She was touched and felt both amused and sad. At the same time, she fully realized that before she could earn money independently, gifts made by hand would be more acceptable to everyone.
However, the 'surprise' was far more than that On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the third day after Chen Nongmo resumed his studies, the postman brought a letter from his elder brother.
When she took the two hundred-dollar remittance slips handed over by Qiuhua's mother, she was completely stunned.
So, even my elder brother and Comrade Shao returned the money under the pretext of giving New Year's money? Thinking of this, Chen Nongmo felt that the remittance slip in his hand was very hot.
"Who told you, a poor girl, to spend money recklessly? Now you understand how serious this is?" After reading her son's letter, Cao Qiuhua realized that her daughter looked wilted as if she had been hit by frost, and poked her with amusement.
This "lesson" was indeed a deep memory for Chen Nongmo, but. "Mother Qiuhua, I really want to thank Comrade Shao."
It’s okay for the eldest brother, they are siblings, and there is always a reason for taking his New Year’s money, so she won’t feel much pressure.
But Comrade Shao Zheng had nothing to do with her.
Now, to express her gratitude, she gave the other person a pair of shoes worth 28 yuan, but the other person gave her 100 yuan in New Year's money in return. There is no more profitable "deal" than this.
Cao Qiuhua was not as anxious as her daughter: "It's okay, Shao Zheng and your brother are as close as brothers, he probably treats you like a sister, there's no other intention."
After saying this, seeing that the little girl's frown was still there, she suggested: "How about making two shirts for them? I'll cut them for you and you can sew them yourself?"
Chen Nongmo, who had picked up the skills of working on the assembly line during his summer vacation, thought for a few seconds and said, "Okay, but I want to design the styles myself. Let's just make one set each."
"Okay! Just make the same one. Those two guys are close friends and inseparable. It would be festive if they wore the same one. Your brother will definitely be happy."
At this point, Cao Qiuhua was already looking forward to seeing his son and Xiao Shao's happy faces when they received the same clothes. He suggested anxiously, "Why don't you ask your second brother to take you to town on his bike this afternoon and use the money on your remittance slip. Do you have the cloth coupons?"
Hearing this, Chen Nongmo felt that what Qiuhua's mother said made sense, and he smiled crisply and replied, "I have the tickets."
= Finish lunch.
Chen Nongmo, wrapped up like a ball, sat on the back seat of a 28-bar bicycle and was taken to the town by his second brother.
Starting from New Year's Eve, heavy snow fell day and night for several days, and only stopped quietly last night.
The brother and sister rode as they walked, stepping on the fluffy snow blanket that squeaked in protest, and finally reached the main road leading to the town with sweat on their backs.
On the way, we met a tractor from another village. A man and a woman were sitting on it. They were wearing military coats and Lei Feng hats. They stood with their backs straight as if they were not afraid of the cold. They looked very proud, and there were several large packages beside them.
The two men knew Cao Liu, and they shouted to each other amid the rumbling sound of the tractor.
It was through these few words that Chen Nongmo learned that the two were students from the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University, and were now leaving for the province to take a train to go to school.
After the tractor drove away, she asked, "Second brother, have you ever thought about applying for a place in the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University?"
No matter how much criticism this university received later, at that time, it was indeed a holy place that many young people yearned for.
Cao Liu did not just fool his sister because she was ignorant before. Instead, he taught her seriously: "It is impossible for a family to have four college students. It is most appropriate for me and Lao Wu to join the army and strive for internal recommendation."
Chen Nongmo was stunned for a few seconds before he understood what he meant.
The third and fourth brothers have lively personalities, and the competition for places within the army is even more intense than at the local Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University. Theoretically, the second and fifth brothers, who have better grades and more stable personalities, have a better chance of getting them.
She was about to ask her third and fourth brothers if they knew, but she swallowed the words back.
This question is meaningless. Given the carefree nature of the third and fourth brothers, they definitely don’t know.
After spending these days together, Chen Nongmo has realized that her third and fourth brothers are more in line with the image of the carefree young men she saw in later lives.
The second and fifth brothers are so mature in mind that they are almost evil.
Therefore, this decision must have been discussed between the two of them.
After sorting out the key points, Chen Nongmo tightened his coat around himself and didn't know what to say next.
She had no way of telling her brothers that the college entrance examination would be resumed in six years, but if she didn't tell them, she would feel uncomfortable.
After a long silence, Chen Nongmo finally couldn't help but ask tentatively, "What if the university is restored in a few years? Didn't you guys lament that the policy changed too quickly a few days ago?"
She asked cautiously, but Cao Liu replied decisively: "The university will definitely be restored, just like Demao's father was temporarily out of power. But you just need to keep these words in mind and don't tell others."
"I won't tell you." But Chen Nongmo was really shocked: "Why is Second Brother so sure?"
Cao Liu did not elaborate, but only said vaguely: "Every dynasty change will have political infighting, it is nothing new, just listen to it."
It is indeed not new, but in this era of information blockade and difficulty in buying a book, my second brother's knowledge really exceeds that of too many people.
If most people could understand this point, there wouldn't be so many tragic families in special periods in future generations.
Thinking of this, she blinked, blinking away the complex expression in her eyes and asked, "Since you know that the university will resume, haven't you thought about waiting for a while?"
Cao Liuxiao said, "No, I won't wait any longer. Who knows how long I'll have to wait? Five years? Ten years? Or even longer. Being a soldier is something I want to do."
= After successfully buying the cloth, Chen Nongmo and his second brother had a tacit understanding and neither of them mentioned the topic they talked about on the way.
In the following days, she stayed at home studying and working on clothes.
There were some white materials in the town, but Chen Nongmo didn't buy any. He thought they looked nice but were not resistant to getting dirty.
She chose navy blue Dacron material and made two identical Zhongshan collar shirts and two pairs of black trousers.
To be honest, Dacron fabric is not as comfortable as pure cotton. Pure cotton shrinks and wrinkles easily, and it is also troublesome to iron. So I simply chose Dacron, which is very stiff and does not easily wrinkle.
Zhongshan suits are not uncommon these days, and many cadres like to wear them. If they wear two pens, they look like cultured people.
But few are made into shirts, most of them have lapels.
After the finished products came out, Qiuhua's mother immediately said that she would wait until the weather got warmer and prepare one for each man in the family. The day the clothes were sent out was the first day of junior high school.
In addition to the twins Chen Jun and Chen Yi, who reported with their schoolbags, Chen Nongmo also came along.
A few days ago, Chen Zong had already greeted the principal.
Today, after the twins mailed their clothes, they took their younger sister to the principal's office to take the test as scheduled.
In fact, schools nowadays basically don’t teach book knowledge, and teachers are all worried about their own safety. It’s no big deal for Chen Nongmo to just go to school directly.
But her situation is special, she doesn't even have a primary school diploma.
Therefore, under the noses of the principal and her twin brother, she calculated the scores, passed three of the four subjects, and only scored 42 points in the other subject.
In Chen Nongmo's opinion, the terrible results were enough for the principal to agree to let her go to the second grade of junior high school.
Knowing that their sister had only been studying for about 20 days, the fourth and fifth brothers, with proud faces, said that their sister was a genius and that this score ranked her in the upper middle level in the class.
So, from today on, Chen Nongmo got rid of the title of illiterate with his "outstanding" grades and became a second-year junior high school student.
= Become a junior high school student again.
Chen Nongmo went to and from school with his fourth and fifth brothers every day.
He didn't even give the two of them a chance to worry and soon became able to handle it with ease.
The only thing that made her uncomfortable was her classmates’ attitude towards learning.
There are 36 people in the class, and less than one-third of them really want to go to high school.
It's mostly just for a junior high school diploma.
Of course, these discomforts soon subsided after Chen Nongmo attended school for three days, two of which were during which the teacher took leave and half of the students skipped classes.
Strictly speaking, her attention was distracted by other things.
In early spring, spring recruitment begins.
If rural youth want to find a way out, one option is to study, and the other is to join the army.
So when the recruitment notice was issued, not only Cao Liu was happy, but the whole county became lively.
Shanshun Village, also known as Shanshun Production Brigade, received two enlistment quotas.
The registration day was Monday, and most of the students in the class went to the county armed forces department to watch the excitement.
The three siblings of the Chen family were the rare students who listened attentively to the teacher in class.
But after the bell rang, Chen Jun, who was a lively person, could no longer sit still and suggested skipping class and going to the county town.
Chen Yi didn't care, he just smiled gently and said, "If you are not afraid of being punished by Dad and Big Brother, then go ahead, don't drag me and Sixth Sister along."
Chen Nongmo, who actually wanted to go as well, advised his fourth brother who had come down in a sullen manner: "With the physique and brains of the second brother, and the fact that he is a high school graduate, he will definitely be selected. We just need to wait for good news."
Chen Jun curled his lips and lazily lay on the worn-out desk: "Of course I know that my second brother will be selected, but I don't want to go see him."
He was curious about the soldiers in uniform who came to select new recruits. Are they any good? There were so many soldiers, maybe even a military truck with four wheels.
How impressive! It's worth a look.
If he could touch it again, he would be able to brag about it for a whole year.
The more Chen Jun thought about it, the more itchy he felt. He felt like there were thorns on his butt. He twisted his body this way and that in discomfort. From time to time, he glanced at his younger brother who was reading quietly, hoping that he would change his mind.
Chen Yi was too lazy to pay attention to him. He just took out a candy from his pocket and handed it to his sister who was also staring at him, and coaxed her gently: "Don't learn from your fourth brother. Study hard in school."
Chen Nongmo took the candy, peeled off the candy wrapper and put it in his mouth, then gave his fifth brother a helpless look.
Seeing this, Chen Junsheng drooped his eyes in despair.
Then, within half a minute, he pounded the table again, looking jealous: "Third brother is still the best, he is studying in high school in the county town, if you want to see the leg lift, you can go."
Chen Nongmo. (End of this chapter)
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