Chapter 81

Where is Su Ye now? She is currently holding the admission letters for her class, distributing them one by one to the students. There are a total of 42 students in the class, most of whom have been admitted to high schools, with about ten students being admitted to vocational schools with excellent grades.

In the other two classes of the third year, only 2 to 5 students were admitted to vocational schools. After receiving the admission letters from the school’s reception, Su Ye smiled so much that her eyes narrowed, and her mouth curved upward. She casually checked the warehouse, where the white rice and Fuqiang flour were visibly increasing in quantity.

Su Ye first went to the Yang family and personally handed the admission letter to Yang Xue.

When Father Yang and Mother Yang heard the good news, they were so happy that their eyes squinted into slits. The neighbors were disappointed when they found out that Yang Xue had scored high but chose a high school. They couldn’t help but ask Father Yang and Mother Yang whether they planned to send their child to a high school.

Mother Yang happily said, “Of course, if she’s admitted, we’ll send her!”

If it weren’t for Teacher Su, their child wouldn’t even have been able to graduate from middle school, let alone get into high school. Mother Yang always thought that her husband was promoted to deputy factory director because of Teacher Su’s influence, after the factory director noticed him. Otherwise, after working at the oil factory for so many years, why had he never received any good opportunities? Why, as soon as Teacher Su arrived, did he rise so quickly?

In a sense, Father Yang did benefit from Su Ye’s help. Without her removing Yu Fuda from his position, Father Yang would never have gained the factory director’s appreciation, as his academic qualifications didn’t meet the requirements for the position of deputy factory director. But Yu Fuda was corrupt, indulging in bribery and depravity, colluding with workers to squeeze out the factory director. In his difficult situation, the factory director had experienced the harshness of the world and realized that academic credentials didn’t represent ability.

In addition, during that time, Father Yang had always been helping Teacher Su, and his diligent and loyal work caught the factory director’s attention.

Because of this, Yang’s parents were especially grateful to Su Ye. Teacher Su said that Yang Xue continuing her studies in high school would be beneficial and could lead to university. Since such a far-sighted teacher said this, continuing to support their child’s high school education was surely the right choice!

In this era, university students were still rare, and while it was good to have a university education, the economic benefit it brought to a family was far less than that of a vocational school graduate.

Mother Yang proudly said, “Teacher Su said our little Xue can go to university, so we’re hoping to send one of our children to university!”

Only then did the murmurs from around them finally subside, replaced by the continuous congratulations and blessings from the neighbors.

Father Yang patted his wife’s shoulder and quietly asked, “The supply and marketing cooperative has a dead cow today. I heard it broke its leg and had to be slaughtered. Half a kilo of beef costs ten yuan, should we get some?”

Ten yuan for half a kilo of beef was an expensive price that ordinary families couldn’t afford. If this were before, Mother Yang wouldn’t even dare to glance at it. After hearing this, she took off her sweatband, quickly and decisively pulled out two ten yuan bills from her pocket, and handed them to Father Yang. Not to mention the fact that their child had been admitted to high school and they were going to celebrate with a meal, they also had to invite Teacher Su to the celebration.

Father Yang eagerly took the money and ran out the door, calling out to his coworkers to join him in queuing up to buy the beef.

Mother Yang smiled and said, “Teacher Su should stay for dinner tonight, and your dad will go buy the beef.”

Su Ye nodded and said, “That’s great, I haven’t had beef in a long time.”

She took out Qian Xiaohe’s admission letter and asked Yang Xue to bring her back.

After a while, Qian Xiaohe, drenched in sweat, arrived at the Yang family’s house. Sweat beads continuously rolled down her forehead, and her flushed face was full of an uncontrollable joy. As soon as she entered the house, she excitedly asked Su Ye, “Teacher Su, did I get in?”

Su Ye nodded, a smile unconsciously spreading across her face. “Congratulations, Xiaohe, you ranked first in the whole school.”

Not only was she admitted to a vocational school, but she had also ranked first in the entire school? Qian Xiaohe’s face showed a look of disbelief, and her dark eyes immediately filled with tears.

The Yang family was overjoyed when they heard the good news. Everyone smiled broadly, and Mother Yang gave a thumbs up. “Xiaohe is really impressive! I didn’t expect this thin, frail child to be so good at exams. But Xiaohe, you should eat more in the future, I’ve heard that studying at a vocational school is tough.”

“Wow, amazing, first in the whole school! Xiaohe really brought honor to our family!” Yang Xue’s grandmother proudly said.

Qian Xiaohe tightly gripped the admission letter, looking at it over and over again seven or eight times before confirming that it truly belonged to her. She was so excited that she couldn’t say anything for a while.

Su Ye gently patted Qian Xiaohe’s head. “Take good care of your admission letter. I’ll send you to the school to report in a little while.”

After handing out the admission letters to them, Su Ye went to other students’ homes to distribute theirs.

As she went along, Su Ye couldn’t stop smiling. Almost all the parents invited her to stay for a meal to celebrate, and Su Ye had a joyful day. Riding the borrowed bicycle through the streets, she felt full of energy. It wasn’t until she arrived at her student Luo Aiguo’s home that—

The whole Luo family was lying in bed. When Luo Aiguo opened the door and saw it was Su Ye, he was surprised.

Su Ye noticed that in just a few days, the boy in front of her had become so thin that his stomach was sunken in. He stood upright like a thin bamboo pole.

Luo Aiguo told his parents that the school teacher had come, and only then did Luo’s parents realize what was happening and hurriedly got out of bed, awkwardly finding some old clothes to put on.

Luo Aiguo’s parents were laid-off workers, relying on a small government relief fund to survive each month. They only ate one meal a day, and when there was nothing to do, they lay in bed to conserve energy, as it was said to save food. However, they did not expect the school teacher to personally deliver the admission letter. The couple was immediately embarrassed, their faces flushing.

Luo Aiguo originally felt a bit embarrassed. Seeing that Teacher Su had come personally to deliver the admission letter, he was thinking about how to tell her that he didn’t want to go to school. But then he thought, with the situation at home, she would probably understand. So, he simply invited the teacher into his home.

“Teacher Su, please come in. I didn’t know you were coming today, so the house is a bit messy. I hope you won’t mind.”

Su Ye casually glanced around the room. The rice jar in the Luo family’s house was almost empty, with only half a bag of dried sweet potatoes sitting by the wall. She remembered the scene before the holiday when she distributed steamed buns to the class. All the students were happily eating the buns, but Luo Aiguo hadn’t even taken a bite.

Su Ye listened to Luo Aiguo awkwardly explaining the situation at home. As she looked at his embarrassed and uneasy parents, then at her thin student, she felt a deeper understanding of the harsh reality of hunger. She sighed inwardly, under hunger, no one could escape. Except for her, someone who didn’t belong to the 1960s generation.

Luo Aiguo, with a red face, said, “Teacher… you’ve seen the situation at home. I…”

“Congratulations, you’ve been admitted to the vocational school. Only 12 students from our class passed the admission line,” Su Ye interrupted him.

Su Ye lacked many things, but food was never one of them. She couldn’t let any of her students go hungry. For her, as long as it was a matter of food, it was not a big problem.

Su Ye handed the admission letter to Luo Aiguo and, with a sleight of hand, pulled out three grain coupons, each worth ten kilograms, from her pocket and placed them into his hand.

Luo Aiguo, surprised, held the coupons, his eyes wide open. He asked with difficulty, “What is this… Teacher Su?”

The thin three grain coupons still carried a faint warmth. As soon as they fell into Luo Aiguo’s palm, he stared at them, stunned.

Su Ye smiled and said to her student, “Don’t be afraid. If you’re facing difficulties, you should let Teacher He know earlier. These are thirty kilograms of grain coupons. You can use them for now. They’re a loan from me. When you start working, you can pay me back.”

Luo Aiguo’s parents were also shocked by Su Ye’s generosity. Mother Luo gratefully said, “Teacher Su, life isn’t easy for you either. Thirty kilograms of grain is too much!”

Thirty kilograms of grain coupons could be exchanged for about forty kilograms of coarse grain, which, given the current situation, would be enough for the family to eat for nearly half a month, enough to get them through until the street distributed relief grain. Mother Luo never expected that a teacher, a stranger, would be willing to support them with grain coupons.

Grain coupons were very valuable. Food was as precious as life itself, one kilogram of grain could save a life…

Su Ye patted Luo Aiguo’s hand and said earnestly, “Since you’ve been admitted to the vocational school, you should go. It’s a great opportunity. The school provides food subsidies every month. If it really gets too hard, you can write an application to the No. 1 Middle School. The ‘Green Factory’ will give you subsidies. Although not much, it’s still ten yuan each month.”

Luo Aiguo, holding the grain coupons with slightly moist eyes, couldn’t speak for a long time.

—

After handing out the admission letters, Su Ye went to the ice cream shop to buy a popsicle, not aware that all the senior high school teachers were trying to contact her.

She looked at the once-bustling street, now turned desolate. There were few people on the street today, far fewer than when Su Ye first came to City C. Perhaps many people, like Luo Aiguo’s family, were staying home to minimize activity and conserve food, while more and more refugees were begging on the streets.

Su Ye, when she had free time, liked to think. She aimlessly pondered her purpose and meaning in coming here, why the live stream room rewarded her with food. She started connecting some scattered pieces of information, and suddenly, her mind sparked.

The so-called labor leading to prosperity might only be a surface-level idea. During her hardest times, all she had was just enough food to get by.

Looking at the bigger picture, whenever she received large rewards, it was related to her students, villagers, the middle school exams, the high school exams, changing fates, and even the scientists she helped. The backdrop was the famine of the 1960s, a theme that could not be avoided in any of these events, and the weight and impact of the rewards were connected to this.

Therefore, Su Ye’s focus should be on solving China’s famine. Solving this task would inevitably require the study of “Strengthening the Country.” Her students were the best proof. Su Ye suddenly crushed the popsicle and stood up, her eyes bright.

The live stream room status had been updated, showing that Su Ye had found her hidden task.

Su Ye flipped through her back-end inventory and was surprised to find that there was an additional 100 kilograms of pork, bringing the total, including the 467 kilograms accumulated after the college entrance exams, to 567 kilograms.

【Ding – Congratulations to Teacher Su for finding the hidden task!】

The live-stream room was flooded with snowflake-like comments:

【What happened?】

【Congratulations, Teacher Su!】

【Congratulations, Teacher Su!】

【Big shot is still a big shot, ^[1]“YYDS” stands for “永远的神” (yǒng yuǎn de shén), which translates to “forever god” or “eternal god” in English. It’s a popular slang term … Continue readingYYDS! I thought Teacher Su would need to earn food for a few more years before realizing this.】

【Smart people are hard to fool. I didn’t expect Teacher Su to figure it out so quickly.】

While Su Ye was leisurely eating an ice pop at the cold drink shop, the teachers at the school were searching for her everywhere. He Meimei only knew that Su Ye had gone out in the morning to deliver admission letters to the students. Little did she know, Su Ye was actually hiding in an unknown cold drink shop enjoying an ice pop.

She probably didn’t even know this good news yet, so the teachers decided to go to Su Ye’s home to deliver the good news in person.

Zhou Honghan was at Su Ye’s house, cleaning and watering the plants. Just then, some comrades from the Women’s Federation came to visit. They brought up the idea of starting a literacy class in the family quarters, calling it a “night school.” After hearing this, Zhou Honghan immediately shook her head in opposition.

“Su Ye doesn’t need to go to night school. She’s very busy and doesn’t have the time.”

A member of the Women’s Federation office said, “Doesn’t she have the summer vacation? She has plenty of time for night school! After completing the night school classes, she can earn a junior high school diploma. Many military wives from the countryside have signed up for this class. It’s such a good opportunity. Su Ye definitely has to go! The quality of military wives is a reflection of the quality of our community. We can’t let Su Ye drag our community down.”

Having experienced working with Su Ye on improving the oil press, Zhou Honghan knew just how clever and capable Su Ye was. She thought Su Ye could easily attend the top universities for further studies—what would she need a few literacy classes for?

And when had Su Ye ever dragged down the community? Zhou Honghan remembered the article about the improvement of the oil press that had been published in the newspaper. Although it was written by her, Su Ye was the second author. This wasn’t long ago—had everyone already forgotten Su Ye’s abilities?

Without a second thought, Zhou Honghan politely declined for Su Ye. “Little Su is already a junior high school teacher, and she understands all that content. Besides, she’s already taken the college entrance exam, which means she’s already mastered high school-level knowledge.”

The office members, who were tasked with promoting literacy among the women, tried to persuade several families, and the other military wives were very eager and active in signing up. But when it came to Su Ye, ^[2]“they hit a stone in the latrine” is a figurative expression that suggests encountering a difficult or frustrating obstacle. It is used to describe a situation where someone faces … Continue readingthey hit a stone in the latrine—both smelly and hard, very stubborn!

A member of the Women’s Federation rolled her eyes and said, “The college entrance exam is the college entrance exam, but just because you’ve taken it doesn’t mean you can get a diploma. This night school can earn you a diploma!

Let me say this, you can only eat one bite at a time, and you can only earn a diploma step by step. If you miss this opportunity, there won’t be another one. The less educated you are, the more humble and eager to learn you should be. Su Ye doesn’t even have a decent diploma! Think about it—Comrade Gu is still an overseas student. Over time, there will be a gap, which isn’t good for strengthening the couple’s relationship.”

Zhou Honghan snorted coldly inside. What does it mean that this would harm their relationship? Was Gu Xiangqian ever dissatisfied with Su Ye?

She insisted that Su Ye didn’t need to attend night school and offered to help her. The female comrades nearby snickered and laughed out loud.

They pulled their companions and whispered mockingly, “Forget it, she’s aiming high! Just focusing on a high school diploma, maybe she thinks she’s cut out for university. What’s a junior high diploma worth?”

“The literacy class not only has scientific and cultural courses, but also has doctors from the military hospital teaching basic bandaging and nursing. I heard it’s led by Comrade Yao Chunyu. Many women have signed up for it. Su Ye is just too petty. How long has it been since that incident and she’s still holding a grudge? Comrade Yao even said she’d like to explain the matter to Su Ye in person.”

Although the women deliberately lowered their voices, they made sure that Zhou Honghan could hear them.

Zhou Honghan frowned, her mouth turning down. What does this have to do with Yao Chunyu?

At this moment, He Meimei, along with the principal of the first high school and several teachers, arrived at Su Ye’s house, panting. He Meimei smiled and asked, “Is Su Ye home?”

Zhou Honghan replied, “She’s not. She left early this morning to give out the admission letters to the students. What’s the matter, do you need to find her?”

The principal grinned from ear to ear and teased, “Su Ye is really something! At the most crucial times, she disappears without a trace. She could have just had the students pick up their admission letters from the school. This girl just can’t sit still!

I’m the principal of the No. 1 high school, and Su Ye got the highest score in the province on the college entrance exam this year. She aced many subjects! We came to bring her the good news!”

The women from the Women’s Federation office who had come to persuade her were stunned in place. They exchanged glances, and the illiteracy class sign-up sheet in their hands was rustling in the wind. One of them, as if she had misheard, asked with a stiff face,

“She’s first in the province? Su Ye could get the top score in the province?”

Another woman, snapping back to reality, asked awkwardly, “Did you just say the college entrance exam? Su Ye got first place?”

He Meimei, overjoyed, said, “I’m not kidding! Su Ye applied to Tsinghua University, and this year our community will have a real college graduate! How proud is that!”

He Meimei and her group were all thrilled, smiling widely. Zhou Honghan, hearing this good news, was even more ecstatic, making the women holding the illiteracy class registration forms feel especially awkward.

Zhou Honghan, feeling satisfied, had a smile almost on her brow. She calmly said, “Do you believe it now, comrades? Little Su is smart, hardworking, and diligent. She got the top score in the province and truly doesn’t need to attend night school.”