sbdcsierra Chapter 302 Leave!
Chapter 302 Leave!
During the Spring Festival of 1978, Zheng Tong, Jiang Biyun, and several others who had been admitted to university came home to visit their families. However, they also knew they might not return after this trip. Considering the timeline, from being sent to the countryside in 1970 to working in northern Shaanxi, nearly eight years had passed. Eight years! How many eight-year periods does one have in a lifetime? They had left the most youthful and beautiful years of their lives here, from carefree young men to middle-aged men approaching thirty. Calling it their second hometown was no exaggeration.
As we parted, a sense of reluctance truly arose. Each of us carried our luggage. Now, standing on the cliff in front of the former educated youth's cave dwellings, the mountain was still the same mountain, the scenery still the same scenery, with remnants of snow covering the yellow earth, monotonous and desolate. A cold wind blew, intensifying the sorrow of parting.
Zheng Tong patted the trunk of the jujube tree next to him. Now that winter was approaching, only lonely branches remained.
"I'm afraid we won't be able to eat dates anymore!"
What does it mean to not be able to eat?
Luo Jianguo was also carrying luggage. He was going home to visit his family and was also taking his wife to register at Peking University. His father-in-law was also going. They had been married for several years, but their parents had never met. It was a typical case of buying tickets after getting on the train. His father had been in prison before, so there was nothing he could do. Now that he had just been released, he had to meet his father.
“Me, Kuiyong, Ermao… we’re all still here. I’ll send you some later.”
Zheng Tong nodded and said to the group of educated youth who remained:
"Don't be discouraged. Study hard this year and try your best to pass the exam. Even if you don't pass, I heard from Yuemin that the policy may change and the educated youth can return to the city."
One educated youth said:
"We've been working in the countryside for so many years, and we still don't have a job when we come back to the city. What can we do?"
"That's still better than staying in the countryside. Things will work themselves out. Why think so much?"
The villagers saw her off at the village entrance, waving goodbye as she headed to the county town. Ma Guiping, now the director of the Revolutionary Committee, was also going back to Beijing. They first took a long-distance bus to Yan'an, then transferred to Tongchuan, then a train to Xi'an, and finally a train to Beijing. It was a long and arduous journey. People like Zheng Tong and Jiang Biyun had been traveling back and forth for years and were used to it, so it wasn't anything new to them. But for Yang Wanqing, it was her first time traveling so far. She looked out the window on the train and found everything fascinating. Even the child in her arms was the same; he didn't cry or fuss, just stared with his big, bright eyes, as excited as his mother.
She kept nudging the man sitting next to her.
"Hey, look at this... look at that, look at that... You used to take this train to and from the capital...?"
They talked non-stop the whole way, asking a million questions.
"Oh, I really envy you guys, being able to enjoy the scenery along the way."
Luo Jianguo was both amused and exasperated.
"What's there to envy? Now you can at least get a sleeper berth and sleep when you're tired. Back then, we all had hard seats. If tickets were hard to come by, you might not even have a seat and have to stand for twenty hours. You'd feel like dying, but you still had to enjoy the scenery."
Yang Min, sitting on the lower bunk, watched his daughter and son-in-law bickering and couldn't help but shake his head. Life is full of surprises and unexpected events. He had firmly opposed the two of them being together because he was afraid that if Jianguo returned to the city, what would happen to his daughter?
Now things have turned out differently. His daughter has been admitted to university and is going to move to the city, but his son-in-law has stayed behind, which is something he didn't expect.
Ma Guiping, sitting opposite, said:
"Old Yang, you were right to have foresight. Wangjiagou produced its first female college student. That's quite remarkable."