Reborn in a small mountain village in 1991

Chapter 6 A Surprise for the Younger Siblings

The pen was bought by Xu Chunsheng at the school gate; it was the "Hero" brand, which was the most popular among students at the time.

Xu Chunsheng didn't buy anything too expensive; he just took a 2-yuan one and went into the school.

"Kid, if you don't go eat soon, someone will take your lunchbox." Xu Chunsheng tapped his third brother's head with his pen.

Xu Chunfeng looked up at his older brother, his eyes instantly reddening.

"Second brother, I... I'm too stupid. I want to go back to farming and stop studying..."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?"

Hearing his younger brother say this, Xu Chunsheng frowned anxiously. His brother's grades were so good, why did he suddenly say he was not going to study anymore?

"I... I only ranked third last semester." The third brother lowered his head. "The teacher said I won't get the 'People's Scholarship' this semester. I must have gotten dumber."

The "People's Scholarship" is a subsidy issued by the school to outstanding students from impoverished families. There are very few places available, with only one or two places in a class, and some classes don't even have any.

The Xu family was able to support Xu Chunfeng's junior high school education in the county because the town subsidized his tuition and fees. The child was diligent and ranked first or second in his class. The school provided meal tickets every month, so he ate pickled vegetables from home every day. Xu's third brother's schooling didn't actually cost much, but they still gave him two or three yuan every month for backup.

Fortunately, when the semester started, Xu's parents had Xu's third brother bring some rice and pickled vegetables to school; otherwise, the boy's livelihood would have been in trouble.

"Come on, let's go eat."

Xu Chunsheng invited his third brother to the cafeteria, where groups of children could be seen laughing and playing as they walked out.

At this time, most children brought rice from home to school, washed it themselves, filled it with water, put it in an aluminum box with their class name on it, and then sent it to a large steamer where the cafeteria chef would steam it for them.

After school, students would pick up their own lunchboxes and eat them with pickled vegetables. This was their lunch, and the pickled vegetables were from their own garden, so it didn't cost any money.

Xu Chunsheng took the lunchbox, shook it, and found it wobbling inside. After finding a table to sit down and opening it, sure enough, it was just clear soup porridge, so thin that even chopsticks couldn't stand up.

Xu Chunsheng's heart tightened. "You sit down, I'll go get two dishes."

Soon, Xu Chunsheng returned with a bowl of rice, a small spoonful of potatoes, and a small portion of stir-fried cabbage with some minced meat. He placed the rice in front of his younger brother, took his brother's lunchbox, took out the corn cakes he had packed that morning from his pocket, broke them into pieces, put them in the porridge, and began to drink it quietly.

"Why are you looking at me? Eat your food." Xu Chunsheng put a large amount of stir-fried cabbage into his younger brother's bowl.

"Have you been hungry lately? What have you been doing at night?"

The two swept the dishes off the table clean, and Xu Chunsheng even used corn cakes to brush off the bits of oil from the stir-fried cabbage and put them in his younger brother's bowl.

"It's Teacher Li." Xu Sandi's eyes lit up when he mentioned Teacher Li. "She brings me two sweet potatoes every day, and she keeps them in my schoolbag. One at noon and one in the evening. I forgot to take them just now."

Xu Chunsheng knew nothing about these things in his previous life. If he hadn't come to the county to sell Ophiopogon japonicus, given his personality, who knows how long he would have kept it a secret.

Xu Chunsheng patted his third brother on the shoulder, "Come on, let's go for a walk."

During the students' lunch break, Xu Chunsheng took Xu Sandi to buy four jin of "negotiated grain" for two yuan. This amount of rice was enough for Xu Sandi to eat until the end of the month. He also gave him two yuan for pocket money, leaving him 7 mao for transportation to go home during the month's holiday. He could also occasionally have a meal at the cafeteria.

Looking at the money handed to him, Xu Sandi was somewhat surprised. "Brother, isn't this too much?"

"Not much, make sure you eat well." After saying that, Xu Chunsheng urged him to take his things back to school, "I'm going to the station to take the bus home."

When the boss heard that Xu Chunsheng was going to the station to catch a bus, he asked Xu Chunsheng where he was going. After hearing Xu Chunsheng's answer...

The shopkeeper said to him, "Don't go to the station, it takes half an hour to get there. Just wait here. His bus to the township will pass by my door, so you can just wait here."

Sure enough, before Xu Chunsheng had even waited ten minutes, he saw a car approaching from afar. As it drew closer, the car had the words "Tuanying Town" on its front, not "Tuanjie Town," which was Xu Chunsheng's hometown.

However, Xu Chunsheng was quite lucky. The bus would pass through their town, but he had to get off at the intersection and walk for more than ten minutes to reach the town.

Xu Chunsheng raised his hand and waved, indicating that he wanted to get on the bus.

The train doors slowly opened, revealing a packed carriage—the front of the carriage was filled with baskets and bags of all sizes, and the aisle was crammed with people.

Xu Chunsheng took a deep breath before squeezing his way up.

"Where to?" The ticket seller leaned against the door, the narrow space so cramped that she could only stand there, relying on her voice to sell tickets.

"Tuanjie Town." Xu Chunsheng handed over one yuan and fifty cents.

"The bus won't go in. Get off at the fork in the road and walk across yourself." After saying that, the ticket seller tore off a small ticket and handed it to Xu Chunsheng. "Take this, they'll check tickets later."

When he arrived, Xu Chunsheng didn't feel anything amiss while sitting, but on the way back, he realized the carriage was shaking violently, and he could only grip the worn-out handrail above his head tightly.

The car swayed and bumped as it drove out of the county town. Every now and then, two or three people would get off the car, and Xu Chunsheng felt much more relaxed with each person who got off.

"call."

Xu Chunsheng, carrying his backpack, got off the car, let out a long sigh of relief, stretched, and walked briskly toward the town.

Just as Xu Chunsheng reached the entrance of town, he was thinking of buying some meat when he heard someone calling his name.

"Spring is here!"

Xu Chunsheng looked in the direction of the sound, and his good mood vanished instantly.

Qian Junwei strode over and patted him on the shoulder: "Here's two yuan. Go teach someone a lesson and beat him up."

Xu Chunsheng recalled that in his previous life, he had helped him fight many battles because of his loyalty, which led to some trouble and cost his family a lot of money.

Seeing that Xu Chunsheng didn't react, Qian Junwei reached out and pushed Xu Chunsheng's shoulder hard. "Did you hear me?!"

This pulled Xu Chunsheng back from his memories, and he reached out to push Qian Junwei's shoulder strap off and put it back on.

Xu Chunsheng grabbed Qian Junwei's shoulder with his backhand, kicked him hard, and sent him sprawling to the ground. With his other hand, he twisted Qian Junwei's arm behind his back and pressed his elbow against Qian Junwei's head, making Qian Junwei's head press firmly against the ground.

"Don't test my patience. If you see me again, get lost!"

After saying that, Xu Chunsheng walked towards the supply and marketing cooperative.

Qian Junwei got up from the ground, clenched his fists, stood there for a long time, but ultimately didn't dare to go up and beat Xu Chunsheng.

Before long, Xu Chunsheng stood at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative and saw that the sales staff were already packing up and cleaning, preparing to close the store.

"Brother, is there any meat left?" Xu Chunsheng asked anxiously, looking at the pig bristles on the cutting board.

In his past life, Xu Chunsheng could buy meat anytime, but in this life, he subconsciously ignored this issue.

"Come in the morning to buy fresh meat." The sales clerk, busy with her work, replied, "Do you also have some cured meat?"

"Help me cut two jin," Xu Chunsheng hurriedly replied.

"Here's your cured meat." The sales clerk took the ticket and money and handed the meat to Xu Chunsheng.

Xu Chunsheng carried the meat home and saw Xu Yaomei standing at the crossroads, looking around.

"what?"

When Xu Yaomei saw Xu Chunsheng, her bright eyes widened.

"Mom! Mom! My brother really bought meat!"

Xu Yaomei ran towards her brother while calling out.

"Little sister can eat meat today! Little sister has meat to eat!"