93.093 I must go to school.
"Mom, over here." Ping An waved to Xiao Yuan, who was carrying her on his back, through the crowd.
"How did the exam go?" Ning Jin took her pencil case. Under the guidance of his two sons, he had held back for two days until the exam was over before asking.
"No problem," Su Yu said easily and confidently.
She had previously said she would choose her major after the exam, but before the exam even started, she received a notice to fill out her college application. After much hesitation, she still chose forestry because, compared to other majors, she was more interested in afforestation.
This is her second life. She is thirty-six now, and will be forty when she finishes her studies. With no pressure to survive, she feels that she can develop her interests into hobbies and have a passion for her work. Most of her days will be easy.
"How about we stay in the city for a couple of days before going back?" the man asked the woman for her opinion.
“That’s what I’m planning to do too.” The four of them walked towards the hostel together, through the bustling crowd. Some people were discussing the answers, and some were discussing schools. Ning Jin frowned and said, “If you get into university, when you leave for school, the four of us in our family will be split into three parts. Only Xiao Yuan and Ping An will go back home every day.”
They didn't care about that at all, still immersed in the exciting atmosphere of the college entrance examination. Ping An waved his hand dismissively and said happily, "It's only two years. After Xiao Yuan and I take the college entrance examination and leave, we'll stay with my mom. You can stay home and wait for us to come back to see you."
His tone was like dismissing a little black cat or a little flower that had been locked up at home after going out, which made his father so angry that he fell backward, grabbed his ear, and scolded him amidst his cries of pain: "You talk as if you've already passed the exam. I'll remember what you said today. If you don't pass the exam in two years, just wait, I'll laugh at you every year."
Ping An covered her ears and staggered a few steps back, then approached Su Yu and asked, "Mom, are you bleeding? My dad is so cruel, he beat me harder than he beats a dog."
Su Yu pushed his head away, glanced at Ning Jin, and knew that the man was angry. Ping An, that dimwit, had ignited a powder keg. The fact that he hadn't been kicked was already a favor to his own son.
The man noticed the woman's gaze, turned his head away, and remained silent.
After dinner and a hot shower, Su Yu sat in bed waiting for the man to come in. Her eyes followed him from the doorway to the bed. She nudged him with her elbow, peered in face to face, but he pulled her away and looked at her again. "Are you angry?" she asked.
"No." A curt, unresponsive voice.
"Really not?"
"Um."
"Let's go to sleep." Su Yu took off her cotton-padded coat and buried her head in the quilt.
Ning Jin was even angrier. Was this how you coax someone?!
"Are you sincere or not?" He pulled back the covers, turned around, and pressed her down.
"I've asked twice already, and I won't go more than three times," Su Yu said with a grin, hooking her arm around his neck and asking again, "Are you angry?"
"I'm so angry." The man gritted his teeth, cupped her face in his hands, squeezed her lips together until they pouted, and then took a bite.
"Why did you decide to go to university in Northeast China? What am I going to do? Don't you want to be with me anymore?" he asked, staring into her eyes.
"The best universities for forestry are either in the capital or in the Northeast. The Northeast has abundant forest resources, and I would rather protect trees in the Northeast after graduation than sit in an office and play mind games with people." Su Yu was telling the truth. The capital is a place where hidden talents abound. If she were twenty years old this year, she would be more inclined to go to the capital and climb the ladder in an office.
“I know myself. I like to do practical things. I don’t have the ability to manage and control the overall situation. I don’t get involved in politics to avoid getting into trouble.” Besides, there’s Shumanpo. Big places are not like small places. She can’t fool people with just a few words. If she is in the political circle, she will no longer be able to rely on Shumanpo’s help.
"What about me? I'm in the central region, and you're going to the northeast. It takes me two or three days to get there by train. This is practically like a divorce."
"How could that be? I've already given you my son as collateral." Su Yu joked with a grin, rubbing the man's face to comfort him: "Just bear with it for a few years. The college entrance exam has been reinstated, and all the educated youth will be returning to the city. Haven't you noticed that the economy has relaxed in the last two years? The supervision of the black market has also loosened, and even the Revolutionary Committee has collapsed. I think that letters of introduction and such will be abolished in the future. Then we can go wherever we want. We can move to a different place and not stay in this small town. You're a good driver, so you can help people transport things in the city and earn more than you do now."
"You're just making it sound nice, but I can only let you fool me."
Hearing this, Su Yu realized that she was almost able to win him over. She kissed him and said sweetly, "You're my man. I'd never fool you, even if I could fool anyone else."
"Anyone can say nice things." Ning Jin's anger subsided considerably. He leaned against the wall, looking down at her. It wasn't so much that he was angry, but rather that he was annoyed with himself. Su Yu had been studying for a year and a half; if she didn't pass, then someone who had studied for less than two months was even less likely to succeed. Looking at her relaxed and carefree demeanor, becoming a college student was practically a certainty. And him? A truck driver, constantly on the road, soon to be separated from his wife. He worried that Su Yu might change her mind.
"Are you afraid I'll fall for another man?" Su Yu looked at the man with droopy eyelids, raised her hand to touch his eyelids, her fingers tracing down his face, past the corner of his mouth, and heading towards his Adam's apple, saying seriously, "I like you, I like everything about you. As long as you don't make a mistake, I wouldn't even look at a male vixen standing outside."
This man was influenced by her and transformed by her, perfectly matching her lifestyle. She was crazy to dump him and go find a half-finished product.
"You're so vain. No male vixen would even look at you." The man glanced at her, pulled her restless hand down and pressed it into the quilt. Listening to the faint noise from next door, he said with some puzzlement, "What the hell is this wall made of? It's damn not soundproof."
"What are you trying to do now that you've put the soundproof barrier on?" Su Yu's hand reached down under the covers, but she didn't move even when it was held down. She put her legs around his waist and asked curiously, "Why didn't you mention it when you were angry with me filling out my college application?"
"I was stunned. I hadn't even thought it through and you had already filled it out. I was worried it would affect your exams, and you would hate me for it. Besides, seeing how excited Ping An and Xiao Yuan were, I knew that these two were like eagles with growing wings, and they would fly away in a couple of years. No matter what, this family could never stay the same as before, so I thought I'd just fulfill your wish and use that to comfort myself."
Hearing the man's rather aggrieved words, she rested her head on his shoulder and sincerely praised him: "You are so good. I have never met a man as good as you."
"Sweet words are empty and impractical; I want something in return." He whispered in her ear, as if afraid the neighbors would hear.
Su Yu propped her head up with her hand, sizing up the man whose eyes were darting around. "Tsk tsk, he's improved," she said. "Okay, I agree."
The first day after the exam, the family of four went to the zoo and ate the chef's specialty at a state-run restaurant. The next day, they spent the day strolling around the streets, buying quite a few things. Su Yu also saw He Qing, Liu Quan's ex-wife. She was walking alone on the street, and her two children were nowhere to be seen. He Qing didn't notice her, and Su Yu didn't greet her either.
When they got back, they found out that He Qing had also taken the college entrance exam. Qiu Fuli said that she had heard from someone that Su Yu was going to take the exam, so she signed up as well.
Su Yu: "..." It's absurd, like she's been ghosted. Although it's not a serious matter, what does it mean that this couple is watching her work and trying to outdo her?
"How did the exam go?" Qiu Fuli asked with concern.
"I've tried my best. Whether I get accepted or not depends on fate," Su Yu said ambiguously. Before the acceptance letter arrived, this was the answer she gave to everyone who asked.
"If the notice hasn't come through yet, just keep working without worry." That was all Qiu Fuli could say; he couldn't stop those who wanted to leave.
It was already mid-December when Su Yu's family returned from the provincial capital. After doing some New Year's shopping and washing clothes and bedding for her parents at her parents' home, the New Year was just around the corner. Xiao Yuan and Ping An became particularly fond of studying after returning from the provincial capital. They moved all the books Su Yu had read, the exercises she had done, and the notes she had written into their bedroom. If they didn't understand something, they would ask their mother as soon as she returned, determined not to let any questions linger overnight.
Er Ya sometimes comes over to look at Xiao Yuan's books for the first semester of his first year of high school. Xiao Hu has already been handed over to her older sister to take care of. With Xiao Hu around, Daya's mood has calmed down a lot. It's just that Du Xiaojuan is not very comfortable. She feels that Daya is trying to take her son away. But she is not often at home. When Xiao Hu's clothes and shoes are torn, someone will sew them. Daya also takes care of things like bathing. After a while, she is happy to be relaxed and lets Daya do whatever she wants.
She's currently busy finding "reliable" marriages for her two daughters. Da Ya, needless to say, is already well-known in town; women who can't have children are hard to find, and she's been dumped by her husband and is now tearfully clinging to him. No matter how much Du Xiaojuan says Da Ya is capable, few people are willing to marry her. Meanwhile, widowers who don't lack children are afraid of her family's reputation, worried that if they marry a wife, she'll try to take things from her parents' home, or that she won't forget her ex-husband, which would be shameful. Therefore, no one is interested in Da Ya's marriage prospects.
As for Er Ya, some people wanted to take advantage of her because she only graduated from junior high school, but such families would never be willing to pay a high dowry. When pressed, they would say things like, "Your two daughters are about the same size, but they're as thin as bean sprouts. The eldest isn't very fertile, and the second one might not be either. You want to sell a hen that doesn't lay eggs for 800 yuan? You might as well put yourself up for sale; you might even get a higher price."
"Ah!" Du Xiaojuan screamed, chasing after the person to hit them. In all these decades, she had only suffered once at Su Yu's hands. She was the one who cursed others, and no one else had ever insulted her. She was so angry that she pounced on Su Yu to fight, but on Su Yu's turf, she was beaten up like a pig's head.
She returned with her face covered in nail scratches, and started cursing at the two girls she had thrown at her, especially the older one. She grabbed the older girl by the hair and slapped her, yelling, "You wretched thing! If you hadn't come back and caused trouble, I would have already warmed up my eight hundred yuan..."
"You're not allowed to hit my sister!" Five-year-old Xiaohu stepped between the two, grabbed his mother's clothes, jumped up, and kicked her.
"You little bastard, are you blind and heartless? Who gave birth to you? I'm your mother!" Du Xiaojuan was furious. She didn't care that this was her husband's favorite youngest son. She pushed him to the ground, pulled down his pants, and beat him loudly. Xiaohu cried with tears and snot streaming down his face. Daya felt sorry for him and tried to stop her, but pushed her mother to the ground.
The child cried, Daya comforted him, and Du Xiaojuan's scolding filled the entire yard. Su Yu's dog next door barked incessantly, its head turned towards them, making a racket that hurt people's ears. Er Ya stood aside and watched coldly, only going to break up the fight when things calmed down a bit.
When it was time to eat, Xiao Hu saw his father come back. He glanced at his second sister, then immediately rushed over to hug her leg, sobbing as he complained that his mother had pulled down his pants and beaten him on the ground. Without any shame, he pulled down his pants and stuck out his buttocks to show his father the red handprints on his buttocks.
Then the sounds of a man scolding and a dog barking, mixed with a woman's rebuttal, echoed through the alley.
In February after the Lunar New Year, the postman came to the door and called out, "Is Su Yu home?"
“She’s gone to work. I’m her husband.” Ning Jin took the envelope and saw that the recipient’s name was the university Su Yu had applied to. He thanked the postman with a smile and took the letter inside to wait for Su Yu to return and open it.
That evening, thanks to the announcement over the loudspeaker, everyone in the alley knew that Su Yu had been admitted to university, and for a time, the air was filled with congratulations.
Xiao Yuan stood outside the door, looking at the crowd of people waiting to see their university acceptance letters. He said with envy and excitement, "We'll have this day someday too. Maybe we can even go to the same university as Mom, right, Xiao Yuan?"
"Mm." Xiao Yuan nodded emphatically. Even though he was only a first-year high school student, he seemed to have already tasted the joy of being accepted into university.
Er Ya pulled Xiao Hu to stand with them, staring blankly into the house, then turned to look at Xiao Yuan and Ping An, "I'm going to high school this fall too," she blurted out.
“Okay, we’ll go to school together then.” Xiao Yuan replied casually. Ping An called out, and he turned and went inside. Only Er Ya was left standing outside the door with Xiao Hu, watching the lights and liveliness inside. She squatted down and hugged Xiao Hu, saying softly but firmly, “I must go to school this year.”
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