Struggle Life in the 1970s

After the two walked out of the restaurant, they found a shady place at the school gate. Chu Ye took out the quotations from great men that he had copied from the notebook and began to read them carefully.

Since I have a political science exam this afternoon, reading these now might be useful.

There were also many people studying near the school. Although it was a hot summer day, no one complained about the hard work and everyone was working hard for the exam.

Mu Jiajun was right next to them, with an empty seat between him and Chu Ye.

He had anticipated this happening when he went out in the morning, so he put a book in his bag. Now he took it out and started reading with great interest.

Chu Ye took a glance while reading and saw the familiar cover again.

I still remember that when Chu Ye first went to Mu Jiajun for tutoring, he was holding this book. At that time, Chu Ye's English was not good, and he vaguely translated that the title of this book was related to Feng.

It was only later, after the two became familiar with each other, that Mu Jiajun explained that the correct translation of the book's title was "Gone with the Wind".

Chu Ye put down what she was holding and moved closer with curiosity. She could now understand some of the densely written English characters on the book, but her translation was not very accurate and she could only roughly understand the plot.

She wondered if the book was really that good. If nothing unexpected happened, she remembered that this was the third time Mu Jiajun had read it, so she asked, "What kind of story does this book tell?"

Hearing this, Mu Jiajun raised his eyebrows unexpectedly, then he closed the book, thought carefully, and replied, "It tells a story about a noble lady who experienced hardships in life but remained tenacious and full of hope."

Chu Ye was a little surprised, then she thought of her favorite TV series "The Heroines of the Yang Family". Couldn't the life story of Mu Guiying be summarized this way?
Although she is not a rich lady, being the daughter of the village chief is very impressive.

She expressed her thoughts, and Mu Jiajun listened carefully, thought for a moment, and then said, "Not all of them, for example, in this book."

He raised the book in his hand. "The heroine is called Scarlett. Although she never gets discouraged in the face of adversity, she is not a very positive character. On the contrary, she has many dark sides."

"For example, she is selfish and vain. The person she likes doesn't like her. In a fit of rage, she snatched away her sister's fiancé. She is shrewd and selfish. In order to make money, she hired prisoners to work day and night. She is not like Mu Guiying who is always surrounded by the halo of justice."

Chu Ye fell silent for a moment and then she said, "But from what you said, I feel that you still admire her very much."

"Yes." Mu Jiajun let out a long sigh and continued, "Think about it, it is a rare quality to remain honest and kind throughout one's life. There are still few people like Mu Guiying. On the contrary, most people are just ordinary people. Ordinary people have good sides, and occasionally they have bad thoughts."

"Sometimes I think that if Scarlett was just a kind and beautiful lady in her time, she might not have lived a good life. She just worked hard to make her life better."

"But she is like a little sun, always radiating vitality, inspiring herself and infecting others."

After saying that, he looked at Chu Ye with a smile in his eyes. Chu Ye's ears were hot when he looked at her. She inexplicably felt that his last sentence seemed to have another meaning.

At this moment, the campus gate creaked, and Uncle Wang opened the big iron gate, signaling the surrounding candidates to enter the campus and wait.

Chu Ye quickly said goodbye to Mu Jiajun and followed the crowd into the campus.

The exam in the afternoon was on politics. Chu Ye had prepared well in advance and was like a fish in water during the exam.

After the exam, Chu Ye and Mu Jiajun waited at the school gate. After a while, Jianwen arrived. The two of them quickly got on the ox cart, and the three of them took advantage of the setting sun and leisurely returned home.

When she got home, it was already dark. Chu's mother thought of her coming back, so she left a bowl of millet porridge in the pot. Then she went to chat with Aunt Wang.

When she returned to the house with the still slightly warm porridge and just sat down, Chu Guangyao came over.

"Sister, how was your exam today?" Chu Guangyao was a little reserved. Ever since he realized the changes in Chu Ye, he felt a little unnatural every time he spoke to Chu Ye.

He clenched his fists and placed them on both sides of his body. He was very nervous, but still looked at Chu Ye, wanting to know how she did in the exam today.

Chu Ye was also quite surprised when he heard his question.

After her rebirth, she had been ignoring Chu Guangyao. Perhaps he could sense it, so he rarely came near her.

Because the school was used as an examination venue these days, the students were naturally given holidays. Since Chu Guangyao returned home a few days ago, the two of them had not spoken to each other.

After all, Chu Guangyao went to work with his family every day, while she reviewed her homework and prepared for exams at home.

Although she didn't know what Chu Guangyao wanted to talk to her about, she still answered honestly, "I feel it's okay. The test questions are not difficult."

This is the truth. The Chinese and political subjects she took the exam on today have always been her strong points.

However, today's exam is just an appetizer. What really makes the difference in scores, after all, are physics, chemistry and English.

After saying that, she took out the remaining steamed bun from the cloth bag, took a bite, and drank some porridge.

The atmosphere in the room became quiet again. An invisible awkwardness enveloped Chu Guangyao. He suddenly regretted his decision to come and see Chu Ye.

But this is his sister, the sister who grew up with him. Although he doesn't know why Chu Ye has changed so much, he also sees the efforts Chu Ye has made in studying during this period of time.

He hoped that his sister could get good grades. Thinking of this, he felt inexplicably confident. He thought: Yes, this is his sister. Although she doesn't like to talk to him now, she didn't hurt him. What should he be afraid of?

So he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bag of cereal and a handful of candy.

He came over, handed it to Chu Ye, and said, "Sister, soak this oatmeal in the porridge. It is nutritious and delicious. Put this candy in your bag and eat it on the way tomorrow."

Under the dim light, the boy was holding the food that Chu Ye had given him. Chu Ye was puzzled. After such a long time, he still hadn't finished eating?
Chu Ye didn't intend to take it and asked him to take it back and eat it himself.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished speaking, Chu Guangyao became anxious. He tore open the package and sprinkled a bag of cereal into the porridge, and then put the candy on the table. After doing all this, he ran away like a rabbit, leaving behind a sentence, "Sister, you are too thin, eat more."

He disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Chu Ye with his head down, looking at a layer of white, flattened oatmeal floating on the slightly cool porridge. There was white powder in the porridge that blended into the rice, bringing bursts of milky aroma.

She looked at the bowl of rice, not knowing what she was thinking. After a while, she picked up the chopsticks beside her and stirred it gently.

-

The next day, Chu Ye took exams in physics, chemistry and English. When she walked out of the examination room, she saw Mu Jiajun and smiled brightly.

The depression that had been weighing on her heart for the past few months was swept away because she knew that she would be able to continue her studies.

Her efforts during this period have not gone in vain. When she got the test paper in the examination room, she could associate it with which knowledge point in the book it referred to with just a glance, and then she could solve the problem quickly.

This was also thanks to the notebook given by Mu Jiajun, which contained many clever problem-solving ideas. I used it to quickly solve the last few big questions in physics and chemistry.

Although I was not sure about a few gaps in English, overall I didn't lose too many points.

At this moment, she was as happy as a bird, and even Mu Jiajun looked extremely handsome in the sunlight.

She was so grateful to Mu Jiajun. If it weren't for his careful teaching during this period, she might not have been able to grow so fast.

Thinking of this, she quickly walked to Mu Jiajun, changed her usual silence, and chattered with Mu Jiajun about the difficult problems she encountered, and then shared her ideas for solving the problems with him.

She was talking happily, and Mu Jiajun was listening with a smile and responding from time to time.

At the end, she bowed deeply to Mu Jiajun, her tone full of gratitude, "Teacher Mu! Thank you for your teaching during this period. It has allowed me to gain a lot in a short period of time."

Her voice was quite loud, attracting the attention of people nearby. The courage she had just had to talk endlessly disappeared in an instant, and she embarrassedly pulled Mu Jiajun to a place with fewer people.

Mu Jiajun still had a smile on his face. He knew without asking that Chu Ye would definitely do well in the exam this time.

-

The next day, as soon as Chu Ye got up, he heard the sound of rain outside the house.

The dirt roads in the country were particularly difficult to walk on on rainy days. After finishing his meal, Chu Ye took the black cloth umbrella from home and went out, and saw Mu Jiajun waiting outside the house.

He was also holding a black cloth umbrella, but he had changed his clothes today and wore a light blue shirt, which made him look particularly handsome in the rain.

When Chu Ye walked in, he explained that he had just met Jianwen. Jianwen said that he had to go to the brigade to pull a bull cart, so he asked the two of them to wait for him at the village entrance.

Chu Ye nodded, and the two walked towards the village entrance, one in front and one behind. They didn't know when the rain started last night, but now the rain wet the soil, making the road particularly difficult to walk on.

The two carefully avoided puddles and tried to walk on the roadside, but they could not avoid leaving muddy footprints along the way.

As the two of them were getting closer and closer to the village entrance, with one step deep and one step shallow, Mu Jiajun, who was walking in front, discovered that there seemed to be someone at the village entrance.

He originally thought it was Jianwen, but judging from his clothes, he didn't think so.

When he saw Jianwen this morning, Jianwen was wearing a black shirt, but the man not far away was wearing white clothes. He looked like a man from his height. He was standing quietly under a tree with a bicycle next to him.

He appeared at the entrance of the village so early and seemed to be waiting for someone. Mu Jiajun felt puzzled.

However, at this moment, the footsteps of the two people also attracted the attention of the man not far away. He slowly turned his head, his hair wet by the rain hung on his forehead, and his face was gloomy. His originally handsome face now looked scary.

The man's gloomy eyes swept over Mu Jiajun, and finally set his sights on Chu Ye.

Chu Ye, who was walking with his head down, seemed to sense something and raised his head, and their eyes met.

The sound of dripping water around faded away at this moment. Through the needle-like raindrops, Chu Ye could see the man's face clearly. It was Zhao Xuesong.

(End of this chapter)