Chapter 139: Chapter 129: Before the Exam

Not long after the Spring Festival, it was time for school to start again.

This semester, the fifth-graders were on high alert. The middle school entrance exams were coming up. Xiao Man, however, remained calm. Teacher Yu was in her ear almost every day, nagging, "As long as you perform as you usually do, you’ll get into the county middle school. Only by getting into the county middle school will you have a future!"

Xiao Man was speechless. ’Teacher Yu, you can’t be serious, can you? What are the students who get into the commune middle school supposed to think? They’re your students too, you know.’

Xiao Man didn’t actually want to go to the county middle school. She preferred to stay at the commune middle school to spend more time with Grandpa and Grandma. Even though Grandma’s eyes were recovering at a wonderful rate, she still couldn’t bear to leave them. Besides, by next year at the latest, the land-contracting policy would be implemented. She wanted to contract a plot of land with Grandpa to grow medicinal herbs and fruit trees.

She would prepare the herb seeds and seedlings in her space. That way, she could guarantee that her cultivated herbs would be just as potent as wild ones—if not more so.

It wouldn’t be difficult to build a fortune, but she had no desire to get rich overnight and draw unwanted attention. A comfortable, peaceful life was enough. Just like Grandpa and Grandma, Xiao Man wasn’t greedy.

She had already picked out a few small, nearby hills. She was just waiting for the right moment to discuss her plan with Grandpa. That was why she truly didn’t want to leave the village so soon.

Teacher Yu, however, was single-minded, enthusiastically helping Xiao Man plan her future. "It’s not that I think the commune middle school is bad, but you can’t deny that its environment and teaching staff are inferior to the county’s. After I see your class off, I’ll be transferring to the county as well. As long as you get into the county middle school, I can guarantee you a smooth path all the way to university! I’m not exaggerating, you know. Mao Mao’s grandparents are teachers at the county middle school, and they have successful students all over the country! Don’t you like skipping grades? Once you’re in the county school, you can study under Mao Mao’s grandparents, and we’ll set up a proper study plan. You can still skip grades! You can save at least a year in middle school, and high school is only two years long. By the time you start university, you’ll be sixteen or seventeen, still full of energy with a clear mind... Don’t dismiss this. When girls reach seventeen or eighteen, their minds get complicated. They overthink everything, lose focus, and it hurts their studies!"

Xiao Man remembered. ’That’s right! From now until the early 1980s, high school is only two years long!’

’But Teacher Yu,’ Xiao Man thought, ’why do you sound less and less like a teacher? Are you planning to switch careers?’

Xiao Man had hit upon the truth. Teacher Yu revealed that once she transferred to the county, she was going to quit teaching!

After her talk with Xiao Man, Teacher Yu repeated her speech to Grandpa and Grandma. As a result, the elderly couple sided completely with Teacher Yu. They were all for Xiao Man attending the county middle school!

The exams hadn’t even started, but Xiao Man was already feeling torn. Finally, she decided to just put it out of her mind. She would figure it out after the tests.

In the final semester of fifth grade, some students knuckled down for a final push, while others became lax and carefree. This phenomenon infuriated their homeroom teacher, but there was nothing she could do. It was common in the countryside for most children to go home after elementary school, unwilling to continue their education. The reasons for this were known only to them and their families.

Mo Shuixia and Mo Linghui were among those who had slackened off.

Mo Shuixia’s grades had always been lower-middle. She was also the eldest child in her family, and at twelve, she was already tall and strong. Her parents viewed her as a key laborer, so it was understandable that she was thinking of quitting school. Mo Linghui, however, was a strange case. She was the youngest daughter, with five or six older siblings. The financial pressure of the family didn’t fall on her at all. Her grades were upper-middle, and continuing her education should have been no problem. So what was her deal?

Since her rebirth, Xiao Man had grown close to these three friends, so she slowly tried to recall and piece together what happened to them in her past life.

Guan Ailan had always been a good student. After finishing middle school, she was hired by a factory in a nearby town. She later married a manager from a large copper mine who was a bit older but very capable. He managed to help all of her younger siblings secure stable government jobs. After that, Guan Ailan rarely returned to the village.

Mo Shuixia stayed home and worked on the farm. Perhaps because she was so tall, she remained unmarried for a long time. The year Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying took Xiao Man to Beijing, Mo Shuixia had just married a man from another village—a widower in his thirties who already had children.

Mo Linghui married a man from another county. She had gotten pregnant before the wedding, and the village gossip was so bad that she didn’t dare show her face outside. The baby in her belly, however, wasn’t her husband’s. It was... Xiao Man turned and scanned the classroom, her eyes finally landing on a tall, sturdy, and handsome boy in the back corner. ’It was his,’ she recalled.

Tian Wenqiang. He was from the same brigade but a different production team. His father had passed away, leaving his mother to raise many children in poverty. It was unclear when he and Mo Linghui had gotten together. In the previous life, he had simply disappeared—probably just left without a word. Mo Linghui, a young pregnant girl, hadn’t known what to do and could only try to hide it. But how could you hide something like that? By the time she started to show, it was too late to do anything else. Her only choice was to marry someone.

No need to waste time thinking about that scumbag. For now, Xiao Man was focused on one thing: how to get her two friends into middle school with her.

Xiao Man and Guan Ailan went to talk to Mo Shuixia, leaving Mo Linghui for Teacher Yu to handle.

Mo Shuixia was easy to persuade. Xiao Man and Guan Ailan promised that as long as she cooperated, they would drag her into middle school one way or another. Smiling through her tears, Mo Shuixia nodded eagerly.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to continue her studies. She knew that once she left school, she would inevitably drift apart from her friends, and she couldn’t bear that thought. But her grades were so poor she was afraid she wouldn’t pass the exam. On top of that, her grandma and mother were always telling her, "You’re not cut out for studying. You’ll have to come home to work eventually, so why waste more money on school!"

Handling Mo Linghui was a much bigger ordeal. Teacher Yu slammed her desk and tore up a piece of paper, scolding the girl until she cried. In the end, though, Mo Linghui promised Teacher Yu that she would change her ways, study hard, and be sure to get into middle school.

As for what exactly she needed to "change"? Teacher Yu didn’t say. It was apparently a secret to be kept between the two of them. When Guan Ailan and Mo Shuixia asked, Xiao Man just shook her head and claimed she didn’t know.

She had a good guess what it was about. ’After tearing up that paper, Teacher Yu even burned it. It must have been a love letter. I’ll just pretend I don’t know anything about it in this lifetime.’

「In March」

Grandma’s eyesight was fully restored. Overjoyed, Grandpa threw himself into the production team’s busy spring plowing season to earn work points, his body brimming with energy. Others his age could earn seven or eight points a day at most, but Grandpa managed to earn a full score!

In fact, both Grandpa and Grandma were showing signs of reverse aging, the proof being their hair turning black again. The spiritual spring water Xiao Man gave them to use at home was low-grade, but it was still dozens of times better than ordinary well water, containing both energy and Spiritual Energy. This, combined with the food from her space that she added to their meals and the preserved fruits she regularly brought out... In any case, she had a perfect excuse: every time Zheng Shaolian and Xiao Zhao visited, they arrived lugging bags of all sizes.

Of course, they also left lugging bags of all sizes, filled with sauces, pickled cabbage, other pickled vegetables, dried fish, jerky, and salted eggs that Xiao Man made in her space, as well as Zheng Shaolian’s favorite preserved fruits.

Xiao Man never had to ask; Zheng Shaolian would always relay a few words from Gu Shaojun. It was always the same: telling her to study hard, make progress every day, take care of herself, and not get sick...

Xiao Man noticed something strange: every time Xiao Zhao visited, he would go to the local supply store for her family and buy salt, soy sauce, matches... He always bought huge quantities, enough to last them a very, very long time!

As she was trying to figure out the reason, she suddenly smacked herself on the forehead. ’Lin Liuping’s suitor from my past life is about to appear! How could I have forgotten something so important!’

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.