Chapter 34: Scholar

Everyone was a little embarrassed. Isn't this the hairstyle Lu Miao had yesterday?

Chen Miaomiao seemed oblivious to the strange looks in everyone's eyes, and hurriedly ran forward, "I'm sorry, everyone, I've kept you waiting. Let's go now!"

Geng Xiaoyun scratched her head. "Miaomiao, can you not braid your hair? Is that okay?"

Chen Miaomiao awkwardly lifted her hair to the side of her shoulder and said, "I was so anxious, I couldn't find the hair tie no matter how hard I tried..."

Ren Bingxin snorted softly, leaned close to Lu Miao's ear and whispered, "This is too obvious."

"Let her dress as she pleases, let her dress as she pleases."

Lu Miao didn't care.

Why do girls nowadays wear pigtails or short hair? Isn't it just to look neat?

Yesterday, she was at the educated youth camp and didn't plan to go out, so she lazily tied her hair into a high ponytail. Today, since she was going out, didn't she obediently braid it back?

If Chen Miaomiao wants to go out like this, then she can go out like this. When she walks on the street, she will get a lot of attention. Whether it is good or bad, she will bear it herself and it will not be other people's business.

Lu Miao raised his chin slightly and walked in front like a proud peacock. "Let's get going quickly. If it gets really hot soon, I won't be able to walk anymore."

Everyone hurried to follow Lu Miao's footsteps.

Anyone could see that Chen Miaomiao was imitating Lu Miao, but the real person didn't say anything, so how could they say anything more?

On the way to the town, the female educated youth walked in front, while the male educated youth followed behind with their arms around each other:

"Do you have any tickets?"

"I left two. What's wrong?"

"The food has been pretty dull lately, and it's rare for us to go to town. Don't you plan on cooking at a state-owned restaurant?"

"Next time, Xie Fei said he'll treat us this time!"

"Is this true? How come I don't know about this?"

"The last time I went to the fields with him, he said... Oh, hurry up, we're about to fall behind!"

…

It took nearly two hours of walking around the mountain road to reach the town. Standing on the street, Lu Miao's steps were erratic and he swayed like a delicate flower in the rain.

She really admired herself. She actually managed to persevere through such a long journey!

"I'm going to mail a letter first, and by the way, I'll see if there's any package from home. Why don't you come with me? I can get to know the way there, so it will be convenient for me to mail letters in the future." Gu Ying said.

The group nodded and followed her.

Nanhu Town is not big, and you can basically see the other end of a street from one end. State-owned restaurants, supply and marketing cooperatives, and department stores are all facing the street, so they are easy to find.

Places like the post office, grain station, non-staple food station and agricultural food station are gradually moving away from the main street. If you go there for the first time, you will need someone who is familiar with the route to guide you.

On the way to the post office, Lu Miao faintly heard the hum of a whistle. Curious, "What's that sound?"

Gu Ying replied, "It's a cargo ship. Nanhu Town is next to the Yangtze River, and there are often cargo ships passing through here bound for Shanghai."

Shanghai Stock Exchange...that's Shanghai.

Lu Miao nodded.

Gu Ying continued, "We're educated youth from the Nanhu Town Commune. Across the river is the Yanji Commune. There are fewer mountains over there, and more lakes and paddy fields. It's better off than here. The department store sells a wider variety of things, too. If you have a chance, you can go over and take a look. The boat ticket costs five cents, though."

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the post office with a green-painted sign.

Walking along the road, the houses and supply and marketing cooperatives that come into view are all made of adobe. Post offices, state-owned restaurants and other state-owned enterprises are mostly made of bricks and tiles. Some special ones can even be small two-story buildings.

In the eyes of locals, these may be impressive, but in Lu Miao's eyes, they really shouldn't be too backward.

It was the first time for her to walk around the country streets in the early 1970s, and she had no experience. Whether receiving or sending letters, she followed the example of Ren Bingxin and others, taking out her household registration page and handing it over, and adding slogans from leaders such as "Hello, comrade" and "Study hard and make progress every day."

Everyone was immersed in the joy of sending letters and receiving packages. Lu Miao also received three letters sent to her, two of which were signed by her aunt Tang Mei. The contents were similar, and they were nothing more than concerned inquiries about her life after joining the team, whether she had enough money and tickets, and asking her to take care of her health.

Of course, each of these two letters contained a piece of Great Unity and some bills.

[Great Unity: Ten yuan.]

After putting the money and bills into his pocket, Lu Miao opened the letter signed by his father Lu Yuanzheng. After taking a quick look at the contents, Lu Miao shook his head and almost laughed out of anger.

The three to five hundred words of content were all about asking about how Lu Miao and Xie Fei were getting along. There wasn't a single word or sentence that showed any concern for his daughter's life or death!

This is the so-called letter from my father!

Lu Miao was angry and disgusted. He tore the letter into pieces and threw it directly into a broken bamboo basket filled with miscellaneous items at the door.

As soon as he withdrew his hand, he turned around and saw Xie Fei coming towards him. Lu Miao frowned unhappily: "What for?"

Xie Fei reached out and handed a letter to her, "It's from your father."

Lu Yuanzheng hadn't received a reply from Lu Miao for a long time, and thought that Lu Miao didn't have time to go to the post office, so he changed his way and asked his friend to enclose a letter from him in the letter sent to his son, which led to this situation.

Lu Miao pursed his lips, the corners of his lips drooping impatiently. He took the letter and opened it. The content was similar to the previous one, but there was an extra sentence at the end: "If you have time, please reply as soon as possible."

After tearing up the letter and throwing it away, Lu Miao clapped his hands and felt relieved when he heard Xie Fei say in surprise, "That's a letter from your father!"

"so what?"

Lu Miao glanced at him sideways.

The latter's almond-shaped eyes widened slightly, and he opened his lips but did not speak.

Lu Miao humphed and handed the staff member his household registration page again. "Hello, comrade. I need a stamp, some letter paper, and an envelope. Can you lend me a pen? Okay, thank you."

There were not many people in the post office. Lu Miao spent a few cents to buy some letter paper and envelopes, then found a corner and started writing her reply. Her reply was to Tang Mei.

Tang Mei is one of the few people in this world who is truly kind to her original self.

The so-called aunt is not really an aunt. She is an aunt and also a mother.

This made Lu Miao inexplicably connect her with his uncle, aunt and grandmother in future lives.

Lu Miao came from a wealthy family, but his original family was not happy.

My parents' marriage originated from interests. They had an agreement before marriage that they could have sex physically but not emotionally, and it was even more impossible for them to have children. Her death was caused by an accident after being drunk, which was also the fundamental reason for the end of my parents' marriage.

Neither of her parents liked her, only her grandmother, uncle and aunt always treated her as a treasure.

Lu Miao's experiences are similar to those of the original author in the book, but the difference is that the original author's mother died of postpartum hemorrhage. Tang Mei was afraid that Lu Yuanzheng would remarry and his stepmother would abuse the original author, so she offered to marry Lu Yuanzheng as his second wife and personally raise the child left by her sister...

(End of this chapter)