RIRW – Chapter 148

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At that moment, Sister-in-law Guo’s husband also stood up. “Comrade, you’d better take it back. We can’t accept this. That day when she brought pickled beans to your home, I scolded her after I came back. You just moved here and might not know the situation. Our family’s background is special, and we’ve had little contact with others here over the years. If you associate with us, you’ll be ostracized. I heard you two are students from Peking University. You really should be careful with neighborhood relations.”

After hearing this, Zuo Dan finally understood why Sister-in-law Guo hadn’t come over again later.

She didn’t want their family to be ostracized. No wonder Grandma said Sister-in-law Guo was someone worth associating with.

Zuo Dan smiled and said, “You’re our neighbors too, and we’re also trying to handle neighborly relations. Don’t laugh, but our family’s background is special too. If others don’t want to associate with us, we won’t force it. Whether people can get along really depends on fate. When Sister-in-law Guo brought us a bowl of pickled beans, we felt it was fate. So today we brought dumplings over for you to try.”

Sister-in-law Guo sighed and smiled, “I won’t hide it from you. I used to work for the Women’s Federation, and I just like a lively atmosphere. So when I saw someone moving in, I thought I’d reach out. I didn’t think it through. Later, I saw that you didn’t interact with others in the courtyard, and I felt pretty bad about it. After hearing what you said today, I feel very relieved. It’s true—people really need to value fate.”

Zuo Dan smiled and said, “Our family also enjoys lively environments. These past few days, since you didn’t come by, my grandma’s been taking the child to play at the end of the alley every day.”

“That’s good. From now on, I’ll come by more often when I’m free. I’ve lived here for many years and know the place quite well,” said Sister-in-law Guo.

Not wanting to disturb their meal, Zuo Dan chatted for a while and then headed home.

Back home, Zuo Cong had already arrived and was playing with Shen Youyou.

When Grandma Shen saw Zuo Dan return, she asked about Sister-in-law Guo’s situation. Zuo Dan recounted everything that had just happened.

Grandma said, “They’re not bad people. Why shouldn’t we associate with them? I can’t stand people with prejudice.”

Shen Yiming said, “I heard that a few years ago, there were even soldiers standing guard at their door, restricting the family’s comings and goings. It only improved later when the political situation changed. But the other families in the courtyard probably still carry some prejudice from those years.”

“Their prejudice is theirs to carry. It doesn’t concern us,” Grandma Shen said firmly.

Both Shen Yiming and Zuo Dan nodded in agreement. Their family was never the type to cater to others.

That afternoon, Sister-in-law Guo came over again. She chatted with Zuo Dan and the others and even brought some raisins for Shen Youyou, saying her son had mailed them from out of town. Her son was still working as a sent-down youth in a remote area and hadn’t returned yet.

After chatting with Grandma, Zuo Dan learned that Sister-in-law Guo’s full name was Guo Aijuan. She was in her forties, about ten years younger than her husband, whose name was Qi Changyun. Apparently, more than a decade ago, Qi Changyun had been a cadre in Beijing with a fairly high position. After political turmoil, he was protected by someone and didn’t get sent to the countryside like others. He stayed in the capital. In recent years, although he was occasionally criticized and had some restrictions on his freedom, his situation was much better than most.

The only thing the couple felt guilty about was their son, who had been sent away in his early teens and was now over twenty, still unmarried, enduring hardships far away.

When Zuo Dan heard how old their son was, she felt it was inappropriate to keep calling Guo “Sister-in-law” and changed it to “Aunt Guo.”

Guo Aijuan laughed and said, “If you hadn’t said it, I wouldn’t have noticed. I’ve rarely gone out these years and haven’t paid attention to such things. Besides, I’ve always been a straightforward person. My husband is a man of few words, very practical. When our son was young, he was like me—lively. But after the family ran into trouble, he took after his father and became quiet. I don’t even know if he’ll come back this year.”

Zuo Dan recalled that around the end of ’78, the educated youth started returning to the cities. But it wasn’t a guarantee for everyone. She wasn’t sure if Aunt Guo’s son would be among them.

That night, while lying in bed chatting, Zuo Dan brought up the topic with Shen Yiming.

“Shen Yiming, I think Aunt Guo’s family will recover one day. Don’t you think?” It was the inevitable result of social development.

Shen Yiming nodded in agreement. “That’s why I’m thinking of sending another article back to the provincial capital soon. I want to get it published in the provincial newspaper.”

Zuo Dan asked curiously, “What are you writing about this time?”

“As a progressive youth, I must closely follow the Central spirit. I’ve been hearing some things around campus. Even though there’s still controversy at the top, this is the best time to take a stand. If we wait until the dust settles, then taking a side is just opportunism and won’t count for much.”

After saying that, Shen Yiming looked at her. “Comrade Zuo Dan, if I get expelled from school because of this, will you have any complaints?”

Zuo Dan laughed. “What complaint? I dream of doing better than you. Then you can just live off me. Comrade Yiming, don’t worry, I’ll take care of you and keep you healthy and chubby.”

Shen Yiming squinted with a smile and rolled over, pinning her down. “Alright, then I won’t do anything—just serve you during the day and wait clean and tidy in bed at night.”

“Rogue,” Zuo Dan curled her lips. Just as he was about to kiss her, she quickly pushed him away. “Wait,” she glanced over at the small bed nearby.

Ever since little Youyou’s peeping incident, Shen Yiming had gotten a rocking crib the very next day. Still, Zuo Dan had a bit of a psychological shadow and always worried their mischievous kid would sneak a peek again.

The two of them quietly crept over and peeked into the rocking crib. The child was sound asleep, both little hands raised above his head like he was surrendering.

Seeing the child fast asleep, the couple exchanged a glance, and Shen Yiming quickly pulled the blanket over the two of them.

Soon, the quilt began to shift…

On Monday, after class started, Zuo Dan began fulfilling her duties as a class cadre and prepared to organize an ideological and political activity.

As an educator, how could she fall behind in thinking? She must study the spirit of the Central Committee and keep up with the times.

Having served as a production team cadre before, this kind of thing was second nature to her. She just treated the students like the fellow villagers in a brigade.

The counselor saw how proactive she was and supported her in holding informal meetings during spare time to discuss ideological matters with classmates.

Organizing such meetings was a bit of work. But Zuo Dan believed if you were going to do something, do it big—make it lively. So she mobilized the collective power of the group and called all the class cadres together after school.

“Everyone, you’re all cadres. You need to make sure the image of our class leadership leaves a deep impression, so it’ll be easier to get things done in the future. The counselor said there’ll be a formal election soon—we can’t just wait around. We need to let both the counselor and classmates see that we’re capable cadres who get things done!”

Zuo Dan said with great enthusiasm.

The class monitor, an older student named Zhao Qianjin, in his thirties, was known for being considerate. He listened to Zuo Dan’s speech and asked, “Zuo Dan, what’s your idea?”

“I think we should organize a discussion session, a face-to-face dialogue with classmates. The learning committee member can share study tips, and we can also understand classmates’ struggles in daily life, which helps the life committee member know the overall class situation. The organization committee member can develop their organizational skills. Oh right, the arts committee member can arrange for the more eloquent students to give speeches. I heard a lot of people are into poetry lately. We can write too—but forget those spring-flowers kind of poems. Doesn’t fit our education major. We should write about singing praises to the motherland and the working people. That’s where the arts committee member needs to put in effort. On the day of the session, we’ll need to move things around, so the PE committee member needs to step up. As for the overall organization, I recommend the class monitor take full charge.”

And just like that, everyone was assigned a task. Suddenly, they all felt a sense of ownership. After all, they had just arrived at school, just became class cadres, and hadn’t had the chance to make a name for themselves. To be part of the very first event was a great opportunity.

As the older and more experienced one, Zhao Qianjin naturally wanted to support this important class initiative—especially since he was now in full charge of organizing it.

“Zuo Dan, then what will you be doing?” he asked.

Zhao Qianjin asked—not because he thought Zuo Dan wasn’t doing any work. After all, she was the one who initiated this whole thing, which was already a contribution in itself. But as the class’s Youth League branch secretary, it wouldn’t look good if she didn’t show up during a time like this.

Zuo Dan smiled and said, “Making sure everyone has something to do is my job. I’m the class’s branch secretary, and I focus on ideological matters. When the class monitor needs, I can take the lead in organizing a study session on ideological documents.”

“Of course,” Zhao Qianjin had no objections.

After the meeting, Zuo Dan passed around the interaction plan for the symposium for everyone to review. Once everyone agreed there were no issues, they signed it.

Finally, she and Zhao Qianjin went together to report to the counselor.

The counselor hadn’t expected Zuo Dan to not only organize a symposium but also mobilize other class officers. Everyone seemed quite enthusiastic too, which instantly earned Zuo Dan high praise for her capabilities.

Zuo Dan, in turn, credited the strong support and high regard for the matter shown by Zhao Qianjin, the class monitor, which enabled the participation of others.

She didn’t care much about taking credit. What she wanted was recognition from both the class officers and the counselor. If this event went well, her standing in the class would be firmly established. In any case, she had completed her ideological responsibilities as the branch secretary, and everyone else had gotten their moment in the spotlight too. Most importantly, even if she didn’t take the main credit, as the initiator of the event, no one could forget her role.

Of course, the counselor knew Zuo Dan was the mastermind behind all this, but still gave Zhao Qianjin high praise for being dependable—which thrilled him immensely.

As they left the office, Zhao Qianjin thanked her. “If it weren’t for you organizing this event, I wouldn’t have even known where to start. Comrade Zuo Dan, this is all your credit.”

“No, it’s everyone’s effort. But the follow-up work will need the great class monitor to worry about more.”

“Of course! That’s my responsibility after all,” Zhao Qianjin replied with great righteousness.

In the days that followed, the class became quite busy.

Even though university courses weren’t particularly intense, the students were still highly motivated. Now, with the class organizing an event, the student officers were experiencing a “sweet burden.” The supplies needed for the event were to be applied for by the class’s life committee, and the counselor helped secure some materials from the school as rewards. They weren’t anything valuable—just some pencils and notebooks. Zuo Dan even contributed some fruit, and her spirit of selfless dedication was widely praised.

Zuo Dan secretly thought it was a pity that she couldn’t openly seek sponsorships in this era. If she could, she wouldn’t have to spend a cent and might even make a tidy profit.

The symposium was held over the weekend, and Zhao Qianjin had Zuo Dan do the opening speech: study the Central documents and align with the Central spirit.

Dressed in a military uniform, sitting with the documents in hand, Zuo Dan really looked like a proper cadre—just like Secretary Zhang used to look when he held meetings with the brigade leaders.

Only then did her classmates realize that this young branch secretary, recommended by the counselor, had some real substance. She really did look the part.

“I heard that Zuo Dan’s dad is the deputy secretary of the commune. Children from cadre families really are different.”

“She was even a brigade officer before. She comes from experience—not just from a cadre family.”

“How do you know all that?”

“Heh, last time I helped the counselor carry files, I took a look.”

Zhu Min sat below, her expression complicated as she looked at Zuo Dan. So she was the daughter of a commune official—no wonder she could marry a city-dwelling educated youth and even follow him into the city.

Zuo Dan didn’t take up too much time. As someone in charge of ideological work, there wasn’t much room to show off. She just read out the latest policies and some political content from newspapers and magazines.

After that, the various class officers each showed off their own abilities. The symposium ended up being quite dynamic. The counselor dropped in once and was pleased with what he saw. Studying hard was good, but students also needed to develop other abilities.

Ever since the symposium, Zuo Dan’s presence in the class had grown stronger. The other class officers began to gravitate toward her—consciously or not. After all, the first activity was initiated by her. Even though it seemed like she didn’t do much, she was clearly the central figure. Everyone had worked according to her plan.

Zuo Dan didn’t put too much stock in this. She cared more about her academic performance.

After all, the counselor had talked her up so much before. She felt that if she didn’t score well in exams, she’d lose a lot of face.

Having completed her duties as branch secretary, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to her studies.

Thankfully, even though she didn’t work as hard as others, she had already been “tempered.” So when the first monthly test came around, Zuo Dan firmly secured the top spot.

First impressions are always the most lasting.

After these two events, in the eyes of her classmates, Zuo Dan became someone both capable and academically outstanding. The key thing was—she was also good-looking and had a generous personality. Soon, she attracted some followers.

Yes—followers, not suitors. Probably because Zuo Dan was so impressive, the male comrades didn’t even dare think about pursuing her. They simply didn’t have the courage.

Zuo Dan was quite happy about that. She thought it was great. She knew that some married female classmates had actually received love letters. As the branch secretary in charge of ideological work, Zuo Dan even had the privilege of reading two of them. They were so saccharine they almost made her teeth fall out.

But after a few days, her mood soured.

Comrade Shen Yiming, ever the pen-wielding academic, couldn’t stay idle no matter where he was. He’d already published several articles on economics in the school journal.

Who knew how a first-year student could write such things? And they even got published! In previous years, there weren’t many such brilliant students among the worker-peasant-soldier batch. As part of the first class after the reinstatement of the college entrance exam, the true academic talents were still lying low.

And so, Shen Yiming became famous. Zuo Dan even overheard some girls talking about the “Economics Talent” Shen Yiming while squatting in the toilet…

On the way home from school, Zuo Dan sighed gloomily, “Shen Yiming, be honest. Have you been getting love letters lately?”

“How could that be?!” Shen Yiming’s voice was full of conviction.

Hearing his tone, Zuo Dan narrowed her eyes. “Don’t think I don’t know. I’ve heard it all—how you, the rising star of the economics department, are so brilliant, your articles published in the school paper, your looks refined and elegant, so cultured…”

Even she felt her teeth ache from saying that. “I’m too embarrassed to tell anyone that you’re already someone’s baby daddy!”

Shen Yiming laughed. “You should tell them. It’s not right to hide it.”

“Pfft, then why don’t you say it?” Zuo Dan grumbled, then her mood got worse. She grabbed his waist, “Be honest—how many have you received? Comrade Shen Yiming, I’m warning you—don’t think just because we’re in different departments, you can pretend to be single and trick those naïve little girls. If I find out, I’ll eliminate you in the name of justice!”

Feeling the grip on his waist, Shen Yiming knew she was really jealous. He quickly said, “I’m telling the truth! People give them to me, but I don’t accept them. And I tell everyone who approaches me that I’m already a married man. So Comrade Zuo Dan, rest assured—I still belong to you alone.”

Hearing that, Zuo Dan finally felt satisfied. Then she added, “Anyway, I’m not doing badly in our department either. Go and ask around—who doesn’t know about Zuo Dan from the Education Department? If you so much as show a hint, I’ll return the favor!”

Shen Yiming’s expression darkened. “Don’t even think about it!”

Zuo Dan chuckled. Thinking about it was still okay.

Another week passed, and the class’s arts committee member, Xiang Honghua, came running over excitedly holding a newspaper.

“Zuo Dan, your husband is Shen Yiming from the Economics Department, right?”

Zuo Dan was highlighting key points in her notes. Hearing this, she looked up, surprised, “How do you know?”

Xiang Honghua waved the paper, “Look.”

Zuo Dan glanced at it and instantly wanted to hide her face. Shen Yiming had published another article—not the main point. The key part was his signature at the bottom:

“Comrade Zuo Dan’s Revolutionary Partner: Shen Yiming.”