Chapter 15: A Bountiful Harvest

At the dinner table, the atmosphere was heavy and unusually quiet. Zhong Yuxiu and Yan Rushan’s eyes met by chance. Zhong Yuxiu subtly pursed her lips, signaling for him to say a few words of comfort; Yan Rushan shook his head helplessly, lowering his gaze, his expression softening slightly. There was a tacit understanding between them not to speak. After dinner, the young men forced themselves to clean up the dishes and tidy the house; Sun Ruhong and Jiang Mei washed up briefly and returned to their rooms, lying down without moving.

“Sister Ruhong, Sister Jiang Mei, get up and talk a bit. If you lie down right after eating, you’ll feel uncomfortable,” Zhong Yuxiu said, walking over to Jiang Mei’s bed.

Jiang Mei looked up. “Talk about what?”

“Let’s talk about what we want to do after university. I want to become a great scientific researcher,” she replied, hoping to return to her original field.

“Then you’ll have to work hard. Research isn’t easy.”

Sun Ruhong turned and looked over. “Yuxiu is clever and quick-witted, and she’s sturdy too. As long as she’s willing to apply herself, she’ll have no problem.” The seven of them in the youth dormitory had become numb to being outshone every day by the intelligence of Zhong Yuxiu and Yan Rushan.

“That’s right, I’m quite smart. I’ll make it.” Zhong Yuxiu’s eyes were bright and open. “And you two, what are your dreams?”

“As for me…” Jiang Mei pondered for a long while, then, seeing their expectant gazes, shook her head. “The acceptance letters haven’t even arrived yet. Who knows what the future holds?”

Sun Ruhong lay on her bed and sighed softly. “Why couldn’t my parents have given me a smarter brain?”

“Don’t be discouraged! Which one of us here at the youth point didn’t make the cutoff? Yan Rushan and I just happened to pave the way first. Your acceptance letters will come sooner or later.”

No matter how Zhong Yuxiu tried to comfort them, the two remained listless; for them, anything not yet in hand was unreal. With such pessimism, even the New Year was overshadowed.

After the Lantern Festival, their acceptance letters still hadn’t arrived; afraid of further delay, Zhong Yuxiu and Yan Rushan spent three days running between the production team and the commune, handling all the paperwork for household registration and grain rations.

Seven days later, the acceptance letters for Sun Ruhong, Jiang Mei, Wang Yishan, Luo Jianmin, and Feng Jianjun arrived together. The five of them clutched their letters, tears of joy streaming down their faces; these letters were their lifeline, their chance to escape. None of them had ever wanted to marry in the countryside, and no matter how hard life was, they clung to their hope of returning to the city.

Now, at last, their wishes were fulfilled.

“Congratulations, everyone! Your dreams have come true. From now on, when you step outside, you can proudly say, ‘I’m a university student, a bona fide city dweller again.’”

Zhong Yuxiu made a comical gesture of congratulations, prompting laughter. Sun Ruhong raised her hand and playfully thumped her. “You, Zhong Yuxiu—we were just having a good cry, and you had to make us laugh.”

“Exactly!” Jiang Mei wiped her tears, lifted her chin with a soft snort. “Cheeky.”

Wang Yishan, rarely seen smiling, was grinning widely, clearly delighted; Luo Jianmin, carefree as always, sat on the floor laughing heartily; Feng Jianjun, being shy, lowered his head and chuckled quietly.

“All for your sakes! See, see, no good deed goes unpunished.” Zhong Yuxiu wagged her finger, feigning complaint but unable to hide her smile.

Wang Yishan and the others shook their heads, their lingering worries finally dissipating. Their hearts felt light, as if they could glimpse a bright future ahead.

“Come on, let’s see what majors you got and when you start.” It was the first national college entrance exam in ten years, with over 5.7 million candidates and only a five percent acceptance rate—competition was fierce. After applying, some were reassigned to other majors if their scores weren’t high enough.

Wang Yishan smiled faintly. “I’m at the G Province Institute of Business, majoring in Electronic Applications, starting February 28th.”

Feng Jianjun: “C Province University, majoring in Finance, starting February 27th.”

“My turn! I’m at TJ Normal University, starting February 16th,” Luo Jianmin interjected eagerly.

None of the three were admitted to their first-choice majors; these were results of reassignment. Sun Ruhong and Jiang Mei, however, were placed at Capital Medical College for Clinical Medicine (February 5th) and Capital University of Media and Communication for Journalism (February 8th), respectively—also through reassignment.

“No matter what, we all got into university.” Relieved to be leaving the stifling production team, Luo Jianmin exhaled. “I’ll go to the production team and commune now to get all the necessary documents.”

Once the acceptance letter arrived and the paperwork was done, the educated youth could leave at any time.

Only after coming to the countryside did the youth realize the gap between imagination and reality. In an unfamiliar place, they inevitably faced exclusion; being bullied over small matters was common, and what stung most was that their work points were never counted the same as those of the locals—there were always discrepancies.

The Yu Family Production Team was better than most; at least they weren’t cheated out of work points. Still, the locals never truly accepted them, and getting along was always awkward and uncomfortable.

“I’m going too.”

“Wait for me.”

As soon as one spoke, the others followed, leaving only Zhong Yuxiu and Yan Rushan in the dormitory.

“When are you heading back to the capital, Brother Yan?” Zhong Yuxiu asked.

“What about you?” Yan Rushan replied with a question.

Zhong Yuxiu’s eyes sparkled with a smile. “It’s the twenty-second day of the first lunar month; eleven days until term starts. I plan to leave the day after tomorrow.” She needed time to settle in at the capital and didn’t want to live in the dorms.

“I’ll go with you, since it’s on my way,” Yan Rushan replied calmly.

“Let’s go together, then—it’s good to have company. But we’ll need to buy train tickets first; they’re not easy to get right now.” Even with only five percent admitted to university, plenty of educated youth were returning to the city.

Yan Rushan nodded. “I’ll head to the county town now.”

“All right, I’ll get the money.” She turned back to her room, retrieved thirty yuan from her storage ring, and handed it to him. “Thank you, Brother Yan.”

“Happy to help.” Taking the money, Yan Rushan left swiftly.

Zhong Yuxiu watched him disappear beyond the courtyard gate, closed the gate, and headed up the mountain. Whether or not they could get tickets, she intended to leave the day after tomorrow; at worst, she’d try to buy tickets once on the train. With only two days left in the Yu Family Production Team, she felt she had to go up the mountain one last time.

The deep mountains were unusually warm, and there was no shortage of wild pheasants and hares. In just half an hour, Zhong Yuxiu had caught twenty-three hares and eighteen pheasants, wrung their necks, and stored them in her ring.

She wandered the forest but found no large game. Before heading down, she caught three more hares, each weighing over five jin, and a couple of pheasants weighing two or three jin each.

Back at the dormitory, she placed the three hares on the ground, fetched a large, patched basket from the kitchen, and covered it with a tattered piece of cloth. She then carried it out of the production team, to a hidden spot outside the county town, and transferred the wild game from her ring until the basket was full to bursting with hares and pheasants. Covering them up, she strode into town.

Only then did she realize she didn’t know where to go; she had to stretch out her senses, using her mental power to search for the black market. To her surprise, after ten minutes, she actually found it. The black market was well hidden, so much so that newcomers rarely found it on their first try.

Tightening the straps of her basket, Zhong Yuxiu crossed through dark alleys, rounded two corners, and was suddenly greeted by bright light and the gentle sound of a flowing river.

The black market lay behind some riverside houses, with sellers lined up under the eaves. Buyers and sellers alike disguised themselves in odd ways to avoid recognition—some covered their heads and faces, others kept their hats low, but all took care to remain anonymous.

Zhong Yuxiu silently berated herself—she’d forgotten to hide her face. She quickly retreated to a nearby alley, used a patched cloth from the basket as a makeshift mask, wrapping her head and the lower half of her face, then returned to the market.

As she walked down the narrow passage, people kept eyeing her basket.

She found a clear spot, put the basket down, and lifted the cloth. In an instant, people swarmed around, though no one made a sound; the eager, excited eyes said everything—they were desperate for meat.

Zhong Yuxiu lowered her voice. “Wild pheasant, one yuan per jin; wild hare, one yuan twenty per jin. No scale, I’ll estimate the weight by hand. No bargaining—if you’re worried about being shorted, don’t buy. If not, pick what you want.”