Liu Mancang and Zhao Jisheng received their admission notices on the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Xu Yan heard Xie Zhuo say that the two of them had gone to the commune eight times a day, which annoyed the commune leaders so much that they would quickly hide when they saw them coming from afar.
On the day she finally received the admission notice, Yang Shulan gritted her teeth and spent a few yuan to go to the city to buy a few strings of firecrackers. She hung them at the front gate and set them off with great enthusiasm. The few people who had previously made sarcastic remarks about Liu Mancang failing the exam only glanced at them from afar at their own front gate and did not come over to join in the fun.
Yang Shulan was still a little angry and wanted to take the firecrackers and put them in front of them, but Liu Mancang's father stopped her.
We're all from the same village, we see each other all the time, and we'll have to work in the fields together again in the future.
Xu Yan and Xie Zhuo also went to see Liu Mancang's admission notice.
Liu Mancang and Zhao Jisheng were admitted to the same school in City B. Although it was far inferior to Beijing University, they were still admitted.
Yang Shulan's eyes were still red, and she thanked Xu Yan and Xie Zhuo again and again.
“It’s all thanks to Mancang’s own hard work,” Xu Yan said, holding Yang Shulan’s hand. “If he didn’t want to read, even if Xie Zhuo persuaded him to read, he might not read, and even if he did, he wouldn’t read so diligently.”
Hearing her say that, Yang Shulan laughed, "Who says it isn't true? I've never been this diligent in school as I have been in the past year or so. But I still want to thank you."
"When did you become so formal, Auntie?" Xie Zhuo was talking to Liu Mancang when she overheard them and chimed in, "We're all family."
“That’s right,” Liu Mancang immediately chimed in, reaching out to grab Xie Zhuo’s arm. “Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law are my own brother and sister-in-law.”
Xie Zhuo dodged away in disgust, "I don't have a brother as stupid as you."
Liu Mancang was a little unconvinced, "How am I stupid? I got into university!"
Although Yang Shulan was happy that her son had been admitted to university, she was also worried that he might be swindled out of all his money while studying so far away.
Didn't we see that before? He was easily fooled and went to the widow's backyard to gamble, even planning to get rich through gambling...
Yang Shulan then turned to look at Xu Yan, her words earnest, "After you go to City B, please keep an eye on things for your aunt, so she doesn't get sold out and end up trespassing and counting money for her thief."
Xu Yan was amused by her rhyming remark and put his arm around Yang Shulan's arm, saying, "Okay, we'll definitely keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't have the chance to have a father other than Uncle Liu."
The group chatted and laughed for a while longer. By the time Xu Yan and Xie Zhuo got home, it was almost dark, and the sky was overcast as if it were about to snow.
The three kids were talking loudly inside the house, and as soon as I entered the yard, I heard Xiao Bao's giggling laughter.
Xie Zhuo was bolting the door when he heard this and laughed, "They've gone crazy again. Before Lin Dong came, I always felt that the roof was going to be torn off sooner or later. Now that Lin Dong is here, I feel like I don't have to wait anymore. I'll check if the roof is still there when I wake up tomorrow."
Xu Yan also glanced into the room where the children were.
Then, as Xie Zhuo secured the door and led her into the house, he asked, "Have you thought about what we discussed yesterday?"
"What is it?" Xie Zhu asked instinctively.
After asking the question, he remembered it before Xu Yan could answer.
After receiving her admission notice, Xu Yan wrote another letter home. When Chen Lihua and Xu Cangsong learned that she and Xie Zhuo had both been admitted to B University, they were so excited that they almost took a bus overnight to see their notices.
Moreover, before Xu Yan could say anything else, Chen Lihua had already arranged everything for her.
For example, issues like schooling for three children, or accommodation for three children.
Going to school is easy to arrange; all that's needed is for the three children to go with them and for their food rations and other necessities to be transferred.
The most important thing is accommodation.
Now that free buying and selling is not allowed, no matter how much money you have, it's useless because the houses belong to the collective, and you can't buy them even if you want to.
Chen Lihua's idea was that the children could live with the two of them, since they both had easy jobs and plenty of free time, and they also helped Xu Yan's brother take care of the children, so it wouldn't hurt to take care of a few more.
Or...
Chen Lihua also has an aunt who lost her husband when she was young and now lives alone in a courtyard house. There are two or three empty rooms in her house, which is very close to B University. If Xu Yan and Xie Zhuo want to live there, they can go and stay there.
Xu Yan's eyes started to sting after reading the letter.
Although she didn't spend much time with Chen Lihua and Xu Cangsong, their correspondence clearly showed that they truly loved their daughter very much.
Before the two of them even had a chance to think about these things, Chen Lihua and Xu Cangsong had already made plans for them.
"There's not much to think about, we'll just stay at Auntie's house," Xie Zhuo said. "The three kids are growing up and getting noisy, and Mom and Dad are getting old, their energy is waning..."
Xie Zhuo thought to himself that his energy wasn't as good as it used to be when he was younger.
The words were on the tip of his tongue when he remembered Xu Cangsong slapping the table and breaking the stick two years ago, and he couldn't bring himself to say the rest.
“Their energy should be focused on the old couple’s own lives,” Xie Zhuo said, turning the words around before continuing, “Besides, the three kids seem carefree and just like laughing, but they don’t feel secure at all. If we send them away again, who knows what will happen?”
Xu Yan and Xie Zhuo had similar ideas.
It was their own decision to raise three children. There's no reason for them to shift the responsibility onto others after making that decision.
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