Chapter 1 Mutation
November 4, 1974.
A cemetery on the outskirts of Jian'an City.
The morning mist hadn't yet dissipated, and the autumn dew clung damply to my skin.
Nan Zhiyi knelt before the two newly built earthen graves, her tears already dried up.
Father, Mother.
Yesterday they were all gentle and kind, today they're just two handfuls of dust.
There wasn't even time to erect a tombstone.
She kowtowed a few more times, stood up stiffly, hugged her parents' memorial tablets tightly to her arms, and turned to leave the cemetery.
Walk through the alleyway in front of your house.
The sizzling oil in the breakfast stalls filled the air, and the aroma of fried dough sticks mingled with the whispers of the crowd.
"...Really gone? It was perfectly fine yesterday..."
"Capitalists, they get desperate... they hang themselves... tsk tsk..."
"I heard it's from the Shen family's cotton mill..."
"Capitalist...a stinking intellectual...and his daughter is still teaching?"
"Who knows how many days I can teach..."
Overnight, her identity changed from "the eldest daughter of the Nan family" to "the daughter of that lowly intellectual"...
Nan Zhiyi kept her eyes straight ahead and quickened her pace.
As soon as she turned into the alley, she saw Song Lanxin standing at the gate of the courtyard, her face deliberately etched with sorrow.
As Nan Zhiyi approached, Song Lanxin's voice was gentle, "You're back? The burial is complete? It's truly... a disaster that feels like the sky has fallen. How could your parents..."
She reached out, wanting to pat Nan Zhiyi's arm, but her fingertips hovered in mid-air and ultimately did not fall, only lightly brushing away the dust floating in the air.
"What will happen to her now, a young woman all alone..."
Nan Zhiyi didn't move, her gaze passing over Song Lanxin's temples and landing on the pomegranate tree in the courtyard: "Auntie, are you here to annul the engagement?"
The sorrow on Song Lanxin's face froze. She coughed lightly, her tone becoming even more "earnest": "Zhiyi, look at what you're saying... Your aunt feels sorry for you, but given the current situation... Zhengping, with his father's position, so many eyes are watching... Your aunt has no choice..."
Nan Zhiyi didn't hear what was said next.
"Here you go." Nan Zhiyi handed over the red paper.
Song Lanxin hadn't expected things to go so smoothly.
She reached out and took it, her initial wariness turning into relief, and she even managed a comforting smile: "Zhiyi, you're a sensible person. In the future... if you ever have any difficulties, remember to come to your auntie."
She crumpled the red paper into a ball and stuffed it into her pocket.
"Okay." Nan Zhiyi responded, "Take care, Auntie, I still have to go to school."
Song Lanxin's smile froze for a moment, and she said a few more polite words like "take care of yourself" and "try to think positively" before finally turning around and walking away.
Nan Zhiyi placed her parents' memorial tablets on the only dresser in the house that hadn't been disturbed.
The wooden tablet was hastily sourced, and the inscription was written by her own hand; the ink was still wet.
She stared for a few seconds, then felt as if a huge hole had been ripped into her chest, leaving her feeling empty and panicked, with the wind rushing in.
Sadness? That's the ultimate luxury.
She walked to the washbasin stand and scrubbed her face vigorously a few times.
The icy water made her shiver. Her face was wet and pale in the mirror, but her features were delicate and beautiful, the kind that made you want to look at her more.
In the past, the boys in the compound always liked to fawn over her.
After the news spread that my parents had been labeled "capitalists" and "stinking intellectuals" and taken away for criticism and struggle sessions, all those people disappeared overnight.
Even when we meet on the street, we want to stick to the wall as if she were a plague.
Nan Zhiyi understands.
Such is the fickleness of human nature.
She didn't have time to investigate whether it was their parents who stopped them, or whether they were clever enough to know that getting involved with her would bring them no good.
All she can think about now is how to survive and how to stay in the city.
Nan Zhiyi took off her mud-stained coat and put on a worn Lenin suit, hiding the black gauze armbands that were wrapped around her arms.
She quickly went out the door.
The marriage certificate is gone, like pulling out a thorn that was already flimsy.
That was the only floating plank she left in the city.
She rushed into the school gate just as the school bell was ringing, but the security guard on duty said that the principal was looking for her and told her to go to the principal's office as soon as she arrived at the school.
Nan Zhiyi felt a chill in her heart.
Without delay, she quickly went up to the second floor of the office building.
“Comrade Nan Zhiyi?” Principal Zhang looked up from a document and cleared his throat. “You’ve arrived. I was just looking for you.”
Nan Zhiyi didn't speak, but stood quietly, waiting for the verdict.
"It's like this, the higher-ups... have re-examined your family background. This... situation is rather special and quite serious."
He paused, carefully choosing his words, "The school... has decided to temporarily suspend your classes and send you home to await further notice. This is a well-considered decision by the organization, and you must understand."
Nan Zhiyi instinctively felt a chill creep up her spine.
Classes are suspended, and then what?
All that awaits her is a formal termination notice.
After being dismissed, the neighborhood committee will come to her door with a notice, sending her to some unfamiliar village thousands of miles away.
The lively little sister from the neighboring alley was sent to the countryside for three months and was "arranged" to marry a local production team leader who was even older than her father...
“Principal Zhang,” she heard her own voice, terribly dry, “there’s nothing wrong with my teaching. Lesson plans, homework corrections, student grades…”
"Comrade Nan Zhiyi!" Principal Zhang interrupted her, "This is not the time to discuss teaching ability! It's a matter of stance! It's a matter of class background! You must recognize reality! Go back and reflect on your actions, and await the organization's decision!"
"That's fine then."
He waved his hand as if shooing away a fly.
Nan Zhiyi doesn't know how she left the school.
The corridor seemed to stretch on endlessly, with the doors and windows of the classrooms on both sides tightly shut, like cold, mocking eyes.
As she walked out of the school gate, she stood on the bustling street, momentarily lost in thought.
Right now, she has nowhere else to go...
engagement?
Zhou's father was the chief of staff of the military region.
Before the incident, the Zhou family was quite satisfied with her. Zhou Zhengping and she were childhood sweethearts and had a deep affection for each other. They exchanged sweet words and made vows of eternal love.
After the incident, Zhou Zhengping came twice, repeatedly offering useless words of comfort through the door.
One last time, he spoke softly through the crack in the door, "Don't worry, wait until my parents calm down... They're only doing this for my own good... Don't fret, even if... even if you really go to the countryside, I'll definitely find a way to contact you. Once they agree, I'll marry you right away!"
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