Ma Wuni also inquired and learned that a year's tuition and miscellaneous fees added up to 12 yuan. Her older sisters only earned less than 20 yuan after working for a year. She was only 9 years old. Where could she earn so much money? How long would it take to save enough to go to school?
So, she thought, first ask her two sisters to borrow some money, so that she can go to school. As for how to pay back the money... she hasn't figured it out yet, so she'll see if her sisters are willing to lend it to her.
As soon as Da Ni and Er Ni came back from work, Wu Mei pulled them back to the room and asked them to borrow money, which made them a little confused.
The two of them started working in the village after the Chinese New Year last year. They only received money that one time, but it was taken away by their grandmother before they could even warm it up. The money was returned to them half a month later.
Erni was so excited that she told Dani she wanted to buy some cloth and make herself a new outfit from head to toe. Dani laughed at her and asked, "Are you only 15 and already want to be a bride?" As a result, she had been holding on to her money for half a month, checking her savings every night before going to bed, and still hadn't been able to afford to buy even half a meter of cloth.
The fifth sister asked if she could lend her some money.
"What do you want money for?" Six dollars? She only has 16 dollars in total.
"I want to go to school." Wu Ni probably knew that her request was a bit excessive. She pursed her lips, but her tone was extremely firm. "I will pay it back, maybe not so quickly. But I will keep a record of the account and will definitely not owe you a penny."
Da Ni sat on the edge of the bed, and Er Ni stood beside the bed. The two sisters looked at each other after hearing her words. Da Ni pulled her to her side and asked softly,
"Why are you thinking about going to school again? Last time... last time... weren't you afraid..."
"I didn't ask grandma for money from home. I borrowed money from you two. I will pay it back when the time comes. It's like I'm paying for my own schooling. What right do they have to beat me?" Ma Wu Ni said it in a majestic tone, but her voice was a little choked.
"Lian Shugan went to school today. The school bag he carried was made for him by my aunt, and the cloth was all newly torn. He was so happy holding Shuying's hand... Woohoo... I'm older than all of them... Woohoo... I really want to go to school..."
Ma Wuni started to cry as she spoke. She didn't ask for a new school bag, new clothes, or new shoes. She just wanted to go to school, like other children, standing by the fields and reciting poems. She also wanted to tell those who didn't go to school that knowledge is power.
Instead of having endless clothes to wash and grass to cut for pigs like my sisters now, and having endless children to give birth to like my mother in the future.
She wanted to go to school, she just wanted to go to school.
Dani hugged her fifth sister and wiped her tears. "Don't cry, it's just school! I can support you. I paid for your tuition, so you don't have to pay it back! You're right, there are so many sisters in our family, they can't all be illiterate!"
"Really?... I will pay you back... wuwu... I really will pay you back..." Wu Ni cried and laughed at the same time. It was not easy for her elder sister to earn some work points. Although she was young, she did not want to take advantage of her for nothing. She had to pay back what was owed.
Erni thought more, "You go to school...then the work you do at home..." She was afraid that grandma would get angry with Wuni because of this.
"I'll do it! I can do all of Fifth Sister's work!" Liu Ni, who had been eavesdropping outside the door for a long time, rushed in with Qi Ni. "We did it together before, so why would I do it alone later? Fifth Sister, you can go to school without worry!"
Qi Ni also opened her eyes wide and raised her arms to express, "I can do it too. I can work with Sixth Sister!"
The other girls in the room all burst into laughter. Erni pulled Qini over and scratched her nose. "You? You're not even as heavy as the clothes! Just don't fall into the river!"
Dani looked at Liuni and thought for a moment, "Sixth Brother, don't you want to go to school? You are one year older than Shugan."
Liu Ni pinched the corner of her clothes and opened her mouth. After a while, she said, "I... I won't go. Fifth Sister can go. She can teach me when she comes back. It will save me some tuition."
Erni and Dani looked at each other. Dani raised her chin at Erni, and Erni curled her lips and said, "You two go together. It's 12 yuan a year. It's okay for my sister and I to support one each." But there was no clothes to buy.
Liuni opened her mouth wide, "Ah...what about the housework...Grandma..." She thought the same as Erni, that those who did not work in the family had to work. This was the rule set by grandma. What if she and her fifth sister went to school?
"We have to get up early and wash the clothes before going to school. We have to work quickly after school so that we can clean up while my third sister and the others are cooking. We can even go and cut some grass before it gets dark!" Ma Wuni has stopped crying. She wiped her tears and counted the work on her fingers.
"It's Old Seven..."
The four of them all looked at Ma Qini. Qini blinked, looking silly and cute.
"Qini, come with me and Old Four." Another person came in, holding a two-year-old girl in her arms. It was Ma Sanni. "It's the same with one, or two. Old Seven can run and jump, and can play with Ba Ni. Maybe it will make things easier for Old Four and me."
She was just a two-year-old kid, and they didn’t know how to play with her. She started crying when they put her down, and her hands were sore.
Ba Ni grinned, revealing a few small white teeth, and stretched out her hand to her seventh sister with a smile. Qi Ni ran over happily, and the two little ones hugged each other, babbling, and looked so happy.
Now, except for Si Ni who was cooking in the kitchen and Jiu Ni who was sleeping on Lin Yulan's bed, all the other sisters of the Ma family were present.
Sanni: "Wuni and Liuni, you two should study hard and learn more so that you can teach us in the evening. At least you can recognize your own names when you go out in the future and not be considered blind.
I'll cover your tuition fees, and in two years, when I can start working and earn some money, I can contribute to your expenses. If grandpa and grandma have any objections, we can just divide the work according to their wishes.
We sisters shouldn't count on our parents to support our education. Daddy is a foolish filial son, and Mommy is a ball of cotton. Only by uniting as one can we achieve our dreams. If we don't count on them, we might as well count on Grandma to come to our house tomorrow with a hoe and sing for us liberated serfs.
Ma Sanni is the most resentful towards her parents among the nine sisters. Chen Chunhua once told Lin Guoqing that Ma Sanni's temper is actually a bit like Liang Shengdi's, except that Liang Shengdi ran away and came to Sihe Village, while she is still hanging around in the Ma family half-dead, waiting for Lin Yulan to give birth to a son one day, and then Sanni might just pack up and leave.
But now she doesn't have a younger brother, she's still young, and she can't bear to leave her sisters. Today, Wu Ni seemed to suddenly realize that if she doesn't add some fuel to the fire and push the progress forward, it would be a shame for her years of working like a slave for the family.
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