After Lin Dingding left, Yan Chu drank his medicine she brewed. He was lying down on the Kang79Kanga heatable brick bed and closed his eyes to rest, incidentally thinking about the way to finish his two missions.
The protagonist of the main mission stayed by his side, so he did not think about it for the time being. The one who gave him a headache was the side mission to save the life of his biological father, Yan Xun. The original self did not have many recollections about his father. In addition to the almost forgotten images before seven years old, there were just very few ink pictures left after the death of the other side.
What kind of the other person’s temperament, conduct, and emotion for his young son who followed his biological mother and severed his relationship with him? That was what he did not know at this moment.
Yan Chu forgot to figure out the timeline in his heart. Currently, Father Yan had transferred to work in the countryside for nearly ten years. Five months later, he was going to get the obituary of his death. They were all over the country with Yan Xun’s farm was in the northwest while his own was in a small village in the south. As an educated youth, he could not arbitrarily leave the production team, let alone save a dying man.
Fortunately, there was no penalty for failing the side mission. Otherwise, Yan Chu indeed would have a headache.
He opened his eyes and looked at the roof, which was leaking on a rainy day, had dyed with a little yellow stain. With a sigh, he got up from the Kang and draped over his cotton-padded jacket on his shoulders. He picked up the pen and paper that the original self, used to put in his cabinet and immersed himself in writing a letter.
In the case of his inability to go out at will, if he wanted to save the life of the original self’s father, this might be the only way.
The literati scholar, who died in this parallel space, was not less than his age in the world where he lived. A large part of the reason for this was he could not endure the vast disparity of status and the difficult circumstances of life. Another part was because he could not find any hope for the future, so he sentenced himself to death. When a person’s heart dies, it’s not long for one’s health to decline at once.
Yan Chu did not understand. In the end, what kind of situation was his father in this world? At present, he could only rely on blind luck, giving it a try.
“Yan Chu, how are you? Still have a fever?”
The educated youths who lived in the same room with Yan Chu had returned. The leader, Lin Qingshan, wiped the mud off on his shoes at the door and asked Yan Chu as he went into the room and washed his hands.
They were the third production team of Hongqi Commune. The whole team had eleven educated youths in total, four women and seven men. Some of them were old, either internally digested or married to locals, they all moved out. Now, only four young men were living in the educated youth courtyard and two young girls on the rear side.
Lin Qingshan was the oldest educated youth who lived in the courtyard. His temper was also steady and enthusiastic. He was very prestigious in the team and was a ‘big brother’ character in general. He also treated other educated youths as his younger brothers and sisters, always had any concern for them.
As Yan Chu was still sick, he could not help but ask a few more sentences.
“It’s all right. The fever has gone. I’ll be able to go to work with you this afternoon.” Yan Chu had already gotten up from the Kang before they came back, and changed with the proper clothes.
“I just finished cooking the meal, so let’s eat together, alright?” He was a city person to the core. He had never seen a large clay kitchen stove in the countryside. Fortunately, the original self had lived in a rural community for some time. He still could do the basics like boiling water to prepare a meal.
His two simple sentences attracted the attention of the other educated youths. They needed to know that the original self would fall ill every few days. There was also because he could not endure the hardship besides his body truly did not adapt to the living environment here, so he deliberately feigned illness to shy away from work.
These educated youths accustomed to the matter of Yan Chu would fall ill for two or three days. They never thought this time he was out of character and took the initiative to work on the field.
“Indeed, the sun rises in the west.” The young man who came in last had an askance look at Yan Chu and whispered a little.
There a faint disdain and ridicule from his tone, but Yan Chu was not angry. Who made the original self fail to conduct himself? They all educated youth too. The others were worked themselves to death, and he by himself feigned illness in the room to shy away from work. Any right-minded person would not be happy in their hearts. Besides, he knew that the rations of the educated youths put together, and every meal had eaten together according to Yan Chu’s memory.
At this time, the grains allocation depended on the work points91work pointsa measure of work completed in a rural commune in the PRC during the planned economy era. The original self’s working time on the field was short, so his points were naturally less. The grains that were given to him were definitely not enough for a young man. Even so, those educated youths were not thin-skinned and found it embarrassing to speak to him. They let him take up that many small advantages.
To make them change their opinions, were only to speak in the peculiar muttering, in the same way as pointing his nose and scolding at his face. Yan Chu could not be angry.
“Chen Jun, you should say less.”
Lin Qingshan, like a big brother, would naturally stand up and adjust their disputes. He patted the educated youth’s shoulder who just spoke and said to Yan Chu with genuine concern: “You have to pay attention when you work in the afternoon. If you’re not feeling well, quickly talk to us.”
He was six years older than Yan Chu. In his opinion, Yan Chu merely could not adapt to rural life. After a long time, he would naturally change. Yan Chu took the initiative to go working on the field today, it also proved Lin Qingshan’s opinion of him, and this made a worrywart big brother in him especially happy.
Yan Chu helped a few people to take the chopsticks and hang his head. The original self had been complaining about everything when encountering problems. Actually, it was not his fault. He had wrapped himself excessively tightly, and those goodwills had resisted outside by his armor.
The lunch at noon was moderately simple with sweet potato porridge and simmered cabbage. Apart from this, there was only one plate of salted vegetables pickled from the New Year last year. Yan Chu did not feel that he was unused to eating it. He was quite clear this was the food he had been eating for a long time.
As for the other educated youth, who had been working for a long time on the field to live, they were unable to change their embarrassing table manner at all. They were talking loudly, pouring porridge, and stuffing dishes into their mouth.
After dinner, he laid down on the Kang for a while. When the broadcast of the big headquarters was ringing, he had to go to work again.
Lin Guangguo always felt that there seemed to be something wrong, but he could not tell what was wrong.
“Dad, are you thirsty? I’ll pour you some tea.”
Listening to the familiar voice, Lin Guangguo finally came to understand what was wrong. This afternoon his baby daughter came to give him more than a dozen waters. He asked himself why he kept running to the bathroom today. It was because he drank too much water after all.
As soon as the winter came, this old man’s hands and feet were liable to cold. Home conditions were good with enamel cups were all used to let the children who were not working take the hot kettle to pour hot water. If one drunk it, they could warm their hands and feet.
Lin Dingding was the Lin family’s most idle child. The hot water, which for her dad and some of her older brothers, was added by her every three to five times, when usually, three or four trips in the afternoon already enough, but the number of times Lin Dingding came to the field today obviously a tad excessive.
“You, little girl, treating your father as a water buffalo.”
Lin Guangguo did not have the heart to refuse his daughter’s good intentions. He drank the remaining water in the cup, waiting for his daughter to pour water herself. As soon this one raised his head, he found that his daughter was carrying a kettle, but where were her eyes looking?
He looked in the direction of Lin Dingding’s line of sight and saw the young man who stood out from the crowd, even if he was doing*24doing*from 干 [gàn] that can mean as to do or to f*ck (vulgar) his work with a hoe in the field.
Sure enough, it was quite obvious.
This girl, his daughter, turned out, was using her father as an excuse to see her beloved.
He grunted resentfully. It was just good looks, alright? When he was young, he was also the most handsome boy in the third team, a lot of young girls liked him.
But today, that child Yan Chu, seemed a little different from the past. After such a long time, he did not see him. He rested halfway to the ridge for a while. Although his hoeing action was not skilled, each one of them was hard, not lazy at all.
“Alright, you go can back. Your father and brothers are full. You didn’t need to send water on the field later.” Lin Guangguo hummed to his daughter.
Lin Dingding did not expect that her action was so obvious. She shyly helped her dad and some of her brothers to fill the hot water and ran away.
“I think Yan Chu is also excellent. He is a high school graduate. There weren’t high school graduates in our village.” Lin Dingding’s eldest brother, Lin Ding, was a simple-minded man. He also loved his little sister dearly and was already thinking about helping her to persuade their old man.
“You fool. What do you know about this matter?”
Lin Guangguo did not have patience toward his son, unlike with his daughter, and yelled: “Quickly works for I, your father, or I deduct your work points.”
Alright, even if this was very good by no means to be well-matched.
Lin Guangguo looked at the back of his daughter and sighed. His heart was somewhat helpless.
“Team Leader.”
When the broadcast of the work had rung, Yan Chu’s body and bones were falling apart. However, he still remembered something had to do, and after Lin Qingshan reported it, he quickly followed up with Lin Guangguo.
“Yan Chu, is there something I can help you with?”
Lin Guangguo did not know why the other party would call himself. He handed the hoe over to his son and asked Yan Chu after sending them away towards the rear.
“I have a letter, asking the Team Leader to send it.”
There was a post office in the county. Nowadays was the period during the busy farming season, Yan Chu could not ask for a leave to the county. So he could only hand the letter over to the team leader, Lin Guangguo. Every two days, a postman came to the commune to pick up the mail and packages. Each production team was registered for these things by the team leaders.
“This is a letter sent to the farm in Gansu Province. I remember you were from the capital, right?”
Lin Guangguo opened the door of the simple office belonging to the team leader in the big headquarters. He looked at the address on the envelope handed by Yan Chu and asked doubtfully.
This year was different from the past. As the big team leader, Lin Guangguo had the right to read any suspicious letter. He saw Yan Chu handing over not only a letter but also a small package. He didn’t know what was inside.
“My father was transferred to be reformed on the field in Gansu Province. Nowadays the weather is cold, and I don’t know how he was over there. In that case, I took down a dress and sent him a pair of knee pads and gloves.” The knee pads were made in the morning by Yan Chu, while the gloves were bought from the county town and worn by the original self.
Lin Guangguo’s actions paused. He remembered, when Yan Chu came, it had written on the file that his parents were cadres.
Looking at the other party’s low mood, Lin Guangguo roughly guessed the facts. He was afraid that the father written on the file column was not his biological father, but his stepfather.
This knowledge made Lin Guangguo’s impression of Yan Chu become a bit better. This child could have a stain on his father’s identity, but under his transfer circumstances, he still remembered to write a letter to keep in contact with him at all times, instead of trying to keep a distance from him. This filial piety alone was extremely valuable.
Lin Guangguo was an uneducated man. He knew that the outside world had been fierce in these years, a father who was not the father, a son who was not the son. He only knew if a person could not recognize their father and mother, this person was not any different from the beast.
This behavior of Yan Chu had brushed favorable impressions in Lin Guangguo’s heart firmly. This act even let Lin Guangguo think that his previous understanding of this child, Yan Chu, was still extremely a little one-sided. He was unmistakably a good and sensible boy who had filial piety. From this moment onward, he decided to re-observe him.
He said that his daughter was all he had, and the foolish boy was an unsuitable partner for her.
Lin Guangguo’s heart was full of joy, looking at Yan Chu with a meaningful glance and more lenient.
