University extra (12)

After spending a few days in the city, Wen Sheng and Xu Jianing were about to return to their respective villages.

That morning, Su Yu got up early to prepare food for them. She packed boiled eggs, steamed buns, and a few oranges into a plastic bag, and also specially fried some peanuts and wrapped them in oil paper.

"If you get hungry, just eat something on the way. Taking the bus is tiring too." Su Yu handed two large bags of food to Wen Sheng and Xu Jianing respectively.

"Thank you, Aunt Su." Wen Sheng accepted the gift with both hands, a warm feeling welling up inside her.

"No need to thank me, you're like my second daughter to me. How have you been eating at home these past few days?" Su Yu said, holding her hand.

"The food was excellent; Aunt Su's cooking was so delicious," Wen Sheng replied with a smile.

"Come to Auntie's again next holiday. Whatever you want to eat, Auntie will cook it for you." Su Yu patted her hand, her eyes full of reluctance.

Li Qingmiao chimed in from the side, "Mom, could you get me a bigger bed next time? That way, it won't be so cramped when the two of us sleep together."

"Okay, Mom will try her best to get you a bigger house and arrange a room for Sheng Sheng!"

Li Jun came out of the room with two red envelopes in his hand: "Here, Sheng Sheng, Aning, this is a little something from your uncle and aunt, please take it."

"Uncle Li, this...you're too kind." Xu Jianing quickly declined, pulling his hand back.

"Don't be so polite. It's almost Chinese New Year, how can I, as an elder, not give the younger generation lucky money?" Li Jun shoved the red envelope into his hand, then turned and handed it to Wen Sheng. "Take it, take it, it's all from the heart."

Su Yu chimed in with a smile, "That's right, we don't distinguish between outsiders and family members; the rules are the same for everyone in our family."

Li Changshui had already picked up the luggage: "Alright, alright, it's almost time. I'll take them to the station."

Li Qingmiao raised an eyebrow and asked, "Brother, shall you drive?"

Li Changshui paused in his action of opening the door, then glared at her, "What do you mean? Have you forgotten that your brother is a straight-line king?"

"Yes, yes, yes, Your Majesty." Li Qingmiao chuckled.

Carrying her luggage, Wen Sheng turned around and bowed to Su Yu and Li Jun, saying obediently, "Goodbye, Uncle and Aunt. Thank you so much for your help these past few days."

Xu Jianing nodded, "Thank you for taking care of us, Uncle and Aunt."

"Come again next time!" Su Yu said, waving her hand repeatedly.

The old Santana slowly drove away from the gate of the residential area. In the rearview mirror, Li Jun and Su Yu could still be seen standing at the gate, waving to them.

Upon arriving at the station, Li Changshui parked the car on the side of the road and helped them unload their luggage. Wen Sheng and Xu Jianing went to different ticket windows to buy tickets.

"You guys go buy your tickets first. Qingmiao and I will wait here and watch your luggage," Li Changshui said.

The two went to queue up separately to buy tickets. The ticket hall was crowded with people, all carrying large bags and small packages, preparing to go home for the Chinese New Year.

Wen Sheng queued for more than ten minutes and was lucky enough to buy a bus ticket directly to her village, so she wouldn't have to go to Cangshui County first and then transfer. The bus was scheduled to depart at 1:30 pm, so there was still more than an hour to go.

Xu Jianing has also bought her ticket; the train departs at 2 PM.

"Did you buy them all?" Li Changshui asked.

"Yes, I got it." Wen Sheng waved the ticket in her hand.

"That's great, saves us the trouble." Li Qingmiao breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Wen Sheng to sit down on a row of benches outside the waiting hall. "Come on, let's chat while we still have time."

Wen Sheng smiled and nodded, placing the bag in her hand at her feet. Li Qingmiao leaned closer to her and whispered gossip, "What are you planning to do after you go back to the village? I bet all the old men and women at the village entrance will come to ask you about going to university as soon as you get back."

“In our village, there’s a prevailing belief that women are uneducated. I brought some money back this time to see if I can sponsor a few girls’ education,” Wen Sheng said.

“Sheng Sheng, you were already planning for these things back in high school, weren’t you? Back then, I was only concerned with complaining about teachers and homework, but you were already thinking this far ahead,” Li Qingmiao exclaimed.

Wen Sheng lowered her eyes and said, "When I get back, I'll have to ask my sister what's been going on at home lately. She hasn't been writing to me anymore. I have a feeling she might be hiding something from me."

"Maybe he's been too busy lately to write letters," Li Qingmiao comforted him.

On the other side, Li Changshui and Xu Jianing were also chatting on a bench.

"Ah Ning, what are your plans after you go back?" Li Changshui asked.

"Let's get to work, then we'll buy supplies and go to town to write Spring Festival couplets to sell. Every year, about two weeks before the Lunar New Year, when there's a market in town, we can set up a stall to write couplets and make a good living. This time, we might also go to Cangshui County to sell couplets, but it's hard to say."

"How much can I earn?"

"It depends on how well business is." Xu Jianing paused, thought for a moment, and then continued, "If nothing unexpected happens this time, I estimate I'll write it in front of my mother's teahouse. The teahouse is next to the station, with people coming and going. Setting up a table in front of the shop and hanging a few red couplets will easily attract people."

Li Changshui slapped his thigh: "My good brother really knows how to make money!"

The announcement in the waiting hall is: "Passengers on Route 13, which goes directly to rural areas, please take your tickets and prepare to board!"

Wen Sheng picked up her luggage and stood up. Li Qingmiao also stood up and took her hand, saying, "Sheng Sheng, remember to write to me when you go back to school."

"Definitely!" Wen Sheng nodded vigorously.

When she walked up to Xu Jianing, he was talking to Li Changshui. She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm leaving now."

Xu Jianing was clearly stunned, and turned to look at her in surprise: "Are we getting in the car?"

"Um."

Did you take your motion sickness medication beforehand?

"Um."

"Remember to wait and choose a window seat, sit towards the front."

"Um."

Seeing her obediently agree, Xu Jianing pointed to her lips: "There's still one thing missing. Remember to kiss me again before you leave."

"Mmm." Wen Sheng leaned down again, this time not on his cheek, but on his lips, a light touch so quick it was almost impossible to tell if it was real or an illusion.

She straightened up, clutching her luggage, and ran towards the bus with her back to him: "I'm off! See you at the start of the semester!"

Li Qingmiao and Li Changshui, who were standing nearby, stared in disbelief, unable to recover for a long time.

"...Am I seeing things?" Li Qingmiao rubbed her eyes, still not quite processing what had just happened.

Xu Jianing raised her hand to touch the corner of her lips, lowered her head and smiled, then calmly looked up: "Where were we?"

Li Qingmiao: "......"

Li Changshui: "......"

*

The bus bumped along the country road, with winter fields outside the window and small hills of straw piled up.

As Wen Sheng got off the car with her luggage, someone shouted, "Hey, Wen family's Er Ya is back."

I haven't heard the name Er Ya in so long... I don't miss it at all. It was the name she hated most when she was a child, as if she was just the "second daughter" in the family, without an independent name or existence.

Wen Sheng sighed silently in her heart. Having finally escaped from her aunts and uncles, she headed straight home.

Just as I was about to open the door, I heard a burst of laughter and chatter coming from the yard, a lively atmosphere unlike anything I'd heard at home on a normal day.

She peeked through the crack in the door and saw a wooden table in the courtyard with melon seeds and peanuts on it. Wen Dazhi was smiling obsequiously, and Wen Chunhua was pouring tea for the matchmaker.

“Your Chunhua is not young anymore, she is beautiful and hardworking. My son works in town and earns more than thirty yuan a month, so we can definitely make ends meet. If you agree to this marriage, then it's settled.”

She's only thirty... and she doesn't even earn as much as she does as a tutor.

Wait a little longer, and once Chunhua is willing to study and leave, she will take her away immediately.

As Wen Sheng was calculating the registration fee, tuition, book costs, and travel expenses for the adult college entrance examination... how much should she save to make it better? Suddenly, she heard Chunhua's voice:

"I think it's great."

"I'm not young anymore, so it's good to have a stable life."

The adults in the courtyard all laughed, and the matchmaker nodded repeatedly, praising Chunhua for being sensible.

Wen Sheng couldn't stand it anymore, so she took her luggage and walked all the way to the river at the entrance of the village before stopping.

She squatted by the river, her arms clenched, staring intently at the water.

He always thought that as long as he worked hard enough and saved enough money, he could take Chunhua away, let her continue her studies, and have a new future.

But what if Chunhua doesn't want to leave? If she truly believes that marriage is the best way out, then what's the difference between forcing her to study and being forced to stay in the village and get married? Wouldn't my so-called "saving her" just be another form of shackle?

She suddenly couldn't tell whether she was insisting on Chunhua's freedom or the "different fate" she longed for in her heart.

A cold wind blew, making her eyes sting. Wen Sheng raised her hand to wipe away her tears and let out a long breath. She had made up her mind; no matter what, she had to know Chunhua's true thoughts.

Wen Sheng squatted by the river for a while until it gradually got dark. She figured the matchmaker should be leaving soon, so she stood up, picked up her luggage, and headed home.

When I pushed open the courtyard gate, the yard was already quiet. There were still sunflower seed shells and tea stains on the wooden table, and Chunhua was bending over, carefully cleaning up the mess with a rag.

When she saw Wen Sheng come in, she was stunned for a moment, then smiled and called out, "Er Ya, you're back."

Without even putting down her luggage, Wen Sheng went straight over, grabbed Wen Chunhua's arm, and whispered, "Chunhua, I heard everything you said today. Do you really want to get married?"

"Yes, I think it's great. I want a stable life. And I've met him before. His surname is Guo, and he seems like a nice person. Er Ya, you'd probably agree too," Wen Chunhua replied shyly.

Wen Sheng tried hard to suppress the bitterness in her heart, her voice trembling slightly: "But...but is that really what you wanted? It wasn't your parents forcing you, or others pressuring you?"

"No, it's my own idea. Er Ya, I envy you for being able to leave, but that path is too far for me. I don't want to struggle anymore, I just want to live a peaceful life and have a little family of my own."

Wen Sheng was stunned for a long time before slowly letting go of her hand, her voice so low it was almost inaudible: "Okay."

Wen Chunhua looked at her with some surprise, and wanted to explain. But Wen Sheng only forced a smile: "Sister, I'm tired from the journey, I'll go back to my room and rest for a while."

"Er Ya, our room has been taken by my younger brother. Why don't you come and stay in the dorm with me tonight? My roommate went back to his hometown a few days ago."

Wen Sheng paused, looked down at the luggage in her hands, and then looked up at the place where she had lived since childhood.

After a long while, she finally uttered softly, "Okay."