In July 1975, Shen Anyu and Shen Anxuan ended their elementary school career, passed the entrance examination, and were about to become junior high school students.
In recent years, they have eaten and drunk well, and Shen An Ning even lets the children drink milk powder from time to time, so the eleven-year-old Shen Anyu is almost 1.65 meters tall, almost catching up with Shen An Ning, and Shen Anxuan has also grown to about 1.56 meters. When he walks on the road, he looks more like a junior high school student.
The town is quite far from the village. If you walk there, it will take more than two hours to go back and forth. If the weather is bad, the situation will be even worse. There are several families in the village who do not allow their children to go to junior high school after graduating from elementary school even if they are admitted. They are sent to the fields to earn work points right after graduating from elementary school.
Although Shen An Ning felt sorry for the children, as an outsider, she had no right to interfere even if she wanted to. The only thing she could do was to protect her younger brothers and sisters.
If nothing unexpected happens, Grandpa Shen will be reinstated and return to the capital at the end of 1976. Dad, as a university professor, will also be relieved of his duties in March 1977. As for my eldest brother and his wife, as national scientific researchers, they will probably return to the capital around the same time as my parents. So, all in all, their family has only been in the village for a little over two years. They have survived three years, and they are very hopeful about the rest of their lives.
Shen Anning thought about it, and then found her younger brother and sister to ask about their plans. "Anyu Anxuan, in two months, you will go to junior high school, but the town is still a bit far from our village, so your sister thought that you two should ride the bicycles at home to go to school."
Shen Anyu thought about it. He didn't care and could definitely run there, but his sister might not be able to do that. "Sister, there are quite a few people from the two villages who have been admitted to junior high school. We can go to and from school together. I heard from Guoqing that we live far away, so as long as we get to school before 7:30, it will be fine."
Shen Anning knew that her brother didn't want to stand out too much. On the other hand, he also thought that it would be inconvenient for her to go to work without a bicycle. According to her, buying another bicycle was indeed too high-profile. She wanted to give the bicycle at home to her younger siblings for school. When she went to the commune to work, she would take the village ox cart, and when she got off work, she would take Liu Jiaman's. It just so happened that she wouldn't be delayed anywhere.
"How about this, you tell your sister how many people in the two villages will definitely go to junior high school." Shen Anning pondered for a while and came up with an idea.
Although he didn't know what his eldest sister wanted to do, Shen Anyu still said honestly: "National Day, An Xuan and I... there are about twelve or thirteen people in the two villages combined."
"Okay, I got it."
After lunch, Shen Anning took advantage of the lunch break to look for the village chiefs of the two villages. The old village chief of Wangtu Village had retired, and his eldest son Wang Qinghong took over.
Shen Anning rarely takes the initiative to visit village cadres and build relationships with them, so Wang Qinghong was a little surprised when he saw her.
"Uncle Qinghong, are you home?"
"Hey, An Ning, if you have something to say, come in and tell me. It's so hot outside in the middle of the day."
"Auntie, I'm sorry to bother you. Uncle Qinghong has things to do in the morning and evening, so he's only free at noon. Please don't mind."
Zhu Manqin took Shen Anning's hand and patted it, "It's strange, your aunt and uncle never treat you as an outsider. The busy farming season is about to begin, and we still need your tea to cool us down in the hot summer."
Wang Qinghong was lying shirtless on the kang. When he heard Shen Anning's voice, he asked his wife to go out and chat for a few words. He took the opportunity to put on his clothes and sat on the head of the kang. "Anning, come and sit down. My dear, go and pour Anning a glass of water."
"Hey, thank you, uncle. I won't be polite with you. This is what I came here today because I want to discuss something with you."
Shen Anning paused and said, "I heard An Yu say that the children in the village have to go to town to attend junior high school this year. If they just walk, it will take at least two hours to go back and forth. I also have selfish motives. My younger brothers and sisters will go to town after the summer vacation.
"There are about ten children in these two villages combined. Can we take turns using the ox carts from the two villages to pick up and drop off these children? They will go up the mountain every morning and we will provide the oxen with food for the whole day. This will also save labor for the team and we won't charge work points. This way, the children will have more time on rainy days. We can only send them in the morning and let them come back by themselves in the evening."
After Shen Anning finished speaking, she looked at Wang Qinghong. She thought that if the village did not agree, she would give the village an extra subsidy of a few yuan a month. It was better in summer and autumn, but the weather was too cold in winter and spring, and sometimes it rained and snowed. She really couldn't bear to leave her two children at home and rely on her legs to walk.
When Wang Qinghong heard Shen Anning say this, he knew that she had made up her mind. This year, several young people from their Wang family were admitted to junior high school. To be honest, this was a good thing.
"An Ning, let An Yu take the lead on this matter. Cut grass and collect firewood every morning to ensure the cattle have enough food for the day. I think Gengjiatun will agree if you don't ask for work points."
Shen Anning smiled and said, "Uncle Village Chief, I knew you were considerate of these children. Don't worry, we can't let the cattle take risks when the weather is particularly bad. Even on normal days, if these children walked or ran to school every day, the food in their stomachs would probably be almost digested before class even started."
The village chief of Gengjiatun is now Geng Guoqing's father. When Shen Anning said this, he naturally smiled and nodded.
In this way, several junior high school students from the two villages heard that the village arranged ox carts to take them to and from school every day, so they worked hard to go up the mountain to dig herbs for the entire summer vacation. They made the summer tea that the villagers drank while working in the hot summer. Of course, Shen Anning added some medicinal herbs in it and did not ask the village to pay a penny.
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