Happy moving into new home

  In the eve of Spring Festival in 1981, Lin Zhenhua's family welcomed two pieces of good news.

  Firstly, my sister Lin Fanghua won the first place in the whole grade in this semester's final exam, which is equivalent to being the first in the county, because the scores of students from other high schools are not comparable to those of County No. 1 Middle School. Based on last year's college entrance examination results, the first place in Fenghua County will definitely be admitted to a top university in the country.

  The news caused a sensation throughout the Hanhua factory, and its impact far exceeded Lin Zhenhua's contract labor service company and the large bonuses given to all temporary workers. It is worth noting that the academic performance of Hanhua factory's children in the county has been notoriously poor, with some even saying that the only ways for them to escape their circumstances are to join the military or pursue sports, as student-athletes can often get by without good grades. Now, Hanhua factory finally has a child who can proudly hold his head high and achieve the top score in the entire county.

  The Lin siblings all stood out, triggering countless gossip rumors in the Hanhua factory. A worker who was relatively close to the Lin family's ancestral home even ran to Lin Zhenhua's old house to take a look at his parents' graves, and even took a look at his grandparents' graves together. After returning, he told everyone with a smile that there were indeed strange phenomena on the Lin family's grave. After being reminded by him, Lin Zhenhua also remembered to go back and sweep the tombs of his parents and ancestors, so he brought his sister back once, and these details don't need to be described in detail.

  The second good news for the Lin family was that the factory, under the name of rewarding talented contributors, allocated a two-bedroom apartment in the newly built residential building to Lin Zhenhua. This residential building was the first high-rise building in Hanhua Factory, adopting a two-bedroom and one-living room design with its own kitchen and bathroom, which was already considered a luxury house at that time. There wasn't even a second building like this in the whole factory, and all the workers' residences had at most a simple kitchen, let alone a bathroom.

  The matter of allocating a house to Lin Zhenhua had indeed caused the factory leaders to be in a dilemma for half a day. This newly built residential building only has three floors, three units, and a total of 18 houses, while the families who clearly applied for housing in the factory were around 70-80 households, not to mention some who thought they didn't qualify and didn't apply. The Lin family's original residence already exceeded the average per capita area, as others' two-room bungalows had to accommodate four or five people, while the Lin family only had two people; if they were to move into a two-bedroom unit, it would be simply outrageous.

  However, Lin Zhenhua insisted on moving into a single-family house. On the one hand, he wanted his sister Xiaofang to experience modern life ahead of time. On the other hand, it was also due to his own living habits. After crossing over, what he missed most was family life in a single-family house. Under Lin Zhenhua's strong request, the factory management had to consider assigning him a house, which was also to fulfill Zhu Tiejun's promise to Lin Zhenhua at the beginning. To be honest, the contributions Lin Zhenhua made to the factory over the past year were indeed unmatched, and if the factory did not agree to his request, it would be too inhumane.

  So, Lin Zhenhua finally made it onto the housing allocation list. Although he was assigned a unit on the top floor at the very edge, which belonged to the worst location with both western and northern sunlight, it still made many people jealous for a long time. After the housing allocation list came out, it's said that several workers who didn't get a house ran to the director's office and kicked up a big fuss. Among them, one of the things they couldn't accept was the issue of Lin Zhenhua getting a house. In response, the director could only grit his teeth and refuse to budge, insisting that rewarding outstanding contributors was a national policy, and giving Lin Zhenhua a house did not violate any principles.

  However, the workers who are dissatisfied with Lin Zhenhua are only a minority in the factory. The factory with many young people waiting for employment has admiration and gratitude for Lin Zhenhua, because not only did he enable their children to obtain higher incomes, but also changed the spiritual outlook of these children. Most temporary workers no longer spend their days playing cards and having fun, but instead voluntarily pick up technical books and ponder things like mechanical drawing when they have nothing else to do. In the eyes of these parents, Lin Zhenhua is even more authoritative than the factory directors themselves. Who would dare say anything if the director allocated houses?

  On the day of moving, all the young workers from the labor service company came to help. Lin Zhenhua's family didn't have much furniture to begin with, so everyone just took one piece and they were able to move the whole house. Lin Zhenhua had packed up the big items like his APPLE computer and tape recorder beforehand, so no one noticed them. In Lin Zhenhua's opinion, it was better if not too many people paid attention to these things.

  After all the movers left, only Lin siblings and Yang Xin were left in the house to sort out various things. Lin Zhenhua was not good at washing and cleaning, so the main work of tidying up the house was done by Lin Fanghua and Yang Xin, with Lin Zhenhua only lending a hand when needed.

  After finally settling down, Lin Fanghua walked back and forth inside and outside the house, unable to get enough of their new home. She repeatedly asked Lin Zhenhua: "Brother, does our family now count as achieving four modernizations ahead of schedule?"

  "This is just the beginning."

  "What else do you want? Look, our family even has a computer now."

  Lin Zhenhua pointed to the house, item by item, and calculated with Lin Fanghua: "You see, we need a refrigerator, color TV, it's hot weather, we need air conditioning... Okay, okay, even if I'm extravagant, at least we should have a ceiling fan? The kitchen doesn't look good either, we need an oil fume extractor, and an integrated cabinet. The bathroom needs a flush toilet, and also an electric water heater..."

  Lin Fanghua said, "Alright, alright, you've been with Americans for a few days and you're learning their way of life. I think what you're saying is something we won't have in 30 years. But I feel that what our family lacks most isn't these things..."

  "What is that?"

  "What our family lacks most is my sister-in-law." Lin Fanghua burst out laughing and at the same time, she pushed Yang Xin who was standing beside her to Lin Zhenhua's face.

  "Xiao Fang, stop it, stop it!" Yang Xin's face turned red to the base of her neck, she struggled desperately, trying to retreat backwards, but was held tightly by Lin Fanghua.

  "Yang Xin, don't hide, let my brother make it clear today." Lin Fanghua said, turning to Lin Zhenhua and asking in a tone that brooked no argument: "Brother, you tell me clearly today, when are you going to go with Yang Uncle and talk about your relationship with Yang Xin?"

  "This...". Lin Zhenhua did not expect his sister to suddenly make this move, although in the past, the siblings had discussed this topic more than once, but this time, it seemed that Lin Fanghua was somewhat serious.

  "Speak quickly! Don't dodge the question!" Lin Fanghua commanded.

  "Xiao Fang, actually Yang Xin and I are still young, it's not time to talk about this kind of thing yet?"

  "Little things, after the New Year, Yang Xin will be 18 years old and you'll be 20 years old, which is already the legal marriage age. Yang Xin comes to cook for you every day, helps with laundry and household chores, today you must have an explanation."

  Lin Zhenhua was puzzled: "Xiao Fang, what's wrong with you today?"

  "After the college entrance exam, I will go to university and leave. At that time, only you will be left at home, and I am worried." Lin Fanghua was a bit downcast, "Once I leave, Yang Xin will come over every day like this, what's going on? You don't care about reputation, can Yang Xin not care either?"

  "But this is really too sudden......" Lin Zhenhua argued, he knew that he couldn't explain it clearly, in his mind, 20 years old was still too early to talk about love, let alone marriage. But at that time, in a small county town like theirs, getting married at 20 was the most normal thing, now everyone in the factory knows that Yang Xin is always stuck to Lin Zhenhua, if they don't have a title, there will really be people gossiping.

  Yang Xin listened to the two siblings bickering back and forth, her face turning from red to white. She pinched the hem of her clothes with her hand, lowered her head and asked in a low voice: "Xiao Hua Ge, have you always been dissatisfied with my educational background?"

  "Huh?" Lin Zhenhua was busy doing his sister's work and suddenly heard Yang Xin interrupt, he couldn't help but pause for a moment. He hesitated for a moment before responding: "Yang Xin, I've never said that before."

  "You didn't say it, but I know," said Yang Xin. "You're so capable, you understand technology, English, and can even lead a team. Even Master Hu says you have knowledge. But I only have a junior high school education."

  "I also have a junior high school education." Lin Zhenhua said hastily.

  "But your skills are even better than those of university students." Yang Xin kept her head down, not daring to look up at Lin Zhenhua. As she spoke to the sad part, a few tears fell onto the floor with a plop.

  "Yang Xin, this is not the issue," Lin Zhenhua explained patiently. "I'm looking for a wife, not selecting a graduate school advisor, why would I care so much about education?"

  "But I feel that I'm not worthy of you." Yang Xin said, starting to cry out loud, "I've been working hard to learn CNC machining, and I'm still reviewing my lessons, wanting to take the TV university exam. I just want to narrow the gap between us a little bit. But, but, you're getting more and more capable, and I feel like I'll never be able to catch up with you..."

  "Yang Xin!" Lin Zhenhua never thought that Yang Xin had such deep thoughts in her heart. During this time, he was busy operating his Hanhua Enterprise and neglected Yang Xin's feelings. Hearing Yang Xin's sincere confession, he suddenly felt a little moved and involuntarily stretched out his hand to tightly grasp Yang Xin's hand.

  "Let go, let go." Yang Xin's hand was suddenly grabbed by Lin Zhenhua, and she felt a wave of embarrassment. She struggled to pull her hand back, while pleading with Lin Zhenhua to release it.

  Lin Zhenhua didn't let go, instead he freed up one hand to wrap around Yang Xin's shoulder, pulling her into his chest, her face tightly pressed against his shoulder.

  "Brother..." Lin Fanghua unexpectedly saw this scene not suitable for children, stunned for a moment, hurriedly turned red-faced and turned around, giggling while shouting: "I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything."

  "Let me go, Xiao Hua." Yang Xin struggled in vain, her body twisting and turning, but inside she was feeling a mix of surprise and shyness that made her struggles seem so weak. It wasn't really resistance, it was more like playful teasing.

  "Yang Xin, I've made up my mind. Tonight, I'll go propose to your dad. Look, we have a house now, and once Xiaofang is in college, you can come be the mistress." Lin Zhenhua boldly confessed, since they had already reached this point, saying some ambiguous words wouldn't count for much anymore.

  "You're not ashamed, what's with calling me Dad!" Yang Xin raised her head and protested to Lin Zhenhua with a mix of annoyance and delight.

  "My dad said long ago, I am his half son."

  "My dad has a biological son."

  "It's okay, another day we'll get Yang Tao to go read university too, in the end it will be us two who take care of and support the elderly."

  "Yang Tao's grades aren't very good, can you guide him a bit?"

  "No problem at all, he's just a younger relative from my wife's side, what can't be done?"

  "He's quite stupid..."

  "Hey! Hey! Hey!" Lin Fanghua couldn't bear it anymore, turning her back to them and shouting loudly: "Don't you guys know shame? I'm still here!"

  This reminder made Yang Xin feel too embarrassed to lean on Lin Zhenhua's chest again. She pushed Lin Zhenhua away with all her might, and was so flustered that she couldn't say a word. Lin Zhenhua, however, had thick enough skin, he winked at Yang Xin and said: "Right, I forgot there's a minor here..."