To get her to leave sooner, Wang Xianbing added, "The new canteen has just been built, and many people are already inquiring about job openings. These spots are extremely hard to come by. If you miss this chance, you'll have a hard time finding another position with benefits this good."
Everyone knew a canteen job was the most lucrative. At the very least, you got your fill for three meals a day, and there was never a shortage of meat! Every so often, employees could even take home leftover ingredients and food.
Lin Jin also climbed out of bed, pushed the door open, and tried to persuade her. "These days, if you have a relative working in a canteen, you can aim for a higher class of spouse. And that's not even counting the fact that Classmate Zhu would be working there herself!"
This couple was really pulling out all the stops to see her off.
Zhu Yun pouted. "Fine. We'll call it even on the job and household registration."
Wang Xianbing and Lin Jin exchanged a look, both sighing in relief. They couldn't help but resent Old Mrs. Wang. 'Life was perfectly fine, so why did she have to bring a creature like this into the family?'
As if afraid Zhu Yun would go back on her word, Wang Xianbing took her straight to the canteen office to sign up. Then, with the letter of introduction issued by the work unit, they went to the household registration department to get her registered.
"Is that all it takes?" Zhu Yun asked, feeling uneasy as she watched the staff member copy her information onto a form and then, THUD, THUD, stamp it a few times.
'In the original story, Old Mrs. Wang used the original owner's household registration to control her, dragging her back to their hometown and marrying her off to a lame, blind, old widower.'
'She wasn't afraid of that happening to her, but having her own independent household registration would save her a lot of trouble!'
"Of course," the staff member replied without looking up. "I'll mail the transfer application to your current place of registration shortly. Once they send your file over, the registration here will be considered complete. We'll announce it over the loudspeaker when it's ready."
Once outside, Wang Xianbing hurriedly led her out the factory's west gate and over to the Tianhe Commune.
The Tianhe Commune office hadn't originally been here. But the establishment of the machinery factory spurred the entire commune's economy and development, so they had rebuilt the office as a row of two-story, red-brick buildings directly opposite the factory's west gate.
The commune office, in a cunning move, had also applied to the higher-ups to establish a comprehensive service complex—including a supply and marketing cooperative, a state-owned restaurant, and a post office—to compete with the "brother units" inside the factory for the business of the tens of thousands of workers and their families.
Wang Xianbing was wearing a gray-green work uniform, which marked him as a technician at the factory—someone others would respectfully address as "Engineer."
The deputy commune head, who spent his days wandering around with an enamel mug in hand, brightened up at the sight of him. He hurried over with a chuckle. "Comrade, here on business?"
Wang Xianbing smiled, gestured toward Zhu Yun, and explained his purpose.
This deputy head was very enthusiastic. He shoved his enamel mug into a clerk's hands and led them for a stroll behind the two-story office building.
Behind the building was a large, orderly expanse of blue-gray brick-and-tile courtyard houses. They must have all been built in a single coordinated effort, because their materials, size, and layout were all very similar.
Many of the homes had already been rented or sold, and some still had the "double happiness" symbol for marriage pasted outside.
The factory had many employees but only a few dozen buildings for family housing. Even though the factory had only been built three years prior and these courtyard houses were only a year old, ninety percent of them were already occupied.
'This is the outskirts of the Capital City now,' she thought, 'but with the coming economic boom, the city center will keep expanding. Sooner or later, this area is bound to become part of the Fourth Ring Road.'
'Period-setting novels are all the rage right now. Even though I usually stick to the modern and historical romance genres, my colleagues have been dragging me along, schooling me on all sorts of ways to get rich. And hoarding courtyard houses is a foolproof investment!'
Zhu Yun set her sights on the house furthest from the factory. Since it had no immediate neighbors, its courtyard was half again as large as the others. In addition to the three-room main house, it had two small side chambers, two rooms in each of the east and west wings, and a three-room gatehouse. The yard had its own well, along with jujube, apple, and peach trees, and even a grapevine!
The deputy head lavished another round of praise on the house.
Wang Xianbing nodded, summoned the homeowner, and privately discussed the matter of trading a temporary worker position for the house.
The two parties haggled for a long while before finally resolving the issue by upgrading the offer from a temporary worker position to a permanent one.
After a meal at the state-owned restaurant, they rushed to complete the rest of the paperwork.
The property deed was issued on the spot. Without taking a break, Wang Xianbing told Zhu Yun to start cleaning the house while he rode his bicycle home, bringing back her meager luggage in a single trip.
"Sign this agreement," Wang Xianbing said, placing a pen and paper on the table. "Once the money from my family is wired over, we can consider this matter truly settled between us."
He was red-faced and panting, sweat beading on his forehead. The way he rushed around without even catching his breath, so eager to send off the plague god, was almost too pathetic to watch.
Zhu Yun raised an eyebrow. She took the paper and read it slowly, word by word. 'The handwriting is probably Lin Jin's—it's neat, but that's all you can say for it. It lists my three demands, followed by a page and a half of prohibitions.'
The gist was that their two families were now strangers and were to have no contact whatsoever from this day forward. Even if she encountered difficulties in her life or at work, she was to seek help from her supervisors, not Wang Xianbing.
Just as Wang Xianbing looked ready to jump out of his skin with impatience, she let out a sneer. Her eyes landed on the figure—two thousand three hundred—and she signed her name without hesitation.
Then, as she frowned, dissatisfied with her own crooked signature, Wang Xianbing snatched the paper away. He threw down five hundred yuan, muttered, "I'll send the rest later," and fled with his bicycle as if his life depended on it.
Zhu Yun let out a dry laugh. 'How naive, don't you think?'
'The material debts are barely settled. But what about the seven long years of psychological torment?'
'I've always been one to hold a grudge. Even though the original owner was the one who suffered, I have her memories now, and I feel her pain as if it were my own. If I don't get payback with interest, how can I show my face at the Space-Time Administration Bureau?'
The previous owner was a thoughtful person. They had already cleaned the house for the most part and had even left the simple furniture behind.
Zhu Yun looked over the original owner's belongings: a thin set of bedding, a few items of clothing, and an impressively large biscuit tin and a canister of malted milk powder. In reality, they were both practically empty, with only a few dregs left at the bottom.
'Even now, Lin Jin is still trying to keep up appearances,' she scoffed.
The thought of the lice and fleas still on her body was unbearable. Zhu Yun grabbed the money and went out on a spending spree.
After getting a haircut, she started shopping for household items and realized she had been too hasty. In this era, money without ration tickets was useless!
Fortunately, she had the canteen job. Shamelessly, she had the deputy head pull some strings for her, allowing her to buy ration tickets on credit and pay a premium for clothes, spices, snacks, rice and flour, pots, pans, bowls, a stove, and more.
Zhu Yun scrubbed herself clean, changed into new clothes, and applied a delousing treatment to her hair, which she then wrapped in an old, hole-ridden towel.
She had just stepped out of the room, on her way to the kitchen to whip up something to eat.
A woman from next door heard the door open. Peering over the one-and-a-half-meter wall, she stood on her tiptoes and smilingly offered a plate. "Classmate Zhu, you haven't started cooking yet, have you? We just made some fried scallion pancakes. Here, have some."
The pale yellow, crispy pancakes gave off an enticing, savory aroma.
Zhu Yun was pleasantly surprised. She accepted the plate with a smile. "Thank you, Sister-in-law. I'm Zhu Yun. We're neighbors now. 'Classmate Zhu' is too formal. If you don't mind, please just call me Yun."
"Of course! My husband is Tan Zhiming, and I'm Lin Hongxue. Everyone just calls me Sister-in-law Tan," she said, gesturing toward the people in her courtyard.
At one-point-six-five meters tall, Zhu Yun could easily see into their yard.
Tan Zhiming was dark and sturdy, with an honest, good-natured look. He grinned, nodding at her. "Yun, come visit when you have time. Your sister-in-law here just moved in not long ago herself."
She smiled and agreed.
On the other side, a man with a buzz cut sat with his back to her. Just from his impeccable posture, the broad shoulders and narrow waist visible beneath his work uniform, and the cool aura he exuded, Zhu Yun was willing to bet he was an absolute, drop-dead gorgeous heartthrob.
As if feeling her intense gaze, the man turned to look. As expected, his features were fair and sharply defined, giving him a cold, chiseled handsomeness. His narrow eyes held a sharp glint, and his thin, tightly pressed lips bespoke an innate nobility and aloofness.
Yet, he looked right through her, turning his head away again without a change in expression.
Zhu Yun took a deep breath. 'I've always been magnanimous when it comes to beautiful people.' She forced a smile and said to Sister-in-law Tan, "Sister-in-law, I'll bring the plate back once I've finished eating and washed it."
"No rush, no rush," Sister-in-law Tan said with a wave of her hand. "We have a guest today. I'll invite you over for a proper meal some other time!"
The wheat, grown in soil free of any pollution, had a fresh, robust flavor. She didn't even need any pickled vegetables to go with them, devouring the entire plate of pancakes.
After mixing a cup of the malted milk powder, Zhu Yun let out a sigh of pure satisfaction. 'Good food truly is my prime motivation for completing these missions!'