Why Is the Little Lamb Like That? [Period Novel]

Midsummer, July 1958.

At No. 309, Garden Villas, Liberation Road, Red Star Mining District, a handsome young man moved in. They said he had transferred his residence from out of town, came from a family with an impeccable background, held an urban household registration, and had joined the mining district's logistics department as a purchasing clerk. He earned forty-three yuan a month and had no family to support.

The neighbors were soon abuzz.

"Comrade Meng Gao, you're not married yet, are you? Auntie can find you someone."

"..." Meng Gao refused. "Thanks, Auntie, but I'm seeing someone."

His childhood sweetheart, the boyfriend he'd grown up with, wasn't someone he could show off. They had to keep their relationship secret, meeting only when he climbed through the window in the dead of night. Honestly, he was pretty useless.

*

Zhou Chongyuan was the notorious little devil of the family compound. From childhood, he roamed the hills and rivers, doing as he pleased, until a grandfather and grandson with no one to depend on moved into the neighboring courtyard when he was five.

The grandfather had white hair, poor eyesight, and hardly any teeth left. His grandson was a silly little lamb, so clueless that the nursery school kids tricked him every day.

Young Zhou Chongyuan's sense of justice kicked in. He took the dirt-covered Meng Gao home, fed him, gave him water, changed him into clean clothes, and dressed him in his own little undershirt and red shorts.

One simple act of taking the little lamb in turned into thirteen years together.

Then came 1958, and the Zhou family fell into disgrace. The whole family, young and old, was sent to a remote, desolate state-run farm in Chang'an County.

With no hope left, Zhou Chongyuan thought he would never see his childhood sweetheart, little Meng Gao, again.

He never imagined Meng Gao would come too.

The gong was touched and thrilled. "Baby."

Meng Gao sighed and brought his boyfriend a sack of sweet potatoes, rice, and flour. "Shut your mouth. From now on, call me Boss, got it? The Boss who makes sure you get a full meal!"

The gong: "..."

Couple: An innocent, gentle little lamb x a scheming gong with a black heart.

1. This is a completely rewritten story about Meng Gao and Zhou Chongyuan, with an entirely different plot and setup. Consider it a new story.

Theme: Nostalgia for pure love in the last century