The Game of Life-Chapter 682 - 680 Meat (Part 2)

Chapter 682: Chapter 680 Meat (Part 2)

Tian Lin gobbled up the coarse grain bun in her hands in a few big bites, covered the pickled vegetable jar, and handed another bun to Xiujuan: “This bun is made by my uncle, it’s much tastier than other coarse grain buns. It has cooled down now but when it was fresh out of the pot this morning, it was so soft and fragrant, you have to try it.”

Xiujuan hesitated for a moment, then began nibbling on the bun: “I never heard about you having an aunt who married into the city when I was still in the village.”

Xiujuan and Tian Lin were from the same village before they got married.

“She’s not my biological aunt, but my husband’s,” Tian Lin said, pulling out a large palm-leaf fan from her cloth bag and beginning to fan herself — she was quite well-equipped. “I’ve only been married into the Zhao Family for half a year, right? When we got married, she came to have a meal and left without saying much. I thought we weren’t on good terms then. Later on, I heard it was because my uncle wasn’t home, and she was worried about her kids so she left in a hurry. I always thought it was just an excuse. But it turned out we are on good terms after all; she even sent someone specially to inform me of this good opportunity, and fearing that the makeshift shelter I was staying in wasn’t safe, she invited me to stay at her house.”

“You know, she has five sons, and each one is a big and chubby troublemaker. If I don’t keep an eye out, they’d climb onto the roof to pry tiles and steal food. I’d be worried about them too.”

...

“That’s so nice.” Xiujuan could only feel envious.

The envy of a former playmate made Tian Lin feel refreshed, and she fanned herself even more vigorously: “You’re right. At first, I didn’t want to get married off. The Zhao Family is poor, and my husband is not in good health. If it had not been for the twenty yuan my mother wanted, I wouldn’t have married him.”

Xiujuan: ?

Seeing the confusion on Xiujuan’s face, Tian Lin quickly explained: “My mom gave me five yuan of it, and secretly tucked it into my dowry.”

Xiujuan: …

“How about now, does your husband treat you well?” Xiujuan asked.

“He’s really good to me!” Tian Lin became animated as she spoke, “Originally, I only saw that my husband couldn’t work due to his poor health, but I didn’t expect that he couldn’t beat me either since he’s weak! Not only is my husband good-tempered and doesn’t beat his wife, but now it’s just my father-in-law and me doing the labor at home. All the fieldwork is done by us, and we get to eat first at meals. Although the Zhao Family is poor, there are few mouths to feed, and we have enough to eat. My mother-in-law said she will kill a pig and stew a big piece of meat for me to eat during New Year’s!”

Once again, Xiujuan could only nibble on her bun with envy.

“By the way, Xiujuan, I heard you gave birth to a big chubby boy last year.” After boasting about herself, Tian Lin thought she should give Xiujuan a chance to boast, so she turned the conversation over to her.

Xiujuan nodded but didn’t seem very happy.

“What’s the matter, is your son not healthy?” Tian Lin frowned.

“No,” Xiujuan shook her head, “it’s just that the two educated youths who used to teach at our village school were accepted into college and have returned to the city, so I’m a bit worried.”

Tian Lin: ???

“There are only three teachers in our village school, and those two educated youths had a high school education, while the other teacher only finished elementary school. Now that the two teachers have gone to college, any new teacher we get will probably only have an elementary school education, perhaps not even a junior high school degree,” Xiujuan said.

Tian Lin was dumbfounded. She had only attended elementary school for two years and could only write a few big characters. If you asked her to write a letter, it would be full of mistakes and circles. In her view, having completed elementary school was more than enough to teach it.

“Is… is there a difference?” Tian Lin recalled her limited time at school, which seemed to involve just reciting texts and watching the teacher write. She had used her fingers to help her with math.

“Yes!” Xiujuan said very seriously, “Of course there’s a difference. When I was pregnant with my eldest, I often used to see Mrs. Feng, one of the teachers from the village school who got accepted into college, as I sat by the door. She told me that teachers can vary greatly, and only the better teachers can educate better students. Teachers in the city usually have at least finished high school, many have gone to college, and there were even some who had studied abroad. They have more knowledge and, thus, can impart more knowledge to their students.”

Xiujuan thought for a moment: “That’s roughly the idea. I can’t explain the specifics, but I think what she said makes sense. Our village school sends more students to the town’s junior high school each year than other villages do, and it’s because we had two teachers who had studied at the high school level. I want my son to be able to go to college in the future, to get into a college like Mrs. Feng did and find a job in the city, like your aunt and uncle, and not have to toil in the fields all his life like us.”

Perhaps because Xiujuan’s aspirations were too grand, it left Tian Lin completely stunned. After a long while, she stuttered, “So… what do we do now?”

“Before Mrs. Feng went to college, she told me that with so many educated youths returning to the city, there would surely be job recruitment. She told me to keep an ear out because if you get employed in the city, you can get a city residence permit. Then my child will be able to study in the city,” Xiujuan said.

“It’s not that easy,” Tian Lin said. “There are so many educated youths looking for jobs, and they have more knowledge than us. They can even write letters; how can we compete with them?”

“That’s exactly why this is our best chance!” Xiujuan was a bit excited but lowered her voice considerably, “This recruitment doesn’t require an exam; as long as you’re willing to work hard, there’s a chance to stay on. My husband and I have discussed it—if I can stay, we’ll move to the city. He’ll do odd jobs in the city, and we’ll lease out our farmland to someone else.”

“Young lady, don’t be too optimistic about it,” the uncle who had been resting under a tree suddenly spoke up, “The quotas for this recruitment have already been internally fixed and reserved for those with connections. We’re just here for temporary work. I’ve noticed you’ve been working especially hard recently; don’t waste your effort. Us country folk without connections—it’s not that easy for us to stay in the city.”

“Even if some of the quotas are prearranged, there must be some that aren’t,” Xiujuan retorted, not willing to give up.

The uncle didn’t want to argue and just waved his hand: “You’ll see when the time comes.”

Xiujuan wanted to say more, but Tian Lin pulled her back, “It’s too hot. I remember there’s a place selling ice water ahead. I’ll treat you, let’s go have a bowl of ice water.”

The allure of ice water was strong, and Xiujuan was immediately dragged away by Tian Lin for a drink.

The ice water was cheap, two big bowls for one cent, while one big bowl of sugary ice water was one cent. Tian Lin spent one cent on two big bowls of ice water—one for her and one for Xiujuan. They guzzled down their bowls, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

“Why bother arguing with that kind of person.” Tian Lin wiped her mouth. “I saw him this morning; a grown man carrying sandbags even slower than me. If you want to compete for a quota, just work hard. With the way you’re going at it, you might actually have a chance to stay.”

“Yeah.” Xiujuan nodded firmly. “What about you?”

“I’d better not bother. I haven’t even had a child, so why worry about so much? My husband is in poor health; he finds it tough to work in the fields, and I doubt he’d find work in the city. I might as well stay put in the countryside,” Tian Lin said, exuding a resigned attitude, not taking Xiujuan’s words to heart. “Let’s go find a shady spot to sit down. I reckon our previous spot has been taken. We’ll start work once the sun isn’t so scorching, and there’s no point in wasting our strength standing here getting sunburned.”

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

Saying this, Tian Lin pulled Xiujuan away to look for a cool place to rest.

Overhearing Tian Lin’s words just now reminded Jiang Feng of some things.

Tian Lin appeared indifferent, but she surely remembered what Xiujuan had said.

Jiang Feng remembered that the Zhao Family had always been poor, continuing until Meimei went to junior high school. Their poverty was multifaceted—one aspect was the inheritable poverty from the Zhao Family lineage; another was due to Zhao Zhuangshi’s poor health requiring constant medication, leaving only Tian Lin to farm their land with no one else to work outside.

Back then, mere farming was only enough to fill their stomachs; nothing else was assured.

Zhao Mei was older than all the Jiang family children, and until she reached junior high, the Zhao Family couldn’t afford meat more than twice a year. At that time, Jiang Family’s Three Fatty could spend his pocket money on wrapping up the whole zongzi stall at the entrance of the elementary school, yet Zhao Mei, since elementary school, had to walk for hours to the town’s school every day, with her lunch being rice with pickles taken to school to be warmed by the canteen chefs.

The Zhao Family’s days started to get slightly better starting from when Zhao Mei went to high school.

Zhao Mei’s high school was in the county town, which meant leaving compulsory education behind and facing both living expenses and tuition fees. To support Zhao Mei’s schooling, Tian Lin gave up farming their land for the first time and left her husband at home to go out and work for eight years, starting from Zhao Mei’s high school years all the way until she graduated from college and found a job, before Tian Lin returned home to live a normal rural woman’s life.

In a sense, if it weren’t for Zhao Mei’s schooling, the Zhao Family might have continued to be poor.

The reason Mrs. Jiang liked Tian Lin was that she believed Tian Lin had foresight, unlike other villagers who would let their children work if they weren’t interested in schooling or couldn’t afford it. As for why Tian Lin had such foresight and insisted so stubbornly on sending Zhao Mei to high school in the county town, Mrs. Jiang had never really understood.

Now, Jiang Feng understood.

Tian Lin had remembered what Xiujuan said.

She remembered it very deeply and clearly.