid real money to get the job, and once the formalities were done, she wouldn't tolerate anyone finding fault with her. "Don't worry, just sell the job. If anyone comes to say something bad, I'll beat him up and make him cry!"

Lin Xiang also saw that this aunt was capable, so she dared to sell the job to her family.

====

Lin Jianxin was ordered by Lin Guangming to stay at home because he was called to the police station for playing poker. He was not allowed to go out. He stayed at home for several days and was bored to death.

This time, he could go out openly under the pretext of going to the steel rolling factory with Lin Xiang to handle the transfer procedures, which was what Lin Jianxin wanted most.

Early in the morning, he rejected his mother's idea of ​​asking for leave to follow him, and went out with his household registration page in hand: "I'm an adult now, and you still want to follow me if I change jobs? Is it that necessary?"

Qiu Aiying was originally worried about Lin Xiang, but now that she saw her son was disgusted, she gave up. After all, asking for leave requires asking for favors.

"Then you should be careful and make sure this matter is handled properly!"

"Got it." Lin Jianxin's mind was full of thoughts about going out to play poker. He answered casually, walked out of the house in a flash, and met Lin Xiang at the gate of the steel rolling mill.

Lin Jianxin didn't care about Lin Xiangrang's work at all. How could this sister who had listened to him since she was a child not do it? So, at this moment, he was more concerned about having fun while going out on this day.

On the way, Lin Jianxin scolded Lin Xiang, blaming her for making his parents angry: "My parents were angry last night, Lin Xiang, you are angry too. You don't know how to cherish such a good thing as marrying Sun Yaozu. What island are you going to? You will cry to death when the time comes."

Lin Xiang sneered, looking at the Lin family's treasure who enjoyed many benefits: "Sun Yaozu peeked at a woman bathing and beat her. Aren't you worried that your sister will be beaten after she gets married?"

"That must be because you didn't do well, that's why he hit you." Lin Jianxin disagreed, "You did well, how could he hit you?"

Lin Xiang: Haha.

"Lin Jianxin." Lin Xiang's eyes flickered, but suddenly she saw a figure in front of her, "Are those your brothers?"

On the roadside ahead, a group of young men who looked like second-rate people were looking around, waiting for Lin Jianxin.

Lin Jianxin's hands were itching, and he couldn't wait even a moment longer. He felt it was inconvenient to hold his household registration page in his hand. He glanced at Lin Xiang and called her as he did in the past: "Hey, take it and handle the process. I have something else to do!"

Lin Xiang naturally wanted it very much, but she still pretended to be scared as before and refused to answer: "If Dad knew, then..."

"What does Dad know? Just go and get it done!" Lin Jianxin stuffed his household registration certificate into Lin Xiang's hand, and immediately became the boss. He quickly joined his brothers to play poker.

Seeing his hurriedly receding figure, Lin Xiang curled up the corners of her mouth into a smile and turned to go to the steel rolling factory.

......

Liu Mei, who works in the administrative department of the steel rolling mill, joined the steel rolling mill in the same year as the original owner and they have a good relationship. When she first learned that Lin Xiang was going to give her job to her younger brother, she felt sorry for Lin Xiang. But when she saw Lin Xiang bringing a young female comrade to handle the job transfer procedures, she immediately smiled.

The job transfer procedure went smoothly. Liu Mei retrieved Lin Xiang's file in the factory, registered the new employee's household registration certificate, handled the settlement for Lin Xiang, and then registered the new employee's file.

After a while, Lin Xiang's regular job at the steel rolling mill belonged to someone else, and in return, Lin Xiang received 700 yuan.

Seven hundred yuan in the 1970s was not a small sum. It was a huge sum of money in rural areas. Many villagers could not save more than fifty or sixty yuan after working hard on the farm for a year. It was also not to be underestimated in the city. After all, the average monthly salary of a formal worker in those days was thirty or forty yuan.

After Lin Xiang returned home with the precious 700 yuan in her pocket, she found needle and thread at home while no one was at home, and sewed two small pockets on the left and right linings of her clothes. She knew that eggs should not be placed in the same basket, so she put 300 yuan in one pocket and kept another 100 yuan to buy train tickets and prepare some receipts.

Originally, she had no coupons, so she couldn't even buy a piece of cloth or some candy. Lin Xiang asked the matchmaker Zhang Da Ma to help her exchange seven feet of cloth coupons, half a catty of sugar coupons, half a catty of cake coupons, and most importantly, five catties of national grain coupons.

Nowadays, when going out, apart from bringing your own dry food, you can eat in state-owned hotels. However, you need ration coupons to buy anything in state-owned hotels, which is an expense in addition to spending money. And the ration coupons cannot be city ration coupons, they must be exchanged for national ration coupons.

Lin Xiang spent ten yuan to buy eight kilograms of grain coupons, which he exchanged for five kilograms of national grain coupons. The remaining pile of coupons cost six yuan, which was half a month's salary for an ordinary first-level worker.

Saving money is not easy and spending money is painful, so Lin Xiang hid all the bills in his trouser pockets.

After finishing everything, Lin Xiang packed the Lin family's meager belongings into a small bag and left.

A moment later, she and Aunt He, who had obtained a family visit certificate from the production team leader, went to the Xifeng City Street Office to apply for the certificate.

Lin Xiang has not yet married He Hongyuan, and wants to visit her relatives in the name of his fiancée, but the procedure is a bit complicated. She needs a certificate from the brigade where He's family lives, and then take the certificate to the street office where Lin Xiang is registered for inspection. Finally, she can get a letter of introduction to Langhua Island.

With this precious letter of introduction, Lin Xiang went to the train station and bought a train ticket as she wished, spending eleven yuan.

The train will depart early tomorrow morning.

However, after everything was done, Lin Xiang went back again in the evening when the street office was about to close.

She remembered that Lin Guangming and Qiu Aiying had been thinking about Lin Jianxin not going to the countryside, and recalled how Lin Jianxin ignored the job that the original author had given up in the book, and she made up her mind immediately.

The street office staff recognized her. She was so beautiful. She had just written a letter of introduction today and was going to join the army. In this era, the most respected people are soldiers, and military families are also looked up to. "Comrade Lin, is there a problem with the letter of introduction? Why are you back?"

Lin Xiang smiled and said, "Comrade Li, there is no problem with the letter of introduction. I am here to help my brother sign up for voluntary rural service."