Chapter 48: The Next Ruthless Move

After she finished speaking, Li Xuewei found the whole thing rather dull. As expected, this educated youth Meng was not someone to be trifled with, yet she hadn’t said anything to her directly. But the way she looked, with tears brimming in her eyes and words on the tip of her tongue, anyone unaware of the situation would have thought she’d suffered some great injustice. And the glances from the male educated youths nearby—sure enough, there was a trace of pity in their eyes. Li Xuewei curled her lip. Tang Xin was right: men really were all the same, unreliable!

After Li Xuewei left, Meng Jia continued to look at Lu Liqin with a sorrowful gaze. It wasn’t until everyone else had dispersed that Lu Liqin looked at Meng Jia indifferently and asked, “Have you never liked Tang Xin?”

Only then did Lu Liqin begin to realize that perhaps he’d been mistaken about many things from the very start.

Meng Jia had originally intended to use this opportunity to pour her heart out to Lu Liqin, recounting the tangled grievances between herself and Tang Xin, hoping to win his sympathy. She had considered that, having been reborn and knowing many things in advance, she had a certain advantage. Perhaps she could develop her own career?

But reality proved that putting plans into practice was much more difficult than simply talking about them. It was only 1970—an era when everything required ration tickets and even leaving the house demanded a letter of introduction. Even if she could one day stand out through the college entrance examination, that would be years away. For the time being, she was stuck in the countryside, with no support from Lu Liqin or the Tang family. Could she really survive like this?

Last month, her mother had sent thirty yuan, but she’d said herself that it was the last of the family’s savings. Because Tang Xin insisted on marrying a villager and wouldn’t listen to reason, Father Tang was furious and had declared that, for the time being, he wouldn’t send that unfilial daughter anything—not money, not tickets. In such circumstances, Meng’s mother had no way to persuade Father Tang to send anything to Meng Jia alone.

In her memory, not long from now, the Lu family would find connections and secure two places for educated youths to return to the city—opportunities that the Lu and Tang families worked together to secure for Lu Liqin and Tang Xin.

But now, with Father Tang angry and Tang Xin only just married to someone else, Meng Jia knew she needed to act quickly, before anyone else realized what was happening, to claim one of those spots for herself and get back to the city.

How could she not try to ingratiate herself with Lu Liqin as soon as possible?

Caught off guard by Lu Liqin’s question, Meng Jia was momentarily stunned. Then she put on a sorrowful expression and said, “Brother Lu, do you really think that? Have you misunderstood me, just like everyone else?” As she spoke, two lines of tears slid down her cheeks. Turning away to wipe her tears, Meng Jia’s weeping left Lu Liqin at a loss for words.

In the end, he simply sighed. “Forget it. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

On the surface, the crisis seemed averted, but Meng Jia knew that Lu Liqin wasn’t angry with her—he just wasn’t moved by her. In his heart, Tang Xin was still the most important woman. She would have to make a bold move next.

While Meng Jia was racking her brains for a way to steal Tang Xin’s good fortune, the Li family was happily waiting for the current head of the household to divide up the evening meal.

At dinner, as usual, Madam Fang asked, “Daughter-in-law, what would you like to eat?”

Li Kai and Li Xiyue exchanged glances, both inwardly complaining: It’s over. Big brother isn’t theirs anymore, and soon their parents won’t be, either. In the past, every meal revolved around them, with their mother always asking what they wanted to eat. Now, as son and daughter, they hardly mattered; their mother only cared about what her dear daughter-in-law would like!

At her mother-in-law’s question, Tang Xin suddenly felt hungry again. “I’d love to have your braised rice with cured meat. Do we still have any cured meat at home?”

“We do, we do,” Madam Fang replied with a broad smile. “There’s still plenty left from what you brought last time. Whatever you want to eat, I’ll make it.” She immediately headed into the kitchen to wash the rice and prepare the meal, determined to make her daughter-in-law happy.

“Sister-in-law, I have some candy for you.” Li Hai dug into the innermost pocket of his coat and pulled out two candies, giving one to his sister-in-law and holding the other tightly in his own palm. He loved candy, especially the kind his sister-in-law had given him—what she called “White Rabbit milk candy,” something available only in the big cities.

Li Hai couldn’t bear to eat them himself, and now only these two were left. But their mother had told them that their sister-in-law had made a great sacrifice to marry their big brother, so the whole family needed to treat her well. Naturally, he wanted to share his most precious things with his sister-in-law.

Li Jiang shot a glance at Li Hai: little traitor, just trying to show off and leaving him behind. Still, he took out his own last piece of candy from his pocket. He’d meant to save it secretly for their mother. Children are always stubborn about their treats, but with both younger brothers being so generous, Tang Xin’s mood improved even more.

“Thank you, Xiao Shan, Xiao Hai, but I’ve already had some. You keep them for yourselves.” As she spoke, Tang Xin smiled, “Besides, I have other gifts for you.”

“Gifts?”

“Yes! I’ve prepared gifts for Father, Mother, and all my brothers and sisters. Wait a moment, I’ll fetch them from my room.”

Traditionally, after the wedding, the bride’s brothers would come to escort her, and then the husband would formally bring his new wife to visit her in-laws. During this visit, the bride would present gifts to her new family. But with the Tang family’s current situation and the long distance between villages, most educated youths who married in the countryside couldn’t follow all these customs; it was simply too difficult.

So the gifts Tang Xin had prepared in advance were only now being brought out, a few days after the wedding.

By now, her material wealth had grown considerably, thanks in large part to the ever-increasing harvests from Happy Farm. Every night before bed, Tang Xin would check on it—when Li Sheng was newly wed and always at home, she had to be discreet, but with him working in the fields these days, her movements were much freer.

The original six plots had grown to twenty, and the land had been upgraded, producing even larger harvests. Beyond the initial crops like radishes and cabbage, she was now growing pasture grass, white radish, carrots, Chinese cabbage, wheat, rice, corn, potatoes, eggplants, jujubes, tomatoes, peas, soybeans, chilies, pumpkins, strawberries, apples, watermelon, bananas, peaches, sugarcane, oranges, grapes, loofahs, and more.

The wheat and rice had already been processed in the workshop, stored as flour and rice in the warehouse. Apart from apples and grapes, which they’d already tasted, the rest was still in storage.

In this era, material goods meant everything—they at least ensured no one would go hungry or fear famine. And with the warehouse keeping everything fresh, Tang Xin could use these supplies to enrich the Li family’s table, or even, perhaps, exchange them on the black market for cash.