In the 1980s, it was better to go to a technical secondary school than to go to high school. Or rather than say it was better, it was more accurate to say that many students with good grades would choose to attend a technical secondary school instead of a high school.
Even in the past few years, when given the choice between a technical secondary school and a high school, many people would choose the technical secondary school.
After all, if they studied in a technical secondary school, they would be able to work in three years. If they studied in a high school, not to mention whether they could be admitted to university, they would have to study for at least six years if they were admitted to high school!
But Shi Zhen knew very well that the popularity of technical secondary schools would die out in a few years.
Nowadays, students who graduated from technical secondary schools could become elementary school teachers or even enter hospitals, but this wouldn’t necessarily be the case in a few years.
The year he died, the best hospital in Changxi City, a county-level city, was recruiting doctors and required those with at least graduate degrees.
Therefore, studying in high school and entering university was better than studying in a technical secondary school.
Guan Baiyu could even continue for further education if he wanted. He could even enter graduate school and get a Ph.D.
As for whether Guan Baiyu could be admitted to university… Shi Zhen had confidence in him.
He was a natural at studying, and he also liked studying. In his previous life, after Guan Baiyu had been with him for three years, he had obtained a college diploma by himself, and planned to become a teacher.
It was a pity that something happened to him before he could become a teacher.
Shi Zhen said to Guan Baiyu, “Studying is a good thing. You won’t go wrong if you study for a few more years. Don’t worry, I have money and will let you study.”
Guan Baiyu said nothing and looked at Shi Zhen in disbelief.
Shi Zhen smiled and said, “Don’t look at how I don’t have much money now. I will definitely have money in the future. I won’t always be so poor.”
If someone else said this, Guan Baiyu might not necessarily believe it, but this person in front of him… Guan Baiyu suddenly wanted to believe it.
Shi Zhen added, “Xiao Yu, I believe you will be able to get into university… You can set a goal for yourself now. If you know where you want to go and are willing to work hard for it, the whole world will be your oyster!”
Shi Zhen fed some chicken soup into Guan Baiyu’s mouth.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Guan Baiyu, who had just eaten the chicken bones, now drank the chicken soup. His eyes seemed to light up, and his expression became serious while reading.
Shi Xinghuo had nothing to do. A grown man in his twenties had been sitting next to Guan Baiyu, looking at him with eyes… full of admiration.
Shi Xinghuo’s grades were a mess. He only went to elementary school. At that time, maybe… Anyway, in the end, he had to write his own name in the exam.
In fact, if he was born after 2000 in a single child family, even if his mother was sick and took medicine during pregnancy that damaged the brain of the fetus, he could still have learned something.
As long as he was placed in a special needs class, he would definitely be able to recognize some words.
But he was born in the 1970s. Even some people his age in the village that had no problem with their IQs didn’t bother to study much, let alone him.
Shi Zhen had some leftovers from the two chicken frames he stewed that night, as well as the rice.
But this was not enough for the three of them to continue eating tomorrow morning, not to mention that Guan Baiyu had to bring food to school, so he asked Guan Baiyu to cook some congee tomorrow morning.
As for himself, he planned to go to the farmers’ market again.
Shi Zhen went to the farmers’ market yesterday and discovered that many people liked to go buy their groceries early. He might be able to go to the market to do some business in the morning.
Stalls inside the market had to pay rental fees. He couldn’t set up a stall inside, but he could set up a street stall outside the market, right?
Even if he couldn’t make a lot of money, it was better than nothing, and he could also learn about the market.
In his previous life as a businessman, he encountered many problems and witnessed the ups and downs of the people around him, but his path had always been smooth. In the final analysis, it was because his steps were never too big.
This caused him to miss some opportunities, but it also allowed him to not be unable to stand up even if he fell.
When Shi Zhen went to the farmers’ market this time, he scoped out the various stalls and also asked a lot about the prices of vegetables.
There were not many types of vegetables sold in town, and many of them were brought to town by people nearby. For them, vegetables from the fields did not require any capital, so they were very happy if they could sell them for a few cents. As a result, the vegetable prices were very cheap.
He thought it would be difficult to make money by selling vegetables. Unless he could grow some vegetables at home that others did not have and sell them in town, it would be difficult to make money.
This method wouldn’t work.
Thinking this, Shi Zhen went to the stall where he bought meat yesterday and spent one yuan to buy a pig tail.
He remembered that the pig tails of later pigs were very short. The pigs of this time were probably a different breed and their tails were very long.
But the main reason he bought a pig tail was that it was cheap…a pig tail cost one yuan, and if it was braised with some soybeans, it would be enough for them to eat.
Nowadays, many rural people did not eat meat more than once a month, and only bought some tofu when they went to town to buy food. But Guan Baiyu was so thin, and he wanted Guan Baiyu to eat something good.
Thinking like this, Shi Zhen said shamelessly, “Master*, can you give me some pig skin?”
The meat seller glanced at Shi Zhen and said, “I want to sell the skin, but it’s quite cheap. Do you want to buy it?”
Today’s people didn’t waste any part of the pig.
Shi Zhen asked, “How much is the skin? I don’t have much money…”
”I have some shredded skin here. I’ll give it to you for twenty cents.” The man took out some shredded pig skin.
Shi Zhen bought it for twenty cents without hesitation.
As soon as he finished buying, he saw a man in his thirties, with a fair face and a smile on his face, who looked like an amiable man, walk over to the butcher, reach out and knock on the stall that the butcher had built out of wooden boards.
The butcher didn’t say anything, chopped up a piece of meat weighing about two catties and gave it to the other party.
The man took the meat and left with a smile on his face.
Shi Zhen took a glance, didn’t take it seriously, and went home with his pig tail and pig skin.
He saw some soybeans at Guan Baiyu’s place yesterday, so he soaked some in water.
After the soybeans were soaked in water, the stewed pig trotters would be particularly fragrant. He couldn’t afford pig trotters, so a pig tail and pig skin would have to do.
When Shi Zhen returned, Guan Baiyu had already cooked the congee for the morning.
Shi Zhen asked him to put the remaining rice and chicken bones from last night in a food container and take it to school. They ate congee with pickled vegetables for breakfast.
After finishing eating, he washed the pot, then put the soybeans, pig tail and pig skin into the pot to stew. After lighting the fire with straw, he put in a piece of rotten wood that Guan Baiyu had picked up, about the thickness of an arm, and kept the fire going. The soybeans, pig tail and pig skin would slowly simmer on the stove, and when they came back in the evening, the pig tail and pig skin stewed with soybeans would be almost ready.
The three of them went out separately.
After going out, Shi Zhen counted his money.
After spending all his previous savings, he only had about thirty yuan left. When he saw Guan Baiyu for the first time, he was so happy that he gave Guan Baiyu thirty yuan directly, leaving him with only a few yuan.
And his wages for dredging up the river had not yet been paid.
Fortunately, Shi Xinghuo’s salary for digging mud was paid daily, and he could use half of the money every day as living expenses.
Guan Baiyu was still growing, while Shi Xinghuo and he had to do manual labor. He had to find a way to let everyone eat better.
When Shi Zhen ran to the construction site, work was almost about to start.
Wang Chengfa was a little unhappy. “Shi Zhen, you were almost late.”
Shi Zhen said quickly, “Uncle Wang, I’m sorry. I rent a room here. I don’t have a clock at home, so I can’t tell the time accurately.”
This was also true.
If Guan Jianguo hadn’t placed a clock in the main room of his house, so he could go there and look from time to time, he wouldn’t know the time at all.
He was almost late today, mainly because he wanted to prep the food to eat at night.
”Okay, okay. Get to work!” Wang Chengfa waved his hand and told Shi Zhen to go start working.
Shi Zhen immediately put on his boots and went down to the river, and started working diligently.
***
T/N: *Master (师傅, shifu) – Chinese people call those skilled in a craft Master. This is different from the shifu you see in cultivation novels, which is 师父. Pinyin for both is shifu, but the second character is different. The “fu” for cultivation novels means father, which is why you often see the saying a master is like a father, or “a master for a day, a father for a lifetime”. Here, when referring to the butcher, shifu/master just means skilled tradesperson. It was mentioned in Chapter 2 that skilled tradespeople on construction sites (bricklayers, plumbers, etc.) are also respectfully referred to as “master”.
