Chronicle of the 70s

Li Jianwen seemed not to hear Ge Sanmei’s complaints as he turned away and walked off. Seeing her son leaving, Ge Sanmei quickly followed after him: "Jianwen, slow down. Where are you going? Come home with Mom, and study for your exam."

Li Jianwen turned around, glaring fiercely at Ge Sanmei, and said: "Stop talking to me about studying!"

Ge Sanmei was taken aback by the sudden change in her second son’s demeanor, but she couldn’t give up and whispered, "How can you get a job assignment without an education? Mom is still counting on you to provide for her in old age."

Li Jianwen, who was about to leave, suddenly spun around. His fierce face unexpectedly broke into a smile and he said, "Then Mom should go beg Qin Xi. Beg your daughter and son-in-law to get me a good job. Qin Xi has now returned to the capital. His grandfather is a high-ranking official. It would be easy to get into the government or even secure supply rations with a word from him."

Ge Sanmei looked at her son’s sudden smiling face with not a trace of happiness, but immense fear instead. Ever since failing the exam for two years in a row, her second son had changed completely.

He constantly asked for money to go to the county to "make connections", but where could she get money? The money from adopting Li Xianglu had run out long ago, and the few hundred yuan she received from the divorce from Li Erfu was also spent over time. In these last two years, the work points from the fields were managed by her eldest and his spouse, even the grain was locked up. She had to create a scene just to persuade that despicable An Cuicui to give her a few yuan, but that was hardly enough.

Begging that heartless girl? She had knelt before her, and she wouldn’t even forgive or acknowledge Ge Sanmei.

Watching her son’s departing figure, Ge Sanmei’s no longer young body also swayed. Who could she rely on in the future?

No, she still had a promising youngest son. San’er was the apple of her eye, the one she had cherished from a young age. Yes, she would send a telegram.

At the end of the year, San’er had even given her twenty yuan. It’s unknown what spell Li Dafu’s family had cast on the boy, they even brought back a brand-new cotton quilt for that old man, claiming it was from Xiang sent from the capital for San’er to bring back. Impossible, a girl still schooling, how could she afford a quilt!