Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 465 464 Fighting for Life
After hearing the news her husband brought back yesterday, Wang Huiru was so excited that she couldn't sleep well all night.

As a girl from a farming family who has entered the working world, Wang Huiru knows too well the difficulties faced by children from farming families.

Wang Huiru's parents died early, and she had the opportunity to study and practice medicine entirely thanks to the hard work of her eldest brother.

As a younger sister, Wang Huiru was aware of the need to repay her older brother from the beginning.

She had mentioned this to Yan Xiongfei when she first met him.

Yan Xiongfei felt that this girl had a conscience because she brought this up when they first met, so he agreed at that time. Otherwise, the two of them would not have been together until today.

Before going to bed last night, Wang Huiru and Yan Xiongfei agreed that they would go back to take care of Wang Bo's affairs and would also bring some millet back, not much, just two kilograms.

Wang Huiru got up early, made breakfast, ate a quick bite, and rode her bike straight to her parents' home.

All the tasks of taking care of the children, getting them dressed, eating, etc. were thrown to Yan Xiongfei.

There is no way, since Yan Xiongfei’s work is more important and he cannot take leave easily.

I hurried to my mother's house, pushed open the wooden door, and saw three adobe and thatched houses.

This house was built when my parents were alive. Over the years, only the roof was renovated, and the adobe bricks were not moved at all. It has been exposed to wind, sun and rain and has long been dilapidated.

"Brother!" Wang Huiru greeted as she walked inside.

"His aunt is here! Come in and sit down." Wang Bo's mother heard the noise, pushed open the door, and enthusiastically invited Wang Huiru into the house.

"Sister-in-law." Wang Huiru greeted with a smile.

When she was studying, her sister-in-law was not so enthusiastic. She was always finding fault with her. The couple had quarreled more than once about Wang Huiru's schooling.

Wang Bo's mother thought that as a grown-up girl, why should she study so much? She should get married early so that the burden on the family would be reduced.

But Wang Bo's father didn't think so. His sister was an excellent student, and he had promised his parents that he would support his sister's education.

During that time, Wang Huiru was reluctant to return home because her eldest brother was busy going out to make money and when he came back he had to face his sister-in-law's cold and hostile attitude.

The relationship between the aunt and sister-in-law did not ease until Wang Huiru started working and earning a salary.

Wang Huiru didn't have much salary at that time, but she gave money to her eldest brother every month, sometimes one dollar, sometimes two dollars.

After Wang Bo's father became paralyzed in bed, Wang Huiru gradually increased the monthly amount to 20 yuan.

So Wang Bo's mother is very close to her sister-in-law now. After all, few people can get along with money.

"Brother, how are you feeling recently?" After Wang Huiru came in, she put the bag of millet flour on the bedside, sat on the edge of the earthen kang, and asked while holding her brother's hand.

"Isn't it the same? You have been implicated by this half-dead look." Wang Bo's father was paralyzed on the bed. Only the upper half of his body could move. His lower body had no feeling at all.

Since she ate, defecated and urinated in bed, the bedding inevitably had some urine smell, but Wang Huiru didn't show any disgust at all.

"Brother, you can't say that. You have to live well. If you are alive, I will give you money every month. If you are gone, I won't give you anything." Wang Huiru held her brother's hand and advised. She was saying this to her brother and also to her sister-in-law, asking her sister-in-law to take good care of her brother.

"I'm a useless person. I'm a burden when I'm alive. I'm tired myself and I'm also a burden to my family." Wang Bo's father smiled bitterly and shook his head, not listening to his sister at all.

"Isn't it about time for Xiaobo to get married? Don't you want to have a grandson?" Wang Huiru knew that her brother was feeling bad and had a weak desire to live, so she tried to persuade him in various ways.

"With my appearance, which girl would be interested in Xiaobo?" Wang Bo's father shook his head again.

"Hasn't my sister-in-law always wanted to find a stable job for Xiaobo? That's why I'm here this time." Wang Huiru stated her purpose.

"What kind of job? Are you going to the city to be a worker?" When Wang Bo's mother heard this, she couldn't hide the joy on her face.

"It's not that easy to find a worker. The city is still reducing its workforce. As for a doctor, we need to train a group of rural doctors in our city. I asked Lao Yan to ask someone and there is great hope." Wang Huiru made things clear.

"A rural doctor? Don't you have to go back to the village after you finish your studies?" The joy on Wang Bo's mother's face quickly faded, and she looked a little dissatisfied.

"Woman, what do you know? In what era can there be a lack of doctors? Who doesn't get sick? Didn't our captain's child go to Huiru for treatment? How proud you are!" When Wang Bo's father heard this, a smile appeared on his face.

"Although I will eventually have to go back to the countryside, I can still have some face in the village. It is definitely easier than working now. I can see patients and give injections and get full work points without any problems." Wang Huiru is a doctor herself and has a lot of say.

Most of the neighbors have children, and whenever their children have a headache or fever, they all come to her house. Although her position is not as high as Yan Xiongfei's, the neighbors are much more enthusiastic to see her than to see Old Yan.

"Yes, yes, very good, very good." Wang Bo's mother also realized that there was something wrong with her words and hurried to make up for it.

"Where is Xiaobo? Let me talk to him." Wang Huiru didn't see her nephew when she entered the room, so she asked at this time.

"He's going to the fields to dig mice. Sister, please sit down first and I'll go find him." Wang Bo's mother said this and hurried out.

"Brother, you lie down for a while. I'm going to the captain's house. I have to register Xiaobo first." After her sister-in-law went out, Wang Huiru raised her hand and looked at her watch. Time was tight. She didn't ask for leave and had to go to work in the afternoon.

"Okay, go ahead, go ahead." Wang Bo's father agreed happily.

"You have to be good at home. If anything happens, the child will be embarrassed and the whole thing will fail." Wang Huiru tucked her eldest brother in, fearing that he would commit suicide, and gave him instructions.

"I understand. It's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. Don't worry." Wang Bo's father nodded and agreed.

Wang Bo knew nothing about this and was leading his younger brothers and sisters to dig rats.

"Haozi" is a general term used by the people of Sijiucheng to refer to mice and voles. Although the old people of Sijiucheng know the names of mice and voles, they seldom call them that.

Voles are very smart animals. Every autumn they will find ways to store food for the winter.

They usually dig holes and build nests on the edges of fields, and then drag the ripe crops into their holes before farmers harvest them.

Field mice don't mind corn, rice, wheat, peanuts, etc. They dig everything into their holes.

In previous years, few people would dig out vole holes, but this year, the situation is rather special.

Although there was a canteen in the team, the amount of dry food that could be distributed to each person had obviously shrunk, and it was not enough to fill one’s stomach. And the food after the autumn harvest was stored collectively, so every household had no food.

In order to fill their stomachs, the villagers had no choice but to resort to begging, reselling, and even stealing.

The Wang family would not do such a thing, firstly because of the inherent moral constraints, and secondly because of Wang Huiru. If a scandal occurred in the family, Wang Huiru would definitely be implicated, and she would forget about the 20 yuan in the future.

What can you do to earn 20 yuan in rural areas these days?
The whole family knows it well.

The villagers were hungry, and many of them secretly cooked at home. Most production teams turned a blind eye to this, and pretended not to see it as long as it did not affect the collective.

In order to start a fire, you need food, so many people started to think about killing field mice.

It’s true, if you’re lucky, you can get more than 20 kilograms of food a day.

Those at home who were in urgent need of money would secretly take it out and sell it. A lot of the money given by Wang Huiru went into the hands of these people.

Wang Bo followed suit and earned money by paying.

There are some skills to digging out voles, and it usually requires the cooperation of multiple people.

The vole's nest has multiple exits. Everyone takes a bag and puts it at the entrance, then uses smoke to smoke the vole out. If you catch one, you will have a treat and have a meat meal in the evening.

After smoking out the vole, the next step is physical work. Use a shovel to dig along the hole until you reach the vole's storage room and take out the food reserves inside, just like Tang Zhitong digging out the squirrel's food reserves.

When Wang Bo's mother found Wang Bo, Wang Bo was working hard, while his younger brothers and sisters were playing by pulling the tails of field mice.

Wang Bo played with mice a lot when he was a kid. Pulling the tail was the easiest thing to do. When he was a kid, he and his friends would catch mice and play with them in more ways, such as blowing them up with firecrackers and burning them with gasoline.

"Bozi, go back quickly. Your aunt is here and has good news for you." With the good news hanging in her eyes, Wang Bo's mother trotted all the way here even though she was hungry. She was out of breath when she arrived at the field.

"Okay, Mom. I'll dig it up in a few more shovels, and then we'll go back." Wang Bo stopped the work in his hands, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and replied.

"What are you still digging for...you go back quickly and let me dig!" Wang Bo's mother originally wanted to say no, but changed her mind when the words came to her lips because she was reluctant to give up such a small amount of food.

"What's the hurry?" Wang Bo broke out in a sweat while digging the vole hole, and his hands and feet didn't have much strength. But as the breadwinner of the family, he felt that this was the kind of work he should do, and didn't want to leave it to his mother.

"It's about work. Your aunt said that the city wants to train a group of doctors, and they can return to the village after they have learned enough. You should go back quickly and don't make your aunt wait anxiously." Wang Bo's mother took the shovel and urged her son to go back without giving her time to discuss. She knew very well what was more important and what was less important.

"I'll be back right away!" After hearing what the two mothers said, Wang Bo turned around and left, not caring about anything else at this moment.

After working in the fields for two years, he really loves being a farmer.

The reason why Wang Bo did not listen to his aunt's advice to go to the city to work as a worker was that, on the one hand, he considered that the family had a lot of land and his mother could not handle it all by herself.

On the other hand, Wang Bo himself did not want to be too far away from home. Living in the countryside, he knew too well that given his father's situation, if there was no man in the family, he would inevitably be looked down upon and bullied.

Another reason was that I was not old enough to be employed at that time. According to my dad, working as a worker at this age would inevitably cause embarrassment to my aunt and uncle. This matter had to be considered for the sake of people who cared about me, so I put it on hold temporarily. Who could have thought that so many things would happen later?
When I was old enough, the opportunity was gone. I can only say that it was fate.

This time, Wang Bo has the opportunity to be a doctor, and he doesn’t want to miss it. He can provide care at home and get full work points!

In fact, he had had the opportunity to get full work points before. The village primary school was recruiting teachers, and Wang Bo's academic qualifications were more than enough, but it was not his turn.

Teachers have two holidays a year, they are protected from the wind and rain on weekdays, and they get full work points. It would be a lie for Wang Bo to say that he was not envious.

When Wang Bo ran home in a daze, Wang Huiru had not returned yet.

My father and I waited for a while before Wang Huiru came home.

"Aunt!" Wang Bo looked at Wang Huiru expectantly, but he couldn't say a word even though he had a thousand words to say.

"Did you know?" Wang Huiru looked at her nephew with a smile. The hardships of life could not crush him. He was taller than herself.

"Yeah." Wang Bo nodded.

"There's great hope. I've told the team leader, and he will help you register. Your uncle will also be watching you in the city. You should find your junior high school textbooks at home these few days and review them, and don't let down during the exam." Wang Huiru instructed.

"Okay." Wang Bo nodded heavily and agreed.

"There's no news about when the exam will be, so just wait patiently, don't worry. After you pass the exam, you have to study in the city for a while, and I'll find time to help you with tutoring then, as long as you're not at the bottom of the list in the exam. I'll tell you after you get the news from your uncle and enter the city." Wang Huiru raised her hand to check the time again. The money she spent on going back to her mother's house would be mostly spent on the journey.

"Well, aunt, if you go to the city to study, do you need to bring your own meals?" Wang Bo had no objection to going to study, but his first reaction was to worry about how to eat.

"You don't have to worry about this. We haven't decided how to eat yet. Even if they don't provide meals, you will be needed if we have a bite to eat." Wang Huiru took the responsibility.

The couple discussed this issue last night. Yan Xiongfei's guess is that meals would be provided, but since he had not confirmed it with Tang Zhitong, he was somewhat unsure.

"Yeah." Wang Bo glanced at his father and continued to nod.

"I brought some millet and will cook it for your father later. Here is 20 yuan, you can keep it and use it to supplement the family's expenses." Wang Huiru took out money from her pocket and put it into her nephew's hand.

Wang Huiru knew the situation in the countryside. There were very few markets in the city and it was basically impossible to buy food. But it was different in the countryside. The management was looser and there was still some food, but the price was much higher than before.

Wang Bo held the money in his hand and looked at his father. After his father nodded, he put it away and said okay.

"Brother, I have to go to work in the afternoon, so I'm leaving now. You take good care of the child at home, think more about the child, and don't embarrass the child." Before leaving, Wang Huiru walked to the bed, took her brother's hand, and instructed.

"Okay, I get it, don't worry." Wang Bo's father agreed with a smile.

After Wang Bo sent his aunt away and returned to the house, Wang Bo's father said, "Bozi, this opportunity didn't come easily, you have to do your best!"

"Okay, I understand, Dad." Wang Bo looked at his father lying on the bed. Once upon a time, the man in front of him was not only the support of his aunt, but also a supporter for himself. Now it is his turn to be his father's support!

Wang Bo's father nodded, waved his hand, and smiled and said, "Go, go, find the old books and read them carefully again."

Watching his son go out, Wang Bo's father lay on the bed, looking at the dilapidated roof, thinking: In this world, who has an easy life? It's nothing more than trying to make a living.

(End of this chapter)