Struggle Life in the 1970s

Chu Guangyao had also been starving for a long time and was swallowing his saliva, but he did not move. He first looked at Chu Ye, and when Chu Ye thanked him and then sat down to eat, he also quickly thanked Mu Jiajun and then started eating with big mouthfuls.

There were only three of them in the wonton stall, and their clothes didn't match their appearance very well. The curious vendor came over and started talking to them enthusiastically.

"You are also sending someone to school, right? Who is it?" The peddler looked young, about 30 years old, wearing a blue cloth work suit with a black cloth tied around his waist.

Although he asked the question with a smile, his eyes were fixed on Mu Jiajun, and he obviously thought it was him who came to school.

However, Chu Ye spoke at this time and admitted that she was the one who came to school.

"Ah... Well, the little girl is a good student. Where are you from?" The peddler was quite curious. He looked at Chu Guangyao's face and noticed the similarities between their eyebrows. His eyes then fell on Mu Jiajun, and he kept wondering about the relationship between the three of them.

"My home is in Xinnan County down below." Chu Ye responded in a friendly manner, but the vendor widened his eyes and raised his voice after hearing it.

"Hey, there was a girl this morning who is also from your county. She was not easy to deal with." When the peddler heard about Xinnan County, he seemed to have found an outlet to vent his grievances. Without waiting for Chu Ye to wonder, he blurted it out.

"You don't know, although that girl is good-looking, what she says can choke people to death! I have been doing business for all these years and have never seen anyone with such a cunning temper." The vendor put his hands on his hips, his tone was so excited.

"You said I was doing business here at noon, and the little girl bumped into the edge of the pot while spinning. Before I said anything, she accused my pot of blocking her way."

"The people holding the luggage were her mother and her brother. Her brother wanted to hit me but was stopped. In fact, she wasn't burned at all. The pot was not hot yet." The peddler glared at Chu Ye, as if wanting Chu Ye to judge for him.

"But the girl didn't want to. She said she just bought a new skirt and wore it today, and she wanted to get involved in my scandal. She also said she bought it at a department store and wanted me to pay for it."

"The money I made in the past half month was not enough to buy her a skirt! In the end, seeing more and more people gathered, they didn't want to make a name for themselves because of this incident, so they made me pay for three bowls of wontons, and that was the end of it."

The vendor sighed, "I also heard them talking when I was serving food. They said they came from Xinnan County early in the morning. You are also from there, little girl. You two might be assigned to the same class. You better be careful not to offend anyone."

The peddler was well-intentioned and talkative. After all, looking at the coarse cloth clothes Chu Ye wore, her yellow and dark skin, and the small wounds on her hands from working, it was clear that this girl was a genuine country child.

Looking back at the girl at noon, she had fair skin and was wearing a white dress with a nipped waist. As soon as she appeared at the school gate, she attracted countless people's attention. But the girl was not at all stage-frightened. She held her head high, as if nothing caught her attention.

Comparing the two, it is obvious who is easy to get along with and who is not. In addition, the little girl is persistent when encountering problems, and the vendor is afraid that a silly girl like Chu Ye might accidentally bump into others, and then she would end up being bullied.

He himself was a child from the countryside and had been selling wontons on the streets for several years. Naturally, he had met all kinds of people. He knew in his heart that when dealing with such rich people who looked spoiled, the best thing was not to offend them but to flatter and coax them.

Chu Ye heard the good intention in his words and nodded naturally.

Since her rebirth, although she is not afraid of trouble, she also does not want to cause trouble for no reason. She came to school to study and gain knowledge. She wants to get out of the mountains. It is best to avoid this kind of mess.

Mu Jiajun and Chu Guangyao had finished eating, but there was still half a bowl left in Chu Ye's bowl. She looked around and quickened her eating pace.

But the vendor asked again, "What is the relationship between you three?"

At this time, Chu Ye still had food in her mouth and couldn't speak for a while. Chu Guangyao wanted to say that they were siblings, but considering that Mu Jiajun was also here, it would be difficult to introduce them as the educated youth from their village.

Just thinking about it like this made him feel uneasy. All the food he had was given to his sister by Mu Jiajun, and his sister gave it to him. In a sense, he also benefited from Mu Jiajun.

Not to mention, Mu Jiajun tutored his sister a lot and could be considered half a teacher. It would seem particularly strange if he just said a cold word "educated youth" to her.

At this time, the young man's clear voice came, "I am their distant cousin. My cousin is going to school today, so I came here specially to see her off."

After saying that, he raised his eyebrows leisurely and looked at Chu Ye. From an angle that the vendor couldn't see, his eyes were full of smiles.

Chu Guangyao was surprised for a moment, and then he felt that this statement was a good one. Anyway, Mu Jiajun was older than both of them, so it was not wrong to say that he was the older brother.

Chu Ye choked and swallowed hard. He opened his mouth to say something, but when he met Mu Jiajun's bright eyes, he didn't say anything in the end and just responded softly.

After Chu Ye finished eating, the three of them greeted the vendor, picked up their luggage not far away, and headed towards the school gate.

When he was about to reach the door, Mu Jiajun saw a man selling popsicles on a bicycle next to him, so he paid for three white sugar popsicles.

The hot weather was scorching the earth, and nothing could soothe the heat in my heart better than a sweet popsicle. Chu Guangyao took it first, and then he said loudly, "Thank you, Brother Jiajun."

Mu Jiajun smiled and handed the remaining two popsicles to Chu Ye. The popsicles could not withstand the scorching sun, and the frost on the surface quickly formed water droplets, which were about to drip. Chu Ye took them reluctantly. Then, Mu Jiajun still stared at her, raised his eyebrows as if waiting for something. Chu Ye sighed silently, and a voice that was too low to be heard rang out, "Thank you, Brother Jiajun."

Hearing this, Mu Jiajun smiled, turned around with his luggage, and started eating the remaining popsicle in his hand while walking.

The three of them followed the route map posted on the notice board and soon found the girls' dormitory. It was a four-story tube building. Probably for the sake of aesthetics, the bottom two floors were painted green.

Looking from below, you can only see four long corridors, with a few places where clothes are hung to dry, and people walking occasionally on the corridors.

In front of the tube building is a row of identical buildings. That one is the boys' dormitory. In front of the boys' dormitory, there is another two-story building, which is where the teachers live.

A piece of paper is posted at the door of the dormitory, which states which floor and dormitory the new students will be staying in, as well as the bed numbers to avoid disputes among students.

Because school starts today, the students have a lot of luggage to carry at once, and they all have family members to see them off, so the dormitory manager is considerate and allows the family members to enter the dormitory as well, but requires them to pick up their belongings and leave immediately, and not to stay.

Chu Guangyao and Mu Jiajun were therefore able to help carry the luggage upstairs. The three of them went up to the fourth floor and found Room 405. Then Chu Ye knocked on the door, and soon a round-faced girl with two pigtails opened the door.

She first saw Chu Ye, then her gaze fell on Chu Guangyao, and finally looked at Mu Jiajun, her eyes widened instantly.

"Hello, I'm from this dormitory too. My name is Chu Ye." Chu Ye was the first to greet the girl. The girl in front of him not only had a round face, but also round eyes. She looked very cute.

"Hello... hello, my name is Zhao Yue, you can call me Xiao Yue." She realized that it was impolite to stare at someone, so she quickly retracted her gaze, smiled shyly at Chu Ye, and then opened the dormitory door.

There was a girl sitting in the dormitory. She turned her head when she heard the noise. She was pale and thin, looking like a sick beauty.

But she was not cold. She smiled shyly when she saw Chu Ye, and a weak voice came out of her mouth, "You are the new roommate, right? My name is Qin Manwen, and we will be roommates for the next four years."

Chu Ye's eyes narrowed and he quickly gave his name.

Then she looked around. The dormitory was not big. There were only two iron bunk beds in one room, one on the left and one on the right. Next to the bed were two waist-high iron cabinets, which were where personal belongings were kept.

The bed Chu Ye was assigned was on the left side of the room, which was the lower bunk. The person occupying her upper bunk was Zhao Yue, and the person occupying the lower bunk on the right was Qin Manwen, who looked a little frail. The upper bunk was still empty, presumably because no one had arrived yet.

When the two roommates introduced themselves just now, Mu Jiajun smiled and nodded in response. However, Chu Guangyao was a little restrained, his eyes fixed on Chu Ye, not daring to raise his head.

Now that the two men had unloaded their luggage, they did not dare to delay. Chu Ye accompanied them to the school gate to wait for the bus. Soon, a bus back to the town passed by. Chu Ye sent Chu Guangyao on the bus and told him not to run around when he arrived in the town and wait for Brother Jianwen to pick him up and take him back to the village.

Seeing Chu Guanyao nodding repeatedly through the open glass, and fearing that she was worried, he turned around and shouted loudly to let her rest assured, Chu Ye inexplicably felt a sense of separation.

Mu Jiajun was still holding his briefcase and standing silently beside her. When Chu Ye sent Chu Guangyao away and turned around, she met his eyes.

"Do you still have to go to the city to take a bus?" Chu Ye remembered that when they were chatting a long time ago, Mu Jiajun mentioned that his home was in the provincial capital.

"Well, we'll leave when the bus comes." The school is some distance away from the city, and he has to wait for a passing bus to take him there.

"You come home so suddenly, is there something urgent?" Before this morning, Chu Ye had never heard him mention going home.

Mu Jiajun was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "No, I have nothing to do when I go home, but I received a letter from home a while ago saying that they missed me after not seeing me for half a year and asked me to take time to go home and visit."

Chu Ye understood, and then the two of them fell into silent silence. However, soon a bus heading to the city passed by, and Mu Jiajun hailed it to stop. When it was time to get on the bus, Mu Jiajun turned his head, reached out and patted Chu Ye on the head. His pair of white teeth dazzled in the sun.

"I left some money in your package. Just spend it on clothes and food. Don't save it. I'm leaving now. See you in the New Year."

"cousin."

After saying that, he quickly walked onto the bus, and the bus started moving, raising a cloud of dust.

Chu Ye stared blankly at the receding vehicle, raised his hand and unconsciously touched his chest, where it felt like a small drum.

"Bang...bang...bang..."

(End of this chapter)