Chapter 69: Selling the Treasure (1)

Time passed in this way of diligent study and hard practice. Winter turned to spring, spring to summer, and before I knew it, it was another summer.

I was 10 and a half years old that summer. One day that summer, my family moved. We said goodbye to the familiar village and the land where our ancestors had lived and moved to the county seat. The reason was because of my older sister and her schooling. This was the suggestion of the old man Jiang.

Before this suggestion, my eldest sister had already been studying at the high school in the town for a year.

The reason for this was as follows.

In our area, as I mentioned before, there are only primary and middle schools in the township, so there is no choice. When children are young, they can only go to the nearest school.

But when it comes to high school, there are more choices. There are two other high schools in the neighboring towns, and there is a high school in the town. The best is the high school in the county seat.

My parents are people who value education. Although they can’t read or write, they worship college students from the bottom of their hearts and wish they could raise a college student of their own. My older sisters have excellent grades, and under the “violent” education of Mr. Jiang, my grades have also improved. My parents’ minds are even more active.

My eldest sister graduated from junior high school last year with excellent grades as always, so she could choose any high school she wanted. My parents calculated our family’s conditions and finally decided to send my eldest sister to a high school in the town.

This was the limit of what my parents could do. The quality of education in the county high school was certainly not comparable to that of the town high school, and the quality of education in the town high school was certainly not comparable to that of the county high school. But the county high school? Could my parents even dream of it?

At that time, my mother was thinking that our family was of good composition and my daughter had excellent grades, so maybe she could go to university.

In the summer of 1977, after my eldest sister had finished her first year of high school, a policy was being circulated throughout the country that the college entrance exam would soon be reinstated.

This was undoubtedly a bombshell that exploded in everyone’s heart. Everyone understood that from then on, going to university would have nothing to do with one’s family background or recommendations, and the only thing that mattered was academic performance.

This is fine, but my parents were confident in my sister’s studies. She was in the top ten in her class, even though she didn’t go to high school in the town. However, my sister was sad because of one of her classmates.

That classmate was a female classmate in my sister’s junior high school class. She used to be behind my sister in school, but her family was able to get her daughter into a county-level school. The difference in their studies was huge.

When they met during the summer vacation, my sister realized that she was falling behind in her studies, that she was lagging behind in her knowledge of details, and that she was even lagging behind in her knowledge of the world.

My sister was outstanding and proud, and she had always had a dream, one that was influenced by my poor health as a child, and that was to become a doctor and go to medical school!

In this kind of contrast, with the atmosphere of the national college entrance examination being restored, my sister lost confidence in herself and even became fearful.

The college entrance exam is taken by students all over the country. She was not even as good as a middle-level student in a county high school. What was she going to do?

After tossing and turning for several nights, my sister mustered up the courage to find my parents. “Dad, Mom, can I go to the high school in the county seat to study? Wang Xiaomei is studying there, and she…”

Before my sister could finish her sentence, my mother was already wondering, “Why would you want to go to a high school in the county seat? How expensive would that be?”

My father was also surprised: “The county seat is so far away, and I’m afraid I can only come back once a month. Our family can’t afford to send her to a high school in the county seat.”

My eldest sister is a sensible person. She knew the situation at home and that there were younger siblings, so she couldn’t be so selfish. She never mentioned this again, not even to my parents.

The summer vacation passed in this way for half a month. My eldest sister suppressed her worries and pretended to be fine, but she was obviously a little more haggard.

My mother was very observant and thought that my sister was used to living in the town and was not used to living in the countryside. She was bored, so she said to my sister, “Why don’t you and your younger sister go to the mountains for a couple of days? The air is good and the scenery is beautiful. Master Jiang will take you to hunt for wild animals for a couple of days.”

Old Master Jiang was fierce with me, but kind to my two sisters. He almost always obliged their requests, and was very enthusiastic about taking them bird-catching and fishing. I guess it was because my two sisters were pretty and satisfied his hobby of watching young girls. I was a man, so I deserved to be “tortured.”

Mom said so, and my eldest sister really wanted to take a break, so she took my second sister to the mountains.

When they came up, they took my room, and I had to sleep next to my master. But my master snored so loudly when he slept at night that I couldn’t sleep at all.

That night, I heard a woman crying.

“Damn you, female ghost, you’re too bold to even dare to intrude on my master’s territory!” Having experienced too much, I was no longer afraid at all, but excited. I sat up and kicked the old man in the buttocks in retaliation.

“Master, get up and catch the ghost!”

Old Master Jiang was sleeping soundly, but was startled by my shout and kick. He slapped me as soon as he got up: “How dare that blind ghost come to me? If I hadn’t seen the ghost, I would have caught you as a ghost tonight.”

In this situation, I dared not argue with him, and quickly pulled him aside and said, “Really, Master, listen, there is a female ghost howling outside our house!”

When the old man heard this, he really heard a faint sound of crying coming from outside. He quickly got dressed and took me outside. But before we left, he said, “This is not a ghost crying. I’m afraid someone is feeling aggrieved.”

I didn’t believe him, so as soon as we got outside I turned on my flashlight and looked around. Sure enough, I saw a figure. I knew it wasn’t a ghost at once, because there was no misty feeling, and there was a clear shadow. When I looked more closely, I saw that it was my sister sitting on the rock crying.

I ran over to my sister, and I was worried to see her like that. I didn’t know what to say, but the words came out: “Sister, how dare you be so brave? You dared to cry alone in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, and you’re not afraid that people will think you’re a ghost?”

My sister said with a sob, “What are you afraid of? Don’t you know who lives here?”

When I heard my sister say this, I felt a little relieved. This is my sister’s style! It shows that this sad thing has not reached the point where my sister is looking for death and life.

But old Jiang, in front of my sister, once again gave full play to his “kindness” and said, “Girl, if you have anything, just say it. Can Grandpa Jiang not help you?”

Hearing what the old man said, my sister cried even more, and after half an hour of sobbing, she said to the old man, “Grandpa Jiang, I may not be able to go to college.”

Then, my sister told the old man everything in a sobbing voice. The old man was silent for a while, and finally said, “Go to bed tonight and wait for my news tomorrow.”

Old man Jiang was the kind of person who rarely made promises, but when he did, he kept them. My sister knew his character, and with his words, she suddenly felt much more at ease. She thought that if she couldn’t go to the county seat to study, it would be fine, and she actually slept peacefully.

The next morning, when it was still dark, I was still doing my morning prayers when the old man left the house. He didn’t tell me what he was going to do, just said, “You can take care of your own breakfast and lunch.” And he left.

He left for a long time, and when he came back, it was already afternoon. At that time, I was still soaking in the water, and my two sisters were catching fish by the stream.

But he didn’t come back alone. My parents were with him.

“Come into the house, I have something to say,” said the old man very seriously.

We dared not be negligent, quickly packed up and rushed to the house. Then the whole family sat in a pile, all around the old man Jiang, and no one knew what he was going to say.

“In a couple of days, your family will move to the county seat. I’ve already found someone to help with your eldest daughter’s school. The college entrance exam system is definitely going to be restored.” Old man Jiang usually didn’t speak in a serious tone, but when he did, it scared the whole family half to death.

My father coughed up a mouthful of tea and couldn’t speak for a long time.

My mother hesitated for a moment and said, “Move to the county seat? But… where would we get the money?”

“I have it!” Old man Jiang stood up.