Chapter 40 on difficult days (1)

1961 was a famously difficult period in the history of our country.Unfortunately, it was in this difficult and impoverished year that I was admitted to the only high school in the county, the county middle school, with the second place in the county. That's unfortunate indeed - especially for the father.He originally hoped that I would not pass the high school entrance examination.He probably thought that if I failed the exam, my dropping out of school would be caused by my own failure to live up to expectations, and it wasn’t that he refused to support me—he really couldn’t afford to support me to continue my studies.If you go to elementary school in this village or go to junior high school in a neighboring town, you can eat at your own home, which can always make do.And going to study in a county town other than Baili Road is not an easy task for a farmer, even in good times, not to mention what kind of situation they are in now!Is it possible to go to the public stove with wild vegetables and elm bark?

Of course, my father never said these words, but I have already seen his mind.Speaking of which, how can you blame poor father?I lost my mother when I was three years old. He was both my father and my mother.In the not easy life of more than ten years, he just dragged me so big by himself.He has such bad arthritis.In order to earn more work points so that I can support my studies, I always limped to work in the mountains, and worked at home, even when it rained, I didn’t dare to take a break.I know that there is really nothing he can do now—if there is a way, poor father will not wrong me even if he loses his life.Let's see!Things are going badly for us right now.Food is so scarce that every meal can only be sprinkled like a seasoning in wild vegetable soup.Since no crops can grow in the field, there will be no more wild vegetables to eat.The father and son survived on a little grain chaff and a little elm leaves that were left over from feeding the pigs.

Just when we, father and son, were frowning, the neighbors who had become less talkative due to hunger came to persuade us one after another.A few people advised me, and most people advised my father.The person who advised me told me not to go to school anymore.They say it's better to get by at home these days.Besides, being a farmer is hard, but if you get married and have children in the future, you will still be alive for the rest of your life.And most people advised my father to bite the bullet and let me finish high school.They said that I will definitely be able to go to college in the future; when I go to college, maybe I won't need to spend anything.Some people even said, judging from my intelligence, I might have to "study abroad" in the future.In short, they thought that my high school entrance examination ranked second in the county meant that I was a promising child, and they must not ruin this future.They even thought that the good results I had achieved were a great thing for our entire Majiage Tulao Village!This remote and impoverished small mountain village, is there anything else in history that has been so honorably ranked in the whole county?Several white-bearded fathers with high seniority in the village predicted that I would "become a high-ranking official" in the future.From this point of view, these old people are not just talking lightly, but reprimanding and advising my poor father.They frightened my timid father, saying that if he didn't send me to school, he would be "bombed by five thunders" in the future!

In those few days, these thin and lonely old men who were respected in the village often sat at the root of the sun cliff in front of the temple on the head of the village, propagating with infinite emotion that they had predicted my future development. : Because when they were young, they helped my grandfather move his grave, and found an old elm tree with a network of roots, which actually lifted his coffin into the midair of the grave!They came to the conclusion of this rare event: sooner or later our family (or our Majiage village) will have a "noble person". "Look," he deviated, "I'm afraid this is Jianqiang!"

My dear folks, however regrettably limited their view of things may be at times, all of them are of the utmost simplicity and generosity.When I heard that my father promised to let me go to school, even though the whole village was hungry and swollen, they still divided their life-saving food into one and a half bowls and brought them to my house one after another. Those white-bearded grandpas I actually put a few cornmeal buns that my children and grandchildren respected them tremblingly into my pocket, telling me to eat them when I was hungry on the road.They stroked my head with their skinny hands respectively, and Qian Anton and Wan instructed me to "seek fame".I couldn't help but let go of my tears in front of the folks--I haven't cried like this once since my mother died.I suddenly understood deeply: It is because of this great friendship that the people living in such a barren land have continued from generation to generation to the present...

In this way, on a summer morning, I finally carried the "food from a hundred families" and the bedroll wrapped in broken wool felt that my father had bundled for me, and with attachment and infinite gratitude, I bid farewell My dear Majiage Village.I stepped on the rugged mountain roads dug out in ancient times, and walked to the highest institution of learning in the county—to a new environment that I was passionately longing for but was completely unfamiliar with.I knew I would have great difficulty there—for I was a poor young man from a poor land.But I know that it is this impoverished land and the same impoverished fathers and villagers who have given me the endurance to bear the burden and the character of martyrdom—thus I feel that I am spiritually rich.