The next day, aside from the children heading off to school, the villagers of Liujia Village took on a new task: planting rapeseed flowers. On the hillside where corn and sweet potatoes had previously been grown, after harvesting the corn and sweet potatoes, they burned the leaves and stalks and plowed the land again, ready for rapeseed planting. This month, Xuemei, on her way home from school, would secretly place a bundle of firewood in her space when Qingya wasn't looking. She would then quietly return home at night and put it in the woodshed. As a result, Liu's parents hadn't gone up the mountain to gather firewood recently, and the family still had enough. Liu's father constantly praised Xuemei and her sister for their skills.
That night, Xuemei brought back good news.
"Mom, Dad, have we finished planting the rapeseed in the village? Are you free tomorrow?" Xuemei asked impatiently as soon as she put down the bowl.
"What's the matter? You only have half a day to work tomorrow." Liu's mother replied.
"Mom, I have good news to tell you. Teacher Chen asked me to represent our fourth grade to go to the No. 1 Middle School in the county to participate in the composition competition tomorrow morning. There are only three people from our commune primary school going." Xuemei said happily.
"Really, Xuemei, then you have to perform well." Liu's mother also said happily.
"Xuemei, you really brought honor to your father. Go and read some books. Ask your mother to go with you tomorrow. Your mother won't have to go to work tomorrow. I can go. It will only take all morning tomorrow." Father Liu said.
"Our teacher said we should take the earliest bus tomorrow. Teacher Chen asked the principal to take the three of us because she had classes at school. She said the results would be out at 1 or 2 p.m. and we should take the afternoon bus home after we knew the results. She also told me to remember to bring lunch."
"Okay, I'll take you there tomorrow, and by the way, I'll go to the county town to send something to your uncle. Dad, later you can take some rice and pound the rice in the yard." Liujia Village did not have a rice mill yet, and still used a "mortar" to pound rice, said Liu's mother.
To make a stone pestle, a stonemason first crafts a stone mortar and secures it in the ground. A carpenter then builds a wooden frame and lever. One end of the lever is connected to the frame with a wooden axle for handholding and footstepping. The other end is attached to a pestle or stone. The lever is pedaled to raise and lower the pestle. Repeated pedaling removes the husks from the mortar, pounding the rice. To grind corn, soybeans, or chestnuts into flour, simply place them in the stone mortar and repeatedly pedal the lever to create rice flour, corn flour, soybean flour, chestnut flour, and more. Another type of pestle, called a water pestle, utilizes water power to power the wooden lever. The production method is similar to that of a common mortar, but the location is chosen to be near a stream. The wooden pole's pedal portion is formed into a semi-enclosed trough. When the trough is drained, the wooden pole automatically returns to its original position. This process repeats for an hour or two, and the "water pestle" automatically completes the task of pounding rice. The "water pestle" uses water power to automatically pound rice, alleviating the pain of pedaling and freeing up labor, which also reflects the wisdom of the people of Liujia Village.
"Mom, my brothers and I also want to go to the county town." Qingya said enviously, and Ruirui and Feifei also looked at her with envy.
"You have to go to school tomorrow? Ruirui and Feifei, you and your dad stay at home and take good care of the chickens tomorrow. Okay, that's it. Qingya, go and do your homework. I'm going to Aunt Liu's house next door to exchange some rice noodles." After saying this, Mother Liu walked out.
There were only a few households near Xuemei's home, the closest of which was Aunt Liu's, a hundred meters across from her. Aunt Liu was one of the village's best pig farmers. She had only one son and two daughters. Her son worked in the commune's cannery, and both daughters were married. Her son had just gotten married this year, making him considered a wealthy family in the village.
The next morning, after breakfast at six o'clock, Liu's mother and Xuemei set out. After arriving at the commune, they met with the principal and took a bus to the county seat. Once there, Xuemei and the principal went to the county's No. 1 Middle School, while Liu's mother went to the post office to mail something.
Liu's mother sent Xuemei's uncle ten pounds of rice, five pounds of rice noodles, three cans of chopped chili peppers, and a letter, all for two yuan. She went to the supply and marketing cooperative to do some shopping, buying a bag of cracker crumbs for 0.15 yuan. She arrived early today, and there was meat available, so she bought half a pound of meat, paying half a pound of meat coupons and 0.3 yuan, the last meat coupon in the family. At Xuemei's request, she bought toothbrushes for everyone in the family—six toothbrushes and a packet of tooth powder—for a total of 0.13 yuan. Wang's mother also bought herself two ounces of brown sugar, using two ounces of sugar coupons and 0.15 yuan, and a pound of toilet paper for two cents, for a total of 0.73 yuan. After her shopping, Liu's mother secretly went to the county residential area to exchange six cans of chopped chili peppers for 1.5 yuan.
When Liu's mother arrived at the county's No. 1 Middle School, Xuemei had already finished the competition and was sitting outside the classroom with two other students waiting.
"Xuemei, you have finished the competition. Where is your principal?" Liu's mother walked over and asked Xuemei.
"Mom, the competition is over. The principal went to check on the compositions with other teachers. He said we can go out and play, and we just need to be here before one o'clock. Mom, the principal also gave each of us three a steamed bun made of whole grains." Xuemei took the steamed bun out of her pocket, and she was going to share it with her mother.
"Okay, let's wait here first. Once the results come out, I'll take you to the county town for a tour. What did you write in your essay?"
"We were asked to write about the most impressive thing. I wrote about how hard the team members worked during the harvest in our village and the joy on everyone's faces when the harvest was good." After saying this, Xuemei gave half of the steamed bun to Liu's mother.
"Okay, just write it well. Let's go see your big brother and see when he finishes school. We'll take the same bus home anyway."
When Xuemei came back from looking for her elder brother, she saw the principal walking towards her and the others with a happy look on his face.
"Xuemei's mother, you have raised a good daughter. Xuemei won the essay competition this time. It was the second prize in the county primary school essay competition. The award ceremony will be held on the playground later." The principal said to Xuemei's mother.
"Really, that's great. Xuemei was able to win the award thanks to your teacher and your teacher's good teaching." Liu's mother replied.
Xuemei was very happy and began to wonder if there would be any prizes.
After a while, the principal took them to the playground for an awards ceremony. First, there were first prizes, then second. Xuemei went up to the podium, and the award presenter gave each of them a certificate, a Hero brand fountain pen, and a red envelope wrapped in red paper, which probably contained money. Then there were two third prizes, three honorable mentions, and even a student from Xuemei Primary School won an honorable mention.
After receiving the award, Xuemei gave the prize and red envelope to Liu's mother. Liu's mother refused to accept it and said to Xuemei, "This is yours, just take it. You did a great job today, but don't be proud. Keep working hard. OK?"
"Okay, Mom, I will keep working hard. Mom, let me see how much money is in the red envelope."
Xuemei opened the red envelope and found a dollar inside. Adding the three-dollar Hero pen, the prize totaled four dollars. Xuemei realized that her dream a few days ago was real. As long as she studied hard, she would reap rewards. This reaffirmed her resolve to study hard.
Xuemei placed her pen and money in the space, sheltered by Liu's mother's backpack. Liu's mother kept the certificate. After putting everything away, Liu's mother took Xuemei to explore the county town, where she discovered many new things. A movie theater, a department store, a machinery factory...
Xuemei was still thinking about the new things in the county while sitting in the car on the way home, and even forgot to tell her elder brother that she had won the essay competition.
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