Chapter 12
In the afternoon, a cumulonimbus cloud came and some rain fell, but it stopped after a while.
When Chen Lanjun woke up from her nap, she saw water drops falling from the leaves of the sycamore tree in the yard, proving that it had rained.
She had nothing important to do, so she folded her hands, stretched them, and stared at the sycamore tree for a while.
The aroma of fried food quietly reaches my nose.
She paced to the kitchen. In the dim light, Zheng Mei stood with her back to the door, holding a pair of very long wooden chopsticks, stirring something in the iron pot.
"Blasting something?"
Chen Lanjun leaned over to look at the pot.
"Hey, don't get too close, be careful of the oil splashing on you." Zheng Mei moved sideways to make room for Chen Lanjun.
The oil in the pan was hot and sizzling, and a small round thing was puffing up due to the heat.
Chen Lanjun sniffed carefully and her nose was filled with the aroma of sweet potatoes.
"Wow, frying sweet potato dumplings?"
This is a local specialty snack. Sweet potatoes are cooked and mashed into a paste, kneaded with glutinous rice flour and sugar, rolled into balls, and thrown into a frying pan and fried until the surface is slightly hard and golden in color. The ingredients are simple and the method is not complicated, but in the era of material scarcity, it is still a food that is only available during festivals. Chen Lanjun loves to eat this. When she went out to visit relatives during the Spring Festival, she would pick up two chopsticks even if there was not enough meat, and would eat two more sweet potato balls.
"Yes," Zheng Mei said, moving her chopsticks, "it's fried. You can just take it to school."
"Thank you, Mom--" Chen Lanjun said with a smile and a long voice.
However, a batch of sweet potato balls that had just come out of the pot lost the opportunity to go to school. Zheng Mei had just picked up a fried sweet potato ball, and Chen Lanjun, who was waiting nearby, picked one up and put it in her mouth. While chewing and feeling the glutinous inside and crispy outside of the sweet potato ball, she breathed out "huffing and puffing" to try to cool down her mouth.
"Aren't you afraid of getting a blister on your lips?" Zheng Mei scolded her with a smile, then took the next sweet potato ball out of the pot and put it into the bowl in front of Chen Lanjun.
The mother and daughter were responsible for frying and eating respectively. They had a clear division of labor, tacit cooperation, and their relationship was strangely brought closer.
Sweet potato balls were floating in the frying pan with a sizzling sound, and Zheng Mei chatted with Chen Lanjun in a casual manner.
"Is your Aunt Dan doing well?"
"Not bad. I saw that she was full of energy when she was talking about Zhao Hong."
"You are just blaming me."
"No way."
Zheng Mei glanced at her and said, "Why did you look so sullen when you came back today? Is there anyone in this area who dares to mess with you?"
"That must be the case. I just..." Chen Lanjun thought about it and said honestly, "I feel that He Miao and I are not that close anymore. She has a new friend."
"What new friend?"
"It's the school where she's going to teach, a female colleague."
Zheng Mei said "Oh", "That can't be helped."
"What? You don't even feel sorry for me."
"It's a pity, but this is the only way." Zheng Mei squatted down and poked the stove with tongs to make the fire burn brighter.
She said to Chen Lanjun: "After all, you can't have all the good things in this world by yourself."
"You must have made new friends when you went to Suicheng, right? So it's normal for her to make new friends at this time. Anyway, as long as everyone lives well, it's fine. Friends, isn't it? You make friends along the way and lose them along the way."
"It's okay to be sad for a while, but don't be sad for too long."
Chen Lanjun pursed her lips and said, "That's the truth."
But when you realize that we are drifting apart, you still feel a little regretful.
Zheng Mei looked at her and smiled: "Okay, you finally act a little bit like a little girl."
"What?" Chen Lanjun was dissatisfied.
"Haha, that's okay. You know your limits and can enlighten yourself," Zheng Mei said.
As she was talking, her nose moved and her eyebrows wrinkled: "Why do I smell something burnt?"
"Mom, there are sweet potato dumplings in the pot!"
"ah!"
The two of them were in a hurry to rescue the sweet potato balls from the pot. However, because they were overcooked and not stirred, one of the sweet potato balls was burnt on the downward side.
Zheng Mei looked at it carefully, blew it to cool it down, and then pinched the sweet potato ball with her fingertips to cut it in half.
She ate the burnt part herself, and gave the part with the upward side that was not too bad to Chen Lanjun.
Zheng Mei smiled and said, "You see, it's just like these sweet potato dumplings. One side is not fried well, but the other side is fine. Just eat the good side."
"I know."
Chen Lanjun said one thing and did another. She glanced at the two poor remaining sweet potato balls, tore off the black side in lightning speed, and stuffed them into her mouth.
"You girl..."
Zheng Mei didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Chen Lanjun smiled at her and stuffed the unexploded half into her mouth.
If it's fried until burnt, it will have a burnt flavor.
*** ***
On the day of returning to school, Chen Zhisheng took Chen Lanjun to school as usual every year.
Chen Lanjun is used to walking this road.
When I was young, I walked to the village primary school, and when I was older, I went to the town middle school. When I was in middle school, every school day, Chen Zhisheng would carry two bags of rice and walk a long way with Chen Lanjun to school. At that time, going to school required bringing your own food, carrying your own rice, and carrying it all the way to the school cafeteria for the next meal. In addition to rice, two cans of pickles were also indispensable, just right for eating with rice.
But this time, when Zheng Mei and Chen Zhisheng were discussing whether to exchange some rice so that they could carry it to school, Chen Lanjun casually took out a stack of food coupons and five yuan.
"Mom and Dad, there's no need to pick up food or go to the grain station to exchange it." Chen Lanjun smiled slightly, "What I earn is enough."
Zheng Mei and Chen Zhisheng looked at each other in bewilderment. They knew that the second sister had earned enough money to pay for her tuition, but out of respect, they did not ask in detail, so they did not have much practical experience on her gains from this trip.
It was not until the stack of food coupons fell on the table that the two realized that the second sister had definitely earned a lot this time.
Zheng Mei suddenly became serious: "Chen Lanjun, you didn't do anything illegal, did you?"
"No." Chen Lanjun didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She said, "I was just lucky. Brother Zhao Hong took me to sell breakfast to make money. If you don't believe me, you can write to Aunt Dan and ask."
After she repeatedly assured him, Zheng Mei accepted this statement with suspicion, but still reminded her: "You can't just tell others that you made money at school. Our small place is different from Suicheng. If someone wants to investigate, it will be troublesome even if there is nothing wrong."
"I know."
On the day of going to school, the father and daughter set off early. Chen Zhisheng was carrying a load, a pole with two bamboo baskets hanging on each side. The left basket held Chen Lanjun's gift, and the right one held the old textbook, a thin black-and-white book priced at 36 cents. Since there was no weight of food this time, Chen Zhisheng's steps were light and fast. The farmer who came over from watering the fields greeted him when he saw him: "Where have you been? You look so happy?"
"Send my second sister to school."
Chen Zhisheng answered with a grin, without any feeling of embarrassment for his daughter repeating a grade.
The county’s No. 1 High School is located on the right bank of the river. It is considered the best high school in the county. A relatively flat dirt road extends all the way to the school gate.
The classroom is a red brick and green tile bungalow, surrounded by many banyan trees. There is a playground with a sand pit under the shade of trees, a cement ping-pong table, and a horizontal bar.
The school has been open for nearly half a month. Some students are taking physical education classes. The ping-pong table is very lively and filled with a youthful atmosphere.
Although there is no unified school uniform, most high school students here wear white shirts with blue pants and a pair of army green cloth shoes. The difference is that students from wealthy families wear white shirts made of Dacron, while students from ordinary families like Chen Lanjun wear slightly yellowed old shirts.
First go to the office to report to the teacher. Chen Zhisheng doesn't like to talk to people, but as a father, he still insists on walking in front of Chen Lanjun to greet the teacher.
"Hello, teacher. This is my child. He signed up to repeat a grade. He came here just now because of something at home."
The teacher who was working at the desk raised her eyes and glanced at Chen Lanjun: "I know you. Your previous class teacher told me that you have dealt with your family affairs?"
"Yes, I'm really sorry." said Chen Lanjun.
The teacher stood up and spoke quickly: "Okay, now that you are at school, study hard. I am your homeroom teacher, Qin Juan. Have you brought everything?"
"I have brought it with me and exchanged the food coupons." Chen Zhisheng smiled.
Teacher Qin nodded and put down the red pen she was using to mark homework: "Okay, follow me. Chen Lanjun, welcome to Class 1, Grade 2."
The school system implemented at this time was slightly different from the later ones. High school was a two-year system, which meant that the second year of high school was the graduating class.
It was class time. Walking through the corridor, I could hear the loud sound of reading in the classroom. The students were reading English words with their hometown accent, but the sound was passionate and full of energy.
Teacher Qin first took Chen Lanjun and Chen Zhisheng to the finance office to pay various fees. The tuition fee for one semester was 5 yuan, the accommodation fee and other miscellaneous fees were 4.6 yuan, and the book fee was 2.5 yuan.
Chen Zhisheng pointed to the old textbooks in the basket and asked, "I brought all of my second sister's old textbooks. Can I not pay for the textbooks?"
"I'm afraid it won't work," Teacher Qin explained. "The textbooks used in our school have been revised this year. The previous version she used was compiled by the Revolutionary Committee. Now our principal has spent a lot of effort to replace the textbooks of various subjects compiled by the Ministry of Education. The difference is still quite obvious."
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhisheng immediately said, "Okay, we want new textbooks."
A stack of bills was handed over and in return a thin receipt was received.
After receiving a bundle of new textbooks, Teacher Qin took them to the dormitory to put their things.
The school only has one two-volume girls' dormitory building. After verifying the information, a dormitory manager came forward with a bunch of keys, clanking and leading the way.
Chen Lanjun's memory of the school dormitory was already very vague. She only remembered that the conditions were very difficult. But when the dormitory manager pushed open the dormitory door and she saw what was inside clearly, she was stunned.
Hmm... the conditions are truly difficult.
A small, undecorated room with an uneven cement floor, two chandeliers, six bunk beds, and twelve beds. The entire space was full and looked very crowded.
The dormitory manager pointed to a lower bunk near the door that was full of miscellaneous items and said, "Look, this is an empty bed. You can stay here."
Chen Zhisheng didn't know where to put the things in the two baskets. He looked outside the door, then inside the door. The bed was full of miscellaneous items and there was no place to put them. If he put them beside the bed, he was afraid that they would block the door again. He was in a dilemma.
In the end, I had no choice but to squeeze into the gap between the beds, wait for my roommate to come back, move my things away, and then make plans.
After being busy for half a day, it was almost dusk and time to go home for school.
"Okay," Teacher Qin said, "Chen Lanjun, I'll take you to the classroom."
"Okay, thank you for your hard work, teacher."
Chen Lanjun agreed and whispered to Chen Zhisheng: "Dad, did you get the letter of proof? Remember to go to the guesthouse to rest and don't travel at night."
Because the journey is long and there are many things to do, Chen Zhisheng usually has to rest for a night before going back on the first day of school.
Before, in order to save money, like most rural parents, Chen Zhisheng would sleep in the school cafeteria for a night. But this time, Chen Lanjun came back with money, so she asked her father to write a letter of introduction so that she could get a room in the guesthouse to rest.
Chen Zhisheng nodded: "Okay, I'll go to the guesthouse later. Get along well with the teachers and classmates."
"I will, don't worry."
After a few pleasantries, Chen Lanjun followed Teacher Qin towards the classroom.
She couldn't help but feel excited, as she met her student days again after a long absence.
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