The Handsome Young Educated Youth of the Seventies

● Coming soon: Sixies Factory District Beauty and When the Grapes Are Ripe. Please add them to your reading list =3=

Tsundere handsome soft-rice eater vs. outspoken, fiery village girl

[One goes to the countryside, three return to the city]

The arrival of the educated youths sparked lively discussion in the Spring Breeze Brigade as everyone settled in for winter. There was only one reason: among them was a particularly handsome young educated youth named Chu.

Male villagers: He only earns five work points a day.

Female villagers: Young Chu is so handsome.

Male villagers: He spends money like water.

Female villagers: Young Chu can repair tractors.

Male villagers: His family background isn't good.

Female villagers: ...

Lin Baoyi: Our Lin family has been poor peasants for three generations, with impeccable class credentials. We should take the lead in uniting with the backward elements!

-

In a single night, the young master of the Chu family's compound lost all his privileges. With a pack on his back, Chu Yanting became an educated youth sent to the countryside.

What he imagined life in the countryside would be like: Though my meals are simple and my home is humble, I can pick chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence and leisurely admire the southern mountains.

What life in the countryside was actually like: Bang, bang, bang, time to work! Bang, bang, bang, time for the harvest! Bang, bang, bang, time to gather cow dung!

Chu Yanting was so tired he saw stars. He took another bite of the sweet potato he'd dug up himself, its surface full of dents and gouges. His stomach burned and churned.

The most capable worker on the team, a tomboyish girl who worked harder than any man, came over. Born with superhuman strength, she swung her hoe and drove it into the earth. She smiled, dimples showing, and said brightly, "My family has plenty of soft rice."

[Many original fictional details, so there's no need to nitpick historical accuracy. No golden fingers; everyone is a native of this world. Few extreme villains or face-slapping scenes, just cozy everyday family life.]

Coming soon: Sixies Factory District Beauty. Please add it to your reading list.

Lately, the workers at Shanghai's Steel Rolling Mill have been talking about little else over tea than the news about the branch factory.

The mill's workers' compound is packed to bursting, and new apartments are nowhere in sight. But the branch factory offers housing as soon as you arrive, and a chance to become a cadre.

Everything sounds great, except it's in Jiangcheng, a poor county thousands of miles from Shanghai.

-

Yu Yue had barely had time to celebrate passing the exam for a job in the accounting office after working as a cafeteria server at the Steel Rolling Mill when she learned her family planned to marry her off to the slick son of a factory worker, so her second brother could have a marital home.

They called it enjoying a good life.

They took turns persuading her, calling her sensible.

The two met on a blind date at a state-run restaurant.

The factory heir was of average height, with a bulbous nose. Everything about him screamed that he was a good catch. Looking down on Yu Yue, he told her that after they married, she'd transfer to an easy job, have children as soon as possible, and put family first.

Yu Yue: Whoever wants this good fortune can have it!

*

At the neighboring table across the aisle, Song Yan was also on a blind date.

His stepmother had vouched for the woman.

Someone walked by carrying a fish, and the woman, who had seemed gentle and composed, suddenly began retching. A doctor at the table behind them checked her pulse.

"Congratulations, comrade. You're three months along."

Song Yan: ...

-

Yu Yue was "unreasonable" enough to hand in her application and board a train to Jiangcheng.

The branch factory was just getting started and desperately needed talented people.

Through hard work and natural ability, Yu Yue gradually became a key member of its accounting office.

The union's big sisters also began worrying about the single employees' love lives.

Another blind date at a state-run restaurant.

Yu Yue: Why is it you?

Song Yan: Why is it you?

When the Grapes Are Ripe

A sweet little story about a secret crush coming true

In her second year of high school, a transfer student joined the class.

He was as beautiful as jade, as graceful as a pine tree.

Yu Zhi happened to look up at him, and that one glance stayed in her heart for years.

On the day the college entrance exams ended, a group of students sprawled across the sports field. In the small hours of the night, beneath the soft, quiet moonlight, Yu Zhi carefully slipped a love letter into Pei Yuanyi's jacket pocket.

Over the next few years, they went their separate ways.

Another midsummer arrived.

Pei Yuanyi discovered a new theorem in mathematics, causing a sensation at home and abroad.

Before the press conference, a simultaneous interpreter knocked on the door of his lounge.

"Pei Yuanyi, long time no see."

"You ask when the grapes will ripen. Wait patiently, and then wait a little longer."

Theme: Keep striving and don't give up, especially when you're at your lowest