The third sister is growing up, with a little bit of softness in her eyebrow, and when she doesn't cry, she can add a little warmth to the rest of her family. The days are still tight, with fathers coming home every day before dawn to carry their work at the brick kiln, all ash and tired of talking, and mothers carrying all their chores, washing, cooking and feeding pigs, and caring for three children, whose faces are tired more than a day. I'm still a little helper at home, getting up every day before dawn, cooking for my mother by fire, after eating, packing chopsticks at home during the day, working with my father in the fields, or at the brick kiln, feeding my father with water, like a grinding board, day after day, without a single swig。
In the spring when i was six years old, the village suddenly got up. The village head's old hall had been converted into a red class, with universal education and schooling for all children of appropriate age, at the age of six. The news was cried by the village books under the village's entrance tree, and i was delivering lunch to my father with my sister in my arms, and i heard the words “schooling” and “reading”, and my eyes were flashing out。
That afternoon, i held my third sister, and i was sitting at the door of the red class, sewping the door and looking inside. There are some kids my age who are reading with a female teacher who smiles on their faces and occasionally fights with each other, which i never had. I'm ticklish, like a little rabbit, jumping straight -- if i could go to school, would i be like them, without having a sister, a farm job, making friends, having time to play? Once that thought had appeared, it would no longer be over. It was the first time i had such a strong expectation。
In the evening, when my father came home with tired bodies, i quickly put down my piggrass and ran to him with his little face on his face, looking forward to it: "dad, the village has a red class, i want to go to school, i'm six, i'm just old!"
When his father fainted, he wrinkled his eyebrow and said, "go to school? With all the work you've done at home, who will help you with your sister? Who will help with the farming?"
"i can come back from school to work, i can get up early to work, i want to go to school..."
"no!" father interrupted me and said, "you can't leave the house. Your mother's tired of taking care of two small ones alone. How can she bear it if you go to school? Besides, what's the use of reading? It's better to do more work and lighten the burden on the family."
I stood there and cried down with my cheeks, but i was afraid to speak. At that time, when the mother came out of the stove with flour on her hands and some wood ash on her apron, she looked at my red eyes and softened her voice, but remained firm with the unstoppable beak: “it's not that the mother won't let you go to school. You see, the second sister just left, the third sister had to hold her in her arms and her family's work was so busy. Two more years, and when the sisters are older, i'll let you go to school."
"how can you say that?" grandpa came in with crutches, looked me in the eyes and dragged me to me heartily. “when he reached school age, he had to go to school. Education for all was a good thing, so that children could read more than they could see. I can help with my family's work, two little girls, and i can help
"dad, you're old and you're not well, how can you be tired?" father groaned, "and besides, the third sister is young and the second sister is naughty, and you can't see it by yourself. If you don't go, you won't go
"good day? When will it be better?" grandpa was in a hurry to get to his feet, "i missed this one, and i can't keep up! Girls have to be educated. They can't spend their whole lives stuck in this gutter, in the ground, in the kitchen."
"dad, don't talk to me. I don't want my children to read." mother rubbed her hands with water, and her eyes were red, and her voice was full of fatigue and pleas, "i just wanted her to help me for two more years, until the third sister lost her milk, and the second sister was able to play by herself. I didn't have to stare at them all the time. Now that she's gone, who's holding my sister while i'm washing and cooking? Who's going to watch my second sister when i get down? This is a really hard time."
Grandpa looked at his parents with determination, and looked at me, crying in my arms, and groaned and failed to convince them. That night, i hid in grandpa's arms, crying secretly, and said, "i want to go to school i want to go to school..." grandpa hugged me in the back of my back, and his voice was dumb: "good boy, don't be sad, grandpa will talk to your parents."
But no matter what grandpa told me, they never let go. Mothers keep me doing a lot of work every day, but they stop saying things like they used to, sometimes when i'm tired, and they're stuffing me half a piece of sweet potatoes, whispering, "when my sister is older, my mother will send you to school and never lie to you." every day i'm passing through the red class, i can't stop, i look in the door, i hear the sound of reading and laughter, and i'm jealous and sad. Sometimes the children who go to school are scrambling on the way to school, and i can only look far away, and i can't come near, and my heart's longing is as mad as a weed, yet i understand the difficulties of my mother, and i can only keep my thoughts to myself。
The day passed, the first semester of the red class ended and the second semester began. I have still not been able to walk into the school hall and repeat the same work every day, placing my sister, doing agricultural work, doing housework, and having no more expectations on my face, leaving only numbness and loss. Grandpa looked down on me and couldn't wait。
When i was seven years old, at the beginning of spring, the village books came to the village and informed the family that the recruitment of primary school students would begin this fall, that only children who had attended the red class would be able to enroll and that they would not be able to attend primary school if they were not in the red class. The news, like a thunderbolt, woke up the frozen family。
That night, grandpa called his father and mother into the house, and he said with a heavy tone: “the boss, the daughter-in-law, is seven years old and can't go to school anymore. You have to think about the future of the child, if you don't want anything else, so she can't be blind all her life."
My father crouched on the floor, held his head in his arms, kept silent for a long time before he lifted his head up and looked tired and helpless: "dad, i know that reading is good for children, but living in the family..."
"i'll carry it with you!" grandpa interrupted him by saying, "i help the kids more every day, i work more, i can handle it. If you miss this, you won't get another chance. You can't ruin your kids' lives."
The mother sat at the side of the bed, looking at the three sisters who were sleeping in her arms and looking at me outside the house, packing the chopsticks, and her guilt grew and her tears fell. She was silent for a long time, and she was like, "just let her go. I was gonna ask her to help me for two more years, and when my sisters are older, i can relax, but i didn't think it would be too late to go to school. From now on, i'll get up early and cook, and when the children fall asleep, i'll finish my work.”
The father looked up, looked at his mother, looked at his grandfather, groaned and noded his head: “well, let her go to the red class. But it was agreed that coming home from school must help the family and not delay the business.”
Grandpa finally smiled on his face and said, "okay, well, let her work after school, without delay!"
That night, when grandpa told me about this, i was lying on my back and sleeping with my sister. I couldn't believe my ears. I looked up and looked at grandpa, and i was wondering, "grandpa, are you serious? Can i really go to school?"
"it's true, zhu, you can go to school." grandpa smiled and touched my head, and his eyes were filled with pain, and he said, "then you can go to school and make friends like other kids."
To confirm the truth of the news, i couldn't help but jump into grandpa's arms and cry out loud. In this cry, there is joy, frustration, a year's desire, and excitement to finally realize it. And grandpa hugged me, and he softly slapped me in the back, and he said, "stop crying, twig, study later, and i'm sure you can read it."
The moonlight outside the window came in, lighted everything in the house and the hope in my heart. I know that i can finally walk into school and finally get rid of daily farming and housework and finally have the chance to make friends and have time to play. Although this opportunity has been a year late, and although there is a lot of work to be done after school, i am satisfied。
