Chapter 017
Chu Xia didn't care about other people's reactions and went straight to get the steamed buns and put them in Lin Xiaohan's pot.
Then she took two more bowls and put some mustard greens in each bowl.
Lin Xiaohan was a very particular person. He didn't like to share a bowl of food with a woman, and he also disliked her using his bottle cap to drink water, so of course she had to divide the food into two bowls.
At this moment, others had already ignored her and Lin Xiaohan and started gossiping about them.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, Chuxia put her cabbage back into the cupboard and tied the door shut again with straw.
She placed the two bowls of mustard greens on the remaining empty table, poured two bowls of hot water, and brought two pairs of chopsticks over and placed them on the edge of the bowls.
After arranging everything, she sat down at the table and rested in silence.
There are many people in the kitchen, and it becomes lively when one person talks to another.
Of course, there were also those who didn't say a word, and they were Chu Xia, Lin Xiaohan, Han Ting and Su Yun.
Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan no longer belong to this atmosphere.
As for Han Ting and Su Yun, they were not in the mood to talk, and they didn't want to pretend.
Su Yun didn't talk much before, and she has talked even less in the past two days.
The melancholy on her face and in her eyes became even more severe, and she looked more pitiful than before.
Of course, the one who feels sorry for her is Han Ting, but Chu Xia doesn’t feel sorry for her.
If she cared about her, she should give her everything she had, but no one cared about her at that time.
***
The steamed buns in the two pots were heated at about the same time.
Lin Xiaohan and Guo Gai went to get the steamed buns together, and the ten of them helped noisily.
Lin Xiaohan’s side is much simpler.
He put the steamed buns in a bowl, brought it over, sat down and started eating.
He brought Chuxia's steamed buns as well, and Chuxia didn't get up.
After Lin Xiaohan sat down, he picked up the chopsticks with him and ate the steamed buns with mustard greens.
The two of them sat at the table eating without talking, but the room was always bustling.
After finishing their meal in the bustling atmosphere that had nothing to do with them, Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan did not stay at the educated youth center for long. They left the kitchen, went to the dormitory, put on their backpacks, and went to school together.
Not long after I sat down in the office at school, Li Xisheng came to school with his father.
The father and son look alike and are in a similar state, with their backs hunched and their bodies hunched, appearing timid.
As soon as the two entered the office, Li Xisheng's father immediately thanked Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan and said, "Thank you two educated youth comrades for fighting for Xisheng's opportunity to go to school. Thank you so much."
I didn't really put much effort into it.
Chu Xia stood up and politely replied: "Uncle, you don't have to say that. We didn't spend much effort. We just talked to Captain Liang for a few words. The main reason is that you usually perform well and the team recognizes your performance."
Li Xisheng's father kept saying, "Thank you, thank you."
Before Chu Xia could reply, Lin Xiaohan spoke again: "We are also very happy to be able to help you. Since you have fought for this rare opportunity, then cherish it and support our work in the future."
Li Xisheng's father said again and again: "Yes, yes."
Chu Xia glanced at Lin Xiaohan, blinked, and said nothing more.
Lin Xiaohan was not idle after he finished speaking.
He opened the drawer of his desk and took out an application form.
He turned the application form around and pushed it in front of Li Xisheng's father. He then took out the pen hanging from his chest pocket, uncapped it and handed it to Li Xisheng's father. "You know how to fill it out, right?"
Li Xisheng's father nodded and said, "Yes, I will fill it out."
He took the pen and filled it out while standing. Lin Xiaohan reminded him that he could sit on a bench, but he shook his head and said he didn't want to sit down. He insisted on filling out the information while standing and put his fingerprint on the application form.
The application was filled out and he reached into his pocket.
After searching for a long time, he found a stack of very old banknotes and put them on the desk and said, "Comrade educated youth, please count. The tuition for one semester is 1.5 yuan, right?"
Lin Xiaohan picked up the bills and counted them, there were exactly fifteen.
He took the money and looked at Li Xisheng's father and said, "It's OK. School will start in about three days. The brigade will announce it through the loudspeaker at that time. Please pay attention to the announcement."
Li Xisheng's father nodded in agreement.
The job was done, and both sides felt relieved.
Li Xisheng's father thanked him several times and then took Li Xisheng away.
Lin Xiaohan was putting the application form and money into the drawer when the two of them had already walked out of the office.
Lin Xiaohan had no choice but to call out to them again: "Hey, wait a minute, there's something else."
Hearing the voice, Li Xisheng and his son turned back and asked, "Comrade Zhiqing, is there anything else?"
Lin Xiaohan put down the application form and money, took out a candy from the drawer, stood up and handed it to Li Xisheng and said, "As agreed, as long as you come to register for school, everyone will get a candy."
They have never even seen these things in these years, let alone eaten them.
Li Xisheng didn't dare to take it, and quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, I don't want to eat it."
Lin Xiaohan didn't waste time arguing with him, and directly stuffed the candy into his hand and said, "We're not doing this to you alone. As long as you come to register for school, we'll give you candy. We keep our promise."
After listening to Lin Xiaohan's words, Li Xisheng slowly curled up his fingers and held the candy in his palm.
He didn't say no again. He just said thank you to Lin Xiaohan and left.
When the father and son left the school gate, Li Xisheng's father said, "When you go to school, study hard. Don't worry about others. Just learn the knowledge. There has never been an illiterate person in our Li family."
Li Xisheng responded, "Dad, I will."
He held the candy in his pocket, and felt sweet even before he ate it.
***
After Li Xisheng and his son left, the office became quiet again.
Chu Xia sat back at her desk, lifted her face idly, looked out the door and said, "It would be nice if there were two more."
Then, just as she finished speaking, a few people happened to come in from the half of the door that was in her sight.
Two adults with two children, so it really is two.
Chu Xia jumped up from the stool with joy, "Here it comes!"
Lin Xiaohan also stretched his head and took a look outside.
After a while, four people entered the office.
Before Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan had time to say hello, the two children spoke loudly, "Teacher, we want to go to school!"
Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan smiled and said, "Okay, welcome."
The two parents continued, "It's no use. He's obsessed with it. He insists on going to school no matter what. Last night, he talked in his sleep all night long, all about going to school."
Chu Xia smiled and took out an application form from the drawer. "It's a good thing that you want to go to school. School is a place for teaching and educating people and helping them grow. Reading and learning will be of great use in the future."
Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan each took care of one child, and asked the parents to fill out the application form during the casual conversation.
Neither of the two parents could write, so Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan wrote for them and asked them to put their fingerprints on the application form.
After filling out the application form and paying the tuition, the two children couldn't wait any longer.
They leaned over the desk expectantly, looking at Chu Xia and asked, "Are there really milk candies?"
Chuxia smiled and took out two candies from the drawer, and put one in each of their hands.
The moment the candy fell into their hands, the two children's eyes widened. Then they suddenly became excited, shouting and jumping, and ran away with the candy like the wind.
They ran out to show off, of course.
They ran to the group of children holding candies, each one speaking louder than the other, "My dad took me to the school to register! As soon as I registered, the teacher gave me candies! Look, these are real candies!"
When someone actually got the candy, the kids went wild.
So they stopped playing and ran home, hugged their father's arms or thighs, and insisted on going to school. No matter what else, you just have to go to school.
Some parents were already somewhat shaken by Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan's persuasion, and their family conditions were barely enough to support their children's education. After their children came back and made such a fuss, they also took their children to register.
After signing up and getting the candies, the children became even more excited.
These children went from not wanting to go to school at all to now fighting tooth and nail to go to school.
Over the next two days, parents brought their children to the school to register every day.
Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan struck while the iron was hot and continued to tell stories during the day, visited the homes of fellow villagers at night to do ideological work for the parents, and waited for the parents to bring their children to the school to register at noon.
Two figures were busy by the small pond and in the office of Team 8.
The application forms gradually became thicker in the drawer, and the candies in the box gradually became less...
***
In a dimly lit office.
After Chuxia finished counting the application forms, she laughed so hard that she buried her face in the application forms.
Lin Xiaohan turned his head and looked at her expressionlessly for a while.
Then he asked out loud, "Have you laughed enough?"
Chu Xia heard his words, put away her smile, looked up at him and said: "Do you know how many students we have recruited in total? I tell you, a full sixty!"
Compared to the novel, the number of people is almost doubled!
Lin Xiaohan said calmly, "Are you stupid? The salary for teaching ten people is the same as that for teaching a hundred people."
Chu Xia was stunned by what he said and blinked at him.
Lin Xiaohan didn't give her time to think about it.
He picked up his schoolbag and stood up, saying, "Let's go and report to Captain Liang."
Chuxia came to her senses, hurriedly put on her schoolbag, took the application form and left the school with Lin Xiaohan.
Lin Xiaohan locked the school gate and went to the brigade headquarters with Chuxia to find Liang Youtian.
Liang Youtian has not left the brigade headquarters yet.
Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan found him in the office, greeted him and said, "Captain Liang, we have completed the recruitment work, which is not bad. We have recruited a total of 60 people."
Liang Youtian was delighted to hear this and said with a smile, "We really were right about you. I knew you two would be able to do this well, better than expected."
Lin Xiaohan smiled and handed the schoolbag to Liang Youtian, "The tuition and miscellaneous fees are all in it."
Seeing that Lin Xiaohan gave the tuition to Liang Youtian, Chuxia naturally handed over the application form as well.
But Liang Youtian did not take Lin Xiaohan's schoolbag, nor did he take Chuxia's application form.
He looked at Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan and said, "You don't need to give me the tuition and application forms. You can take them. We have already taken care of the previous work, so the next work is still up to you. Tomorrow you will take the tuition and application forms to the county education bureau and get your textbooks. The day after tomorrow, we will have an opening ceremony as you said, and the day after tomorrow, classes will officially start. How about that?"
Liang Youtian was just arranging a job, so Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan naturally had no objection.
And of course they are very willing to go to the county town.
I have been in the countryside for so long, but I have never left Tanxi Brigade.
The two of them took back the things in their hands at the same time.
Lin Xiaohan responded decisively: "Captain Liang, if you trust us, we will go to the county town tomorrow and get the children's textbooks back."
Liang Youtian's eyes were indeed full of trust in Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan.
He picked up two pieces of paper on the table and handed them over, saying, "This is a letter of introduction for you to go to the county town. You must take it carefully and don't lose it outside. The road to the county town is a bit far and you can't walk there. You can take the donkey cart of the team to go there tomorrow. You have never been to the county town by yourselves, right? How about arranging someone to go with you?"
"No need for that." Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan said in unison.
Then Chu Xia fell silent, and Lin Xiaohan continued, "Captain Liang, there's no need to waste another person's manpower on this matter. We know the direction of the county town, and we can just ask people on the way."
Liang Youtian smiled and praised him and Chuxia, "You city kids are really capable."
If these country kids who have never been out were asked to do this, they would all become dumbfounded.
Chuxia didn't consider whether it was a waste of manpower. She just felt that it was a rare trip to the county town, and it would be inconvenient to have someone around, and she would feel embarrassed to do some personal things.
That's what we have agreed to.
Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan left the brigade headquarters.
The two of them returned to the educated youth point side by side.
Chu Xia asked Lin Xiaohan: "So when do we set off tomorrow morning?"
Lin Xiaohan said: "The sooner the better."
After all, the journey is far, and you have to rush back after finishing your business there, so it’s better to go earlier so that you have more time.
Chu Xia nodded and said, "Okay."
***
In recent days, Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan go out after dinner every night.
Today's enrollment was officially over, and the two of them did not go out after dinner.
It was a rare opportunity to rest, so after dinner Chuxia went back to the dormitory, washed up and lay down.
The other people in the dormitory went to the boys' dormitory to play. The noise was all over that room, so it was quiet here.
Chuxia lay on the bed blinking, thinking about what she was going to do when she went to the county town tomorrow.
Basically, after completing the work assigned by the brigade, she would go to the post office to send letters back to Beijing, and also go to state-owned stores and Xinhua Bookstore to buy some things.
Because she got up early in the morning and was busy during the day, Chuxia fell asleep while thinking.
I was sleeping so soundly that I didn't know how long I had slept, when I was suddenly awakened by the sound of water pumping in a well.
After waking up, Chuxia quickly got out of bed and went to the window to look.
Sure enough, I saw Lin Xiaohan got up and was pressing water to wash in the yard.
So Chuxia didn't sleep anymore. She hurriedly folded the quilt, put on her clothes, tied her braids, took her toiletries and went to the yard to wash up.
After washing up and having breakfast, he put on his schoolbag and went out with Lin Xiaohan.
After leaving the educated youth point, the two first went to the brigade headquarters and took the donkey cart that Liang Youtian mentioned.
When leading the donkey cart out of the brigade headquarters yard, Chu Xia suddenly became a little worried and asked Lin Xiaohan: "Have you ever driven a donkey cart?"
Lin Xiaohan said: "Haven't you ever eaten pork, but have you ever seen a pig run?"
Seeing how confident he was, Chu Xia stopped questioning him.
The donkey cart stopped and the two men got on one after another.
Lin Xiaohan sat in the front left, holding a dry branch in one hand and a rope in the other.
Chuxia didn't sit on the right side. She climbed into the car, sat next to Lin Xiaohan, and sat cross-legged on the cushion.
Lin Xiaohan didn't care how she sat and just drove the donkey on the road.
After walking for a while, Chuxia felt relieved seeing that he was doing quite well.
The two of them drove the donkey cart towards the county town at a leisurely pace.
When I meet someone on the road, I will ask for directions to avoid going in the wrong direction or getting to the wrong place.
Amid the clatter of donkey's hooves, the stars in the sky dimmed and the Morning Star twinkled in the eastern sky.
The sun gradually emerged from the east, and the sky became brighter and brighter.
Chuxia was tired of sitting, so she yawned and said softly, "It's really not easy to live in the countryside..."
Lin Xiaohan looked at her and continued, "So how stupid does a person have to be to give up the opportunity to work in the city and desperately sign up to come to the countryside for someone who doesn't like him or her?"
Chu Xia: “…”
Of course she knew that Lin Xiaohan was talking about her.
She looked at Lin Xiaohan and said stubbornly: "I'm risking my life for love, what do you know?"
Lin Xiaohan sneered, "I really don't understand."
Chuxia wanted to say something else, but before she could say anything, her body suddenly leaned forward.
Lin Xiaohan also felt something unusual, and looked forward with Chuxia, only to see a long and steep downhill road in front of them.
As they were talking, the donkey went down the hill and the cart followed it.
"!!!"
In the blink of an eye, the car speed suddenly increased.
Before Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan could react, the car was speeding up and was about to get out of control.
Chu Xia was frightened and subconsciously shouted: "Lin Xiaohan, brake! Brake quickly!"
Lin Xiaohan was really convinced, "This is not a bicycle, there are no brake handles, how can I brake?!"
The slope was still very long and Chuxia felt like her heart was about to jump out.
Just then the wheels passed through a pothole and the cart suddenly bounced up at high speed.
Chu Xia screamed in fright, and when she felt her heart was about to stop, she suddenly turned around and hugged Lin Xiaohan, closing her eyes and burying her face in his arms.
The cart followed the donkey as it jolted and rushed up the slope.
Lin Xiaohan controlled himself to avoid being thrown off and rolling over, and did not forget to call Chuxia: "Tang Chuxia, let me go!"
Chu Xia didn't care about him at all. She just hugged him tightly with her face buried in his arms.
Her instinct of survival and fear of death made her unable to think of anything else and she could only hug whoever was around her.
The four donkey hooves rushed forward, carrying the cart straight down the slope.
After it went down, it did not stop, and due to inertia it ran a long distance quickly, only because Lin Xiaohan pulled the rope tightly, it slowly stopped.
Lin Xiaohan held the rope and took a deep breath.
After taking a breath, he looked at Chu Xia again. She was still holding him tightly and half of her body was curled up in his arms.
Lin Xiaohan didn't say anything else. He just reached out and pried her arms apart and pushed her away.
Chuxia realized that the cart had stopped only after she was pushed away. She opened her eyes, her face full of shock and she looked really scared.
After calming down a little, she looked at Lin Xiaohan and blinked.
Lin Xiaohan's face did not show panic or fear, but rather he looked more angry.
His cheeks were red, and his ears were even redder, as if they were about to bleed.
Thinking of what she had just done to him, and thinking about how he usually complained about this and that, Chu Xia subconsciously shrank her head and said in a weak voice: "Yes... I'm sorry... I was too nervous just now... I didn't mean it..."
Lin Xiaohan looked away and swallowed.
He didn't respond, but looked away after a moment, then raised the branch in his hand and hit the donkey on its butt.
With a snap, the donkey started walking again.
Chuxia felt as if the blow had hit her body, and she shrank her head unconsciously.
“…”
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