After spending the day at school, Qian Duoduo was so bored that all she wanted to do was sleep. But the conscientious and responsible teacher, Ms. Liu, seemed to be watching her closely, and would immediately remind her if she lost focus.
Seeing Qiao Tiezhu sitting at the back looking so aggrieved made Qian Duoduo want to laugh. She had only patted him once, and he was so scared that he started crying. How ridiculous!
When school was over, Qian Duoduo saw her fourth brother standing at the door. She immediately ran to the door with her schoolbag on her back, and Qian Rao took the schoolbag from her. The two siblings walked home together.
Qian Rao asked, "How are you settling in on your first day of school?"
Qian Duoduo nodded and said, "It's alright, but the questions the teacher was explaining were a bit too easy. However, the Chinese class was quite interesting; I've never heard of a class like this before."
Qian Rao asked, "Will you be able to understand it?"
Qian Duoduo: "It's alright."
Qian Rao looked at his younger sister and felt that she seemed less cute and cuddly than when she was little after starting school. Could it be that the school environment had made his adorable sister more mature?
After finishing his homework at home, he saw his father, Qian Sheng, returning from the fields with his eldest brother. He was conflicted. Just as he was still struggling with this, his second and third brothers, who were studying in the commune, also returned.
Qian Duoduo noticed that her older brother didn't look well when he returned. She muttered to herself, "Did someone bully my older brother?"
Jin Jinxiu patted Qian Duoduo's head and said, "It's okay. Your brother is a grown man now. How can he let others bully him?"
Then they heard Qian Duoduo look at Qian Feng and say, "Mom, my older brother is already 22. Is it time for him to want to meet his sister-in-law?"
Jin Jinxiu felt a pang of bitterness upon hearing Qian Duoduo's words: "Eldest brother, you're 22 this year, a rare high school graduate in the village, and you're good-looking too. You could actually find a job, but nowadays, factory jobs in the county are in high demand, and there's only one opening for each person. Even if someone wanted to sell a job, they'd need money to buy it."
All the children in the family were in school, and they simply couldn't afford to buy their eldest son a job in the county town. He had to work in the fields with his father. With a total of five children in the family, even though his father was the brigade leader, the family's life was not very comfortable. Moreover, all five children were in school and had learned knowledge.
The eldest son attended high school in the county. The distance from Beian Village to the commune and to the county was about the same. Back then, the eldest son was just like the second son is now, leaving home before dawn and not returning until dark.
During dinner, the third and fourth brothers bickered as usual, while the other five ate in silence. Qian Duoduo could sense that the atmosphere at home was somewhat oppressive. Although Qian Sheng was expressionless, the worry in his eyes could not be hidden from Qian Duoduo. Moreover, Qian Feng, who had been eating silently without saying a word, and the second brother, who also sensed that something was wrong at home, were also there.
After finishing their meal, while it was still light, Qian Duoduo went down to the foot of the mountain behind the village with his third brother, fourth brother, and eldest brother's younger brother to gather dry grass and firewood. Although it wasn't cold yet, they had to start preparing firewood for winter early, since it was already cold in Heilongjiang Province in October and they would need to burn firewood then.
Especially since firewood is needed for all four rooms of the house, plus cooking, the amount is quite large. Although it is now a communist economy and many things are publicly owned, these dry branches and some dry weeds can still be taken home for firewood. This is a tacit understanding in the village, and everyone knows it without saying a word.
Accompanied by his fourth brother, Qian Duoduo was cutting grass nearby. The grass on this side had already been cut. When his fourth brother saw Qian Duoduo walking to the side, he said, "You can cut the grass over there too, but you have to be careful. Use your sickle to cut the grass first, just in case there are snakes inside."
Qian Duoduo immediately agreed and walked towards the grassy area next to her. Suddenly, she stepped on something that was quite uncomfortable. Looking down, she found that she had stepped on something hard. She squatted down, picked it up, and saw that it was a metal plate covered in dirt, so she couldn't see any pattern on it.
At the top, a red string hung from a hole, with five beautiful beads strung on it. One of them was the largest, and the pattern on that bead made Qian Duoduo's pupils shrink. "A dzi bead!" This was a priceless treasure. In modern times, a genuine antique dzi bead was worth eight figures. Even Qian Duoduo, who knew nothing about antiques, knew that antique dzi beads were very expensive. Although he hadn't seen the real thing before transmigrating into the book, he had seen pictures. He didn't know if this one was real or how much it was worth.
The four beads next to it looked quite valuable. Something that could be used as an accessory must be real. If it was real, she could keep it and it would be priceless after the reform and opening up! After picking up the metal tag, she looked at her fourth brother who was tying up straw with his head down, thought for a moment, and put the thing in her pocket, intending to take it home and study it carefully.
After Qian Duoduo, her fourth brother Qian Rao, and her uncle's younger brother Qian Gui returned home carrying grass, they took out what they had found that day and cleaned it. It was a metal plaque that looked neither gold nor silver, and she couldn't tell what material it was. The kerosene lamp in the room really frustrated Qian Duoduo; its light only made the room dim, and she couldn't see any details. Even with her eyes wide open, the metal plaque in her hand was still a blur. She thought to herself that in this day and age, many wealthy families wouldn't dare to show their possessions. This might be something that a wealthy family had lost, and it should be quite valuable.
She lay on the kang (a heated brick bed) that night, watching Jin Jinxiu fall asleep. She quietly took out the metal plate and examined it closely. Even though she couldn't see clearly, she just ran her fingers over it. She could feel some patterns on the metal plate, but it was dark now, and her mother was lying next to her. There was nothing she could do but wait until dawn.
Qian Duoduo thought she would stay up until dawn, but she fell asleep almost immediately. When Jin Jinxiu got up, she saw her daughter sleeping sprawled out and just smiled indulgently. Thinking about the family's meager food supplies, her smile turned into a bitter one. Who said the brigade leader's family would have surplus food? Those four young men could eat so much!
When Qian Duoduo got up and saw the porridge on the table, so thin you could count the grains of rice, Cai Tuanzi's face fell. It wasn't that she was being dramatic; her voice was really hoarse. But everyone was struggling with Cai Tuanzi, and she couldn't be an exception.
My mother pulled out some small bills—one or two cents, one or two dimes—from her pocket, made up a dollar, and handed it to Qian Rao, saying, "This is your little sister's tuition fee. Don't lose it."
Qian Rao solemnly said, "Yes, Mother, I will definitely hand it over to the teacher."
Qian Duoduo felt bitter looking at the pennies and coins. She knew that the family didn't have much money left, but Jin Jinxiu still took out a dollar to pay her tuition. She was truly touched.
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