binnovel Chapter 19: Educated Youth of the Era (Part 1)
Chapter 19: Educated Youth of the Era (Part 1)
Liu Yuxi opened her eyes and found that the space she was in was very small and pitch black all around. Her whole body was burning hot and weak.
The original owner must have had a high fever. After confirming that she was alone in this small space, she quickly took out an ibuprofen tablet and swallowed it.
Then she had Xiao Liu transmit the original owner's memories to her. After receiving them, she finally understood why the original owner had died from a high fever. It's 1969 now, and the original owner is 15 years old (by Chinese reckoning) and has just graduated from junior high school.
The original owner lived in Shanghai. His parents were still alive. There were five children in the family: two older brothers, one older sister, and one younger brother. The eldest brother was 25 years old, married, and had two sons. The second brother was 22 years old and had just gotten married this year but did not have any children yet.
My eldest sister is 18 years old and graduated from high school this year. She is currently looking for a job and going on blind dates, hoping to find a good match to marry as soon as possible. My youngest brother is 11 years old and is still in elementary school. My second brother got married this year, so my youngest brother set up a bed in my parents' room and shares a room with them.
The family of 11 lived in the top floor and attic of a small villa. There were three rooms on the top floor: one for the parents, one for the eldest brother and sister-in-law with their two children, and one for the remaining two brothers.
The upper attic had a small room partitioned off in the middle. Although it was tall enough, it wasn't wide enough to fit a single bed. The eldest sister lived there, and Liu Yuxi's residence was on one of the sloping sides.
At first, it was because she was small and easy to get in and out. Later, as she grew up, there was nowhere else for her to move, so she had to continue living there. The other side was turned into a storage room to store some household items.
Only a few men in the family have jobs. Her mother, eldest sister-in-law, and second sister-in-law all stay at home, which is why her eldest and second eldest brothers didn't get housing from their workplaces, and renting a place was out of the question. There weren't enough rooms for everyone, so they had to live with their parents.
The fact that the original owner was the fourth child in the family, with older brothers and sisters already alive, determined that the original owner was not valued at home.
The original owner had good grades, but not outstanding ones, so she passed the high school entrance exam but didn't get into a vocational school. Her older sister graduated from high school this year because the current policy for educated youth requires each family to send one child to the countryside.
According to her mother, her older sister is already of marriageable age, and if she goes to the countryside, her life will be ruined. She is still young and has several years before marriageable age. If one of them has to go to the countryside in the end, they want her to go. They plan to find her a job in a few years and then let her return to the city.
As a mother of several children, her thinking is not necessarily wrong. Parents always treat all their children as a whole and do whatever is most beneficial to them.
A few children sacrificing a little would be good for everyone, but she didn't consider that the children also had their own ideas, and she didn't know that plans can't keep up with changes.
Her mother's plan was good. The whole thing only made the original owner suffer for a few years, but her mother was indeed planning to find a job in the next few years and then bring the original owner back to the city.
But in the previous life—yes, in the previous life—the original owner was reborn, reborn on the day of the high fever, but never wanted to be reborn again.
It's winter now. The original owner found out that she was going to the countryside. She was unwilling but couldn't resist. After all, children who have been neglected for a long time are either strong-willed and know how to fight for themselves, or weak-willed and obedient to their family's arrangements.
The original owner was the latter. She felt aggrieved and wandered around outside all day. She developed a fever at night.
In her previous life, after her fever subsided, her mother didn't immediately take her to register for the wedding, intending to postpone it. Later, her sister couldn't find a job, but she successfully found a partner through a blind date. Both families were facing the situation of sending their children to the countryside, so the wedding date was set very close, and they got married right after the first month of the lunar calendar.
These days, getting married requires a letter of introduction from the neighborhood office and the employer. The staff at the neighborhood office didn't make things difficult for the couple, since they had other children in the family and someone would always have to go to the countryside when the time came.
The original owner also went to high school with a sliver of hope, but what was bound to happen still happened. At the end of March, the neighborhood committee issued a notice forcing people to go to the countryside, and the original owner had no choice but to go.
However, those who were forced to go to the countryside were assigned to relatively harsh places. The original owner was assigned to Yunnan, where he had to work all year round, not to mention the hot and humid environment, the ubiquitous snakes and insects, and the unusual food.
The original owner was already young and couldn't adapt to the labor there at all. Coupled with the climate and diet problems, the original owner died of dysentery in less than a year.
The original owner didn't hate anyone. She knew it wasn't caused by her family, but she still harbored a little resentment. Having experienced the hardships of being sent to the countryside, she didn't want to go through it again.
She felt that even if she could start over, she still wouldn't be able to adapt to a different place, so she might as well just reincarnate. The original owner also felt that it was a bit unfair to Liu Yuxi to live her life in her place, since she was here to suffer, not to enjoy happiness.
The original owner didn't have any wishes. Her only thought was that if Liu Yuxi could live a good life, she could help her take care of her parents.
After all, during the year or so she spent in the countryside, her family sent her money and things, and encouraged her to persevere. They also tried to find her a job, but unfortunately, the original owner didn't get to.
Having learned everything, Liu Yuxi felt a bit emotional. It really wasn't anyone's fault for what happened to the original owner. Given the circumstances of the time and the lack of foresight, it was indeed difficult to say who should be blamed.
Since we're going to the countryside later, we need to plan it out properly. Although she's very strong, she wants to make things easier. She definitely can't wait for the neighborhood committee to force her to go to the countryside. She can sign up herself and choose her destination first. She'll go to Northeast China.
After all, reading so many novels wasn't for nothing. They can rest there for several months during the winter, so they need to prepare thick quilts, thick cotton clothes, and bring all their textbooks. They also need to find time to go to the bookstore to buy a set of "Self-study Series on Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry".
In 77, she was only 23 years old (by Chinese reckoning). She didn't plan to get married in the countryside for the time being. Her parents said they would find her a job back in the city, but jobs were really hard to find these days. It would be more convenient to go back to the city after taking the college entrance exam.
Then she pondered how to bring it up with her family. Although she didn't say anything today, everyone could see her resistance to going to the countryside. So, she needed to think about how to bring it up reasonably, since her family didn't want her to go to the countryside either, otherwise they wouldn't have kept delaying it.