The family hadn't felt too sad during the busy morning, but when the younger brother solemnly stuffed a wad of change into Chen Shuning's hand as they were leaving, Chen Shuning broke down in tears, much to her chagrin.
The largest denomination of the change was only one mao (10 cents), and most of the others were one or two fen (1 or 2 cents). These were all saved up little by little by Chen Xiaodi, and no matter what Chen Shuning said, she insisted that her sister keep them.
In fact, Chen Shuning's mother gave him a lot of money when he went to the countryside this time, because the conditions in Northeast China were harsh, and the Down to the Countryside Movement was advocated by the state.
Therefore, the local educated youth office would provide some money and supplies to the educated youth who went to the countryside. However, in the Northeast, where Chen Shuning was going, there were cases where educated youth froze to death because their families had taken the subsidies from the area in previous years but did not provide them with winter supplies.
Therefore, in recent years, the subsidies for educated youth in Northeast China have been changed to be received by the educated youth themselves in the place where they were sent to the countryside, based on their educated youth certificates. I heard that the subsidy in Heilongjiang Province is eighty yuan.
With the two hundred yuan that Chen Ma gave her, which was a huge sum of money in those days, it was enough for her to settle herself down properly.
Keep in mind that at that time, Chen's father's monthly salary was only forty or fifty yuan, and Chen's mother's was even less, only twenty yuan or so. Therefore, Chen Shuning, who was carrying a large sum of money, could be considered a little rich woman.
After finally calming down Chen, who was crying with snot and tears all over his face, they secretly put the money he had given them back into the little guy's pocket. Only then did the family arrive at the train station in a chaotic mess.
Because it was the peak season for educated youth going to the countryside, the train station was still crowded even early in the morning.
Because of the large number of people, and the fact that transportation in this era was not as developed as in later times, the flow of people at the Beijing Railway Station at this time was comparable to the Spring Festival travel rush in later years.
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