Whitewashing

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

In Episode 33, Whitewashing, Lin Yuzhu clicked her tongue. To be fair, village chiefs really did have a bit of power in their hands these days. Not to mention the National College Entrance Examination a few years later, even after this uproar passed, the educated youths would not all return to the city in one rush. They would still leave in batches, dragging on for one or two years. If they ran into someone petty, he really could make things difficult for them over this.

As for the first National College Entrance Examination, Lin Yuzhu only knew that it was announced in October 1977. The exam was held within a month or two after the announcement, and the dates varied from province to province. She did not know much beyond that. It seemed the first round even had inspection teams, so the village chief had room to pull strings there too.

As for completely offending the village chief, that probably had not happened.

Lin Yuzhu said softly, "You were the one who embarrassed him the most today, but it shouldn't have offended him that badly, right?"

Wang Xiaomei grew a little anxious. "Did I?"

Thinking it over, it did seem she had gone a little too far. "If you're really worried, give him something and offer him a way out."

When someone ate your food, their mouth went soft; when they took your things, their hands grew short. That was a timeless rule with normal people.

It was just that the village chief had not acted much like a normal person today.

Wang Xiaomei looked pained.

"Mm, I don't have anything. What should I give him? Wait, didn't you say at noon that he was an old landlord exploiting the people? You didn't exactly give him any face either."

Lin Yuzhu rolled her eyes. "Did I say that?"

"Let me tell you something, but don't tell anyone else."

Wang Xiaomei looked around furtively and whispered.

"What is it?"

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone."

Lin Yuzhu lowered her voice too, copying Wang Xiaomei.

Wang Xiaomei giggled, finding the way they were talking amusing.

"There's a lot."

Wang Xiaomei cleared her throat, looped her arm through Lin Yuzhu's, and said quietly, "Last year, someone came to the village to inspect things. I overheard that there was someone in the county who wanted to build primary schools in several nearby villages."

"That means our village has the best chance?"

Lin Yuzhu blinked, lowered her head to think for a moment, then asked.

"Mm. If they really build a primary school in the village, wouldn't the teachers be chosen from the village first?"

"Definitely. Think about it—the village chief even got his son-in-law a spot at Worker-Peasant-Soldier University. Getting a teacher's position would be even easier."

Wang Xiaomei analyzed the matter with complete confidence.

Lin Yuzhu understood what Wang Xiaomei meant. That little old village chief had managed to get his son-in-law a university placement, which showed that he definitely had connections. Getting a teaching position truly would not be difficult.

This was another incident that had gone completely off track. As for the small matter with the village chief, Lin Yuzhu felt it had been an entirely undeserved disaster.

Who could have imagined that the old man would get hotheaded and want them to give up the house they had built themselves? Was that something a normal person would do?

Thinking it over, Lin Yuzhu felt that although the village chief was not the most outrageous oddball around, he was still an oddball—an oddball who could be useful.

Then they really did need to pay attention to this.

Lin Yuzhu murmured, "Right? I already asked around. If you became a teacher there, the salary would be calculated monthly—three hundred a month."

"Three hundred?"

Lin Yuzhu's eyes lit up. "Do you know which other villages might get a Hope Primary School?"

Wang Xiaomei shook her head and said quietly, "I only happened to overhear that much."

Lin Yuzhu clicked her tongue. "Then let's first get this old village chief on our side."

What happened today really was not a major issue. At most, they had offended him verbally. Considering that Auntie Li Si had thrown him and injured him, he had only received two eggs in compensation.

Lin Yuzhu felt that giving him some eggs would be enough. They could not feed him too well at once, or they would become fat sheep in his eyes.

"I think the two of us can put together five eggs each and bring them over. That should be about right."

Wang Xiaomei thought for a moment, then nodded. "That works. Later, let's go next door and trade for some eggs."

Lin Yuzhu had originally wanted to take some from her own space, but after thinking it over, she decided against it.

It could be said that from the towns down to the villages, only households that raised chickens had eggs. Eggs were valuable, but hard to come by.

If Lin Yuzhu produced eggs out of thin air, it would be easy to arouse suspicion. She could not explain where they came from, could not say she had bought them from someone's home, and certainly could not say she had bought them at the Black Market. Buying things at the Black Market these days was a crime too.

After reaching an agreement, they returned to the Educated Youth Dormitory, changed out of their clothes, washed up quickly, and only then went next door to Auntie Chen's house.

After autumn arrived, the days grew shorter and shorter. Since they had decided to deliver a gift, they naturally needed to go before it was completely dark. It was not safe for two young female educated youths to walk at night either.

When Auntie Chen first saw the two of them enter her courtyard, she looked guarded. But as soon as she heard that they wanted to trade for eggs, she immediately greeted them with a smile. She said they were not good eggs, but she was still willing to trade them. Without scales, they counted ten eggs as one jin.

Lin Yuzhu had experience with this. She and Wang Xiaomei each gave Auntie Chen twenty-five cents and received ten eggs in exchange.

Auntie Chen cheerfully saw them out, thinking that if everyone at the Educated Youth Dormitory came to trade eggs with her, that would be wonderful. The Supply and Marketing Cooperative in town only bought eggs for thirty-eight cents per jin.

After getting the eggs, the two discussed going to the village chief's house right away. It might happen to be mealtime, but that was still better than risking the walk after dark.

Fortunately, when they reached the village chief's house, the family had not started eating yet. The village chief's wife was sitting in the courtyard, preparing to cook with her daughter-in-law.

When the village chief's wife saw the two enter the courtyard, her heart tightened. What were these two here for? Neither was easy to deal with. They were not here to make trouble, were they?

The thought made her heart pound. She looked at them solemnly, ready for anything.

Lin Yuzhu was somewhat puzzled. She had already been reduced to this state, so why did the village chief's wife seem guarded too? When she had gone to Auntie Chen's earlier, she had sensed the same thing. But the village chief's wife should not have been like this. After all, she was a woman who had accepted Lin Yuzhu's brown sugar. Though puzzled, Lin Yuzhu smiled at the village chief's wife and said,

"Is the village chief home?"

One did not slap a smiling face.

Seeing Lin Yuzhu smiling, the village chief's wife guessed that she was not there to quarrel. Thinking of the foolish thing her old man had done today, she cursed him again in her heart. "He's here. Come in and sit!"

After saying that, she called toward the back of the house, "Old man, we have visitors!"

She did not say it openly because she was afraid the neighbors would hear that educated youths had come to their house. The villagers had been especially sensitive about educated youths today. Thinking about the five more educated youths who were coming, the village chief's wife cursed her old man again for being foolish enough to let the commune people fool him.

Lin Yuzhu and Wang Xiaomei could not see what the village chief was doing behind the house, and the meeting between them was a little awkward.

Wang Xiaomei was only quick-witted when she was arguing with someone. At a time like this, she was useless, shrinking behind Lin Yuzhu like a quail.

"What did you two girls come here for?"

The village chief felt that at his age, there was no need to get angry with two young girls. Besides, he felt a little guilty now. After all, he knew he had bullied them.

Lin Yuzhu placed the ten eggs on the table and said in a soft voice, "At noon today, Comrade Wang and I spoke too harshly to you. Thinking about it afterward, you were anxious because of the newly arrived educated youths. You meant well."

"No matter what, we should not have embarrassed you like that in front of so many people. Please don't take it to heart. You should understand us too—we hadn't even settled into the house yet before being asked to give it up. How could we not be anxious?"

"We were so anxious that we spoke without thinking."

"But afterward, we thought about it too. Since you were asking us to give up the house, you surely would have had them compensate us for the money we spent building it. You would never let us suffer a loss. We really misunderstood you!"

"Oh, please be magnanimous and don't hold it against two little girls like us."

Listening to her refined words, the village chief's mouth twitched. These two girls really knew when to bend and when to stretch. When they smiled, they truly smiled; when they cursed, they did not even blink.

Before the village chief could speak, his wife jumped in first. "Girls from the city really do speak pleasantly. Educated Youth Lin, you understand your Village Chief Uncle after all. He only meant well but ended up doing something wrong. He didn't even think about whether those new educated youths had the money to compensate you for that house."

"You two girls, don't take it to heart. The house is still yours. This time, he was just muddled from being in a hurry."

"Sigh, look at the commune, sending down so many educated youths all at once. It really put your Village Chief Uncle in a difficult position."

Lin Yuzhu rather admired the village chief's wife. Her words were truly flawless. In just a few sentences, she had practically whitewashed the village chief. Every word implied that he had never intended to seize their house. Whether or not he had meant it, as long as Lin Yuzhu lived there, the house would remain hers.

Seeing the village chief and his wife both looking troubled, Lin Yuzhu sighed too. This matter really was worrying.

Wang Xiaomei was speechless. Just then, the sound of stir-frying came from inside the house, and Lin Yuzhu stood up at the right moment. "Auntie, we should go back too. There's food simmering in our pot. If we don't hurry back, it'll burn dry."

"Oh, then you'd better hurry back and check. Don't let the pot get ruined."

The village chief's wife looked anxious along with them. Then she picked up the cloth bag holding the eggs. "Take these back. If we really accepted them, wouldn't that be shameless?"

Lin Yuzhu hurriedly declined. "Auntie, this is just a token of our appreciation. Keep them and let the children at home have something nutritious."

"How could I do that? Take them back quickly."

After a few rounds of polite refusal, the village chief coughed before finally speaking. "Sigh, take them back. If I accept them, what would that make me?"

The village chief's wife's grip tightened visibly.

Once the village chief spoke, it meant today's unpleasantness had passed. In the future, they would continue getting along as before. Lin Yuzhu could not possibly take all the eggs back, so after a few more exchanges, they left behind four eggs and returned home.

After they left, the village chief's wife said, "I think those two girls are the only ones in the Educated Youth Dormitory who know how to handle things."

The village chief, who had been lectured by his wife, silently said nothing.

At that moment, a crescent moon hung high in the sky, surrounded by countless twinkling stars. The night sky was truly breathtakingly beautiful. Unfortunately, decades later, children in the city would hardly ever see such a sight.