The 1970s: Military Family Beauty

Jiang Xiaocui understood that conflicts and disputes between adults should not be discussed in front of children. Moreover, she was in a hurry to go to the hospital, so she suppressed her resentment towards Hu Xiuqing and rode away on her bicycle in a huff.

Jiang Furong wondered if her aunt knew that her father was planning to send them back to their hometown, would she be even angrier?

But considering what happened today, Dad may not mention it for the time being, so I won’t mention it either. I’ll just do what I need to do.

"Chaohui, take out your first-grade books and I'll give you some extra lessons." Jiang Furong planned to tutor her younger sister while teaching Xiao Baoying to read.

Jiang Zhaohui pointed at his parents' door and said awkwardly, "All my old books are in the bookcase over there, but Mom locked the door."

Jiang Furong didn't care: "Then bring your schoolbag over and preview the new content today."

"Great!" Jiang Zhaohui's worry turned into joy: "Preparing for math? Or Chinese?"

Jiang Furong said, "Preview the Chinese language first and read the text."

In this way, she can find out what words Jiang Chaohui doesn't know, and whether she has missed words, skipped lines, or read words upside down.

If you can't read fluently, it will be difficult to understand the meaning of math problems. You will be lucky if you can get one point out of ten.

Jiang Zhaohui opened his Chinese textbook and, as usual, read the following passage from the title page: "Our educational policy..."

This passage appears on the title page of almost all textbooks from elementary school to middle school, and is broadcast over loudspeakers every day. Almost everyone knows the next sentence after hearing the first.

After finishing the reading and turning to the main text, Jiang Zhaohui asked, "Sister, let me read 'Seven-Character Verse: The People's Liberation Army Occupies Nanjing' again. I like this text. I can recite it on stage during the school performance."

After he finished speaking, without waiting for Jiang Furong to nod, Jiang Zhaohui recited the following words one by one: "The wind and rain on Zhongshan Mountain rise up in the dark yellow, and a million strong troops cross the Yangtze River. The tigers and dragons are more powerful now than before, and the world is turned upside down."

Miraculously, as soon as Jiang Zhaohui began reciting, Xiao Baoying followed suit, reciting every word perfectly. After Jiang Zhaohui paused, Xiao Baoying even recited the last four lines, which were not printed in the textbook: "It is better to pursue the enemy with your remaining courage than to seek fame by imitating the tyrant. If the heavens had feelings, they would also grow old; the righteous path in the world is one of vicissitudes."

Jiang Furong didn't know what the last four sentences were about, but she believed in Xiao Baoying's memory. She smiled in surprise and gave him a thumbs up, praising him: "Well read! Really well read! Who taught Xiao Baoying to read it?"

Xiao Baoying shouted happily: "My grandpa!"

Jiang Furong asked Xiao Baoying to read it again, but unfortunately she couldn't understand the meaning of some words, and couldn't write them down even if she wanted to.

Although she is an engineering student, that was because of her good conditions. She could focus all her energy on developing projects and conducting technological research and development, and gave up her interest in liberal arts.

"What other poems can Xiao Baoying recite? Can you recite another one?" Jiang Furong felt that Xiao Baoying could recite other poems.

Xiao Baoying didn't understand and recited the seven-character poem again.

Jiang Zhaohui prompted, "With Comrade Guo Moruo."

Little Baoying recited immediately: "When wind and thunder arose from the earth..."

Jiang Zhaohui hurriedly looked at the textbook: "No, no, it's not like this in my textbook."

Xiao Baoying insisted: "That's it, 'Seven-Character Verse, and Comrade Guo Moruo', a storm rising from the earth..."

Jiang Zhaohui pushed the book to Jiang Furong: "Look, it's 'Man Jiang Hong and Comrade Guo Moruo'!"

Jiang Furong waited until Xiao Baoying finished reciting the poem, then asked with a smile, "Do you know how to recite 'Man Jiang Hong and Comrade Guo Moruo'?"

"Yes!" Little Baoying could recite it fluently, including the title and the original text of the poem, about a hundred words.

Jiang Zhaohui was stunned: "It's so long! The texts we studied weren't this long."

Jiang Furong didn't understand the rhythm and rhyme of poetry, but she knew the tune of "Man Jiang Hong". It was just "Man Jiang Hong" written by Yue Fei, and the whole poem had quite a lot of words.

"Xiao Baoying read it very well! Let's applaud you!" Jiang Furong took the lead in applauding, but she was thinking in her heart that when Qian Yuyan came, she must ask him about these poems.

Little Baoying recited the poem several times in a row until his throat was tired: "I want to drink some water."

Jiang Furong had no experience in taking care of children and didn't know how to prepare in advance, so she just served on demand: "Okay, okay, I'll go get you some water."

As a result, Xiao Baoying had to go to the toilet after drinking water, which made Jiang Furong very busy.

Jiang Zhaohui put down his book and tried to help, but he couldn't. After watching for a while, he concluded, "If little Baoying starts to cry out when he's not satisfied like Qingqing does, we'll be in trouble."

Jiang Chaohui remembered that there was a period of time when Hu Xiuqing beat Jiang Furong almost every day because of the complaint filed by Jiang Guoqing.

"You watch him, I'll be back soon." Jiang Furong frowned, carrying a half-bucket of water in one hand and a spittoon in the other, and went to the public toilet outside.

On the way back, I met Principal Liang of the Zidisi Primary School on the way to my home.

Out of politeness, Jiang Furong called out "Hello, Principal Liang", but only after she did she realized that she was being a bit abrupt.

Out of habit, Jiang likes to look people in the eye when greeting or talking, but the thing he holds in his hand is not right.

But Principal Liang was very familiar with Jiang Furong, having watched her grow up, so he smiled and said, "Are there guests at Furong's house? I heard there were children. Who are they?"

Jiang Furong didn't know how to explain, so she simply said frankly: "If it's not ours, just leave it at our house and take care of it for a day or two."

Principal Liang was quite enthusiastic: "Really? I'll go to your house and take a look. I thought I heard that child reciting poetry just now. His little mouth was chattering away."

He patted Jiang Furong's shoulder and said, "It's a good opportunity to check on Zhaohui's studies. I remember she's in the second grade now, right? Let's go, it's cold outside."

Jiang Furong couldn't refuse, so she had to take Principal Liang home.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw Jiang Zhaohui and Xiao Baoying long jumping on the ground, laughing happily.

"Hello, Principal Liang!" Jiang Chaohui quickly stood up and greeted him. Even though he had already graduated, he was still respectful when seeing the principal of the elementary school.

Xiaobao followed suit and stood at attention, shouting, "Hello, Principal Liang!"

Principal Liang smiled as soon as she saw him. "So it's you! Who can recite poetry so well?" She turned to Jiang Furong and said, "This little guy is so smart. He can recite more than ten of Chairman Mao's fifty poems! This kid will be a great writer like his grandfather in the future."

Now it was Jiang Furong's turn to be surprised: "Great writer!"

Principal Liang was still laughing: "Yes, he's a great writer. The novel 'Green Mountains and Red Flags Flying' was written by his grandfather Zhao Wenxiang. I heard that it was even made into a movie."

In the 1970s, people who could write novels were considered unattainable gods in the eyes of the public.