Chapter 1514: Learning Piano
Feifei shrugged, "If you want to go, just go. My brother’s fingers are long and slender, he should learn to play the piano. He might end up being an excellent pianist."
At two-thirty the next day, a group of four set out, with Tingting sitting in Jianbin’s car.
When they arrived at Teacher Zheng’s home, it was not yet three o’clock, but Teacher Zheng was quite pleased with them for not being late.
Because of Feifei’s age, they went straight to the sheet music.
Feifei already knew how, but pretended to be modest. The remaining three siblings also learned quickly.
Teacher Zheng was extremely satisfied. She loved the piano and respected it greatly, so she cherished talented children very much.
The two-hour lesson concluded quickly, leaving everyone wanting more.
Teacher Zheng was even more pleased with how two teenage boys could learn so diligently.
On the way home, they bought some sesame seed cakes to fill up before going to the movies.
Although the four from the Yang family weren’t there, they still had a good time.
Han Xiangjun and Wei Kaiyun were still waiting outside. Days passed like this until August, when it got so hot that even the electric fans at home were turned on. They bought three new ones.
Li Family Village sent over some wine and also brought ten bags of flour, which were divided among several families. Jiang Xinyu gave plenty of review materials to the Red Army and Changhe.
Chaoyang wasn’t working anymore; his foundations were weak, so Jing Chu taught him, effectively having him revise.
Li Xue and Guodong were about the same level. Originally, Guodong wanted to work, but Wei Kaiyun refused. He insisted Guodong study seriously at home.
Zhang Qiu’e took good care of the four children. Han Xiangjun had already arranged schools for them all, and Jing Chen wanted to directly enter the third grade, but he had to take exams when the school year started.
In October, things had completely calmed down. The radio station was now focusing on introducing the conference.
The news of the resumption of the university entrance exams also came out. Jiang Xinyu breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling that the children’s hard work had paid off.
𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
Wei Kaiyun called the village, asking Li Yungui to come and take the call.
Actually, the Red Army and Changhe already knew about the news and were laughing excitedly.
The office staff from the village came to Li Family Village. Li Yungui thanked them and sent ten eggs, leaving both sides satisfied.
"Village Chief Li, do you all know about the resumption of the college entrance exams?"
"Xiao Wei, we all know. Don’t worry."
"That’s good, make sure to keep an eye on when to register."
"Got it. I’ll call my older brother and have him keep watch too, so as not to delay the kids."
Wei Kaiyun felt relieved now. The two talked about village matters before putting the phone down.
"Old Li, is your son also taking the college entrance exams?" Xing Mingying asked.
Li Yungui nodded with a smile, "Isn’t that so? My two sons and two nephews are taking it. They’ve been following Xiao Jiang and two professors to learn, so they want to give it a try."
Xing Mingying nodded, "That’s a good thing, you must support all four of them."
"Mm, yes, we just hope they can all pass."
"They definitely can."
Now, Li Yungui liked hearing things like this.
"Thank you, Mayor Xing. I have to call my big brother, I’m afraid I’ll miss the news."
Li Yunqiao also knew the news, "I know, we’ll go back this week."
"Then I’ll have Jiushang come over on Friday afternoon, you can take the tractor."
Now, whether it’s eggs or watermelon, they deliver every other day, and Li Yungui didn’t mind the diesel costs. The tractor went from the village to the county, and finally to the city, completing a full circuit.
When he returned to the village, he saw many strangers there.
"Who are you?"
They explained in a chattering group. It turned out they were educated youths from various villages. Li Yungui had released the village’s educated youths, leaving these ones who hadn’t caught the opportunity.
Later policies for returning were much stricter, making it difficult to go back.
But they had hope now. This was their hope of leaving here.
"Why have you come to our village?"
"Who are you?" a gentle male educated youth with glasses asked Li Yungui.
"I’m the village chief of Li Family Village."
"Village Chief Li, we’ve come to borrow books. We’ve heard that many in your village are studying."
Li Yungui frowned slightly, "Indeed, many are studying, but they’ve all left."
"Village Chief Li, can you help us? There’s no hope of going back now. This is our only hope."
"Wait here, I’ll go ask," said Li Yungui, still feeling soft-hearted. In his eyes, they were all kids, so he went to the school to find his daughter-in-law.
He knew that Jiang Xinyu had left many sets of textbooks. But he still wanted to discuss it with his daughter-in-law.
Wang Menglin had no objections, "Dad, give them two sets of books."
Eventually, Li Yungui brought out two complete sets of books and said, "We only have two sets left, you’ll have to share them."
With over ten people, one book each would not be enough, but it was hope, wasn’t it?
They thanked Li Yungui profusely and left happily.
Another group came the next day, and again Li Yungui gave out two sets.
"These are the last two sets, you’ll have to swap them amongst yourselves to read."
Yet many still didn’t believe his words. More people came in dribs and drabs, but Li Yungui didn’t lend out even one more set.
Jiushang brought Li Yunqiao’s family over. They stayed with the Lv Family.
Now Changhe, Red Army, Hongling, and Cheng Lin were learning at the Wei Family, where it was quiet and undisturbed.
Originally, Li Yunqiao wanted the four of them to study in the city, but after seeing the environment, he felt reassured.
"Are there any questions you can’t solve?"
"Dad, Teacher Jiang brought back several sets of materials; each set has two parts: one with Teacher Jiang’s answers, and the other with solution steps. If we can’t solve something, we look through Teacher Jiang’s materials."
Li Yunqiao was deeply touched, thinking Xiao Jiang had thought things through thoroughly.
All the kids were now preparing for school as classes were resuming in full.
Honglin watched the study materials, completed assignments, and notes of his younger brothers and sighed internally, thinking he absolutely couldn’t achieve the same. He never imagined his mischievous little brother Hongling could sit still and study earnestly.
At home, the four young men preparing for college exams were being well fed by Qu Xiaoli.
"Menglin, you can go take the exam without worry; Xiao Chen and the others are with us."
"Mom, I know. I also want to give it a try."
The two kids were also in elementary school now, so she didn’t have to worry. Li Manjiang had already wanted to accompany the army, but she didn’t want to. Her decision to take the college exam came after her cousins persuaded her—she initially did not want to take it. She just wanted to stay home with Qu Xiaoli.
However, they were right. If she got into college, it would mean leaving for a few years and then potentially returning to work, which would be the same in the end. Finally, she agreed.