The next day, the three of them ate steamed stuffed buns and drank soy milk. They went to the store in the county and bought two cans of powdered milk. They also weighed a catty of big white rabbit milk candy, and brought it back to the family. The child tastes.
"Is this toffee? Our supply and marketing cooperative doesn't have any."
At first, Meixiang didn’t know the price, Jiahui gave her a piece of it, and she still felt that it’s a pity that such a delicious thing is not sold in the town. After she knew the price, she was in a bad mood. Meat is also expensive!
In the era of the planned economy, toffee was a commodity that was in short supply, and only high-end stores sold it, and sugar tickets were needed to buy it. Fortunately, Jiahui had the foresight to bring more than half of the various tickets at home before going out, and it really came in handy.
"Well, three pieces of toffee are equivalent to a glass of milk, and children can eat two pieces a day as nutritional supplements."
Children in the 21st century are all milk children. Pure milk, yogurt, various milk tablets, toffee and dairy products. In the 1970s, it was rare to drink milk. Not to mention spending money, just saying that milk tickets are hard to come by .
"Sister-in-law, you are so kind to the children, you are so willing to spend money."
In the past, others said that the stepmother was not good, had a dark heart, and would not treat the child sincerely, but since her sister-in-law married in, Mei Xiang changed her established perception of the stepmother.
No beating or scolding, caring about food and clothing, caring about studying, well-prepared clothes, shoes and socks, and tidying up the children, more attentive than other mothers.
Just like this toffee, even my own mother can't bear it!
"The money that should be spent must be willing to spend, and the money for children's health and education cannot be saved."
Although toffee is not a necessity, it is also a kind of childhood memory and a sense of life ritual. When they grow up, they will recall that they ate white rabbit toffee when they were young, and their hearts will be very sweet.
Because Jiahui is related to a time traveler, her concept of money is more free and easy. People in this era can't wait to spend a penny in two halves. Wrong, after all, thrift is a good tradition of Chinese people, the reason why Chinese people have so many savings reserves is to save a little bit like this, but after the washing of modern thinking, Jiahui firmly believes that while saving money, one must also learn to save money. Open source, saving alone is useless.
Just like a person who has a salary of 30 yuan a month, even if he does not eat or drink, he only has 30 yuan a month, but if he knows how to open source, even if he earns an extra 10 yuan a month, it is good, so that he will not only If I earn more money, I won't have such a miserable life.
After buying some milk powder, Jiahui tore a few more pieces of cloth, now it is December, and the Chinese New Year will be around soon, so she needs to prepare new clothes for the New Year.
There are many kinds of materials in the county town. Jiahui bought corduroy fabrics, which are not available in the town, but this kind of fabric is more expensive than ordinary fabrics, equivalent to double the price.
Jiahui also thought carefully, besides the family's fabric, she also pulled a few feet more, so that she could sell to others what she wanted, which was equivalent to the purchasing agent in the 1970s.
After shopping, the three of them took the bus first and then returned to the village. It was already noon when they arrived at the team. Every family had just had lunch, and they gathered together in twos and threes to chat.
Entering Cun Jiahui, I felt the gazes of everyone sweeping towards me like searchlights, and sure enough, everyone started chatting after approaching.
"Hey, are you back from college?"
"How did you do in the exam?"
"Yo, how many things did you buy?"
Jiahui smirked the whole time, and left it to Zhao Donglin to deal with it politely. She walked in front with Meixiang with her bag on her shoulders, and walked outside her yard. She saw Yingbao squatting by the door and playing with mud. Seeing Jiahui and the others coming forward, Throwing down the pebble in his hand, he ran over and hugged Jiahui's leg.
"Mom, where have you been? I haven't seen you in days."
Yingbao is two and a half years old, and she speaks like a baby. The hair Jiahui left for her is a braid tied with two red ribbons. Looking up at her with her pink and tender face, Jiahui's heart melts. .
The little girl is good at this, always cute and cute, like a doll.
She bent down and hugged Yingbao, pinched her little cheek and said, "Mom is going to take the exam, and Dad and aunt are also going together."
As she spoke, she took two pieces of toffee from her satchel and handed them to Yingbao.
"Hey, delicious toffee, mom and dad bought it for Yingbao in the county, let's eat it."
Yingbao smiled sweetly, held Jiahui's neck and kissed her on the face.
"thanks Mom."
Mei Xiang watched from the side, feeling a little bit disgusted. This little guy has been sleeping with her since he was a child, and he is more like his aunt than his mother.
"Yingbao, you don't call me aunt, aunt is angry."
Ying Bao turned her head and smiled at Mei Xiang, reaching out to ask Mei Xiang to hug her.
"Auntie, I miss you too."
Mei Xiang pretended to snort, hugged Ying Bao, and patted her little butt, Ying Bao laughed haha.
At this time Zhang Qiaoer came out of the house. Fang Fang was just taking a nap when she heard the sound and woke up.
"Come back? Yesterday we were worried at home all day."
I was also worried about the exam, and worried about whether they would live there well and eat well.
In fact, Zhang Qiaoer was really worried in vain. As a modern person, a refined egoist, he always only makes himself comfortable. As long as he has money, it is impossible for him to have poor food and housing.
Jiahui walked over to Fangfang and clapped her hands, and said with a smile, "Fangfang, mom is back, do you miss mom?"
Fang Fang obviously didn't forget his mother, and opened his arms to hug Jiahui, Jiahui couldn't help but shed tears.
She hadn't been weaned before the exam, and she was very reluctant to leave the day, but what can I do, isn't there a saying, you can't hug you when you move bricks, and you can't move bricks when you hug you, even for the sake of the child. Work hard, I can only endure the reluctance to go to the county to take the exam.
In the past two days, her chest has been swollen and uncomfortable, and she wants to drink more for a while. Breast milk contains immunoglobulin, which can enhance the child's resistance and reduce illness.
In this way, she has to spend time milking the milk. Yesterday, she couldn’t help but hand in the papers in advance during the exam. After the exam, she handed in the papers in advance and went to the toilet, wrapped in a towel to squeeze. At that time, she really felt a little bitter in her heart. No matter how fragile your heart is, when it's time to move forward, you still have to work hard to move forward, and you can't stop.
Fortunately, Fang Fang is already half a year old, and he can eat rice paste, noodles, and steamed buns. Apart from drinking two meals of breast milk, he is not afraid of starvation.
"Mom, this is the milk powder we bought in the county. It's for him to drink and add nutrition to him. This is the stewed vegetables, roast duck, and pig's ears we bought. It's for Dad to drink."
Zhang Qiaoer took the things, looked at the milk powder can carefully for a while, and said, "Oh, look, it's not easy to go out, and how much does it cost to buy so many things. You guys have eaten No, I didn't eat the whole meal I gave you?"
Jiahui didn't take her mother-in-law's words to heart either, as old people are like this, they like to chatter.
"We haven't eaten yet, just order whatever you want."
"Let's cook the noodles for you, there are still some noodles left for you to roll out."
Heidanshitou went to school, Jiahui hugged Fangfang, took Yingbao back to the house, and tidied things up.
In the evening, I called my uncle Zhao Mancang over for a drink. In addition to the lo mei brought back, Jiahui cooked two more dishes and made cornmeal cakes.
"I asked Dong Lai to take the test too, but this kid refused to say anything. Hey, our family will have to rely on Dong Lin in the future."
Zhao Mancang drank two glasses of baijiu, and started chatting while slightly drunk.
"It's not certain. After coming to the East, there may be another way out."
Seeing that the uncle's wine glass was empty, Zhao Donglin poured him a glass.
Zhao Mancang shook his head and smiled, "Is there any way out, it's not farming at home, facing the loess and the sky for the rest of my life."
What can he do for a living? There is no elder nephew like this. He worked as a cadre in the army and is still a cadre after returning to his hometown. Now he is going to take the college entrance examination.
Zhao Donglin smiled and comforted, "No, our country will definitely become better and better, and there will be more ways out. As long as we seize the opportunity, we don't have to go to university."
Jiahui glanced at Zhao Donglin when she heard this, and thought that what Zhao Donglin said was indeed right. After the reform and opening up, the development of the country kept pace with the times, rising straight like a rocket. In her era, even in rural areas, Urbanization and modernization have been achieved, and in some places, the countryside is richer than the cities.
After the exams, there was a long wait. The Chinese New Year would be in February. Jiahui began to prepare the clothes for the Chinese New Year. First, she made a set of corduroy coats for each of the children, including stone ones.
Jiahui thought back to the year when she first got married, she had a few fights with Zheng Yuefen over making clothes. In a blink of an eye, things changed. Zheng Yuefen divorced Zhao Donghe, and it is said that she has remarried.
After the two divorced, Shitou grew up a lot. At the beginning, he asked where his mother had gone and why she didn't come back. Later, he stopped asking. He went to school with Heidan every day, and sometimes ate at the east side.
"Jiahui, where did you buy this material, it's so thick."
Just as Jiahui expected, the corduroy fabric really aroused the interest of the villagers, and many people came to inquire.
"I bought it in the county last time."
"No wonder, I went to the supply and marketing cooperative yesterday to see, we don't sell this here."
"Jiahui, do you have any more cloth? If you have any, give me a few feet, and I will make new clothes for Shanzi."
"It can even out a few feet evenly, but this kind of fabric is thicker than other fabrics, and the price is much more expensive."
"It's okay, for the sake of the child, he is in junior high school, so he has to pay attention to his image, maybe he can find me a daughter-in-law."
The others laughed and said, "How old is Shan Zi, you've already started thinking about your daughter-in-law, it's too early."
"What's the matter, let's start now, so we won't be able to find good ones if we try our best in the future."
"That's right, you have a good idea."
Everyone laughed. In the end, Jiahui earned four yuan for the cloth ticket, fabric money, and the manual fee for making the clothes. The catty of white rabbit toffee was almost back.
After New Year's Day in 1978, when the results of the college entrance examination were announced, Zhao Donglin was still in the office of the village revolutionary committee when his landline rang.
"Comrade Donglin, I am Zhong Guixiang."
"Hello, Director Zhong."
"I received a statistical list of college entrance examination results today. Congratulations, you scored 326 points, and you are fifth in our Jiangkou County!"
"real!"
Zhao Donglin's heart surged for a moment, and he himself was a little surprised to have this result.
"Also, I remember your wife's name is Dong Jiahui."
"Yes, she prepared better than me, and her grades should be better than mine."
"Let me tell you, she is not only the first in our Jiangkou County, but also the second in the entire Wudong Province, with a score of 383!"
Director Zhong was very happy. Of the 692 candidates in Shengli Commune this time, 281 of them reached the admission score line, which was far higher than the admission score line of the whole county, the province, and even the whole country. He, the director of the County Revolutionary Committee, made a big appearance this time. up.
Especially Dong Jiahui, although he was not the provincial champion, it was very honorable for a small commune of theirs to be ranked second, and the county and provincial leaders all spoke out in praise.
Zhao Donglin was very proud when he heard his daughter-in-law's grades. This is his daughter-in-law. Not only is his daughter-in-law good-looking and gentle, she also got second place in the provincial exam!
After being excited, Zhao Donglin finally didn't forget that he still has a younger sister.
"Director, I have a younger sister named Zhao Meixiang. Do you think her grades have reached the cut-off mark?"
"Zhao Meixiang... Let me take a look..."
The voice of Director Zhong flipping through the files came from the phone, and after about sixty or seventy seconds, Director Zhong's voice rang again on the phone.
"Zhao Meixiang, the second team of Shanghe Village, scored 264 points in the test, which has reached the admission score line."
Zhao Donglin breathed a sigh of relief, now his family can really live in the city.
Zhao Donglin hung up the phone in agitated mood. The village head Xu Haiming had already heard the content of the phone call. He couldn't tell if he was happy or something, but it was a bit complicated.
"Congratulations, Dong Lin, you will be a college student from now on."
"And there are three college students in one family!"
"Green smoke is rising from the ancestral grave."
Zhao Donglin rode a bicycle and hurried home. At this time, the countryside was slack and the whole family was at home. Seeing Zhao Donglin push the door in with a smile on his face, Jiahui had a premonition that the results of the college entrance examination had come out.
She stood up from the chair holding Fang Fang, and Zhao Donglin approached step by step, hugging their mother and daughter tightly.
"We passed the exam, we all passed the exam, you got the second place in the whole province, and the first place in our Liangkou County!"
At this moment, the sense of reality of changing fate, the kind of blood surging in his heart, made him unable to restrain his joy.
"Really! I passed the exam, and Jiahui is still the number one scholar in the county!"
Zhang Qiaoer grinned to the back of her ears, there was a lot of gossip on the team these days, this is good, all three of her family passed the exam, and three college students came out of their family at once!
"Brother, I passed the exam too? Are you sure? Where did you get the news?"
"Director Zhong from the commune called me. He just got the list of grades."
"Thank God, our family is going to be better now."
Not to mention how Zhao's family attracted people's attention because of this incident. Two days later, the county education bureau came.
"It's like this. Our province is currently extremely short of educational talents. The leaders of the province have made plans to set up a junior college class in the Provincial Teachers College. All candidates with a score of 240 or more in the college entrance examination can enter the university. They can graduate in one and a half years. Assigned to be teachers in various schools, you see, do you have the will?"
A junior college degree is naturally not as good as a bachelor's degree. A score of 240 is enough to get into a good bachelor's degree, but now there is really no way. With ten years of education gap, I have to find ways to reserve educational talents for the province!
On the surface, it seems that students who choose to enter the normal college class are at a disadvantage, but this plan can attract a large number of talents to Wudong Province.
You have to know that you have to study for four years for the first undergraduate degree, and Wu Dong, who is waiting for success, can't afford this time in education!
A college degree is definitely not as good as a bachelor's degree. In addition, Zhao Donglin is unlikely to consider going to a normal school. As for Jiahui, with such good grades, she ranks second in the province. It is a pity to go to a college. The goal of the personnel from the very beginning was to target Meixiang alone.
Mei Xiang also thought of this, and after some hesitation, she still chose to agree.
"Then I'll go. I'm 20 years old, and I'm only 21 after graduating in a year and a half. I have acquired knowledge without wasting time."
Meixiang applied for the normal university, and the colleges and universities planned to be established in the province are definitely different in terms of academic qualifications, but Meixiang also has her own considerations. Her mother has always been worried about her finding a partner. She thought, being a teacher is also quite Well, it might not be good to ask her to do other things, and she graduated from junior college in one and a half years, and she just happened to find a partner after graduation.
The other one is that at this age, she is still very eager to get to work and be self-reliant as soon as possible.
Zhang Qiaoer has been listening by the side without saying a word, such a big matter still has to be decided by the children themselves, and she was satisfied when she heard that her daughter offered to go, and felt that her daughter was very sensible.
"Great, our province needs young people like you. Don't worry, the province will train you well. Although you are a junior college student, you will receive the same treatment as undergraduates after graduation, and you are still younger than undergraduates." Graduation."
In February, Jiahui and Zhao Donglin received admission notices one after another before the Chinese New Year. They were respectively admitted to the Department of Finance and Economics of Wudong University and the Department of English of Wudong University, both of which were their first choices.