At the start of the new semester, Fang Yu and Yu Jihong began corresponding again. Fang Yu went to the mailroom and searched through the letters one by one, her movements both hurried and gentle, afraid of missing any familiar handwriting. Apart from the letter from her mother, there were no other letters. In fact, the only other letters were those from Fang Dongqiang.
Could someone have taken her letter again? A hint of doubt crossed Fang Yu's mind.
Soon it was the National Day holiday again, and Fang Dongqiang and Yuan Tingting came to their maternal grandmother's house.
The night before, Fang Huahua asked Fang Yu, "Are you going to visit Fang Dongqiang during the holiday?"
Fang Yu looked to the side, pursed her lips, and picked at her fingers as she looked down. "I'm not going. It's nothing to do with him."
"So you didn't see Fang Dongqiang during the summer vacation, and you didn't see him during the National Day holiday either?"
"You absolutely must see me!"
"Oh, then he won't be back for the rest of the year. He won't be back until the Lunar New Year."
"It's Chinese New Year, so be it."
The next day, someone called out at Fang Yu's door, "Sister Fang Yu." It was Yuan Tingting's voice.
Fang Yu smiled secretly and hurried to the door. Fang Dongqiang was there with Yuan Tingting. "Sister Fang Yu, we came to Grandma's house during summer vacation, but we didn't see you. My brother said you went to your mom's."
"Yeah, I won't be back until school starts."
"Fang Yu, are you still in the same class?" Fang Dongqiang asked.
"It's the same class as before."
"I wanted to write you a letter, but I was afraid you wouldn't receive it because you changed classes, so we reassigned you to different classes."
Fang Yu was overjoyed. "Oh, I'm still in the same class, Grade 8 (2)."
Fang Dongqiang nodded.
Shortly after returning to school, Fang Yu saw the familiar handwriting; Fang Dongqiang had written her a letter.
In the past two years, they occasionally communicated, but as they entered the final year of junior high school, their studies became more demanding, and the frequency of communication gradually decreased until graduation season arrived.
In the summer of 1995, Fang Yu held her junior high school graduation certificate, about to leave school. The bicycle repairman was still there, humming Zheng Zhihua's song while working, "Stars twinkle, illuminating my doorstep..."
Despite her hard work, Fang Yu still failed to get into the county high school.
She now has two choices: attend a regular high school at her current school or go to a vocational school.
Yu Jihong and Fang Sandi had saved some money from their street vending over the years and were planning to find a shop to sell breakfast. They went home first and were waiting for Fang Yu's decision. Once Fang Yu decided where to study, they would then look for a location for a breakfast shop.
Fang Yu was also conflicted. She had seen her parents at their most exhausted. Before dawn, they would push their cart to the breakfast stall. The coal stove on the cart would sway so brightly it made her dizzy. In winter, her father would develop tiny cracks from kneading dough for fried dough sticks. Her mother also worked in the wind and sun every day. Even when she was menstruating, she would endure the discomfort but still not miss a single day of work.
She had tried her best, but her grades had always hovered at a slightly above-average level. She knew that the three years of high school would be very difficult, and she didn't have the confidence to get into a good university. She wanted to go to a vocational school so that she could work after graduation, and she also wanted to start earning money as soon as possible.
"Fang Yu, it's up to you. If you want to go to high school, then you can continue studying at the high school section of the town's middle school. You'll have to work hard for these three years and try your best to get into a good university. If you want to go to a vocational school, there are vocational schools in the provincial capital. Mom will go to the provincial capital and find an auntie you met at a breakfast shop. Her husband is a teacher. She said that if you go to vocational school, she can help you choose a good school and major. I got her number, and I'll call her to ask her when we go to vocational school."
"Mom, where do you want me to study?"
“It seems like either way is fine. We also want you to go to high school and then go to university, but then you'll be home alone again, and your parents will still have to go out to earn money. If you go to vocational school, we'll call that auntie as soon as possible, and once your school is confirmed, we'll find a place nearby.”
"The vocational school in that county town?" Fang Yu asked tentatively.
"Our scores aren't high enough for the key high schools in the county. If we both go to vocational schools, the ones in the county probably aren't as good as those in the provincial capital. If we go to the provincial capital, we can be together."
Fang Yu gently rubbed her fingers under her nose, moving them back and forth a few times. Her eyes were lowered, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and her lips pressed into a tight line as she mumbled, "I'll think about it some more."
"Yes, we need to decide soon. If we go to vocational school, we'll have to choose a school and a major."
"Mom, could you ask that teacher what are some good majors to study this year?"
Yu Jihong thought for a moment, "Okay, we'll call and ask right away."
The village shop offered pay-per-call service. Clutching the neatly folded piece of paper with her phone number written on it, Yu Jihong walked faster than usual. Fang Yu followed behind, having to jog a couple of steps to keep up.
Yu Jihong carefully dialed the numbers on the slip of paper one by one, afraid of making a mistake.
Fang Yu stood next to her mother, looking at the bright sun outside the door. There was no one else in the shop, and the electric fan inside was humming.
"Hello, is this Teacher Fei's house? I'm Yu Jihong, who makes fried dough sticks and rice balls. Yes, we're at our hometown right now. Okay, okay, I'll wait for Teacher Fei to come pick me up." Yu Jihong winked at Fang Yu next to her while holding the receiver.
"Oh, hello, is this Teacher Fei?" Yu Jihong's voice trembled slightly as soon as she spoke, but after listening for a few sentences, her tense shoulders suddenly relaxed, the corners of her mouth turned up, and even her voice brightened. "Early childhood education major? Graduated to teach kindergarten, this is the first year of enrollment?" She nodded repeatedly as she listened, one hand covering the bottom of the receiver, "Paper, pen," she whispered to the shop owner.
Fang Yu took the paper and pen, handed the pen to Yu Jihong, laid the paper out beside her, and held it down with her hand.
"Okay, okay!" Yu Jihong replied, writing down the phone number and address on the paper. "Okay, thank you! Thank you, Professor Fei. If you hadn't told us, we wouldn't have known there were such good schools and programs. Thank you! Thank you!"
After hanging up the phone, he turned around and grabbed Fang Yu's hand, his eyes shining. "Fang Yu, Teacher Fei said that this major will be in high demand in the future. The country will make it a national policy that children must attend kindergarten for three years before starting primary school."
"Jihong, will Fangyu become a teacher after she finishes her studies?" the shop owner asked.
“It’s from the kindergarten,” Yu Jihong replied with a smile. “I’ll call the school again to ask.”
Following the number on the paper, Yu Jihong dialed the school's phone number to inquire.
"Fang Yu, your score is good enough for this school, so how about we go there?" Yu Jihong smiled with satisfaction.
Fang Yu laughed along with her mother. The provincial capital, the new school, the early childhood education major she had never been exposed to before... Fang Yu seemed to have not yet reacted.
Yu Jihong paid the money, and on the way back with Fang Yu, she kept talking about the advantages of schools in the provincial capital, to which Fang Yu obediently agreed.
Ultimately, Fang Yu decided to go to the provincial capital, while Fang Dongqiang unsurprisingly attended a key high school in the county town. During the summer vacation, he and Yuan Tingting stayed at their maternal grandmother's house.
Yuan Tingting would still come to visit Fang Yu often. Sometimes, when she was at Fang Yu's house, Fang Dongqiang would come over and call her home, saying, "Fang Yu, I heard you went to the provincial capital to study to become a kindergarten teacher?"
"Um."
"fine."
"How could I possibly get into your top-tier high school? My score wasn't high enough; I could only go to a vocational school."
“You’re from the provincial capital, I’m from the county town, so you’re still of a higher rank,” Fang Dongqiang grinned.
"You can even take the college entrance exam in Beijing!" The two laughed heartily.
"The college entrance exam? For the next three years, I won't even have weekends left because of the college entrance exam." Fang Dongqiang said with a bitter face.
"Work hard for three years to get into a good school."
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