Chapter Three

  Lao Zhang's wife was a temporary worker in a light bulb factory, with a monthly salary of over 20 yuan that could not support three children who were still in school. The idea of preferring boys to girls made the two daughters' tearful pleas unbearable, and their mother ruthlessly decided to let them drop out of school from then on, stay at home, and make money by weaving hemp to supplement the family's expenses.

  The eldest daughter is already in junior high school, studying second-year courses. She's relatively content and understanding, not resisting her mother's partiality towards her son. She only asks to be able to get a junior high school graduation certificate, and if necessary, she can go to school for a few days. Her mother will of course agree to her request, after all, it doesn't have to be done during the day.

  The second daughter, Zhang Ying, was born with a strong personality. At the moment her father was taken away by the prison car, she cried out the loudest and even ran to her tearful father's side to pull him back. The only thing she heard was her father's sorrowful last words to their three children: "Go back quickly and listen to your mother!"

  The car had already driven away, and she chased after it for twenty or thirty meters, crying out in despair until she couldn't see its shadow anymore. She leaned against a tree, wailing loudly. From that moment on, she seemed to know how miserable her fate would be. She was only in the fifth grade of elementary school, but she also knew that her mother didn't have the ability to raise the three of them. Her little brother was the treasured one in the family, and everything he had priority over. Her older sister was about to graduate from middle school, and she had already learned everything she needed to know. Moreover, she had already developed physically two years ago and should be considered a big girl now. The family had suffered an unexpected disaster, and she was the one who suffered the most. Since her father's accident, the meals at home were always made with less rice and more water, and when they ate, it was always her brother first, then her mother, followed by her sister, and finally only a pot of leftovers remained.

  She really wanted to tell her mom that she was developing physically!

  One evening, her mother told her: "It's not that I'm being cruel to you, but the family really can't afford it, so you can't read this book anymore!"

  Every day, I worried that my mother would reveal this cruel fact, and today I finally heard her resolute words. She couldn't hold back her desire to read, knelt in front of my mother, and tearfully begged: "Let me finish elementary school, after school in the afternoon, I will weave hemp threads until 10 o'clock at night, I will definitely help our family make money!"

  The mother was moved by her daughter's pleading and lost control, hugging her daughter and crying: "Don't blame Mom for being cruel, Mom has no choice, the light bulb factory might fire me!"

  The strong-willed Zhang Ying is still working hard, telling her mother: "Now it's 3 pm and school is over, I can still do five hours of embroidery when I get home. Besides, there's only one embroidery machine at home, and my sister gets tired after a whole day!"

  Her mother also felt it made sense and agreed not to drop out of school for the time being.

  In Wuting, they didn't have their own housing. Director Zhang was transferred to work in the "Daban" and the whole family rented a old-style residential house with a 'five-four-attached-wing' structure. This south-facing house was shared by many tenants from various industries, who were mostly officials or workers with families, bringing their children along. As time passed, it formed a small society where everyone had their own needs, with people moving in and out seasonally.

  The house should be in the typical Jiangnan style, different from the northern siheyuan structure. The front of the house has a high wall that encloses the entire area, with a large double door at the entrance. The door frame is made of three pieces of granite, and there is also a stone threshold about 30 cm high at the bottom. For children, the height of the stone threshold is just right, and everyone fights to sit on it during meals. However, for adults, especially those with bicycles, this height is very inconsiderate. They have to lift their bicycles very high to pass through smoothly. Every time they enter or exit, they also have to smile and ask the children to make way.

  The owner of such a house, when determining the family composition after liberation, was almost classified as a 'landlord', but fortunately, although rich, his ancestors did not leave behind any land and were guests in Wuting, so he ended up with a 'rich middle peasant' classification. This classification had less pressure, landlords were considered an 'enemy contradiction', while 'rich middle peasants' fell between 'poor lower-middle peasants'. After liberation, they never appeared at any of the numerous struggle sessions.

  This house has a history, the Japanese devils came, and the command center was stationed here. The large wintergreen trees at the entrance were once tied to the high-headed horses of the Japanese soldiers. Until the 1970s, the landlord often joked about the strange habits of the Japanese people with great interest. He said that the Japanese had a 'habit', as soon as summer arrived, they would often go naked, covering only their lower body with a piece of cloth. He also talked about a guerrilla fighter named Li from Wuting, who went to blow up the railway and was caught by the Japanese soldiers. He was tied up with five flowers and taken to an empty field, where a fat-eared lieutenant, wearing a kimono and holding a knife, returned with his body covered in blood...

  After liberation, Wuting Township was established without a fixed residence and temporarily squeezed in here. After several changes, this place became the buffer zone of Wuting with official background. All departments and industries would arrange people to be transferred here temporarily.

  The grown-ups gathered together for revolutionary work, also brought a group of uneven children, a group of naughty kids who didn't commit big crimes but constantly did small things, every day gathering together to either play hide-and-seek or learn from the adults to form cliques.

  Because there are children, the old landlord has to worry more. The old man often blurts out a few habitual phrases, and it's always: "Be careful of measles, don't scribble on the wall, don't play with fire!"

  No wonder he's anxious, this house is a pure wooden structure, fire prevention is the top priority for the old man to take care of his home. He doesn't like children very much, but since the house is rented out, kids are an inevitable accessory to the tenants, whether he likes it or not. The kids play hide and seek, and almost every time he joins in, many times the kids hide well, but they're always caught by him first. He's not playing with them for fun, but rather because he's worried that their playful antics will damage his house. Whenever he sees the kids running around the house, he goes to check on them one by one.

  It only happened at Director Zhang's house, and the old landlord seemed numb. He came up with a "none of my business" attitude. However, this group of kids was most interested in the Zhang family. As soon as something happened, they would run to watch. Although the door was closed, the children's curiosity was not affected at all. If they couldn't see, they would listen. The houses were made of wood and had almost no sound insulation function. Maybe on a sunny day, the door panels would have some shrinkage gaps, which was what the kids loved to do when they were curious and snooping around.

  The head of the family brought disaster, and the whole family was affected. When Old Zhang was being isolated for investigation, in the face of others' whispers, their eldest daughter repeatedly clarified among the children: "My dad went to a meeting!"

  As soon as the mass criticism meeting was over, the facts of corruption were ironclad and couldn't be denied in front of the children. Fortunately, they didn't rub salt into the wound, but the children, although young, had some sympathy for them.

  It's really like that, Old Zhang's family is in a difficult situation. The head of the household has passed away, and for this family, it's like the collapse of a pillar. The only source of income is gone, and the hardship of life can be imagined. Originally, Mrs. Zhang was also a strong-willed woman, although she lived here without quarreling with other tenants, but she always had an air of pride, rarely chatting with others. But now that she has no man to rely on, her demeanor has changed dramatically, her expression as gloomy as water, as if she's at a loss for what to do. However, life must go on, and since she can't face it herself, she lets the children take over, doing chores like washing vegetables and cooking meals. The children are burdened with these tasks, while she herself hides in her room after work, not daring to come out.

  It's really hard to understand, the family members of the corrupt official shouldn't be venomous snakes or beasts, but every time Zhang's daughter goes to wash clothes or rinse rice and vegetables, all the women in Tangpu Village would avoid her from afar, as if getting close would lead to trouble. This news is no longer the headline of Tangpu Village, but once the Zhang family appears, those women would whisper to each other with flying eyebrows and colors, some of which are fabricated out of thin air, but after a few people pass it on, they would relish in it.

  Zhang Jia's second daughter, Zhang Ying, is a good kid. Unlike the rest of her family, she didn't become mute instantly. Every day after school, she would hide in a corner of the courtyard to play with a ball of yarn and chat with other kids, saying nice things about others. The other kids also showed unusual sympathy towards her, and none of them bullied her. However, some kids influenced by their parents said to Zhang Ying: "As long as you draw a clear line with your father, you're a 'red young pioneer'!"