December 17, 1979, Xihe Village, western Henan.
Tang Cuifeng and Tang Cuilan did not move their household registration after marriage and remained in Xihe Village. The key is that rural household registration cannot be transferred out unless one passes the college entrance examination. Not everyone has the same luck as Tang Cuiju.
After Tang Cuifeng married Cao Yi, the head of the agricultural machinery station, the station allocated them a small 45-square-meter apartment.
But for Tang Cuifeng, who was used to living in a big house and growing vegetables, this house was nice, but it was still not as good as her home in the village.
In addition, since you need to buy everything in the city, she felt it wasn't worth it, so she would ride her bicycle home to take a stroll whenever she had free time.
That walk can't be in vain; at the very least, vegetables and fruits should be planted in front of and behind the Tao and Tang families' houses.
When it's harvest time, they can go home every day to pick some and bring it back, which will be enough for the couple to live on.
With the money saved on groceries, Cao Yi, being a formal employee and a technician, received a monthly salary of 86.5 yuan (level 10) and 33 jin (16.5 catties) of grain.
Tang Cuifeng's temporary salary remained fixed at 22 yuan after three years, until it was raised to 27.5 yuan in seven or eight years.
Although she was nominally receiving the basic salary of a formal employee at level 18, she was ultimately a rural resident, so her career stalled there.
The reason she didn't get a raise until seven or eight years later is because of the reform and opening up policy, which caused wages to fluctuate.
Temporary workers in county towns are different from permanent workers in townships, so it took many years for their wages to increase.
Although we couldn't get commercial grain in the city, the village still had a fixed amount of grain every year, which was called "pocket grain".
Because they were not strong laborers, they could only receive five to eight ounces a day, which was distributed according to the total annual grain production.
If grain production is low that year, according to the principle that whoever works gets the grain, very little might end up in the hands of those who don't work.
Especially for those like the Tang sisters who had wages outside, the production team would default on their payments whenever possible.
You can't really count on it; it all depends on how thick-skinned you are.
Those who are thin-skinned should be avoided, while those who are thick-skinned will cause all sorts of arguments.
Clearly, the Tang sisters aren't the type to argue or fight, so if someone gives you something, it's a favor; if they don't, there's nothing you can do about it.
They had some extra money, and if they really ran out of food, the couple would buy some from the black market, so they lived a pretty good life.
When Zhou Yue came back last time, he told them that he was getting married, which made Tang Cuifeng extremely excited.
"My sister is back?"
Although Zhou Yue just smiled and didn't say anything, Cui Feng had already tacitly agreed that her younger sister had returned after completing her mission.
Once the wedding date was set, he immediately started talking about traveling a long way to attend the wedding.
Cao Yi looked at his seven- or eight-year-old son and two-year-old daughter with a worried expression.
“The winters there are no joke. Look how young our child is. Whether he can handle it or not is another matter.”
Actually, I can go in your place.
“No, that won’t do. My sister is different. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
She hasn't been home for fifteen years. Now that she's married, if I don't go and visit her, I'll feel terrible for many years to come.
Why don't you and the kids stay home, and I'll go by myself?
Don't you have friends on the railway in Los Angeles? Why don't you buy me a sleeper ticket? That way I won't suffer on the journey.
Cao Yi was six years older than Tang Cuifeng and spoiled her a lot. Now, hearing her pouting and giving him a warning look, he could only sigh helplessly.
"That won't do. Where have you ever traveled far? What if your silly wife gets kidnapped?"
Alright, alright, everyone go, everyone go, okay?
I'll ask if we can buy a place to live there. If we can't, you might as well not go. We can go when spring comes or when the kids are on summer vacation. That's not a bad idea!
"Go ask first," but not going? How could that be?
Cao Yi breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he had temporarily appeased the man.
With the Lunar New Year approaching, there's no guarantee we'll be able to buy tickets!
On the other side, Tang Cuilan's situation was rather awkward.
Duan Changwei graduated from junior college in 1965 and was directly assigned to the county hospital as a formal employee.
As a result, after working for less than two years, he got into a quarrel with his superiors because he was rigid, considered himself to be of high moral character, and refused to compromise his principles.
Then she was also someone who cared a lot about her image, after all, she was raised by her widowed mother from a young age, so she was somewhat sensitive.
She was genuinely kind, but as people would describe her, she was socially awkward, had low emotional intelligence, and struggled in the workplace.
He thought it was nothing, just a normal difference of opinion!
As a result, he was assigned to a township health center, which was not the noble and virtuous person he claimed to be.
What kind of support is being provided to township health centers?
Wasn't it because no one else came that they forced him to come over?
The county hospital leader said, "Didn't you look down on us, calling us mercenary? Then go and do it!"
So Duan Changwei was forced into this situation and had no choice but to come.
This is now his thirteenth year working at the township health center.
He has gone from being a young man to middle age.
When he married Tang Cuilan at the end of 1970, Cuilan was twenty-two years old and he was twenty-eight, almost thirty.
No matter how good your job is, as you get older, people start to suspect that you have some serious illness.
That's why he gradually lowered his standards for finding a partner.
So why aren't you looking for a partner at your age?
Look, no, up.
He did have his eye on some women in the city, but once they heard that he worked in the countryside, they wouldn't choose him if they had a better option.
His mother, in particular, was far more materialistic and pragmatic than he was.
He looks down on those from the countryside. How many of the doctors and nurses working in the countryside have household registrations that he finds acceptable?
After much deliberation, the selection process dragged on, and his selection criteria kept decreasing.
When Tang Cuihua finally introduced his sister to him, he hesitated.
But after hearing about her family situation and connections, he finally agreed to meet her.
Tang Cuilan wasn't bad-looking; her eyes were just a bit whiter than normal. If she didn't say anything, and her family didn't say anything, who would know?
Even when Duan Changwei, a doctor, asked, he only said that the eye was slightly amblyopic because he hadn't been able to see properly when he was a child.
Duan Changwei didn't take it too seriously, and so the marriage was settled.
Tang Cuifeng got married in the early 1970s, while Cuilan and Duan Changwei got married at the end of the 1970s.
Over the years, he has never given up the idea of returning to the county town.
Even though he was doing very well at the township health center, was highly regarded by the local people, and was even the head of the internal medicine department.
But what good is it to become the director of a township health center?
The number of patients seen in a year, or even the chance to encounter difficult or complex cases, is extremely rare.
Those who come here for treatment have minor illnesses; they can't treat serious illnesses and will refer them directly to the county hospital.
Over time, people become increasingly lazy, their motivation to learn decreases, and their abilities become relatively insufficient.
Even though he went to the county hospital to learn a lot, he only worked there for two years, and his former colleagues no longer recognized him.
He himself is not particularly outstanding, nor does he have any connections. If he did, he would have gone back long ago.
Over time, this creates a huge disparity, and people become increasingly violent...
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