After Zhou Yue left home, he gave the key to Grandma Tao and asked her to take care of the house. They could also plant vegetables, sweet potatoes, or potatoes in the private plots in front of and behind the house according to their preferences. Even their six acres of land were all handed over to the Tao family for management.
“If I have a holiday, I will help you with the summer harvest. I definitely can’t manage to plant everything myself, so I’ll have to trouble Grandpa Tao and Grandma Tao.”
“Hey, we’re all family, don’t worry about the trouble. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely take good care of the fields for you. Just focus on your studies. Getting into the top high school is the best thing you can do. With the money your brother sends you, plus the crops from the fields, you can focus on your studies from now on.”
The Tao family has ten mu of land of their own, plus these six mu, making a total of sixteen mu. It's tiring, but the Tang sisters come to help every year, so they can manage to get by. And this year, Xiao Jiu is old enough to go to the fields to harvest wheat.
In previous years, they all thought she was too young, but this year she's six years old and usually acts steadily, so they should be able to, and most likely will allow her to carry a sickle, right?
In the days before pesticides, fertilizers, and irrigation pumps, few families would carry water to irrigate their fields. They were largely at the mercy of the weather, which is why wheat harvests were so low. If there was a drought, the wheat had to be harvested before June.
Moreover, since most wheat ears are quite small, more people choose to plant sweet potatoes in the latter half of the season.
This year, the Tao family plans to plant corn on the nearby Zhou family's land, and sweet potatoes on all ten mu of the Tao family's land.
Sweet potatoes have a high yield and are drought-resistant. If they are harvested before the first frost, they can be left unharvested until spring, when sweet potatoes or potatoes can be planted to continue the crop.
The proposal was discussed by everyone, and there were almost no objections; it passed with a single vote.
Everyone knows there will be a famine, so it's quite necessary to dry sweet potatoes in advance and store them up.
——
On the day Cuimei went to school in the countryside, Cuiju carried her bedding and took her there.
Tuition was waived, and she covered the cost of room and board at the cafeteria. Cuiju was worried that it would affect her studies, so she wanted Cuiju to pay the money herself.
“I always felt that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. What if the principal’s wife is the only one in the kitchen? If you go there, wouldn’t you be waiting to be a laborer? Or should we just pay the money?”
Cui Mei declined Cui Ju's offer, saying, "Second Sister, it's alright. I can do it no matter how dirty or tiring it is. As long as I study well, even if they are strict, they won't treat me like a workhorse. Don't worry, this is an opportunity. There's no such thing as a free lunch. I understand. I'm not afraid of hardship. As long as I can succeed in my studies, we'll have made a profit. It's just that you'll have to work hard while I'm away."
"What are you saying? Isn't this all the work we do every day? Eldest sister Cuilian has it tough too, and there's also Cuihong. Don't let her quiet demeanor fool you, she works even harder than me. Don't worry, we'll take care of things at home. I'll bring you some food in a few days, so you can adjust to the situation."
In those days, not many people went to school, especially in rural areas, where there were even fewer. In a school, there were only about twenty students in each grade, and most of them were boys. When Cui Mei registered, she only saw two or three girls in her grade.
When she went to the school dormitory, it was even more...
All the girls from all three grades in the school shared one large dormitory room, which consisted of only seven or eight people in total.
The communal sleeping area couldn't even be called a bed. It wasn't a wooden bed, an iron bed, or a kang (heated brick bed). Instead, it consisted of four corners made of mud bricks, with a few bed boards laid on top. That was their sleeping area.
There were no cabinets, no washstands, and not even running water; washing up had to be done outside.
She imagined life would be tough, but she never imagined it would be this tough.
The paper windows were torn long ago; when the wind blows, they not only make a whooshing sound but also let in drafts.
Cui Mei frowned, but she didn't say anything. She silently made her bed. All the good spots were taken, so she was forced to choose the one directly opposite the window, which was the only empty spot.
She's now thankful that she brought thick enough blankets, otherwise she would have frozen to death.
And this tattered window paper, she has to find a way to ask the teacher for two newspapers to paste it up, otherwise how will she sleep at night?
Whether it lets in light or not is no longer important; the key is to keep warm.
I cleaned the bed, laid out the bedding, and took out the enamel basin and kettle I had brought, intending to go to the kitchen to get some hot water and have a quick meal.
The other girls were either new students in the fall or upperclassmen. Cui Mei had obvious scars on her face and was a newcomer, so at first, no one dared to talk to her. But when they saw her going to fetch water, a girl who looked very gentle, with two braids and wearing the rural red color typical of winter, spoke to her in a friendly manner.
"Do you need to get some water? There isn't any right now. We'll only get hot water at lunchtime, and it costs money—one cent per pot. That's because the hot water is heated with firewood. If you don't want to pay, you'll have to pay with firewood. The same goes for the stove in our classroom. You either pay or you pay with firewood. And it can't be small pieces of firewood; it has to be big pieces. Small pieces of firewood don't burn as well."
Cui Mei was naturally grateful for the suggestion. She glanced at the rickety door and the drafty window, and pursed her lips.
"Thank you for reminding me. I'll go ask the teacher for two newspapers. Do you want to come with me? It'll be very cold at night if we don't seal the windows. By the way, let me introduce myself. I'm new here, in the first year of junior high. I'm twelve years old. My name is Tang Cuimei. This face is from a fire at my house before the New Year. It was burned, so it's inevitable that I'll have a scar. If you don't mind that I'm ugly, I'd love to get to know you all."
She smiled sheepishly as she spoke. The other girls were surprised that she would joke about her appearance so openly, and they were even more surprised that she could talk about burns so casually. In an instant, all the girls felt sorry for her.
Everyone quickly stopped what they were doing and introduced themselves to each other. They noticed that she not only had burns on her face, but also chilblains all over her hands, bright red ears covered in scabs, and her shoes didn't look very thick. Her clothes were even worse, with the most patches among them. The only thing she had that was presentable was her quilt, which looked fairly thick.
These facts alone show that her family is not well-off, but the fact that her family sent her here to study already shows that she is valued by her family.
After all, in those days, even if there were opportunities to study, they were mostly for boys, and it was rare to see them given to girls. So some people subtly inquired about her family situation, trying to dig out more valuable information.
Tang Cuimei answered frankly: "I have no sons, only daughters. I wasn't raised by my parents, they're dead. My older sister supported my education. If anyone should be thanked, it's my older sister. So I will work hard and hope that we can help each other in the future. As for my family's situation, it's very difficult, so please don't ask too much."
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