For several days in a row, Sun Zhengguo also met with Yi Zhonghai, the Taoist deity of the Siheyuan.
Perhaps Yi Zhonghai is still young now, only 39 years old, and doesn't yet have the same obsession with retirement that he later developed. He hasn't taken Jia Dongxu as his apprentice yet. He's not exactly an old man either.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country was under military control. Later, street offices were established, which led to the term "manager uncle." This was also to prevent enemy agents from entering and to relay notices from higher authorities.
So people these days are pretty good. They're polite to everyone they meet and have good interpersonal relationships. They even take care of a lonely, deaf old lady. As for what will happen in the future, who knows?
Yan Bugui from the front yard is a daily sight, but the gatekeeper isn't. But it's understandable; with a monthly salary of 275,000 yuan to support five people, and with Aunt Yang pregnant again, she has to be careful.
He Daqing is doing alright; he hasn't met the White Widow yet. He's still around. Sha Zhu is 14 years old this year and has stopped going to school; he's an apprentice at Hongbinlou. He Yushui is only 6 years old.
Jia Zhangshi, from the Jia family in the Zhongyuan Court, is only 37 years old and hasn't gained weight yet. Jia Dongxu is 17 years old and just started working as an apprentice at the steel rolling mill. He's still under Yi Zhonghai's probationary period.
Liu Haizhong, who lives in the backyard, is now a fat man. He earns about the same salary as Yi Zhonghai at the steel rolling mill. It wasn't until the eight-grade worker system was implemented in 1956 that there were different levels of workers.
At this time, he was a mid-level worker, just like Yi Zhonghai, and had two sons, Liu Guangqi and Liu Guangtian. Liu Guangfu was still in his mother's womb.
Xu Fugui is showing movies at the steel rolling mill right now, and his wife works as a maid for the Lou family. Their son, Xu Damao, is 12 years old and is a classmate of Sun Zhengguo.
The deaf elderly woman lived alone and was not a recipient of the "Five Guarantees" (a government-provided social welfare program for the elderly and disabled). She was usually cared for by Yi Zhonghai. The two families had a good relationship.
It was the weekend, and Sun Zhengguo's family was all at home. Dad was reading a book about electrical engineering; he was quite ambitious and just one step away from becoming a senior electrician. Sun Zhengguo was helping his younger siblings with their homework when Mom suddenly asked a question.
"Zhengguo has more than 20 days until the exam. How is your preparation?"
"Mom, don't worry, I guarantee we won't be in the top three."
His predecessor already had good grades, and now that he's transmigrated, his brain is even smarter. Sun Zhengguo is confident he'll get first place.
In fact, Sun Zhengguo had been studying fifth-grade material on his own during this period. After all, he had studied it before. If it weren't for not wanting to arouse suspicion, he could have been in junior high school.
I'm now considering whether to go to a vocational school or a university. Universities have been around since 1952, and nowadays, a higher education guarantees job placement, which can lead to a decent job. Earning more money will also give me better opportunities for development after the reform and opening up.
"Mom, can I talk to you about something?"
"What's up?"
"I want to skip a grade. Mom, do you know anyone? If all else fails, you can ask Teacher Yan."
"Don't even think about it," Lin Wencui said. "You're running before you've even learned to walk."
Sun Dajiang became interested upon hearing this, "Why do you suddenly want to skip a grade?"
Sun Zhengguo said, "I've learned it all! You can test me if you don't believe me."
Sun Zhengguo thought to himself, "I still have two more years of elementary school left. If I don't skip a grade now, it will be much harder to skip to junior high."
Russian is introduced in junior high school, which he hadn't studied before. Starting a year earlier would allow him to graduate sooner, and he'd like to directly take the junior high entrance exam if his family and school allowed it. But that's probably unlikely.
Sun Dajiang immediately pulled out his fifth-grade elementary school books, which his son had borrowed. He then gave his son ten questions each for Chinese and math.
Ten minutes later, Sun Zhengguo finished. Sun Dajiang checked it and found it was all correct.
Still not convinced, he went to Yan Bugui's house and asked Yan Bugui to take a look. The result was the same; everything was correct.
Then I asked Teacher Yan again, and he said it was possible to skip grades, but only one grade at a time. After Sun Dajiang promised 5 jin of cornmeal and 2 bottles of Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), he said he would take care of it.
A few days later, in the principal's office of Hongxing Elementary School, the principal, Sun Zhengguo's homeroom teacher, and Yan Bugui were all watching an exam. Of course, there was only one examinee, and that was our classmate Sun Zhengguo.
The exam consisted of fifth-grade Chinese and math. The principal stated that as long as students scored above 90 in both subjects, they could directly enter the sixth grade next semester.
"Not bad, not bad."
The two exams took one hour. He scored 99 in Chinese, but lost 1 point on the composition. According to the principal, the point was deducted to prevent Sun Zhengguo from becoming arrogant. Everyone knows that it's rare to get a perfect score on a composition when you're in school.
In the math exam, Sun Zhengguo scored 100 points.
"Zhengguo! After the summer vacation, you can directly enroll in the 6th grade. You don't need to come these next few days. With such a good student taught by Teacher Chen, you'll be the outstanding teacher this year."
The principal spoke happily from the side.
It's important to know that being an outstanding teacher directly impacts salary increases and year-end bonuses. As for Teacher Yan's commendable recommendation, she received a direct reward of 50,000 yuan. This made both of them extremely happy.
When I got home that evening, my mom found out and happily gave me a kiss. She said she'd make braised pork tomorrow. My dad was also happy and drank an extra glass of wine. My younger siblings said they'd learn from Sun Zhengguo.
The other neighbors in the courtyard reacted differently, especially Xu Damao, who was thoroughly insulted by Xu Fugui. (Xu Damao said, "Do you think I don't want to be polite?! I'll pee my way out and curse you!")
At He Daqing's house, "Silly Zhu! I taught you so much for school. You didn't even graduate from elementary school. Look at Sun Zhengguo, he skipped a grade. (Silly Zhu says, "You little brat, we'll see.")
Yan Bugui said, “Jiecheng, look at others and then look at yourself. Studying more is still useful. (Yan Jiecheng: I went hungry for 3 days and 9 meals a day, and I couldn’t even eat my fill once. Is that my fault?)”
Aunt Yang, her belly protruding, said, "Yes, yes, look, your dad just opened his mouth and got 50,000 yuan, plus the benefits promised by Sun Dajiang's family." (Yan Jiecheng was critically struck twice)
At Liu Haizhong's house, Liu Haizhong's belt was already itching for a beating. The two little ones trembled, bracing themselves for the raging storm. (@*?……)
The Jia family: "Hmph! What's with the arrogance? My son Dongxu has the makings of a factory director." (Jia Dongxu: It has to be his own mother, that's right, that's right. He looked completely infatuated, as if he had already become the factory director.)
At Yi Zhonghai's house, he exclaimed, "Oh! Da Jiang's son is really promising. If only I had..." Before he could finish, he saw his mother looking at him with tears in her eyes. He swallowed the rest of his words.
What other families do is none of Sun Zhengguo's business. Sun Zhengguo plans to visit his grandparents after his younger siblings have their school holidays.
Sun Dajiang's hometown is in the countryside, about 20 kilometers away from Beijing.
When he was a child, Sun Dajiang was a good student. His father, with his excellent carpentry skills, supported him all the way to senior high school.
Lin Wencui, Sun Dajiang's mother, was from the same village as him. His father, Lin Hong, was often away fighting in his youth, so he entrusted Lin Wencui and her children to Sun's father. Sun Dajiang and Lin Wencui went to school together from a young age, and later they went to high school together in Beijing.
After graduation, they both went to work at Lou's Steel Plant. Because of his education, Sun Dajiang studied electrical work, while Lin Wencui worked in logistics. After liberation, they both joined the trade union and women's federation.
Sun Dajiang's parents are still alive in his hometown. He also has an older brother, Sun Dahe, who is 29 years old this year and married in the countryside. They have two sons: the elder son, Sun Zhengdong, is 10 years old this year, and the younger son, Sun Zhengnan, is 8 years old this year.
Sun Dajiang also has a younger sister, Sun Xiaoying, who is 26 years old this year. She is married in the next village and has a son and a daughter.
Lin Wencui's mother passed away early, leaving only her father, Lin Hong, and her elder brother, Lin Wenjun. Lin Wenjun also married and had three sons and one daughter.
Lin Hong, the father, joined the 29th Army when he was young and served as an instructor in the 29th Army's Big Sword Team.
Disheartened by the inaction of the Kuomintang, he joined the Eighth Route Army. Later, he was wounded in battle and returned to his village, where he now serves as the village head of Dongxiang Village.
Sun Zhengguo's return to the countryside this time was to complete his second plan (his first plan was to skip grades in school) and learn martial arts from his grandfather.
In this day and age, you can't get by without good health. The People's Republic of China has just been founded; aside from enemy agents, there are plenty of thugs and ruffians. At the very least, you need to be able to protect yourself.
What's more, there's also the courtyard house war god pillar in the future. Don't you see how badly he beat up Xu Damao later? (Xu Damao: Are you being polite? I was just too lazy to bother with him. We'll see.)
The next day, Lin Wencui's braised pork dish turned the entire courtyard into chaos.
Time passed day by day. Sun Zhengguo no longer needed to go to school, but he still took his younger siblings to school every day. Then he would go home and read books.
As for cooking, those are just basic operations.
Having been an orphan in my previous life and having been exposed to various food videos in this life, my cooking skills are actually quite good.
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