Chapter 2 -Current Status

Tian Sisi always seemed to be one step behind others in anything she attempted to do. Whenever she wanted to start a business and asked her mother for some startup capital, Zhong Juying would inevitably douse her ambitions by saying that the market was already saturated and asking if she really wanted to drink others' leftover wash water. Over time, Tian Sisi grew tired of using her brains; since she had enough money to spend anyways, she slowly became what Zhong Juying dubbed a useless person. Even though she was accustomed to her mother's nagging, being constantly called useless still stung a little. Perhaps, she wondered, should she make an effort this lifetime to live a life of significance? Tian Sisi's just-ignited ambition was immediately snuffed by herself. Forget it, in this era where everyone is judged by their background and lineage and where capitalism is being cut off at every turn, if she dared to sell goods, she would surely be targeted and attacked by the revolutionaries. Besides, she was only ten years old; even if she wanted to make something of herself, it would have to wait a few more years. At the moment, what was most important was to understand the situation of her family. It had been just about ten days since Tian Sisi transmigrated, and during these days she had been so ill that she hadn't even stepped out of her room once. However, from her biological mother's ramblings from a previous life and the original host's fuzzy memories, she had gained some understanding of her family's situation. Apparently, Tian Zhaodi's adoptive parents were considered middle-class in Yuequan Village. Grandpa Tian Liu Jin had participated in the resistance against the Japanese invasion and was thus an old revolutionary. The Old Man, wise beyond his years, had quickly retired due to illness when the political movements started, returning to his hometown to farm. Although out of sight meant out of mind, he retained his military connections, which helped Tian Zhaodi's uncle, Tian Manjin, make a good career in the military. He had reached the rank of a division commander. As soon as the uncle joined the military, he changed his name to the resonant and deeply patriotic Tian Aiguo, which caused Mr. Tian quite a bit of annoyance for a while. Tian Mantong, her younger uncle, was a driver for the city's transportation team and often traveled outside. Even though his job was strenuous, drivers in those times were considered to have a "golden rice bowl,"—able to procure inexpensive goods from other regions and earn extra income. Thus, the Tian Family's living standards in the village was quite good. Of course, these standards were relative to an era where even a red scarf was a rare item. In Tian Sisi's eyes, who was used to living a modestly comfortable modern life, such "high" living standards were barely distinguishable from primitive living conditions. Her father, Tian Manjin, was a pure farmer. Originally, it was her father who was supposed to join the army as directed by Mr. Tian, with the elder son staying back to farm. However, Tian Manjin, known for his honest nature, knew since childhood that his elder brother's biggest dream was to be a soldier. Moreover, he considered himself not as astute as his brother. Thus, Tian Manjin secretly went to the local military office and swapped their names. When recruitment officers came to their village, everything was already set in stone. Seeing that Tian Manjin was taller and more agile, and considering Tian Manjin's relatively straightforward nature, they naturally considered the elder brother to be more exceptional, and enlisted him. Tian Aiguo (later always referred to as Tian Aiguo) felt deeply guilty towards this farming younger brother and took great care of Tian Manjin's family, often sending money and goods to them. However, in her past life, Tian Sisi's mother, Zhong Juying, looked down on Tian Manjin, calling him a fool for picking up such a big pie from the sky and just giving it on to others, saying he was foolish to the core. Tian Sisi also thought that Tian Manjin was indeed foolish. If he had joined the army back then, she would have been a girl from a military family compound by now, a starting point far higher than that of a rural girl like herself at Mount Tai's height. Alas, what a foolish father! But it didn't matter, as there's always a silver lining; she still had a potential mother to rely on! The naturally optimistic Tian Sisi quickly stopped worrying. Additionally, Tian Manjin had two older sisters and one younger sister. His eldest sister, Tian Manju, married into a neighboring village; her husband was a chef at the commune's canteen—a highly envied profession during that era, making Tian Manju's family's condition also quite good. The second sister, Tian Manlian, married in the town and worked as a Chinese language teacher at the town's primary school, while her husband was a purchasing agent for the Town's Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Compared to her two older sisters, the younger sister, Tian Manlan, was much worse off. She insisted on marrying a loafer from another village, leading a miserable life without guarantee of even daily meals. Granny Tian felt sorry for her youngest daughter and often secretly helped her out, with her siblings frequently supporting her as well; otherwise, Tian Manlan would have struggled to get by. In short, besides one daughter-in-law living a subpar life, all other relatives of the Old Tian Family belonged to the middle class of that time. Although the original host's adoptive parents were just farmers, following their second son, the Old Man—who was a former revolutionary cadet, participated in the Battle of Taierzhuang, the Hundred Regiments Offensive, and later the Korean War—was an army company commander, and the uncle Tian Aiguo was one of his platoon leaders. Such a father and son duo fighting side by side also became a wonderful story of that era. Old Man, despite retiring early, held an administrative rank of Level 11, equivalent to a division commander, and received a salary of 200 yuan per month, directly from the province—higher than what his uncle earned as a division commander in the army. Tian Aiguo's administrative rank was only Level 13, with a monthly salary of 156 yuan, which wasn't considered low either. After all, at that time, pork cost only 0.7 yuan per pound, and eggs were 0.04 yuan each; regular workers and teachers made only about thirty to forty yuan, so a monthly salary of 200 yuan was indeed a very high amount, about ten times more prestigious than a modern CEO with an annual salary of a million. Therefore, although Zhaodi's family worked the land, their life was quite decent because they had Old Man as their backup food repository. However, due to the scarcity of goods in that era, some items were hard to obtain even with money. Thus, to Sisi, this high standard of living wasn't really impressive. No, she had to think of ways to improve their life. Not just for the sake of wearing nice clothes and eating well, but she also had to suggest changing that name tomorrow to her grandfather and father. Zhaodi sounded too rustic; Sisi was much catchier. After setting her life goals, Sisi fell into a puzzled sleep. "Nan, time to get up. It's the fifteenth; you can't stay in bed all day." A gentle voice rang beside Sisi's ear. She who had never woken up before nine in her past life grumbled and rolled over to continue her slumber. Zhao Yueban touched Sisi's forehead with her hand, chilled from recently washing vegetables, to see if she was still feverish. The cold touch startled Sisi, "Which bastard dares to freeze me? Disturbing someone's sleep is punishable by the eighteen layers of hell!" Sisi sat up furiously, only to see Zhao Yueban, the grandmother of the original owner of the body, a loving elder. Sisi quickly swallowed the curses at the tip of her tongue. Initially, she thought she wouldn't be able to hold back her outcry, yet upon seeing the old lady's kind eyes, she instinctively called out "Granny". After that, it wasn't difficult to continue calling her. Sisi sweetly called out "Granny" again. She thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being pampered by an elder. In her previous life, she had neither grandparents nor the affection of her maternal grandparents, so now, Sisi eagerly embraced her role as the beloved granddaughter upon seeing such a loving Granny. Zhao Yueban happily wiped her tears and replied warmly multiple times, "Oh my dear Nan, Amitabha, may the Bodhisattva bless you, you've finally awakened. You nearly scared your granny to death. Remember, no more playing by the river." "Yes, Granny." Sisi loved hearing Zhao Yueban call her Nan. In her previous life, her female classmates' parents would end their names with the word "Nan". She had always envied that and had asked her own mom and lousy dad to call her Si Nan, only to receive a cold snort from her father and a yelled "How old are you, three?" from her mother before she went back to business. Hearing Granny Zhao calling her dear Nan made Sisi incredibly joyful; she mentally aged down from thirty-two to ten years old, allowing Granny Zhao to dress her without a shred of embarrassment. After all, her current body was only eight years old. People in Sui City liked to count age by nominal age. Since the original owner's birthday was in the second half of the year, she was nominally ten years old, but actually only eight.