Chapter 54 [54] Tang Yuanyuan was right.

Li Jing couldn't help but remind her, "Qian Tingting, that's your own money, and you don't even spend any of it on yourself."

Qian Tingting: "I'm going to catch piglets for my grandma, so I can eat more meat during the New Year, and our whole family can spend it."

Huang Yan: "But fetching water doesn't make much money, and it's physically demanding. If you earn more, you'll have less to spend. Don't you think this is too hard?"

Qian Tingting: "How can it be hard? My grandmother's life was really hard. She grew up eating tree bark mixed with pig bran. My mother couldn't even eat white rice 20 years ago and couldn't go to school. I'm lucky enough to be able to eat white rice and still go to school."

Tang Yuanyuan: "Life is better now than before. You shouldn't judge our lives by the standards of the past. Nowadays, few people would skimp on their children's food. Besides, you're just a child, and you don't cost much. If you lack nutrition during adolescence and your body can't keep up, it will affect you for the rest of your life. There's no need to be so hard on yourself."

Huang Yan: "Yes, look at Yue Na, she also came from the countryside and got in. She still has 15 yuan a month for living expenses. I think your grandma doesn't love you. Why don't they ask the same of your brother? They are still favoring boys over girls."

Qian Tingting: "My grandma doesn't favor boys over girls. She and mom treat themselves the same way. She even wears patched clothes and saves leftovers for herself."

"You can't say that about my grandma and mom. They've been very good to me."

Huang Yan held the plate, stood up from Qian Tingting's side and moved to another position.

She wanted to slap herself in the face, why did she have to talk so much?

Li Jingxin was more receptive and put the remaining eggs on the plate into Qian Tingting's lunch box: "I bought too much and can't eat it all."

Qian Tingting put the eggs back on Li Jing's plate: "Then you can keep them for dinner. I don't want anyone else's."

Li Jing: “…”

In this era, there are many frugal old ladies, and there are also some like Grandma Qian Tingting who is stingy with herself and her family. Tang Yuanyuan didn't know what to say, so she just asked Qian Tingting to get her a pot of water every day and paid her a month's water bill in advance.

Qian Tingting held the money and kept thanking him.

Tang Yuanyuan poked her porridge expressionlessly: "I'm just too lazy to run errands myself, so I can save some time to study."

Huang Yan still couldn't understand Qian Tingting, and couldn't help but tell little jokes to Tang Yuanyuan.

I was almost suffocating, and after leaving the cafeteria, I couldn't help but say: "Oh my God, did her grandmother have bound feet? Girls can't be greedy. Eating alone is ungrateful. I understand the hard work of adults."

"I can't even spend the money I earn. How can I be happy in this life? Where's the happiness? If my grandma dared to do this to me, I would flip the table over."

Li Jing: "I feel so sorry for Qian Tingting."

Although there is a general tendency to favor boys over girls in working-class families, at most girls are expected to help adults with housework from a young age. However, in that era, there was no such thing as withholding food from girls. Only after seeing Qian Tingting's family did I realize that there were such outrageous families.

Tang Yuanyuan couldn't help but think of herself when she gave up her studies last year.

Probably because of the word heartache.

Girls are always more sympathetic to the hard work of their mothers and grandmothers, so they are more willing to sacrifice themselves.

The more sensible you are, the more you suffer.

In a family like Qian Tingting's, as long as the children are willing to be sensible, they will suffer endless hardships and losses.

Tang Yuanyuan thought, if she hadn't had that dream in the first place and hadn't felt cold towards Tang An, she didn't know how long she would have been immersed in that kind of sacrifice.

Thinking back to the time, the older colleagues in the class also reminded her in a subtle way, but she always felt that they were all family, so what could she do?

She has to keep the child even if she doesn't like it, otherwise the family will break up.

Now that I have moved on, I realize that breaking up my family is no big deal.

Are Tang An and Tang Aiguo also living well? It's just that they are living a worse life now.

She lived a better life alone with her mother.

But it's useless to rely on outsiders for this kind of thing. Maybe she will wake up one day.

Maybe he will never wake up.

She has to choose her own path, and it all depends on herself.

Tang Yuanyuan stopped thinking about Qian Tingting and quickened her pace to go to school for her morning reading class.

As usual, Yu Fangfang slowly walked into the classroom halfway through the morning reading class. She sat down in her seat but didn't read. Instead, she took out a mirror and looked at herself in various places.

The bell for morning reading rang. Tang An, facing the gazes of the entire class, stopped in front of her desk and asked, "What do you want to eat today? Plums or chicken thighs and bread? I'll go buy them for you."

Yu Fangfang tilted her head and thought for a moment: "Let's have some plums. Thank you for your hard work."

Xu Ming rolled his eyes at Tang An as if he wanted to kill him, but Tang An didn't look at him, so the roll of eyes had no deterrent effect.

Li Jing's craving for food was aroused again, and she asked Tang Yuanyuan, "I'm going to the bathroom and I'm going to buy a chicken drumstick and bread. Do you want one?"

The chicken leg bread doesn’t really have chicken legs in it, but it looks like a chicken leg. The outside is roasted until golden brown and shiny, and the inside is filled with mashed bean paste. It’s very delicious.

Tang Yuanyuan just happened to be going to the bathroom. She had only eaten vegetarian food and was getting hungry quickly. She thought it would be good to have some bread to fill her stomach until the next class, so she walked out of the classroom hand in hand with Li Jing.

However, the two of them were unlucky today. There was only one chicken leg bread left. When they entered the small shop, Li Mu was paying.

Li Jing: "Boss, do you have any chicken drumstick bread left?"

Boss: "It will arrive in the afternoon."

Tang Yuanyuan: "Then let's buy some instant noodles."

Li Mu took the chicken drumstick and bread and said, "You haven't had breakfast yet, why are you here to buy some bread?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "I've already eaten, and I wanted to have a snack."

Li Mu threw the chicken leg bread to Tang Yuanyuan and went to get some instant noodle snow cakes.

Li Jing looked at the chicken drumstick bread in Tang Yuanyuan's hand with envy, "Tang Yuanyuan, you and Li Mu, are you really not in a relationship?"

Tang Yuanyuan: “No.”

Li Jing: "Then can I pursue him? I think he's very handsome."

Tang Yuanyuan suspected that there was something wrong with Li Jing's eyes. How could Li Mu be so handsome?

Not to mention, Li Mu is both pretentious and childish.

It is not worth it to take time off from studying and waste it on men.

"I think doing math problems is fun, and making money is cool. What's so good about men? You're always thinking about dating. If you have that time, you might as well spend it memorizing some classical Chinese texts."

Li Jing: “…” What kind of train of thought is this!

What's so good about writing on a math test? Besides, memorizing classical Chinese is so painful.

She still wanted to pursue Li Mu because he was good-looking and could make money.

Pretty cool.

Li Jing shook Tang Yuanyuan's arm. "I don't care. I'll write him a love letter. Can you pass it on for me?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "Then you can treat me to plums."

Li Jing: "No problem."

Li Jing racked her brains in Chinese class but couldn't come up with anything. Finally, she copied a love letter from a magazine, put it in an envelope, and asked Tang Yuanyuan to pass it on.

Before evening self-study, Tang Yuanyuan went to the next class and called Li Mu out.

Li Mu jumped three feet away when he saw the pink letter. "No way? Tang Yuanyuan, you actually have improper thoughts about me too?"

"Am I really so handsome and suave lately that everyone is dizzy when they see me?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "...What are you talking about? This is what my roommate wrote for you."

Li Mu held his heart: "That's good, that's good."

Tang Yuanyuan: "Hey, what's going on in your head? You actually thought I would write you a love letter?"

Li Mu turned around and took out seven or eight envelopes from the table. They were all written on the same pink paper, but he only opened one. "Look."

He is now annoyed by pink stationery.

Tang Yuanyuan picked up the envelopes in surprise and counted them, then looked at them with a look of confusion: "So many people have poor eyesight."

Li Mu: "...Ah, what you said is true. I also have good looks and financial resources. How can they say that they have poor taste if they like me? That actually shows that they have good taste."

Tang Yuanyuan: "Why don't you tear them down? Isn't there a single one you like?"

Li Mu: "Finding a girlfriend is so troublesome. You have to spend money on them. It's better to be single. I spend all my money on myself."

Tang Yuanyuan decisively took the envelope back to the classroom and returned it to Li Jing. She said that Li Jing had poor taste.

Li Jing was like a withered grass, withering all the way to the end of evening study. Finally, she couldn't help it anymore and tugged at Tang Yuanyuan's arm on the way back to the dormitory: "Why did you bring it back again?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "He hasn't opened the love letters piled on the table yet."

Li Jing: "Then he didn't ask who gave you the love letter?"

Tang Yuanyuan simply said, "No, don't be too sad. He has a lot of bad habits. It's a good thing that he didn't succeed so he doesn't have to worry about his studies."

Li Jing: "I'm going to the store to buy a lot of food."

Tang Yuanyuan: "I really should reward myself and stop wasting time."

Li Jing: “…”

Under Qian Tingting's initiative, some children from poor families in No. 1 Middle School joined the water-fetching service, including Tang An.

I don't know if he has figured it out. A young lady like Yu Fangfang cannot possibly support a man like Zhou Wei does.

Li Mu said that Tang An also sold notebooks wholesale, but he was not popular and did not have much business. However, when it came to getting water, several boys in their dormitory handed their thermoses to him, but it was mostly humiliating.

Tang An also took over this business. Tang Yuanyuan went to the hot water room to take a look. He was alone, holding four hot water bottles in his hands. The veins on his forehead were bulging, and there were fine beads of sweat on the bridge of his nose.

I ran through the school, climbed the stairs, and went back and forth four or five times, and I could earn a dollar.

There were no classmates following him to fetch water, so he was the only one running around in the night.

Tang Yuanyuan didn't know if he thought of his mother when he did this.

Once upon a time, his mother would get up in the middle of the night, prepare meals by herself, and then rush out into the night to sweep the streets, earning two dollars a day.

He once said that if he were not there, his mother would still be sweeping the streets.

Now, he can also understand this kind of hard work. I wonder if he thinks this kind of life is good.

Back in the dormitory, Qian Fangfang's arm strength has been developed. She can lift four pots of water at a time, which is barely enough for a full meal. But she is also busier. Because girls are not like boys, they have to wash their feet before going to bed after evening self-study. Many people are unwilling to wait until ten o'clock to use hot water. Qian Fangfang can only fetch water half an hour before evening self-study.

But before evening self-study, the entire meal time is only half an hour.

So she would ask for 20 minutes off before every evening self-study class and go to get some water early.

Tang Yuanyuan reminded her once that the purpose of going to high school is to prepare for the college entrance examination. It is okay to use fetching water as an additional living expense, but if you focus on this, you will lose sight of the big picture.

Qian Tingting thought that it was a great thing to earn 40 cents for each trip. Her grandmother said that farmers' labor was worthless, so she could just get up for half an hour in the morning to read and make up for the time.

During an evening study session, Qian Tingting's second aunt came to the school and asked Qian Tingting to pack up and go home first.

Grandpa is gone.

The reason was that my father and grandfather were spraying pesticides today. They went home for a break at noon and left the pesticide pot in the yard. My uncle's little grandson, who was only six years old this year, thought it was fun, so he put it on his back and played with the pesticide pole to make it rain. He played in the kitchen and even the cups, plates, bowls, and rice jars were not spared. When the old lady found out, everything in the kitchen had been ruined.

Not only does a set of cups, plates and bowls cost a lot of money, but the old lady is reluctant to waste the rice and vegetables. Isn't it better to just wash them?

It is only 1992, and rural people do not have enough knowledge about pesticides. They only know that these things can kill insects, but they don’t know that water cannot wash them away.

Although the Qian family lives in the countryside, they have a lot of rules. Grandpa is the head of the family, and he is always the first to pick up his chopsticks. Before the family split up, more than a dozen people from two families lived together. The women were busy serving meals, running back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room, getting chopsticks, looking for benches, etc.

The father and his two sons swallowed the food and then fell on the dining table.

Oh, the men were fine after they came home from the fields. They took a bowl of water and drank some sugar water to cool down. The women were also busy cooking, which was probably one of the reasons.

Qian Tingting's father and uncle were young and sent to the hospital in time, so they managed to survive. However, they will not be able to do heavy work in the future, and their grandson is still in the hospital.

Grandpa died on the spot.

Qian Tingting wiped her tears and packed her things to go home. When she came back, she would carry the bedding.

She is going to work.

Tang Yuanyuan held her back and said, "Qian Fangfang, your family is not getting any better. Dropping out of school won't completely solve your family's plight. At most, it will make things worse, or even a little bit harder. Studying is your only way out. Don't drop out."

But Qian Tingting couldn't ignore her family: "They are my mom and grandma. I can't just ignore them. That would be too selfish of me."

Tang Yuanyuan: "Think carefully. If you go out to work now, working 12 hours a day, you can only make a little over 200 yuan a month. If you continue to study, as a college student, you can only make 800 yuan a month. Which one is more cost-effective?"

Qian Tingting: "My grandma has found me a job with Xiaomin, who lives in the same village as us. I can earn 500 yuan a month. I can't watch my father die of illness because he has no money for medicine. My brother can also go to school. If he succeeds in the future, there will be hope for our family."

Which factory can earn 500 yuan a month?

Tang Yuanyuan: "You feel like you can sacrifice yourself just because you've watched them suffer. If you don't, you're an ungrateful person with a heartless heart. Have you ever considered that your family will give up on you first?"

Qian Tingting: "How is that possible?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "I'm going to make a bet with you. Open your eyes and see clearly how much your family loves you."

Qian Tingting did not go home. After only one day at school, her grandmother and mother came to find her.

Tang Yuanyuan finally saw the old woman. Indeed, she was wearing patched clothes, with messy white hair tied behind her head with woolen yarn. She didn't even want to use her hairpin. The cloth shoes on her feet were broken, and the toes were covered with stitches.

"Fangfang, let's not study anymore. Your father is still in bed, waiting for money to buy medicine."

Qian Tingting: "Grandma, I can earn my own living expenses now. I don't spend any money from our family. Please let me continue my studies."

Grandma slumped to her knees and said, "My child, I'm sorry for you. I wanted to support you to go to college, but this happened at home. You can't let me die young, can you?"

"What should I do with your father? Can I just watch him die? Grandma is the one who let you down. If you want to blame someone, blame this old man of mine. It's all my fault. I was stupid and shouldn't have cared so much about the rice and the pots and pans."

Qian Tingting's mother said, "Tingting, I'm kneeling down for you. You and Xiaomin should go to work together. You can earn 500 yuan a month. With this 500 yuan, your father can take his medicine on time, your brother can go to school, and our family can survive."

"Mom is kneeling down for you."

Qian Tingting nodded with tears in her eyes, "I'll go, isn't it okay for me to go?"

Qian Tingting's mother said, "Son, I've packed your bags for you. Just go directly to the train station with Xiao Min. This will save our family a trip fare."

Tang Yuanyuan came over and asked: "Where are you going? What factory can you make 500 yuan a month?"

The old woman stared at Tang Yuanyuan with her sharp eyes: "Who are you? What does our family's affairs have to do with you?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is what kind of job you want her to do."

"You are Xiao Min, right?"

"Where do you work that earns you 500 yuan a month?"

The girl looked four or five years older than Qian Tingting. She was dressed nicely, but she exuded a sense of maturity.

Xiao Min: "In Shanghai, in a toy factory."

Tang Yuanyuan: "What a coincidence! I often go to Shanghai to purchase goods. As far as I know, in Shanghai's toy factories, even private factories, working twelve hours a day can only earn 220 yuan a month. What's your position? How can you earn 500 yuan a month?"

"I work in a toy factory. Ours is big, the boss is nice, and the wages we pay are higher than those in other factories."

Tang Yuanyuan: "What's the name of your factory? Which road is it on? Take her there. What kind of job does she do?"

Xiao Min: "Why do you ask me so many questions?"

Qian Tingting's grandmother pulled Qian Tingting out and said, "Tingting, let's go."

Tang Yuanyuan stopped the three people and said, "Why don't you dare answer me? Even an outsider like me knows to ask clearly. You are family, don't you care about your child's safety? Or do you know in your heart what kind of job she is going to do? You don't care about her future, but only how much money she can bring back now to maintain your stable life?"

Qian Tingting's grandmother: "You silly girl, you are so young and talking nonsense. I think you are just jealous that our Tingting can make a lot of money. Get out of my way."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law held Qian Tingting on both sides and walked out of the school.

Tang Yuanyuan was even more certain of her guess, and pressed Xiao Min step by step: "You didn't go to a toy factory at all. You were a shampoo girl washing people's hair in a hair salon, right?"

Xiao Min collapsed all of a sudden: "I'm not a shampoo girl, you're talking nonsense!"

"Aunt, I can't take care of Tingting anymore. Since you don't trust me, I'll go to work by myself."

Xiao Min walked in a panic and strode out of the school, but Tang Yuanyuan blocked her way.

Grandma Qian Tingting reached out to slap Tang Yuanyuan, but Tang Yuanyuan grabbed her wrist and said, "You really do know what I said, and you're so angry and embarrassed? You know it's embarrassing, so how can you have the nerve to let your granddaughter go?"

Qian Tingting's mother was still coaxing Qian Tingting, saying that Tang Yuanyuan was talking nonsense, and dragged her out of the school, while calling Xiao Min and others.

Qian Tingting grabbed Tang Yuanyuan's sleeve and said with difficulty: "What is it, shampoo girl?"

Tang Yuanyuan: "It's a prostitute, someone who sleeps with men."

"Qian Tingting, look, your family has given up on you and wants to use you to fill the hole in their family."

There are many such hair salons in Ningcheng, a border town of Shanghai.

Qian Tingting started crying, bent her legs, hugged her knees and squatted down, her body shaking.

The wicked will never dare to admit their evil deeds. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are still being stubborn and muttering that it is impossible.

Xiao Min is a good girl, how could she do that kind of thing?

Qian Tingting's grandmother squatted down and hugged Qian Tingting: "Grandma, if she knew that Xiaomin was taking you to do this, she would never agree."

Qian Tingting's mother also said: "We won't go to Shanghai. I'll call your cousin and ask for her address. You can go to Zhuzhou to work. Although the salary is low, it's enough for the family."

Tang Yuanyuan: "Qian Tingting, stand up and tell them what you want to do!"

Qian Tingting sniffed and said, "Mom, Grandma, I won't drop out of school. I want to study. When I get into college, I will make a lot of money and honor you."

Mother Qian: "If you don't drop out of school, what will happen to your dad? How will your grandma and I eat? Where will your brother's tuition come from?"

There is only so much land at home, and the crops we grow are just enough for food. We can't make any money at all. Throughout the year, we only make a little money from selling pigs.

Now, the most important labor force is gone, and I don’t know what to do with the land at home.

Tang Yuanyuan: "Do you have no arms or legs? You're only in your thirties. You can definitely find a job in the city and earn money. You can still protect your husband and son, and your daughter can go to school. Isn't this the best of both worlds?"

Mother Qian said, "I can't read, and I don't even have a place to live in the city. If I go out to work, what will happen to our land? Who will take care of my husband? My son won't even have a hot meal when he comes home on weekends."

Just thinking about it, it's not feasible.

No matter how poor her home was, it was her own home after all, with familiar people there. She didn't know anyone in the city, so if something happened, what would she do?

Tang Yuanyuan sneered, "You, an adult, don't even dare to go to the county town to make a living, yet you want your fifteen-year-old daughter to go to Shanghai, eight hundred miles away, to make a living with a fellow villager whose background you don't know."

"You're not worthy of being a mother!"

Mother Qian: "I am just a woman. I can't read a single word. What can I do?"

"If I had a way, I would also like you to go to school, Tingting. It's really that our family needs money."

Qian Tingting: "Mom, I want to study too. I won't work. I will find a way to earn my living expenses and tuition fees."

Grandma Qian felt like the sky was falling. This was leaving her, an old woman, no way to survive!

A slap was slapped on Qian Tingting's face: "You unfilial daughter!"

"Grandma raised you with all her might. It's so pitiful that I'm old now. I've never worn a nice piece of clothing or had a full meal. It was so hard to raise you. Now, at this old age, I've encountered such a disaster. My eldest great-grandson is still in the hospital with no money for medical expenses. My two sons are lying in bed, taking medicine every day. And my only granddaughter is only thinking about studying and doesn't even want to care about her own father. Are you still a human being? You are an ungrateful person, you are so heartless, you are an unfilial person who deserves God's punishment. Why didn't you die?"

The most vicious words came out of her mouth one by one. The old woman was sixty years old this year. Her face looked old, but she had done farm work all her life. Her hands and feet were nimble and she was strong. With one slap, she broke Qian Tingting's mouth.

Tang Yuanyuan thought she had a physique that could live to ninety years old.

Qian Tingting's face and heart ached. She covered her face with her hands, feeling overwhelmed with grievances: "I just want to study, why am I not a human being?"

"Other people can study, I don't need your living expenses, I earn my own tuition, why am I not a human being?"

"I've been obedient since I was little. You said girls should work harder and not sit idle. When I was five, I was already standing on a stool, cooking, washing clothes, and brushing shoes."

"You said girls shouldn't be greedy, and that delicious food should be given to my brother. My brother can eat candy, but I can't. My brother can eat meat, but I can't. I can do all of that."

"You praised me for being sensible and said you were sorry the day before yesterday, but now I've become so heartless. Why do you still think I haven't done enough?"

“Why can’t I ever do enough?”

Tang Yuanyuan understood this feeling, because their criteria for a "good child" is whether he is obedient and sensible, and whether he can bring benefits to them. Once he fights for himself, he becomes "bad."

Supporting Qian Tingting to go to high school was never for the child, but for the family.

Even if Qian Tingting gets into university, she will be the breadwinner of this family for the rest of her life.

When she was very young, Tang Yuanyuan couldn't stand her grandmother. Her father left all the work to her mother. She would stand in front of Zhang Lancao with her small body, confront her grandparents, and challenge her father.

Her nickname "Kou Yatou" was given by Tang Aiguo.

Tang Yuanyuan has never been the good daughter that Tang Aiguo talks about, she has always been a maid.

That kind of praise is poison, a poison wrapped in a layer of candy, which makes women know how to give in from an early age.

Whenever this happened, Zhang Lancao would always hold Tang Yuanyuan in her arms and kiss her soft little face: "Our Yuanyuan is not a little girl, she is a good child who loves her mother dearly."

"In the future, Yuanyuan will learn to read and become an educated person, and then he can find someone like Second Uncle who understands and cares about him."

Tang Yuanyuan felt a sudden pain in her heart, and suddenly realized that her mother had actually known this trick for a long time.

Why does she always do all the work silently without complaining?

Because she knew it was useless.

All they want is to put the burden of life on her alone, refusing to communicate and refusing to reason.

Who would stand on Zhang Lancao's side? There was never anyone behind her.

So she didn't make a fuss or argue, but was sober and tolerant.

But she was taught since she was young not to agree with Tang Aiguo's values.

She didn't become another Qian Tingting because of her mother.

Li Jing and Huang Yan came trotting over, followed by the school security guard they had called. "Grandma Qian Tingting, Mom Qian Tingting, please leave. Qian Tingting wants to stay and study. She won't be going back with you."

"That's right, one sells his granddaughter, the other sells his daughter, it's really shameful."

Two security guards stood in front of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and said, "This is a school. Please leave. Otherwise, we will ask you to leave."