Chapter 8

Xu Di stayed at home for two days, and then school started.

She packed her schoolbag, there wasn’t much to pack, just a pencil case, a tin one, flat, she didn’t know how many years it had been used, it was rusty, inherited from her sister, Xu Mei.

Xu Di looked at herself, dark blue pants, a floral half-sleeve shirt, a faded green satchel, and cloth shoes made by her grandmother.

In her previous life, she had seen actresses in their forties wearing two braids to play eighteen-year-old girls, and they were criticized for trying to look young.

Xu Di looked at her own two dark braids in the small mirror, she really was young!

“Xu Di, what did you do during summer vacation?”

Following her memory, she walked into the classroom, another girl with two braids greeted Xu Di enthusiastically.

Xu Di knew this was her deskmate, Yang Dani, who was one year younger than her.

“Yang Dani, I went to my grandmother’s house in the countryside during summer vacation, I worked on the farm.”

“That’s great, I want to go to the countryside too, go to the vast countryside and do something great!”

Xu Di looked at the naive child, thinking about those students struggling in the countryside, she didn’t know what to say.

At this time, responding to the call to go to the mountains and the countryside was the mainstream ideology. Xu Di didn’t dare to go against the tide in public, the Red Guards were everywhere.

After a while, the teacher came in, didn’t say anything, and started the lesson.

Xu Di and the others went to the machinery factory’s children’s school, they went home directly for lunch, it wasn’t far.

On one side, Xu Di was back in the classroom after twenty years, it was quite novel.

On the other side, little Liang Ankang was finally discharged from the hospital.

“Lanzhi, is Kangkang alright?”

“Aunt Qian, he’s fine now, he’s all better, are you going to buy vegetables?”

“Yes, I’m going to buy vegetables. I’m alone, I can’t eat much, but I can’t not eat.”

Aunt Qian was the former chairman of the Women’s Federation. When she was young, she organized women to make shoes for the Red Army, provide cover, and also worked as a liaison officer and a medic.

A brick in the revolution, wherever it was needed, she would go.

Later, everything ended, and the country was established. Aunt Qian continued to work for the Women’s Federation, and she was the chairman of the Women’s Federation before she retired.

“Has Chaoyang been back for a while?”

“He hasn’t, it’s been almost a year. He’s over twenty now, he doesn’t think about finding a partner, he just focuses on training.”

Aunt Qian chatted with Wang Lan for a while, knowing that she had just come back from the hospital, she didn’t say much, she told her to go home quickly.

Wang Lan thought about Aunt Qian, sigh, every family has its own problems.

“Mom, Liang Bo called just now, he’s coming home tomorrow.”

“Really? That’s great. Let’s go to the Xu family together, we need to thank Xu Di properly, she saved Kangkang’s life.”

“Yes, we need to thank her properly. That girl is good, she’s likable.”

Yan Fangfang was speaking from her heart, she had been working for so many years, she could more or less understand some people and things.

The Liang family came after dinner, all four of them were there.

“Sister Wang, you see, why are you so polite, you brought so much food and things. Xu Di was just in the right place at the right time, and Kangkang is lucky.”

Xu Di’s mother was a little embarrassed seeing the Liang family come in with so many bags.

“Xu Di saved Kangkang, that’s a huge favor to us. From now on, we’ll visit each other more often, we think Xu Di is a likable girl.”

Since entering the Xu family, Wang Lan had seen them as a family, happy and harmonious, honest and upright, she really wanted to visit more often.

She believed in fate, she felt that Xu Di was Kangkang’s lucky star.

“With Sister Wang saying that, we’ll visit each other more often from now on, we’ll treat each other like family.”

The Xu family, Xu Di’s father and older brother were quiet and reserved, her sister-in-law was outgoing, but she was intimidated by the Liang family’s aura and didn’t dare to step forward.

“Aunt Wang, Sister Yan, how is Kangkang, is he still scared?”

“He’s not scared anymore, since he was discharged from the hospital, he’s been telling everyone that he fought monsters with a big sister, he’s a big hero.”

Yan Fangfang only had this one son, she treasured him like her own eyes.

She was really impressed with Xu Di, who had saved her son and comforted him so he wasn’t scared anymore.

“That’s good, children are forgetful, after a while, he won’t be scared anymore.”

Xu Di had been through pregnancy, childbirth, and her child’s high school graduation, she had a lot of experience.

“That’s great, I was worried he would remember again in a few days.”

Yan Fangfang didn’t even think about it, how could Xu Di, a teenage girl, know so much about children. She just trusted Xu Di’s words from the bottom of her heart.

The Liang family didn’t stay long, they left their address and phone number, asking Xu Di to visit them whenever she had time, and then they left with their child.

“Mom, we have free time on Saturday afternoon, they’re going to a criticism meeting, I don’t want to go. It’s a good thing Aunt Wang and the others brought so much food, I’ll take some to Grandpa and Grandma.”

“Okay, do what you want, those things were given to you anyway.”

Xu Di’s mother waved her hand, letting Xu Di take the things, she could do whatever she wanted with them.

After all, her second daughter had suffered a lot this time.

Xu Di looked at the two large net bags full of food and things. She gave the milk powder to her nephew, the cigarettes to her father, and the canned food to Xu Jun, asking him to open it and eat it together.

Peach cookies, biscuits, malted milk, fish in cans, meat in cans, cloth, hair ties…

Xu Di picked out some food for her mother, and she took the rest to her room, thinking of taking some to her grandparents on Saturday.

Xu Di mainly wanted to go to her grandparents’ house to get some seeds, her space was still empty.

On Saturday afternoon, Xu Di came home from school and started packing her things.

There was a bus to her grandparents’ house, three trips a day, morning, noon, and evening, the fare was one dime.

“Second Sister, Second Sister, you’re going to Grandpa’s house, take me with you.”

Xu Jun ran back, panting, afraid that his second sister would leave without him.

“I can take you, but…”

“But there’s a condition.”

Xu Jun knew that his second sister had something else to say.

“You have to listen to me, you can’t run around.”

“No problem, if I can’t do it, I’m a puppy.”

Xu Jun promised solemnly, his second sister could beat him up.

“Humph, you think about it carefully, if you can’t do it, I’ll beat you into a puppy.”

Xu Di picked up her cloth bag, locked the door, took Xu Jun with her, each of them holding a steamed bun. The bus was about to leave, there wasn’t time to eat at home.

Her mother had told Xu Di yesterday to take Xu Jun with her, she was working the night shift these two days and didn’t have time to look after him.

The siblings hurried onto the bus, Xu Di paid for the tickets.

“Sister, do you have water? I’m choking.”

“Here, a lazy donkey on a mill, a lot of shit and pee.”

Xu Di handed him a glass bottle filled with water. It was an IV bottle that Xu Di’s sister-in-law had brought back from the factory hospital, she had washed it and used it to hold drinking water.

“Thank you, Second Sister.”

Xu Jun took a sip of water and swallowed the bun that was stuck in his throat.

“Sit properly, we’ll be there soon.”

Xu Di put the bottle away, looking at the old-fashioned bus, feeling the bumpy road, her mind was already flying to the countryside.

Images of her grandparents’ house in the countryside kept flashing in her mind, her grandparents, her uncle and aunt, and her younger siblings.

With a screech, the bus stopped, they had arrived.

Xu Di, you can do this, you can definitely do this.

She cheered herself up, confidently walking towards her grandparents’ house.