She Only Cares About Cultivation

When someone asked, "Won’t this make people say we’re unfilial?"

An Yi gave a cold snort, carelessly rubbing her painted fingernails. "Between you, me, and her, which of us has any reputation left to talk about?"

"I can tell you clearly, I wasn’t ZT’d by the Devils, but I was ZT’d by our own people. Back then in Guandong our family was a well-known big household, my dad was a commander, but that concubine of his took advantage of him being away from home, tricked me out, and sold me off to a mountain ravine in Southern. I escaped on my own..."

"After drifting all these years, seeing so much life and death, I developed a fear of marriage. I felt that since I can support myself, why should I marry? Marry just to wait on someone else’s whole family? If we want children, we can have our own, just find some man and we can have one, can’t we? Worst case, we can go out and adopt one. We’ve got no reputation left anyway, so just live however feels comfortable. You two think too much. Other people may not know what kind of people you are, but you yourselves do, don’t you? Sky is watching. As long as your heart is clear, that’s enough."

After being talked to like this, on and off, by An Yi, the two sisters ended up completely brainwashed, because what An Yi said was exactly what they had gone through all these years.

Anyway, as long as that old incident exists, wherever they go people will point at them and gossip. No matter how well you behave, will anyone praise you?

No!

Not only will they not, they’ll despise you even more.

Why should women make things so hard for other women?

Those men can still feel some pity for them, but the ones scolding them the harshest are all women.

After that, whenever their own family came again, the two of them would grab carrying poles and drive them out. If they couldn’t get their money back, they’d smash the house up.

Whoever dared show up, they’d have a knife tucked right in their hand, acting every inch the shrew, scaring both families so badly they didn’t dare take a single step forward.

If anyone nagged a few extra words, they’d get a broom slapped across the face. Who would have believed those previously weak women would suddenly straighten up like this?

After testing them repeatedly, people came to the conclusion that they really had changed, changed into women not to be messed with. And this just happened to serve as a warning to the others.

"You’ve all seen it. The two of us want to live. Whoever won’t let us live, we can cut off all kinship. All these years of being beasts of burden, we’ve already paid back what we owed you. We also have to live. If you keep coming every day to sponge off us and take advantage, don’t blame us for being rude. And you lot, whoever has taken advantage of us, you yourselves know. We’re not holding it against you because we don’t want things to get to this point. But if from now on you keep bullying us, then don’t come to my place to buy tofu—we just won’t sell it!"

After this incident, the two of them finally realized how exhilarating it is to stand straight and live like human beings!

Hearing them out, An Yi chuckled. "Now that’s more like it. People are just like that: they bully the weak and fear the tough. Once you toughen up, who still dares look down on you? Have you gone to ask the village chief yet? You can’t keep sending tofu every few days for nothing; it has to be settled properly. The household registration issue being solved is fine, but what about the land?"

"We asked. They said come spring they’re going to set up some kind of primary J agricultural S production hzs? We can’t quite figure out what it means, but Sis, this land of yours, come spring, chances are you might not be able to keep it!"

"Was it the village chief who had you pass this on to me?" The two of them hurriedly shook their heads. "No, no."

Actually she knew this day would come. Back then she hadn’t insisted the higher-ups write any document or anything to guarantee those two mu of land would always be hers.

She hadn’t gone and done something that would offend people, so if next year they really reorganized things, it was within her expectations. She had no grounds to object. No matter when, she mustn’t stick her head out. It’s not like she lacked food or drink. If they took it back, then let them.

"Sis, seeing you like this, you’ve known for a long time? I remember you even reminded us before! So this cooperative or whatever it is, what on earth is it?"

...

"Your millstone at home might well be hauled away after the New Year too. As for whether they’ll assign you to the communal kitchen to make tofu, or what exactly, that’s hard to say."

An Yi hadn’t expected that the land she’d just been given would only be farmed for one year, just one growing season, before it was turned over to the collective.

Afterwards, her work was no longer as casual as when she’d worked for herself. What time to start, what time to finish, what work to do that day—none of it was up to her anymore; everything had to follow the arrangements from above.

So be it. She would wait and see how the village chief divided things then.

Not joining was definitely impossible, because this was the trend from now on. Even the taverns and noodle shops were going public-private, so what was land in comparison?

After this whole talk, the two sisters didn’t state their position right away, and went home weighed down with worries.

——

"Qiuxia, are we really going to stop the tofu shop business?"

Li Qiuxia let out a heavy sigh. "From what I can see, what Sister An Yi said is pretty much what the village chief meant. If it really turns out that way, then that millstone in our courtyard might truly not be something we can keep. And that hoe Sister An Yi gave us will very likely have to be donated to the collective too. When they divide things up, whether what we get fits our hands or not is another matter. Anyway, it just makes me feel so stifled. They say as long as we work the fields we can get grain, but Caihua, we’ve only had a few months of peace. Are we really going to have to deal with those people again?"

Liu Caixia felt like she could cry but had no tears. Thinking back on the way An Yi had spoken when she’d said all that, she started mulling it over again.

"Qiuxia, the more I look the more I feel Sister An Yi is not simple. She doesn’t seem like a peasant at all. Look at how clean and tasteful her place is, and especially... easy on the eyes. She dresses the same as us, but her clothes are washed so clean, and she always smells nice whenever we see her. How come the same dishes taste so much better when she cooks them? She can read too; you can tell she’s very educated. We just casually mentioned the cooperative, and she could explain so much. She’s amazing; I’m way too curious about where she comes from!"

"You’re not even a little curious?" Faced with Caihua’s amazement, Qiuxia gave a little laugh. "Curious, how could I not be curious? I’m not only curious, I even want to ask her. But I don’t dare. Could it really be like she said, that she came all this way fleeing famine?"

Ever since they moved out, the two sisters had felt the air of freedom, and so they were even less willing to get tangled up with their family again. If they could, they’d rather never have anything to do with that family for the rest of their lives. But the moral codes told them that when you’re supposed to give, you still have to give, because blood is thicker than water. If they lived in different villages, that’d be one thing, but since they lived in the same village, as long as the old couple was still alive, they had to selectively give, otherwise no one could stand the gossip behind their backs.