Chapter 2 – Work
Although Lu Xia was one year younger than her older sister, Lu Chun, she was much more sensible from a young age, and not only that, she excelled academically.
Lu Chun didn’t pass the high school entrance exam and didn’t want to go to the countryside, so she insisted on repeating a year. Coincidentally, she was in the same grade as the original host. In order for Lu Chun to be able to attend high school, the original host helped her with tutoring.
And the original host was indeed impressive. She actually helped Lu Chun get into high school.
As for the original host herself, she was naturally good at studying and easily passed the high school entrance exam. Initially, her family didn’t plan to let her continue studying and wanted her to find a job early to help with the household income.
However, since Lu Chun was repeating a year and the original host helped her get into high school, it wouldn’t be justifiable to not let her attend as well.
That’s how the original host and her older sister both went to high school.
A few days ago, the two of them had just graduated from high school.
After graduating from high school, they faced the challenge of finding a job. Otherwise, they would have to respond to the country’s call and become sent-down youth in the countryside.
However, it was difficult to find a job at the moment. Many factories weren’t hiring, so job opportunities were scarce.
The street office had come a few times already, urging them to make a decision. According to the regulations, each family had to send one child to the countryside.
Lu Chun didn’t want to go to the countryside, so she had been running around, inquiring about job openings in factories. Lu Xia’s parents had also been asking relatives for help in finding information.
As for Lu Xia, they simply didn’t pay any attention to her. They either forgot or didn’t care.
However, the original host was a good student and was well-liked by her teachers. So when she graduated, her teacher reminded her that the light bulb factory was currently hiring. However, because they were only hiring a small number of people, the news didn’t spread.
The original host was thrilled when she heard this but didn’t tell her family.
Although she was introverted, she was not foolish; on the contrary, she was very smart. She knew that if she told her family, she probably wouldn’t be able to go because they would prioritize her older sister.
And she didn’t want to give up this opportunity, so she kept it to herself and quietly went to take the exam when the time came.
It was only after she received the news that she had been accepted by the light bulb factory that she happily told her family.
Then all hell broke loose at home!
Lu Chun shouted and caused a scene, and Lu Xia’s parents were disappointed in her, scolding her for being selfish, heartless, and only thinking about herself.
The other two younger siblings who had just graduated from elementary school watched the drama unfold.
The original host didn’t expect them to react like this. She had gotten a job on her own, which was clearly a good thing. Why were they so angry?
Could it be because it wasn’t her older sister who got the job? But wasn’t she also their daughter?
In the end, the matter ended without joy. Lu Xia’s father went back to his room, and Lu Xia’s mother went to comfort her older sister.
No one was happy for her.
And after facing such treatment, the original host’s heart grew cold once again…
But after her heart grew cold, the original host also became more accepting. After all, her job was already secured, so she could just live her own life.
She made up her mind not to care about her family’s attitude anymore. Let them do whatever they wanted, as long as it didn’t affect her.
However, the original host didn’t expect that she was still being too optimistic.
The original host never expected that her mother and older sister had secretly signed her up to go to the countryside as a “sent-down youth.”
By the time she found out, the paperwork from the sent-down youth office had already been issued, and there was no way to change it.
When the original host found out about this yesterday, it was like a bolt from the blue. And to make matters worse, Lu Xia’s mother was there pretending to console her, telling her to accept it.
How could she accept it? Did she not know what it meant to go to the countryside as a sent-down youth?
In the past few years, there were also sent-down youths who returned to visit their families. The young girls who had gone to the countryside came back looking so different that she could hardly recognize them!
Thanks for the chapter (-ㅂ-)/ ♥ ♥ ♥
Somehow, seeing trashy family plots so often in Chinese novel, I wonder if there really are many family who act trashy or if, culturally, many Chinese authors like writing about the most dastardly familial relationship possible.
Yup! The bias for male children and ‘carrying the line’ is so strong in China that there’s a massive imbalance of male to female children in China today, you can read about it here!! https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/world/too-many-men/
Also, stereotypes don’t just pop out of nowhere, I think it’s quite possible for families like that to have been common before.
Welp the usual trash family, can’t wait for them to be fucked over.
Poor prior Lu Xia ….
If they’re stop at being upset for LX “hiding the bulb factory recruitment and her enrollment”, I can still assume the parents were only expecting LC bringing LC to register with her. Such a “closed/limited-registration” usually needs recommendation for it and LX barely get it from her teachers because of her academic performance. At worst, I would only assume that they’re ignorant and shameless (rude/impolite) toward the teachers. But, they secretly registered her to be sent down. Regardless they did it before or after they knew about her employment by the factory, it can only mean that they’ve already chosen to keep LC and sacrifice LX for it.
I can understand how they chose LX to be sent down. She’s smarter, more skillful in house chores, self-reliant, resilient, and all-round dependable than LC. They expected LX to fare better than LC in village life. But, secretly registered her is robbing her freedom of choice and I can’t reconcile with it untill they regret it and properly apologize to her.