Chapter 33 Passerby A in the 1970s Rural Life Story 7
"No, that's not fair to you. Cured pork is much more expensive than cabbage. How about this, wait for me a moment."
After saying that, Jiang Yue went back into the house and took out some receipts, which her mother had saved up. She handed them to them and said, "These vegetables are about half the value of this cured pork. See if you have any receipts you need. If you don't need any, I'll give you the money as payment."
Seeing Jiang Yue's resolute attitude, as if she wasn't going to take advantage of them, Li Mengqi and Liu Ruyan exchanged a glance and nodded. They thought this person was someone they could get along with. Liu Ruyan selected a few receipts and said to Jiang Yue, "Then let's leave it at that. The value is about right. Let's just forget about the difference."
When Jiang Yue saw the receipts Liu Ruyan had, she did some mental calculations and realized it was close but not by much, so she didn't say anything. After completing the transaction, the relationship between the two parties became much more harmonious, and Jiang Yue invited them to her home, which they both agreed to.
After entering the house, Jiang Yue asked them to sit down and poured two cups of brown sugar water for each of them. These days, this is considered a very respectful way to treat guests. Li Mengqi and Liu Ruyan looked around Jiang Yue's house. It was tidy and clean, giving people a comfortable feeling. They also noticed the high school textbooks that Jiang Yue had laid out on her desk.
Li Mengqi and Liu Ruyan's eyes flickered. They knew that the college entrance examination would be reinstated in the future, and they had been studying on their own, but their progress was a little slow. After all, they didn't study this in the apocalypse. In modern times, Liu Ruyan had been working every day and had long forgotten what she had learned. After chatting for a while, Liu Ruyan pointed to the books on the table and asked, "Jiang Yue, are you still studying on your own?"
Jiang Yue said casually, "I'm reviewing. I finished studying for high school a long time ago, and I'm just using it to pass the time."
"Didn't you graduate from junior high? Why didn't you continue to high school? And isn't this a high school textbook? Have you already finished studying it?"
"Well, after graduating from junior high school, I was supposed to go to high school, but if I went to school, I wouldn't be able to take over my mom's job. But I've already learned high school material in junior high, so it doesn't matter whether I go or not."
Li Mengqi and Liu Ruyan were both shocked. Was this what a top student was like? The two of them huddled together for support and encouragement. They hadn't even figured out the junior high school material, yet this person had already self-studied high school material. Liu Ruyan then asked, "How do you know you're learning the right thing?"
"Although I don't go to school, I still pay tuition and take exams regularly. If I pass, I get a graduation certificate. This is how the school takes care of me."
Li Mengqi and Liu Ruyan nodded. They had been in the village for a while and knew about Jiang Yue's situation. Liu Ruyan cautiously said, "Um... Jiang Yue, could we ask you to tutor us? Of course, we'll pay you or give you something!"
Jiang Yue looked at the two of them and thought to herself that it made sense. They must know that the college entrance examination was going to be reinstated, so it was normal for them to prepare in advance: "Sure, you can come to my house in the winter when you're free. As for the money, you can figure it out yourself."
"Great, thank you in advance!" After saying that, he took out another piece of cured meat and handed it to Jiang Yue: "Consider this piece of cured meat our tuition fee."
Jiang Yue accepted the gift without hesitation and then asked about their study progress. They said they were learning on their own and couldn't explain it clearly. Jiang Yue thought for a moment and said, "Then come early tomorrow. I'll make a test paper for you today to get a feel for your level."
The two readily agreed, chatted about gossip for a while, and then said goodbye. Jiang Yue had only taken on the tutoring assignment because she was bored, since she also needed to study and it would be a good opportunity for her to review. The atmosphere would be much better with more people studying together.
Jiang Yue found several notebooks and pulled out her junior high school exam papers. She had included questions from easy to difficult, as well as some that were beyond the curriculum. She also included high school questions to save herself the trouble later. After finishing these tasks, Jiang Yue decided to harvest the cabbages. After drying them for two days, she could start pickling them.
When harvesting cabbage, Jiang Yue peeled off the bad leaves in the field so she could pickle them later. After harvesting the cabbage, she also harvested the carrots. There are many ways to cook carrots. After the harvest, the vegetable garden was completely bare, with nothing left.
The next day, Li Mengqi and Liu Ruyan came over after lunch. They didn't bring their textbooks today. Knowing that they were using closed notebooks, Jiang Yue handed each of them a notebook she had filled out: "These are the questions I've prepared. Start from the first page and work through them slowly. Skip the ones you don't know. There's no time limit today. I mainly want to assess your understanding and see how well you've grasped the knowledge."
The two girls took the book and started working on the problems. Jiang Yue picked up a book to read, and after half an hour, she checked their progress. They basically couldn't do anything by the third page. The first two pages were junior high school material, so it seemed that was their level. Jiang Yue looked at them, put down the book, and said, "Let's stop here. There's no need to continue. Let me see if you can write the answers correctly."
Hearing this, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief. This thing was too difficult, even more difficult than killing zombies or going to work. Jiang Yue took the questions they answered and corrected them. It was simply appalling. The correct score for the first year of junior high school was less than half. After correcting them with a frown, she felt like she was just teaching her apprentices.
After Jiang Yue finished grading, she glanced at the two girls, her eyes darting around, trying to find a tactful word in case it was too harsh: "Hmm... there's a lot of room for improvement, keep up the good work?"
They weren't children anymore, so how could they not understand what Jiang Yue meant? They were a little embarrassed and said, "We will try our best."
Jiang Yue had originally planned to start teaching somewhere, but given the current situation, she had no choice but to start from scratch. The three of them then discussed and came up with a schedule, which they would follow if nothing unexpected happened.
In the days that followed, the two female protagonists would come here to study every day, while Jiang Yue would use her spare time to finish pickling the cabbage.
The 400-plus kilograms of pickled cabbage was more than enough for Jiang Yue to eat by herself, but she already had other plans: to store the remaining pickled cabbage in her spatial storage space in the spring. Accumulating it year after year would eventually result in a considerable quantity.
Ever since Er Gouzi and his friends earned some pocket money by collecting firewood for Jiang Yue, they would often come over to ask if Jiang Yue had any work for them to do. That day, Er Gouzi happened to come over when Li Mengqi and Liu Ruyan were home, so Li Mengqi and Liu Ruyan handed over their firewood to Er Gouzi. They were short a lot of firewood, so they hired Er Gouzi and his friends for three cents a day until they had collected enough.
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