“You want to give up your land?”
Xia Xiaolan nodded, “According to the policy, I shouldn’t have land anymore.”
When land was distributed to households, it was allocated from the collective to individuals with rural household registration. Once Xia Xiaolan got into university, her household registration became part of the school’s collective registration, and if the state assigned her work in the future, her registration would be transferred to her work unit.
According to police, once Xia Xiaolan’s registration was transferred, she technically no longer had rights to her land.
However, if no one reported it, Xia Xiaolan could keep the allocated land indefinitely. Xia Xiaolan knew Chen Wangda meant well, but she didn’t want to take advantage of this situation. Even if there was compensation for land requisition, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t counting on that small amount of money, so why should she hold onto the land?
“You girl, have you grown distant from the village…”
“Grandpa Chen, let’s keep things separate. Although I no longer have land in the village, my roots are still here.”
Chen Wangda had no reason to force the issue. Though farmers liked to claim every bit of land they could, even the edges and corners, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t a farmer anymore. How could a proper university student return to farming?
Chen Wangda said he would take care of this matter. Hearing that Xia Xiaolan was returning to Beijing soon, he asked her to bring some money to Chen Qing at school:
“Every time we ask, he says he still has money, but he’s not earning any – where would it come from? He didn’t even come home for New Year’s. Xiaolan, please check on him for us.”
Xia Xiaolan hadn’t seen Chen Qing for half a year. She knew Chen Qing had feelings for her, but since she couldn’t reciprocate, she shouldn’t keep leading him on. Besides, she was busy with her studies and couldn’t look after Chen Qing, but now that Chen Wangda had asked, she would bring both the money and other items.
Judge the deed, not the person – just because she despised the Tian family didn’t mean she should associate Chen Wangda with them.
Chen Wangda had stood on her and her mother’s side. When faced with shameless people, Chen Wangda didn’t realize the gravity of the situation at first and was caught off guard by the Tian family.
Xia Xiaolan’s family was leaving on the afternoon of the fourth day of the New Year. Sister-in-law Chen prepared many packages and repeatedly asked Xia Xiaolan to bring them to Beijing – people are just that practical. Sister-in-law Chen’s attitude was much better than before, that subtle sense of superiority gone.
Sister-in-law Chen had faced reality. Xia Xiaolan owed Chen Wangda a favor, but not Sister-in-law Chen.
She had previously tolerated Sister-in-law Chen only for Chen Wangda and Chen Qing’s sake. When Sister-in-law Chen bought candy to get information about her whereabouts from Tao Tao, Xia Xiaolan took issue with it but held her tongue.
Once Xia Xiaolan’s family left, the Tian family wouldn’t dare relax – it wasn’t just Chen Wangda who was waiting to teach them a lesson.
They didn’t stay long in Shangdu either. Grandmother Yu locked up her room and rented the house to Liu Yong’s family, collecting a year’s rent in advance, preparing to follow Xia Xiaolan and Liu Fen to Beijing. The dog that Zhou Cheng had originally brought was returned before the New Year. Grandmother Yu only brought two sets of clothes. Since Xia Xiaolan was in a hurry to get to Beijing, she had previously asked Little Wang to buy three plane tickets in passing, so they could board the plane with just their luggage.
Liu Zitao was reluctant to part with his sister, complaining loudly: “I only see you a few days a year!”
Xia Xiaolan ruffled his hair: “I’m sorry, when sister has time, I’ll invite you to come play in Beijing, okay?”
Liar, you never have time!
Liu Zitao didn’t need to say it out loud; Xia Xiaolan could understand the accusation in the child’s eyes.
This was just an interlude.
Li Fengmei thought to herself, that they hadn’t even settled properly in Shangdu, and now they were moving to Beijing.
Following good people leads to becoming good – Li Fengmei hoped Liu Zitao could become as excellent as Xia Xiaolan. Moving for her son’s sake wasn’t impossible, but Li Fengmei worried about schooling difficulties in Beijing and was also reluctant to leave Shangdu.
From Shangdu to their rural hometown wasn’t far, but moving to Beijing would put distance between her and her relatives and friends.
Xia Xiaolan and Liu Fen had no attachments anyway. Besides her uncle’s family, Xia Xiaolan had no relatives to keep in touch with, so they could leave at a moment’s notice. Li Fengmei couldn’t make such a quick decision. Xia Xiaolan didn’t rush her aunt – the clothing store in Shangdu needed someone to run it, which meant Li Fengmei couldn’t be as free-spirited… Besides, what’s the hurry? Her uncle had even bought a courtyard house in Nanluogu Alley; even if the business lost money later, they had real estate as a safety net.
In any case, Xia Xiaolan had to keep a close eye to ensure Liu Yong didn’t sell the house midway.
Such courtyards were hard to buy back once sold. Beijing’s educational and medical resources were superior to Shangdu’s. Once Liu Yong and Li Fengmei’s business stabilized, Xia Xiaolan would persuade the couple to move to Beijing.
Xia Xiaolan boarded the plane with her mother and Grandmother Yu, leaving in such a hurry that she didn’t know Liang Bing’an and Liu Fang had come to Qijing Village only to find it empty.
Where were they?
They had already left.
Liang Bing’an had finally swallowed his pride to come curry favor and smooth things over, but not only did he miss meeting the rumored high-ranking official, but even Xia Xiaolan and her group had cleared out completely.
“People may run, but the store remains. The clothing store is still in the provincial capital, and we know where they live…”
Liu Fang spoke through gritted teeth, but she was destined to make a wasted trip.
Even if they wanted to kneel and beg for forgiveness, they needed to see the people first. Not only had Xia Xiaolan gone to Beijing early, but she had also taken her mother with her. The Liang family wanted to curry favor, but they couldn’t even catch a glimpse.
…
Xia Xiaolan wasn’t having an easy time either. As soon as she arrived in Beijing, Chen Xiliang drafted her for help.
Chen Xiliang called two taxis, one to take Liu Fen and Grandmother Yu to Shichahai, while he and Xia Xiaolan needed to go somewhere else:
“We’re going to visit a magazine editor’s home. He’s very interested in your publicity approach and wants to discuss it with you in person.”
What Xia Xiaolan had suggested was placing soft advertisements in fashion magazines.
Of course, they couldn’t directly write in the magazine that Luna was opening and female consumers should hurry to buy. It had to be written from an editor’s perspective: accidentally discovering a clothing store while shopping one day, finding out it’s a domestic Chinese brand, taking some beautiful photos of the clothes, interviewing the store owner, discovering it’s the brand worn by Hong Kong actress Wang Mingming during the Spring Festival Gala… Neither Xia Xiaolan nor Chen Xiliang could afford to pay Wang Mingming as a spokesperson – it wasn’t in the budget!
But indirectly, the fashion magazine could use Wang Mingming’s photos without payment.
Xia Xiaolan had seen plenty of such soft advertisements, but the magazine staff hadn’t, so they wanted to meet her.
“Whether we can cooperate depends entirely on you, young lady!”
Xia Xiaolan was surprised: “There are still people your sugar-coated bullets can’t corrupt?”
The dress Wang Mingming wore was indeed worth writing about in a fashion magazine. They could analyze the fabric and colors without mentioning “Luna” at all, but since they had asked to meet Xia Xiaolan, she couldn’t act high and mighty.
Editors were intellectuals, and sometimes intellectuals couldn’t be simply bought with money.
Chen Xiliang led Xia Xiaolan to Chief Editor Cui’s building. The stairs were narrow, and she followed behind Chen Xiliang. When they entered, it seemed Chief Editor Cui had other guests. This guest was stunned upon seeing Xia Xiaolan:
“Old Cui, she’s the spitting image of Qingwen!”