Meng Yan's Transformation

Zhan Mengyan did not ask for her pen back. She was upset because she thought her deskmate was another troublemaker. She could not concentrate on her studies.

"Sister Mengyan, let me see why your pen is leaking ink. I'll help you fix it." Zhan Yingying saw that her sister's fingers were all blue and she looked depressed, and she knew that her pen was leaking again.

Zhan Yingying took apart Zhan Mengyan's pen, cleaned it again, and slowly cleaned the accumulated ink with a small blade. She found that the ink was leaking from the nib and the pen bag. The pen body was also split and had a crack. The nib was leaking because the plastic was loose. Zhan Yingying solved the problem with a match. She just roasted it with fire and it stopped. She cut off the upper part of the damaged pen bag with scissors, put it back on the pen body, and then wrapped it with a thin wire a few times. She also found a thin iron wire and made a hoop for the pen body. The repaired pen absorbed the ink, and Zhan Mengyan wrote on paper. Sure enough, the pen stopped leaking.

Zhan Mengyan looked at her sister's hands which were full of calluses but so deft. She said admiringly: "Sister Yingying, you are amazing. Please teach me this skill of repairing pens. I won't go to school anymore, and you don't have to go to work in the production team. The two sisters will open a repair shop and repair pens for students every day. Our school has so many students. No, we will open a pen repair shop near the county high school. I heard that there are more students in the county high school, and everyone needs pens. We will definitely make a lot of money."

When Zhan Yingying heard that Zhan Mengyan wanted to learn the skill of repairing pens from her to make money, she felt that she had misled Zhan Mengyan and hurriedly said, "Sister Mengyan, please don't say that this is hopeless and unambitious. Opening a repair department is a hopeless idea. Without education, you can only do physical labor. You are such a good student, you will do mental labor in the future. Look at your sister's hands. I am only a teenager, but I have calluses. You don't know how tiring it is to work every day in the production team - when sowing in the spring, I followed the people who planted the seeds to apply fertilizer and step on the grid, and I was so tired that I was out of breath; in late spring and early summer, I had to fertilize the crops. Weeding the seedlings and shoveling the fields, the ridges were endless, and I often couldn’t keep up with the male members of the production team. Sometimes, Brother Ziqiang would pick me up, and when I reached the end of the field, I really wanted to lie on the ground and not get up. But no matter how tired I was, I had to shovel the next ridge, one ridge after another, endlessly; in autumn, harvesting corn, sorghum, and soybeans, and threshing the fields was even more tiring; in winter, digging black soil and pig manure to accumulate fertilizer, preparing to fertilize the fields in spring... Sister Mengyan, I don’t want you to work as hard as I do. You have to go to a prestigious university, preferably in the capital..."

"Sister Yingying, don't go to work in the production team tomorrow. Go and study. I feel you are smarter than me. You must study hard. You will do better than me in the future and you will definitely be admitted to a good university." Zhan Mengyan said.

"I'm over ten years old, which is the age for middle school, but I didn't finish primary school. I've missed so many courses and can't keep up. Besides, my family's conditions don't allow me to go to school anymore. We can't afford it. Brother Zi'an didn't get into college after graduating from high school. He wanted to take cram school for a year and take the exam again next year, but our family couldn't afford it, so he had to go to work in the production team. Now only you and brother Zixun have the opportunity to go to college. I envy you two and regret that I didn't study hard back then." Zhan Yingying said regretfully.

After Zhan Mengyan entered junior high school, she was very unhappy with her study life and even thought about dropping out of school. After listening to Zhan Yingying's words, she gave up her budding idea.

Another day at noon, during the lunch break, Zhan Mengyan was once again frightened out of her wits. When she opened her pencil case, two small snakes suddenly crawled onto the back of her hand. Zhan Mengyan desperately ran around the classroom, shaking her hands... (When in Heilongjiang, Zhan Ziqiang once took Zhan Mengyan to catch snakes, and also took her to a dry well, where they saw densely packed large snakes. Zhan Ziqiang caught a meter-long snake and gave it to an old woman in the village to eat. She peeled the snake skin and hung it on the roof to dry, and roasted the snake meat to eat. Snakes left a shadow on Zhan Mengyan's childhood. Zhan Mengyan got goose bumps when she saw a snake.)

The girls in the classroom were so scared when they saw the snakes that they screamed. The brave boys caught the two little snakes and threw them outside the classroom.

Zhan Mengyan calmed down her panic. She looked around the classroom and saw Lu Zhigang and Yan Cunfeng, who were sitting in Yan Cunfeng's seat, covering their mouths and laughing.

"Lu Zhigang, Yan Cunfeng, what are you two laughing at? This time you can finally admit what you have done like a real man, right?" Zhan Mengyan said with her eyes wide open.

"Class monitor Zhan Mengyan, you control everything in the world, and you also care about other people's poop, fart, and laughter? What did I do that you want me to admit? I have done so many things, for example, I helped you wipe the blackboard, sweep the floor in the classroom, and pull weeds in the playground... Which one do you want me to admit?" Lu Zhigang said with a smug smile.

"I'm asking you, why did you put a little snake in my pencil case? Last time you put a caterpillar in my pencil case, and this time you put a snake. Lu Zhigang, if you don't want to sit at the same table with me, go and talk to your homeroom teacher. Is it fun to play pranks again and again?" Zhan Mengyan said.

Lu Zhigang said even more proudly, "Interesting, really interesting. When I saw class monitor Zhan Mengyan, she was so scared that her face looked like it was dyed with seven or eight different colors, red and green, very bright and beautiful! I didn't release the caterpillar last time. I said it was done by an unknown hero who did good deeds without leaving a name. I think this snake release incident was also the masterpiece of this unknown hero. I didn't say I didn't want to sit at the same table with you. You don't want to sit at the same table with me because you dislike my dirtiness and my poor academic performance."

Zhan Mengyan and Lu Zhigang started arguing, and deputy squad leader Zhang Lianchang came out to persuade them.

"Classmate Lu Zhigang, what do you say about us being deskmates? It would be great if we are both male classmates and can sit at the same desk together. You and Zhan Mengyan are the only boys and girls sitting at the same desk in our class. It seems abrupt and uncoordinated." said the deputy class monitor Zhang Lianchang.

"I say, Zhang Lianchang, are you meddling in other people's business? Besides, before school started, my mother talked to your mother and asked us what kind of relatives we are. She asked you to sit at the same table with me and help me with my studies. Your mother said that I was a troublemaker, and she was afraid that I would affect your studies if you sat at the same table with me. This time you agreed to sit at the same table with me. Do you want to be a hero and save the damsel in distress? Do you have any thoughts about the class monitor Zhan Mengyan? Hahaha..."

"Ding-ling-ling, ding-ling-ling..." The bell for class rang. The students all returned to their seats. Lu Zhigang quickly ran to Zhan Mengyan's side, sat down in his seat, turned back to Zhang Lianchang, slid his palm back and forth on his neck, and made a gesture of wiping his neck.