The old man had work points in the production team, but they were barely enough to scrape by and provide so grain; he had the money to buy at, but having been frugal all his life, he never indulged in it. When the production team slaughtered pigs, he didn’t join in, and he didn’t let Zheng Long join either. His reasoning was that having bought so much grain, buying at as well would be too expensive.
In the old man’s eyes, being able to eat white flour was already a trendous blessing. If they were to eat at too, life would be too comfortable, and it would make him uneasy.
Thus, even though they didn’t have at for the Spring Festival in the seventies, they were still very happy.
When Zheng Kai started school, it was almost vacation, so the school didn’t charge him tuition and let him listen in with the other students. At that ti, primary school students of various ages did not necessarily start at the sa level, and it was not uncommon for ten-year-olds to be in the first grade, so there wasn’t much distinction made, and it was all mixed teaching.
In the sa classroom, there were children from first to fifth grade. At that ti, primary school had not yet adopted a six-year system; it was usually five years of primary school followed by four years of middle school, this system was colloquially called the five-four system.
They attended school six and a half days a week, with classes ending at four in the afternoon on Saturdays and Sundays off, then back to school on Monday.
Normally, they would go ho, change clothes, take so pickles and dry food for the next week, since rural primary schools were far from ho and boarding was necessary, and it was common for several villages to share one school.
For the half month before the new year, Zheng Kai was just accustod to the school life. Although he hadn’t paid the tuition for this term, he had already paid for the next term. Daily, the teacher would assign him so arithtic and Pinyin individually to get him familiarized with the subjects, preparing him to formally study them next term.
Zheng Long had many things to do at ho, such as repairing the house, nding clothes, doing laundry, and cleaning inside and out. Ti was tight, everything had to be in order before the sixth day of the first lunar month so that he could leave with peace of mind on the seventh.
Zheng Kai was also sensible. When in school, he would help with chores and cooking after class; when not in school, he would learn how to cook, carry water, and wash clothes with Zheng Long. By now, he had mastered them quite well, although he already knew how to do these tasks, Zheng Long had given him a systematic tutorial.
The child was very smart and knew he had to show his best, so he was very careful with both of them during those days; as for the future, that would still require observation over ti.
After tidying up the ho, on the seventh day of the first month, Zheng Long was ready to leave; before departing, he tried to leave fifty yuan for his grandfather, but was refused.
"I have money. Why do you keep giving money? I haven’t even spent your 300 yuan yet. Don’t worry, when I have kids one day, I won’t be so stingy. Things aren’t easy for you each month. Don’t worry about ho all the ti. Eat what you should eat, drink what you should drink, alright?"
As expected, the money wasn’t accepted. Leaving money was more practical than leaving grain, so before leaving this ti, he stored one hundred pounds of unhulled rice in the grain bin and instructed Zheng Kai to check on it regularly to prevent it from getting wormy or spoiled, and not to always eat coarse grains. He stressed to be extra careful with the fine grains at ho and not to show them in front of others, trust no one except for his great-grandfather.
They should eat fine grain at least once a day so they could both grow strong. Healthy bodies ant they would have the strength to work and continue struggling.
Zheng Kai appreciated Zheng Long’s difficulties, nodded tearfully in agreent, and promised to take good care of their grandfather.
Because of the challenges on the train last ti, this ti Zheng Long bought a standing ticket first, then upgraded to a sleeping berth on board. The journey from their ho to Beijing took three days and three nights, and having a sleeping berth ant he could get so good rest.
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