Back to 1978

Chapter 58: Success in the Imperial Examination
"..." Han Hongzhen looked at Xie Hushan unhappily:
"If I see Wu Shuanzi later, I'll tell him that Hu Saner praised you in front of me, okay? Can you let me count the money before you talk to me?"

After finally counting the money from beginning to end, he handed the money to Xie Hushan. Xie Hushan took the money and counted it slowly, asking:
"Has the sister-in-law who sells egg bags missed me recently?"

"...I miss you. I want to ask you why you, my big brother, never come to the market." Han Hongzhen turned away and said speechlessly: "It's okay, I'll go back and deal with the water."

"Wait a minute, it's time to distribute the labor insurance for our group." Xie Hushan turned and went into his home, took out two pairs of cloth masks, two pairs of thread gloves, a pair of green rubber shoes, a small package of compressed sanitary napkins, and a folded white coat.

"I've already given your mother-in-law's. The mask and gloves are all from Lao Meng, and you have one set. The rubber shoes are Lao Meng's, and he's the one for pulling carts. The gown is for you to wear when you go to the market, and the sanitary napkins are also yours. There's something in the pocket of the gown, and you can study it when you get home."

"Where did you get it? Did you buy it with public money? If Uncle Wu finds out, you'll be done for..." Han Hongzhen was startled and quickly evaded the question:

"Go back quickly! Don't take advantage of the public! You just did something good and now you're waiting for everyone to poke your spine!"

Other factories only distribute labor protection supplies to workers on a quarterly and monthly basis. How could the production team's sideline group get any labor protection supplies?
"Do you think I'm the kind of person who embezzles public funds? I didn't spend any of the team's money. These were all second-hand goods given to me by kind-hearted people in the county when I was wandering around the county town for inspection these days." Xie Hushan said frankly.

Seeing that Xie Hushan was serious and his expression did not seem like he was lying, Han Hongzhen looked carefully at the gloves, rubber shoes, gown and other things in her hands. Except for the sanitary napkins, although the other things looked clean, they were indeed old. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Remembering what Xie Hushan said about there being something in the pocket of her coat, Han Hongzhen shook open the white coat and went to search the pocket. It was too late for Xie Hushan to stop her. Han Hongzhen pulled out two elastic bands, one rose red and the other dark red.

Han Hongzhen stuffed the hot menstrual belt back into her coat pocket like a thief, her pretty face flushed from her earlobes to her neck. As a country woman, although she had never used such high-end things, she had seen them in the county's state-owned shopping mall.

Xie Hushan rarely showed any expression on his face, and spoke very quickly:
"Don't think too much. I don't mean anything else. You haven't had your period for the past two days. Use sanitary napkins. It won't be that uncomfortable. In order to prevent you from affecting the work of the sideline group, remember to change it once a day."

He had to explain quickly. If he spoke slowly, he was afraid that Han Hongzhen would slap him in the face.

Although the explanation was given quickly enough, Han Hongzhen's face was still filled with shame and anger, and murderous intent flashed in her almond-shaped eyes. This was because Lao Meng did not help her find a long sword suitable for women to wear, otherwise Xie Hushan estimated that Han Hongzhen would stab himself to death with the sword.

In Han Hongzhen's opinion, how could a young man give such things to others? How come he was not arrested as a gangster by the country?

And we have no relationship at all, just because he is from a sideline group, he sent this to me?

The more serious question is, how does this gangster remember his own days?
"When I went to Aunt Wu's stall to collect money yesterday, I saw her burning a bag of clean wood ash. I guessed it that way," Xie Hushan explained.

In this era, rural women who are menstruating think that straw paper is a luxury, and they usually just wrap some clean wood ash in a piece of cloth to deal with it.

"You're a grown-up, why don't you learn some good things? I'm going to go back and pack up! Lao Meng, let's go!" Han Hongzhen blushed as she grabbed her gown and sanitary napkin, asked Lao Meng to get in the car, and prepared to run home like a thief. She even forgot to ask her mother where the things came from, as these things couldn't have been given by someone else.

Xie Hushan watched Han Hongzhen walk away and said loudly:

"I am doing this purely out of friendship with my revolutionary comrades. If you feel embarrassed, I will tell others that Shuanzi asked me to give it to you! Just let everyone praise Shuanzi. This will also help Shuanzi's reputation."

"Get lost! Who wants to be a revolutionary comrade with someone like you!" Han Hongzhen turned her head and glared at Xie Hushan from a distance, then spat.

"What's good about this era? Women don't even have sanitary napkins. We still have to live comfortably in Hong Kong Island and hurry up to enjoy life." Xie Hushan was scolded as a widow and sighed with relief.

At this moment, Auntie Chen Chunxiang's roar came from a distance:
"San'er! Auntie's good son! Haha! He passed the exam! Daxiu passed the exam!"

The old lady was seen holding the lunch box that she carried to and from get off work every day in her left hand, holding Daxiu's wrist with her right hand, walking like the wind, and shouting at her from dozens of meters away.

Notifying herself might be a secondary purpose, and notifying the whole village was the main purpose. If it weren't for the fact that getting into junior high school was not worth mentioning, the aunt might have let the loudspeaker at the team headquarters inform the whole village. Seeing the aunt's excited and crazy face, Xie Hushan hesitated. It would be great if Daxiu looked like this. He could be like the butcher in "Fan Jin Zhongju", go up and slap her to wake her up and say some lines.

It's a pity that she is an aunt who is no different from his biological mother, so he can't do it, which makes Xie Hushan feel a little regretful.

As for the fact that Daxiu was admitted to junior high school, he was not surprised at all. After more than a week of intensive tutoring, four bamboo poles were broken, just to teach Chinese and mathematics that were as difficult as those in the second and third grade of the previous life. Even if Xie Hushan had no experience as a teacher, he could have taught Daxiu purely by using the stick and carrot method of training animals. In other words: feed if he listens, beat if he doesn't.

Compared to the aunt's excitement, Daxiu looked calm beside her, walking while biting the popsicle her mother bought for her.

"Hu San'er! Did you hear me? I said Daxiu was admitted to junior high school!" The aunt had tears in her eyes. She grabbed Xie Hushan and repeated this sentence excitedly.

Xie Hushan could understand Chen Chunxiang's excitement, and was happy for the aunt. After all, it could almost be said that giving Daxiu away was the aunt's obsession.

For the aunt, Daxiu was admitted to junior high school before Xie Qimao retired, which meant that Daxiu's household registration and job were settled.

She did not expect Daxiu to have excellent grades and be admitted to other technical secondary schools or high schools, but Bingyang County had an agricultural technical school with majors such as animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, agricultural machinery driving, breeding and seedling cultivation, etc. The agricultural technical school would consider the admission of children of staff from relevant units as appropriate.

For example, the daughter of a veterinarian continues to study veterinary medicine, and the son of an agricultural technician continues to study agricultural technology.

According to Xie Qimao's qualifications and professional status in the County Animal Husbandry Bureau, as long as Daxiu can finish junior high school, Bingyang Agricultural Technical School will definitely be able to solve the problem of admission indicators for Daxiu.

After graduating from the Agricultural Technical School, he was assigned to work in the corresponding county animal husbandry bureau. Na Daxiu suddenly became an official who ate public food and had a stable job.

At that time, Daxiu's rural household registration would be changed to a urban household registration, which meant that she had completely escaped from the poor rural area.

"How many points?" Xie Hushan looked at Daxiu and asked with a smile.

"Math 67, Chinese 64." Daxiu walked over while biting a popsicle, lowered his head and said in a low voice.

Xie Hushan tried hard to make himself look very happy. Damn, how dangerous! After more than a week of cramming with a large number of questions, this scholar only got such a low score.

"Go in quickly and tell grandma, you will definitely be happy too." Xie Hushan's arm was a little painful from being grabbed by the aunt, so he spoke up to remind her.

"Yes, yes, yes! Go tell your grandma!" The aunt pulled Daxiu affectionately towards the yard, as if at this moment, Daxiu was her real daughter, and the stupid Daxiu she had disliked before was someone else.

At this moment, Yang Liming took advantage of the fact that Dahei did not dare to act rashly under the domineering pressure of Daxiu's entry, and found an opportunity to put on his cloth shoes and rushed out, grabbing Xie Hushan!

He could no longer maintain his gentle and warm expression on his face, and cursed at Xie Hushan in a low voice:

"Where did you find this wicked dog? This dog is your brother, right? He wanted to prevent me from getting off the bed and putting on my shoes, so he peed on my shoes! What kind of place is this? The people are shitty, and the dog is nothing either!"

Xie Hushan turned around and took out a pair of cloth shoes that his grandmother had sewn for him and handed them to Yang Limin. Looking at this pretty boy cadre who was so angry at him, he smiled and said:

"When you are well fed and warm, you will think about sex. So we poor folks have to have enough food and a good life. That way, we can cause less trouble to the country and spend more time looking for women."

(End of this chapter)