When Xi Shunhai mentioned his daughter, his eyes began to shine, and he saw hope. No matter how much suffering he suffered, it was all worth it.
Now, he had nothing to hide. He said to Zheng Bajin: "Xiaofang ranked first in the class this time."
With that said, Xi Shunhai took Zheng Bajin into his small house. It was very simple and there was not even a decent pot. His wife not only had physical problems, but also was not very good mentally. She often If he goes crazy, he will break the pots and dishes in the house.
He pointed to the certificates on the wall and said: "The only thing she doesn't touch is her daughter's achievements."
As he said this, the man's eyes were filled with tears.
Zheng Bajin looked at a wall covered with certificates, posted high up, and couldn't help but feel a little distracted. Then I looked at Shun Hai's daughter-in-law who was sitting on the ground and couldn't stand up, and thought, I'm afraid she can't reach her!
Shunhai's daughter-in-law looked at Zheng Bajin and smiled stupidly. Seeing that he was looking at Xiaofang's certificate, she started gesticulating and making "ahhh" sounds in her mouth, as if understanding the award was her pride.
Zheng Bajin took a closer look and found that this child's grades were really nothing to brag about. He was one of the top three students in the class, ranked first in the class, first in a single subject, and received perfect marks, basically every semester.
He had to be happy for her, and said with a smile: "Lao Hai, you are really lucky. If you continue like this, before you graduate from junior high school, the walls will be covered with them."
Xi Shunhai said awkwardly: "I have thought about it. After two years, when I have money, I will build a larger house specifically to hang a certificate for Xiaofang. Then, let her mother go to the city to see what she can do. It can’t be cured.”
As he spoke, Lao Hai's eyes were filled with tears of happiness as he recalled the past.
Because he was too poor, the normal women in the village didn't like him at all, so they all married into Bazi, and some were directly introduced to marry outside the province.
He had no choice but to make do with her and marry her, as he wanted to continue the family line.
However, contrary to expectations, after getting married, his wife only gave birth to a daughter for him. Because she gave birth at home and had no experience, the midwife was also a woman who had become a monk on the way, and her skills were not good enough, which caused the wife to lose her fertility.
For a time, he felt that God was too unfair to him and not very good to his daughter, and he felt depressed.
As for her daughter Xiaofang, she has been sensible since she was a child. When she was two or three years old, she could walk and dig grass roots in the field outside the door to eat. She was able to do housework at the age of four. She often cleaned the home that was made like a pig's nest by herself.
When I was five years old, I often stood secretly at the school gate and listened to the older students reading.
The teacher is a person from the village. He has attended junior high school for one year and there are no teachers in the school, so he assumes the role of education backbone. He discovered this child and of course knew Xiaofang's family background. He took pity on her and asked her to go in and study with her because he couldn't bear to see her shivering in the cold outside.
Suddenly I discovered that this child was born to study.
Others could not remember the words after reading them three times, but she remembered them after reading them once.
The teacher found Lao Hai who was drunk and didn't know what was going on. He couldn't help but sigh: "It's a pity for this child. If he was born in a big city, it is inevitable to go to college in the future. In such a family, no one will be more than ten years old. People have to support this family, thereby neglecting their studies.”
The teacher's family is not rich either. They only earn more than ten yuan a month, so they are simply unable to help Lao Hai and Xiaofang study. Even if he wants to help her, he can't help her.
The teacher thought for a while and finally decided that he must help this poor child.
He brought a basin of water and poured it over Xi Shunhai's head.
Xi Shunhai, who was drunk and dreaming, had a cold war and was about to get angry. When he saw that he was the only junior high school student in the village and the only teacher in the school, he didn't dare to get angry, so he suppressed it and looked at him in confusion.
The teacher told him a lesson and cheered him up. What's wrong with giving birth to a daughter? Didn't you realize that your daughter can crush the entire village?
After saying that, the teacher asked Xiaofang, who was at a loss, to read an ancient poem. She recited it fluently, and it could be said that she could recite it backwards and forwards.
At that moment, Xi Shunhai was shocked. Is this his daughter? One day, he was able to read and digit even though he had never been to school.
Xi Shunhai also studied for several years when he was a child, but his grades were not good and he could not recite an ancient poem for several days.
Is this child really his own? When did I have such a powerful gene? Why didn't I find it?
Xi Shunhai stood up thinking and held his daughter tightly in his arms, as if he was afraid that she would suddenly fly away.
From then on, he found a reason to fight.
He started farming to support his family and his daughter to study.
Children of poor people have long been in charge of their own affairs, and Xi Dingfang is such a person. Ever since I was in elementary school, I would wake up early every day and cook pig food before dawn, and I would have to find a basket of grass to bring back on my way to school.
When I get home, before the sweat on my body dries, I have to chop the grass into fine pieces, make a fire to cook, and take care of my mother.
As a result, she had less time to study and no time to do homework, but her grades were very good. There were more than 20 students in a class, and she ranked second, but no one dared to take first place.
When she went to junior high school, it was too far away from the school and she had no time to raise pigs. So she used her weekends to grow a lot of vegetables, and carried them to the streets dozens of miles away on Sundays to sell them for living expenses. Sometimes she would also buy some rice and noodles to feed her. Parents eat.
It's fine now. Zheng Bajin regularly buys the vegetables she grows. She doesn't have to carry them to the street to sell. She starts another job. When she goes to the street on Sunday, she collects firewood and carries it to the street to sell. Set the restaurant on fire.
Sometimes, I have to help wash dishes in restaurants to earn some pocket money.
People in the village said that Xi Shunhai was lucky to have raised a good daughter who was not only hard-working but also studied well and would definitely be successful in the future.
Of course, Xi Shunhai also advised his daughter: "Now that you can earn income from growing vegetables, don't work so hard and study hard. I will do the farm work."
However, Xi Dingfang said seriously: "There are too many places to spend money at home. I have to save some money and send my mother to a big hospital in the future. I heard that this congenital disease has half the chance of being cured." "
Xi Shunhai was so moved that he couldn't speak. Aren't these half-probabilities the result of being unable to cure and being able to be cured?
However, he did not dare to undermine his daughter's self-confidence. He nodded and made up his mind to dig another two acres of land to grow vegetables and save money in advance for his daughter to study and for his wife to see a doctor.
At that time, there was no such thing as two exemptions and one subsidy. The tuition fee for junior high school alone cost thirty or forty yuan. For rural families, it is not easy to educate a junior high school student, especially for village children like Haizi who are far away from the school on the street.
Naturally, Zheng Bajin had already met Xi Dingfang, a dark-skinned little girl wearing tattered clothes, but with very big eyes and a very lively look.
It's a pity that she is still in class at school today, so I can't meet her. Otherwise, I must teach her two tricks to prevent being bullied at school.
There is a kind of person who likes to bully students like Xi Dingfang who were born in rural areas, far away from home, are poor, and are very good at studies.
