Chapter 31 Does Reading Cost a Lot of Money? "I really want to go to university too..."

An incident occurred during the Spring Festival. Lin Cuiqin planned to buy some things while she still had time, and as soon as she stepped out, she saw two rings of people gathered at the alley entrance. They were three or four layers deep, completely blocking the way.

She wasn't one to join in the fun, but the alleyway was blocked, forcing her to go and see what was going on.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Unable to squeeze through, she could only ask her neighbor, Sister Xu, who was a little further inside.

Sister Xu was someone who loved to join in the fun. She had been here since the incident happened, so she naturally knew the whole story. When she saw Lin Cuiqin, her eyes lit up, and she quickly pulled her aside to chat.

"Oh dear, that guy at the north end of the street, the domestic violence..." she whispered, "He beats his wife and daughter. Look, his wife ran here to go to the police station, but she was stopped."

"And now?" Lin Cuiqin asked hurriedly. She leaned forward to look, but there was no one left in the crowd. "Is nothing wrong?"

"He's driving his wife crazy. You didn't see her, she's disheveled, her face and arms are covered in injuries. And it's the New Year, do you know why..." Sister Xu clicked her tongue, muttering that it was truly a tragedy to have such a mess.

Lin Cuiqin looked worried. She hadn't witnessed the scene, but from Sister Xu's account alone, she knew a tragic story and two pitiful women. Such things actually happened quite frequently in a small place like Shengping. Besides the unreliable men, another root cause was poverty. Because of poverty, so many people argued every day; if arguing required a queue, the queue would be incredibly long.

She walked forward with a heavy heart, and when she passed the North Street intersection, she looked over there, but saw nothing.

When she got home, she unexpectedly saw Li Leshan. Lin Cuiqin remembered him; to be honest, she couldn't forget him. That somewhat pitiful child. She knew he and Jiang Yueming were close, and she often helped him with his homework and went over tests with him. Jiang Yueming's grades had improved significantly thanks in large part to him.

"You've arrived from Leshan? Haven't eaten yet? Stay for a meal." Lin Cuiqin smiled.

"Auntie, Lele and I do our homework together. He teaches me when I don't understand something," Jiang Yueming said hurriedly.

"Alright, alright," Lin Cuiqin gestured for Li Leshan to sit down quickly, there was no need to be polite with her, "Then I'll cook first, you two can learn."

Jiang Yueming's mind wasn't on the exam paper. He remembered that Li Leshan had told him earlier that there were a lot of people gathered at the alley entrance, but he didn't know exactly what had happened. Cui Cui had just come back from there, so she should have heard about what happened, right?

"Auntie, what happened at the alley entrance? Lele said there were quite a few people there. Are they alright?" Jiang Yueming asked.

Lin Cuiqin was picking vegetables. She planned to cook two dishes and make a chicken soup to nourish the children.

"Do you remember that auntie who sells braised food at the North Street intersection? What happened to her family?" Lin Cuiqin thought it would be good to talk to them about it, to make them understand that this was wrong and that they should never do it again.

"Oh!" Jiang Yueming nudged Li Leshan's arm with her elbow. "Aunt Meng?"

“Yes,” Lin Cuiqin continued, “Her husband has a bad temper and always beats people. This time was no exception. Your sister Xia Bing is a senior in high school this year, but her father insists on making her drop out of school to work and not let her continue her studies.”

Xia Bing is Aunt Meng's daughter, six years older than Jiang Yueming. As the neighbors say, her family is small, so she keeps having children. Aunt Meng has three children—two daughters and one son—and it's unknown if there will be a fourth. Xia Bing is the eldest. Jiang Yueming's memory of her is still that of a girl with a ponytail, wearing a floral dress; she was knowledgeable and always taught Jiang Yueming a lot of life philosophies. Jiang Yueming never expected that after not hearing from her for so long, her current situation would be like this.

"Xia Bing's father is a real beast!" Jiang Yueming said bluntly to Lin Cuiqin. She hated her father so much that she wanted to tear him apart.

“Yes,” Lin Cuiqin sighed. She finished picking the vegetables, stepped forward and poked Jiang Yueming’s forehead. “Don’t worry about her anymore. I’ll go talk to your Aunt Meng later and see if she needs any help. You just need to learn from Leshan, okay?”

"I know—" Jiang Yueming led Li Leshan into the room, still indignant, "Xia Bing is so pitiful to have such a father. You also think her bastard father is a beast, right? You have no idea how much suffering her family has endured..."

Li Leshan nodded, as if remembering something. After a moment, he asked, "Is Sister Xia Bing still in school?"

Jiang Yueming didn't know, so he could only shake his head and say, "I don't know, but does going to school cost a lot of money?"

He only knew that there was no tuition during the nine years of compulsory education, and that there would be tuition and textbook fees after high school, but he didn't know the exact amount. As for university, he knew even less. He only knew that Xia Bing really wanted to go to university. If they weren't letting her go, it was probably because of money, right?

Li Leshan counted on his fingers, “Tuition, book fees, and accommodation fees. My neighbor’s older brother, who is in college, said that tuition alone costs five or six thousand yuan a year, and in some places it is even more expensive.”

"Five or six thousand?!" Jiang Yueming clicked his tongue, shocked by the number. "But Sister Xia Bing's family is rich, it's just that her father doesn't give her any money."

Aunt Meng works tirelessly from dawn till dusk, opening her small shop at midnight so she can earn money from a few extra workers after their night shifts. She saves up every few dollars, working tirelessly to earn tuition fees for her sister, Xia Bing.

“What a bastard.” Li Leshan paused for a moment, then said in sign language.

Jiang Yueming was somewhat surprised that Li Leshan would say such a thing. Now that he thought about it, it must be because that father was really guilty of heinous crimes and deserved to die. So he also echoed and repeated, "What a bastard."

Jiang Yueming spoke, recalling what the girl had once whispered in his ear. Now that he thought about it, Xia Bing probably needed a listener. She must have a lot on her mind. As the eldest child in the family, she needed an outlet to vent. Otherwise, she wouldn't have told Jiang Yueming these things. However, back then, Jiang Yueming didn't quite understand her feelings. Now he understands a little, but the person who needed to confide in had grown up to the point where she could keep everything bottled up inside.

“Xia Bing said her brother always wanted to die,” Jiang Yueming said. As he recalled, he realized that the girl’s tone in his memory was also indifferent, as if she had given up hope. “He always cried and threatened his mother that if she didn’t let him play games, he wouldn’t live to see the end of the summer. As it turned out, this seemingly absurd reason actually worked. She thought, then she also wanted to die, and if she couldn’t go to school, she wouldn’t live to see the end of the summer. But she knew that it was useless for her to say that.”

"I don't know if it's because she's grown up and become more sensible, or because she's a girl. Sister Xia Bing said she hopes it's because she's grown up. But she's only a few years older than her brother, and those few years seem like she's ten or twenty years older."

"She said that her younger brother didn't want to study but was forced to go to school, while she wanted to study but was forced to drop out. Wouldn't it cost more to go to a vocational college or a private school? Why are they willing to spend several times more money to support their younger brother's education, but not to support hers?"

“But she said she neither hates nor dislikes her younger brother. She just envies him and sometimes feels sorry for him,” Jiang Yueming said.

Li Leshan listened quietly, lost in thought, his gaze fixed blankly ahead, until he noticed Jiang Yueming hadn't spoken for a while before asking, "And then?"

“That’s all,” Jiang Yueming said, letting out a long sigh of relief. “Xia Bing said she’s going back to school.”

The wind outside the window flipped open the exam paper on the table. Looking at the red and black ink marks on it, Jiang Yueming felt that the cold wind of February had turned into the summer wind of July and August.

Along with that came Xia Bing's words under the shade of the tree. The sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl looked at the calm lake with a hint of hope and a hint of loneliness in her eyes. Jiang Yueming was not sure if these words were meant for him, because he was so young at the time and could not understand much. But there was no one else around except him, so he took it as Xia Bing speaking to him.

"I really want to go to university too." Xia Bing's hair was a little messy as the wind blew.

Her tone softened again. Xia Bing turned to Jiang Yueming and smiled gently, "Yueming, I won't be in Shengping anymore. Will you miss me?"

“I miss you,” Jiang Yueming nodded solemnly. “Sister Xia Bing, where are you going?”

“Beijing, Shanghai…” Xia Bing said, “Anywhere is fine, we’ll go wherever we end up, somewhere big, somewhere bright.”

Jiang Yueming didn't know exactly where this bright spot was. He thought the Lijiang Bridge was bright, the Iron Tower was bright, and of course, the Third Alley was bright too. But Xia Bing didn't seem to think so.

"Xia Bing, where are you going?"

"Make money! I want to make lots and lots of money."

"What's the point of making so much money?" Jiang Yueming asked again.

Xia Bing was silent for a while. The wind brushed her cheeks and carried her words to all corners of the world: "Take my mother, my little sister, and my little brother with you."

"Will you come back after you leave?" Jiang Yueming asked. After making money and leaving with Aunt Meng and the others, would he come back? Jiang Yueming asked this question, but he had a premonition that perhaps the person in front of him would not come back.

"Yes, I will." Xia Bing said calmly. "I'll bring you toys when I come back, okay? But you'll be too old by then, so you probably won't play with them anymore."

"I will definitely play," Jiang Yueming said firmly.

“Okay…” Xia Bing murmured to herself, “Yueming, do you think my sister can fulfill this wish?”

Her voice was extremely soft, as soft as a dandelion seed that would scatter in the wind. Perhaps it was so that Jiang Yueming wouldn't hear it, and indeed, Jiang Yueming didn't hear it.

Some time passed. Jiang Yueming recalled his conversations with Xia Bing and asked Li Leshan, "Do you think Xia Bing can fulfill this wish?"

Li Leshan said without hesitation or thought, "I think it's definitely possible."