Who Stole My Pressure Cooker (10)

Chapter 30

Moving to town was no easy feat. Leaving the land behind meant having nowhere to live and no job to put food on the table; these were all difficult hurdles to overcome.

When Changgui announced her decision, Yun Song felt it was a viable path on one hand, but on the other, her mind immediately began racing with thoughts of where they would stay and how they would find work to support themselves.

Yun Song had been born and raised in the city, with only a brief period of living in a village. She understood rural life quite well, but life in a small town, situated somewhere between the city and the countryside, was a total blank to her.

Fortunately, Changgui was a woman with her own ideas. She spoke up, “I want to find a family to stay with for a while, though I don’t know if I can find such a household in town.”

This was actually a subtle plea for help. Yun Song understood instantly and said, “I know several families in town. I’ll see if I can help when the time comes.”

The first person who crossed Yun Song’s mind was Old Lady Zhang, the person they had the most financial dealings with, as well as Old Lady Zhang’s neighbors, the Liao family.

She would ask these two families first; if that didn’t work, she would look for others.

However, she still had to worry about work. The couple had originally supported themselves by farming, so what would they do now?

There were only three factories in Tonglin Town: a brick factory, a textile mill, and a shoe factory. The registered population of Tonglin Town was fifteen thousand, yet these three factories combined only required about two hundred workers. Consequently, it was very difficult for young people in town to find work. Many of them had to leave their hometowns to work in Guangdong, let alone a couple as old as Changgui and her husband.

Changgui had considered this problem as well, but such was the life of the poor; they could only take things one step at a time.

Once Changgui decided to leave, she sought out the Village Party Secretary to explain her family’s situation.

“Then your fields… and you still have crops growing in them right now.” The Village Party Secretary let out a sigh.

“You can reallocate them,” she said, her heart feeling as though it were bleeding.

Many people in Tonglin Town did not originally hail from there. People like Changgui had fled there with their parents as refugees when they were children. Back then, what flowed in her blood was an obsession with having a piece of land beneath her feet.

Later, when her family was allotted fields, Changgui and her husband spent every day swinging hoes, watching over the corn sprouts and the rice seedlings. Because of that, they had food to eat, a place to sleep, and they had raised two children.

Now, all of that had to be abandoned. She began to doubt herself, worrying if she had made the wrong choice. If they went to town and couldn’t find a place to stay or a way to make a living, would the couple end up as beggars?

But the words had already been spoken, and Changgui did not take them back. She knew nothing of the future, yet she desperately pushed herself forward.

Chunfeng’s husband soon returned, and Changgui’s eldest son arrived with his wife as well.

The group began packing everything in the house.

On the other side, Yun Song returned to town. The investigators needed to go back to the city to transfer the case to the Procuratorate. Yun Song and two others stayed behind to handle the follow-up. Furthermore, if the Procuratorate returned the case for supplementary investigation, it would be more convenient if they were still there.

After seeing off the investigators, Yun Song went to the home of Old Lady Zhang, the woman with the gambling son.

“Officer, you’ve finally come!” Seeing Yun Song and the others, the old lady stood up happily and trotted over.

She had known since yesterday that the police had returned to Tonglin Town. She had waited near the school several times, hoping to see if there was any work for her.

It was too hard for an elderly person to find money. Although she had five hundred yuan in hand, money was a funny thing; if you didn’t have it, you didn’t think about it, but now that she had those five crisp red bills, she was not only reluctant to spend them but also hoped for more.

Yun Song explained Changgui’s situation.

The more Old Lady Zhang heard, the more she frowned. “That family is just too much of a bully!” she exclaimed.

Yun Song said, “Changgui’s family doesn’t want any more conflict, so they want to move from the village to the town…”

Before Yun Song could finish, the old lady understood. “Have they found a place to stay?”

She looked at her own home. Though it was a bit poor and dilapidated, it was still a place to live. So, the old lady said, “Why don’t you let them stay at my house?”

“They have a lot of things.” After all, they had just harvested their rice and corn, and they had a large row of pickling jars.

The old lady said, “That’s no problem, I’ll find a way.”

“As for the rent, how much do you think would be appropriate?”

The old lady paused. She was older, and people of her generation were more accustomed to helping each other out. She had never heard of charging rent when hosting relatives or friends.

“Why give money for this? It’s only for a short time, and I’m not losing anything.”

When Changgui found out, her impression of the town improved even further. However, she didn’t intend to give money; instead, she planned to give grain.

The fact that the other party didn’t want money was a gesture of kindness, and insisting on paying might actually be awkward. Many people in town didn’t have fields and had to buy rice to eat. She could give more of the freshly harvested rice from her home. Giving rice was also a gesture of sincerity.

Since the living arrangements were settled, it was naturally time to start moving.

First came the rice, then the corn, and finally the quilts, clothes, pots, and pans. They didn’t take the pickling jars; Changgui only took some of the pickles out and gave the rest to the people in the village.

The biggest trouble was that Changgui’s family raised two pigs. It was already October, and in two months, it would be time to slaughter the New Year pigs¹, so both pigs were quite fat.

Now, they could only be sold off at a low price.

And so, Changgui’s family moved from the village to the town.

Yun Song was still anxious and worried about Changgui and her husband. After all, they still needed to find a way to earn a living.

Only two days passed before Changgui and her husband found a way themselves.

She and her husband had spent some money to buy an old popcorn machine² from somewhere.

It was a small iron canister. With several bags of corn kernels from her home, she could make popcorn. She decided to start with this.

When Yun Song arrived, Changgui was loading corn kernels into the machine while her husband was starting the fire. They were surrounded by a large circle of children and adults.

Soon, with a loud bang, the canister was opened, and the corn kernels burst into popcorn.

The children immediately swarmed around.

“Ten cents for two scoops! Everyone grab a bag.” Following the instruction, the children each took a large bag. Some children didn’t have bags of their own, so they gripped the two corners of their shirt hems to create a pouch. Changgui gave them a generous, overflowing scoop of popcorn.

One child had to use both hands to hold up his shirt, leaving him unable to eat, so he started running, wanting to get home as quickly as possible. As the child ran, the fragrance of popcorn wafted through the entire street.

Yun Song watched all of this, a sense of relief washing over her heart.

Standing on the street of Tonglin Town, she looked at the couple who had regained their spark for life. She remembered the state they were in when she first met them.

In truth, she hadn’t done anything extraordinary; she had simply done what a police officer ought to do.

Yun Song thought that perhaps the people here truly needed a police officer. Even if that officer’s abilities were limited, as long as they existed and performed their duties, it was enough. The people here only needed an opportunity, and they would find their own way to survive.

Yun Song then made a decision.

She was going to apply for a permanent posting in Tonglin Town.

Translator’s Notes