Epiphanies of Rebirth (重生之豁然)

Chapter 33

What did an amount of two or three thousand yuan represent for Mother Zhou?

To put it simply: she had never seen that much liquid cash in her entire life.

Before Mother Zhou was laid off, she had earned 170 yuan a month working at the Liyun Thermos Factory. The couple's combined earnings reached 400 yuan a month, and in the small, remote southern town this made them a high-income household. However, anyone who had a family, especially one with a child, knew that expenditures added up imperceptibly; after all the monthly expenses, there usually wasn't much money left to put in their savings.

But this income still made many people not employed in the state-owned enterprises or factories very envious. In the 1990s, many farmers who labored over the land might not even have earned 200 yuan a year (not counting food ration coupons).

Mother Zhou used to think that after getting laid off, her life had reached a dead end and that there would be no turn for the better. Lin Jingzhe and Hu Shaofeng's remarks were casual, but they shook her to the core.

Hu Shaofeng's in particular—he was obviously a Yan City native, and both his clothes and his manner screamed that he came from an affluent family and was well-versed in the ways of the world. His exclamation was so natural that it was hard for Mother Zhou to doubt his words.

No matter how humble and unassuming somebody was, they still subconsciously desired to better themselves. Inspired, Mother Zhou went back to discuss this matter with her husband.

Father Zhou vetoed it without thinking: "Nonsense! We're upright and honest people, not some criminals!"

In his mind, the best possible occupation was to be a worker in a state-owned enterprise. The term "self-employment" had only appeared in the past decade, and in the early years, it was simply a synonym for "not engaging in honest work". It was somewhat better in a metropolis like Yan City, but in the Liyun Town of the '80s, only former convicts and other such crooks who were unable to find honest jobs would run their own businesses. The common folk heard of a crime labeled "illegal speculation and profiteering", but they were not really clear on what constituted as such—they only knew that many lawbreakers were jailed for hoarding, manipulating prices, and disrupting the market in order to make a big profit since the newspapers denounced them. Therefore, for the majority of the lower class, the words "private business" became anathema.

It was the same for Father Zhou. He would not even think of touching stocks; he was a typical representation of the working class in that era: a simple, law-abiding man with high integrity.

Mother Zhou was even more observant of traditional standards than him, but in addition to her apprehension, she was also excited. In all these years, it was the first time Zhou Haitang had left his parents' side for a significant period of time, and he'd even gone to the faraway Yan City. Ever since her son left, she couldn't sleep well and often wake up in the middle of the night, worried that something would happen to him and she wouldn't know nor be able to help him. Opening a private business in Yan City was a huge temptation to her—how much money she could earn was secondary, the most important thing was that she could stay close to her son.

The strength of a mother was something to behold—Mother Zhou, who had always been obedient to her husband, defied his decision for the first time in her life.

While Father Zhou was still thinking about when the best time to leave Yan City was, Mother Zhou had already secretly launched into action.

She had only just arrived in this place and had no foundation, but because of her divine cooking skills, many housewives in the community would knock on her doors when it was time to start cooking dinner, like pilgrims visiting a temple to listen to holy scriptures. Mother Zhou was unassuming and honest, but it didn't mean she was dull; after only a few days, she already had built good relationships with them.