Reborn to Strive

  In the ’80s, it was more desirable to go to a technical high, rather than a high school. Perhaps it couldn’t be said that it was a better choice, but rather it was that many with good grades preferred to study at a technical high and not go to high school.

    Now in this decade, technical high and high school were about equal in popularity, and plenty of people still chose to go to a technical high.

    Ultimately, after studying at a technical high for three years, you could go out and get a job. If you went to high school and you were admitted to a university, then, including the years you went to high school and college, you’d have to study at least six more years!

    But Shi Zhen was clear on the fact that technical school was about to no longer be a good enough qualification for a job.

    Presently, technical school graduates could become elementary school teachers without further education, or even go work in a hospital. But in a few years, that would no longer be the case.

    In the year of his death, Changxi District was a county-level city with a first rate hospital and the doctors there needed at least a graduate degree.

    So, going to high school and taking the college entrance exam was a much better option than going to technical school. 

    Guan Baiyu could even continue studying in the future, going to graduate school and earning a PhD, if he wanted to.

    As for whether Guan Baiyu could pass the university entrance exam . . . Shi Zhen had faith in his abilities.

Guan Baiyu had an innate ability to study, and enjoyed going to school. Last life, after Shi Zhen and Guan Baiyu had been together for three years, he’d passed the self-study exam and earned his diploma, planning to attend school to become a teacher.

    Unfortunately he never became a teacher. He died first.

    Shi Zhen said to Guan Baiyu, “Going to school is a momentous occasion, and studying a few more years isn’t bad. Rest assured, I have money and I’ll pay for you to keep studying.”

    Guan Baiyu was speechless, and dared not look at Shi Zhen lest he show his doubt. 

    Shi Zhen laughed and said, “I know I don’t have any money to speak of now, but just wait, I will definitely make money. I won’t always be this poor.”

    If it was another person saying this, Guan Baiyu wouldn’t trust them in the least. But this person . . . Guan Baiyu was already half-convinced.

    Shi Zhen also said, “Xiao Yu, I believe you can definitely pass the college entrance exam. You can set yourself a goal to work toward. If you know where you’re heading, then you’ll be willing to work hard to get there, and the whole world will make way for you!”

    Shi Zhen effortlessly delivered a motivational speech.

    After digesting the words, Guan Baiyu was clearly psyched up, and, with a gleam in his eye, he picked up his book and studied in earnest.

    Shi Xinghuo had nothing to do, as a 20 year old man sitting on the sidelines. But as he watched Guan Baiyu . . . his gaze was filled with admiration. 

    Shi Xinghuo’s grades were naturally a complete mess, and he only attended primary school. His period of study . . . had long ago ended, with the test simply being his ability to write his own name.

    Actually, if he’d been born after the year 2000 in a single child household, even if his brain had been injured due to the medication his mother had to take during her pregnancy, it would be unlikely for him to learn nothing at all in school. 

    With lots of instruction, he would always be able to recognize a few words.

    But he was born in the ‘70s. And in their village, even those of the same age who didn’t have cognitive impairments didn’t continue on in school. Needless to say, Shi Xinghuo’s case was even more extreme.

    They didn’t finish eating the two chickens Shi Zhen stewed that evening, and there was leftover rice as well.

    But it wasn’t enough for the next morning’s breakfast, much less Guan Baiyu’s lunch, so he’d have Guan Baiyu cook some congee in the morning.

    As for himself, he planned to go to the vegetable market.

    Yesterday Shi Zhen had gone to the vegetable market and discovered that at this time, lots of people went to buy their ingredients as early as possible. Perhaps he could do some extra work early in the morning at the vegetable market. 

    The vendors’ stalls inside the market had a booth fee, so he couldn’t set up shop inside the market, but outside, he could set up a street stall, right?

    Even if the profit was only a few RMB, it was still better than nothing, and he could better acquaint himself with the local market and gain connections.

    In his past life, he owned a business and ran into many problems, and experienced the loss of those by his side. But he always kept moving forward. It came down to the fact that his mentality was that the sky was the limit to his ambition.

    Though he missed out on some opportunities, and got knocked down a few times due to his own blunders, he always stood back up again.

    Shi Zhen went to the market this time to observe, and ask about the prices of many things.

    There wasn’t a huge variety in the kinds of vegetables you could buy in the town, and people from the surrounding villages all came into town to sell. According to them, growing vegetables didn’t take much capital, therefore if they sold for a few cents, they were quite pleased, and the price of vegetables was pretty cheap.

    He thought that relying on selling vegetables was quite tough. Only if your family raised vegetables nobody else did, then you’d have a chance to make a decent profit.

    This method of earning money was out.

    Shi Zhen kept in mind the butcher he bought from yesterday. For ¥1, he could buy a pigs tail.

    He remembered that later, pigs tails were very short. But at this time, the breed of pigs being raised had very long tails.

    The main advantage of buying pigs tails was . . . a tail cost only ¥1, and when braised in soy sauce for a while, it could be eaten.

    Country folk those days didn’t eat meat very often. They went to town to buy vegetables and tofu, but Guan Baiyu was so emaciated, he wanted to let him eat better.

    With that thought in mind, Shi Zhen thickened his face and said, “Excuse me sir, can you give me a little bit of pork skin?”

    The butcher looked at Shi Zhen and said, “I sell pork skin, but it’s not cheap. Do you want to buy it?”

    People of this time didn’t waste any part of a pig.

    Shi Zhen asked, “How much is pork skin? I don’t have much cash on me . . .”

    “I have some pork skin offcuts over here. I’ll give them to you for 20 cents.” The butcher brought out some minced bits of pork skin.

    Shi Zhen paid 20 cents without the slightest hesitation.

    Just as he finished paying, he caught sight of a 30 year old man, his smiling face untanned and beardless, who walked over to the butcher’s stall, and knocked on the counter.

    Without speaking, the butcher chopped off a piece of pork roughly around two jins in weight, and handed it to him.

    Taking the meat, the guy smiled again and walked off.

    Shi Zhen saw this, but didn’t pay it much mind, and took the pig skin and tail home.

    Yesterday, he saw soybeans at Guan Baiyu’s place, and wanted to soak some of the beans in water.

    After soaking, he could stew them with pigsfeet and  make a fragrant dish. He couldn’t buy pigs feet, so he would improvise with the tail and skin.

    When Shi Zhen returned, Guan Baiyu had already cooked the congee.

    Shi Zhen had him put last night’s leftover stewed chicken and rice into his cup to take to school, then ate pickled vegetables with the congee.

    After eating, he washed the pot, then put the soybeans and pigs tail into the pot to stew. After kindling the fire with rice straw, he stuffed the roots Guan Baiyu had collected into the fire, and a rotten log about the thickness of an arm. The pot would slowly cook on the stovetop until they came back in the evening. By then, the soybean and pigs tail stew should be fully cooked.

    The three of them went out the door.

    After going outside, Shi Zhen planned to add up the money he had on hand.

    Of his previous savings, he had spent all but the last thirty yuan, and when he visited Guan Baiyu for the first time, he was so happy that he handed those thirty yuan to Guan Baiyu, leaving himself with only a pittance.

    But he held onto the money earned from digging clay.

    Fortunately, Shi Xinghuo was paid daily for his work digging clay, and every day he gave half his wages to Shi Zhen to cover living expenses.

    Guan Baiyu was growing, Shi Xinghuo and Shi Zhen were doing physical labor, so he needed to think of a way to allow them all to eat well.

    Shi Zhen ran to his worksite, getting there just before it was time to start work for the day.

    Wang Cheng was a little displeased, “Shi Zhen, you were nearly late.”

    Shi Zhen promptly said, “Wang Cheng, pardon me. I’ve been renting a room, but don’t have a clock, and miscalculated the time.”

    This was the truth.

    If not for looking at the clock in Guan Jianguo’s central room time and time again, he would never have known what time it was.

    But today he had cut it close due to preparing the evening meal in advance.

    “Okay, okay! Get to work!” Wang Cheng waved his hand, letting Shi Zhen get started.

    Shi Zhen promptly changed his shoes and hopped into the river, diligently beginning his work.