Learning that Fang’s parents had been allocated such a house, Lin Mei couldn’t hide her surprise.
After the surprise came happiness for Fei Ni. Previously, when Fei Ni had rushed to marry young Fang, who had no savings, no job, and no house, Lin Mei couldn’t help suspecting she had done it to make room for Fei Ting’s marriage and felt somewhat guilty about it. Now knowing that she had married into a well-off family, she naturally felt relieved. Besides, they were all relatives—relatives doing well could only benefit her. If Fei Ni wasn’t doing well, how could she stand by and not help?
Lin Mei then asked Fei Ni how many siblings Fang Muyang had, and upon learning that his siblings weren’t in this city, she became happy for herself. With Fei Ni’s in-laws living in such a big house, they would naturally save a room for their younger son. Lin Mei thought Fei Ni would surely be willing to move in with her in-laws—the private kitchen and bathroom alone would be enough reason. For people like her and Fei Ni who had grown up using public bathrooms, a private bathroom was deeply desired. She probably wouldn’t live in a house with a private bathroom in her lifetime.
But it was good that Fei Ni could live in a house with a private bathroom—this way, Fei Ting could also have a bigger place to live. With Fei Ting’s years of service and rank, it wasn’t yet his turn for housing allocation. Last week, Lin Mei had converted her newly received salary into two bottles of good liquor, a pack of good cigarettes, and the best pastries from the pastry shop, asking Fei Ting to accompany her to visit the deputy director of the Cap Factory’s Logistics Management Office about housing. Fei Ting didn’t like the practice of giving gifts, but that day, surprisingly, she didn’t even need to persuade him—he went with her.
Before going, Lin Mei had told Fei Ting to just listen, as he had never given gifts before and might offend people by saying the wrong thing. Deputy Director Yu was in charge of housing allocation. Lin Mei discreetly presented the gifts before slowly explaining their current housing difficulties. Yu accepted the gifts and was very polite to them, though his politeness came with firm principles. He said many people were waiting for housing allocation, and while he understood their difficulties, there were no vacant houses now. Fei Ting would have to wait until others moved out.
Seeing their disappointment, Yu revealed some information: Old Yuan from the Finance Department had recently had three privately owned houses returned to him, and according to regulations, he would have to give up his factory-allocated house. If Fei Ting could negotiate with Old Yuan and move in before others when Yuan left, the house could be allocated to Fei Ting.
Lin Mei followed this advice and went to find Yuan, only to discover ten people already in line ahead of her, all waiting for Yuan to move out so they could move their things in. Two families were even fighting in front of Yuan’s door. Leaving Yuan’s house, Lin Mei regretted the good liquor, cigarettes, and pastries she had given away—what kind of advice was this? Fei Ting was even angrier, saying that even if they had to live on the street, he would never give gifts to his grandson Yu again.
But Fei Ni was different from Old Yuan—if she moved out, wouldn’t she give the house to her brother and sister-in-law rather than others?
She hadn’t mentioned the housing matter to Fei Ni, thinking Fei Ni would eventually move in with her in-laws. Bringing it up now would seem like pressuring them.
Lin Mei’s happiness showed in her speech.
Fei Ni quickly understood the source of her sister-in-law’s joy but didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble, so she didn’t mention the housing issue. She couldn’t explain to her sister-in-law, who was cramped in a small room with her parents, why she was unwilling to move in with her in-laws.
Lin Mei suddenly told Fei Ni, “I’m pregnant.”
Fei Ni caught Lin Mei’s joy and asked with a smile, “How many days along? Why didn’t my brother tell me?” Not just her brother—no one in the family had told her.
“Your brother doesn’t know yet. I’ll tell him when he comes back tonight.”
Lin Mei was almost thirty. The year the college entrance exam was canceled was her final year of high school. Her academic performance wasn’t outstanding, and when she learned the exam was canceled, she was quite happy because even if it hadn’t been canceled, she wouldn’t have passed anyway. Now she wouldn’t need excuses for not getting into university—nobody could go. She had thought she could follow her parents’ generation and become a factory worker but instead was sent to the countryside, where she met Fei Ting. It wasn’t until much later that she regretted not having the college entrance exam, by which time she had returned to the city while Fei Ting was still in the countryside.
She knew that with Fei Ting’s grades back then, he definitely could have gotten into university. He had been ordinary in primary school but attended key schools for both middle and high school. When Fei Ting returned to work in the city and married her, Lin Mei was content for a while. If she hadn’t accidentally gotten pregnant, she would have remained content. Such a small room would be difficult for three generations to live in. Although she had seen more than one family with three generations living in a small room, and her parents’ home now also had three generations—her parents, her sister and brother-in-law, and her little niece—it was precise because she had enough of such living conditions that she didn’t dare have children. Her current home was slightly better than her parents, which didn’t even have a door for the partition, just a curtain.
She had planned to wait until they were allocated a house before having children, but the contraceptives hadn’t worked as intended, and she was pregnant. She had gotten the pregnancy diagnosis from the hospital last week but hadn’t told Fei Ting yet. She didn’t know whether to keep the baby—there were many reasons to keep it, such as her love for children and her age being right, but she didn’t want to have a child in these conditions.
But now her sister-in-law had brought good news, and she felt the timing of this child was just right.
“Mom and Dad don’t know either?”
Lin Mei smiled, “Besides me and the doctor, you’re the first to know.” She found the diagnostic report to show Fei Ni. “I missed my period for over a month, went to the hospital for a check-up last week, and confirmed the pregnancy.”
Fei Ni thought to herself, my brother knows too, that’s why he wants to make furniture to earn rent money. All those reasons her brother gave for earning money were true, but not the most important one. The most important was that his wife was pregnant, and because their room was too cramped, she hadn’t decided whether to keep the baby. His pride and sense of responsibility drove him to find a more spacious room for his wife.
Fei Ni took three hundred yuan from her bag, the rent money she had prepared for her brother and sister-in-law. She didn’t specify what it was for.
Lin Mei firmly refused, using Fei Ting’s words of refusal: help in emergencies, not in poverty. Besides, Lin Mei didn’t consider herself poor. Their two salaries were enough to get by, and with a child, their wages would increase with the child’s age. The only problem was housing, but now even that didn’t seem like a big problem.
“Your brother’s and my salaries are enough. If I ever need money urgently, I’ll naturally tell you. Now quickly take the money back.”
Fei Ni had no choice but to put the money away.
While Fang Muyang went to his parent’s house, Fei Ni stayed with her parents for dinner.
When the food was ready, Lin Mei told everyone to eat first, no need to wait for Fei Ting. Fei Ni said to wait a bit longer.
Lin Mei said, “He must have eaten at his classmate’s house. He’s helping make furniture—if they’re not paying him, they should at least feed him, right? Tomorrow I’ll tell him not to go anymore, work is tiring enough. Fei Ting is so foolish, earning one person’s salary but doing two people’s work at the factory.” Lin Mei called her husband foolish most often when she felt most concerned for him.
Fei Ni said, “I ate too much watermelon, I can’t eat right now. Let’s wait a bit longer to start dinner.”
When Fei Ting returned, his face was covered in sweat, and he was carrying a bag of apricots. Lin Mei had mentioned wanting apricots in the morning, and he had bought them that evening. He told his sister to take some home too.
Fei Ni said, “Brother, quickly wash your hands. When you come back, sister-in-law has good news to announce.”
Lin Mei announced her pregnancy at the dinner table, and everyone was delighted. Though they had married last, they were the first to have a child, and Fei Ni was happy for them too. There was worry mixed with the joy, but she didn’t let the worry show.
During dinner, Lin Mei talked a lot.
“Mom, I have some unused fabric, give it to my little sister’s in-laws tomorrow as a meeting gift. I also have pastry coupons—pack them a big box of pastries. We can’t let them look down on us.”
Fei Ni smiled, “Sister-in-law, you’d better keep them for yourself. Now that you’re pregnant, you probably won’t fit in your old clothes. I still have leftover pastry coupons from last time you gave me, so we don’t need them this time.”
Mom Fei said, “Don’t worry about it, I’ve prepared everything.”
Fang Muyang came to pick up Fei Ni, bringing along the electric fan he had bought.
Old Fei enjoyed the fan and remarked, “This electric one is better than my palm fan.”
Fang Muyang sat with his father-in-law enjoying the breeze while relaying his father’s arrangements.
“Old… my parents plan to visit you first, then take our whole family to a restaurant. After dinner, we’ll look at their newly allocated house. Then the driver will send you back home.”
Old Fei was shocked to hear about the driver and couldn’t help asking, “What does your father do?”
Fang Muyang said, “He’s unemployed at home. The car is rented from the taxi company.”
Although Old Fang’s old acquaintances had told him to just ask when he needed a car, he had never used one—not for official business, let alone private matters like meeting in-laws. Fang Muyang had directly called the taxi company for him, booking two Warsaw cars. Cars had to be booked a day in advance—one Warsaw car cost twenty yuan per day, with additional charges for distances over forty kilometers. Old Fang was puzzled about how his rebellious son, after so many years of tempering in the countryside, had become so knowledgeable about spending money just a few days back.
“That must be expensive, isn’t it quite a bit of money?”
“Don’t worry about the money. Tomorrow let’s have my older brother and sister-in-law, second sister and brother-in-law join us too. We never had a wedding banquet, so let’s take this chance to gather everyone.”
Lin Mei interjected with a smile, “Can one car fit so many people? Maybe I shouldn’t go.”
“It’ll fit everyone.”
With the meeting arrangements settled, Fei Ni left the Fei household with Fang Muyang.
Fei Ni didn’t offer her brother money again, knowing he wouldn’t accept it.
Lin Mei ate the apricots Fei Ting had bought her while continuing to share her thoughts: “I told you before, Little Sister didn’t just marry casually to let you move back. She was very careful about marriage, and now things are even better than I imagined—she’s going to live with her in-laws. With the house empty, she certainly won’t let outsiders have it, so we’ll have a house too. Now I’m angry thinking about giving those good things to Yu—we should have saved them for our sister. “
“Did she tell you that?”
“No, but isn’t that how it is? How can your cap factory housing compare to what her in-laws were allocated? The kitchen’s in the corridor, and there’s not even a private bathroom.”
“She has her concerns. Fei Ni might not want to live with her in-laws. You didn’t mention these things to her, did you?”
“I’m not that thoughtless—that would be like forcing them to give us their house. But I can’t understand why she wouldn’t want to live with her in-laws.”
“You know the saying ‘too much is as bad as too little’?”
“What does that mean?”
“You received a high school education before classes were suspended—how can you not know this?”
Lin Mei felt somewhat embarrassed: “Can’t you just be more direct?”
“Living with in-laws is different for you than for her. When you married me, you married down—my parents think you’re suffering by coming to us, so they treat you even better than they treat me…”
Lin Mei laughed: “No need to be so humble, we’re well-matched. We’re the same age, both high school graduates, even our parents do similar work, and coincidentally, our houses have similar layouts.”
Fei Ting couldn’t help laughing too—they were indeed well-matched.
Fei Ting continued: “My sister and Young Fang aren’t that different, but you have to admit, now there’s quite a gap between our two families. If my sister returns her house to the factory—which means giving it to us—and moves in with them, if there’s any conflict, she won’t have any leverage in arguments. Where would she go then?”
“What do you mean no leverage? Even if there’s conflict, she shouldn’t leave—just stay in their house, and occupy the best room. Oh, Fei Ni married Young Fang when he was at his lowest point, taking care of him in the hospital whenever she had time, and marrying him when he didn’t even have a job. For Young Fang’s comic books, how many reviews did Fei Ni write, and how many books did she buy to give to others? People should show gratitude. If he doesn’t, we’ll force him to.” Lin Mei then added, “People’s hearts are unpredictable. The other day, Wang Wenxue from our youth farm came to our shop to buy pastries—he divorced his countryside wife and returned to the city. Back then, he pursued her so desperately just to eat an egg every day, but now that he doesn’t need her anymore, he abandoned his wife and children just for a chance to return to the city, without a house or job. If he had become successful like Young Fang’s family, who knows how arrogant he’d be? But I think Young Fang’s family is fine—didn’t they send our parents an electric fan today?”
Lin Mei imagined herself in Fei Ni’s position and said many satisfying things, but she wasn’t Fei Ni. She realized the house wasn’t as close as she had imagined, and her child might have to be born in this room.
Fei Ting comforted her: “If we really can’t get allocated a house, I’ll take you to rent one. Don’t worry about it.”
“We have a house and you want to rent? How can you even think of that? Are you a landlord or a capitalist? If the house is small, it’s small. There are better things to spend money on—I’m saving up to buy a television.”
Sitting in the bicycle’s back seat, Fei Ni’s mind was full of thoughts about housing. The evening breeze entered the back of Fang Muyang’s collar, making his white shirt suddenly billow. Fei Ni wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her head against his back, squeezing out the wind.
This person was very good. But the better he was, the less she could test him. Pinning all her hopes for life on the person before her would be a heavy burden for both of them. Her sister-in-law and even her parents thought she was lucky to marry Fang Muyang, which meant that in others’ eyes, their current conditions were unequal…
“Why aren’t you happy today?”
“I am happy! My sister-in-law is pregnant—I’m going to be an aunt soon.”
“You still can’t let go of this house?”
Fei Ni remained silent. She had to keep her house no matter what. Once she gave it up, the cap factory might never allocate her another house, and although her brother couldn’t get a house right away, his turn would come someday… But now her sister-in-law was pregnant, and they needed a bigger place.
“You won’t be able to stay in this house forever—you’ll leave the cap factory someday.”
Fei Ni laughed: “Where would I go if I left the cap factory?”
“You’re capable of so many things, I really can’t guess where you’ll end up.”
“You’re just teasing me.”
Fei Ni let Fang Muyang guide her by the shoulder into the building. Seeing a house exchange notice in the corridor, she stopped walking.
Most people in the city lived in public housing, having only usage rights, not ownership rights. If they found their house too small, the commute inconvenient, or disliked the floor level, wanting to exchange a single room for an apartment or vice versa, they could only register at the housing exchange station or post notices seeking exchanges. Once both parties agreed and signed an exchange agreement, they could move.
Next to the house exchange notice was a job transfer notice.
Fei Ni only had eyes for the house exchange notice. Someone wanted to exchange their two-room apartment for two separate rooms because their son was getting married. The notice specifically mentioned that the apartment had a private bathroom.
Fei Ni took down the notice and read it carefully again. She silently cursed herself for being stupid—she should have thought of house exchanges earlier.
Her room and her parents’ room could be exchanged for a two-bedroom apartment with a private bathroom. After the exchange, the factory couldn’t take away her house—the exchange agreement would be in her name, and her brother could move in first while continuing to wait for housing allocation. When her brother got his own house, the two-bedroom apartment would still belong to her and her parents. Then they could either live together or exchange it for two separate rooms again.
This would both preserve her house and solve her brother and sister-in-law’s temporary difficulties.
Fei Ni took the notice home, planning to contact the other party tomorrow using the work unit phone number listed. The notice specifically mentioned they could be contacted any day of the week.
Fang Muyang seemed to guess Fei Ni’s thoughts and asked, “Have you decided about renting?”
Fei Ni nodded, “But the house you mentioned before is too expensive. Let’s find two small rooms instead—one bedroom and one for your studio.” She should have some savings. Currently, her only stable income was her salary, and she couldn’t spend it all on rent. The kind of independent house Fang Muyang mentioned was too luxurious for her.
“Is it really necessary for us to move to that kind of house?”
“Of course it is. The extra room can be your studio and living room. This room is a bit too small, inconvenient for your painting. And when guests come, they see the bed right away, which isn’t very good. I know you love to act first and report later, so I’m telling you in advance—don’t look for houses beyond my standard. Even if you find one, I won’t live there.”
“I don’t want to move anymore.”
“You must move. If you hadn’t mentioned moving, I wouldn’t have thought of this.”
“I won’t move—you can’t throw me out, can you?”
Fei Ni pinched his ear, “I’ll have the movers carry you away with the furniture—you pay the moving fee.”
Although this house had various shortcomings, because they were about to say goodbye to it, Fei Ni could now only see its good points. This was her first home, the little home she and Fang Muyang had built together. She remembered when they first moved in—there was nothing then, it could only be called a house. Later she bought some used items, and it barely qualified as a home. Then Fang Muyang came back, and the home gradually filled up. This home was so familiar, that she could enter it with her eyes closed without going wrong.
That night they had forgotten to buy mosquito incense again. To ward off mosquitoes, they could only apply Florida Water. Fei Ni reluctantly gave Fang Muyang a cursory application, while he applied it very carefully for her.