Chapter 45

1976 was a turbulent year, but it was also a year of great pain for the people of the whole country. In that year, three great men died one after another. Although the Shengli commune was thousands of miles away from the capital, the people of the commune loved great men as much as anyone. The old people wept after hearing the news, and various activities to mourn the great man’s death were carried out in the school.

This year’s National Day is not as lively as in previous years because, more than 20 days ago, Chairman Mao, the people’s saviour, passed away.

At the end of October, the commune suddenly notified Zhao Donglin to go to the county meeting. The meeting lasted two full days, and when he came back to the village. The village chief brought back the news that the gang of 4 fell. ^[1]The Gang of Four was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials.

Oh, why do you think it collapsed? “

The village head, Xu Haiming, smoked a cigarette, and his face flickered in the smoke circle. He couldn’t tell what he felt in his heart. He seemed relieved, but at the same time, he was at a loss.

It has not been easy for them over the last ten years, particularly in the early years. If there were any disagreements, he had to make a mountain out of a molehill right away. But, as the village chief, he had to bear this in his heart.

“The meaning of the words above was to let him stabilize the hearts of the people, timely detection of problems to solve the problem, the news is not out yet, but do not rule out that there are people who aim to provoke. A centipede dies but never falls down, and grasshoppers can jump after autumn.”

Xu Haiming nodded, “I know. I understand the seriousness of this issue. You can rest assured that I will never make political mistakes. “

He is just a village head, unlike Zhao Donglin, who was sent by the commune. The commune named Zhao Donglin attend the meeting, which shows that they attach great importance to Zhao Donglin. At Zhao Donglin’s age, he can’t stay in the village as a village branch secretary all his life. He definitely wants to rise, but he is different. He is in his forties. It’s good to be a good village head. His biggest goal is to be transferred to the commune one day. No matter what he does, it’s good to have a cadre establishment.

In fact, the leaders above think too much. People don’t care about politics, especially in Shanghe village, which is so far away from the political centre. They only care about whether they can eat, wear warm clothes, and live and work in peace and contentment. Other people in the village can’t think much at all.

Even if the sky collapses, they are not afraid. There’s a tall one on top. It didn’t matter if something fell or not, as long as it didn’t affect their lives.

“Why did it take you so long this time?”

Donglin went to a meeting in the county before. He could go back in the morning and in the evening. Unlike this time, he stayed in the county all night.

Dong Jiahui, as a time traveller, knows the big events happening in the country at various times, but she is on a cruise of history and can’t be a tourist who stays out of it. Her worry about Zhao Donglin was from her heart. After all, no amount of knowledge can replace life itself.

Zhao Donglin just took a bath. He was wiping his head with a towel. When his wife asked, he didn’t hide it at all.

“There was news from above; the gang of 4 collapsed. During this special period, the county leaders prevented mistakes in the work of all levels and made some arrangements for everyone’s meeting. “

That’s all he could say. Because the person who asked was his wife, he could answer her. But if other people ask him, Zhao Donglin won’t say anything. Since he married Jiahui for two years, he knew that Jiahui was a quiet and reasonable person. She can measure what to say and what not to say.

Dong Jiahui thought: Sure enough, the collapse of the gang of 4 indicates that the country is about to start a new era in which the pace of reform and opening-up has taken another step forward, and the college entrance examination will soon be on the agenda. 

In fact, Dong Jiahui has long read the original high school textbook. She was a top student in modern times, but the knowledge in this era was very different from that in later generations. If you are familiar with it in advance, you can prepare in advance to ensure everything is safe.

In addition to the textbook, she also found some review materials, and sometimes she pretends to forget the knowledge and asks Mei Xiang, so Mei Xiang is forced to review high school knowledge from time to time.

Heidan will be in elementary school next year, so when he reads books every day, she would learn with him, so Heidan would know the importance of learning. On the other hand, review the old and learn the new. Knowledge is always learning and always learning. She found out that she would lose this knowledge for some time. If Heidan and Yingbao grow up in the future, if they ask her a question they don’t know the answer to, and if she tells them directly that she doesn’t know the answer, then wouldn’t I, as their elder, lose face in front of them?

This sentence completely made Meixiang dizzy. Although she doesn’t understand the relationship between high school textbooks and Heidan’s study, her sister-in-law’s words make sense.

She is now Jiahui’s little fan. This year, under Jia Hui’s leadership, she learned that her cooking skills had improved. She learned the basic skills of making clothes, and Jiahui also took her to make school bags to sell to the supply and marketing agency, earning more than a hundred yuan a year, and the people who did her matchmaking were almost always stepping through the threshold of her house.

Good and bad objects may have been introduced by those matchmakers. We have to visit them one by one. In fact, getting married early is not good. It’s not comfortable to go to my mother-in-law’s house. It’s very tiring to serve the elderly and young. After all, the probability of meeting a good mother-in-law like you is too small. Besides, Meixiang is not in a hurry to get married. We better not rush it. “

Zhang Qiaoer originally wanted to quickly find her daughter, someone, she could marry. When Jiahui said so, the daughter herself also meant that. She put her mind to it and prepared to wait until her daughter was 20 years old.

Since her sister-in-law says it’s good to read more books, it must be good to read more books. Occasionally, when Jiahui is busy with other things and has no time to study with Heidan, Meixiang will hold a book with Heidan and teach him to read first. When he learns and digests by himself, Meixiang will read his own book.

Zheng Yuefen often made sarcastic remarks. Whenever she saw them, she would say that the Zhao family was going to produce several top scholars. The small ones start to read before they go to school, and the big ones pretend to be students, holding books all day.

.

“Only my mother-in-law can tolerate it; she does the work at home, reads books all day, treats herself like a young lady in the city, with a young lady’s heart, but a maid’s life.”

After the word got out, the village’s older women who met Zhang Qiaoer also asked two questions around the corner.

“I heard that your eldest daughter-in-law does not do anything at home. She was just holding a book all day to read. Is that true? “

Zhang Qiao’er heard it and knew who had spread the word. Her heart was tired of the second family’s mouth, but she did not show it on her face. She pulled the corners of her mouth to smile and explained, “It doesn’t matter. Don’t mention how diligent the eldest brother’s family is. She cooks, takes care of children, and helps others sew and mend. Who said this? It’s too unreliable. “

“Oh, oh, this. Other people blindly spread these words.”

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The married couple were busy lying on the bed. Jiahui was in Zhao Donglin’s arms. She looked at the dark pressure of the mosquito net overhead, and whispered, “Donglin, I have something to tell you.”

Zhao Donglin patted Jiahui’s arm. His voice was low and soft. “Okay, go ahead.”

As Jiahui thought about how to construct her words, she hummed before speaking, “If. This is just an IF. If national policy changes in the future, those of us who have not gone to college for special reasons can take the college entrance examination one day. If you have such an opportunity, will you grab it? “

Zhao Donglin did not understand why her wife suddenly talked about this. A college entrance examination is something too far away, so far away that it seems to be in the last century.

“There will be no such opportunity. Let’s hurry to sleep.”

The policy of resuming college entrance exams will come into effect next year.

She turned around on the bed and grabbed the corner of Zhao Donglin’s coat and said eagerly, “I said ‘if’, in case there is such an opportunity, will you support me to continue studying?”

Zhao Donglin frowned in the dim light, thinking that his wife was acting strangely today. Regardless of whether there will be such an opportunity, even if there is, they are already married, working, and students. They are simply not eligible to participate.

But he heard his wife’s intention. She is eager to go to college, eager to progress. In fact, it can be seen from her usual holding of high school textbooks.

“Do you want to go to college?”

As Jiahui lay on the bed, her arms supporting her upper body were tired, and she leaned into Zhao Donglin’s arms again.

Of course, people can’t live in ignorance. To realize the value of life, the Gang of 4 collapsed, and the country is facing great changes and reforms. This is an era of waste waiting for prosperity. There is a lack of professional talents at all levels of society, and the country needs talented young people. In this context, we should stand up and contribute to the country. “

The words were impassioned, but Zhao Donglin couldn’t help but smile when he heard them. He felt that his own wife was really cute.

Undeniably, there is a certain amount of truth in what his wife said. When the gang of 4 collapses, the central government will certainly make corresponding reforms and adjustments. Over the past decade, national education has been implicated. Many experts and scholars have been delegated to those who have made contributions to the country and the people. But these kinds of words from his own wife’s mouth made him laugh.

“I haven’t seen you so patriotic and wholeheartedly want to contribute to the country before.”

Jiahui recognized the teasing in Zhao Donglin’s words, so she hit him with her elbow in anger.

“I’m talking to you about business. Don’t joke with me.”

Zhao Donglin sighed in his heart. Let alone when the educational environment will be recovered, it may be a year, two years, or even more. It is unknown whether the older ones or the ones who have married can participate in the examination and selection as his wife said. On the other hand, even if it is true, in his cognition, the struggle is a man’s business. As for his wife, Jiahui only needs to live a happy and stable life.

When Wang Mei divorced him, shouting “dreams” and “future”, and her words were full of dissatisfaction with rural life, because they had average feelings towards each other, and he was a dignified man, he didn’t want to bow his head to beg a woman who wanted to leave. He agreed to a divorce. When the political commissar talked to them, he didn’t say much about Wang Mei’s mistakes. If he sincerely wanted to hold her down, she couldn’t divorce her at all.

If the same thing happened with Jiahui, he would not let go of her no matter what.

So, no matter what Jiahui said about the value of life, his contribution to the country, or to him, it is no match for her daily gentle light smile and delicate soft words.

“Are you dissatisfied with your current life?”

Zhao Donglin did not answer Jia Hui’s words positively, but he asked her a question in return, and Jia Hui’s heart thumped when she heard it, knowing that Zhao Donglin had misunderstood her meaning.

“No, I’m not dissatisfied with my current life. I’m just saying that if there’s such an opportunity, we can go… together.”

Halfway through the sentence, Jiahui stopped her mouth. Oh, what’s the point of saying this now? He simply does not believe that there will be a resumption of the college entrance examination.

“Well then, today’s a truce. We’ll talk about it later.”

As soon as the voice fell, Zhao Donglin turned over and fell on Jiahui, beginning to pay for public food.

This day he wanted to be especially fierce, and Jiahui finally fell asleep. The next month, Jiahui found that her great aunt’s menstruation had been delayed for a week, and her heart began to panic.

Notlucia: Yup. Two years later…