"Dad, Mom, I want to apply to go to the countryside as an educated youth!" It was the spring of 1975 in Beijing. I stood by the dining table and watched the chopsticks fall from my parents' hands at the same time. My mother, Li Xiumei, stared at me wide-eyed, as if she'd seen a ghost. "Lin Yi, what are you talking about? You've got a good job lined up as a factory worker's kid. Why would you go to the countryside?" My father, Lin Jianguo, turned ashen and slapped the table. "Nonsense! Has someone brainwashed you? We have connections at the steel mill. They can get you a factory job soon. Why would you run off to the countryside?" I calmly sat down and picked up a bite of food. "I've made up my mind. I'll go sign up at the neighborhood office tomorrow."
A Hundred Days of House-Sitting in a Haunted House, with a Female Ghost Clinging to Me Day and Night