In a small mountain village in Fengjiapu Town, Yuyang City, Xiangnan, a peasant woman in her forties was drying radish strips in the threshing field, but she seemed a little absent-minded, and then simply sat on a dead tree trunk and started to start.

The middle-aged man who was weaving bamboo frames in the hall walked over after seeing this scene, "Do you want to bless you?" he asked as he laid out the radish strips,

"Well, why hasn't you heard from you, and I don't know if he's coming back?" said the peasant woman, wiping her tears.

"The letter should be dropped in a few days, and we will not know until the letter arrives. The middle-aged man comforted.

"If you are young, you will run away, and it will be good if you don't let him overcome it at the beginning. "The peasant woman was complaining about her incompetence.

"A miscellaneous guy has a big heart, and he can't stop the drop. The middle-aged man's expression was also a little gloomy.

The peasant woman's name is Liu Yuexiang, Hu Youmin's mother, and the middle-aged man's name is Hu Jianhua, Hu Youmin's father, both of whom are honest farmers. Hu Jianhua has two younger sisters and two younger brothers, a total of five brothers and sisters. Liu Yuexiang has an older sister, four younger brothers, and a total of six brothers and sisters, all of whom are from poor families.

There are only three brothers and sisters in Hu Youmin's generation, Hu Youmin was born in seventy-four years and is the eldest, the second is his younger brother Hu Youjun, who is three years younger than him and is in the first year of high school in the county, and the youngest is his sister Hu Youfen, who is five years younger than him and is in the second year of junior high school in the town.

If it weren't for the planned birth, Hu Youmin's brother and sister would also be spectacular, I heard that when I gave birth to my sister, I would have to be fined, and the family was poor at that time, and there was no money and nothing valuable, so in the end, it was over.

In his childhood, Hu Youmin only had to take his younger siblings and work, and he didn't have to take his younger siblings after school, but he had to do more work, such as playing pigweed, chopping wood, herding cattle, and helping his parents weave bamboo frames at night, so he had no time to study at home.

But Hu Youmin is good at using time, when he is herding cattle, on the way home from school and school, it is his study time, holding comic books to read, thinking about math problems, thinking about the teacher's lectures, and memorizing texts, so Hu Youmin's grades in the class are the best.

At that time, junior high school had to be examined, and those who couldn't pass the exam couldn't go to school, so Hu Youmin was admitted to Fengjiapu Middle School with the first place in the class.

Fengjiapu Middle School only has a junior high school, five kilometers away from home, and Hu Youmin can only board. Now I don't have to help my family with farm work, and I can focus all my energy on studying.

Hu Youmin, who was hungry and thirsty, was immersed in the ocean of knowledge all day long, but the more he read books and the more knowledge he came into contact with, the more Hu Youmin felt that he was simple and insignificant.

Hu Youmin was not satisfied with textbook knowledge, he read a lot of extracurricular books, he looked for people to borrow books everywhere, and at that time martial arts novels and romance novels arose, Hu Youmin read a few books, and he was not interested in this kind of thing.

A large number of Chinese and foreign masterpieces have benefited Hu Youmin a lot, and his writing level has naturally been greatly improved, and his vision is much higher than that of people of the same age, and he has faded away the vulgarity of poor boys in the countryside, and gradually has the temperament of a scholar.

Hu Youmin, who stood out, made the teacher like him and was also loved by many female students. Thirteen or fourteen-year-old Hu Youmin doesn't know how to fall in love, and although he often receives some childish love letters, he doesn't have the heart to pay attention to them. The poverty of life made him desperate to change his predicament, and he felt that reading was the only way to change his fate.

In the first phase of the third year of junior high school, there was a "New Miao Cup" mathematics, physics and chemistry competition in the province, and in the school selection competition, Hu Youmin's chemistry and physics were the first place, but he could only choose one subject to participate in the county.

won a second prize in the county, which is rare for Hu Youmin, who has never been trained in the Olympiad, and it is the first time that he has achieved such a good ranking in their town middle school.

In the high school entrance examination, Hu Youmin was admitted to Yuyang No. 1 Middle School in the county seat, which is a provincial key middle school, and I heard that there are students who are admitted to Peking University and Tsinghua University every year.

When school started, his father sent him there, and his happy and proud father carried his luggage on a 28 bicycle and asked him to take a shuttle bus to the county seat and meet at the school gate.

The prosperity of the county and the excitement of entering high school were shocked by the scene of paying fees. The tuition fee is 180 yuan, the miscellaneous fee is 30 yuan, and the accommodation fee is 50 yuan, a total of 260 yuan.

It was my father's turn to pay the fee, and I took out a plastic bag, which was full of Wu Mao's, one-yuan, and Wuyuan's banknotes, and there were very few yuan, and there were even some Ermao and Yimao, which were ordered at the window for a long time before paying the fee.

At that time, a junior high school teacher's salary was more than 40 yuan, which was equivalent to more than half a year's salary for eating national grain, which was an astronomical amount for farmers who created food in the field and relied on the sky to eat.

Hu Youmin didn't know how long his parents had saved this money, and his heart became heavier when he thought of having to pay so much money every semester and living expenses.

Until his father settled him in the bedroom, Hu Youmin's mood was still low, but fortunately, his careless father didn't see anything, and there was still a lot of farm work to be busy at home, so his father left in a hurry.

It was almost noon when he left, Hu Youmin wanted to go to the canteen with his father to eat, but his father refused, Hu Youmin knew that his father was reluctant to eat outside, and he had to ride a bicycle for more than 30 miles to go home to eat.

Hu Youmin was not in the mood to eat, so he sat in the dormitory and was stunned for a while, so he found a book to read, but he couldn't read anything, and it was hot in the dormitory, so he threw away the book and walked out.

When he came to the playground, there were fewer people here, Hu Youmin walked under a tree, the breeze was blowing, and he felt much more refreshed.

Hu Youmin thought of dropping out of school, but he knew that it wouldn't work, his parents didn't agree, he couldn't do anything when he went back, he was the hope of the family, he had no choice but to read good books, and after thinking about this, Hu Youmin's mood was better. He secretly vowed that he must rush out of the farm gate and not let his parents down!

The textbooks in high school are much more difficult than those in junior high school, and the teacher's teaching methods are not the same, in the first few days, Hu Youmin was a little uncomfortable, he was born not to admit defeat, he constantly thought and adjusted his learning methods, and his diligent sweat made him quickly keep up with the teacher's ideas and rhythm, and it was much easier to learn.

He attended classes six days a week, only had Sundays off, and Hu Youmin did not go home on the first Sunday. When he went to the cafeteria to eat on Sunday, Hu Youmin found a problem: he had to spend an extra day on living expenses.

Now Hu Youmin's living expenses are about one yuan a day, he eats rice noodles or steamed buns for two cents for breakfast, two cents of rice and three cents for lunch and two cents of rice noodles for dinner, and sometimes there is tomato egg soup or seaweed egg soup in the canteen, five cents a bowl, and he will drink a bowl when he is hungry.

When I was in junior high school, I had to go home every Sunday, come home from school on Saturdays, and go back to school on Sunday afternoons. Every time I go back to school, I have to bring several bottles of dried vegetables, including dried radish, tempeh, dried sauerkraut, chopped peppers, etc., this is a week's dish, and I have paid rice to school at the beginning of school, so I don't need to spend money on rice.

Hu Youmin was distressed about the living expenses of this day, and he was also a little homesick, so he decided to go home on the third Sunday, and it was almost five o'clock after school on Saturday.

At first, he walked quite fast, but after walking for more than ten miles, he slowed down, and it was getting dark, and Hu Youmin, who was tired and hungry, gritted his teeth and rushed home.

Tonight's moon is like a naughty child, only occasionally out of the clouds, and immediately like a shy little girl hiding, there are few pedestrians on the road, the sound of frogs, and the occasional bird call make Hu Youmin's scalp a little tight, he doesn't care about the blood blisters on the soles of his feet, and only longs to return home early.

When Hu Youmin came home, it was almost nine o'clock in the evening, his younger siblings were enjoying the cool on the bamboo bed in the threshing field, his mother was weaving bamboo frames, and his father was cutting bamboo strips.

Hu Youmin threw himself into his mother's arms: "Mom, I miss you!"

Liu Yuexiang hugged her son, and tears came out: "Mom misses you too, so mom will cook for you." ”

Hu Youmin let go of his mother and said to his father: "Dad, you also rest, don't be too tired!"

Hu Jianhua saw his son lovingly: "Don't you get tired, are you still used to being in school?"

"Habit, it's pretty good at school. Hu Youmin sat on the bamboo bed and chatted with his father.

Soon Liu Yuexiang brought a bowl of noodles, probably there were no leftovers, so she cooked a bowl of noodles for her son, fried an egg, and put some chopped green onions and chopped peppers on top, and the hungry Hu Youmin took the noodles and ate them. When I looked up, I saw my sister staring at her bowl, and hurriedly divided the eggs for my brother and sister to eat.

His mother looked at him lovingly: "They are all eating dinner, it's gluttonous, you eat it yourself!"

Hu Youmin smiled: "Such a big bowl, I can't finish it." ”

Hu Youmin, who is accustomed to getting up early, got up with his parents, practiced for more than half an hour in the morning, and after washing, he took a firewood knife and went to the back mountain to chop firewood. Hu Youmin's home is close to the mountains and rivers, because it is a hilly area, the mountain is only more than 50 meters high, and there is a simple road in front of the house, which leads to the town and the county seat along the river bank. The river is a small river more than 20 meters wide and is a tributary of Yuanshui.

Hu Youmin quickly chopped a load of firewood, and when he went home, his mother had already made breakfast, the rice was pumpkin rice, the dish was a bowl of sauerkraut fried peppers, a bowl of steamed eggplant in salt water, and a bowl of scrambled eggs with chili peppers, probably because he came back with specially added dishes. Hu Youmin endured the cravings and left the chili scrambled eggs for his younger siblings to eat.

After breakfast, his mother and sister went to hunt pigweed, his younger brother went to herd cattle, and Hu Youmin and his father went to the back mountain to cut bamboo and use it to weave bamboo frames. There is also a special approach to cutting bamboo, those who are good and can send bamboo shoots should be kept, and my father touched this and looked at that one, and he was reluctant to go under the knife.

In the end, more than ten were cut at the top of the mountain, and the bamboo on the top of the mountain was often stolen and cut, and every time he found out that the bamboo had been stolen, his father would feel distressed for several days. Help my father remove the bamboo branches, carry the bamboo home one by one, and take the bamboo branches and bamboo tails home as firewood.

Weaving bamboo frames is a technical job, and it is very tiring, and it is easy to hurt your hands, and the back of your fingers is long and upside down, and you will be cut by the bamboo strips if you are not careful. Hu Youmin can also make it up, and it's very fast, but he doesn't like to do this, he was afraid of being tired when he was a child, and now he feels that doing this is not profitable, and a person who works tirelessly until more than ten o'clock in the evening can only earn two or three yuan.

But there is no other way to make money in the countryside, relying on weaving bamboo frames to sell money is the main income of the family, my father often goes to the river to net some small fish with nets, and my mother cuts the fish and dries them, so that my father can carry the frame and sell the dried fish together.

This is how the tuition fees of Hu Youmin's three siblings came from. Fortunately, I can do this kind of small business in the open, and my father bought a permanent bicycle of 28 last year, which can be carried to a farther place by bicycle and sold at a higher price.

In the early years, when the tail of capitalism was cut, it was not allowed to do this, and my father could only secretly pick it out at night and sell it, and rush back before dawn, and he had to work as a collective worker the next day, and he could not deduct work points, otherwise the rations would be less, and the whole family would starve. When I was young, I didn't feel it, but when I grew up, I realized the hardships of my parents, and whenever I recalled it, I felt very heartbroken and unconsciously shed tears.