Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
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Everbright Pharmaceuticals was very famous in Huanshan County. In the eyes of many people, the ordinary employees there were better than ordinary teachers. So when she heard that Ye Ning had joined Everbright Pharmaceuticals, the class teacher swallowed the advice.
“Your roommate is very nice. You should work hard in the future.” Everbright Pharmaceuticals, what a good job, if she could trade with her, she would be willing to go to the pharmaceutical factory.
“I know, thank you, teacher. I came here mainly for Ye Lan’s affairs.” Her class teacher was also Ye Lan’s class teacher.
“I was planning to tell you about this. Ye Lan’s grades are very good. She ranked first in the high school entrance examination and is still in the top 20 in the county. She can definitely enter a technical secondary school. I talked to her last time and she also wanted to study in a technical secondary school. What do you think?” Ye Ning’s mother had returned to the city, and now her father was gone, so Ye Ning had become the head of their family.
“My dad left some money, and I work and will get paid, so there are no problems in life. I would if prefer Xiao Lan went to college.” Ye Ning said what she was thinking.
Technical secondary school was different from high school. After graduating from technical secondary school, you could be assigned jobs like college students. At this time, many people thought that going to college was a waste of time. After all, you graduate from technical secondary school in a little more than two years and you could get your salary several years in advance.
From the current point of view, it was indeed more cost-effective to choose technical secondary school, but Ye Ning knew that in the future, technical secondary school qualifications would gradually be eliminated, and all walks of life would have increasingly higher requirements for academic qualifications, especially government agencies. If you had graduated from technical secondary school, it would be difficult to get promoted in the future. Of course, she couldn’t say these things to the teacher.
“It is always good to study for a few more years. Otherwise, why would the country open universities? Xiao Lan can study and will definitely be admitted to university in the future. As a sister, I hope she has a better future.” Ye Ning said with a smile.
Okay, the family had said so. As a teacher, of course she could not advise students to go to school less.
“Ye Lan’s grades are good. Both No. 1 Middle School and No. 2 Middle School have greeted me. Knowing that your family is in trouble, No. 1 Middle School is willing to waive the tuition. After the No. 2 Middle School found out, in addition to the tuition reduction, there will also be a monthly food subsidy, which is equivalent to all three years of high school being free, which will greatly reduce your pressure.” The head teacher told Ye Ning the good news.
“I’ll discuss this with Xiao Lan.” It was Ye Lan who had to study, and she had to like it herself.
At this time, the schools were not divided into key and ordinary schools like in the future. The biggest difference between No. 1 Middle School and No. 2 Middle School was that No. 1 Middle School had new teaching buildings and dormitories, and the environment was better than No. 2 Middle School, while No. 2 Middle School had old teaching buildings and the dormitories were also very old. It was said that the cafeteria of No. 1 Middle School was also better than that of No. 2 Middle School, but everything else, such as teachers, was about the same.
“What do you think?” Ye Ning approached Ye Lan, “I am from No. 2 Middle School. Although my teachers are very good to me, I have to say that the environment in No. 1 Middle School is indeed better than No. 2 Middle School.”
“Sister, I am a farmer. I have been working in the fields since I was a child. I am not afraid of hardship or tiredness, so what do I care about the environment? I am going to study, not to enjoy happiness.”
The implication was that she wanted to go to No. 2 Middle School.
“Put aside the food subsidy, think carefully about which school you want to go to.” Ye Ning didn’t want Ye Lan to choose the second middle school just because of the subsidy.
“I really want to go to No. 2 Middle School.” Ye Lan said seriously.
One time, Ye Lan went to the city with Ye Qingshan to visit her sister. She hung out outside the No. 2 Middle School for a long time. At that time, she felt that the No. 2 Middle School was very impressive. In the future, she would like her eldest sister wanted to go to the No. 2 Middle School to study. But she had not shared this wish with anyone.
After confirming that she really wanted to go to No. 2 Middle School, Ye Ning didn’t say anything and just asked her to register and pay.
After getting the letters of introduction, the two sisters told the teacher and prepared to go home.
“If I don’t want to leave, I won’t leave. Why can’t I study after I pass the exam just because I’m a girl?”
Ye Ning and Ye Lan looked at each other and she asked in a low voice, “Is she your classmate?”
“Yeah. Li Aihua is from the village next door to us. Her father said that if she gets into the technical secondary school, she will go to school. If she doesn’t, she can forget about it.”
Seeing Li Aihua being dragged out of school by her father, Ye Lan whispered: “She has a sister who is two years older than her. Her brother failed the high school entrance examination for two years in a row. This year he became our classmate. He didn’t pass the exam this time. It seems that her family is planning to send her home so that her brother can continue to repeat his studies.”
Ye Ning looked at the teachers and classmates next to her. They seemed not surprised, but a little bit chilled.
Ye Lan lamented that if her mother was still here, if she hadn’t been admitted to a technical secondary school, she probably wouldn’t have let her go to high school, right? Maybe her father would let her continue to go to school, who knows…
“What are you thinking about? Let’s go home.” Ye Ning pushed Ye Lan.
“It’s nothing.” Ye Lan glanced at her sister, “If mom knows that dad is not here, will she be sad? Will she come back?”
“Why are you talking about her? Let’s go home quickly. I have to go to work tomorrow. When Xiao An has a holiday in a few days, we will go to the county town together.”
There was not much text about Li Fang in the book. Since she never showed up, Ye Ning guessed that she must have remarried and had a new family.
Seeing that Ye Ning’s expression was not very good, Ye Lan did not dare to speak anymore. As soon as the two of them walked out of the school gate, they saw Li Aihua, who had been crying just now, following her father home with blank eyes.
“She has accepted her fate, what else could she do?” Ye Lan noticed Ye Ning’s gaze and said lightly.
Although Ye Ning felt that she was pitiful, she was helpless and sighed softly, “Let’s go home.”
The village couldn’t hide anything. In the afternoon, Ye Ning found out from the aunt next door that the person introduced to her by her step-grandma was looking for someone else. They proposed marriage, and the woman’s family agreed. It was Li Aihua from the next village.
Li Aihua? Wasn’t that the female classmate who cried in the morning? She must be about the same age as classmate Ye Lan. She would get married and have children at the age of sixteen?
What was even more interesting was that the eldest aunt came specially to mock Ye Ning, “Some people think they are noble after reading a few books. They are not just farmers. Do the sons of big cadres still lack a wife? If people from such a good family doesn’t get married, how can others still be married?”
“Saying that we are harming you is just mistaking good intentions for donkey liver and lungs. Now they have found a girl from the next village. As long as they agree to get married, their family will provide for her to go to high school and even college if she can get into it. They have also arranged a job for her brother, which is a great thing. If you drop it and throw it out, all the reading will be in vain.”
Thinking of the job opportunities provided by the man’s family, the eldest aunt felt distressed. If Ye Ning was willing, this spot would belong to her son. It was all because of Ye Ning’s ignorance.
“Then marry your daughter. Ye Fenfen is already 20 this year, right? You just want to keep your daughter at home to help with the work, which delayed her flowering period. I have never seen such a mother.”
“What nonsense are you talking? Come on to us. There are so many marriage proposals in our family, but our Fenfen, she lookd down on them.” The eldest aunt yelled.
Ye Fangming and Wu Xianfeng were still very lucky. The three children they gave birth to were all healthy. The eldest was a son and was already married to a wife. The second child was spoiled by Wu Xianfeng, and was a bit unseemly. He idled around all day and had not even mentioned getting a wife, the third eldest child was Ye Fenfen, one year older than Ye Ning. If you don’t go to school in the countryside, this age was already considered too old. In many families, girls were already dating at the age of seventeen or eighteen, and they get engaged and married early. The reason why Ye Fenfen still stayed unmarried was just because Wu Xianfeng wanted to keep her daughter to work at home for a few more years.
“Fenfen’s Mom, a girl has to get married while she’s still in bloom. If she stays for a long time, she will become a spinster. She won’t be able to get married by then. Are you going to raise her for the rest of her life?”
A woman who came back from the mountain passed by and overheard some of their conversation and interrupted.
“Why not? I’m already looking forward to getting her married in a few months.” Wu Xianfeng smiled proudly, and then said to Ye Ning, “Tell your dad, as an uncle, don’t forget the red envelope.”
Everyone who heard her words was a little surprised. They didn’t expect that she was really willing to marry off her daughter. She had rejected many families with good conditions before, and she didn’t know which family could make Wu Xianfeng nod.
After dinner in the evening, Ye Ning and Ye Lan were sitting in the yard to enjoy the cool air. The aunt next door came in with a look on her face as if she had some big news.
“Do you know who your aunt is marrying Fenfen to?” Even though there was no one outside the yard and no outsiders in the yard, the aunt asked in a low voice.
“I don’t know, I don’t have any contact with them.” Ye Ning really had no contact with them. It was only today that Wu Xianfeng told her that Ye Fenfen was going to get married.
“Do you know Wang Fugui from Xiaokeng Village? Their family has two daughters and one son. They were originally poor and could not even afford food. Later, they built a house with the eldest daughter’s gift. Now that life is a little better, they want to find a wife for their son, but the family had no money, so they turned to their second daughter, and spread the word to families with daughters, saying that they were willing to exchange marriages with them. It just so happened that the second child in your aunt’s family couldn’t get a wife, and Fenfen didn’t get married either. Now that she’s at the age to get married, this is the right time.”
The aunt next door looked around, lowered her voice, and spoke in an angry voice, “So your aunt wanted to marry Fenfen to that fool in town, but she didn’t notice.”
Exchange marriage? In the early years, people who were so poor that they couldn’t even put food on the table would exchange relatives, but now it had been a long time since she heard of it.
“How do you know about this?”
“Jin Xiuli said that everyone in that family is not easy to get along with, so stay away from each other in the future to avoid suffering losses.” The aunt next door told Ye Ning.
“I know, don’t worry.” She would go to work tomorrow, and the next time she came back would be July. By then, a tomb would be set up for Ye Qingshan, and the three siblings would rarely come home.
Ye Ning sighed and said it was because of reform and opening up. In fact, the countryside today was still very ignorant and it was difficult to disobey the orders of parents, such as Ye Lan’s classmate Li Aihua and Ye Fenfen.
Ye Lan, who was washing dishes in the back room, only heard a few words. After the aunt next door left, she asked Ye Ning what she said.
After hearing what the aunt said, Ye Lan was extremely grateful that her parents were sensible and allowed her to go to school even though her mother was not very good to her.
Ye Ning patted Ye Lan on the shoulder and told her not to think nonsense, “So you have to study hard, get into college, get out of this mountain, and see the wider and more wonderful world outside.”
The next day, Ye Ning got up early and waited for the bus, telling Ye Lan over and over again to sell the pig and take care of herself and their brother, and then reluctantly left…
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