Chapter Four: The Inquisitive Ladies

The next day

The snow outside the window had stopped, and the leaves of the phoenix trees in the courtyard rustled softly in the breeze.

Golden sunlight streamed through the petal-patterned glass window, casting a warm glow on the blue-and-white sheets. A comforting warmth spread through the air, carrying a gentle, pleasant fragrance.

“Splash, splash!”

Melted snowwater dripped from the eaves, dampening the ground below and rousing Cheng Kaiyan from his sleep.

“Mom! I’m hungry!” Wrapped in his quilt, Cheng Kaiyan turned over, facing the window. Shielding his eyes from the sunlight with one hand, he called out.

He had grown quite adept at shouting now, without any hesitation—after all, this was his own mother.

No reply came. The courtyard was quiet.

Quiet enough to hear the sparrows chattering in the trees and the pattering of melting snow dripping onto the plastic awning.

Cheng Kaiyan swung his legs over the bed and dressed himself with some old clothes from the wardrobe—thick cotton shoes, padded pants, and a cotton jacket—though the sleeves and pant legs were a bit short.

“These are the clothes from high school. They’ll have to do.”

His military greatcoat, which his mother had washed, was hanging outside in the yard to dry.

Stepping into the courtyard, he found it empty—everyone had already gone to work.

Most of the young people had returned to the countryside, and housewives were rare these days.

Most families had several children; only a few, like Cheng Kaiyan’s, were only children. Having many children meant a heavy financial burden. One person’s income couldn’t support the entire family, so women had to work too—carrying half the sky was no joke.

The sun shone brightly overhead.

The golden sunlight spread waves of warmth across his face, and he stretched lazily before turning to the kitchen.

As expected, beneath the pot lid was a bowl of warm millet porridge and some leftover dishes from the day before.

“Ah… life is truly comfortable.”

After finishing his meal, Cheng Kaiyan dragged a lounge chair to the doorstep, lay back, and basked in the sun with a comic book in hand.

The sunlight was warm and drowsy.

On his first day back in the city, he decided to take a light nap—modern people could afford to be a bit lazy.

……

At the vegetable market, though it was Saturday and a day off, the courtyard was empty because everyone had gone shopping.

Xu Yuxiu, along with Aunt Wang from the east wing and Aunt Zhao from the west wing, had all left early carrying their vegetable baskets.

By eight o’clock, the women gathered after finishing their shopping.

“Yuxiu, you bought so many vegetables. Can two people even finish all that? Beef and mutton too—what’s the price today?” Aunt Wang glanced at the basket.

“What can’t be finished? Yesterday we had four dishes and a soup, and Kaiyan ate more than half. Beef is sixty cents a jin, mutton seventy-five cents. Prices have gone up,” Xu Yuxiu shook her head. With her monthly salary of just over fifty yuan, she could easily support herself and her son. Besides, she had saved quite a bit during the years she lived alone. Now it was just more mouths to feed.

But seeing her son eat so much yesterday really startled her. She had never seen that brat eat so much before.

“The year-end is approaching the New Year; price increases are normal. But your boy ate more than half by himself? That appetite! Guess the years in the army have done him some good. Kaiyan was known as a ‘girl child’ when he was little—he didn’t play with the boys, and our Rui Xue used to hang around him with a bunch of little girls,” Aunt Zhao laughed.

Cheng Kaiyan inherited his mother’s striking good looks and had been delicate and refined since childhood. Thus, the people in the compound jokingly called him a girl.

Born prematurely, his health was always fragile, and he never played with the mischievous boys in the courtyard.

So Xu Yuxiu taught him to play the piano and paint.

In the alley, among the rowdy kids, Cheng Kaiyan was quite a unique child.

While other boys were dirty and wild, rolling in mud, catching sparrows, and digging water holes—never playing with girls—Cheng Kaiyan stayed at home playing piano and painting, always clean and neat.

Many little girls admired him for his talents and liked to play with him.

Take Zhao Rui Xue, Aunt Zhao’s daughter, for example—when she was young, with her big braids and the sniffles, she still followed Cheng Kaiyan everywhere. Now she had grown into a tall, cool university student.

“Heh, the army did toughen him up physically these past few years. By the way, today’s Sunday, is your Rui Xue home for the holidays?” Xu Yuxiu smiled helplessly and suddenly asked.

“She should be, but I don’t know if she’s coming back. Last time she said her school held an English poetry recitation contest and she’s busy. We don’t understand these things,” Aunt Zhao said, lifting her chin proudly when mentioning her daughter’s university status—especially in front of a refined lady like Xu Yuxiu, it was quite a point of pride.

Our daughter is a university student! And from a top university, no less!

In the courtyard, that was something to be envied.

By the way, the two-day weekend system hadn’t been implemented yet—it wouldn’t come into effect until 1995, fifteen years later.

Many people mistakenly thought students at this time had no breaks, but in fact, besides winter and summer holidays, there were weekly days off.

Many schools arranged rest days at fixed times; it was impossible to have teachers and students working non-stop.

For example, classes ran Monday to Saturday morning, with Saturday afternoon and Sunday off.

Rural schools, besides national holidays, had two agricultural breaks—one for spring rice planting and one for autumn harvest—usually lasting about a week each.

“By the way, which unit was Kaiyan assigned to? I heard Director Hu from the street office say that second-class merit awardees are supposed to be assigned jobs. Which unit did your Kaiyan get? A second-class merit awardee should get a good position, right?”

“Last year, a man named Zhou from the neighboring Coal Slag Alley retired from the army but was assigned to the supply and marketing cooperative as a sales clerk. Tsk, tsk, he was quickly picked up by a young lady—oh, it was quite a beautiful match! Your Kaiyan won’t be worse off; at worst, he’ll be at the supply co-op, maybe even at the police station,” Aunt Wang asked curiously.

Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhao listened intently.

Xu Yuxiu felt a bit embarrassed. How could she, who had always been proud of her son’s excellence, admit it?

Say her son was foolish and didn’t get assigned a job, just took his discharge pay and came back?

She could only evade: “Well, I’m not quite sure. The boy just got back, took a few days on the train, and after washing up yesterday, went straight to bed. It’s already sunny outside but he still hasn’t gotten up.”

“I see.”

Aunt Zhao shook her head slightly, noticing a hint of discomfort on Xu Yuxiu’s face. She had a suspicion.

She had heard that returning soldiers nowadays had a choice—not to be assigned a job but to take a large discharge payout. Could it be that Kaiyan, tempted by money, took the payout and came home?

But she didn’t press further. Aunt Wang, on the other hand, was less tactful, chattering on and asking questions as if determined to get to the bottom of things.

In a courtyard like theirs, neighbors appeared cordial on the surface but behind the scenes were full of nitpicking, sarcasm, and petty rivalries.

Especially since the Cheng family held a special status in the compound—many eyes were on them.

Though Cheng Kaifu was deceased, he had once been a Peking University professor.

Xu Yuxiu was a refined lady from a prominent family in the capital, highly educated, now a teacher earning over fifty yuan a month—about twice what many others made.

They were undoubtedly respectable, standing at the top of the social hierarchy in the entire Xiaowei Alley.

Their only son, Cheng Kaiyan, had returned from the southern border with a second-class merit award. Recently, there had been much fanfare—commendation letters, recognition as a meritorious family, awards—glorious and dazzling.

If he got a decent job now, with their family background, looks, and abilities, he would be a perfect catch—a golden son-in-law! Even Zhao Rui Xue, who had graduated from university and was ready to marry, might not find a match with such conditions.

Aunt Wang’s eldest son had taken over his father’s job at the steel mill as a first-class official mechanic, earning thirty-three yuan a month. That might sound good, but in Beijing, it wasn’t much.

Moreover, he was short and stocky, and Aunt Wang had long tried to find him a pretty city girl to marry but hadn’t succeeded.

As they say, you can compare goods but comparing people can be infuriating.

So, the aunts in the courtyard weren’t really concerned about what kind of job Cheng Kaiyan had—they were just fishing for information.

After all, there’s an old saying: you fear your brother will suffer hardship, but you also fear he’ll drive a luxury car.

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