novelraw Chapter 380 - 1: The Good Life in the 1970s_2
Chapter 380 - 1: The Good Life in the 1970s_2
Chapter 380: Chapter 1: The Good Life in the 1970s_2
The old lady exclaimed with an "Oh my!" and immediately shouted, "How dare you talk back!"
Chu River felt this mother was definitely trying to pick a fight, and when it came to picking fights, she was undefeated. So, she picked up another black steamed bun from the basket in the middle: "Not only did I talk back, but I’m not even full yet!"
This was a huge taboo!
Unbelievable that a girl would dare to eat so much, the old lady instantly jumped up and raised her big hand to hit her, even the other family members disapproved...
In a flash, Chu River recalled her memories—Chu River, 16 years old, wakes up in the morning to carry water, water the vegetable garden, feed the chickens, weed, make breakfast, and then go to work.
She works hard and can earn 8 work points a day.
Among the women in the entire village, besides the teacher, very few earn full work points.
She comes home at noon to scrub the pots, wash the dishes, cook, and do laundry. In the evening, she still has to scrub the pots, wash the dishes, cook, do laundry, tidy the house, and sweep the yard...
Damn...
Chu Aiguo almost squeezed out a tear—after working so hard, not only did she not get to eat meat, but she’s still not full?
Li Chang’an, oh Li Chang’an, she won’t curse anymore. It turns out that in some worlds, life is harder!
Having gained no advantage, Chu River became even more confident. As the old lady swung a slap, she quickly dodged, and at the same time watched several old men at home criticize her:
"Little He, how can you be so insensible..."
"You barely exert yourself all day..."
"Exactly, your nephews and nieces haven’t had their fill, and you’re eating so much by yourself, is that reasonable?"
Goodness! Chu River simply flipped the table with a wave of her hand.
A series of clanging sounds followed, and the entire room was in chaos. That black steamed bun certainly was a weapon of mass destruction, rolling far after hitting the ground and bumping into the threshold; Chu River almost thought she heard it make a sound.
She finally felt relaxed: "You all eat so much, why can’t I? If we are to share the blessings, we should also share the hardships. If no one can eat, then let’s all not eat."
After all, this bun doesn’t have much nutrition. Eating one doesn’t even cover the energy spent chewing it.
Everyone in the room was stunned.
...
There were no secrets in the village. By afternoon work, everyone knew the Old Chu Family’s girl had gone mad and flipped the table at lunch.
But everyone knew deep down—
"In my opinion, Little He is really hardworking, painfully thin, works so hard every day, maybe their family stirred up something again, blaming the honest girl."
"I think so too, a whole family that does nothing but goes to work, yet the house is kept spick and span. Tell me, Little He, washers two big basins of clothes, whose girl is as capable as she is?"
"She looks too skinny, just worried that her health is deteriorating, and later she’ll have trouble having children for her husband’s family..."
The murmurings around her went unheard by Chu River. She had basically understood the era through her memories, just two words, bad luck.
Wasn’t it unlucky?
Even in ancient times, money meant access to better food. But at this time, in 1970, you needed an introduction letter to leave the area, food rations depended on work points, and buying things required money and coupons. The key issue was there was nothing to buy; even soap wasn’t guaranteed, even with money and coupons.
Plus, the family couldn’t have private property—chickens were raised secretly, every household secretly had a few. Pigs were public property; except for growing some vegetables, all other harvests belonged to the commune.
This national circumstance left her utterly frustrated because, according to her memories, in her whole life, she only tasted a bit of meat during the New Year each year.
Truly a bit.
It’s just too much...
Thinking of the black and white flowers from her past life, that was her moon in this world! Just thinking about it made tears of bitterness trickle down from the corners of her mouth.
Fortunately, she still had strength left, and from her memories, Chu River knew that every year, the family with the highest work points received two extra pounds of pork. She contemplated her own ability, and thus started digging with determination.
In just an afternoon, she managed to open up two plots of land by herself, ensuring quality and quantity, digging deep with the hoe and breaking the soil finely. The middle-aged women around weren’t necessarily farm experts, but they were experienced. Now, even the most enthusiastic among them managed only half a plot.
Chu River then went to check out the men’s area. Goodness, the most capable among them only managed to open one plot, and the soil wasn’t evenly dug.
She marched proudly, with the sound of the off-duty gong ringing, over to the scorekeeper, watching him praise her with a smile:
"Little He did a great job today... amazing, truly a heroine!"