The next day was the Little New Year, and the entire Gu family, including the two unmarried daughters-in-law, would have dinner together. So after a simple dinner at the Gu family, the Gu Changqing brothers sent their respective fiancées back to the educated youth site.
Bai Ruozhen has been coming home less often since she started working. Zhu Guixia and Feng Qiujuan missed her very much. Knowing that Bai Ruozhen would be back today, they hung out her bedding early in the morning.
However, Gu Changqing was naturally going to stay with Bai Ruozhen for a while on the road, but it was too cold, so they took a long detour and returned to the educated youth station. When they parted, Gu Changqing hugged her and said, "Give me a kiss."
Bai Ruozhen smiled and kissed him on the lips, and then Gu Changqing held him down and kissed him for a while.
"Okay, I'm going in." Bai Ruozhen was a little out of breath, looking at Gu Changqing and feeling that he couldn't be separated from him all the time.
The same goes for Gu Changqing. It would be so nice to get married. He could snuggle up on the kang in the middle of winter and sleep soundly with his wife in his arms. It’s a beautiful thought.
"Come in." Gu Changqing put his hat on her head. "Tell them to heat up the kang tonight."
Bai Ruozhen nodded obediently and entered the yard.
When Bai Ruozhen entered the room, she saw Wang Jun had returned. He was sitting on the kang, wrapped in a quilt to keep warm. When he saw her come in, he said, "You're finally back."
"Sister Xia, Sister Xiaoqiu." Bai Ruozhen smiled and then jumped onto the kang and pounced on Zhu Guixia and Feng Qiujuan.
Zhu Guixia caught her, "You heartless girl, you haven't been home for so long? You're not even married yet, but you're already thinking about your partner all day long and forgetting all about us."
"That's right. I think if it weren't for the Little New Year, you probably wouldn't have come back." Feng Qiujuan also said deliberately.
Bai Ruozhen pursed her lips and smiled embarrassedly, "It's too cold, I don't want to come back. When it's warmer next year, I will definitely come back often." She raised her eyes and saw Zhao Laidie looking at her expectantly, but when she met Bai Ruozhen's gaze, she quickly shrank back.
"Zhao Lai Di, are you okay?" Bai Ruozhen said with a smile.
Zhao Lai Di snorted, "I've been doing so well without you here. I've even gained weight."
Feng Qiujuan chuckled, "It's strange that Song Hui doesn't gain weight when he sends you delicious food every other day."
Bai Ruozhen was delighted when he heard about this. He looked at Zhao Lai Di curiously, "Who is Song Hui?"
Zhao Lai Di's face flushed, and she said angrily, "Feng Qiujuan, shut up."
"No, I saw you and Song Hui kissing." Feng Qiujuan laughed and was not afraid of Zhao Lai Di at all.
"Speak again." Zhao Lai Di was so angry that she stood up and was about to hit Feng Qiujuan. The two of them immediately started a fight.
After laughing and joking, they lay in bed and talked, asking Bai Ruozhen about her work in the cafeteria. They were worried about Bai Ruozhen, but they felt relieved when they heard that she was only responsible for cooking for a few people in the kitchen. With Bai Ruozhen's cooking skills, cooking was the simplest job.
The conversation turned to the topic of marriage. Zhu Guixia sighed, "Sister Aihong is married and pregnant. Sister Wang Jun is getting married in the spring, and Zhenzhen will get married in the summer. Zhao Lai Di might get married soon too. By then, it will just be Xiaoqiu and me."
These words sounded a bit sad, so Bai Ruozhen comforted him, "You will get married too."
"No, we won't get married," Zhu Guixia said firmly. "Rather than marrying unwillingly in the countryside, we'd rather not marry. I don't believe the country can keep us from returning to the city. We work hard and show positive behavior, and one day we'll be able to return to the city. If our parents can't bring us back, then we'll go back on our own. In short, we don't want to stay in the countryside."
Listening to them, Bai Ruozhen didn't know how to comfort them, but Wang Jun said, "What if we can't go back to the city? Aihong and I have been in the countryside for more than four years. We think about going back all the time, but have we ever been back? No, there isn't even a quota in each commune every year, and even if there was one, it might not be given to our brigade. Women are different from men. It's okay to wait until you're thirty to get married, but once a woman is in her twenties, she's called an old maid and can't get married. Have you ever thought about that?"
Zhu Guixia and Feng Qiujuan were silent for a moment. Feng Qiujuan said, "We've thought about it, we've thought about countless possibilities, but compared to all of these, we're more afraid of becoming like those other women in the village, giving birth to a bunch of children, worrying every day about whether they have enough to eat or clothes to wear, working in the fields during the day to earn work points, and then having to wait on the husband who comes home and does nothing, nursing the children and cooking. Just thinking about such a life is terrifying."
She paused and said, "We don't want to live like this. We would rather grow old and die in the educated youth camp than live like that."
Feng Qiujuan's words silenced Wang Jun. She and Bai Ruozhen were lucky to have found partners like the Gu brothers, but in Xiahe Village, and even in the entire commune, there were few families comparable to the Gu family, except for those of cadres. Feng Qiujuan and Zhu Guixia were hardworking, kind, and well-meaning, but their ordinary looks meant their chances of marrying into a cadre family were slim. If they were to marry, they would either marry an educated youth or a village boy. However, the educated youth were often those whose children had been abandoned, and marrying them would likely mean staying in the countryside for the rest of their lives. Marrying a village boy would mean, as Feng Qiujuan had said, becoming an ordinary village woman, working a tiring life every day.
Bai Ruozhen also felt uncomfortable, and even wished that Gu Changqing had a few more brothers so that he could marry Feng Qiujuan and Zhu Guixia. However, this was obviously unrealistic, and she was powerless to do anything about it.
"Go to sleep. Who knows what will happen in the future?" Bai Ruozhen said. "It was still a feudal society before, but now we are the masters of our own destiny. Who knows, in a few years, when the country becomes prosperous, we educated youth will be allowed to return to the city. Sister Xia and Sister Xiaoqiu are not even nineteen yet. It's not too late to consider this matter when they are in their twenties."
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