Chapter 26: First Update

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In 1988, the average monthly income of ordinary urban workers was roughly one hundred and forty yuan, equivalent to about four yuan and seventy fen a day. In the capital and several other economically stronger major cities, the average monthly income ranged from one hundred and eighty to one hundred and ninety yuan, or roughly six to seven yuan a day. Workers in Guangdong Province were at the higher end of the scale, while in Pengcheng, the average monthly income was around two hundred and fifty yuan—about eight yuan and thirty fen a day.

Of course, wages were not calculated quite so simply. Employees of state-owned enterprises and public institutions received not only their monthly salaries, but also various other benefits, including trade union welfare, as well as regular days off.

Casual laborers and odd-job workers were paid by the day: they earned money only for the days they worked. Few could work a full thirty days in a month, however. So even if they earned ten yuan a day, they still could not make three hundred yuan a month. It also depended on whether there was work available.

That was why four yuan a day was considered a fairly good rate here. Helping Lin Xuexia set up a stall and sell porridge and meals was easier than doing manual labor on a construction site. Some newcomers to construction work were unfamiliar with the job and could not necessarily earn four or five yuan a day.

The person Gao Chunyan had recommended was a middle-aged woman in her forties named Zhao Huiru. She was already a grandmother. Her son had a stall near the entrance to the local farmers’ market, where he sold dried goods such as kelp and fermented black beans, while her daughter-in-law sold cloth on the market’s second floor.

This farmers’ market was nothing like an upscale commercial center, but it had a tremendous flow of people. Along the street where Gao Chunyan set up her stall, many outsiders and villagers from the surrounding towns and villages came into the city to attend the market and buy or sell goods. Most of them chose this farmers’ market.

A few years earlier, Zhao Huiru’s son and daughter-in-law had married and had a child. She had come from her hometown to help look after the baby. Now that the child was three and had started kindergarten, Zhao Huiru had found herself with nothing to do. She was unwilling to return to her hometown, so she stayed in the city to help her son and daughter-in-law take the child to and from school.

With the child at kindergarten, Zhao Huiru truly had nothing to occupy her during the day. Staying home and watching television bored her. She felt that working in the fields back home would be more fulfilling. Yet when she actually returned for the New Year and stayed there for over a month, she soon clamored to go back to the city. She could no longer endure living in the village.

She had grown accustomed to city life: taking the child to school in the morning, buying meat and vegetables at the market, then spending a few coins on sunflower seeds and chatting with several other old women at the farmers’ market. Her days were simple and relaxed, and she did not want to remain in the village.

Gao Chunyan often went to the farmers’ market to buy rice noodles. Whenever she ran into Zhao Huiru, the two would exchange a few words. When Gao Chunyan mentioned that Lin Xuexia wanted to hire someone, Zhao Huiru agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Lin Xuexia had told Gao Chunyan that she was willing to pay five yuan to hire someone. Gao Chunyan thought that was too much and took it upon herself to cut the offer down by one yuan. Even at four yuan a day, Zhao Huiru was delighted.

Four yuan a day could buy two pounds of pork. She could not possibly eat four yuan’s worth of food by herself in a single day, so that would be enough to keep her fed!

After working one day, she would earn four yuan. She could spend two yuan on a pound of pork belly, buy a few coins’ worth of green vegetables, and still have one and a half yuan left over. What a wonderful life!

As Zhao Huiru happily made her calculations, she was determined to hold on to the job. When she first faced Lin Xuexia, she was exceptionally obsequious.

Zhao Huiru forced an ingratiating smile onto her face. “Boss Lin, whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do. I’ll listen to everything you say.”

At the time, everyone liked being called “boss.” Hoping to please her employer, Zhao Huiru had begun addressing Lin Xuexia that way as well.

“Wash your hands first, then wipe down the table,” Lin Xuexia said.

When Lin Xuexia first met Zhao Huiru, she was not particularly satisfied with her. Although Zhao Huiru had not asked for much and would probably have agreed even if the pay had been reduced to three yuan, Lin Xuexia had initially offered five yuan because she wanted to find a young woman in her twenties. Young women tended to be more hygienic and particular.

But she could not find anyone suitable for the moment, so she would make do with Zhao Huiru for now.

“Auntie Zhao, I’ll employ you temporarily for a while and see whether you’re suited to the job. If you decide you don’t like it, you can leave at any time.”

“Ah, all right,” Zhao Huiru replied.

“Let me make everything clear first. I sell food here, so hygiene is extremely important. There are quite a few things you need to pay attention to. First, you must use soap when washing your hands. If you’ve touched money, you must wash your hands before touching food that people will put in their mouths. When selling things, you must wear disposable gloves. Don’t think it’s too much trouble…”

Lin Xuexia carefully explained every precaution to Zhao Huiru.

Zhao Huiru became so overwhelmed that she felt she had two heads and four ears. She thought the young girl had far too many demands.

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In the past, when she had first come to help her son and daughter-in-law care for her grandson, her daughter-in-law had also told her to pay attention to all sorts of hygiene issues. But her daughter-in-law’s standards were still nowhere near as strict as Lin Xuexia’s.

Zhao Huiru said, “You’re saying that hands that have touched money can’t touch food? Why not? Money is such a good thing.”

“Money is a good thing, but so many people have touched it. No one knows how many hands it has passed through. Some people hide money here, others hide it there. It’s covered in bacteria. After touching it, you have to wash your hands thoroughly. You must be especially careful with anything that goes into someone’s mouth.”

There were many thieves in the 1980s, and people hid their money in all sorts of bizarre places: inside stockings, in their underwear, under the soles of their shoes, in sewn-in pockets… It was best not to think too deeply about it. The mere thought seemed to carry a smell.

Zhao Huiru said, “It probably isn’t such a big deal… But since you’re so particular, Boss Lin, I’ll certainly do as you say.”

Back in her village, some people had no standards at all when it came to cleanliness. Once, an old man had just returned to his courtyard and felt an itch on the sole of his foot. He had simply used his fingers to scratch it. Then, seeing that the cucumbers hanging from the vines in his yard had grown well, he had plucked one with the same fingers and eaten it. He had devoured it with relish, utterly unconcerned.

What did money matter by comparison? At least it looked fairly clean on the surface, didn’t it?

Nearby, Gao Chunyan, who was sorting the rice noodles, gave a slight shrug. She felt a faint, complicated sense of guilt.

Before Lin Xuexia mentioned how dirty money was, Gao Chunyan had never thought about it in that way. Now that she had, the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she became.

In the past, Gao Chunyan had run her rice-noodle stall alone. She took the money, cooked the noodles, and did everything else herself. One second she would accept a customer’s money, and the next she would pick up the noodles and blanch them in hot water. She had never noticed anything wrong with that.

At worst, she would pay a little more attention from now on.

Zhao Huiru said, “Boss Lin, you’ve told me so much all at once. I can’t possibly remember everything.”

Lin Xuexia’s long list of requirements made Zhao Huiru realize that money was not easy to earn. But when she thought of those four yuan, and of pork belly, she could not bear to give up.

More than that, she was afraid that her son and daughter-in-law would send her back to the village. Now that her grandson had started kindergarten, he no longer needed anyone to take him to and from school. To make things more convenient for working parents, the kindergarten had asked about every child’s family situation. Children whose parents came to collect them went straight home, while those without anyone to pick them up were escorted home by the teachers. Since the teachers could bring her grandson to the farmers’ market, where he could pack up and go home with his parents, there was no need for her at all.

In her son and daughter-in-law’s home, she had become someone who merely ate without contributing.

If she could earn some money outside, at least she would not be living off them. Zhao Huiru truly did not want to return to her village. Her husband was dead, her daughter had married and moved away, and now she had only this one son and daughter-in-law, far away in the southeast.

Her daughter-in-law had once tentatively suggested that she return home and enjoy her old age. They would send her thirty yuan a month, or three hundred and sixty yuan a year. She would not need to farm; she could tend her own vegetable garden and raise a few chickens and ducks. That money would be enough for her food and drink, allowing her to live comfortably.

Zhao Huiru had refused.

“It’s all right. I’ll remind you gradually,” Lin Xuexia said without taking offense. She smiled gently at Zhao Huiru and began making small talk, trying to learn more about her circumstances.

“Auntie Zhao, how are things at home?”

Zhao Huiru did not conceal anything. She poured out her story to Lin Xuexia as readily as beans spilling from a pod.

When she chatted with the other old women, her circumstances seemed enviable on the surface. Her son and daughter-in-law could earn money, she had a grandson, and they had brought her to the city to “enjoy her old age.”

Gao Chunyan thought the same after hearing it all.

“I used to think you didn’t want to work,” she said. “Look at you—your son and daughter-in-law both earn good money. Why would you come out to work?”

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Zhao Huiru waved her hand lightly and gave a subtle smile. In a calm, unconcerned tone, she said, “A person has to have something to do.”

Seeing this, Lin Xuexia guessed most of the truth. On the surface, Zhao Huiru’s life looked quite comfortable. In reality, she simply had no money of her own.

Without money, she had to hold out her hand and ask others for it. Whenever she wanted to buy something, she had to seek someone else’s approval.

“Auntie Zhao, if you work well here and satisfy me, I’ll add another yuan to your daily pay. Then you can spend two yuan a day and save three. In a month, you could save fifty or sixty yuan; in two months, you’d have a hundred. Auntie, have you opened a savings account yet? Once you’ve saved a hundred yuan, put it in the bank. You’ll earn interest every month…”

“It feels good to have money of your own. You can buy whatever you want. Auntie Zhao, even though you’re a grandmother, you still look so young. Clothes are cheap here, so you can buy several pretty outfits. You can even buy presents for your grandson.”

Lin Xuexia played to Zhao Huiru’s desires, painting her a warm and gentle picture of the future.

She also pretended to casually imply that although Zhao Huiru worked for her son and daughter-in-law without receiving a wage, she would earn money every day working for Lin Xuexia. Her son and daughter-in-law would respect her more for it. She would have money to buy gifts for her grandson, and he would love her more as a result. With money in her own hands, she would never have to worry about what anyone else thought when she wanted to buy something. Lin Xuexia even promised to teach her how to use a bankbook and how to check the interest.

Lin Xuexia’s voice was as gentle as water, yet it carried tremendous force. Zhao Huiru felt as though she had been injected with a surge of energy; every inch of her was filled with renewed vigor.

She had initially thought Lin Xuexia was fussy and troublesome, but the girl’s voice was so gentle that Zhao Huiru began to feel she was a good person who considered everything from Zhao Huiru’s point of view. Every word seemed to touch the deepest part of her heart.

Zhao Huiru had originally planned to slack off whenever she got the chance, but now she felt too embarrassed to do so. If she worked well, she could earn an extra yuan a day.

She understood the reasons behind Lin Xuexia’s insistence on handwashing and disposable gloves. Whether she actually followed those rules, however, was another matter.

The trouble was, this girl’s eyes were far too sharp.

Whenever she noticed Zhao Huiru doing something incorrectly, she did not scold her directly the way her daughter-in-law did, calling her stupid. She merely addressed her as “Auntie Zhao,” then gave her a slight smile and a meaningful look.

Zhao Huiru would respond with an embarrassed smile and immediately correct herself.

Lin Xuexia was not in a hurry. After reminding her several times, Zhao Huiru gradually became accustomed to it.

Whenever Zhao Huiru did something well, Lin Xuexia praised her loudly.

While chatting with Gao Chunyan, Lin Xuexia remarked casually, “If business goes well and I eventually open a shop, Auntie Zhao will continue working for me. By then, she’ll be a veteran and can help train the newcomers.”

“Auntie Zhao is quick and capable. She learned so fast today. She’ll be even quicker when she becomes a teacher and trains others.”

When Lin Xuexia finished speaking, Zhao Huiru, who was washing pots with her back turned to them, could not help feeling her blood surge with excitement.

Gao Chunyan, meanwhile, stared wide-eyed.

This girl had hired one person and was already thinking about hiring more? She was getting ahead of herself.

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