Chapter 1 The Quilt
When Xie Wei arrived home, his family had already finished lunch.
Li Xingfang was sitting on the stone stool at the entrance of the main room knitting. When she saw him come in, she put down her basket and asked, "You're back?" She got up and went to the kitchen to bring out the food that was warming on the stove.
The Xie family members were all successful; their son and daughter-in-law both had jobs. So, unlike many of the older women in the village who worked in the fields for work points, Li Xingfang only focused on housework. In those days, raising pigs was forbidden, and there were also restrictions on chickens and ducks. With fewer household chores, Li Xingfang concentrated her energy on her own small plot of land.
While other families plant whatever looks good, Li Xingfang is different; she grows a little of each of the vegetables they eat in winter. Therefore, even in the dead of winter, the Xie family never runs out of vegetables on their table.
Today we ate red mustard greens and some small crucian carp that I bought from someone. We fried them and served them with a plate of pickled cowpeas. It was a very satisfying meal with a good mix of meat and vegetables.
While Xie Wei was eating, Li Xingfang didn't go anywhere else; she just knitted a sweater beside him and watched. Seeing how much he ate, she couldn't stop smiling.
After Xie Wei finished eating a large bowl of rice, Li Xingfang put down what she was doing and asked, "There's still rice in the pot, I'll go get you some."
"I can go by myself," Xie Wei said, taking a bowl to the kitchen.
As soon as Xie Wei left, Xie Baoshan came in from the backyard and saw that half of the dishes Li Xingfang had left for her third brother were still on the table. He asked, "Is the third brother back?"
As soon as Xie Baoshan finished speaking, Xie Wei carried the food into the main room, called out "Big Brother," and continued eating at the table. Xie Baoshan, who had originally planned to go directly to the brigade headquarters, stopped and sat down when he saw him, asking, "Has Comrade Lin settled in?"
"Mm," Xie Wei replied.
Li Xingfang had heard Xie Baoshan say that Xie Wei was going to handle this matter today. She remembered that the girl who came to her house earlier asked, "Will Comrade Lin be registered in our Xingfeng Brigade from now on?"
"It's settled. We just need to get the paperwork done in the next couple of days." After answering his mother, Xie Baoshan asked Xie Wei, "Have you told her about the paperwork?"
"No," Xie Wei said while eating.
Xie Baoshan frowned: "How could I forget something so important?"
“Now that she’s decided to settle in our brigade, the paperwork can’t be completed anytime soon,” Li Xingfang said, displeased with these words. She scolded her eldest son, “Your brother finally got a vacation and came home, but he’s been running around all day because of your word, and now you’re complaining about him!”
"Oh my goodness, when did I complain about the third brother? It's just that I don't want to bother two people with the same thing," Xie Baoshan said helplessly, looking at his mother's face. "How about I go to the educated youth settlement myself this afternoon?"
"I'll go," Xie Wei said, putting down his chopsticks after finishing his meal.
Xie Baoshan responded with a "Hmm?".
Li Xingfang said, "Let your older brother go. This is originally a matter for their brigade headquarters."
"I have something to do and I happen to be going there, so I'll mention this to you while I'm there."
Xie Wei got up to clear the dishes, but Li Xingfang stopped him as soon as he started, taking the dishes from him and saying, "I'll do it, you go and rest, you've been running around all morning."
Watching Li Xingfang leave the main room with her bowl and chopsticks, Xie Baoshan asked curiously, "What business do you have at the educated youth settlement?"
"It's nothing," Xie Wei said, leaving the main room for the kitchen.
Li Xingfang was already washing dishes in the kitchen when she saw Xie Wei return and said, "Why did you come over? Didn't I tell you to go back to your room and rest?"
"I'm not tired." Xie Wei walked in and stood by the stove watching Li Xingfang wash the dishes, occasionally lending a hand.
Seeing this, Li Xingfang felt very comforted and couldn't help but smile. She made conversation by asking, "So, Comrade Lin will be living at the educated youth settlement from now on?"
"We'll stay at the educated youth settlement for now, and we'll talk about the future later," Xie Wei paused and said.
Li Xingfang thought about Lin Qingqing's age and realized that made sense. A girl in her early twenties might get married in a couple of years, and after marriage she would naturally live with her husband. She then asked, "What about food? Are there enough clothes?"
“The brigade secretary of Linjiazu said that the work points she had earned before belonged to her, and the grain had already been distributed. I will go to Linjiazu with her tomorrow to ask for it.”
Hearing this, Li Xingfang slowed down what she was doing and turned to ask, "Why did you go with her?"
“The brigade cadres are all busy during the Spring Festival and can’t find the time. I’m just sitting here anyway,” Xie Wei repeated what he had told Lin Qingqing, and then asked, “Do we have any extra quilts at home?”
"Yes, what do you need? Is it because you feel cold at night?" Li Xingfang's attention was immediately diverted, wondering if covering the windows of her son's room with just a layer of urea bags was enough.
“It wasn’t me, it was Comrade Lin. She only brought a few sets of clothes with her when she left the Lin family home. It was fine when she stayed at the guesthouse before, as they had cotton quilts and blankets. But the educated youth settlement didn’t have that. So I was thinking if we had any extra quilts at home, we could give her one so she wouldn’t catch a cold in the dead of winter.”
Xie Wei noticed Li Xingfang's thoughtful expression and said, "Since our brigade has accepted her, we can't just stand by and do nothing when she's in trouble. Besides, Secretary Zhou personally approved her settlement in our brigade."
Li Xingfang had just felt that her son's concern for Lin Qingqing had gone too far, but after hearing the explanation, she no longer doubted it and nodded, saying, "We should send her a quilt."
...
When Wang Li got up, she saw Lin Qingqing sitting on the bare wooden bed, holding a book and reading. She scoffed inwardly, thinking, "Pretending to be something!"
Sure enough, in the short time she was getting dressed, Lin Qingqing flipped through two pages of the book. Although she glanced at it and saw that it was a fifth-grade textbook, the whole Xingfeng Brigade knew about Lin Qingqing's situation—Lin Qingqing's entire family had died long ago, and she was the only one who was rescued by the Lin family. She had never attended school a single day in her life.
But that idiot Li Juan still went up to Lin Qingqing and asked, "You haven't been learning to read for very long, have you? You're already learning fifth-grade material?"
"I used to secretly learn to read, but I started reading systematically after I left the Lin family," Lin Qingqing said, closing the book.
"You're amazing!" Li Juan exclaimed.
Wang Li couldn't stand it anymore and snorted, "Just because you've read books up to fifth grade doesn't mean you know everything. It's just a few books. Give them to me, I can finish them in a day."
“Qingqing didn’t just flip through it randomly,” Li Juan and Wang Li didn’t get along well to begin with, and they found her words even more unpleasant. After refuting her, they asked Lin Qingqing, “Qingqing, you’ve learned it all, haven’t you?”
Lin Qingqing had received an education in her previous life, so elementary school material was quite easy for her. She was only pretending to study to make her behavior less conspicuous. However, considering her own situation, she knew that speaking too confidently would seem too smug, so she humbly said, "More or less."
Upon hearing this, Li Juan glanced at Wang Li triumphantly: "Look!"
"Ha!" Wang Li sneered, "You can only believe that you learned four years of elementary school material in half a month!" She thought to herself that Wang Fengxia had called her an honest person, but she had really blown her own horn!
After saying that, Wang Li got off the bed, sat at the desk, and started to undo and re-braid her hair in front of the mirror.
Li Juan felt that Wang Li's words were a bit sarcastic and said, "What do you mean by that? It's quite difficult to learn four years' worth of material in half a month, but doesn't that just prove that Qingqing is smarter and that the Lin family is the one who held her back?"
Wang Li was too lazy to argue with Li Juan. She finished braiding her hair, washed her face with a towel, and went out.
Wang Li left decisively, but Li Juan was furious at her attitude. However, she still said to Lin Qingqing, "Don't pay attention to her, that's just her bad temper."
"Yeah, I'm ignoring her." Lin Qingqing smiled and said. Although she didn't understand why Wang Li disliked her, she didn't care.
Seeing that she looked relaxed and not upset by Wang Li's words, Li Juan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's getting late, I have to go to work too."
“Go ahead,” Lin Qingqing nodded.
As Li Juan left, the other educated youth gradually departed. Although there wasn't much work to do in the fields due to the approaching New Year, and the educated youth team had postponed their start time, they still had to go. Lin Qingqing, however, seemed somewhat idle because she had just arrived at Xingfeng Brigade and was unaware of the brigade's arrangements.
She sat on the edge of the bed and read for a while. Feeling bored, she put down the book, opened the snakeskin bag on the bed, took out the clothes one by one, folded them, and put them into the empty closet.
After tidying up her clothes, Lin Qingqing noticed a handkerchief at the bottom of the snakeskin bag.
She reached for the dark blue handkerchief, remembering that Xie Wei had given it to her before. She used to keep it in her pocket every day, thinking she would return it to Xie Wei if she ran into him. But today, when she actually ran into him, she had been so busy packing that the handkerchief was buried at the bottom of her luggage, and she had completely forgotten to return it.
Lin Qingqing thought for a moment, folded the handkerchief, put it in her pocket, closed the cabinet door, and sat back down on the bed.
She hadn't been sitting for long when a young girl's voice sounded outside, as if calling her name. Before Lin Qingqing could confirm, a young woman in a blue cotton-padded jacket pushed open the door and asked, "Are you Comrade Lin Qingqing?"
"I am Lin Qingqing. May I ask who you are?" Lin Qingqing got up and walked to the door to ask.
"My name is Zhao Lan, and I live in the innermost dormitory," Zhao Lan introduced herself, then pointed outside and said, "Commander Xie is here and asked me to call you out."
Lin Qingqing looked out in surprise upon hearing this, but the male educated youth dormitory blocked her view of Xie Wei. She could only thank Zhao Lan and walk towards the outer courtyard. As soon as she stepped out of the female educated youth dormitory, she saw Xie Wei standing against the wall of the male educated youth dormitory, with a bicycle next to him with a quilt on the back seat.
"Comrade Xie," Lin Qingqing greeted him as she walked over, "What brings you here?"
Xie Wei turned around when he heard the voice and said, "My older brother asked me to remind you to go to the brigade headquarters to complete the household registration procedures."
Lin Qingqing then realized there were household registration procedures involved, and nodded, saying, "Then I'll go this afternoon. What documents do I need to bring?"
"No documents are needed, just show up." After finishing his business, Xie Wei took the blanket off his bicycle and said, "My mother heard that you didn't bring a quilt, so she asked me to bring it."
"This blanket is for me?" Lin Qingqing was even more surprised and quickly declined, saying, "No need for that. A girl in my dorm asked me to sleep with her tomorrow. I can just get a blanket from the Lin family tomorrow."
"Since I've already brought it, you can use it for now. You can return the blanket when you get it back." Xie Wei said, taking a few steps inside with the blanket in his arms, and then asked, "Which dormitory do you live in?"
He had an air of absolute authority, so Lin Qingqing had no choice but to walk in front of him and lead him into the dormitory, saying, "Captain Wang, there's an empty bed in your room, I'll sleep here."
Xie Wei placed the blanket on the only bed in the room and then asked, "How are your roommates?"
"Everything is fine, they take special care of me." Lin Qingqing briefly mentioned that Wang Fengxia had steamed rice with her own grain for her to eat, then remembered the handkerchief in her pocket and said, "Oh, right."
Xie Wei, who was about to leave after hearing this, looked at her when he heard this: "What's wrong?"
Lin Qingqing took out a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Xie Wei: "This is the one you gave me before. I washed it and was planning to return it to you, but I was in too much of a rush this morning and forgot."
Xie Wei looked down at the clean handkerchief in her hand, remembering how she had cried that day. He swallowed the words "It's okay if you don't return it," reached out and took the handkerchief, saying, "Thank you."
"I should be thanking you, not you," Lin Qingqing said, amused.
This was the first time Xie Wei had seen her smile so happily, and his mouth spoke before his brain could process it: "I'm sorry..."
Lin Qingqing burst out laughing again, this time even louder.
Xie Wei was unusually embarrassed, and coughed before saying, "I should go."
"Let me see you out." Lin Qingqing quickly suppressed her smile and saw Xie Wei out.
Actually, they didn't go very far. They only went as far as the gate of the educated youth settlement. Xie Wei then rode his bicycle and told her not to see him off anymore, saying, "I'll come over at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Let's go early."
Lin Qingqing remembered that she had gotten up late today and made Xie Wei wait so long, and said with a slight blush, "Okay."
Upon receiving her response, Xie Wei nodded slightly, exerted force with his legs, and the bicycle slid down the slope, quickly disappearing into the distance.
Lin Qingqing stood at the courtyard gate watching Xie Wei's figure disappear from sight before turning back to her dormitory. However, as soon as she stepped into the female educated youth dormitory, she saw Zhao Lan come out of the room and ask with a curious look, "Commander Xie is gone?"
Seeing her coming over, Lin Qingqing didn't feel comfortable going back inside, so she stood at the door and said to her, "I'm leaving."
"What does he want with you? Are you two close? I saw he brought a quilt, is it for you?"
Hearing Zhao Lan's repeated questions, Lin Qingqing frowned slightly and said ambiguously, "He came to tell me to go to the brigade headquarters to complete the household registration procedures as soon as possible. It should be Captain Xie who arranged for him to come, right? The quilt is for me. I left the Lin family in a hurry and didn't bring a quilt with me."
After thinking about the relationship between Xie Baoshan and Xie Wei, Zhao Lan felt that Lin Qingqing's words made a lot of sense.
That's true. Xie Wei has only been back for a short time. How could he be familiar with Lin Qingqing? It must be because of the brigade leader that he interacts with Lin Qingqing. The look in his eyes was somewhat dismissive.
But Zhao Lan quickly remembered something and asked, "What did you give Commander Xie just now? Was it a handkerchief?"
Lin Qingqing was truly angry now. The incident with the handkerchief happened inside the house, and she hadn't seen Zhao Lan when she brought Xie Wei in. What did that mean? Zhao Lan was spying on them!
Lin Qingqing's expression turned calm as she said, "What handkerchief? You must have mistaken me for someone else. I have to go to the brigade headquarters later, so I'll go back to my room first."
After saying that, Lin Qingqing ignored Zhao Lan, walked back to her dormitory, and closed the door behind her.
Zhao Lan looked at the tightly closed door of Lin Qingqing's dormitory, curled her lip, and said, "What's so great about her!" If she weren't curious about the relationship between Xie Wei and Lin Qingqing, she wouldn't bother with such a troublesome person!
...
When Li Juan came home from work, she saw that Lin Qingqing's bed was covered with a blanket and asked, "You have a blanket?"
"The captain arranged for someone to deliver it." Lin Qingqing didn't mention Xie Wei's name, only saying that it was Xie Baoshan's arrangement.
Although surprised that Xie Baoshan cared about these things, Li Juan did not doubt Lin Qingqing's words. She just touched the quilt and said, "The brigade leader is really nice. This quilt is even thicker than the ones we use."
Although Li Juan was pampered at home, her family was of modest means and had many members. The cotton quilt she brought from the countryside was something her mother had painstakingly scraped together. The quilt itself was alright; it used at least five jin of cotton, and in winter, a cotton-padded coat was enough to cover it. The mattress pad, however, was inadequate—a thin layer that barely provided any cushioning.
The bedding sent by the Xie family was very thick; of the four beds in the row, only Wang Li's bedding was this thick. The quilt itself was even more impressive, containing at least eight jin of cotton—more than enough for winter. The sheets and duvet covers, on the other hand, looked almost new and were very clean.
Li Juan touched Lin Qingqing's quilt and sighed, "The Xie family are all honest people."
“Otherwise, someone else could be the brigade leader,” Wang Fengxia said with a smile. Clearly, Xie Baoshan was very popular as the brigade leader.
Lin Qingqing remembered running into Xie Baoshan at the brigade headquarters that afternoon and realized that the person she had met at the brigade headquarters when she looked for Xie Wei was him. She smiled and said, "The Xie family are all good people."
Only Wang Li said indifferently, "The brigade leader is really something. It's just delivering a quilt, is it really worth Commander Xie making a special trip for him?" She regretted that if she had known Xie Wei would come to the educated youth settlement, she would have gone to work later that afternoon.
“That shows that she’s a kind person.” Li Juan was very dissatisfied with Wang Li’s attitude and said meaningfully, “Unlike some people, who always speak in a sarcastic way.”
Wang Li's face immediately turned cold: "Say that again?"
“Fine, I’ll say it. Do you think I wouldn’t dare?” Li Juan was about to repeat herself, but Wang Fengxia stopped her and said, “The food is ready. Let’s go get it.” Then she called out to Lin Qingqing.
...
The educated youth settlement wasn't large; there were only two rows of dormitories, one for boys and one for girls. The girls' dormitories were enclosed by earthen walls on both sides, with only one door on the left for entry and exit. The canteen was next to the walls of the girls' dormitories, accessible from the other side of the boys' dormitories. It consisted of two rooms: one for cooking and the other with three or four tables for eating.
Beyond the canteen was a small plot of land where vegetables were grown to supply the canteen for the educated youth. Beyond the vegetable plot were pigsties and chicken coops. The educated youth settlement raised two pigs and about ten chickens and ducks each, but the pigs, chickens, and ducks had to be handed over to the authorities and generally did not end up in the hands of the educated youth.
After listening to Wang Fengxia's explanation of the general situation at the educated youth settlement, Lin Qingqing followed her into the canteen.
It had been a while since work ended, and a line had already formed in the canteen. Lin Qingqing followed Wang Fengxia to the end of the line.
While waiting in line, someone came over to greet Wang Fengxia and Li Juan, at which point they would introduce Lin Qingqing to the other person.
After finishing her meal, Lin Qingqing had memorized the names of most of the people at the educated youth settlement and had a general understanding of their personalities. Leaving aside the male educated youth, the female educated youth were basically divided into groups based on their dormitories, but Lin Qingqing's dormitory, number one, was a little different.
Wang Fengxia was a bit older and had been sent to the countryside earlier, so she was more mature than the others. Therefore, although everyone in the women's educated youth team respected her, she didn't have particularly close relationships with anyone. Li Juan and Wang Li, on the other hand, had a minor argument when they first moved in together, so Li Juan became closer to dormitory number three, while Wang Li got along better with the people in Zhao Lan's dormitory.
As for why Wang Li didn't move into Zhao Lan's dormitory when there were empty beds, Lin Qingqing wasn't quite sure.
After finishing their meal and returning to the dormitory, Wang Li had not yet come back. Li Juan had also gone to dormitory number three to play. Wang Fengxia was writing a letter at her desk. Lin Qingqing felt bored, so she took out her book to read again.
However, she didn't get to watch for long before it got dark.
There were electric lights in the educated youth settlement, but electricity was expensive at that time, so people were generally reluctant to turn them on. They would only turn them on for a short while when everyone was still around seven or eight o'clock in the evening. Wang Fengxia did light a kerosene lamp, but she was writing a letter, and Lin Qingqing was too embarrassed to go over, so she simply lay on the bed with her eyes closed and thought about things.
After sitting on the wooden plank bed all afternoon, Lin Qingqing felt very comfortable lying on the thickly bedding bed.
But this comfort didn't last long. The Lin family had many members, so their lives were considered relatively good within the brigade. However, they were only slightly better off than those families with dwindling populations; they still lacked everything they needed for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.
Speaking of cotton quilts, judging from the original owner's memories, there were indeed no extras. Now that Old Madam Lin has been arrested, the quilt she usually used is now empty, but it's unknown whether the Lin brothers will be willing to give it up.
What should she do if they refuse?
Should we bring back the old, worn-out quilt and continue using it? Or should we sell some of the grain, buy some cotton, and have someone make new cotton?
But no matter what, the blanket she's using now definitely has to be returned to the Xie family.
Thinking about these things, Lin Qingqing gradually fell asleep. When she woke up again, it was already dawn, and it was the next day.
...
After washing up, Lin Qingqing took out the leftover sweet potatoes from yesterday from the cupboard. After a night, the sweet potatoes had cooled down, but they weren't frozen solid like in the north, and they were still soft, sweet and sticky.
Lin Qingqing sat at her desk, eating the hot water she had asked Wang Fengxia for from her aluminum lunchbox, thinking about the day's events.
It would be best to get a quilt from the Lin family. If that's not possible, we can't throw away the one the original owner used to use. Let's put off buying a quilt for now.
Of course, she still needed to exchange money and tickets. The lunchbox she was using was Wang Fengxia's. Ideally, she could exchange it for tickets to buy her own. If that wasn't possible, buying two bowls and a pair of chopsticks would do. She could forget about the kettle, as kettle tickets would probably be even harder to exchange than lunchbox tickets. But she definitely needed to buy a bucket and a basin, otherwise she wouldn't be able to take a shower or wash her feet.
Lin Qingqing counted them one by one and realized that she had a lot of things to buy, and the prices were not cheap. She felt a lot of pressure and could only hope that the New Year's bonus would be more and that she would receive some vouchers to help her solve this urgent problem.
After finishing her sweet potato and washing the dishes, Lin Qingqing returned to her dorm. Just as she put down her lunchbox, she heard someone calling her from outside. It was Xie Wei looking for her. Lin Qingqing quickly put the lunchbox away, straightened her clothes, glanced at herself in the mirror, and hurried out.
As I was leaving, I ran into Zhao Lan and said to her, "Why did I see Commander Xie coming over? Is he looking for you?"
Lin Qingqing responded indifferently, "I have to go first." Without waiting for Zhao Lan to speak, she walked past her and out of the female educated youth dormitory.
After passing the male educated youth dormitory, Lin Qingqing saw a young man in a green military uniform waiting outside the courtyard of the educated youth settlement. She walked over and called out, "Comrade Xie."
Xie Wei responded, slumped onto the oxcart, and said, "Get on." As he spoke, he reached out to pull the rope tied to the old ox, while picking up the long whip used to drive it with his other hand.
Seeing his posture, Lin Qingqing, who had initially thought the oxcart belonged to someone else, was stunned.
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