Mingxia and the others looked more sorrowful than ever before, and they all shook their heads in silence.
It wasn't until Zhou Shengnan calmed herself down that she choked out, "My father has passed away."
It turns out that when Zhou Shengnan's father went to the brigade leader's office last Friday night to discuss something, he inadvertently discovered that someone was digging up graves in the village's fields.
She immediately ran back to the village to report it, but accidentally alerted the group of tomb raiders while fleeing. Unfortunately, the villagers who came towards her were not her saviors, but informants who were working with the tomb raiders. The group worked together to kill Zhou Shengnan's father.
A few hours later, the family felt something was wrong and went out to look for him, but they couldn't find him. The whole village searched with torches and finally found Mr. Zhou's body in a pit. They called the police that night.
A whole week has passed, and Zhou Shengnan has been at home dealing with her father's funeral arrangements, in addition to the entire village cooperating with the police to track down the group of tomb raiders.
She had already calmed down, but when she returned to school and her classmates asked her about it, she couldn't hold back her tears. However, she had always maintained a tough image in front of her friends and felt a little embarrassed, so she hid under the covers.
"Uncle is a hero. He sacrificed himself to protect national property. Sister Shengnan, you should be proud of him."
They live in L City, the heart of China's Central Plains and a cultural center. It's not uncommon for cultural relics to be found around them, so the place that could attract tomb raiders must not be an ordinary grave. The roommates didn't even ask what kind of burial complex they had discovered.
Take the small restaurant for example, which is right next to Erlitou. The most famous place in Yanshi County is the Erlitou Xia-Shang site.
Zhou Shengnan's hometown is the birthplace of Dukang wine, and the hometown of the wine ancestor refers to Ruyang County.
"My father died, and my mother fainted several times. She was mentally confused and would sit at the door in a daze every day."
My brother's wedding was already set, but with this incident, it has to be postponed. I probably won't be able to come after the New Year.
Zhou Shengnan's seemingly low voice carried an unbearable bitterness and helplessness.
The family's breadwinner has fallen, and her brother is getting married, which will definitely require a large sum of money. If they can't raise the money, what will Zhou Shengnan do...?
Her roommates stared intently at her, but Zhou Shengnan, who was usually quick-tempered, suddenly fell silent.
She kept her head down silently, probably not knowing what to say. Xiao Jiu suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable.
Why is Zhou Shengnan leaving right after Zhu Hongqi left? "Are you still going to take the college entrance exam?"
Zhou Shengnan slowly shook her head. "I don't know. My family's current situation means they can no longer afford to support my education."
Even if I were able to raise the money, I couldn't just ignore everything and go to school because my mom's situation is so terrible right now.
Although I have an older brother, I, as the eldest sister, still need to take care of things at home. It's already a miracle that my brother can keep his temporary job at the distillery.
Judging from Zhou Shengnan's accent, it's not hard to guess that her brother is someone you can't rely on.
Considering her own temperament, one can roughly imagine the role she played in her original family over the years.
I thought Zhou Shengnan would finish teaching this semester's classes, but I didn't expect her to be here to pack her things.
"I thought you were all gone. I thought you were going home for the weekend, but I didn't expect the school wouldn't give us a holiday."
Since you're all here, that's good. It saves me the trouble of saying goodbye to each of you. You all better do well on your exams.
Even if one day I can't go to university, at least I'll still have you university classmates.
Zhou Shengnan patted each of us on the shoulder like an older sister, and her forced smile was truly heartbreaking.
Afterwards, everyone quietly helped her pack her things. Her roommates were all in low spirits, but she was the only one who was loudly comforting them.
Although they had only known each other for a few months, Zhou Shengnan really took care of each of them like an older sister.
Zhu Hongqi left, and now she's leaving too. Xiao Jiu and the others finally couldn't hold back their tears after she packed all her things and burst into tears.
After she's cried enough, Xiao Jiu will make a promise.
"Sister, I hope you can persevere for the next two years and definitely take the college entrance exam. I will send you exam papers and study materials. The family's difficulties are only temporary. If you can get into university, it will be worth all the years of hard work you've put in. You are such a good student, please don't give up easily."
"Shengnan, we'll all help you take notes and copy the test papers. And Hongqi too, neither of you is allowed to give up on yourselves!"
Zhou Shengnan was moved by everyone's enthusiasm, "I will definitely fight against my mother to the end, and I will absolutely not marry myself off during this time!"
These words fully expressed her grievances and helplessness. Xiao Jiu grabbed her hand and stuffed twenty yuan into her hand.
"Sister, no matter how hard things get, you still have us. Don't be afraid of owing us anything. If you have any difficulties, come to me. At least, I won't force you to get married."
One sentence was enough to break Zhou Shengnan's defenses. She could no longer hold back her tears, which rolled down her cheeks like beads from a broken string.
“You don’t need to say anything, we all understand your helplessness, but I ask you to hold on, you must hold on until after the college entrance examination. Even if you only get into a vocational school or junior college, it will be a life-changing decision for your future, instead of just marrying a stranger and ruining your life.”
Zhou Shengnan hugged each of them one last time. Although she didn't say anything, looking at her resolute and firm back, Xiaojiu believed that she had taken her words to heart.
She gave them her address, and Xiaojiu and the others gave her their home address in case they were no longer at school and could still receive each other's letters immediately.
Thankfully, there's no evening self-study tonight, otherwise the whole dorm's rabbit eyes would have drawn sympathy from classmates.
Everyone's emotions were written on their faces, and Xiao Jiu even saw a sense of sorrow, like that of a rabbit mourning the death of a fox.
"Do girls have to get married?"
This is a question that comes from the depths of Peng Juan's heart.
"Even someone as strong as Sister Zhou couldn't escape this. If I don't get into university, will my marriage also be controlled by them?"
"We're still so young, why, why should their future be decided so arbitrarily?"
Zhou Shengnan was the oldest among them, only seventeen years old after the New Year, which would be considered a minor in later generations.
Even in today's society, it is still considered young, because after the founding of the People's Republic of China, women could only obtain a marriage certificate at the age of twenty.
"But there are many couples around us who get married after the wedding. In Zhou Jie's case, if there is even the slightest change in her brother's marriage, she could be the one who gets sacrificed. You can tell from Zhou Jie's words that it was her father who supported her going to school."
Now that her father is gone, and her mother is clearly incompetent, she completely collapses as soon as her father leaves.
Expecting someone like that to arrange her son's marriage? Ha, no way. That's probably what worries Sister Zhou.
First it was Zhu Hongqi, then Yuan Yuan, and now Zhou Shengnan. Why is it that whenever something happens in a family, the girls are always the first to be chosen and sacrificed?
Peng Juan's panic stemmed from the fact that her family's circumstances meant her studies could be interrupted at any time.
Gao Mingxia's family was from Luolong Village, a nearby area. Her father was the brigade leader, in charge of the agricultural production team. He not only had authority in the village but was also a respected figure in the commune. She had older and younger brothers, and she was the only girl in the family, so it goes without saying how much she was pampered.
Pang Weiwei, needless to say, comes from a dual-income family in the city, and her brother has gone to serve in the army; she is absolutely the apple of everyone's eye.
As for her, she was an even more confident girl than Pang Weiwei, with both parents working and her older brother and sister being her source of confidence.
Even if she doesn't go to this university, she won't need to work in the fields for the next ten years or so. Of course, this confidence comes from the fact that she has a granary.
In comparison, Peng Juan did seem somewhat lacking in confidence, which explains her sorrowful expression.
Everyone is upset about what happened today, and I couldn't sleep at night, tossing and turning.
Before entering the dormitory, Zhou Shengnan had already explained the situation to her homeroom teacher and the school, which is why she left so cleanly and efficiently.
The next day, when everyone entered the classroom and saw all those empty seats, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Although 61 years have passed, the aftereffects of the famine continue to impact the health of ordinary people.
That afternoon after school, Xiao Jiu received a leave slip for evening self-study and a leave slip for visiting relatives. Probably because there was a precedent, the teacher thought that her family really had relatives in the city, and that she really did not see them yesterday as she said, so she needed to go there again today. The teacher even exempted her from tomorrow's morning self-study, telling her to come to school before eight o'clock and not to come too early because it was not safe.
Because of her young age, the teacher took extra care of her, which made Xiao Jiu feel a little embarrassed.
The half-pig had been thawed overnight and then again, and had been cut open, but it was still a bit hard inside when she was cutting it. Luckily, the knife in her cold storage was good, otherwise she might not have been able to cut it.
She weighed out 30 jin of meat, choosing pieces with a lot of fat, since people nowadays like fatty meat. She kept the leaner cuts, pork belly, ribs, and pork hock for herself.
After dividing the meat into portions by the pound, I picked out 110 eggs from the basket. The extra ones were to compensate for any broken ones. Besides, I promised Grandma Liu five eggs as compensation. If none of them were broken, why not give them all to her?
After tidying up these things, I rode my bike to the plastic factory's residential compound.
Thirty minutes later, she arrived near the family compound. It was already dark. Without carrying the bamboo basket, she entered the compound openly in the same clothes as yesterday. Then, she found a shady spot where no one would notice her, put the things out, and with one person carrying the basket on their back and the other holding it, she knocked on the Liu family's door.
The Liu family members were all off work by now. They were very happy to see Xiao Jiu come as promised and quickly took the basket on her back and the basket in her hand.
"Hey girl, you're here already? Why did you bring so much stuff? Come in, come in, the food's all ready, we've been waiting for you!"
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