Chapter 69: Selling Treasure (1)

Days passed like this, filled with diligent study and hard training. Winter gave way to spring, spring faded into summer, and in the blink of an eye another summer arrived.

That summer I was ten and a half years old. One day that summer, my family moved. We said goodbye to the familiar village and the land our ancestors had depended on for generations, and moved to the county town. The reason was my eldest sister and second sister’s schooling, and it was Old Man Jiang’s suggestion.

Before he gave that suggestion, my eldest sister had already been studying at the township high school for a year.

This is how it started.

In our area, as I once mentioned, there were only primary and junior middle schools in the market towns, so there was no choice. When the kids were young, they could only study nearby.

But once it came to high school, there were more options. There were high schools in two nearby townships, a better one in the town, and the best was in the county town.

My parents valued education. They did not know many written characters, but they deeply admired college students, hoping desperately that their own children could become university graduates. My eldest sister and second sister had excellent grades, and under Old Man Jiang’s somewhat harsh education, my own grades also improved, so my parents became even more ambitious.

Just the previous year, my eldest sister graduated from junior middle school with consistently excellent results. She could go to any high school she wanted. My parents calculated everything according to our family situation and enrolled her in the township high school.

That was already the limit of what my parents could manage. The quality of education in village high schools could not compare with township schools, and township schools could not compare with county schools. But the county town, could my parents even dare to think about it?

At that time, my mother reasoned that since our family background was good and my sister’s grades were excellent, she might even be able to go to university in the future. Not going to the county town school would just have to do.

In the summer of 1977, after my eldest sister finished her first year of high school, a policy began to spread across the country, one that was about to be implemented. That was the nationwide restoration of the college entrance examination.

It was like a bomb exploding in everyone’s hearts. Everyone understood that from then on, going to university would no longer depend on background or recommendations. The only thing that mattered was grades. Gaokao

That alone was enough. My parents had confidence in my eldest sister’s studies. After all, even at the township high school she was still in the top ten of her class.

But my eldest sister became upset, all because of one of her classmates.

That classmate had been in the same junior middle school class as her. Her grades had always been slightly below my eldest sister’s, but her family had connections and managed to send her to study in the county town. After one year, the difference became obvious.

When they met during the summer break, my eldest sister realized the problem. Her learning progress was behind that girl’s, her grasp of details was behind, and even her breadth of knowledge was lacking. On top of that, the girl said her own results were only slightly above average in her class.

My eldest sister was excellent and proud. She had always had a dream since childhood, influenced by how weak I had been as a child. That dream was to become a doctor and attend medical university.

But under this comparison, and in the atmosphere of the nationwide talk about the restored college entrance examination, she lost confidence and even felt panic.

The exam would be taken by students across the entire country. If she could not even beat an average student in a county school, how could she possibly compete?

After several sleepless nights, my eldest sister gathered her courage and went to my parents.

“Dad, Mom, can I go study at the county high school? Wang Xiaomei is studying there, she…”

Before she could finish, my mother looked at her in confusion. “Why do you suddenly want to go to the county town school? That would be so expensive.”

My father also frowned. “The county town is so far away. You might only be able to come back once a month. Our family cannot afford to send you to school there.”

My eldest sister was sensible. She knew our family situation and also knew there were younger siblings. She could not be selfish. After that, she never brought it up again, nor did she explain the reason to my parents.

Half a month passed through the summer vacation. My eldest sister forced herself to act normal, but she was clearly becoming more haggard.

My mother was perceptive and thought she simply was not used to life in the village after staying in the township, so she was feeling bored. So she said to her, “Why don’t you and your second sister go up the mountain for a couple of days? The air is good, the scenery is nice. Let Master Jiang take you to catch some wild game and have some fun for a couple of days.”

Old Man Jiang was strict with me, but very kind to my two sisters. He almost never refused their requests and happily took them bird catching and fishing. I guessed it was because my sisters were pretty and suited his taste for looking at young women. As for me, a boy, I was just unlucky enough to be “abused.”

Since my mother suggested it, my eldest sister also wanted to relax a bit, so she took my second sister up the mountain.

When they went up, they took over my room, and I had to sleep next to my master. But my master snored like thunder at night, and I could not sleep at all.

That night, I heard a woman crying.

“Damn female ghost, you’ve got some nerve, daring to come crying on my master’s turf!”

After experiencing so much, I was no longer afraid at all. Instead, I felt excited. I jumped up and kicked Old Man Jiang right on the butt.

“Master, get up and catch the ghost!”

Old Man Jiang was sleeping soundly and was startled by the kick and shout. He jumped up and slapped me. “Which blind ghost would dare come to Old Jiang’s place? If I don’t see a ghost tonight, I’ll catch you as the ghost instead.”

In this situation, I did not dare argue. I quickly pulled him and said, “Really, Master, listen. There is a female ghost crying outside our house!”

Old Man Jiang listened carefully. There really was a faint sound of crying. He quickly got dressed and pulled me outside. As he went out, he said, “That is not a ghost crying. It is probably someone feeling wronged.”

I did not believe him. As soon as I went out, I shone a flashlight around. Sure enough, I saw a figure. At that glance, I knew it was not a ghost. There was no hazy blur, and there was a clear shadow. Looking closer, the person sitting on a rock crying was none other than my eldest sister.

I ran over quickly with Old Man Jiang. Seeing her like that, I panicked. For some reason, the words that came out of my mouth were, “Big sister, why are you so bold? Crying alone in the middle of the night in the wilderness. Aren’t you afraid people will mistake you for a ghost?”

My eldest sister sobbed, “Afraid… afraid of what? Just look at whose place this is!”

Hearing this, I felt a little relieved. That was more like my eldest sister. It meant the situation was not bad enough to make her desperate.

Old Man Jiang, meanwhile, fully displayed his “kindness” in front of my sister. “Girl, if you have anything to say, just tell me. Wouldn’t your Grandpa Jiang help you?”

Hearing this, my eldest sister cried even harder. After a long time, she finally said between sobs, “Grandpa Jiang, I might not be able to go to university anymore.”

Then she told everything to Old Man Jiang in detail. He remained silent for a while, then finally said, “Go sleep well tonight. I will have news tomorrow.”

Old Man Jiang was the kind of person who rarely made promises, but once he did, he meant it. My eldest sister knew his character well. With that sentence, she suddenly felt much more at ease. She even stopped worrying about not being able to go to the county school and actually fell asleep peacefully.

Early the next morning, just as the sky was barely bright, while I was still doing my morning practice, Old Man Jiang left the house. He did not say what he was going to do, only left a sentence: “Handle your own breakfast and lunch.”

He was gone for most of the day. When he returned in the afternoon, I was soaking in the water while my two sisters were catching fish by the stream.

But he was not alone. My parents came back with him.

“Everyone come into the house. I have something to say,” Old Man Jiang said very seriously.

We did not dare delay and hurried inside. The whole family sat together around him, not knowing what he was about to say.

“In a couple of days, your family should move to the county town. I have already arranged for your eldest daughter’s school. The college entrance examination system is also going to be restored soon.”

He usually spoke casually, but once he became serious, what he said nearly scared our entire family to death.

My father spat out his tea on the spot, coughing so hard he could not speak for a long time.

My mother hesitated before saying, “Move to the county town? But… where would we get the money?”