Chapter 57: My Heart is at Peace Where I Find My Home

Yang Xingwu looked at the words on the paper, folded them carefully, and tucked them into his book.

He picked up the pocket watch on the bed and saw that it was already ten o'clock.

After washing up, he took the money hidden inside his clothes from the cabinet, intending to go to the office and return the money to Teacher Xu. In an era where thirty-six yuan could make people shout long live, although he didn't know how much a high school teacher's salary was, it probably wasn't very high.

The teacher had pulled out nearly a sixth of a salary at once to sponsor him for two months. The teacher also had quite a few children at home, and life was rather tight.

Just after finishing the exams, Yang Xingwu planned to return the money to the teacher. Next, he was going home; once he returned to the village, he basically wouldn't spend any money, and they probably wouldn't meet again until the end of the month.

Upon reaching the office, he found the door locked.

Seeing this, he was slightly stunned. Could it be that the teacher had gone to the provincial capital to grade papers?

Standing at the door and waiting for a while without seeing anyone come, Yang Xingwu turned and went to the classroom.

Inside the classroom, quite a few students were already successively carrying their desks and chairs away. The college entrance examination was over, and it was time to take their belongings away; a few months later, new students would move into this classroom.

Liu Jianjun saw Yang Xingwu coming and hurriedly greeted him.

"Xingwu, you're here? How are you going to carry all these things? Do you need help?"

"I'll take the bus to the town first, and then carry them home. By the way, do you know where Teacher Xu and the others went?"

"They probably went to the provincial capital to grade papers, right? You know how it is—results will be out by the end of the month. With hundreds of thousands of test papers, they have to check them several times after grading. Every city sends a group of representatives to inspect and supervise to prevent any cheating."

"That sounds like a good method."

After chatting with Liu Jianjun for a couple more minutes, Yang Xingwu left the classroom and headed to the bus station, intending to ask about the schedule. Rural buses usually made only one round trip a day; if his luck was bad, he would only be able to reach the county seat first and then carry his desk and chair home.

He walked to the bus station, inquired about the schedule, and learned that there was a bus heading to another county at five o'clock in the afternoon, which would drop him about ten *li* away from his village. Yang Xingwu immediately bought a ticket, planning to go home in the afternoon.

Leaving the bus station, Yang Xingwu strolled around the city, intending to buy something to take home. His father had given him fifteen yuan, and his second uncle had given him ten yuan. He hadn't returned the teacher's money yet, but for nearly a month, he had eaten almost exclusively at the cafeteria, and his expenses hadn't exceeded five yuan, which could be considered quite thrifty.

He wandered casually into the department store and looked at the goods inside. They were sturdy, classic, and magnificent—electric fans made of refined steel that would easily last for forty or fifty years. Buying one to take back now would be wonderful, except that it was too expensive, costing eighty or ninety yuan a unit.

Unfortunately, his purse was light. After taking a turn around the shop, he walked to the sub-food counter and asked the salesperson:

"Hello, comrade, give me a pound of candy!"

"What kind of candy?"

"Do you have White Rabbit?"

"Hah, you even know about White Rabbit? In our poor and remote place, even if they existed, they wouldn't make it to the shelves!"

Yang Xingwu ignored the salesperson's snarky attitude; after all, state-run store salespersons still had very promising jobs at this time. They could even make it into dictionaries, proudly listed alongside students from Tsinghua and Peking University!

There was no need to get upset with such a person.

"Then what kind of candy do you have here?"

"Nougat, corn candy, malt candy. Which kind do you want?"

"Give me a pound of the cheapest one!"

Hearing this, the salesperson didn't move immediately but just glanced at Yang Xingwu. Yang Xingwu was stunned for a moment before he reacted and hurriedly pulled out a one-yuan banknote, placing it on the counter.

The salesperson took the money, then grabbed a bag of corn candy and placed it on the counter, handing back twenty cents in change.

Yang Xingwu took the change and left the department store. He had originally thought about buying a few packs of cigarettes for his father, grandfather, and second uncle. Cigarettes weren't expensive at this time—just a few cents a pack—but he hadn't expected that cigarette ration coupons were required. Seeing this, he lost his mood to continue shopping.

In this era of ration tickets, there were just too many things he couldn't get used to!

After buying the candy, he returned to the dormitory and checked his meal tickets, finding that he still had enough for two more meals. He immediately grabbed his meal tickets and headed to the cafeteria!

He had arrived at school on June 14th, started eating in the cafeteria on the 15th, and was leaving school on July 10th. In less than a month, the sixty catties of corn flour he had turned in had dwindled down to just these two meal tickets in his hand!

Yang Xingwu sighed at how big of an appetite he had!

After the college entrance exam, the quality of the food in the cafeteria dropped noticeably to the naked eye. He exchanged his meal tickets for ten large steamed buns and got a big tea mug of soup, then returned to the dormitory to eat.

After eating, he took a nap!

When he woke up, he began packing his luggage.

He took a urea sack out of the cabinet; his father had left it behind when he brought him the pocket watch last time.

Yang Xingwu folded his straw mat and bedsheets neatly and stuffed them inside, then crammed in all the other odds and ends, such as his towel, tea mug, textbooks, and clothes.

Looking at the bulging, oversized sack, Yang Xingwu pressed down on it hard, looked around the dormitory a few times to make sure everything was packed cleanly, swept the floor, closed the windows, and locked the door!

He went downstairs, handed the key to the dormitory manager, and borrowed a handcart from him to haul his luggage, desk, chairs, and benches to the bus station!

After returning the cart, Yang Xingwu boarded the bus with his luggage. The air inside the vehicle was so stifling that it almost made someone who never got carsick throw up!

There were many people on the afternoon bus, and since it was summer, there were also quite a few chickens and ducks whose cackling was annoying, punctuated by the occasional bowel movement—the smell was simply indescribable!

At six-thirty in the afternoon, after nearly an hour and a half of bumpy travel, Yang Xingwu got off the bus!

After alighting, Yang Xingwu supported himself against a tree and vomited for a good long while before he finally recovered. He had almost thought he was going to kick the bucket; that stench was truly beyond praise!

Coupled with the road conditions at the time, the jolting felt as if it would shake his bones apart!

After resting for a long time, he finally hoisted his desk, chairs, and benches onto his shoulders and walked home!

When he reached home, it was already dusk. Yang Xingwu's appearance at the doorway gave the whole family a wonderful surprise!

Seeing Yang Xingwu return, Wang Zhaodi was overjoyed.

"Why did you carry all these things back yourself? Put them down quickly and rest, don't wear yourself out. Xiaowen, quickly go help your younger brother!"

Hearing this, Yang Xingwen hurried over to take the sack from his younger brother's back and helped place the chairs on the ground!

When Yang Chunsheng saw his son return, although he didn't speak, the frequency of him puffing on his dry tobacco pipe decreased significantly. He held the pipe in his teeth and looked at his son with a happy smile!

Wang Zhaodi pulled Yang Xingwu's hand and said:

"You must be hungry! Mother will go make you a bowl of noodles!"

"Mom, no need. I still have several big steamed buns in my sack; I can just eat them with some soybean paste. You've all already eaten, so don't go to the trouble!"

"Sigh, what trouble or no trouble? You've just returned from your studies, you have to eat noodles! As the saying goes, dumplings when boarding, noodles when alighting. The day you went to school you ate chive and egg dumplings, now that you're back you must eat noodles! Xiaolan, stoke the fire and make noodles for your older brother!"

"Okay!"

Hearing this, Yang Xiaolan turned and went to the kitchen to boil water!

Seeing that he couldn't persuade his mother otherwise, Yang Xingwu didn't insist further.

Before long, a steaming hot bowl of Mother-style hand-rolled noodles was served on the table!

Wang Zhaodi thoughtfully poached a poached egg for her son!

As Yang Xingwu ate the noodles and chatted with his family, the whole family tacitly avoided mentioning the college entrance examination!

"Mom, this time I will definitely pass!"

"Really???"