While things were so eventful on Yun Su’s end, the Yun household was not peaceful either. To be precise, Second Uncle Yun’s house was particularly lively.
First Uncle Yun’s family had arrived on the first bus of the day, reaching Second Uncle Yun’s house a little after nine in the morning.
Out of nowhere, with no holiday in sight, the entire family had suddenly come back. Many villagers came to gawk. It was a rest day, so no one had gone out to sea. Thus, a large crowd had gathered on Yun family’s lane. Everyone was curious about why First Uncle Yun’s family had returned.
And First Uncle Yun’s family was dressed quite smartly, carrying gifts in their hands. They didn’t look like they were down on their luck and had no place else to go.
So Second Uncle Yun enthusiastically welcomed them, grabbing First Uncle Yun’s hand and shouting, “Big Brother!”
The voice was dramatically emotional, full of feeling. Yun Su’s mother rolled her eyes at the sight.
“Look at that, look at that. You could never learn that trick from your second brother.”
Yun Su’s father listened to his wife’s teasing and smiled indulgently.
“Never mind them. We’re just here to eat.”
He wasn’t stupid. The moment First Uncle’s family appeared, he could tell something was going on. The expression on his sister-in-law’s face was worried. Among First Uncle’s three sons, the two older ones looked relatively relaxed. Only the youngest seemed somewhat defiant.
Moreover, of the three, the two older ones were already married and had children. But today, those families hadn’t come along.
From these clues, it was clear the issue didn’t involve the two older sons. The problem lay with the youngest, Yun Huaikang.
Yun Su’s father had guessed correctly.
The issue was indeed related to Yun Huaikang, the youngest of First Uncle’s family. And it wasn’t good news.
Yun Huaikang was about to be sent to the countryside!
—
“It’s not that we couldn’t find him a job. We knew this boy was graduating high school this year. We rushed and scrambled, asking around to get him a job. We finally found him a temporary position. But the little idiot went and told a female classmate about the job opening. Well, then the girl’s family hurriedly pulled strings and snatched the job first.”
First Uncle Yun was furious just talking about it.
He had three sons. The two older ones had been given jobs through various means. But this youngest one was a fool—getting tricked like that.
Yun Huaikang was very unhappy hearing his father’s rebuke. But it was true—he had been deceived. He had just mentioned it to make that female classmate jealous. How was he supposed to know her family would move so fast?
Now he was facing being sent to the countryside, and Yun Huaikang was absolutely unwilling.
“Wait, Big Brother. What does this job situation have to do with us? You telling us won’t help.”
By now, nearly twenty family members had gathered in the yard drinking tea. As soon as First Uncle Yun explained why they had come back, Liu Zhaodi immediately jumped in.
First Uncle Yun said: “How does it have nothing to do with you? I’ve already arranged it with the educated youth office. Kangzi will be assigned back to the village.”
At the mention of assigning an educated youth, everyone fell silent. Even the onlookers stopped talking.
Finally, Grandpa Yun said: “That won’t work. The village stopped accepting educated youth years ago.”
To explain: their village had accepted educated youth in the early years. But one year, several educated youth arrived at the brigade. Before they’d even learned their way around, they ran off to the beach and insisted on going into the sea. They were mountain kids—they’d never seen the ocean before, and they had no idea how terrifying the sea could be.
Just like that, the educated youth were swept away by the waves.
Moreover, because they had gone secretly, no one in the village knew about it, so there was no chance of rescue.
By the time the village realized they were gone, it was too late.
Because of this incident, the brigade captain had been severely criticized by higher-ups. The remaining educated youth were transferred away. And the village was told they would no longer be assigned any more.
That last rule was good news for the villagers.
Their village was a fishing village. There was no land for educated youth to farm. And it was impossible to let them go out on fishing boats. Fishing was hard physical labor. The boats had few mechanical aids—most of the net-casting and hauling was done by human strength.
The educated youth couldn’t handle that work.
The sea was vast and dangerous, and the villagers didn’t trust the educated youth.
In short, the village had not accepted any educated youth for several years. That should not be overturned just because of Yun Huaikang.
—
“Don’t tell me whether it will or won’t work. Kangzi coming back to the village as an educated youth is also a way to contribute to his hometown. This is his home village, his ancestral place. Why can’t he come back here?”
After First Uncle Yun said this, First Aunt quickly chimed in: “Exactly, exactly. Our Kangzi is from Yunjia’ao. Why can’t he come back?”
Watching this, Yun Su’s mother pursed her lips. She thought to herself that First Uncle’s family was handling things messily. If Kangzi came back to the village as an educated youth, his household registration would be transferred and become rural. They might as well just transfer his registration back directly—then it wouldn’t be called “being sent to the countryside,” but rather “returning to build his hometown.”
Finding a job would also be much less difficult.
What the villagers were really opposing was simply the prospect of having to accept educated youth again. That time, several had gone missing, and to this day nothing had been found. What a terrifying thing!
Their villagers had been fishing for decades, and not even that many had died at sea.
If they started accepting educated youth again, Kangzi wouldn’t be the only one coming. And reopening that door would mean another headache down the road.
“That won’t work…” The brigade captain hurried over and stopped them as soon as he heard the commotion.
Even though the missing educated youth had disobeyed warnings, everyone still felt heartbroken. They were vibrant young people—who wouldn’t be pained by their loss?
Because of that, the brigade captain truly didn’t want any more educated youth.
First Uncle Yun’s face fell when the brigade captain immediately refused. He knew he was putting people in a difficult position, but wasn’t it just that his son was such a worry? With Kangzi being that foolish, if he was sent to the countryside elsewhere, something terrible might happen.
That was what First Uncle Yun thought, and that was what he said aloud.
For a moment, everyone—both those in the yard and those outside watching—fell silent.
Their village didn’t have educated youth, but they had seen plenty in other places. It was true that some villages treated educated youth poorly. They couldn’t guarantee that nothing would happen to Kangzi if he was sent elsewhere.
And if something did happen, the weight of a lost life would crush them all.
—
It was in this tense, stalemated atmosphere that Yun Feng, who had been silent all morning, suddenly spoke up:
“Uncle, I heard from Yun Su that the island’s state-run seafood processing plant is hiring in August. Couldn’t Kangzi go try for that?”
“Really?” First Aunt rushed over to Yun Feng, overjoyed.
Yun Su’s mother, however, stood up immediately, pointed at Yun Feng, and snapped: “Yun Su has cut ties with you. Why would she tell you anything? Stop stirring up trouble with your lies here.”
She was, of course, aware of the processing plant’s recruitment. She was also planning to have Ji Xiangtian help her eldest son register for a try. But that didn’t mean Yun Feng could just blurt it out at a moment like this.
Such news wasn’t generally circulated. Moreover, the notices for educated youth going to the countryside would start coming down in August, and before September, the youth would have to leave the cities for their assigned rural destinations.
Even if the processing plant was hiring, even if Kangzi could pass the exam—the timing didn’t match. He couldn’t very well take the plant’s exam after receiving his notice to go to the countryside. That would be against the rules.
For this reason, Yun Su’s mother hadn’t breathed a word of it.
Yun Feng, looking startled at being yelled at, defended herself: “She didn’t tell me directly, but I heard her talking to Yun Ximei.”
Yun Ximei was standing in the crowd of onlookers. Her expression froze at these words. But Auntie Lin, who had already heard about this from her daughter, saw the situation clearly and knew what to say to protect Yun Su’s family.
“Don’t talk nonsense. I heard about this from elsewhere. If you want to know whether it’s true or not, go ask at the plant yourself.”
Someone had kindly given her daughter this information, and Auntie Lin was grateful. So she simply took the matter upon herself.
—
The others, upon hearing this, thought it made sense. After all, Auntie Lin was known in the village as a gossip who always had her ear to the ground. It was perfectly normal that she would have picked up this news.
Immediately, people crowded around her, asking about the processing plant’s recruitment.
First Aunt, regardless of Yun Feng’s feelings, also joined in to ask.
Seeing this, Yun Feng was so angry she could barely breathe. She had wanted to bring the matter up so that First Aunt would go to Yun Su for help. She knew very well that the timing of the countryside assignment conflicted with the recruitment. That’s why she had deliberately mentioned it.
Because of the timing conflict, First Aunt would use all sorts of methods to pressure Yun Su into helping. And that help would have to come through Ji Xiangtian. That way, perhaps Ji Xiangtian would end up hating Yun Su.
Yes, Yun Feng just wanted to make trouble for Yun Su. In the past couple of days, since marrying, Hu Chunhua had been coming around to annoy her. It was all Yun Su’s fault. Yun Su should never have swum back to shore herself, and she should never have saved Ji Xiangtian from the sea.
Ever since everything came to light, Yun Feng had been harboring these thoughts. She didn’t know why, but she instinctively trusted her own heart.
Who could have imagined that Auntie Lin would jump in and ruin her scheme?
Watching from the sidelines, Yun Su’s mother saw through Yun Feng’s little game. She narrowed her eyes, thinking about when to teach this girl a lesson.
Yun Su’s older brother understood the problem perfectly. This news had come from Ji Xiangtian. He couldn’t let people go harass Ji Xiangtian.
As annoying as it was that this guy was going to marry his sister, he was still one of their own. And one of their own needed protecting.
“Mom, how about next time we go out to sea…”
Yun Su’s mother shook her head: “Let’s wait and see.”
—
While her family was plotting how to teach Yun Feng a lesson, things were going very smoothly for Yun Su.
At lunchtime, Father Ji returned.
The moment Yun Su saw him, she knew exactly whom Ji Xiangtian took after. The father and son were over sixty percent similar. Especially their build and facial structure—they were practically identical.
However, Ji Xiangtian’s features combined the best of both parents—chiseled and handsome. In short, he was incredibly cool. When he wasn’t speaking, his presence was almost intimidating. But when he did speak, especially to unfriendly people, his words could scare them off just as effectively.
Leave a Reply