Description
Su Yu had been an only child. Her paternal grandfather raised her as if she was a boy that would succeed the family. However, when she was ten years old, her mother gave birth to a pair of fraternal twins. Now that the Su's had a son to inherit, she had had to step aside. For Su Yu, this was a wonderful thing. She was happy to be able to live a good life without working.
Who knew that her father would learn from others and want to marry off his daughter into an alliance marriage? If her chosen fiance was good in all aspects, she could have tolerated her father's arrangement. However, her chosen fiance was a person with IQ problems.
At that moment, Su Yu suddenly understood the old saying. It was every person for themselves, and the devil took the hindmost. After seizing control of the family assets from her weak and incompetent father, she made up her mind to be the head of the household for the rest of her life. However, it seemed that the heavens wouldn't let her live a free and easy life. After a good night's sleep, she woke up and was back in 1959. She had become another person with the same name.
The original owner was someone that worked like a dog for her family, but Su Yu wouldn't do such a s*upid thing even if someone threatened her with death. Even if she were to work extremely hard for her family, she would require her family to work extremely hard for her too.
She wouldn't do such a stupid thing even if someone threatened her with death (1)
Ding ding ding...
As soon as the bell rang, the workers of Jiangdong Textile Factory left their jobs one after another. Carrying their bowls, they rushed to the canteen.
Today was Monday, and the canteen was serving delicious scallion pancakes. That was made using real white flour and soybean oil. The delicious aroma could be smelled in the other areas of the factory. Now that it was lunch time, everyone rushed to the canteen. They were worried that the scallion pancakes would be gone if they went there too late.
After all, since the beginning of last year, the canteen's supply has been deteriorating day by day. The current situation was nothing like last year, in 1958. Everything was available back then to eat, and they didn't need tickets.
Thinking about those days in the past, it was like a dream. They could only hope that the old supply would be restored, and these sad days would soon be over.
Su Yu held her bowl. Her eyes curiously scanned the sides, and then she followed the large group to rushing to the cafeteria.
This was her second time eating a meal in the cafeteria. The morning meal was only congee and a corn tortilla. She was very hungry now.
Rushing to the front, she stealthily gulped as she looked at the remaining scallion pancakes inside the large basin. "Two scallion pancakes!"
"Four food stamps!" The cafeteria's Chef Niu yelled.
Su Yu hurried to pay with the tickets. Cheap, too cheap!
Chef Niu put two scallion cakes into her bowl. He didn't forget to take a break to ask her, "Little Su, how come you didn't go home at noon? Are you leaving them to fend for themselves? Is the sun rising from the west today? "
Su Yu smiled. "They're old enough. They don't need me to worry about them. Chef Niu, I'll be eating my meals at the canteen from now on."
Chef Niu was so surprised that he almost dropped the rice scooper.
After Su Yu left, Chef Niu asked his wife while serving other workers. "Huahua's mom, what's wrong with little Su? She used to always go home as soon as her break started. Anything that was good, she would bring it home for her siblings. And she said she's going to eat here from now on? Does that mean she's going to eat by herself from now?"
If this was true, the youngsters in the Su family were in for a hard time. Other than Su Dazhi, the other two were minors. Even if there was food available to buy, without money, they would have to go hungry.
Mrs. Niu served congee to the workers as she replied, "What's wrong with her eating her food? Those siblings of hers are white-eyed wolves. She shouldn't bother worrying about them. As soon as Su Dazhi got married, he argued about seperating from the family. I heard that his wife's family is after Little Su's job too. The two younger siblings aren't thoughtful kids either. She's always worrying about them. They should be taught a lesson! If they were my children, I would punish them until they behave."
Chef Niu didn't say anything.
Little Su's life hadn't been easy all these years. Su Guodong and his wife had been helping with delivery factory goods when they got into an accident. They left behind four children. At the time of their death, Su Yu was only sixteen years old. She had been about to get married then, but because she had to take care of her siblings, the marriage talks had failed. She had worked hard all these years to raise her younger siblings. In the blink of an eye, she became a 26 years old spinster. She was dating someone, but he wasn't serious about her.
If Little Su really gave up on caring for her younger siblings anymore, outsiders couldn't say anything bad about her.
She wouldn't do such a stupid thing even if someone threatened her with death (2)
After finishing her meal, Su Yu hurriedly went to clean her bowl.
These days, barely any oil was used in cooking. Dishwashing soap wasn't needed. She only needed to rinse the bowl under the tap.
On her way out of the canteen, she met a few familiar people. According to the memory left by the original owner, she had impressions of all of them, but she couldn't immediately recall their names. After exchanging perfunctory greetings, Su Yu hurried to the break room to rest.
Inside the break room, there were just some old tables and chairs. Next to them, there were some shelves to put cups, bowls, and chopsticks. She put away her bowl and chopsticks on the shelf and took her cup to drink a sip of water before she sat down on the chair. One after another, people came to the break room. When they saw Su Yu inside, they showed a surprised look.
Everyone at the Jiangdong Textile Factory knew that Su Yu would go home every day to serve her younger siblings. Every day, she was the first to leave and the last to come. It was unprecedented that she didn't go home at noon to cook and went to the canteen to eat instead. In addition, she had come here to rest instead of going home after eating.
Although they were curious, no one disturbed her when they saw that she was lying on the table and sleeping,
Everyone put their eating utensils away. Some people went back to work, and others lied on the tables to rest. Very soon, the clattering sound subsided.
Su Yu's head moved, revealing an exhausted flushed face.
Ai, this type of life was killing her. There wasn't enough to eat, and she couldn't even find a bed to take an afternoon nap.
Thinking about how she had grown up and lived in luxury until now, Su Yu felt awful.
Riding the tide of reform, her elderly grandfather had made a fortune and led the whole family to a life of prosperity. And so, she was born to a wonderful life without financial worries. Before the age of ten, she was an only child. Her grandfather raised her as if she was a boy that would succeed the family. At that time, Su Yu followed her family's arrangements. There was no other way. If no one stepped up to take charge of the family's assets, how could she live in the future? However, when she was ten years old, to everyone's surprise, her mother gave birth to a pair of fraternal twins. Now that the Su's had a son to inherit, she had had to step aside.
For Su Yu, this was a wonderful thing. Anyways, as a member of the Su's, she wouldn't be left with nothing. She would definitely get a share of the family assets. She was happy to be able to live a good life without working.
Who knew that her father would learn from others and want to marry off his daughter into alliance marriage? If her chosen fiance was good in all aspects, she could have tolerated her father's arrangement. However, her chosen fiance was a person with IQ problems.
At that moment, Su Yu suddenly understood the old saying. It was every person for themselves, and the devil took the hindmost. She wasn't a match for her grandfather's cleverness, but it was easily to deal with her weak and incompetent father. She found someone to set up her father. Her father gambled and lost. To settle his gambling debts, he misappropriated company money. He was immediately kicked out of managing the family business. Her grandfather was getting older, and her younger siblings were still in middle school, so naturally her engagement was cancelled for the sake of the family business. She was able to stay at home in order to help run the family business.
In a few years, she took advantage of her family's business to set up her own company. By the time her family would find out about it, the family's business was only an empty shell.
Like her, the members of the Su's knew that a wise person submitted to circumstances. After determining that no amount of fuss by her relatives would make her lose the assets that she had swallowed, she confessed what she did. Her grandfather, who was already terminally ill, played the affection card with her and told her to care for her younger siblings.
For Su Yu, raising two children was of course no problem, but there was no way she would raise two leeches. That would cost her so much money. And so, after they graduated, she kicked them out to work. They couldn't come home to live rent-free. If they dared to disobey, she would cut off their allowance! Everyone in the family, from the young to the old had to look at her face. She had absolute authority over the Su's.
A few years of being the head of the family had let her completely experience how being in charge of the household felt. After she made up her mind to be the head of the household for the rest of her life, it seemed that the heavens wouldn't let her live a free and easy life. After a good night's sleep, she woke up and was back in 1959. She had become another person with the same name.
- She wouldn't do such a stupid thing even if someone threatened her with death (3)
She had no idea how it all happened or where the original owner had gone. She could only leave her new unfamiliar home by instinct, and then come to work at the factory. Along the way, she saw the streets and the slogans on the walls that were characteristic of this time period. She felt as if everything was a dream, and she didn't even know if her old memories were real or a dream. Anyway, she was sure that what was happening now was not a dream. After all, the feeling of hunger was so real... and she was tired too. The machines inside this sixties textile factory were very old, and the temperature inside the workshop was so high that she almost couldn't stand it all morning.
Ding ding ding...
The bell for work rang again, and the women inside the break room all stood up. Taking cups of water, they headed to the workshop.
"Su Yu, it's time to get back to work!"
Someone pushed Su Yu's shoulder.
Su Yu looked up and recognized that it was Zhu Lingling, her coworker. She smiled, "I'm coming."
There were many types of work inside the textile factory, and Su Yu belonged to a group of textile workers that worked the hardest in the workshop.
This kind of work was not only hard, but had no promotion opportunities. The job was like a spinning top, the kind where one had to spin non-stop for the rest of their lives.
Although she has the memory of the original owner and she can also do this job, Su Yu wasn't planning on continuing to do this kind of work for a long time. Unless she was the boss and had the benefits that came with it, she would only take a job that had easy work.
After wiping off the sweat on her face, Su Yu looked at the female workers next to her. They were all chatting as they worked. No one was paying attention to her.
She knew that these people didn't purposely exclude the original owner. They weren't close to her because the original owner usually left early and came late in order to take care of her family. In order to be able to satisfy the factory's management, when she was at work, she focused on her work and never chatted with other female workers. And so, even though she had been working at this factory for several years, she didn't have many friends to talk to.
The original owner really had worked like a dog for her family. What an extraordinary sacrifice, ah.
Su Yu smacked her lips. She wouldn't do such a stupid thing even if someone threatened her with death. Even if she were to work extremely hard for her family, she would require her family to work extremely hard for her too.
--
At this time, two people came out from the Su's small single room. Both of them were touching their stomachs and had miserable expressions.
Liu Mei, who had recently married into the family, frowned with dissatisfaction. "Why hasn't Older Sister come home yet? She didn't care about us this morning, and she doesn't care about us at noon."
Her husband, Su Dazhi, lowered his head. "I guess that Older Sister is angry that we want to separate from the family."
Liu Mei was immediately unhappy. "What's she angry about? You're married. How could she expect you to raise your younger siblings? This is such a small room. If they live here too, do you still want to have children in the future?!"
"But... But, this is the home that Dad and Mom left..."
"You're the eldest son, so the home should be left to you. Anyway, when Older Sister comes back at night, we'll have to hurry her. Find a day for her to move out. She's so old, and she's still not thinking of getting married. What is she still doing at home?"
Seeing that her man was still keeping his head down, she added, "And those younger siblings of yours as well. They're already so old, and they still rely on their family to support them. Your younger sister still wants to buy a skirt. In her dreams! I didn't buy anything new when I got married. Whatever. If your older sister wants to buy her clothing, she can buy it. Don't even think about giving her any money."
Su Dazhi nodded in response to the last words.
Not a dream (1)
Su Yu's shift got off work late at 6PM.
After the day shift ended, there were women workers from the night shift who came over to work in the evening. This kind of shift wasn't fixed. After a few days, Su Yu would also have to work the night shift.
Thinking that she wouldn't be able to sleep in the middle of the night and have to come here to work, Su Yu was very unhappy. On second thought, she had come here after falling asleep. Who knows, she might go back to her original world after going to sleep again.
And so, she quickly went to the cafeteria to eat. Once she was mostly full, she hurried home by relying on the original owner's memory.
There were a lot of pedestrians on the road at this time. They were all wearing blue, gray, or yellowish brown work clothing. Each of them were cheerful and full of fighting spirit. For these people, their heavy workload wasn't a burden, but an honor.
At this period of time, the world truly belonged to the working class.
Su Yu knew that she was still somewhat lucky. She had woken up as part of the working class and not as a member of the peasant class. At the very least, she could still eat food at the canteen. Although a family with three generations of poor peasants had an innocent composition, their days weren't good.
She knew from history that the rural areas were currently going through an upheaval from shortage. Everywhere you went, there were people that didn't have enough to eat. If she had transmigrated to the countryside, she might have to follow her fellow villagers in gnawing the bark of trees today.
When she returned to the home in the original owner's memory, Su Yu stopped at the entrance. She wasn't happy at all about going inside. She didn't think it was possible to live in this place at all.
The Su's lived in a large courtyard. There were more than a dozen families living in this courtyard. Each family was only given a single room, and several generations were squeezed into one room. All kinds of pots and pans and things were piled inside, and there were all kinds of junk piled up in the courtyard. It looked crowded and messy.
Aunt Li, who lived in the same yard as the Su's, came out to pour water and saw Su Yu blankly standing in the entrance. She asked, "Su Yu, you're back. Why don't you come inside?"
"Just got back." Su Yu came back to her senses. She pursed her lips into a smile and started walking.
Based on the original owner's memory, she headed to the room that belonged to the Su's. Looking at the room's broken wooden door, she frowned and reached out to open it.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw a few people sitting inside the room.
There was a young couple sitting next to the small table. The woman had pigtail braids, a long face, thin lips, and a small nose. She was also wearing a gray work uniform. The man was wearing the textile factory's uniform. He had a squarish face and looked simple and honest.
Su Yu recalled the original owner's memories and knew that this was the original owner's brother, Su Dazhi, and her sister-in-law, Liu Mei. The two had been married for less than three months and wanted to separate from the family. If they wanted to separate from the family, they could have moved out. But, these two were making trouble over because they wanted this room all to themselves. Su Yu thought these people were thick-skinned enough. They were on the same level as her dad, who had wanted to sell her into an alliance marriage.
However, this was the original owner's family business. Su Yu couldn't be bothered to care about this. She entered the room.
Seeing Su Yu back, Su Dazhi looked up and moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, but Liu Mei pulled him, so he didn't say anything.