Chapter 6
The next day was May Day, the Labor Day holiday — a one-day break for all hardworking people.
The Li family went to the grain store to buy four jin of standard flour, planning to make dumplings, and they invited Xia Shao and her brother Xia Wanhui to join them.
It was one thing to let guests stay at the guesthouse normally, but if they left them there alone during a holiday, people would say they were being inhospitable. Besides, since Xia Shao’s marriage prospects now seemed promising, there was no longer any risk of her saying something she shouldn’t. So, the Lis decided to make their “relative” relationship official.
In fact, they figured that Xia Shao was probably more afraid than anyone else that word of the engagement would leak and ruin her good match.
“Remember, my sister-in-law grew up in the city,” Li Laidi warned as they walked. “When we eat later, don’t act like you haven’t seen good food in eight hundred years. Don’t embarrass yourselves!”
Her tone dripped with sarcasm. Xia Wanhui couldn’t help muttering, “You talk like you weren’t from the countryside yourself.”
After the capitalists were overthrown, Li Changshun, once a bookkeeper, lost his position and had to return to farming. He wasn’t skilled in farm work, though, and earned only six or seven work points a day — the family lived a very lean few years.
So when Laidi followed her parents to Jiangcheng, everything in the city felt new to her. People used to laugh at her for being such a bumpkin.
Over the years, she worked hard to adapt, even changing her accent, so hearing Wanhui say that made her face immediately darken.
Xia Shao, smiling sweetly, added fuel to the fire. “She’s just reminding us not to make the same mistakes she did.”
“Oh, so she has embarrassed herself before,” Wanhui said in mock realization.
Laidi nearly exploded on the spot, but they’d arrived at the Lis’ home already, and her sister-in-law, Cheng Wenhua, was there too — so she swallowed her anger.
The dumplings were nearly finished. Wenhua had just washed her hands and was sitting at the writing desk, working on something. Her three-year-old daughter, with two braids tied with red ribbons, was quietly playing on the kang with Li Baosheng, using a folded handkerchief mouse as a toy.
It was the first time the little girl had seen Xia Shao and Wanhui while fully awake, so she was a little shy, peeking curiously from her father’s arms.
Baosheng looked extremely uncomfortable — holding her felt awkward, not holding her even more so. His wife turned from her work to tell the child politely to greet their guests.
Laidi quickly jumped in, her tone almost boasting rather than explaining. “My sister-in-law grew up in the city, works at the textile factory, and earns nearly forty yuan a month. But she never stops working hard — she’s even preparing for the adult college entrance exam. She wants to be an accountant, like my father.”
“I’m just giving it a try,” Wenhua said modestly. “I might not even pass.”
Laidi, however, showed no modesty. “Even trying takes ability. Some people from the countryside probably can’t even recognize the characters on the exam paper.” She then clung affectionately to Wenhua’s arm. “You take the exam first, Sister-in-law. If it’s not too hard, I’ll do it next year.”
“You’re graduating this year,” Wenhua said mildly. “You can take the regular college entrance exam — that’s better than the adult one.”
Wenhua let Laidi hang on her arm and pointed to a question in her book. “You’re in second year, right? Help me check how to do this problem.”
Laidi was in her second year of high school, but only because it made job hunting easier. She hardly ever studied — she skipped class all the time.
But after boasting so much just now, she had no choice but to lean over the page and read:
“Given the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9. (1) How many five-digit numbers can be formed without repeating digits…”
Her voice got smaller and smaller as she read, her face scrunching up in frustration.
“Let me check the reference book,” she muttered, bending down to open the drawer under the desk.
Unfortunately, Wanhui was sitting right beside it on the kang, and the cabinet door hit his knee. He winced and rubbed the spot.
Xia Shao couldn’t watch any longer. “It’s 720,” she said.
“You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Laidi sneered.
Wenhua looked up in surprise. “How did you calculate that?”
While Laidi kept rummaging, Xia Shao pulled Wanhui aside and patiently explained, “It’s a permutation problem — here’s how you…”
Her explanation was simple and clear, and Wenhua quickly followed her reasoning, getting the same answer.
Laidi refused to believe it. “Let’s see what the answer key says.” She flipped to the back — it was 720.
Her face turned red immediately. “Then how many of those numbers are even?”
“Two hundred forty,” Xia Shao said after a moment’s thought.
“How many are divisible by three?”
“One hundred twenty.”
Xia Shao had worked as a part-time tutor in college, teaching middle and high school students, so permutation and combination problems were easy for her.
She hadn’t expected 1960s high school math to be so simple — by the time she went to college, students were already learning calculus.
Too bad her degree had been in computer science — completely useless in this era.
As she sighed inwardly about studying for over ten years only to be sent “back to liberation,” Laidi’s face went from red to white, then to green.
Xia Shao had gotten everything right!
She had just mocked her for being uneducated, unable to read half the words on the page — and now her face was burning from the slap of reality.
“You dropped out before finishing junior high, didn’t you?” Laidi stammered.
In their county, there was a high school, and Father Xia hadn’t wanted his only daughter to start farm work too young and ruin her health. But the original Xia Shao had been timid, preferring housework to traveling that far for school.
Xia Shao lowered her head shyly. “Brother Daniu from our village went to high school. I looked at his books.”
To Laidi, that sounded like her face was being rubbed against sandpaper.
She had studied for two years and learned nothing, while Xia Shao had merely flipped through someone else’s book and could solve problems like that.
Even Baosheng looked over now, and Wenhua sighed regretfully. “You would’ve done well if you’d kept studying.”
Thankfully, the dumplings finished boiling then, saving Laidi from further embarrassment.
She hurried to the kitchen to help, while Wenhua put away her books and fetched chopsticks and dishes.
As soon as she left the room, a quiet voice spoke behind Xia Shao.
“You… you really plan to stay in Jiangcheng?”
It was Li Baosheng.
To be honest, Xia Shao had almost forgotten about him.
The arrangement had been negotiated by Li Changshun and found by Tian Cuifen — Baosheng himself had done nothing, except say a few strange things at the start.
She wasn’t interested in talking, but he sighed, sounding conflicted. “Why bother? Even if you stay in Jiangcheng, there’s no way for us to be together. Is it worth ruining your life just for pride?”
Xia Shao: “……”
Which eye of his saw that she was staying for him? Did he have a third eye that only opened in dreams?
Unable to resist, she retorted, “Your parents are so sharp — how’d they end up with a son like you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Baosheng blinked in confusion, but before he could ask more, Wenhua came back, and he had to swallow his words.
In the cold northern climate, people preferred sitting around a small table on the warm kang to eat — cozy and comfortable.
Tian Cuifen brought in a large bamboo tray heaped with steaming dumplings. “Eat them while they’re hot! There’s more outside if it’s not enough.”
The dough, made from cheap standard flour, was a little grayish, but the taste was good. The filling — fresh Acanthopanax senticosus shoots — was tender and fragrant, mixed with a few eggs for flavor.
Xia Shao dipped hers in soy sauce and vinegar and had just eaten two when someone knocked on the door.
“Is this Accountant Li Changshun’s home?”
“It’s Director Lu’s wife,” Tian Cuifen said immediately, hurrying off the kang barefoot to greet her. “Comrade Liu, you came just in time! We’re just eating — come in and have some!”
“No need, I’ll just say a few words.”
Though she stepped into the courtyard, her tone was cool.
Tian Cuifen actually found her attitude annoying — acting all high and mighty just because she was the factory director’s wife.
But for now, Tian Cuifen’s bigger priority was to send Xia Shao away, so she forced a smile. “Please, go ahead.”
Madam Lu didn’t bother with pleasantries. “I figured you’d all be home today. About that engagement with Jibei — my husband and I have settled on someone else. They’re getting married next week. You’ll have to find another match for your relative, that little Xia girl.”
Just yesterday, things had gone so smoothly — Director Lu had clearly been pleased with Xia Shao. How could it change overnight?
Tian Cuifen was stunned. “So soon? It’s already settled?”
Lu’s wife was only there to deliver the message. She didn’t want to waste time explaining and left immediately, afraid they might make a scene.
The once-lively table instantly fell silent. Chopsticks froze mid-air.
Tian Cuifen had just been boasting yesterday that the match was practically guaranteed. If not for that, she’d never have let Xia Shao near Wenhua.
Now everyone looked at her, but she kept her face calm and turned to Xia Shao. “Did something happen yesterday?”
All eyes shifted to Xia Shao — especially Laidi’s, who snapped, “Did you offend Director Lu’s cousin or something? How could you not say a word and make my mother lose face like this?”
Her shrill voice made the little girl next to her flinch and pull back her spoon.
Seeing that, Xia Shao calmly picked up two fat dumplings and put them in the child’s bowl.
The girl, who had been staring longingly at the tray, brightened immediately. She looked up and whispered, “Thank you.”
Only then did Xia Shao take another dumpling for herself. “I told you yesterday — he doesn’t like my type.”
“Why wouldn’t he like you? You can’t even—”
“Laidi!” Li Changshun barked.
Laidi froze, realizing her words were improper for an unmarried woman, and shut her mouth.
But she still couldn’t let it go, her pride smarting from earlier. Soon she was muttering again, “I told you the last one was fine, but no, he had to be picky. Always aiming higher — as if someone good would actually want her.”
Wanhui glared. “If you’re so eager to be a stepmom, why don’t you go?”
“I don’t have a rural household registration,” she shot back.
Cheng Wenhua spoke up calmly. “Being a stepmother isn’t easy. Too strict, and they say you’re cruel; too soft, and they say you’re not really family. Best not to marry a divorced man if you can help it.”
She turned to Xia Shao with a kind smile. “Don’t worry. There are young men in my factory too — I’ll help you ask around.”
No one had expected her to say that, and everyone’s expressions turned strange — especially Li Baosheng’s.
Li Changshun was the only one whose face stayed unreadable. “Then we’ll keep looking,” he said evenly. “Marriage is important — can’t just grab whatever’s in the basket.”
It was polite talk, but now that the engagement had fallen through, Xia Shao’s position was once again uncertain, and everyone else just nodded along.
The meal continued in awkward silence.
They had barely eaten a few more bites when another knock came at the door — three polite, even taps.
“Excuse me, is this Accountant Li Changshun’s home?”
Exactly the same words as before.
Tian Cuifen, still sore from the earlier humiliation, didn’t even move. “Laidi, go see who it is.”
Laidi, sulking, didn’t bother to get up. She just shouted toward the door, “Yeah, this is Accountant Li’s house! What is it?”
There was a pause outside, then a man’s voice said, “I’m Lu Zetong from the machinery factory. I’d like to discuss Jibei’s engagement with you again.”
“Director Lu?” Tian Cuifen exclaimed, startled.
But hadn’t his wife just come by to say they’d settled on someone else?
What on earth was going on now?
