Chapter 12: Send a Telegram

　　Jiang Youtao created a second work based on the basic plot of Temptation of Going Home, changing the story beyond all recognition. The whole incident was told with so many ups and downs that Xu Dazui and the others were stunned as they listened.

　　Jiang Youtao took a sip of the water she brought with her, and under the urging of Xu Dazui and the others, she told the story of the ending.

　　Xu Dazui and the others were still not satisfied after hearing this. Xu Dazui said, "This girl is too soft-hearted. If it were me, I would definitely report the factory director's son and Xiaoli in a letter."

　　Xu Dazui felt that the ending fabricated by Jiang Youtao was not satisfying enough.

　　"I've heard that those senior officials can be reported if they have improper conduct. Youtao, talk to Xiaoru and ask her to report it."

　　"That factory director's wife is nothing, she's an educated city dweller. Even rural mothers-in-law wouldn't mistreat their daughters-in-law like this. This is the dregs of the old society and must be reported."

　　Xu Dazui, Aunt Jiang Si and Aunt Zhang were discussing happily. As listeners, they all put themselves in the shoes of the heroine described by Jiang Youtao. They all came from the generation of daughters-in-law. The actions of the mother-in-law described by Jiang Youtao reminded them of their old mothers, and they were filled with indignation.

　　They criticized one thing after another, and Jiang Youtao couldn't get a word in.

　　That's fine.

　　Jiang Youtao pulled out the weeds slowly.

　　When the bell rang, she stood up, patted her butt and left. Xu Dazui and a few others fell behind her and continued to discuss the matter heatedly on the way back.

　　What they talked about was so melodramatic and exciting that many people who were on good terms with them came over to ask about it.

　　Xu Dazui, Fourth Aunt Jiang, and Second Aunt Zhang are gossipers. They cannot recite a book or something, but they are very active when it comes to gossiping.

　　That night, the magic version of the temptation to go home became a hot topic among many women in Liushugou. Jiang Youtao, a very knowledgeable educated youth, immediately became popular among the middle-aged and elderly women in Liushugou.

　　When she went to work the next day, many people greeted Jiang Youtao.

　　Jiang Youtao didn't understand why.

　　When they went back to eat at noon, Gu Nianwei said to Jiang Youtao, "You are now famous in the team. This morning, someone in our group asked me if I knew Jiang Zhiqing, who is very knowledgeable."

　　Gu Nianwei had also heard the story made up by Jiang Youtao, but the version she had heard had been circulated many times, and she could not find any trace of the temptation to go home.

　　After listening to it, Gu Nianwei felt that Jiang Youtao was quite suitable for writing novels. It was really exciting to see all those bloody stories.

　　Jiang Youtao chuckled twice: "Auntie Dazui and the others were talking about things in the village, and told me that life in the city must not be so exciting. I couldn't help myself and made up a story for them."

　　"I knew it." Gu Nianwei smiled and said, "This kind of thing is not uncommon, but it's rare to see one pot of bloody nonsense after another. I can tell you're making it up as soon as I hear it."

　　Both of them laughed out loud.

　　After laughing, Gu Nianwei said, "In fact, there is no difference between city people and country people. Who doesn't have a difficult sutra to recite?"

　　Just like Gu Nianwei's family after traveling through time.

　　After her father died, her mother remarried. The man her mother married moved directly into her father's house with his son, and treated the former Gu Nianwei as a maid. In order to occupy the small house in the capital, he also planned to let the former Gu Nianwei marry his son directly.

　　Her mother knew about it, but was happy about it and said that this would make them a real family.

　　It turned out that Gu Nianwei was not a fool. She certainly knew what kind of life she would live if she married her stepfather's son. She made a prompt decision and chose to go to the countryside. She also found her grandparents' house in his father side and asked her grandparents to drive her mother and stepfather's family out.

　　Her grandparents were kind-hearted and gave her some money after they bought the house. She took the money and moved to the countryside. Gu Nianwei already decided to stay in countryside, but she was a little reluctant to give up the house in the capital to her mother and stepfather.

　　If this were to be told in the village, wouldn't it be another good topic of conversation?

　　Driving the whole family out of the house will cause people to talk about it wherever they go.

　　The novel does not give a clear details of Gu Nianwei's family background in this world, and Jiang Youtao has no way of knowing.

　　She nodded sympathetically: "Who said it wasn't?"

　　The revamped version of Temptation of Going Home was discussed in the team for a week, but was soon overshadowed by new gossip.

　　The sky in midsummer is like a child's face. When you went to the bathroom last night, the sky was full of stars, but when you woke up the next morning, it was drizzling outside.

　　After the rain, the production team had work to do, but the payout was very low.

　　The educated youths looked down upon these work points. Whenever it rained, they would go to the commune together.

　　Because they were able to go out for a walk, the atmosphere at the educated youth site was particularly cheerful that day.

　　After breakfast, Jiang Youtao changed her clothes and went to town with Gu Nianwei and Li Yunying. Zhao Yonglan, Zhang Huihui and Liu Yingjun had already gone to the commune with Wang Shanxi and the others.

　　They each held an umbrella and walked slowly towards the commune. The roads in the countryside were dirt roads, which became muddy when it rained. The new clothes they had just put on were splashed with mud after just a few steps, but this did not affect their joyful and beautiful mood.

　　When they reached the village entrance, they saw two children digging wild vegetables in the rain. The three of them looked carefully and found that they were Lin Wen'an and Lin Wenrong.

　　As an old educated youth, Li Yunying knew a lot about the Lin family and felt quite sympathetic towards the three children.

　　Sometimes when she see them on the road, she give them some food.

　　When Jiang Youtao and her group saw the two brothers, the two brothers also saw them.

　　Lin Wen'an and Lin Wenping are twins, Lin Wen'an is the second oldest. He looked at the three educated youths holding umbrellas and touched his hungry stomach: "Brother?"

　　Lin Wen'an only said one word and Lin Wenping understood what he meant.

　　The two brothers lifted the basket in tacit understanding and stepped on the soft and muddy dirt road with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Their skinny figures staggered in the rain, which made the women, who were naturally soft-hearted, feel pity for them.

　　They walked towards Jiang Youtao and the others with great effort. Li Yunying looked at the pitiful appearance of the two brothers and could not help but call them: "It's raining so hard, why don't you go home?"

　　Lin Wenping looked at them timidly, lowered his head and tugged at the corner of his clothes, saying weakly: "Grandma said that the three of us brothers only know how to eat white rice. We don't want to be a burden, so we came here to find something to eat. We searched for a whole morning and only found some wild vegetables. We can take them back to my aunt and uncle to eat, so that we can reduce the burden on the family..."

　　The more he spoke, the lower his head hung, as if he was very embarrassed.

　　"My brother and I came here without even having dinner." Lin Wen'an added, touching his stomach and looking at them eagerly.

　　The three of them looked at each other, and Li Yunying sighed: "You have dug up a lot, go back quickly, if your grandma scolds you, run to your aunt's house."

　　Although Gu Nianwei's parents got married and she was kicked around like a ball, she had never been hungry. After coming to this era of food and clothing shortages, she always felt pity for the people of this era.

　　This is especially true for children.

　　For some reason, she felt particularly close to the three children from the Lin family as soon as she saw them, and couldn't help but be nice to them. Just like now, looking at the two brothers who were soaked like drowned rats, she felt particularly distressed.

　　She reached into her pocket and actually took out a handful of candies from the space and handed them over: "Here, I'll give you some candies, go home quickly."

　　Seeing the White Rabbit milk candy, Lin Wenping's breathing quickened a little, but he was able to hold it steady. However, Lin Wen'an could not hold back any longer. He snatched the candy from Gu Nianwei's hand and scratched her palm with his sharp nails covered in black mud, causing her to frown in pain.

　　Lin Wenping immediately apologized to Gu Nianwei, looking and sounding very guilty. Gu Nianwei waved her hand and watched them walk away.

　　Li Yunying was a little surprised, "Nianwei, why did you give them so much candy?"

　　Gu Nianwei was stunned for a moment, then said, "Ah? A lot? I think they are quite pitiful."

　　Li Yunying was speechless for a moment. She felt that Gu Nianwei was too generous to the Lin brothers. It was not the first time that she had generously given them gifts like today. She just said casually that the candy belonged to Gu Nianwei and she could give it to whomever she wanted and as much as she wanted. She had no right to control it. She didn't say anything more.

　　Jiang Youtao remained silent. Gu Nianwei was considered generous among the educated youth, but she definitely did not have such compassion as to give so many candies to a child at once. This was too abnormal.

　　She observed Gu Nianwei carefully. When Li Yunying spoke, Gu Nianwei was also surprised for a moment, but then she returned to normal. To use the superstitious method of their previous life, it was like being bewitched by a ghost.

　　Jiang Youtao narrowed her eyes, as if thinking about something.

　　Lin Wen'an, who had already walked away, asked Lin Wenping: "Didn't aunt say that she wanted to make this Miss Gu our stepmother?"

　　Lin Wenping nodded. Lin Wenan held the candy in his mouth and said, "She is quite generous. She gives us delicious food every time she sees us."

　　Among all the educated youth, Lin Wen'an liked Gu Nianwei the most because she was generous.

　　He reminded Lin Wen'an: "Next time you can't hurt Miss Gu like you did just now. What if she gets angry and doesn't give us food? When she marries Dad, you have to behave better in front of her. Let's try to please her, so that she will treat us like Goudan's mother did."

　　"Goudan's mother? Didn't others say that she worked like a slave in Goudan's house, like an old maid?"

　　Lin Wenping patiently explained to Lin Wen'an: "The opera has been sung. A maid is supposed to serve others. Isn't it good for her to serve us?"

　　When he said this, the timidity on Lin Wenping's face was gone. His young face was cold and calm, with a precocious maturity and commercialism that was not right for his age.

　　Lin Wen'an had always admired Lin Wenping. He clapped his hands and said, "That's good, that's good. I want Miss Gu to be our stepmother and a maid. But what if she treats us badly?"

　　"Then we will tell everyone that she is not good to us just like what we did to grandma. Who do you think people will believe?" Lin Wenping said without thinking.

　　"Brother, you are so smart. You easily tricked her into giving us a handful of candies, and you also have a way to deal with her." Lin Wen'an looked at him with admiration.

　　The figures of the Lin brothers gradually faded away, and Li Yunying and Gu Nianwei continued to walk towards the commune.

　　"Youtao, let's go." Gu Nianwei had already taken two steps out. Seeing that Jiang Youtao had not caught up with her, she hurriedly called her. Jiang Youtao responded and caught up with them.

　　The rain stopped and they put away their umbrellas. Jiang Youtao took Gu Nianwei's arm and took the opportunity to turn over her palm. A red mark was very conspicuous and the skin was a little broken.

　　This kind of wound is the most painful, but looking at Gu Nianwei's appearance, she seemed to feel no pain.

　　Jiang Youtao pursed her lips and pretended to press her palm casually. Gu Nianwei took a breath and looked at the wound on her palm, wondering, "Huh? When did I get this scratch?"

　　"Nianwei, are you kidding? You're not even old yet but your memory is so bad? This was scratched by the Lin brothers when you were giving them candies just now." Li Yunying said with a smile.

　　"Oh oh..." Gu Nianwei remembered that she had indeed been scratched just now. She was stunned for a few seconds and said slowly, "It's okay."

　　Jiang Youtao, who had been paying attention to Gu Nianwei, because serious.

　　She had probably guessed what was going on, but she needed to observe further to confirm the details.

　　*****

　　Zaoxiang Commune is not big and you can see the end at a glance.

　　To enter Zao Township from the direction of Liushugou, you have to cross a small bridge. The river under the bridge has no name, but the water is very clear and you can see the riverbed at a glance.

　　After crossing the bridge is the health center, and further in is the supply and marketing cooperative compound photo studio and the township post and telecommunications office.

　　Jiang Youtao was a new educated youth. Gu Nianwei and Li Yunying knew that she wanted to send a telegram to her family, so they took her to the post office first.

　　There are a lot of people in the post office today, and most of them are young people in their teens and twenties. They are all educated youth who went to the countryside.

　　Jiang Youtao was in the line for sending telegrams, and soon it was her turn. The postal staff handed her a form and told her: "Write down the name and address of the recipient and the content of the telegram. After filling it out, wait here. A telegram can have a maximum of 22 words, and each word costs three and a half cents. Do you understand?"

　　"I see, I see. Can you give me an extra form? I'll be sending two copies." The post office staff glanced at her and took out another form from the table and gave it to her.

　　Jiang Youtao hurriedly took the form to the side to fill in the information, and then went over to wait in line.

　　A telegram had 22 words, and Jiang Youtao did not waste a single word. After careful consideration, she wrote down everything she wanted to write on paper. After the telegraph operator gave her some instructions, Jiang Youtao paid one yuan and sixty cents.

　　It took her half a minute to squeeze out from the post office. Gu Nianwei and Li Yunying stood under the eaves of the post office, looking at the rain and talking. When they saw Jiang Youtao coming out, they opened their umbrellas and walked towards the supply and marketing cooperative.

　　Jiang Youtao thought that she hadn't seen them at the post office just now, so she asked casually, "Don't you send letters home?"

　　Gu Nianwei said: "I don't have any relatives at home waiting for news from me."

　　Gu Nianwei felt that she was a person with a very shallow relationship with her family, just like in her previous life. After her parents divorced, they didn't want her anymore and kicked her from one family to another like a ball. Finally, her grandmother couldn't stand it anymore and took her back to raise her.

　　In this life, she didn't have a father, and it didn't matter whether she had a mother or not. Her grandparents didn't care about her. If Gu Nianwei hadn't used the house as a bargaining chip, they wouldn't have taken the initiative to do this.

　　Li Yunying curled her lips and said, "I do have relatives, but unfortunately it doesn't make much difference whether I contact them or not."

　　Li Yunying is the eldest in the family and she has three younger siblings. In the first two years when she went to the countryside, her parents would send her some things, but as her second brother grew older, the things her family sent her became fewer and fewer.

　　Especially after her second brother got married last year, her parents always asked her to get married in every correspondence, saying that they couldn't hold their heads up in front of relatives and friends because she was so old and still hadn't married.

　　They advised her to find someone in the countryside and get married, but the betrothal gift must not be less, and most of it must be sent back.

　　Li Yunying found it boring just thinking about it.

　　She would avoid contacting her family if she could, as contacting them would only cause trouble for herself.

　　After hearing what they said, Jiang Youtao stopped asking.

　　The three of them went to the supply and marketing cooperative. There were just as many people in the cooperative as in the post office. Jiang Youtao didn't need anything, but she always remembered the pair of gloves she owed Gu Nianwei, so when she saw they were for sale, she rolled up her sleeves and squeezed in. After buying the gloves, she saw the cloth counter next door.

　　She then remembered that she didn't have many clothes, and the ones she was wearing now were the original owner's, which were somewhat old. She remembered that her classmates from Northeast China once said that it would get cold in Northeast China after August, when autumn begins.

　　It wasn't long since she had finished her calculations. She silently called the melon-eating system: [ Will there be any warm clothes or pants in the system's reward supplies? ]

　　It is said that the temperature in Northeast China is usually minus 10 to 20 degrees Celsius in winter, and Jiang Youtao is very afraid that she won't be able to survive it.

　　Melon-eating system: [ Yes, it depends on whether the host is lucky or not. It doesn't matter if you are unlucky, the system mall has everything. ]

　　Jiang Youtao turned around and left. She was a poor woman now and would never spend money to buy something if she can get it for free. Besides, the educated youth were entitled to three pounds of cotton and two feet and eight inches of cloth every winter. Jiang Youtao estimated that it would not be long before this share would be distributed.

　　Gu Nianwei and Li Yunying were still squeezed in the supply and marketing cooperative, and Jiang Youtao was waiting for them at the door.

　　The rain had stopped by now, and a breeze blew, bringing a slight chill. Jiang Youtao shivered and got goose bumps.

　　She had a deeper understanding of the coldness in Northeast China.

　　It was almost nine o'clock when Gu Nianwei and Li Yunying came out of the supply and marketing cooperative. Li Yunying suggested going to a state-owned restaurant for a good meal, and Jiang Youtao readily agreed.

　　It has been nearly half a month since she went to the countryside. The pickles made by Hao Juxiang have long been eaten. There is no meat on the table of the educated youth camp. Every day there are all kinds of green vegetables.

　　Jiang Youtao's mouth was filled with bitterness.

　　Gu Nianwei looked at the sky outside and said, "I still have to go to my aunt's house. I'll have lunch there at noon. You guys go ahead."

　　Li Yunying had long been accustomed to this. She said to Gu Nianwei, "Okay, just be careful."

　　"Okay, I'm leaving now." Gu Nianwei walked away carrying the box full of supplies.

　　Jiang Youtao followed Li Yunying to the state-owned hotel.

　　Walking to the corner, Jiang Youtao turned around and took a look, but Gu Nianwei had disappeared.

　　She answered Li Yunying's questions while quickening her pace to keep pace with her.

　　According to the contents of the book, whenever Gu Nianwei said she was going to her aunt's house, she was selling space supplies. Zao Township was too small and there was no black market, so she usually went to the county town.

　　There is a bus that leaves Zaoxiang for the county seat at 9:30 in the morning and returns at 4:30 in the afternoon.

　　They ordered two servings of dumplings at a state-owned restaurant. Li Lanying had the one with sauerkraut and oil filling, while Jiang Youtao ordered the one with pork and green onions. After the dumplings were served, they took turns eating.

　　The sauerkraut oil filling is made from the oil residue left after refining the oil, paired with sauerkraut pickled from Chinese cabbage, a specialty of the north. It has a sweet and sour taste and is full of flavor.

　　The pork with green onion melts in your mouth and comes with some gravy. It is very delicious when dipped in vinegar, garlic juice and chili oil.

　　July is the season when local cherries in the north are ripe. On the way back, someone was selling cherries by the bridge.

　　It was a woman with three children. She sat beside the cherries without moving, and the three children squatted beside her.

　　Li Yunying went over and took out money to buy all the cherries. The woman looked at Li Yunying and tears fell from her eyes.

　　Li Yunying pulled Jiang Youtao and walked faster. When they were far away, Li Yunying stopped and turned around to look at the woman who was holding a baby in her arms and had two children beside her.

　　She said, "Youtao, did you see that? She refused to listen to advice and insisted on marrying a local educated youth."