Love Story in the 1970s

"Did you get it?"

When Fei Ni remained silent, Fang Muyang said with a smile, "If you haven't learned it yet, I'll teach you again. If I ever have any improper thoughts about you, you mustn't go easy on me."

Fei Ni tossed aside the stick and walked over to the electric fan to cool off, saying nothing.

"If you think you've got it, give it a try. What if you really run into trouble and can't muster enough strength? I guarantee you'll learn it today. Want to try again?"

Though Fang Muyang said this, he didn't move, not wanting to upset Fei Ni today.

Fei Ni snapped, "Can you stop joking like that?"

"Are you really that confident in me? If you're so sure, I'll throw this stick away."

He watched with a smile as Fei Ni rushed into the bathroom, calling out, "Don't forget to lock the door."

Inside the bathroom, Fei Ni locked the door, turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water on her face until the heat in her cheeks subsided. But her ears remained warm—the ear that Fang Muyang's lips had accidentally brushed against. When he had grabbed her hand earlier, they were so close. Her heart had been pounding so hard, and she wondered if he had heard it. Leaning against the bathroom door, she recalled her earlier lack of composure, and even now, she still felt flustered, her heart racing uncontrollably. She tried hard to calm herself, convinced that as long as she remained proper, Fang Muyang would not and dared not do anything to her.

Listening to the sound of running water from the bathroom, Fang Muyang sat in front of the fan flipping through a book on clock repair. The pages rustled loudly as he turned them, a deliberate attempt to drown out the noise from the bathroom.

The book had been mailed to him by his brother, with a note wishing him to become a useful person.

Fang Muyang's birth had been entirely unplanned by his parents. Before him, they already had both a son and a daughter and had no enthusiasm for bringing another life into the world. His mother believed that childbirth inevitably affected one's work and, despite having access to nannies and nurseries, was unwilling to have more children. His father fully supported his wife's views. In the prime of his life, he valued his marital intimacy, and both pregnancy and postpartum confinement significantly disrupted his life. But as fate would have it, the year before Fang Muyang was born, the country strictly controlled the import of contraceptives and restricted access to abortions. By the time his mother discovered his existence, she could only resent his father's carelessness. Though it was too late to change anything, she vented her frustration by banishing his father to the study. Even before he was born, Fang Muyang became evidence of his father's guilt, leaving his father perpetually in the wrong in his mother's eyes. After his birth, due to various societal pressures, contraceptives gradually became available again, and restrictions were lifted. His parents had played a small part in this change, with his father being even more proactive than his mother, knowing that if contraceptives remained inaccessible, his wife, to avoid another unexpected pregnancy, would once again relegate him to a bachelor's existence.As the saying goes, "The first child is raised by the book, the second by the pig." Fang Muyang's second sister, being a girl, was raised with relative care. But when it came to Fang Muyang, he was completely left to his own devices. From the moment he was born, his older brother's Old Clothes found their purpose, as if to prove he didn't deserve new ones. A piece of clothing that had lasted his brother for years in good condition would, within days of Fang Muyang wearing it, end up with a burnt hole or a torn slit. His parents didn't mind, as children's everyday clothes at the time were often patched—this meant their son was blending in with the masses. When he was little, he was a bundle of cuteness, and his sister treated him like a living doll, bringing out her old character cards to teach him to read. Unexpectedly, this fake doll was far less adorable than a real one; he tore up all the character cards in the box, laughing as he shredded them. His sister concluded he was beyond teaching and stopped paying him any attention. Fang Muyang's brother had taught himself university physics by middle school, and his sister had grown up in the study. Only Fang Muyang lacked even the most basic reverence for knowledge from a young age.

Fang Muyang's parents thought this was fine—having too many intellectuals in the family wasn't necessarily a good thing. They had no expectations for their son, letting him play around as he pleased, only hoping he would grow up safe and healthy. Even his learning to play the piano and paint were things he arranged himself by learning from family guests. He tried other things too, but only these two stuck.

It wasn't until Fang Muyang started leading other children into trouble that his parents realized he was a problem. If not properly educated, he would grow up to be a menace. His mother assigned the responsibility of educating him to his father, reasoning that if his father hadn't insisted on moving from the study to the bedroom that day, Fang Muyang wouldn't have been born.

On the surface, Fang Muyang's father comforted his wife, saying there was nothing wrong with a child being a bit mischievous—at least he was healthy. But in private, he called Fang Muyang into the study to scold him and, in passing, handed the responsibility of disciplining his son to the other two children, telling them to keep an eye on their younger brother while doing their own things. Their supervision, however, was limited to tossing him a book and telling him to read it properly before going off to do something else. Their concern for their brother was limited; by the time he had already returned from causing trouble, they hadn't even noticed he'd been out. His father eventually lost patience with him. Whenever someone came to complain, he skipped the verbal lecture altogether, directly dragging Fang Muyang into the study for a spanking. After being beaten enough times, Fang Muyang figured out the pattern and would run off before the punishment even began.

To discipline Fang Muyang, his parents tried every method they could think of: sending him to boarding school, cutting off his allowance, making him sew and wash his own clothes—all ways to make him suffer. When he seemed reformed and changed, they would take him out to eat at restaurants, buy him a fine violin, and get him the best paints. His life fluctuated repeatedly based on whether he was causing trouble or not.Initially, his parents had to deliberately create circumstances for him to endure hardship, but later the hardship became real. Because he had experienced it many times before in simulations, when it actually came, he didn't find it particularly uncomfortable. Of the remaining bowls and dishes at home, aside from the one bowl he used for meals, he had repurposed all the others for mixing paints. When this last meal bowl accidentally broke, he had no choice but to reluctantly wash a paint dish and use it to hold his dried sweet potato and vegetable porridge. Others urged him to expose his parents and sever ties with them, but he refused. He believed that aside from making him, a budding flower of socialism, undergo re-education by the poor and lower-middle peasants ahead of schedule, his parents hadn't committed any unforgivable mistakes.

It was only after his family fell into misfortune that he grew closer to his older siblings. During the nationwide inter-city exchange, he sold everything of value from home for travel expenses and spent a little money to buy two jars of pickles from a famous sauce shop. He then took a free train to visit his siblings, bringing them a taste of their hometown. His siblings tried to give him money, but he declined, knowing they were even less accustomed to hardship than he was.

In junior high, he and Fei Ni attended the same school but were in different classes, so they rarely saw each other. On the occasional times they crossed paths, he would just look at her without greeting her, only offering a smile. Fei Ni seemed to avoid him, probably afraid he would borrow money. He never asked her for money again, aware that he might not be able to repay it.

Once, however, they ran into each other on the street. Fei Ni furtively slipped him a yuan, claiming she had found it while rummaging through his suitcase and had specifically come to return it.

He knew there wasn't a single cent hidden in his suitcase.

But he spent the money anyway, going to a restaurant to order fried pork chops and two bowls of ice cream, treating himself to a good meal.

After that, whenever he and Fei Ni met again, she acted as if she didn't know him. She probably lacked trust in his character, fearing he might falsely claim there was more money in his suitcase and ask her for it. He was eager to join a production corps or farm as an Educated Youth—though it meant hardship, it came with a stable position and a salary. However, due to his poor family background, he wasn't accepted and could only go to the countryside as a sent-down youth.

After being sent down, he never saw Fei Ni again.