mtl008 Chapter 71 "Full of Love" - World Widows Raising Children 12
Chapter 71 "Full of Love" - World Widows Raising Children 12
The next day at work, Liu Yuxi told her supervisor that she wanted to attend night school. Night school classes are usually from 7 pm to 9 pm, but this year's classes are almost over, so the supervisor said he would recommend her to enroll before the start of next year's classes.
The earliest factory night schools were literacy classes, and graduating from a literacy class was equivalent to a higher primary school level. Later, as literacy rates increased, night schools were divided into two types: those that improved professional skills and those that improved academic literacy. Liu Yuxi was going to attend the latter, which focused on improving academic literacy. The subjects relevant to her work were mainly mathematics and physics. However, if you studied all the subjects and passed the exams, you would be awarded a certificate of completion. At that time, everyone recognized the qualifications obtained from night schools.
Near the end of the year, one evening, He Daqing suddenly returned to the courtyard and went straight to Yi Zhonghai's house. The door was closed, and it's unclear what they discussed, only that Yi Zhonghai seemed to have been beaten. Two days later, He Yuzhu married Ji Hong. He Daqing waited until after He Yuzhu's wedding before leaving the courtyard. After that, He Yuzhu and He Yushui distanced themselves from Yi Zhonghai and the old woman. With Ji Hong taking care of them, He Yuzhu and He Yushui became much more capable, and He Yuzhu's sharp tongue wasn't as offensive anymore.
In 1957, Liu Yuxi enrolled in night school. When they registered for the founding of the nation and the founding of the Party, they directly enrolled in the fifth grade. They had already mastered most of the fifth-grade material, but hadn't yet been exposed to the sixth-grade curriculum. Therefore, they planned to work hard during the semester and summer vacation so they could enroll in the sixth grade next semester and take the junior high school entrance exam at the end of the year. Liu Yuxi generally supported his children's decisions; after all, it was about striving for improvement, right? Even if they didn't achieve their goals, it didn't matter; their good intentions deserved encouragement!
Liu Yuxi thought that there would be signs of famine by the end of 1958, and she would have to remind everyone to buy grain in advance. During her rest that year, she often went to the surrounding mountains, and each time she came back she would bring back some wild vegetables, mushrooms and the like, and sometimes two bundles of firewood. In fact, she was planting sweet potato seedlings all over the mountains. She had two children of the original owner to take care of in this life. Except for the earthquake in 76, which she planned to warn about (the author is in Hefei, alas, the earthquake is a hurdle that cannot be overcome), she did not plan to deal with the others herself.
She planned to slip a note to the Lou family at the end of 58, asking them to intervene. After all, his first wife and son had already left, and their circle was wealthy and influential. Why couldn't they buy grain from outside? Right? That way, they would have done a good deed.
In 57, Xu Damao went to the countryside with his father to show movies. Once, after they had visited several villages, Liu Yuxi casually remarked, "Damao, have you been working too hard in the countryside lately? You look terrible. Shouldn't you go to the hospital?" At that time, Xu Damao had indeed lost weight and looked unwell; he had just graduated from school and his body wasn't used to the sudden exertion. Looking at Xu Fugui, she added, "Uncle, you'd better go see a doctor too. You look awful!"
Xu Fugui wasn't happy to hear this. No matter the era, if someone says you might be sick, even if they don't say it themselves, anyone would be upset. He replied to Liu Yuxi, "It's just that we visited too many villages this time, I'm exhausted!" Liu Yuxi couldn't very well say definitively, "You are sick!" right? She could only say, "Then you two should go home and rest!"
Xu Damao thought that Liu Yuxi was not a talkative person. He must have thought that the father and son looked really bad, so he went home and mentioned it to his father. He didn't know if the father and son had seen a doctor. He only knew that the father and son had been drinking Chinese medicine for several months. When asked, they said that going to the countryside was too tiring, and the doctor prescribed tonics.
He Yuzhu's wife, Ji Hong, discovered she was pregnant in April 57. He Yuzhu was overjoyed; the entire courtyard wasn't enough for him to show off, and he completely missed Yi Zhonghai's unpleasant expression. At the end of the year, the He family welcomed a healthy baby boy. This past Spring Festival, He Daqing returned to the courtyard house to see his eldest grandson and He Yushui, naming his grandson He Xiaoming. Liu Yuxi found it strange; wasn't the character "Xiao" essential? He Daqing explained the name as follows: the child was born at dawn, and he hoped he would have a bright future! If "Xiaoming" has the opportunity decades later, he will probably sing to his grandfather: "Listen to me, thank you, because of you..."
In 1958, the year of the "Great Leap Forward" and the "Great Steelmaking Campaign," Liu Yuxi's family was among the most enthusiastic in delivering scrap iron. After all, they were employees of the steel rolling mill, and spending money to buy scrap iron was a way to generate revenue for the mill. Other residents of the same courtyard would also come to them for help when they couldn't meet their quotas. For the past few years, Liu Yuxi had been borrowing textbooks from Uncle San, so she helped him when he couldn't deliver the required amount of iron products—it was all normal neighborly courtesy. Meanwhile, simple blast furnaces were built in every street, and residents of the courtyard took turns smelting iron. Since Liu Yuxi was the only adult in her family, she didn't participate.
In the second half of the year, large canteens were set up in the countryside. I heard that every meal included rice, white flour, and meat. At this time, Jia Zhangshi became shrewd and took her 7-year-old Banggeng and 3-year-old Xiaodang back to the village where her household registration was located. In her mind, it would be a loss not to take advantage of a good deal. With the three of them in the countryside, the two children's rations in the city would be saved, and the family could store some grain every month.
It wasn't until the end of 58, when the communal dining hall was on the verge of collapse, that Jia Zhangshi returned to the city with Banggeng and Xiaodang. By then, there were signs of famine in the city. Liu Yuxi had already managed to slip notes into the Lou family's courtyard and had mentioned to the people in the courtyard during his visits to the grain station in the past two months that it seemed that fine grains were hard to buy. When Jia Zhangshi returned to the courtyard and said that there was no grain left in the countryside, the three old men held a general meeting of the entire courtyard that very day. They organized the able-bodied men in the courtyard to go to different pigeon markets every night to buy grain, and then distribute it according to the amount each family paid. They continued this practice until they could no longer buy grain at the pigeon markets.
In 1959, the Great Famine began, and the rations for city dwellers were reduced again and again. Every month, Uncle San had to exchange his refined grains and Liu Yuxi's family's grains for coarse grains, and then exchange the coarse grains for sweet potatoes. Otherwise, his three and a half boys would not have enough to eat. Even so, they were always hungry. During that period, people would lie at home as much as possible to avoid digestion and eat less. Although every family still had some surplus grains, people who had experienced 42 years of famine dared not eat their fill. They were just trying to stay alive, because no one knew when the famine would end.
Liu Yuxi's family was no exception. She didn't take extra food from her space to supplement the family's income. She just made sure they could eat half full at each meal. After all, at this time, food was life, and she couldn't be any different from others.