Chapter 396: Chapter 396
The old man had work points in the production team, but they were barely enough to scrape by and provide some grain; he had the money to buy meat, but having been frugal all his life, he never indulged in it. When the production team slaughtered pigs, he didn’t join in, and he didn’t let Zheng Long join either. His reasoning was that having bought so much grain, buying meat as well would be too expensive.
In the old man’s eyes, being able to eat white flour was already a tremendous blessing. If they were to eat meat too, life would be too comfortable, and it would make him uneasy.
Thus, even though they didn’t have meat for the Spring Festival in the seventies, they were still very happy.
When Zheng Kai started school, it was almost vacation, so the school didn’t charge him tuition and let him listen in with the other students. At that time, primary school students of various ages did not necessarily start at the same level, and it was not uncommon for ten-year-olds to be in the first grade, so there wasn’t much distinction made, and it was all mixed teaching.
In the same classroom, there were children from first to fifth grade. At that time, primary school had not yet adopted a six-year system; it was usually five years of primary school followed by four years of middle school, this system was colloquially called the five-four system.
They attended school six and a half days a week, with classes ending at four in the afternoon on Saturdays and Sundays off, then back to school on Monday.
Normally, they would go home, change clothes, take some pickles and dry food for the next week, since rural primary schools were far from home and boarding was necessary, and it was common for several villages to share one school.
For the half month before the new year, Zheng Kai was just accustomed to the school life. Although he hadn’t paid the tuition for this term, he had already paid for the next term. Daily, the teacher would assign him some arithmetic and Pinyin individually to get him familiarized with the subjects, preparing him to formally study them next term.
Zheng Long had many things to do at home, such as repairing the house, mending clothes, doing laundry, and cleaning inside and out. Time was tight, everything had to be in order before the sixth day of the first lunar month so that he could leave with peace of mind on the seventh.
Zheng Kai was also sensible. When in school, he would help with chores and cooking after class; when not in school, he would learn how to cook, carry water, and wash clothes with Zheng Long. By now, he had mastered them quite well, although he already knew how to do these tasks, Zheng Long had given him a systematic tutorial.
The child was very smart and knew he had to show his best, so he was very careful with both of them during those days; as for the future, that would still require observation over time.
After tidying up the home, on the seventh day of the first month, Zheng Long was ready to leave; before departing, he tried to leave fifty yuan for his grandfather, but was refused.
"I have money. Why do you keep giving me money? I haven’t even spent your 300 yuan yet. Don’t worry, when I have kids one day, I won’t be so stingy. Things aren’t easy for you each month. Don’t worry about home all the time. Eat what you should eat, drink what you should drink, alright?"
As expected, the money wasn’t accepted. Leaving money was more practical than leaving grain, so before leaving this time, he stored one hundred pounds of unhulled rice in the grain bin and instructed Zheng Kai to check on it regularly to prevent it from getting wormy or spoiled, and not to always eat coarse grains. He stressed to be extra careful with the fine grains at home and not to show them in front of others, trust no one except for his great-grandfather.
They should eat fine grain at least once a day so they could both grow strong. Healthy bodies meant they would have the strength to work and continue struggling.
Zheng Kai appreciated Zheng Long’s difficulties, nodded tearfully in agreement, and promised to take good care of their grandfather.
Because of the challenges on the train last time, this time Zheng Long bought a standing ticket first, then upgraded to a sleeping berth on board. The journey from their home to Beijing took three days and three nights, and having a sleeping berth meant he could get some good rest.