The two walked along the street for two hundred meters, and Lin Xiaolan couldn't help but say, "I just heard that Xinyu has already gone to the countryside. What do you plan to do? It's really hard to find work now. My parents have been asking around everywhere, but no factory is hiring."
Xu Qinghuan believed her. Lin Xiaolan's father was the director of the Shen City Machinery Factory, and her mother worked in the educated youth office. Even so, Lin Xiaolan's job was given to her by her third brother, who himself went to the countryside.
"Where did Xinyu go?" Xu Qinghuan felt a bit gloomy.
She, Lin Xiaolan, and Qiao Xinyu had been classmates since childhood. The three of them went to elementary, middle, and high school together. Graduating for half a year, the Qiao Family finally couldn't withstand the bombardment from the educated youth office and reluctantly let Xinyu go to the countryside.
The only reason Xu Qinghuan hadn't been sent to the countryside three months ago was because Lin's mother had borrowed her to work as a temporary worker in the educated youth office for two months.
"He went to Hei Province, Red Flag Commune, Shangjiang Team," Lin Xiaolan said. "My brother also went to Red Flag Commune, but he's not in the Shangjiang Team; he's in the Liaozhong Team."
"Shangjiang Team, huh!" Xu Qinghuan's eyes brightened. That's the hometown of the hidden big shot in the book who helped Xu Qinghuan achieve her success.
According to the timeline, at this point, the hidden big shot is still farming in his hometown, notorious as a village bully, infamous for being a good-for-nothing.
"Why, do you know the place?" Lin Xiaolan asked. "I specifically asked my mom to help Xinyu pick a good place."
"I don't know!" Xu Qinghuan had never been there, "But I know that the black soil there is fertile, and the material wealth is abundant. You can spend half a year hibernating without going hungry."
Just lying on the kang for half a year, with food and drink, which 21st-century salary worker doesn't dream of such a life?
What's so good about staying in the city and working from eight to five every day, non-stop at thirty, and continuing at the start of each month?
Xu Qinghuan quickly made up her mind; she didn't plan to stay in the city, nor did she want to sacrifice her entire youth and dignity just to stay.
The engagement with the Jiang Family was arranged by Xu Qinghuan's biological mother. Only after marrying would her biological mother arrange a job for her.
The original owner didn't want to be manipulated, nor did she want to go to the countryside, and she kept struggling with it until she struggled herself to death.
"When is the next batch of educated youth leaving?" Xu Qinghuan, having made her decision, planned to go to the countryside as soon as possible. She wanted to latch onto the big shot's leg early on.
Even though the big shot is a good-for-nothing now, he still has many followers; one more person doesn't matter, and one less person doesn't matter to him.
She wanted to go to the big shot early to secure a position and strive for the opportunity to light his cigarette.
Lin Xiaolan was taken aback, "Huanhuan, do you really want to go to the countryside?"
Xu Qinghuan nodded vigorously, looking excited, "I want to be with Xinyu, Lanlan, can you ask Aunt Lin to arrange for me to go there too?"
Lin Xiaolan was tempted, blinking, "Huanhuan, aren't you being too much? Are you going to abandon me for Xinyu?"
Xu Qinghuan linked her arm, "Good Lanlan, you can't waver. Xinyu and I will rely on you for support in the countryside. Not much, just send each of us five yuan a month."
"Dream on, I only make 18.84 yuan a month. I've been an apprentice for less than a year," Lin Xiaolan couldn't help but laugh, "I can only send you each three yuan at most."
Three yuan isn't a small amount!
After fooling around for a while, Xu Qinghuan sighed, "Lanlan, what should I do if I want to break off my engagement with Jiang Chengxu?"
"You want to break off your engagement with Jiang Chengxu?" Lin Xiaolan thought Xu Qinghuan was provoked, "Huanhuan, you should think it over. After all, you've known each other for so many years."
"Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'A childhood friend can't beat an unexpected romance'?" Xu Qinghuan teased, "I'm planning to go to the countryside anyway, of what use is the engagement?"
The original owner and the male lead had known each other since childhood, were classmates in both middle and high school, and could be considered childhood sweethearts.
Lin Xiaolan had seen at the cinema how Xu Manman leaned her head on Jiang Chengxu's shoulder. Jiang Chengxu pushed twice but failed and just let Xu Manman lean.
She was afraid that Xu Qinghuan couldn't get over it; seeing her so decisive, she was happy to see it happen.
After thinking for a while, Lin Xiaolan said, "How about you find your second aunt? Doesn't Xu Manman like Jiang Chengxu? If you break off the engagement, wouldn't they be overjoyed?"
When Xu Qinghuan was three, her father was killed, and her mother remarried.
At that time, Xu Manman had gone missing, and her second aunt, devastated, took her in. Half a year ago, Xu Qinghuan's uncle and aunt brought their adopted daughter to see her.
This cousin resembled her second aunt Wang Mingxia by seven-tenths. After some inquiry, they found out that the cousin was actually a cousin who had been missing for fourteen years.
When Xu Qinghuan returned home, she heard the voices of the mother and daughter in the room.
Wang Mingxia said rebukingly, "What is so good about Jiang Chengxu that has you both so infatuated? It's one thing if your sister insists on marrying him, but you keep talking about Brother Chengxu all the time. I'm telling you, you better give up this idea."
Xu Manman said coquettishly, "Mom, I know, I don't have any such thoughts. He's just my brother-in-law. Stop talking, my sister is coming back."
Xu Qinghuan deliberately pushed the door hard to make some noise. The mother and daughter came out of the room, Wang Mingxia, not knowing how much she had heard, awkwardly said, "Huanhuan, you're back?"
"Second Aunt, Manman!" Xu Qinghuan greeted them and entered the room.
The Xu Family's house was cramped, and Xu Qinghuan shared a room with Xu Manman.
Xu Manman followed in and asked, "Sister, did Brother Chengxu find you?"
"No, I was with Xiaolan."
Xu Qinghuan folded the clothes scattered on the bed, all patched over patches. If she were going to the countryside, it would be very cold in the Northeast; she'd need to prepare the thickest quilts and cotton-padded clothes and pants.
These not only required money but also required cloth tickets, cotton tickets. The original owner's estate left her a total of thirty-two cents, now only twenty-seven cents left.
Her biological mother would send her second aunt twenty-five yuan a month for child support, but she never got a penny of it, neither the original owner nor she had thought of asking for it.
She didn't know what the original owner thought, but Xu Qinghuan knew from the book that after her father was killed, her biological mother married her father's comrade. Her stepfather earned a twelfth-grade salary, nearly two hundred yuan a month, while her biological mother worked in a cultural troupe, earning eighty or ninety yuan a month.
That was a very high income.
The reason for the twenty-five yuan child support was that her biological mother didn't want to raise her herself and didn't want her to affect her own family. Besides, her stepfather insisted on giving it because she was the comrade's orphan.
"What were you talking about?" Xu Manman displayed an innocent smile.
"Talking about going to the countryside." Xu Qinghuan felt a bit heavy.
Sure enough, Xu Manman's face showed a hint of nervousness because she also faced the choice of marrying or going to the countryside, but the only good man she knew was Jiang Chengxu. In the book, she couldn't compete with Xu Qinghuan and had to go to the countryside eventually.
"Sister, you don't need to worry. You're about to marry Brother Chengxu. Unlike me, with no one to marry, I have no choice but to go to the countryside."
During dinner, a cadre from the educated youth office came.
In the Xu Family, there were five children. The eldest, Xu Hongwei, worked in a food factory; the second, Xu Hongye, joined the army for two years before transferring to work as a projectionist in a cinema.
Originally planned, Xu Hongye would become a voluntary soldier after two years of mandatory service. Suddenly, he transferred back. The job as a projectionist in the cinema was originally kept for Xu Qinghuan by her biological mother, but after some negotiation, it was given to Xu Hongye.
The Xu Family still had three children left, the third, Xu Hongtu, Xu Qinghuan, and Xu Manman, all high school and middle school graduates without work, all had to go to the countryside.
After the educated youth office cadre left, the atmosphere in the house became even more heavy. Wang Mingxia asked, "Old Xu, last time you mentioned the son of Old Xiao from your factory working at the slaughterhouse. He's of marriageable age. Is there any progress on that?"