043 Going to school
The meal, which was to celebrate Yuehe going to university, was paid for by her family, but the meat was bought by Gu Mannian through a third party.
Guan Yuehe winked at her older sister: See? I told you you'd never be short of food in the future, right?
Guan Yuehua wanted to stuff a piece of fatty meat into her mouth. But as soon as she turned her head, Gu Mannian stuffed a pear into her hand, saying that the purchasing department had gone to great lengths to buy it from out of town for the workers.
Guan Yuehua's heart softened, and she asked him if he had left anything for her.
"I took some home, and brought the rest over. I'll wash the rest later." The one he left behind was the biggest one he had picked.
Guan Yuehe felt a pang of jealousy, and even regretted not asking Section Chief Xiao a few more questions. Otherwise, she could have worked ten more days and received a pear too!
"Here, have the seat." Guan Yuehe generously gave up her stool and walked straight to the kitchen. Seeing that they were making braised pork, she quickly said, "I'll make this dish!"
Since she moved here, her cooking skills have improved day by day. If she runs into Grandpa Ming in the alley, she can ask him for advice on how to make certain dishes taste even better.
She thought that her braised pork was the best in the family. No one could compare!
The aunt, sitting on a small stool watching the fire, laughed and said, "When Yuehe used to go back to her hometown, she loved to play in the mud and pretend to be the chef."
Jiang Guiying laughed, "That's right! Her father and I even thought about having her become Lao Ming's apprentice and a cook after she graduates. That would be a good idea."
Guan Yuehe laughed heartily and said regretfully, "What a pity, Master Ming said I have good comprehension, but he missed out on such a good disciple."
She gets all worked up when you say she's fat, showing absolutely no intention of being modest.
Jiang Guiying took a look and saw that she had put in plenty of all kinds of seasonings. No wonder everyone said that no one could make it as fragrant as hers. You could put a brick in it and it would still smell just as good!
"Oh dear, meat is so hard to buy, and we've already bought it, it would be such a waste not to cook it well." Guan Yuehe had her own set of reasons.
Unable to reason with her or change her mind, Jiang Guiying gave up. Seeing her put another spoonful of sugar down her throat, her heart ached, so she simply turned and went outside to see if Wei Guo and his wife had returned, preferring to avoid seeing them altogether.
The eldest uncle's family arrived early, and Guan Canghai took Guan Weiguo and Li Qiuyue to Grandpa Chen's house for a medical check-up.
Of course, Grandpa Chen is a veterinarian, and Guan Canghai doesn't trust him to treat patients.
The doctor they were looking for was Mr. Chen's mother, who used to be a famous doctor. But now that she's old, she's afraid of being targeted, so she only gives pulse readings for free to people she's very close to.
As soon as Jiang Guiying went out, her aunt Chen Peicai took out a handkerchief from the inside pocket of her coat. Inside was what looked like a ring.
Guan Yuehe was putting the lid on the pot, preparing to wait for the sauce to thicken, when her pocket was ripped open, revealing an extra object inside.
"aunt......"
Chen Pei patted her, telling her to be quiet. She pulled her down to squat down and whispered in her ear, "These were given to me by your grandmother before she passed away. They were originally a pair, one for you and one for your second sister-in-law."
He added, "You mustn't tell anyone, because Auntie didn't have enough to share with others."
Guan Yuehe's eyes stung from the smoke from the stove, and she replied softly, "I won't say anything. Thank you, Auntie."
Chen Pei patted her head, "It was originally given to you by your grandma, so it's perfect for you."
She reached into her pocket and squeezed it, her heart itching with curiosity. She couldn't resist taking it out to see what it looked like, but her aunt slapped her hand as a warning. Guan Yuehe chuckled and could only suppress her curiosity.
When she was little, she visited her maternal grandparents' house once. She was sleeping on the kang (a heated brick bed). When she woke up, she heard her grandmother and mother saying, "Back then, we said that the fourth child would be given to your eldest brother-in-law after he was born. Nobody cared whether it was a son or a daughter. Only you two were foolish enough to insist on giving the second child away..."
I didn't understand what it meant before, but I only understood it when I grew up and looked back on those words.
After finishing the dish, Jiang Guiying took over the cooking duties again, just as Guan Yuehe's fierce voice came from outside: "Touch my pocket again and I'll beat you up!"
In the living room.
Guan Aiguo felt utterly wronged, clutching the fragrant roasted peanuts in both hands, "I said I'd put them in for you, Second Sister, and you said 'okay'!"
"Oh, I wasn't paying attention. Well, I didn't hit you." Guan Yuehe said, palms up. "Give it to me."
After a while, Guan Canghai, Guan Weiguo, and Li Qiuyue returned.
"Is everything alright?"
"They prescribed some medicine; it's nothing serious."
Once everyone was together, the food was served faster, and soon everyone was seated and ready to eat.
In the main courtyard, Cao Lili's sister-in-law came to bring her some things. Hearing the commotion in the left side room, she asked, "Is the family next door having a wedding? Did the girl who lives alone get married?"
"No, she got recommended to go to university and will be going to school in a couple of days. Her family is celebrating." Cao Lili changed the subject and asked about her family's recent situation.
Sister-in-law Cao was stunned. She hadn't expected that in just a short time since she last visited her sister-in-law, the girl next door had been recommended to go to university.
Instead of answering her sister-in-law's question, she sighed with regret, "I was thinking of introducing my brother to her."
Cao Lili waved her hand, "Sister-in-law, why don't you look at the other female comrades?"
"You said, what if..."
"Stop it." Aunt Zhao pushed open the door, startling the two people in the living room. "I'm telling you, Lili's sister-in-law, stop thinking about the young people in our compound. Ren Yuehe will be in college for three years. You'd be crazy to think about dating at this age. It would be so much better if she found someone among her classmates."
After saying that, he glared at Cao Lili, forbidding her from coming up with bad ideas.
Cao Lili was extremely embarrassed; who knew her sister-in-law had such a plan?!
Sister-in-law Cao felt embarrassed and didn't dare to bring it up again.
Meanwhile, the Guan family was also discussing this matter.
"You're still young, you'll only be 23 when you graduate. If you find someone suitable, then date them. If not, there's no rush."
"Never date someone from out of town; he'll have to go back to his hometown eventually. Don't even think about going with him; that would be foolish..."
Guan Yuehe just nodded.
Guan Yuehua felt that her parents and aunt and uncle were overthinking things; her younger sister wasn't stupid. With only food on her mind, who could she possibly be interested in?
My uncle's family arrived early, had lunch, and then rushed back home.
Guan Yuehe wanted them to stay another night, but her uncle kept waving his hand, saying, "No, no, there's a lot of work to do in the fields, we have to go back and make arrangements."
After seeing the person off at the bus stop and onto the bus, Guan Yuehe turned back.
Perhaps it was the excitement of going to university, or perhaps it was the stimulation from the gold bracelet given to her by her aunt, but Guan Yuehe couldn't fall asleep for a long time.
She rolled over and got up, then took out the gold bracelet that she had hidden at the bottom of the cabinet, which was wrapped in six layers. She walked around the room with a flashlight, looking at the kang (a heated brick bed) and the roof beams, feeling that it was not safe to put it anywhere.
Bringing it to school is even less safe.
When she lived in the factory dormitory, the locked cabinets were broken into; otherwise, she wouldn't have waited until she moved into her own home to start stocking up on food.
Chang Zhengyi went out to the toilet late at night. He glanced around and saw a white light moving up and down and left and right in the window of the left side room, while there was no sound from the left side room... which startled him.
When Grandpa Chang was woken up by his son to go to the toilet together, he felt a surge of anger. If he wasn't afraid of waking the neighbors, he would have used a stick to "exorcise" his son.
The night before she left for school, Guan Yuehe's house was unusually lively. Not all the people came to listen to the radio; some wanted to see what she would bring to university.
"You're not bringing your bicycle or radio? They'll just gather dust at home, won't they?"
Guan Yuehua scoffed: "You're home all the time, no wonder your eyes are clouded by dust, and all you see are your cunning schemes."
"Can people and things be the same?"
"You are different from things; things are more valuable."
"..." She was so angry that she couldn't refute it.
Guan Yuehe's shoulders trembled. She now particularly admired her sister's sharp tongue; how could someone speak so incisively?!
With Guan Yuehua's mouth around, no one dared to ask to borrow a bicycle or a radio. They couldn't argue with Guan Yuehua, much less snatch it from Guan Yuehe; they could only watch helplessly.
Just in case, on the morning of the day she went to school, Guan Yuehe moved the radio home and temporarily lent her bicycle to Guan Aiguo to ride to school.
Otherwise, if someone sneaks in and steals something, she'll have nowhere to turn to cry.
The bedroom window was tightly shut, and the door was locked with two locks. The cupboard, though containing only dishes and utensils, was also locked. The living room contained furniture.
"Is there anything else you want to take?" Jiang Guiying asked.
Guan Yuehe glanced at the tied-up quilt, a large suitcase full of clothes, and her new handbag. If she took anything else, it would be like moving house.
"Everything is packed."
"How about I take you there..."
"No need, no need, I've already arranged to go with Xie Dongxue and the others." It's not like she's leaving Beijing to go to school; she knows the area where the school is located very well.
Guan Yuehe carried a shoulder bag, a quilt in one hand and a suitcase in the other. She weighed the bag in her hand and found it to be quite light.
"I'm leaving now, please don't see me off."
Guan Yuehe walked very fast. Jiang Guiying watched her for a short while at the entrance of the alley, and then she disappeared from sight.
When they arrived at the garment factory gate, they chatted with the gatekeeper for a few minutes. Xie Dongxue and He Shuangshuang also arrived, along with Mo Zhinan, who had taken a day off to take He Shuangshuang there.
It took three bus transfers to get near the school. When she finally arrived at the school gate, Xie Dongxue sighed, "I'll ride my bicycle here another day when I get home."
Guan Yuehe and He Shuangshuang both nodded in agreement. Taking the bus was a miserable experience, with two long transfers and long wait times, taking even longer than riding a bicycle.
If it's like this every time I go home, I either shouldn't bother going home at all, or I should just stick to riding a bicycle.
He Shuangshuang suffered even more, having to rush back to school just a few days after giving birth, inevitably causing her many physical problems.
But as soon as they stepped into the school, they forgot all the trouble they had gone through to get there.
The campus was filled with banners and slogans that read "Welcome worker-peasant-soldier students," and there were enthusiastic students everywhere, which made Guan Yuehe and her two friends happy: This is the atmosphere of a university!
"Excuse me, are you here to register? Which department are you in?"
The first batch of worker-peasant-soldier college students enrolled last year have been studying for half a year, and now everyone is busy guiding these new students.
Guan Yuehe and the other two followed along, first accompanying Xie Dongxue to the Literature Department for registration, and then to the Foreign Languages Department.
Guan Yuehe received the school badge bearing the name of Peking University and the student ID card stamped with the school's seal, and looked at it again and again.
Whether she was a worker at the Zhuoyue Garment Factory or a student at Peking University, in Guan Yuehe's heart, it was an identity that brought her surprise and pride.
Upon arrival, they discovered that although it was called the Foreign Languages Department, the departments within it were not the same. To be precise, Guan Yuehe was assigned to the Western Languages Department, where she studied English, while He Shuangshuang was assigned to the Russian Languages Department, where she studied Russian.
I asked the teacher who was handling the procedures, and the teacher said to follow the school's arrangements.
The three heads huddled together, looked at each other's student IDs, and then unanimously agreed that theirs was the best-looking.
Feeling left out, Mo Zhinan could only stare anxiously at the luggage on the ground: Why won't you let me see it?!
The three were assigned to different dormitories and had to split up after reporting for duty.
Mo Zhinan even went to ask the teacher who handled the enrollment procedures if students who were not in the same class could be transferred to the same dormitory.
"We're all on the same floor, not far apart." He Shuangshuang didn't insist on living together, since they were all on the same floor and not far apart.
Mo Zhinan could only take them to the dormitory building. Their dormitories were both on the second floor. Guan Yuehe carried her own luggage upstairs and then made another trip to help He Shuangshuang carry hers.
The couple wanted to have a private conversation, so she didn't go and get in their way.
There are more than a dozen people living in the dormitory. They only arrived this semester. Including Guan Yuehe, there are only three people in total. The others arrived last September.
Guan Yuehe was the last to arrive. Standing in the middle of the dormitory, she was being scrutinized. Her roommates had all introduced themselves, but she couldn't remember a single one of them.
Moreover, apart from her, everyone else in the dormitory was a People's Liberation Army cadet from different units.
She was glad she had cut her hair in advance. Now, standing among a group of short-haired PLA students, she didn't look out of place at all. Some people even wondered, "You really weren't recommended by the army?"
Guan Yuehe nodded again, "Really!"
"Okay, since we can't make an even number, you'll be the referee for our dorm's arm wrestling from now on."
Guan Yuehe scratched her face, "I'll follow your orders!"
She's the best arm wrestler in Ginkgo Hutong, but who can she beat here? She should just be the referee.
She was assigned a lower bunk. She had just spread out her blanket and was about to sit down and rest when she turned around and saw several of her roommates standing behind her. She immediately became alert: Did they want to fight?
As it turned out, she was overthinking it; the other person just wanted to teach her how to fold a blanket.
"I don't know about other departments, but our department follows the military system and is managed like a military. If your blanket isn't folded properly, you'll get criticized."
After sitting in the dormitory for half a day, Guan Yuehe finally understood the situation of her English class.
It can be said that most of the students learning foreign languages are members of the People's Liberation Army. This is to popularize foreign language broadcasting within the military and to help them understand the movements of other countries.
Guan Yuehe wondered if she had been assigned to the wrong place.
The school also has worker propaganda teams and military propaganda teams. The first task for my roommates who came to university last year was to clean up the campus and remove garbage under the organization of the worker propaganda teams and military propaganda teams.
I heard they even participated in the parade last National Day. Guan Yuehe recalled that last National Day, she and her family were busy going back to their hometown.
"We'll participate in the school's organized activities, but the rest of the time, our focus should be on studying!"
"Yes, don't follow others' nonsense. You're here to learn!"
Each of her roommates spoke a sentence, and Guan Yuehe nodded as she listened. It's no wonder she couldn't tell them apart; they were all wearing military uniforms, had short hair, and serious expressions on their faces—they looked like soldiers just by standing there.
Her biggest concern was her studies, since she arrived late and others had already been studying for half a year. She had to work hard to catch up.
Upon asking, I learned that not everyone's learning progress was the same. Some people already knew a little English, while others didn't even know all the letters when they arrived. Some were even assigned to learn Mandarin and take extra junior and senior high school courses.
Guan Yuehe was able to relax a little after taking Chinese and basic grammar classes last semester, at least she didn't have to learn Mandarin or take extra Chinese classes first.
In the words of her roommates, last semester they and the school were feeling their way across the river by touching the stones. During that time, they changed the teaching model, changed teachers, and so on. In short, they went through a lot of trouble.
There are advantages to arriving late; those who came before her have already figured out the best methods, so she can just follow along and learn from them once she's enrolled.
After chatting with her roommates, Guan Yuehe went to find He Shuangshuang and discovered that her dormitory was in a similar situation, almost entirely staffed by People's Liberation Army soldiers.
When the two met up with Xie Dongxue again, they learned that most of the students in Xie Dongxue's class were workers and educated youth who had been sent to the countryside, while there were fewer People's Liberation Army soldiers and farmers.
He Shuangshuang was very satisfied with being assigned to the Russian Department. She had a good foundation in Russian when she was studying, which made it easier for her to learn.
Guan Yuehe also found a reason to be satisfied with the Spanish major: "My roommate said I look like I came from the military, hahaha."
He Shuangshuang and Xie Dongxue exchanged a glance and patted her shoulder reassuringly, "You'll have running opponents now, that's a good thing!"
"...That's true." There's another good thing: she'll bring the big gold bracelet back to school next time she goes back. The dormitories are all staffed by People's Liberation Army soldiers; could there be a safer place?
In the following days, Guan Yuehe was unable to attend classes with her roommates. Instead, she attended ideological education classes with newly enrolled students and participated in tests organized by the school, mainly to understand their academic level so that courses could be arranged.
During this period, every time I returned to the dormitory, my roommates arranged for me to learn the alphabet. The class monitor said that no student should be left behind!
After that, Guan Yuehe started attending classes with her roommates.
Going to school wasn't all about learning in the classroom; we also had to participate in labor, and there were almost no other activities.
Because the border situation became tense at the beginning of the year, it affected the studies of their foreign language majors. The teachers accelerated the teaching, and the students studied in their spare time.
Therefore, Guan Yuehe entered a state of intense study as soon as she entered the school.
Busy adapting to school life and studying, she didn't even have time to look for He Shuangshuang and Xie Dongxue, let alone go home.
She and her classmates worked from dawn till dusk every day. Apart from her roommates and the class monitor, no one had time to get to know her, this new classmate. Everyone carried books or notes even when they were walking.
Of course, their class was full of People's Liberation Army soldiers. When a worker comrade sneaked in, she gave a self-introduction, and all the classmates recognized her, except for her, who didn't recognize all the classmates.
Guan Yuehe took some time out of her busy schedule to send a letter home, saying that she was doing well at school and would come home when she had time.
As for when she would go home, she didn't know. Most of her roommates even stayed at school for the Chinese New Year.
"Shenghua, how do you pronounce this again?"
"I am Suping!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Suping, how do you pronounce this again?"
Before teaching her, Comrade Suping made her sit up straight, and then she answered her questions.
With the help of her roommates, Guan Yuehe transformed into a tall and straight poplar tree in just half a month, and also memorized hundreds of words.
Even when we were running together, I was memorizing them, and when I went to sleep, my mind was full of strings of English letters.
When she has time to go home, she must tell Xu Cheng that she was wrong and that making beautiful clothes with a sewing machine is not difficult at all!
While enduring hardship, they diligently memorized the material, and occasionally had to be called upon to act as referees.
Finally, I can tell some of my roommates apart. The one who's always calling me a "silly kid" and loves spicy food is Shenghua; the tallest is Suping; and Chunmei is undefeated in arm wrestling...
She? She is a white lotus amidst the lush greenery.
She was the only one without a military uniform.
"Then why didn't you sign up to join the army?" Chunmei asked.
Guan Yuehe recalled what she was like before she had a job, "I applied but I wouldn't have been selected."
"It's not too late, you can still apply."
Guan Yuehe didn't dare to meet her roommates' eyes, and pointed to her textbook, asking, "How do you pronounce this again?"
Several people answered in unison, and Guan Yuehe then pointed to several more words, finally leading them astray.
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