Chapter 42
The year came to 1982. Jiang Jiang had graduated from the county primary school. When school started in September, she would officially become a junior high school student.
Jiang Jiang was wearing a white dress and her hair was simply tied up with a hair tie. She looked youthful and bright.
She was carrying a cross-body canvas bag, and the sunlight shone on her face through the gaps in the shade of the trees, looking so beautiful that it was breathtaking.
Jiang Jiang, who is eleven years old, has grown into a very beautiful girl.
As Jiang Jiang walked, he was thinking about how to alter the clothes he had just put on.
In the past few years, she has been learning tailoring from Master Yang, never stopping regardless of the season. Even Lin Youqing and his wife did not expect that she could persist for so long. In the first two or three years, Jiang Jiang only helped Master Yang with odd jobs, and it was only in the past one or two years that she began to really learn how to make clothes.
There are many bougainvilleas planted on both sides of the path. It is the blooming season now. The bougainvilleas are blooming, attracting many butterflies to flutter among the flowers, emitting a faint fragrance, like a breeze, gently caressing the faces of passers-by, making people feel extremely cozy and comfortable.
The afterglow of the setting sun shines through the gaps between the leaves, making the midsummer afternoon extremely magnificent.
Today is the first day of school at the county middle school.
In fact, for her, there is not much difference between elementary school and junior high school. Jiang Jiang did not apply for boarding school, and still lived at home as before. However, she did not need to bring lunch to junior high school. The school cafeteria provided lunch. She could eat lunch in the school cafeteria by paying money and grain at the beginning of each month.
Jiang Jiang went to the county middle school to report alone. This was her own request. Lin Youqing and He Guijuan were both on duty that day, so they had to ask for leave to accompany her to the school. Moreover, since the start of the second grade, the parents of most of their classmates did not accompany them to report. Only her parents accompanied her to the school at the beginning of every semester.
Sometimes He Guijuan took Jiang Jiang there, sometimes Lin Youqing took Jiang Jiang there, and sometimes both of them accompanied her, so this year she wanted to try reporting to the school alone.
After walking past the bustling vegetable market and through the wheat fields, you will reach the county middle school. There is a whole area of stone-hooped cave dwellings scattered at different heights. There is an ancient banyan tree on the playground, which is unknown how many hundreds of years old. Every summer, the banyan tree provides a huge shade for the students, and the students read, play and grow up under this shade.
When Jiang Jiang arrived at the classroom, there were already quite a few people inside, including several familiar faces, all of whom were Jiang Jiang's former classmates in the county primary school. There were also several girls gathered around and talking.
Seeing Jiang Jiang come in, the classroom suddenly became quiet and everyone's eyes fell on her.
With it you can look at it more or less.
Jiang Jiang picked a seat and sat down. She casually looked up and found that the girl in the center of the crowd was also looking at her.
Jiang Jiang was stunned. He didn't expect that he would be assigned to the same class as Feng Yin.
Over the years, Jiang Jiang and Feng Yin had occasional contact, but Feng Yin had never concealed her dislike for her. Even when she took the initiative to talk to her, she approached her with a purpose and without any sincerity, so Jiang Jiang didn't like her and didn't plan to communicate with her.
Feng Yin frowned. She hated the feeling of having the attention that should have been on her being drawn away by someone else.
What's more, she hated that this bastard who stole what was rightfully hers had become so graceful, youthful, and sweet.
She looked at Jiang Jiang's fashionable clothes, and then at her own floral dress. Although it was also newly made, there was an unconcealable rusticity to it.
"She is Lin Jiangjiang, right?" a girl next to her asked.
"I heard that she ranked first in this primary school to junior high school entrance examination."
After school, Chen Qiannan originally wanted to invite Jiang Jiang to her house to eat taro cake. They had become very good friends now, but Jiang Jiang had something on her mind, so she refused Chen Qiannan's invitation.
When Lin Youqing got home from get off work, he saw his daughter walking on the road with a schoolbag on her back. She was kicking a stone with her head down and looked very absent-minded.
"Ginger."
Jiang Jiang saw that it was Lin Youqing and called out, "Dad."
"What's wrong? You look worried?" Lin Youqing touched his daughter's head. "Your mother has to work the night shift today and won't be back so soon. Go out with dad to eat something."
Jiang Jiang thought about it and nodded, "Okay."
The two of them arrived at a small restaurant in the street market. There were three or five wooden tables and chairs in an area of about 20 square meters. The signature dishes on sale were such as mashed pork with garlic, stir-fried cabbage, fried meatballs, and braised spareribs. The owners were a middle-aged couple who were very efficient at their work.
Lin Youqing ordered two stir-fried dishes and two servings of rice, and the owner also gave them two bowls of duck blood soup.
"How was school today?"
"Yeah, it's a new environment, but there's nothing difficult to adapt to. Feng Yin and I are in the same class."
"Are you unhappy today because you don't want to be in the same class with Feng Yin?" Lin Youqing asked. He also knew that Feng Yin was a thoughtful person and had always been targeting Jiang Jiang. It was normal for Jiang Jiang not to like her and not want to be in the same class with her.
"No, I'm not unhappy. I'm thinking about Sister Fengzhen. Sister Fengzhen has graduated from junior high school and she said she doesn't want to continue studying. I hope she can continue to go to school because Mom and Dad both said that studying is the way out in life, but I'm wondering if it's inappropriate for me to impose my thoughts on her. She clearly said she doesn't want to continue studying, maybe studying is really something that makes her unhappy."
Fengzhen performed well in the high school entrance examination. Although her grades were not outstanding, she was admitted to the county high school. The county high school starts one month later than the county junior high school, but Fengzhen now has no intention or action to continue to attend high school.
Lin Youqing didn't expect that his daughter was worried about Fengzhen's affairs. He heard from his wife that she had talked to Fengzhen several times, and Fengzhen had firmly stated that she would not continue to go to school. He was also busy with other things and had no time to talk to his niece seriously about this matter. While Lin Youqing was considering his niece's affairs, he couldn't help but sigh that his daughter was really a soft-hearted child.
Lin Youqing took a sip of duck blood soup and thought for a while. "How about this? You write a letter and ask Fengzhen to come to the county in a couple of days. I'll talk to her again. At least she should understand the pros and cons clearly."
"Really? Dad, Sister Fengzhen will definitely listen to you. She respects you very much."
"Um."
"Then I'll write it right away when I get back!"
"Hurry up and eat." Lin Youqing handed a pair of clean chopsticks to his daughter, "Dad ordered all your favorite dishes."
Jiang Jiang took the chopsticks and looked at the sweet and sour pork ribs and potato chips on the table. They were indeed her favorites. She couldn't help but nodded, "Dad, you eat too."
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