Chapter 3

"If we don't do this, when the reckoning comes later, would you really be willing to let your younger sister spend the rest of her life branded as a bourgeois intellectual who worships foreign things?" Shen Bainian said. "You're all boys. You can grit your teeth and endure whatever comes your way, but your sister can't." Song Min could no longer hold back her tears. She began sobbing quietly. "Yunzhou, your father is right. Old Zhou's daughter is only fifteen. They dragged her away, shaved her head into a humiliating half-bald style, hung a sign around her neck, and made her kneel in the schoolyard all afternoon... Whenever I imagine my daughter suffering that kind of humiliation, I feel like I'd rather die!" Shen Yunzhou fell silent. Only Song Min's suppressed sobs echoed through the corridor. After a long while, Shen Yunzhou choked out, "Little sister... She doesn't even know how to boil water. How can we let her go live in a production team in the countryside by herself...?" "She won't be going to a production team," Shen Bainian replied quickly. "She'll be going to Songshiling Forest Farm, near Changbai Mountain in the Northeast." "I have an old friend there who can help arrange things and look after Queying." "The conditions may be harsh, but at least it's a state-owned enterprise. She'll have a salary and a dormitory, and she won't have to worry about going hungry. It's much better than being sent to a rural production team with us, where we'd face criticism and be forced to do heavy labor every day." Shen Yunzhou clenched his fists. "But it's still freezing cold there, and it's thousands of miles away from home. It'll be difficult for her to visit us even once." "Far away is better," Shen Bainian said in an even lower voice. "The farther away she is, the safer she'll be." Behind the door, Shen Queying could no longer focus on anything else. Only a few words kept circling through her mind: sent to the countryside, Northeast China, forest farm. Her heart began racing, and even her dizziness subsided considerably. After all those twists and turns, she was actually going to the Northeast? Oh, my goodness! Wasn't that practically a return to her hometown? Before transmigrating, she had been from Northeast China! She had grown up near the Greater Khingan Mountains, where she would roll around in the snow even when winter temperatures dropped to minus twenty or thirty degrees Celsius. Later, her parents had moved the family to Pingyuan Province. Although she had left the Northeast behind, its distinctive spirit had never faded from her bones. She had spent more than ten years living in Pingyuan Province in her previous life, yet she had never truly felt that it was home. Her roots were in the Northeast, in its black soil, its pine forests, and its freezing winter winds. But even if she was returning to her hometown, this was still a different era. The hardships she would have to endure were unlikely to be any less severe. Shen Queying leaned against the doorframe and listened to the muffled sobbing outside. The excitement in her heart gradually faded. It felt as though someone had squeezed her heart tightly, leaving it aching and heavy. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pushing open the door. "I'll go." The three people in the corridor turned toward her simultaneously. Song Min's eyes were swollen like peaches. She hurriedly lowered her head and wiped away her tears. "Queying? Why are you out of bed? Did we disturb you? Hurry back and lie down. Your fever hasn't completely gone away yet..." "I heard everything. The forest farm in the Northeast sounds fine to me. I'm willing to go." Song Min rushed forward and hugged her, crying so hard that her entire body trembled. "Queying, your mother is sorry. I wasn't capable enough to protect you..." "Mom, don't cry." Shen Queying gently patted her back. "I'll go there first and prepare the way for all of you!" "Once I've established myself there and become familiar with the area, if anything happens in the future... you can come and find me. I'll make all the arrangements for you so you can live comfortably!" Song Min's tears welled up again, and she immediately turned her head away. Shen Yunzhou's eyes were red. "What nonsense are you talking about? How could we possibly let a young girl like you take care of us?" Shen Bainian also removed his glasses and wiped his face. His daughter had grown up in the city. She had never done farmwork or endured real hardship. Whether she could even survive in the Northeast was still uncertain, yet she was already talking about preparing the way for the family and helping them live comfortably. Just hearing those words broke his heart. Song Min trembled as she cried. "You silly child! You're about to leave for such a distant place all by yourself, and you're still trying to comfort us... As long as you're safe and sound, Mom won't ask for anything else." Once everything had been laid out in the open, events seemed to move at fast-forward speed. That very evening, Shen Bainian contacted his connections, and the paperwork went through without a hitch. Within just three days, all the household registration arrangements had been completed. On the day the paperwork was finalized, Shen Bainian had Shen Yunzhou pedal a tricycle loaded with an entire cartful of goods to Shen Jianguo's house. Two sacks of white flour, twenty jin of rice, ten jin of pork, five jin of cooking oil, two cartons of Daqianmen cigarettes, and a bottle of Luzhou Laojiao liquor. Standing at the doorway and looking at all the good things, Shen Jianguo's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Wang Guilan was even more delighted, grinning from ear to ear. Shen Bainian stood at the doorway with a calm expression. "Please take good care of Queying from now on." "Don't worry!" Shen Jianguo thumped his chest confidently. "She's our own daughter. Of course we'll take good care of her!" Shen Bainian glanced at him without saying anything and turned to leave. People like him would agree to anything as long as they were receiving benefits. Once they had gotten what they wanted, their true colors would naturally emerge. Sure enough, on the third day after the household registration was officially transferred, Shen Jianguo changed his attitude completely. That day, Shen Queying carried two packages of pastries to Shen Jianguo's house to formally pay them a visit. Since her household registration had already been transferred, she still needed to observe the proper social courtesies. Otherwise, people might gossip about her. Shen Jianguo was sitting in the main room with his legs crossed, leisurely drinking tea. When he saw Shen Queying enter, he didn't even bother lifting his eyelids. "You're here? Sit down." Shen Jianguo rummaged through a drawer, pulled out a crumpled notice, and slapped it onto the table. "Now that you've acknowledged your roots and returned to your biological family, you need to do your part for this household." "The Educated Youth Office is pressing us to finalize the quota for sending someone to the countryside. Jiabao is still young and physically weak, so he can't go to a place like that. You're the only one who can go. Take a look and choose one." Even though Shen Queying and her family had been expecting Shen Jianguo to bring up this matter, his shameless attitude still infuriated them. She sneered. "So I have no choice but to go, whether I want to or not?" Shen Jianguo's expression changed immediately. "Being sent to the countryside as an educated youth is an honorable thing! It's a national initiative!" "If you don't make your choice today, I'll randomly select a place and submit your name myself! By then, you'll have to go whether you like it or not!" Shen Queying couldn't be bothered to argue with him any longer. She pretended to be frightened and hesitated for a long time before selecting a destination in the Northeast. The moment she signed her name, Wang Guilan could no longer suppress the corners of her mouth from curling upward. Children raised in educated families really are easy to scare! She quickly nudged Shen Jianguo with her elbow. Understanding her signal, he cleared his throat. "All right. Go back and tell Professor Shen and the others that you don't want to cause trouble for the country and that you've voluntarily requested to go to the countryside! Understand?" "Yes." Shen Queying nodded timidly. "Then... if there's nothing else, I'll head home." Wang Guilan immediately waved her away, afraid she might change her mind. Shen Jianguo promptly grabbed the household registration booklet and headed straight to the neighborhood committee's Educated Youth Office. Officer Liu looked at the paperwork in confusion. "Why does this say Shen... Shen Queying? Has your daughter Shen Yao changed her name?" Shen Jianguo slapped his thigh, raising his voice so loudly that the entire street could hear him. "What are you talking about? This is my biological daughter! She was lost for many years, and we only recently found her!" "She's very filial and has voluntarily requested to go to the countryside to gain experience. She chose the Northeast herself!" Officer Liu raised an eyebrow, filled in the form with "Songshiling Forest Farm, Yanbian, Jilin Province," and quickly stamped it. "This batch must leave by the end of this month at the latest. Everything you need to know is written on this receipt: the date, the destination, and the person to contact. She'll travel with the rest of the group when the time comes." Shen Jianguo accepted the receipt, rubbing his hands together, but didn't leave. "Well, what about the subsidies for going to the countryside? And the cotton quilts, padded coats, and other supplies issued to those heading to the Northeast...?" Officer Liu tilted his head and scratched his ear. "Those have to be collected by the person herself. Tell your daughter to come in person."