Chapter 58
It was evening when we arrived home.
It was the time when the village-run factory was getting off work. The villagers took off their work clothes, rolled up their trouser legs, and went into the fields to do farm work.
Chen Lanjun was walking along the ridge of the field with her bags. An auntie looked up and squinted her eyes to see who it was. Seeing that it was Chen Lanjun, she happily shouted, "The college student is back!"
The farmer had a loud voice. When he shouted, the villagers busy in the nearby fields all looked up and grinned:
"Oh, Alan is back! Your mother misses you every day."
"You're dressed so stylishly."
"The Chen family is really promising. They raised such a good girl."
Chen Lanjun smiled and greeted everyone one by one: "Thank you for thinking of me. I invited you to dinner before. Everyone must come."
When they got home, the younger sister Chen Zhujun hesitated for a moment until she saw Chen Lanjun take off her sunglasses. Then she happily went to greet her: "Second sister! Your sunglasses are so cool, I didn't even recognize you."
She usually helped take the luggage, and turned back to call her parents: "Second sister is back."
Chen Lanjun walked forward quickly, and just as she was about to step onto the stairs, her mother Zheng Mei came out and said, "Wait, step back a bit, wait a moment."
"What's wrong?" Chen Lanjun didn't know what was going on.
Zheng Mei said, "Wait, Lao Chen, hurry up and get the firecrackers out!"
“Here it comes—”
Dad Chen Zhisheng came out holding a big roll of big red firecrackers. He was smiling. He unrolled the big red firecrackers and spread them out along the path Chen Lanjun came from.
"Second sister, please cover your ears, it's a bit noisy."
As soon as the match lit and touched the fuse, Chen Zhisheng let go immediately.
Accompanied by billowing white smoke, firecrackers "crackled" and rang for nearly a full minute, and the whole village could hear it!
Welcoming the door with firecrackers is a high-level treatment only given when there are distinguished guests or happy events in the house.
Chen Lanjun covered her ears and smiled: "That's not necessary."
"Why not?" Zheng Mei straightened her back and said, "My second sister is amazing. She got into college. I want to beat drums and gongs and ask every family member to go."
She stood in front of Chen Lanjun and looked her daughter up and down. She confirmed that there were no other scars except for a few mosquito bites on her arms that had not yet disappeared. Only then did she feel relieved.
A mother worries when her daughter travels thousands of miles away. She is most afraid that something might happen to Chen Lanjun, or... she might never come back like her eldest daughter Chen Fengjun.
Now I'm finally back safely.
Zheng Mei smiled and led Chen Lanjun in: "Come and take a look at your notice!"
He dragged out a camphorwood box from under the bed, unlocked it, took out a small wooden box, and unlocked it again.
"You're just like a rich landlord hiding his treasure." Chen Lanjun couldn't help but complain.
"Go away, kid, what do you know? Going to college depends on this admission letter! If you lose it, it's gone. You must keep it well." Zheng Mei glared at her and opened the small wooden box, which was covered with a layer of cloth!
After removing the cloth, the true face was finally revealed.
A yellow envelope, with "Mingde University" written on the lower right corner. I opened the envelope and saw "Admission Notice Mingde University" written on the front of the rectangular paper. I opened it and saw the following inside:
[Student Chen Lanjun, with the approval of the C Province College Admissions Committee, you are admitted to the Department of Computer Science at Mingde University. Please report to the school with this notice between September 7 and 8, 1980.]
There is a number in the upper right corner and two stamps on the lower right corner, one for admission and one for the school.
Although from the perspective of later generations, this admission letter looks a bit crude, with no photo and incomplete identity information - the first generation of resident ID cards had not yet been used. But at that time, high school graduates would not be unhappy to see this piece of paper.
Chen Lanjun gently touched the admission stamp with her fingertips and said with some emotion: "So this is what the admission letter looked like at that time."
Zheng Mei gently slapped the back of her hand: "Be careful, don't rub it."
Well, I really want to put this admission letter before my eyes.
My little sister asked: "What is this computer major? I don't think I've ever heard of it."
"Isn't it a calculator?" Zheng Mei rubbed her eyes. "No...it really is a computer. What kind of computer? Second sister, what is your major?"
It was a little complicated to explain this to my family. After all, most people today might not have heard of a calculator. Chen Lanjun thought about it and said vaguely, "It's a profession that studies a type of electrical appliance. It's science after all."
Chen Zhisheng said, "That's great, if the tape recorder breaks down in the future, my second sister can fix it, that's great."
"What tape recorder?" Chen Lanjun asked.
The little sister laughed, ran into the room, and brought out a tape recorder: "My parents bought this especially for you! It's a gift for your exams!"
As she spoke, she thrust the tape recorder into Chen Lanjun's hands and said, "Second sister, I want to learn from you. My parents said that after I finish the college entrance examination, they will buy me a tape recorder!"
Chen Lanjun didn't know what to say as she held the heavy tape recorder in her hands. Tape recorders were not common these days, and they required industrial coupons, which was considered a very expensive gift. But before she left, her parents gave her all their savings of several hundred yuan.
"Why do you have that expression?" Zheng Mei said with a smile, "The factory in the village is doing well, and we've received dividends, so there's nothing to worry about. Hey, let's play some music."
Press the play button and the tune of "The East is Red" flows out from the tape recorder.
Chen Lanjun put the tape recorder on the table, and the whole family gathered around the table to listen.
"I brought you gifts, too."
Chen Lanjun rummaged through a luggage bag, took out a box, opened it, and found three electronic watches.
"One for each."
The little sister put the electronic watch on her wrist and smiled: "Wow, what a special watch."
"This is a digital watch," Chen Lanjun said. "It can directly display the time."
After putting the electronic watches on the three people, Chen Lanjun took out the things she brought back one by one, including canned luncheon meat, biscuits, and instant noodles.
The little sister’s attention was drawn to the pattern on the instant noodles. She picked up a pack of instant noodles and curiously read the words on the package: “Sister’s instant noodles.”
Chen Lanjun turned to look at Zheng Mei and Chen Zhisheng and said, "I went there this time to do instant noodle business and opened a small factory."
"I opened it with my elder sister."
Chen Zhisheng asked anxiously: "Big sister? Have you seen Big sister?"
"Huh? How could this happen?" Little sister Chen Zhujun widened her eyes.
Zheng Mei had a complicated expression: "Where did you see it?"
"In Pengcheng City." Chen Lanjun said as she took out two photos from her backpack. They were photos of her and Chen Fengjun in front of the small instant noodle factory.
"It's a special economic zone now, the policies have been relaxed, and people like my sister are welcome to come back and invest. Don't worry." She briefly explained the whole story.
Zheng Mei and Chen Zhisheng remained silent, each holding one end of the photo, looking at Chen Fengjun in the photo. Realizing the peculiar situation, the younger sister also calmed down and moved over to look at the photo.
After a while, Zheng Mei finally uttered two words.
"I've lost weight."
Chen Zhisheng nodded, his voice trembling: "This girl must not have eaten well. Really... Really..."
"This is very beautiful. By the way, my sister has a daughter named Xixi. She is very pretty." Chen Lanjun walked forward, put her arms around her parents' shoulders, and said softly. "She asked me to say hello to you. When it is convenient for me, I will bring Xixi to see you."
"Very good, very good." Chen Zhisheng just repeated these two words over and over again.
Zheng Mei said nothing, turned her face away, and pretended to be relaxed: "Got it, I'll go to the kitchen to cook."
But her steps were clearly a little unsteady, and she didn't look like she was completely unmoved.
Chen Lanjun hesitated for a moment and wanted to follow, but was stopped by Chen Zhisheng.
Chen Zhisheng shook his head gently, signaling her not to follow.
The younger sister asked quietly: "What's going on?"
"It's a long story..."
When the Mobil lamp was on, Zheng Mei came out of the kitchen with a bowl of food in one hand and called out nonchalantly, "Second sister, little sister, what are you talking about? Come and eat, hurry up, or the food will get cold."
The family sat around, with a bowl of pork with preserved vegetables in the middle. The pork was very thin, with fat and lean meat, as beautiful as agate. I took a bite of the preserved vegetables and pork with chopsticks, and the meat was fragrant but not too greasy, which was really refreshing.
Amid the clinking of bowls and chopsticks, Zheng Mei said, "It's all good news. Second sister, you came back late, you have to hurry up and get the notice to register. The day after tomorrow, we will have a party at home and invite the villagers to eat. After we finish eating, we will all take time off to send you to school."
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