RIRW – Chapter 159

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Grandma Zuo grew angrier the more she thought about it, gripping a brick and still trying to smash the door. The people around were all watching the commotion like it was entertainment. Seeing that Grandma Zuo was still about to hurl the brick at the door, some even cheered her on.

“Mom, what are you doing?”

Zuo Dacheng rushed over, shouting anxiously. What if someone got hurt by that brick?

“I’m teaching that brat a lesson. Just thinking about how I gave birth to that thing and loved him all those years makes me feel sick to my stomach!” Grandma Zuo fumed, brandishing the brick.

“Mom, calm down. Let’s talk this out. Look—everyone’s watching and laughing at us.”

Zuo Dacheng tried to persuade her. Although he had major issues with his eldest brother Zuo Hongjun’s family, he didn’t want to make a scene in the village. Plus, with the old lady causing such a ruckus, it made things hard for Captain Zuo Aimin too.

Now, although Grandma Zuo was willing to listen to Zuo Dacheng, she still felt indignant. With a loud clang, she hurled the brick at the door, making a deafening noise that frightened Xu Fengxia inside, who covered her ears.

Zuo Hongjun no longer felt like smoking. He just stared at the door, and through a hole, saw his mother’s livid, blackened face. He couldn’t even remember when it started, but every time his mother saw him now, she had nothing but a scowl.

His mind drifted to scenes from the past. Being the eldest grandson, he had received all the love and affection from his grandparents. As a child, he followed his second brother into the city to learn carpentry, but didn’t want to endure the master’s temper and came back. His mother didn’t scold him for it—on the contrary, she was delighted to have him home. Later, he became the brigade leader, the pillar of the family, and even more confident at home.

Even when he lost the brigade leader position, the family still tolerated him, blaming the second brother’s wife for it. The second brother always yielded to him in everything.

All these years, he had muddled along comfortably. But what did he have in the end?

Fearing being dragged down, he’d insisted on splitting the family. But after the split, his own life turned out to be the worst. He wanted to marry off his daughter to an educated youth like the second brother did, but the educated youth he got never showed him any filial piety and even dragged down his two daughters.

What had he done with his life?

Xu Fengxia was still sobbing beside him. Now that both daughters weren’t around, she felt hopeless. With the old lady making a scene outside, she was even more at a loss and could only look to Zuo Hongjun for support.

Zuo Hongjun looked at her and said, “Fengxia, let’s get a divorce.”

“What?” Xu Fengxia’s eyes widened in shock.

“Let’s get divorced. I’ve had enough of this life. I just want to live quietly. But there’s always something—never any peace. I’ve had enough.” Zuo Hongjun covered his face and began to cry.

He didn’t know what to do anymore. He regretted not managing things earlier, always letting this woman do as she pleased. Now it was too late to regret.

All he wanted now was to live peacefully by himself.

“Everything in the house is yours. I don’t want any of it. I’ll go find a place to lie down. I just want to live alone.”

Hearing this, Xu Fengxia was dumbfounded. Once she snapped out of it, she rushed over and grabbed Zuo Hongjun, shaking him. “Old Zuo, Hongjun, how can you say this? How can you divorce me? We’ve been together for so many years. I know you resent me for not giving you a son, but I had no choice. I couldn’t give birth—what could I do?”

Zuo Hongjun let her shake him. When Xu Fengxia finally stopped, he said, “I’m done. I don’t want to go on like this. Divorce—let’s get a divorce. Raise all the hell you want, I don’t care anymore.”

With that, he stood up and walked into the house with his hands behind his back.

“I won’t divorce! I won’t divorce!” Xu Fengxia stood in the courtyard, crying and shouting.

They’d been together for a lifetime—why get divorced now? She would stop making a fuss. She wouldn’t let the daughters cause trouble anymore either. They’d just stay together and live quietly.

“Hongjun, I won’t get divorced. If we divorce, how am I supposed to live?”

The onlookers outside heard Xu Fengxia’s shouting and began gossiping among themselves.

Zuo Hongjun was really trying to divorce his wife. Oh dear, that was big news—no one in Zuo Family Village had ever divorced before.

Grandma Zuo snorted when she heard it. “Should’ve done it earlier. Now it’s too late!”

Zuo Dacheng didn’t comment at all. He no longer wanted to have anything to do with his elder brother Zuo Hongjun. Let him do whatever he wanted—as long as he didn’t drag others down with him.

When Grandma Zuo returned home, she still asked Zuo Dacheng about Zuo Qing and Zuo Huan.

Of the three children carrying the Zuo family bloodline, two had ended up in the hands of the Public Security Bureau. She felt truly bitter. She thought to herself that when she died, she wouldn’t have the face to see the Zuo family ancestors. How had she raised such disgraceful offspring?

Zuo Dacheng said, “There’s no final verdict yet. But I heard even the top leaders in Beijing were alerted—they’re going to punish this sort of thing severely. So prison is certain. Zuo Qing will definitely be locked up. As for Zuo Huan, it’s not clear yet whether she’ll be imprisoned. We don’t know how long it’ll be either.”

Hearing that prison was indeed likely, Grandma Zuo sighed repeatedly, as if she aged ten years in an instant. Her whole demeanor became deflated.

Seeing her like that, Zuo Dacheng felt heavy-hearted. He thought that it was his children’s unfilial behavior that caused his elderly mother to suffer such a blow. “Mom, don’t overthink it. They did wrong and are being punished, but after they come out, things can still be fine.”

“I’m fine, fine. Don’t worry about me,” Grandma Zuo waved her hand repeatedly and clutched her chest, still feeling distressed. “Say something good to cheer me up, or I’ll worry myself into an early grave.”

Hearing her mention early death, Zuo Dacheng hurriedly said, “Our Xiaocong is doing great at school—just won first place in a competition and even got mentioned in the school paper. Oh, and Yiming and Dandan are also doing great. They’ve been in the paper a few times too. They bought a house in Beijing—it’s really spacious. They said we could visit and stay for a while anytime. If you’d like, we can go take a look? And Chengcai said his job is going really well—thanks to that Song Gang guy, Yiming’s friend. He’s about to become permanent staff. Soon, he’ll officially be a city resident, and he’s even planning to bring you to the provincial capital to enjoy a good life. Oh, and me—I’m about to take over Secretary Liu’s position and become the commune’s new Party Secretary. Not deputy—official.”

Grandma Zuo felt more and more relieved the more she listened. It was as if her heart had been cleansed—she felt much lighter.

“Good, good, good. Now I finally have something presentable to tell our ancestors. Alright, you go back to your work. I’m heading out.”

As she spoke, the old lady tidied her clothes and smoothed her hair, getting ready to go out.

Zuo Dacheng said with concern, “Mom, just rest at home. Don’t go out anymore.”

Grandma Zuo was not happy about that. “How can I not go out? No one in the village knows about what’s been going on in our family—I have to go talk about it. Alright, you go do your work. Why are you minding my business?”

With that, she straightened her back and marched out the door.

Zuo Dacheng: “……” So he was worried for nothing.

Since the old lady didn’t need anything, Zuo Dacheng didn’t stay at home any longer. After all, he had just taken over Secretary Liu’s duties, and a pile of work was waiting for him to get familiar with. Still, he wasn’t completely at ease, so he asked Zuo Shuisheng’s wife to keep an eye on things and call them if anything came up.

Zuo Shuisheng’s wife was more than happy to oblige. Her favorite thing these days was listening to this elder sister brag—it was so entertaining and informative. She spoke so colorfully and widened her horizons. Like which universities there were in the capital city, what kind of place the Forbidden City was, how her grandchildren had visited and even taken pictures there. She even mentioned how her third son had recently gotten a new car… The things she talked about were just different from the other old ladies in the village. So refined and modern!

Still, she casually asked Zuo Dacheng, “Do you think Hongjun and his wife will really get divorced?”

“…I really don’t know,” Zuo Dacheng answered honestly.

Zuo Shuisheng’s wife began to ponder. After all, this would be the first couple in Zuo Village talking about getting a divorce. And their children were already quite grown.

Before the villagers could speculate much, Zuo Hongjun and Xu Fengxia had already separated. Xu Fengxia adamantly refused to divorce, and Zuo Hongjun had no choice but to move out of the main Zuo family home. The brigade leader, Zuo Aimin, couldn’t let him sleep outside, so he arranged for him to stay in the storage room.

And so the couple began living apart, becoming the latest joke in the village. Grandma Zuo didn’t sympathize with him either. “Useless thing! Even during the separation, he gave away part of the Zuo family’s house. Never seen such a wasteful man!”

Some time later, the matter with Zuo Qing and Zuo Huan was finally settled. Zuo Qing and Yang Wenxin, being the main culprits, were sentenced to six years due to the serious impact of their actions. Zuo Huan confessed and was treated leniently—she was sent to a farm for re-education for one year.

No one had expected that the first person from Zuo Village to go to jail would be the usually honest and quiet Zuo Qing. No matter how you looked at it, going to jail was a disgraceful thing. The villagers became reluctant to associate with Xu Fengxia and her family anymore.

The impersonation scandal was finally resolved, but its effects still lingered in Zuo Village. The remaining educated youth who hadn’t left yet no longer planned to find partners in the village. They were worried that something similar might happen to them in the future. Some even felt grateful that the village had previously opposed relationships between them and local boys and girls—now they could enjoy being single without worry. The Wei siblings, in particular, felt even more thankful to Zuo Dan. Fortunately, they had followed Accountant Zuo’s advice back then, or else they’d be in endless trouble by now.

Thinking of Zuo Dan made them envious. If only they could go to university too—why couldn’t they pass the exams?

As the new school year approached, the educated youth who had been admitted to college began packing for school.

This also had to be credited to the initial teacher recruitment exam when Zuo Village Elementary School was first established. It had motivated the educated youth from neighboring production teams to study hard, all in hopes of one day securing an open position. As a result, more students from their team got into college compared to others.

Su Dai also left Zuo Village with the others who had passed the college entrance exams, leaving the Dahe Commune behind. As he looked back at the place where he had spent several years and reflected on everything he had been through, it all felt like a lifetime ago. Still, he felt lucky to have come to Zuo Village’s production team. Though he had been hurt here, he also experienced the villagers’ simplicity and the care and concern shown by the officials.

“Goodbye. I’ll come back to visit you all.”

Everyone waved farewell from the vehicle.

After a lively summer vacation, Zuo Dan and Shen Yiming also began their new school term. As soon as she arrived, Zuo Dan returned to her combative mode—resuming her role as a model student and outstanding cadre. From the moment she stepped on campus, her face radiated enthusiasm and a bright smile.

Seeing the new batch of students from ’77 and ’78 enrolling, Zuo Dan felt satisfied. She had finally made it—now she was a senior.

On the first day of school, Zuo Dan was once again praised by the counselor.

It turned out the education department had written a commendation letter about the advocacy proposal she had submitted, and it was delivered to the school. School had barely started, and the counselor was already being praised. So she immediately came to commend Zuo Dan as well.

When the classmates heard that Zuo Dan had been busy doing something so big over the summer, they were all filled with admiration.

They couldn’t even begin to catch up!

Zuo Dan humbly said, “It’s what I should do. It’s not a big deal. Don’t praise me too much—I’ll get embarrassed.”

Xiang Honghua said, “What’s there to be embarrassed about? Good people and good deeds should be celebrated so that more people can learn from them. Zuo Dan, you’re really our role model.”

Zhao Qianjin added with emotion, “That’s right. Even though she’s still a student, Zuo Dan is already concerned about national and social issues and sees herself as an educator. She’s worth learning from.”

“Secretary Zuo, let’s hold a themed class meeting. Tell us all about what happened over the summer so we can learn from it too!” someone suggested.

Many others agreed. Everyone wanted to hear what kind of important work Zuo Dan had done over the break.

“……” Zuo Dan thought, sometimes being too excellent could be a problem. She really didn’t want to host this class meeting.

But skipping it wasn’t an option—public opinion mattered. And the whole class committee, especially Zhao Qianjin, was extremely enthusiastic. They handled everything; all she had to do was show up and talk.

So Zuo Dan accepted without hesitation.

During the class meeting, Zuo Dan noticed that Zhu Min wasn’t there. She asked Xiang Honghua, who replied, “Zhu Min said she was helping the new students settle in. She said she already got permission from the counselor.”

Zhu Min was that enthusiastic? Zuo Dan didn’t bother with it. Meddling in this kind of thing would just make her seem nosy, so she focused on giving her presentation.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on campus, a small car drove into the residential area in the back.

A middle-aged man with a cane stepped out of the car. Someone nearby tried to help him, but he waved them off.

Looking at the familiar buildings, the man sighed emotionally. “It still looks the same as before. I remember back when I was a student, I often came here to visit the teacher.”

The young assistant beside him said, “Mr. Chen, Professor Zhang is still in class. Would you like to go inside first? His wife is home.”

“Alright.” Mr. Chen leaned on his cane and walked forward, with the assistant cautiously following behind.