After Second Uncle Lu saw the principal out, he came back to find the whole family laughing. He couldn’t help smiling as well.
“What’s going on? What funny thing are you all talking about?”
Second Aunt Lu quickly pointed at the envelope that was still in Grandpa Lu’s hands.
“That’s the money our son earned! And there are a whole lot of coupons too!”
Second Uncle Lu lowered his head and took a look. He was immediately stunned.
“Good heavens! That’s so much money!”
Second Aunt Lu nodded proudly.
“Isn’t it? Our family really has produced a Wenqu Star! Our son can even make money from studying!”
Lu Yuqing couldn’t help sighing.
“If my grades at school hadn’t been just average, I could have taken those competitions back then too.”
Lu Yuwei nodded.
“Yeah. If we had brains like Yubai’s, then we really…”
Lu Yujun smiled.
“Still, it’s great that Yubai can go on to university. In just a few years, he’ll be able to go straight to university…”
But Lu Yuning’s heart sank.
Her Little Brother was only about to start junior high school. Even if he could continue skipping grades, things would become chaotic in just a few years. Even if he managed to pass the university entrance examination and get in, would he still be able to study peacefully once that time came?
Looking at her family members, who were all still happily discussing the matter, Lu Yuning couldn’t help feeling worried.
Lu Yubai watched everyone happily celebrating for him and discussing how they would use the money to help him with his university entrance examination. He was happy too.
But when he turned around, he saw his little sister looking worried again. He couldn’t help feeling puzzled.
“Little Sister, what’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”
“No.”
Lu Yuning shook her head. Looking at her little brother, who knew nothing about what was to come, she didn’t know how to explain it.
She was too young. Even if she told them about many things, no one would believe her.
Besides, she had never even left the village and hadn’t formally learned to read yet. How could she possibly know about such things?
If she said them out loud, wouldn’t she be exposing herself?
Her family would probably think she had gone crazy.
Still, she wanted to give her little brother a reminder.
“Little Brother, with your own ability, how long do you think it’ll take you to get into university and then graduate directly from university?”
Lu Yubai assumed she was simply curious, so he smiled.
“According to my calculations, I should be able to get into university in two years.”
Lu Yuning: “!!!”
Two years?!
“Aren’t you only starting junior high school this September?”
Lu Yubai nodded.
“I’ll start junior high first. Then, before the New Year, I’ll move up to the third year of junior high and take the high school entrance examination next year.”
Lu Yuning: “…”
Was this the world of geniuses?
She had thought that when someone entered the first year of junior high, they would at least study for a full year. But he was only planning to spend half a semester on it?!
Lu Yubai smiled.
“Actually, I wouldn’t have much trouble taking the university entrance examination now. It’s just that the principal is worried that I’m too young and might get bullied, so he wants me to participate in a few more competitions and build up my reputation. Things will be much easier for me later.”
Lu Yuning immediately understood.
“Then how long will you need to spend at university?”
Lu Yubai frowned and thought for a moment.
“It should take quite a few years.”
Lu Yuning frowned as well.
“Can’t you graduate from school faster?”
Two years from now would be 1962. Four more years after that, the university entrance examination would be suspended, followed by a period of turmoil.
Lu Yuning truly hoped that he could graduate from university within that period.
Lu Yubai helplessly said, “I might have to stay at school for a long time in the future.”
Lu Yuning’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Lu Yubai smiled.
“I want to apply to the National Defense University. In the future, I’ll stay at school and research things that can make our country stronger.”
Lu Yuning: “!!!”
She was shocked by Lu Yubai’s ambition, but at the same time, the worry she had felt about his future instantly disappeared.
The National Defense University was great!
No matter how chaotic things became outside, surely the National Defense University would remain peaceful.
Lu Yuning no longer looked worried. She smiled brightly.
“Little Brother, go for it! I’ll wait for the day you become a general!”
Lu Yubai smiled.
“I don’t need to become a general. As long as I can do something for the country, that’s enough.”
Lu Yuning felt admiration rising in her heart.
Perhaps this was simply the nature of people from this era. They were always so simple and sincere.
The Lu family had been lively because of Lu Yubai. That evening, they even slaughtered a chicken for dinner, making a pot of chicken soup.
The Ninth Grandma next door smelled it and stood under the corridor, grumbling angrily.
“What’s so great about that? It’s just chicken! Our family can eat chicken too!”
So Ninth Grandma also had Third Aunt Lu Jiu slaughter a chicken and cook it.
The Fortune Child naturally ate until her mouth was greasy with oil, completely satisfied. She felt that over the past few days, she had once again returned to the happy and wonderful days she used to have.
Even though Little Brother was no longer playing with her, she still had other people to play with.
Although those people were only doing it for the broken biscuits in her pocket, she was happy as long as she herself was happy. She didn’t care about anything else.
Time passed quickly.
Throughout the entire summer vacation, Lu Shier went back and forth between the fields and home. He no longer spent any time with the Fortune Child.
He had truly changed.
He would rather work in the fields and study late into the night than waste even a little time coaxing his younger female cousin and playing with her.
Quite a few things also happened in Lu Yuning’s family during the summer vacation.
First of all, Lu Yubai became even busier and went directly to Beijing. However, Grandpa Lu and Grandma Lu handled the matter very quietly and didn’t go around announcing it to the entire brigade.
As the brigade leader, Great-Granduncle naturally wouldn’t spread the news either.
Lu Hongjun was his youngest son, so he certainly wouldn’t cause trouble at a time like this. He would rather maintain the peaceful environment they currently had so that Lu Yubai could study without distractions.
As for anything else, he simply didn’t care.
After all, the city’s Education Bureau already knew that Lu Yubai was a student at his school. As long as Lu Yubai made something of himself in the future, there would be plenty of benefits for him!
There was no need to rush things.
At the same time, Lu Yuwei and the others had also each found jobs.
Lu Yujun became a temporary worker at a shirt factory in the city and moved there as well. He was staying at his eldest female cousin Lu Yutao’s home for the time being. Once the factory assigned him a dormitory, he could move directly into it.
Lu Yuwei passed the examination for a permanent position at the city’s steel factory and had also found a suitable woman to marry. She was from the second group of the third team of Red Heart Brigade.
Lu Yuqing didn’t pass the examination for a permanent position at the town’s primary school, but she did pass the examination for a permanent Chinese-language teaching position at the province’s First Primary School.
Speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence.
After Lu Yuqing failed to get the permanent position at the town’s primary school, the parents of the child she had been tutoring in town told her about the recruitment for Chinese-language teachers at the province’s First Primary School.
However, the requirements were rather high.
The main reason was that First Primary School was a school for government officials’ children, and the children there weren’t easy to manage.
People with connections didn’t want to go there and suffer. Those without connections often couldn’t survive there.
—There was the wife of a bureau chief who was particularly difficult to deal with. Because of her, quite a few teachers had been dismissed. Of course, those with permanent positions couldn’t simply be dismissed at will, so they were transferred away from First Primary School instead.
But it was still enough to make people feel disgusted.
However, this happened to give someone like Lu Yuqing, a high school graduate without any connections, a chance to get hired.
And on the very first day of her interview, she had already managed to win over that difficult bureau chief’s wife!
Problems that others saw as troublesome were nothing at all to Lu Yuqing.
If she hadn’t gotten this opportunity, she wouldn’t even have had a reason to ask Great-Granduncle to issue her a letter of introduction.
Now, Lu Yuqing was also preparing to move to the provincial capital.
There were no relatives from the Lu family in the provincial capital who could look after her, so she would have to rely entirely on herself. Lu Father and Lu Mother were both very worried.
In the end, they decided to personally accompany Lu Yuqing to the provincial capital to take a look at the situation.
Lu Yuqing had no choice but to go with them.
After settling Lu Yuqing in, Lu Mother returned home and immediately told Grandma Lu that she had found a reliable match for Lu Yuqing.
He was a recently discharged military serviceman who had just transferred back to civilian life and was now working as the director of the procurement department at the provincial capital’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
Because he had spent so many years in the military, he was eight years older than Lu Yuqing. He was now twenty-seven, but he had never been married and had never dated anyone before.
He had been introduced through the wife of his former company commander’s old squad leader.
—And that old squad leader’s wife happened to be the head of the second-grade Chinese-language teaching group at First Primary School, where Lu Yuqing taught!
Grandma Lu frowned.
“Have you met him?”
Lu Mother smiled.
“Speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence. One day, I went out to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to buy vegetables and happened to run into him. He even grabbed two liang of pork for me.”
Thinking about it made Lu Mother laugh.
He had even used his own meat coupons and money to pay for it, but when she turned around to look for him, he had already disappeared!
Grandma Lu: “…”
“Someone who doesn’t know how to manage a household like that, and you still think he’s good?”
Two liang of pork cost quite a lot of money! Someone so careless with money actually had the nerve to say he wanted to marry her granddaughter?
Lu Mother smiled.
“No, he saw me taking Yuqing to school that day, so he did it on purpose.”
He wasn’t stupid. How could he not know how to manage a household?
If he were an ordinary person, he would have taken the money and coupons back no matter what. Helping was one thing, but giving everything away for free was impossible.
Grandma Lu became even less interested.
“Someone this calculating—how could Yuqing possibly be his match? No.”
Lu Mother: “…”
No matter whether she said it directly or indirectly, you have something to say. So is Yuqing supposed to marry him or not?
Lu Yuning listened from the side and thought Grandma Lu was really amusing.
But in the end, the marriage was settled.
Lu Yuning’s beloved brother-in-law would be Mu Haijun!
His name suited him perfectly. He had served in the Navy, the Army, and even the artillery. He had a long military career.
A few years earlier, he had been injured while carrying out a mission, leaving one of his legs somewhat impaired. He could still walk normally without much notice, but if he ran faster, it was obvious that he limped slightly.
He was also dark-skinned and built as tall and sturdy as a little mountain!
From Lu Yuning’s estimate, he was at least 1.88 to 1.90 meters tall!
Good heavens, he could lift her 1.8-meter-tall Fifth Cousin Lu Yuwei with one hand!
That strength was incredible!
And the sense of security he gave off was absolutely overwhelming!
However, her brother-in-law’s facial features were actually quite refined. He had phoenix-shaped eyes, a high bridge of the nose, bright and alert eyes, and a square face framed by short black hair.
He truly looked like the embodiment of righteousness!
Standing beside the fair-skinned and delicate-looking Lu Yuqing, Mu Haijun didn’t look inferior in the slightest.
Even though there was a huge difference in their skin tones, the two of them somehow looked strangely well-matched!
Mu Haijun was very sincere. He deliberately bought plenty of good things from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in the provincial capital.
He even went to the provincial capital’s foreign exchange store and specially bought some rare imported goods as gifts!
Lu Yuning looked at the imported snacks covering the table, various malted milk drinks, milk powder, and the checked dress he had bought for her.
She silently gave this generous brother-in-law a thumbs-up in her heart.
Such an extravagant betrothal gift really showed that he knew exactly how to win over his future mother-in-law at first sight!
He really understood!
Hadn’t Lu Mother already smiled so widely that her teeth were almost invisible?
Clearly, the mother-in-law was already liking her son-in-law more and more!
Mu Haijun also genuinely cherished this rare good wife he had found.
Although he had no family left, he still specially invited his old squad leader’s wife, Teacher Lin, to come over as his sister-in-law and stand in as his family member.
She formally acted as the matchmaker and came to Lu family’s home to propose marriage.
Judging from their conversation, they intended to prepare everything as well as possible.
A sewing machine, a radio, and all the other necessities would be arranged!
Furthermore, Mu Haijun’s work unit had already allocated him a home in the provincial capital…
With all these conditions laid out, even Grandma Lu had no choice but to nod in satisfaction.
And so, during that summer vacation, both Lu Yuwei and Lu Yuqing got married.
They had their wedding photographs taken and received their marriage certificates.
It was Lu Yuning’s first time seeing those certificate-like marriage licenses, and she found them incredibly fascinating.
These were antiques!
Lu Yuwei still needed to build a house in the brigade, while Lu Yuqing didn’t need to. After getting married, she would move directly to the provincial capital.
It was only then that the people in the brigade learned that another Lu grandson and granddaughter had gotten married.
And the granddaughter had even married into the provincial capital!
In this era, there was no need to hold a large wedding banquet or anything like that.
They simply distributed some wedding candy to the people in the brigade, while everyone came over to join in the excitement, eat some sunflower seeds and snacks, and chat and gossip.
That was enough to make the occasion lively.
And watching all this commotion from next door nearly made Ninth Grandma grind her teeth to pieces!