Chapter 107
Jiang's father was a high school graduate who had finished the college entrance examination and did not plan to continue studying in college. He came to Shenzhen with a backpack to find a job. When he came to his place to buy a box lunch, he found out that the college entrance examination was over.
He was confused for a moment, "Isn't it only June? How come the college entrance examination is over?"
A young man who had no money and was drinking free bone soup from Jiang's father said while drinking the soup: "This year's college entrance examination is one month earlier than in previous years."
In the past, the college entrance examination was held on July 7th, but this year it is on June 7th.
Dad Jiang called back in a hurry to ask about the situation in his hometown. It was the harvest season at that time, and Uncle Jiang and his three sons were at home. But he had not received much education. When Grandpa Jiang asked him to go to school, he only attended elementary school and then went to learn the craft of a bricklayer. How could he know about the college entrance examination?
Of his three sons, the one with the highest education only went to junior high school and never attended high school. He spends all day either building houses at one house or another. When asked about the college entrance examination, they don't know the answer.
Uncle Jiang instead nags him about the flood at home: "Luckily the dam blocked the flood. If it hadn't, all this year's crops would have been drowned."
The phone bill was expensive, and Jiang's father didn't want to listen to Uncle Jiang nagging about his hometown. He hung up the phone in a daze and asked Jiang's mother: "Ailian, do you have the phone number of Baizi's class teacher?"
Jiang's mother said impatiently: "I haven't even met his class teacher, how can I have his phone number?"
"Didn't you go to No. 1 Middle School to take care of Songzi for half a year last year? Do you have the phone number of Songzi's homeroom teacher?"
"I've been out for half a year, and Songzi has graduated. I can't even write, so how can I have a phone number?" Jiang's mother couldn't help but give Jiang's father a blank look.
The thing she regretted most in her life was that when she was a child, there was a night school in her village, but she did not go to class seriously. Now she can only be blind. Apart from knowing her own name and understanding the Arabic numerals 12345, she depends on Dad Jiang for everything in the city. Without Dad Jiang, she can't take a single step. She can't even understand what others are saying, and others can't understand what she is saying. She can't even speak Mandarin.
Jiang's father can't speak Mandarin either, but he is confident and dares to speak and communicate with others. He blindly believes that he is speaking Mandarin and speaks it very well.
This is probably the difference between people who grew up being praised and those who grew up being belittled and suppressed.
One thinks he can do everything well and dares to try any risky things; the other thinks he can't do anything well except farm work and factory work and dares not try anything.
Jiang's mother only dared to act arrogantly at home and in front of people she was familiar with, but when facing people and things in the outside world, she was like a tiny snail, carefully sticking out her two little tentacles and shrinking into her shell. She didn't even dare to speak when she went to the wholesale market alone to buy vegetables, for fear that others would not understand what she said, and she couldn't speak either.
Father Jiang couldn't find Jiang Bai's contact information from Mother Jiang, so he called Uncle Jiang and asked, "Do you have the contact information of Baizi's class teacher? It's summer vacation now, has Baizi gone home yet?"
Uncle Jiang said, "I haven't even been to Wucheng much, so where can I find Baizi's contact information?" He said mockingly, "You are a father, and you came to me for the phone number of your own son's class teacher."
He added, "If he doesn't come back, he can help me harvest the rice. This year, with your ten acres of land, we have planted more than twenty acres of land in total. We can't finish the work, so we will have to hire someone to do it. If Baizi is at home, there will be an extra laborer, and the family will be more relaxed."
Although he and his three sons came back to participate in the double harvest, they still had to continue the work of building houses in the new street and could not delay it for too long, so they rushed to work after returning.
His father-in-law's house was too far away, so he wanted to ask his brothers-in-law to help with the work, but it was impossible. His own brothers had already run to Shenzhen and he couldn't rely on them either. He wanted to ask his brother-in-law to help with the rice harvest for a few days, but his brother-in-law ran away faster than a rabbit.
Although Uncle Jiang followed them and did physical work like a bricklayer building houses for others, he grew up in the town and did the hardest farm work when he was a child, which was just helping his mother grow some vegetables and build a greenhouse. The land in the town was limited, and his family’s vegetable plot in the town was less than two acres. How could he do farm work?
The only person we can count on is Jiang Bai, who is diligent, hardworking and goes home during the summer vacation.
Unfortunately, he waited and waited, but Jiang Bai never came back, and he didn't know where to find Jiang Bai. There was a lot of work in the fields and they had to finish it quickly, so they didn't have time to look for him. Even Aunt Jiang, who did less farm work during the double harvest period in previous years, joined in the harvest this year, and Grandma Jiang cooked the meals at home.
How can you eat the food cooked by Grandma Jiang with her cooking skills? When she was young, Grandpa Jiang cooked for her family. Later, he married a daughter-in-law and asked her to cook for him. The meals she cooked can really be described in two words: cooked and edible.
After two days of eating, Uncle Jiang couldn't stand it anymore. Every time it was time to cook, he asked Aunt Jiang to go back. Aunt Jiang felt sorry for their hard work and asked them: "Can you do it by yourselves? Or should I cut for another hour?"
Aunt Jiang used to be plump and white, but she has been tanned these past few days. Uncle Jiang saw her and said, "You should go back. It's so hot, Junzi and I can handle it. Don't get a heat stroke, it will be troublesome."
Aunt Jiang is good at growing vegetables, flowers and fruit trees, but doing farm work like this is really too much for her. She wiped the sweat off her face with a towel and said, "Okay, I'll go back and cook for you guys first."
Last year, Dad Jiang made a lot of money by selling crayfish. This year, Dad Jiang is not at home, and some people also followed Dad Jiang's example and sold lobsters. Unfortunately, they were reluctant to put in enough ingredients, so the food they cooked was not delicious.
Uncle Jiang's wife also picked up a hat-full of crayfish from the ditch and brought them home. She washed them and made spicy crayfish for Uncle Jiang and his family. After all, it was meat.
Although Grandma Jiang can't cook, she still knows how to clean the house. Early in the morning, she went to the butcher's house in the neighboring village and bought a pound of fatty pork and two pieces of old tofu.
Cooking probably requires some talent. Aunt Jiang was able to cook the spicy crayfish deliciously just by listening to Jiang Ning's instructions without even watching it. She also cut ordinary fatty pork into thick slices, fried out the fat, and added tofu, cabbage, vermicelli, and long beans to stew it until it was delicious.
After a whole morning of work, Uncle Jiang and his colleagues came back and felt refreshed after eating the meal prepared by Aunt Jiang. They took a nap at noon and then went to harvest in the afternoon.
There has been plenty of rain this year, and they are afraid that if they don't harvest the rice quickly, a heavy rain will come and the rice will fall into the mud and sprout.
Dad Jiang couldn't find Jiang Song, nor could he ask Jiang Bo, so he had to ask Uncle Jiang if Jiang Song had called home.
Uncle Jiang was exhausted every day, but he still had to come to answer his phone calls. He said impatiently, "I work in town all day, how can I know if he has called back? Even if he did call back, would I be able to answer the phone? Didn't you go to Shenzhen to look for him? Haven't you found him yet?"
As he said this, he couldn't help but laugh.
Jiang Song really didn't think of calling his hometown. He was now busy with fighting every day and was living like a fish in water in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. His life was more exciting than that in the movie "Young and Dangerous". Relying on his agile skills that he had learned since he was a child, he not only helped his brother's uncle to grab projects and make money, but also acted as a hero to save a damsel in distress and met the first love of his life and got a girlfriend.
His girlfriend is the same age as him. She is a kayaker and is 1.82 meters tall. Her father is a Hong Kong businessman who came to Shenzhen to invest. She is very superior in terms of figure, appearance, and family background. If he hadn't been a hero and saved her, it can be said that she would never be someone he would have met in his entire life.
Also because of his girlfriend, Jiang Song took on a project on his own and went out to work on his own with a group of people. He was full of energy and ambition.
He still had some charm. He was the first to lead in a fight, generous in sharing money, and loyal. He was willing to lend money to anyone who came to him. People who used to work for his brother and uncle were all willing to follow him. He felt a little guilty towards his brother's uncle for this, but his brother's uncle didn't mind at all and still treated him like a brother. They often came to him to drink and eat together, and they made money together.
But his girlfriend doesn't like his brothers, thinking that they are all low-level hooligans, and often advises him not to hang out with them: "You'd better go back to school and get into college, so that I can take you back to see my dad~"
How could her father accept him in the current state he is in? How could she bring him to her father and into her circle of friends?
But after a year of living a free and easy life of drinking and eating meat, how could he be willing to go back to school and study hard every day like he was in prison?
But he also has a very good temper. When he disagrees with his girlfriend, he never loses his temper. Instead, he always coaxes his girlfriend in a good-tempered manner and says all kinds of sweet words.
Maybe it was because making money was too easy for him and he didn't care about money. He was very generous with money, whether it was to himself, his brothers, or his girlfriend. It could really be said that out of a hundred dollars he earned, he would spend ninety-nine on his girlfriend without blinking an eye.
His girlfriend has never had a boyfriend because of her height. Jiang Song is her first boyfriend. It is said that a boy will grow up quickly when he is 23 meters tall. Jiang Song is just like that. His height has now grown to 1.9 meters. He also loves sports. He is really the example of someone who looks thin when dressed and has muscular body when undressed.
His girlfriend likes tall boys. She is young and at the age of youth and dreaming. After being rescued from two gangsters by Jiang Song, she felt that Jiang Song was just like the male protagonist in the movie, who fell from the sky, and she fell in love with him at first sight.
He is tall and handsome, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose bridge, a sunny personality, and looks quite similar to a popular male star at the time. Although he comes from a low-income rural family, he is not timid at all. He is loyal and righteous, has a sweet mouth, and is willing to coax her in various ways.
She really likes Jiang Song and loves Jiang Song very much.
Even though her father was not happy with her finding such a boyfriend, she was still willing to chase him, follow him, and was very happy to be with him.
She also knew that it was not okay for him to continue like this, and she didn't want him to continue hanging out with those people. She kept persuading him and wanted to pull him into her world, but he said all kinds of sweet words to coax her and just wouldn't change. She loved and was angry with him, but she couldn't bear to give up on him. She wanted to change him, to make him study hard for her, or do something serious.
It’s not that Jiang Song didn’t want to call his hometown. The telephone in the brigade had only been installed for more than a year. When he was in his third year of high school, it was his mother who took care of him. Later, when he graduated and went to the provincial capital with his classmates, it was Jiang’s father who unilaterally contacted him and looked for him everywhere.
He was used to being chased by others and was used to being self-centered. When he made money, he would rather spend it lavishly with his drinking buddies. He never thought about whether his parents at home were having a hard time or whether he should send some money back home to repair or build a new house since their house was so shabby. He also never thought about whether his younger brothers and sisters had money to pay for their tuition.
It was like this in the previous life and it is the same in this life.
Only when he failed again and again, was deserted by his friends and relatives, became impoverished, had nowhere to go and needed help, did he think of his parents and younger siblings in his hometown.
Oh, he had never been penniless, because he always had Jiang's father and mother to cover his expenses. All the money he earned in his lifetime was used up in his money, and he also borrowed money from all his brothers, sisters and relatives. He could never imagine how difficult it would be for his parents to face the debt collection from relatives after owing so much money, and he still lived a life of luxury and debauchery.
Jiang Song's world and Jiang Bai and Jiang Ning's world are like two unintersecting worlds.
Jiang Bai is still working diligently and happily selling clothes in Wucheng, earning a few dollars for each piece of clothing, while waiting for the teacher in Shanghai to call and inform him that he can check the scores before going to check them.
Jiang Ning's final exam results are out and have been posted on the bulletin board. Unfortunately, most of the students in the school have returned home now, so everyone will have to wait until the next semester starts to see them.
Jiang Ning is still number one in the grade, so it is basically certain that she will get the first-class scholarship for the first year of high school this year. Zhang Wenxue and Cheng Yufeng both received second-class scholarships, but the money will not be distributed now. Instead, it will be distributed in front of all the freshmen after the start of the next semester and the end of the freshmen’s military training, in order to motivate them.
That’s how they were motivated when school started last year.
Everyone else in the school went back, but Zhang Wenxue and his classmates stayed in school to attend classes. Seeing that they were finally ready to participate in the competition after the dust settled on their final exam results, Teacher Ji encouraged them with a smile, saying, "Although there are no scholarships for our county exams, as long as you pass the preliminaries and enter the city, you will still have scholarships, even if you don't get a rank. Don't you want such a good thing? If you can get good results in the city, you will get a scholarship. As long as you get out of the city and enter the provincial competition, you will also get a scholarship."
He said with a smile: "Although Wucheng is just a small city, this scholarship is much more than when we first participated in the competition. Even our provincial capital does not have as many scholarships as Wucheng. Principal Sun has really invested a lot for our No. 1 Middle School's competition results!"
After hearing what he said, everyone perked up and put more time and energy into the competition. Just as Teacher Ji said, if they could still get a few hundred yuan during the two months of summer vacation, it would be a great relief to the financial pressure on their family.
In late June, Jiang Bai's college entrance examination results finally came out, and he scored 567 points.
Last year, the admission score for science majors at East China University of Science and Technology was 518 points. If he had listened to his sister and applied to East China University of Science and Technology with this score, he would have been able to get in. But he does not regret it. For him, as long as he can go to university, it is a great blessing. It is a good life that he never dared to imagine in the past.
The moment he learned about his grades, he couldn't help but grin and report the good news to Grandpa Jiang. Grandpa Jiang's eyes turned red at that moment, and he cried with joy while wiping his tears with a smile, saying non-stop: "Great! Great! Another college student is born in my family. Together with Guoan and Guoliang, my family now has three college students. I will go and burn incense to tell your great-grandfather later. Your great-grandfather will be so happy."
Jiang Guoan actually graduated from a junior college, but the value of junior colleges in his era was completely different from that of junior colleges in later generations. Graduates were guaranteed jobs and had stable jobs.
Tong Jingang's score also came out, which was not much different from the score he estimated, 488 points.
The admission score for the sports major at the school he applied for this year was exactly 487 points. He narrowly passed by just one point.
As for Jiang Ning, after such a long period of small-class teaching, she finally welcomed the preliminary round of the Wucheng competition.
Students from Wuzhong, No. 1 Middle School, No. 2 Middle School, No. 3 Middle School, and even the high schools in the towns below, all went directly to Wuzhong to take the exam.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
