After the National Day holiday, it was the Cold Dew season, and the repeated high temperatures in Suicheng, like the fallen leaves covering the streets, officially came to an end.
At 6:30 a.m., as the sky began to lighten, Ha Yue was woken up by the cold on her wire mesh bed.
This 1.5-meter-wide single bed was a birthday gift from her father, Ha Jianguo, when she was in the third grade of elementary school. Although it looks old and worn out now and seems out of place with a grown young woman in it, it was a rare item that Ha Jianguo spent a lot of money to have specially customized for her from a furniture factory 50 kilometers away.
At that time, the average annual income of people in Suicheng who had transitioned from agricultural to non-agricultural status was generally not high. Take Ha Yue's family for example, the furniture that Ha Jianguo and Zhao Chunni made when they got married remained unchanged until their daughter was nine years old.
But children don't care about how hard their parents work to make a living. Nine-year-old Ha Yue couldn't stand sleeping on the same kang (a heated brick bed) with her parents anymore.
She was just beginning to develop self-awareness and learned a new word from her classmates. Every day she cried and made a fuss about wanting "privacy." So when Ha Jianguo and the transport workers carried this wire mesh bed into the small bedroom, Ha Yue looked at the shiny new bed and excitedly jumped directly onto her father's back. While pecking rice at her father's face with her little mouth, she did not forget to express her admiration.
"Thank you, Dad. You're so good to me. You're the best dad in the world."
This memorable event was even written into the composition book of that summer by the child Ha Yue. Because of its vivid wording, it was used as a model essay by the Chinese teacher and read aloud to the whole class.
Unfortunately, this adorable and childlike essay has not been preserved to this day.
Because this bed was the last gift Ha Jianguo gave to his daughter. Before Ha Yue's tenth birthday was over, her "best dad in the world" disappeared completely from the house, along with a bag of his clothes and shoes.
As for the reason, "he ran off with that stinky woman who sells beds at the furniture factory."
Anyway, that's what Zhao Chunni said to her daughter when she lit the stove with Ha Yue's composition book.
Sitting up from the creaking wire mesh bed, Ha Yue had no time to reminisce about her father whom she hadn't seen for over a decade. She glanced at the sky outside the window, quickly gathered her hair, then jumped off the bed and deftly lit a fire, boiled water, and began her day's work.
It's called a job, but it's not really a proper career.
Three years ago, due to the start of the pandemic, the overall economy was sluggish, and the foreign trade industry where Ha Yue worked after graduating from university was hit hardest.
Although she is a girl, in her youthful arrogance, Ha Yue once dreamed of shining in her field of expertise and becoming a leader in her field in Jicheng with her excellent translation skills.
She rose through the ranks with promotions and raises, and before turning thirty, she owned a property in a prime location, proving all those who had looked down on her wrong.
If she's lucky, she plans to find a suitable man who is of average appearance and means, in exchange for his faithfulness after marriage.
She was extremely confident that she could start a family with a man so different from her father and then have her children become new citizens of Jicheng.
Day after day, working to earn money, dealing with daily necessities, until retirement with a house full of children and grandchildren, living the most mundane and unbearable happy life.
But the reality is that working overtime (996) rarely has opportunities to socialize. After graduating from university, her several "plans" didn't even last as long as the unexpected ones she had while studying. Once outside of school, adult men and women are burdened with a strong sense of money, and romantic relationships between men and women suddenly become very impure.
In first-tier cities, the pressure to survive is immense, and everyone is looking for a partner whose value surpasses their own.
Unexpectedly, even the average guy she particularly liked wanted to climb the social ladder by crossing social classes.
Aside from her decent appearance and passable job, Ha Yue's only highlight in her life was standing out from the poor education system of a third-tier city and getting into the top university in Jicheng.
But to be honest, at least 10,000 students graduate from Jida University every year, most of whom are postgraduate students.
With the trend of prioritizing money above all else, her qualities of studying hard and striving for excellence have become less popular in recent years. The value of those from humble backgrounds has plummeted, and even the so-called "old money" style of dressing has begun to be imitated by domestic internet celebrities. Ha Yue, this kind of old species, has now been given a new nickname in online discussions: "small-town exam taker".
Public opinion can be overwhelming, but it won't lead to great achievements.
Unfortunately, Ha Yue was unable to break this vicious cycle filled with malice through her own actions.
On the day she was laid off and single, she had been working from home in her rented apartment in Jicheng for a full month and a half, working diligently every day, chatting with VIP clients on Skype day and night, but she received very few orders.
She obtained the TEM-8 (Test for English Majors-Band 8) and the CATTI Level 1 certificate, which is considered highly valuable by her classmates, during her undergraduate studies. She is a well-known talented woman among the 2015 graduates of the School of Foreign Languages at Jizhou University. She also achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the top salesperson in her company within six months of joining by traveling to Europe.
Despite being a fairly capable woman, she lacked the tools to turn the tide in the face of severe difficulties affecting both logistics and manpower.
Faced with endless demands for orders and breaches of contract, all Ha Yue could do was apologize and explain, like a shameless debtor refusing to pay, watching helplessly as the company's customer base and cash flow gradually dwindled.
It's often said that the ultimate goal for foreign trade professionals is to go solo.
So when the bald, middle-aged boss, with a pained expression, tactfully told her that he might not be able to pay next month's salary and that he couldn't even afford the penalty for breach of contract for the office, she didn't have the nerve to ask the company for N+1 severance pay and readily terminated her employment contract.
And then?
When a business fails, life is like a giant, unstoppable gear. No matter what kind of underestimation a tiny individual encounters, the vast universe still sets up a game, with one thing after another frequently triggering events.
Time flies, and two years have passed since she vowed never to return to Suicheng after the college entrance examination.
Ha Yue's daily tasks have been roughly the same for the past two years.
First, feed the geese in the yard a mixture of feed and soybean meal. Then, while they are relaxed and eating around the food bowl, clean up their droppings and change their water.
When the sun was almost fully up, Ha Yue brought a basin of warm water to her mother's room to wake her up.
Half a month ago, Zhao Chunni suddenly insisted on raising pigs at home. Decades ago, when living standards were extremely difficult, Ha Yue's maternal grandmother, who lived in the countryside, used to build a small pigsty in her yard for many years, raising two pigs together for a year. Around the winter solstice, they would slaughter the pigs for meat, and if they couldn't finish it all, they could take some to the market to sell.
But that's all ancient history. Now that living standards have improved, nobody wants to go through a whole year's effort just to eat a few hundred pounds of cheap pork. Fewer and fewer people in rural areas are raising pigs for their own consumption, let alone in towns. It's simply unbelievable that raising pigs at home would create such a stench.
At first, Ha Yue firmly opposed the idea, arguing that she was already too busy taking care of a shop and a flock of geese. However, after the mother and daughter had a cold war for several days due to their differences, Ha Yue looked at Zhao Chunni's stubborn and thin back and gradually relaxed her mind.
She thought that perhaps her mother was missing her deceased grandparents, which was why she wanted to relive the hardships of raising pigs. That's how old people become like children. Perhaps raising pigs could bring some comfort to her negative emotions, so she reluctantly nodded.
So, starting a week ago, another task was added to Ha Yue's busy daily routine after getting up early.
That is, before cooking, go to the west wing to check if the two piglets, who were just a month old and had been brought back, are still lively and energetic.
Zhao Chunni was slowly washing up in her room, while Ha Yue was busy preparing breakfast in the kitchen.
The mother and daughter ate a simple breakfast: steamed corn, steamed sweet potatoes, and a pot of tea eggs with rice porridge.
Sometimes, when Ha Yue is really exhausted from the physical labor of moving goods the night before, she simply cooks two packets of Master Kong instant noodles and sprinkles some greens on top, just like now.
When the noodles were served, Zhao Chunni was still not at the table. Ha Yue walked into the room, rubbing her arm that she had twisted while unloading goods the night before. The first thing she stepped on was water in the washbasin. Zhao Chunni was facing away from the door, frantically wiping the water off the floor with a face towel.
"Mom? Are you alright?" Ha Yue's heart tightened when she saw the towel she had mistaken for a rag. She jumped to Zhao Chunni's side and made a move to help her up, but as soon as her hand touched Zhao Chunni's shoulder, she was forcefully pushed away.
Seeing that Zhao Chunni was not seriously injured, Ha Yue turned around and went outside to get a mop.
"Never mind, I'll mop it up. It'll be clean in no time. You should go eat out. I cooked noodles, but they'll taste bad if they get soggy."
The dry mop moved back and forth across the yellowed floor tiles, quickly reaching Zhao Chunni's feet. This time, Ha Yue's voice was a little louder, "Mom, I'm telling you, don't worry about it, please move aside."
"mom!"
"Mom, I'm talking to you! Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Are you trying to call my soul back? Trying to show off how capable you are? You caused me a lot of trouble when we were kids, and all I did was accidentally knock over a basin. Do you have to be so impatient? Am I a child?!" Zhao Chunni's silence was like a balloon that had been gradually inflated, finally bursting into a violent echo.
When Ha Yue saw that she had finally stood up and was talking to her, her furrowed brows relaxed.
Ha Yue didn't argue with her. She just kept her head down and kept "attacking" Zhao Chunni's feet with the mop, forcing her to leave the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zhao Chunni secretly look back at her before leaving. She didn't forget to tell her, "Your towel is old too. Throw it away. I'll bring you a new one from the store tonight."
Breakfast today was not very successful; it was an unsuccessful start, and Zhao Chunni was as picky as ever.
They complained that too much water was added when cooking the noodles, making the instant noodle soup tasteless, and that the runny poached egg in the noodles wasn't cooked through and had a fishy smell.
After Ha Yue quickly washed the bowls and chopsticks, watched her take her medicine, tidied herself up, and slung her bag over her shoulder before leaving, Zhao Chunni, like a child who couldn't be left alone, watched her anxiously as she walked her from the yard to the gate.
As soon as Ha Yue inserted the key into the electric tricycle and sat on the seat, Zhao Chunni leaned over and asked her, "Can you come back from the store earlier today?"
Ha Yue turned around and asked her if something was wrong, and Zhao Chunni's expression immediately became somewhat awkward.
She looked away from her daughter, deliberately glancing at the couplets that were almost completely torn off at the front gate. A gust of wind blew, making the paper rustle. She frowned, ripped off the teetering red paper, and crumpled it tightly in her hand. As she did so, her voice turned vicious, "What could possibly happen? You'd love for me to get into trouble. You came home so late yesterday, it was already dark. Your old mother was starving, you know that?"
Zhao Chunni is not old. On the contrary, she is only forty-eight years old this year. According to the World Health Organization's age classification standards, she has just entered the ranks of middle-aged people. But ever since Ha Yue can remember, she has always been saying "Your mother is old" to her.
This is her excuse for cursing.
She's willing to be called an old lady in words, what can you do? Ha Yue can only go along with it.
Ha Yue curled her lip, casually turned on the power, quickly turned around at the front door, and said rudely, "Who asked you to wait for me? Auntie made dinner for you before leaving, so eat by yourself!"
"Anyway, come back early today! The days are getting shorter, don't stay out until the wee hours. It's dark outside!"
This is because they are worried about Ha Yue's safety, although you can't tell from their tone.
Ha Yue smiled, ignoring the fact that her mother had already led the flock of honking gray geese back into the courtyard.
She yelled at home, "Then don't go out by yourself either. Wait for your aunt to come so the two of you can keep each other company. Also, don't forget to take your medicine on time!"
Did you hear that?
"Zhao Chunni! It's time to take your medicine, do you hear me?"
After a while, Zhao Chunni stopped being angry and a docile "I heard you" came from inside the half-open door.
Ha Yue then turned the electric tricycle into Drive and headed towards the shop 500 meters away.
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