Traveling through time and space, wanting to lie down, but being forced to move forward

More than an hour later, the ox cart finally entered the town.

Not far into the town, on a quiet street, Lao Liu sighed and stopped the ox cart.

"We're here, everyone get off the bus.

Let’s go back around 11 o’clock as usual. No more waiting after the deadline.

If you want to go back by oxcart, the fare is two cents. If you don’t want to go back by oxcart, the fare is one cent.”

After hearing this, everyone got out of the car.

Zhang Yingchun took out a penny and handed it to Lao Liu, "Uncle Liu, I want to go back in the afternoon, so I won't take the ox cart."

Uncle Liu took the money and nodded, "Okay."

After taking out two cents and handing it to Uncle Liu, Liu Jingxue asked, "Uncle Liu, will you stay here forever?"

Lao Liu nodded and said, "I will always be here and will not leave."

Hearing him say this, Liu Jingxue hurriedly said, "Uncle Liu, I'll go to the post office to pick up the package and put it on the oxcart. Can you please keep an eye on it for me?

I also have to go to the supply and marketing cooperative and the grain station to buy things, and I also have to collect this month's subsidy for children of martyrs.

It’s not good to carry the package around.”

Thinking about the candy in his pocket, Lao Liu nodded without hesitation, "Just put the things on the ox cart and do your own thing.

I promise to keep it safe for you, and it won’t be lost or rummaged through.”

Liu Jingxue quickly thanked him, "Thank you, Uncle Liu."

Other aunties and sisters-in-law also paid for the ride, usually two cents.

But there was one lady who only paid one cent.

Someone asked her, "Aunt Liu, aren't you going back by ox cart today?"

Aunt Liu replied, "I have to go look for my niece today; she has married and moved to the city.

During the autumn harvest, I received news that she was pregnant.

I didn’t have time before, but now that I’m free, I have to come and take a look.

In all likelihood, they will stay to eat and not be able to take the bullock cart back home.”

Someone enviously said, "Your niece is so lucky that she got married in the city."

"Hey, that girl has been pretty, sweet-spoken, and good at studying since she was young, and her family has always supported her.

So I went to high school, fell in love with a classmate, and started dating.

As soon as he graduated, the man’s family helped him find a job and they got married.”

After hearing what Aunt Liu said, someone said thoughtfully, "Studying can have such benefits.

Isn't it true that studying is useless?

Weren’t all those great intellectuals denounced as the stinking ninth category and sent down to the countryside for reform?

After hearing this, Liu Jingxue quickly said, "Aunt, you are wrong. Reading is still very useful.

When city dwellers are looking for a partner, they all look for someone who is literate and educated. They look down on those who have never been to school.

There are also factories in the city that are recruiting workers, and the first requirement is that you have graduated from junior high school or high school.

If you don’t have an education, it’s hard to even get a job in a factory, and you can only farm in the countryside.”

"Xiaoxue is right. Not only factories are hiring workers, but even the army likes soldiers who can read and write.

The third child in our family wrote back and said that it was fortunate that he finished junior high school, otherwise he would not have been able to get a promotion in the army if he could not read and write.

There are many capable people in the army who have never been promoted, and the reason they suffer is because they are illiterate. ", said Aunt Sufen.

After that, she further added, "The third child in our family also said that he regretted not studying hard and not being admitted to high school.

If he was also a high school graduate, he might have had the opportunity to study in a military academy.

If you have this experience, you can be promoted right after you graduate from military school."

"Is studying really that important?" someone asked uncertainly.

Aunt Cuihua said, "Of course.

There have been people in our village who have made jokes before.

He ran to the public toilet in the town, but because he was illiterate, a grown man ran to the women's restroom and was almost caught as a hooligan.

If he knew a few words, this wouldn't have happened."

“My third child is in the army, and because he can read, he can still write letters home every month.

There are illiterate people in their army, and they are unable to write letters home all year round.

Even if we asked someone in the army who could read to write a letter and send it back, my family members were illiterate and couldn't understand it.

So many people lost contact with their families after they joined the army, and no one knew whether they were dead or alive." Aunt Sufen sighed.

"I was planning to have my son join the army when he grows up, but I didn't expect something like this to happen.

No, when I get back I have to talk to my husband about sending my son to school.

If you go out and become like those people and don't write back, I will be so worried that I will die."

After hearing this, Liu Jingxue thought about the fact that men were favored over women in this era, and said quickly, "Not only should the boy be sent, but the girl should also be sent to school."

One auntie retorted, "Studying doesn't cost money.

Just send the boy there to study, but don't send the girl there, it's a waste of money.

Sooner or later the girl will get married and become someone else's family.

Take advantage of the years she has been at home and do more work, so that the family will not have raised her in vain. "

When Liu Jingxue heard this, she quickly said, "Aunt, your idea is wrong."

She pointed at Aunt Liu who had just said she was going to visit her niece and said, "Look, Aunt Liu, her niece married into the city because she studied in the city and met her classmates there.

And her in-laws also found a job for her.

If she hadn't studied and graduated from high school, her in-laws wouldn't be able to find her a job."

Aunt Liu nodded and said, "My niece said that her job only recruits high school students.

If she hadn’t studied, even if her husband’s family found a way for her, she wouldn’t be able to get in.”

"A married girl who has a job is more independent and has her own salary, so she will definitely support her parents.

If she didn't have that ability and married to a rural family, she would have to steal things from her parents' home to support her husband's family, not to mention supporting her parents' home. "Liu Jingxue concluded.

She knew that no matter how many truths she preached to these rural aunts and sisters-in-law, it would be useless. It would be better to start from their own interests.

Liu Jingxue continued to seduce, “It’s difficult for us rural guys to enter the city.

But it is relatively easier for girls. After all, as long as they are good-looking and well-educated, the chances of being noticed by city boys are quite high.

Girls generally love home and know how to care for their parents.

If she marries well and has the means, she will definitely find a way to support her family."

Aunt Liu said, "Xiaoxue is telling the truth.

My niece often gives money to her parents' home. Whenever she gets something good, she sends it to her parents' home.

Even my nephew was found by her husband to be a temporary worker in the city."

"Oh, this girl has educated herself, married well, and has such benefits."

"Of course, look at the book writer in the next village, where he got his book.

It’s just that his sister married into the family of a leader in the city and got him this official position.

And the wealthy family in our village, their daughter received education, married and moved to the city, and built up their family.

Don’t you think about what his family was like before? They were considered the poorest family in the village.

But now, they have become one of the richest people in our village."

Liu Jingxue continued, "So, we still have to send the girl to school.

Now that I don’t have to stay in school all day, I can still help with housework.

Tuition fees are not expensive nowadays and it doesn’t cost much in a year.

But if I go out to study, the money I spend can be earned back to my family in less than a year.

This deal is a good deal no matter how you look at it.”