They got out of school at four o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Xiao Jiu packed his things, put on his schoolbag, and planned to go to the winery to find his parents. When he left the school gate, he met many classmates. Some were waiting for the bus, some were picked up by their families, but most of the classmates walked.
The county's No. 1 Middle School not only selects outstanding students from the county town, but also students from various village primary schools in the surrounding area. In fact, it can be said that at least half of the students in each class are from rural areas. As long as they are from the same village, they will walk home together. For children of this age, walking home seems to have become a daily routine.
It's very cold today, and the wind is quite strong. In the days before school uniforms, everyone wore cotton-padded jackets made by their own families. Most of the girls' jackets were floral. If someone wore a dark-colored jacket, it meant they had an older brother. Even if they were unhappy about it, they knew their own family's situation and would freeze if they didn't wear one.
The worst thing about winter is snow, because homemade cotton shoes get wet easily when walking in the snow. In the past, when most people were not well-off, very few could afford leather shoes, let alone leather boots, which were something they dared not even dream of.
Xiao Jiu was still wearing last year's cotton-padded coat and shoes. It seems she hasn't grown much this year, so they fit her perfectly and are very warm.
"Mom, aren't you working overtime this week?" I was surprised to find that my mother had already packed her luggage when I arrived at the winery dormitory.
Zhao Lingli poured Xiaojiu a cup of hot water: "Are you cold? Hurry up and warm your hands. Remember to wear the fingerless gloves your grandma knitted for you every day when you write, so you don't get frostbite. After this batch of wine is finished, our shift will have two days off and we'll come back on Tuesday. Your third sister's shift will only get a break when we get back. Your dad is a technician, so he has to keep an eye on things. We'll leave him alone. Mom will take you home."
"I was planning to pick you up from school, but something came up and I was delayed by an hour or so. I didn't expect you to come all this way. How's this week going? Are you getting used to it? After being lazy for so many years, are you struggling to keep up with these early mornings and late nights?"
"It's really something only a mother would ask," Xiao Jiu nodded shyly.
"It's really unbearable, especially getting up early in the dead of winter. Fortunately, whether in the dormitory or in class, the older brothers and sisters treat me like a child and spoil me. Maybe it's because I'm short, they always think I'm young. Although I've never said it intentionally, I've gotten used to being spoiled like this. Maybe it's related to my upbringing. Is it because I'm a mother?"
"You're really lucky, you haven't suffered much growing up, isn't that great? But don't take it for granted, if you can help others with their studies, then help them, and if not, at least share some of the things we brought over."
Xiao Jiu couldn't help but laugh: "Mom, you seem to have a lot of confidence in your daughter's studies, huh?"
"Of course, I've seen what you were like when you were self-studying. Your older brother always says you're not human, that you're better than him who's studied for so many years even without going to school. Sigh, talking about this kid, I'm worried too. I don't know if he can even get into high school. If he doesn't, we'll have to figure out how to get him a job in a factory or something."
Xiao Jiu thought about his messy academic performance and shook his head.
"I doubt it, but there's still time. I need to give him a push. Even if he doesn't get into high school, he should at least go to a vocational school. Going to a vocational school is better than graduating from junior high, don't you think, Mom?"
Zhao Lingli worried: "Do you think it's easy to get into a vocational high school? I'm afraid he won't even be able to get in!"
The twelve-year-old boy who was causing the mother and daughter so much worry was not coming home after school, but instead running off to work as a errand boy on the black market.
As a result, he was spotted by plainclothes officers and ran for his life into the woods. However, he was going too fast and ended up in a ditch. Fortunately, it was a dry year and there wasn't much water in the ditch, but he still managed to break through the thin layer of ice and fall into the mud. He was immediately shivering from the cold.
Of course, that wasn't the most terrifying part. The most terrifying part was that he not only had intimate contact with the mud while lying face down, but he also landed on something hard. When he sat up and touched it, he casually pulled out a human head. Tao An was dumbfounded first, and his companions who followed him screamed and backed away in fright. The plainclothes officers behind them heard their screams and ran over. They frowned instantly and gave instructions to the people behind them.
"Quickly, go report to the police!"
Fortunately, the child with Tao An reacted quickly, slapped away the stunned Tao An's hand, and pulled him away to run.
This is a crime scene. The two children accidentally discovered it and realized that protecting the scene was more important than chasing after them.
Therefore, the two plainclothes officers did not continue the pursuit, but stayed in place to wait for reinforcements.
Tao An stumbled home, half of his clothes soaked in the cold weather. His grandparents were both loving and annoyed, scolding him as they changed his clothes. Tao An muttered blankly to himself.
"I want to take a bath, Grandma, I'm dirty, I want to take a bath."
It's so cold, should I take a shower?
Grandpa and Grandma would never agree to that.
But Tao An kept insisting on taking a bath, so in the end, his grandfather had no choice but to take a change of clothes, wrap him up, and run to the bathhouse in town to take a bath.
Taking a bath was quite a luxury in those days, costing one cent per person. Grandpa was reluctant to go in and wanted Tao An to go in by himself, but he was afraid that Tao An wouldn't get clean, and the child wasn't in a good condition, so he had to pay two cents to go in. Luckily, when Grandma was packing, she also brought Grandpa a change of clothes. She never even considered that her old man would go in and not take a bath.
When Xiao Jiu and Zhao Lingli returned home, the grandfather and grandson had not yet returned. It was around seven or eight o'clock in the evening when Zhao Lingli finally met them at the village entrance.
"Oh, you're finally back! You must be hungry. Come on, let's go home and eat."
As she spoke, she took the things from the two of them. Because it was dark, she didn't notice that her son's expression was off.
It wasn't until they went into the kitchen to eat that they realized Tao An's expression was off. They couldn't get any information out of him, so they assumed he might have gotten into a fight and was in a bad mood. Seeing that he had no appetite, they told him to go to bed early. But in the middle of the night, they heard the child crying and howling like a ghost. Xiao Jiu, who was sleeping in the space, was so frightened that she trembled. When she ran to her brother's room with her clothes on, her grandparents and mother were there. Her brother even had a fever!
"Oh dear, did you catch a chill after taking a shower?"
"Mom, I think he looks scared!"
Whatever the reason, Mother quickly found a fever reducer for her son to take. The specific situation would have to wait until dawn to find a doctor to take a look. This medicine was left by Fifth Sister for emergencies. After all, it's normal for someone in the family to have a headache or fever, so both families kept a lot of it.
The next day, they heard that a body had been found in a ditch in the village, which had been bumped into by a child. Considering how the boy had looked when he returned that day, the grandfather immediately went home to ask him. This time, he actually got the answer. Everyone then understood why the boy had been so absent-minded when he returned; he had really been frightened.
Even if he's incredibly brave, he's still just a twelve-year-old child. How could he have ever truly faced life and death?
What's most baffling is that the person who died was Tang Jiabao from Taoyuan Village.
She learned about this on another Wednesday, during a school-wide cleaning, when she overheard two teachers gossiping about it.
Tang Jiabao?
Wasn't he exiled to the reservoir to do hard labor?
When did you come back?
Did he die in a ditch?
However, for such scum and degenerate people, once they die, they're gone; I really can't muster even a shred of sympathy for them.
In early December 1959, the first snow of the year arrived. The snow was not heavy and melted as soon as it hit the ground, but it brought some moisture to the land that had not seen rain for more than a month. The continuous rainy weather lasted for several days until the weekend.
After a week of calm, the young man finally stopped having nightmares. His previously restless nature suddenly calmed down, perhaps because of this. He even started picking up books and asking Xiao Jiu questions, expressing his desire to start learning from scratch.
Xiao Jiu was curious, "Brother, are you sure you're okay? This isn't like you at all!"
"What style? I've just figured it out. I don't want to end up like that Tang Jiabao, living the life of a hoodlum. If I could have a proper job, not only would it be easier to find a wife, but everyone would respect me, instead of dying and being cursed for deserving such an end. Although I'm not a hoodlum, I—" I've also been out there hustling for almost half a year.
Being someone's underling is nothing like the glamorous life they make it out to be; if you're not careful, you can become a scapegoat.
This understanding comes from the fact that his companion who ran away with him last time was arrested. The big brother didn't show up, and if he wanted to ransom the person, he would have to pay money, five hundred yuan. For a family like his, he simply couldn't afford it. If he could afford it, why would he have to work as someone's underling?
Unexpectedly, when something went wrong, the other party not only ignored it but also distanced themselves from it.
He's only fourteen years old. If no one takes care of him, he'll be in trouble. There might be such a record in his file.
If he hadn't taken the week off to rest at home, would he have been the one who suffered?
He's been thinking a lot these past few days and realized that his parents were absolutely right about one thing: for children from poor families, studying is really the only way out. At least if they can get into university, they can get a suitable job instead of just drifting around like a hoodlum and being looked down upon by others.
Although he has figured it out, he has been playing for so many years, how can he expect to see results right away?
The weekend alone is simply not enough time. My older brother's calculation skills are terrible; he might have to start working on it from elementary school.
It seems I can only help my brother catch up on his studies during winter and summer vacations.
What I need to do now is to learn what I can at this stage. If I really can't learn something, I should ask my teacher or classmates. I should write down all the knowledge points involved so that I can tackle them one by one over the weekend.
It was only after talking with Xiaojiu that Tao An realized where his shortcomings lay, and why his sister could be in the same grade as him without going to school. It turned out that some people were born to learn, while he realized it too late. Fortunately, as long as he was willing to spend time, he still had a chance.
So, in addition to her studies, Xiao Jiu had an extra task: to use her spare time to compile all the knowledge points from elementary school into a thick notebook, and then have her older brother learn them from scratch on weekends. Only by connecting all the knowledge points could a systematic and standardized outline be formed, and with a well-prepared outline, the learning speed and efficiency would be greatly improved.
It doesn't make sense that all three older brothers and one younger sister are good at studying, but he's the only one who isn't.
He must catch up with them, or at the very least, attend a vocational school.
Xiao Jiu's warehouse had dozens of kinds of pickled vegetables, many of which the students had never seen before. They were too embarrassed to eat other foods she took out, but they couldn't resist the temptation of these pickled vegetables. Mainly, they were already tired of the pickled vegetables made at home, and even spicy shredded radish could get boring. So when she took out a variety of strange and wonderful side dishes such as preserved mustard greens, pickled vegetables, fermented bean curd, Korean bellflower root, spicy cabbage, and spicy perilla leaves, even the most unpalatable cornbread and steamed buns became a top-notch delicacy when paired with them.
But no matter how delicious these things are, you can't eat them every day. So each time she can only take out a small amount, just enough to eat, and she can't eat as much as she wants.
This also shows how ordinary everyone's conditions are. Every time she secretly ate steamed buns or cornbread made from refined and coarse grains, she felt deeply guilty.
Not to mention rice made from white rice or noodles made from white flour, which require chanting "Amitabha" while eating.
When she got so hungry that she couldn't stand it anymore, she would make sesame paste or oatmeal with plain water to eat, so as not to eat too much white flour and noodles and gain weight, which would make her look out of place.
The advantages of attending the top class in a top school are that classmates are friendly, there are no troublemakers who challenge the teacher's authority, there are no fights after class, the learning atmosphere is strong, and even when going to the cafeteria, everyone lines up obediently. They are definitely the good kids in the eyes of teachers and parents.
However, even these kinds of children will face all sorts of problems when they reach puberty. Especially in this era, schooling is based on family circumstances, and it is not uncommon for some to start school at the age of ten and to be in junior high school at the age of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen or eighteen. Xiao Jiu is, after all, a latecomer with an adult mind, so it is common to find boys waiting outside the girls' dormitory.
Perhaps because of her young age, no boys approached her enthusiastically to chat, but they all took good care of her, a kind of care more like that between siblings. However, the other two girls were different. Regardless of their looks or family background, when they reached the age of adolescent confusion, they would blush when talking to boys, secretly discuss certain boys, and cheer loudly when a boy scored a goal on the sports field. These were the unique excitements of adolescence. Although she was an observer, she had also experienced them.
Therefore, whenever she saw two children of such innocent age secretly liking someone or openly favoring someone, she felt it was beautiful. She was also glad that parents in this era were busy with work and did not have the crazy surveillance and opposition of parents in later generations.
Children who can get into No. 1 Middle School are extremely rare; you might not find a single classmate in an entire village. Parents are rarely asked to attend, and parent-teacher meetings are not held frequently. With fewer sources of information, the children are naturally given a lot of freedom.
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