Rebirth of science and technology to rejuvenate the country

After the younger siblings were all asleep, Yuan Xia sat under the lamp and flipped through the geometry book he brought back. Looking at the content on it, it was both strange and familiar, which made him feel mixed.

He knew that he was in the high school graduating class now, and the college entrance examination was due in less than half a year.

The term college entrance examination is too distant and unfamiliar to him.

When his father passed away, his mother remarried with a pension. Forced to make ends meet, he had to replace his father and go to work in the factory, missing the college entrance examination.

Later, when he started working, he felt that his knowledge was shallow, and he had to spend more time taking self-study exams. One can imagine the hardships involved.

And without systematic study and training, I always feel strenuous. Although I do not do worse than others, the time and hard work spent are multiples of others.

Later, he also went to MBA and so on, but he knew that the nature of social interaction is far greater than the learning of knowledge.

Now the opportunity to go to university is in front of him, Yuan Xia doesn't want to miss it again.It's just that it's not easy to pick up what you learned 40 years ago.

It was almost ten o'clock before Ma Jianshe came back from self-study in the evening.

He and Yuan Xia are classmates, studying in Suyang High School.The country has resumed the college entrance examination, and the school attaches great importance to it. Graduation classes are strictly controlled, and self-study is required in the morning and evening. Wearing stars and moons has become a daily routine.

The first thing Ma Jianshe did after he came back was to knock on the door of Yuan Xia's house. Yuan Xia quickly opened the door, and the two lowered their voices to talk at the door.

"Xiaoqiu is sick?"

"After surgery, I have to rest for a while."

"Then you still go to school?"

"Come on. I asked for leave. Did the teacher say anything?"

"I didn't say anything, I was just a little worried about your homework."

"I'll try to make it up when I look back."

"I copied the notes for you, and I'll bring them to you later. I'll go back and have something to eat, and we'll leave later." Ma Jianshe patted him on the shoulder.

"Okay." Yuan Xia agreed wholeheartedly.

Both of them have the same layout, a small suite with one front and one back.

There are four children in Ma Jianshe's family. Ma Jianshe is the second child. The eldest sister Ma Dongfang has lived in the dormitory of the factory after she started working. There are also a younger brother and a younger sister.

Yuan Xia has more family members.The child has grown up, and the two families can't live in it.

Li Yuying discussed with Hu Meilian that they would rent a house together from a local family near the factory, and the two young men would live in someone else's house.

Yuan Dong also lived with Yuan Xia in the past, but now that his parents are gone, and the family can stay, Yuan Dong doesn't have to go.

Ma Jianshe's younger brother, Ma Jianjun, went with them. He is 14 years old, and he is in the same grade as Yuan Qiu, and he is also in the second grade of junior high school.

About 10 minutes later, Ma Jianshe came out of the house. He ate some dumplings, soaked his feet in hot water, shrank his neck and said to Yuan Xia: "Go, go, my feet will be cold again."

Yuan Xia had already got up with Chong Yang in his arms to urinate, so as not to sleep until midnight and wet the bed.He picked up the flashlight and the key, turned off the light, then gently turned the lock with the key, closed the door, and pulled out the key.

Ma Jianshe turned around and said, "Jianjun, hurry up, don't dawdle, the TV has no signal, what are you watching?"

The Ma family is a double-employee, and the combined salary of the two is more than one hundred, plus travel subsidies. The economic conditions are much higher than those of a single-employee.

Ma Anmin often runs sports cars and has a wide network of contacts. He bought a 12-inch black-and-white TV from somewhere. It is a rare item, and only the factory manager and his family have it.

However, the TV only has a signal from [-]:[-] to [-]:[-] in the evening and can watch programs. After this time, it is full of snowflake ideas.

Ma Jianjun loves to watch TV. When Ma Jianshe despised his younger brother, he said that he could watch the flashlight on the wall for half a day. Ma Jianjun retorted: He couldn't watch the flashlight, but he could watch the snowflake ideas all day long.

Ma Jianjun came out after a while, wrapping a scarf around his neck: "It's too cold, I don't want to go out. When will our family live in a big house?"

Ma Jianshe glanced at him: "You don't need to count on this, you can get a room after you start working."

It is true that housing and land are not allowed to be bought or sold, except for locals who have homesteads who can build their own houses, the working class can only wait for distribution or rent houses.

The workers’ dormitory of the agricultural machinery factory is assigned, and they pay a nominal rent of two yuan a month.

Ma Jianjun wailed: "It will take a long time, do I have to live in someone else's house all the time?"

Yuan Xia said: "In the future, I will live in a big house."

Ma Jianjun sighed: "I hope, I really don't want to run around every morning and evening."

The three of them went downstairs together. Yuan Xia and Ma Jianshe rode bicycles locked in the stairwell. The rental house took ten minutes to walk to, and it took only a few minutes to arrive by bicycle.

The house they rented was on Changping Street. The landlord, Niu Sihai, was a businessman with a rich family background and built a large yard.After liberation, his family had a high status. In order not to attract attention, they sold the first two courtyards and left only the inner courtyard.

However, his family is not very prosperous. The only son went to college before liberation, and taught in colleges after graduation. Now he is being sent to the cowshed for labor reform.

Their house was quite empty, and the old couple rented out two houses in order to make a living. Yuan Xia and Ma Jianshe were the ones who rented the house.

A room costs [-] yuan a month, and [-] yuan is barely enough for the old couple to live on.

His house is more expensive than the factory dormitory, why?Because the dormitory is state-subsidized, it is private.

In this way, the monthly rent of Yuan Xia's house needs to be [-] yuan, which was not a burden when his father was alive, but without the source of income, it is not a light burden.

Yuan Xia went to the vegetable market in the afternoon, and learned about the prices of rice, flour, oil, etc. at the grocery store, and came back to do the math, and roughly estimated that the living expenses would be about 30 yuan a month, which is still a tight life. Baba's case.The study and living expenses of the five siblings are not included.

I really don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are if I am not in charge of the family. The main thing is that I have to spend money on everything.He has counted all the money in his hand, and there is a total of 234.73 yuan left. Even if there are no accidents, it can only last for seven months at most, so making money must be on the agenda.

When Yuan Xia settled the accounts, she felt a little bit regretful, she should have insisted on asking for more money from her mother at the beginning, and she would not go hungry no matter what when she married into the Guo family.

When they arrived at Niu's house, the yard was pitch black, and the landlords had already moved in, so they unlocked the door lightly and went back to their rooms.

Pulling the light cord, it didn't light up, and the power went out. They mainly supply water and electricity here. Winter is a dry season, and power outages are normal.Agricultural machinery factories are different. They have generators, and they are not affected by power outages.

I struck a match and lit the kerosene lamp, and what I saw was a wooden canopy bed against the wall. The bed was covered with blue and white checked sheets, and on it was an army green quilt that was folded like tofu blocks.

That quilt was brought back from the army when my father changed jobs. It has been working for more than 20 years.

Yuan Xia sat down on the edge of the bed, reached out and squeezed the stiff quilt, this was the quilt that his father had covered him before, he suddenly felt that his father was so close to him, if he was alive, he would be able to witness all of this, Will my father support me if I do this by myself?

He might blame himself for not being able to keep his mother, but that's really not something he can do. It's going to rain, and my mother is going to get married, so how can I let him.

Yuan Xia took a high school chemistry book from the only table in the room, shook off the quilt, and was going to sleep after reading the book for a while, when there was a knock on the door, Ma Jianshe said outside the door: "Yuan Xia, sleep Yet?"

Yuan Xia got up and went to open the door: "Just about to sleep, what's wrong?"

Ma Jianshe walked into the house, closed the door, and said, "I want to chat with you."

Yuan Xia took the chair by the table, found a cloth and wiped it: "Sit down."

Ma Jianshe was not surprised, Yuan Xia had a quirk, he didn't like other people sitting on his bed, he sat down on a chair, Yuan Xia sat on the bed, and the two sat facing each other.

Ma Jianshe said: "Your mother remarried, what will you do with your younger siblings?"

He refers to the future, including his source of income, taking care of his younger siblings.

Yuan Xia sighed softly: "I plan to call my grandpa."

Ma Jianshe said in surprise: "You still have to call your grandfather? Then your living burden will be even heavier."

"My younger siblings are still young, so there is no elder in the family. Besides, my grandfather is getting old, and I don't have any uncles. I only have two aunts. I have to take care of my grandfather's care." Yuan Xia's two aunts are both in the countryside, and their children Dadui, life is very difficult, and you can't take care of yourself. In this era of rural areas, there is no such thing as a married daughter supporting her parents.

Ma Jianshe frowned: "In your current situation, your father is gone, won't your aunt help share it?"

Yuan Xia shook his head: "They can't share, their lives are so difficult. And it's the same in the countryside, your grandma's house should be similar."

Ma Jianshe nodded: "That's right. My aunts and aunts don't care about their natal parents. They are all provided for by their sons. But how difficult it is for you. You haven't graduated yet, and you have old people and younger siblings. The burden is so heavy. You don't have any problems at all." own life."

He was referring to Yuan Xia's marriage and starting a family in the future, with such a heavy burden, which girl would be willing to marry him.

Yuan Xia said: "Maybe it's not that bad. Isn't the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee just held? The national policy is about to change, reform and opening up. Once the policy is relaxed, the economy will be active and there will be more ways to make money." .”

Although Ma Jianshe also studied politics, he certainly didn't know the true meaning of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee like Yuan Xia did. In his opinion, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee was also a political question that needed to be memorized in the exam.

He doesn't quite understand what this has to do with Yuan Xia's life: "No matter how it changes, you still have to go to school, and you can't go to work."

Yuan Xia said: "At that time, we can start a small business, so we won't be criticized for speculation."

"You want to do business?" Ma Jianshe opened his eyes wide.

Yuan Xia lowered his eyes: "I'm not sure yet, I can let my grandfather start a small business and earn some living expenses. If I want to continue studying, I have to find some ways to make money."

Ma Jianshe nodded: "That's true, and I can't make money by working, so I can only use this method. My mother said, if you are short of money, my family can lend you some."

Yuan Xia laughed: "Thank you, Auntie told me before, I really don't need money for the time being, if I really need money, I will ask, don't worry."

The reason Ma Jianshe wants to reiterate this matter is because their family members know that Yuan Xia is a person with strong self-esteem, and also a very stubborn person. He would rather starve to death than ask for help.

But they don't know that the current Yuan Xia is no longer the guy who went on a rampage for the sake of self-esteem and face and was beaten to death.

Passing hard is easy to break, he has suffered too many losses in this, and he knows that being a man requires tenacity, so that he can persevere.

The next day was Sunday, there was no need to go to school, Yuan Xia got up and went directly to the vegetable market to buy vegetables.As he thought, vegetables are cheap, and you can buy a bunch of them for a few cents, but meat is expensive, and pork costs 0.78 yuan a catty.

If according to his original plan, there is meat every day, then his little money can be used up in three to four months.

Fortunately, eggs are not expensive at four cents each. Surprisingly, duck eggs are cheaper at only three cents each, and duck eggs are much larger than chicken eggs.

It may be because Suyang is adjacent to the lake area, and ducks are raised free-range on the lake, and the cost of raising them is lower than that of chickens. In addition, duck eggs have a fishy smell and are not as popular as eggs, so they are sold cheaply.

The nutritional content of duck eggs is not much different from that of eggs, and they are rich in protein. Yuan Xia decided to leave the responsibility of meat dishes at home to eggs and duck eggs.

Workers only have Sunday off, so this day is usually used for cleaning, washing large items, and shopping for necessities on the street.Occasionally, I have to find time to get a haircut and visit relatives and friends. This day is actually harder than the working day.

Yuan Xia was also very busy, taking advantage of the good weather, he took out all the quilts at home to dry.

The younger brothers and sisters are very cooperative, each perform their own duties, the older takes care of the younger, so Yuan Xia doesn't need to worry about it.

When Yuan Xia went to Niu's house to dry quilts, he saw the old lady of Niu's house drying radishes, so she casually asked how to pickle salted duck eggs.

The old lady regained her spirits immediately, and said that she was good at pickling salted duck eggs and preserved eggs. In order to convince Yuan Xia, she specially brought him a salted duck egg and a preserved egg.

Yuan Xia naturally also got the method of pickling salted duck eggs and preserved eggs from the old lady. On the way back, he went to the market and bought [-] duck eggs. .

When he got home, Yuan Dong was already proudly showing off his ore radio to him: "Brother, the ore radio I installed myself can listen to programs! I just spent [-] cents, and I have [-] cents left over for you. .”

This guy goes straight to the store in the morning, waits for the store to open, buys the parts he needs, comes back and tinkers a bit, and actually can listen to the radio station.

Chongyang jumped up and down excitedly: "Then we can listen to the trumpet tonight!"

Yuanchun said: "Not tonight, only from Monday to Saturday! You can listen to it tomorrow."

Yuan Dong laughed: "I can listen to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" at noon today."

Looking at the smiles on the faces of his younger brothers and sisters, Yuan Xia put his troubles behind him for now, at least everything looks good now, doesn't it?