Bai Fumei in the ’70s Chapter 108
Translated by Serena Love
LF: editor~
Grandma Li heard her grandson's resolute words. Her heart was filled with mixed feelings, and complex emotions filled her heart. Her eyes couldn't help but turn red.
She lowered her head silently and wiped her eyes.
In her mind, she clearly remembered He Songye's crisp laughter before she turned deaf back then. Her voice was like a cheerful little bird tweet, and everyone loved to tease her.
He Songbai turned around and tied the stack of money with a rope. He weighed it and squeezed the thick banknotes in his hands, which gave him a sense of security.
He said, "I said I want all of you to have a good life."
After he finished speaking, he turned and left his grandmother's room, leaving her to sort out her emotions.
Grandma Li's eyes became more and more blurred. Her face was covered with wrinkled gullies, and tears were dropping on her old face.
...
Soon, taking advantage of the slack period after the autumn harvest, He Songbai took his elder sister to the hospital.
At first, Sister He only thought that her husband had not recovered, so she followed her brother to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital, He Songbai pushed her into the examination room. With his broad and powerful hand, he closed the door for her without hesitation.
The doctor inside asked her to sit down with a smile and looked at her ears with the dazzling lights. Sister He looked at the doctor in a bewildered and confused manner, and then at her younger brother standing outside the door.
In the end, she seemed to understand, and her eyes were wet.
After a while, the doctor finished the examination and discussed several treatment options with He Songbai. He Songbai paid the fees and stood in the corridor of the hospital. He felt his deflated pocket and thought about the long road to save for the bridal gift again. After he paid the operation fee, he almost didn't dare to look at Zhao Lanxiang's eyes.
Zhao Lanxiang was waiting for him on the first floor of the hospital. When she saw him like that, she asked, "What's wrong, did the doctor say it was difficult to cure?"
He Songbai shook his head and only said sorry to her.
"The money I earned this time will be used for eldest sister's ears first. Her illness can't be delayed. For the bride price, I will try to continue saving."
Zhao Lanxiang caught a trace of guilt in his eyes.
She couldn't help but laugh and explained in detail, "Do you have any misunderstandings about the bride price? Although people in the city may need a higher amount of money, they are not selling their daughter. The bride price is just a tradition. Maybe the bride price is less than getting a wife in the country!"
Then Zhao Lanxiang explained to this country bun in front of her, "Now the women in the city also have jobs. We pay attention to equality between men and women, and the bride price and dowries are equal."
"When two people are married, they focus on the similarities in their personalities. The amount of bride price is a matter of decency, but if the hearts don't agree, the number of gifts will just a mere illusion. Parents who really love their daughters are not willing to embarrass their son-in-law in that way. If you give too much, my parents wouldn't even dare to take it. Do you understand?"
She tilted her head and looked straight at him in the eyes.
A stream of heat surged in He Songbai's heart. His heart was so hot that he couldn't help but trembling with the piping hot molten slurry inside him. He touched her head and said, "You are so kind. Your parents are also very good."
Zhao Lanxiang smiled smugly and urged him to go and see his elder sister.
On the second floor, Li Dali asked his brother-in-law outside his wife's ward, "How much does this operation cost? We also saved some money."
His dark eyes showed a hint of the husband's responsibility. He said, "We don't want you to spend money. The grain harvested in autumn will be sold for a small amount of money, and we also have the money we saved from making clothes."
He also said a long conversation.
He Songbai leaned against the white-washed wall in a trance, listening to her brother-in-law's words with a smile.
"Okay, I lent you first."
His girlfriend's bride price money is back.
---
Early August.
He Songye underwent an operation in the city hospital and stayed in the hospital for half a month after the operation. In this half-month period, Li Dali took care of her back and forth, and the familiar scene seemed to be a reverse from the scene from a year ago.
He Songye mentioned this and Li Dali joked, "How can it be. At that time, I was a paralyzed person. I was tired just from turning, I was sweating, dirty and smelly. You have sound hands and feet. I just bring you a meal."
He spoke slowly, word by word so that his lip-reading wife could understand.
He Songye's ears were covered with gauze, but most has been removed. Now only a thin layer of gauze covering her ears to prevent infection. His subtle voice fell into her ears, and the moment He Songye heard it, the sound felt like a cracked silver bottle, and suddenly her brain burst into a brilliant light.
She covered Li Dali's creepy lips with her hands and listened intently with her ears sideways.
The golden wind in the autumn blew the sycamore outside the window, the bicycle bell across the street, the banging of the sound of iron in the distance, and the shouting of peddlers mixed with life, "Broom~ Selling broom."
And also Li Dali's thick and slow voice.
"Sister Ye, can you hear me?"
The sound was like a budding bud, prying off the hard shell, and bursting out in her head. He Songye seemed to hear it germinating, slightly and beautifully.
She couldn't help but touch her ears and looked at Li Dali with surprise.
"I heard."
Li Dali looked at his wife's gesture and froze.
...
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He Songye's operation was very successful and the recovery was very smooth. However, because she has been deaf for many years, her hearing is definitely weaker than ordinary people, but everyone was very happy.
Granny Li touched her granddaughter's shoulders once she returned from the hospital and kept talking to her.
The speed of speech is faster than her usual slower speech. If He Songye relied on reading her lips, she might miss a lot of words. But after listening, she could gesticulate and communicate with Grandma Li unimpeded.
Grandma Li believed that her granddaughter had indeed recovered her hearing.
But she looked at the granddaughter's constant gestures, frowning slightly, and she said to Li Dali, "While you are not working, slowly teach Sister Ye to learn to speak."
Li Dali answered in a timely manner, "I always teach her to speak! It's just that she's shy and thinks she's not speaking correctly and making people laugh."
So Zhao Lanxiang asked He Songye to say simple words such as eating, sleeping, and working. When He Songye spoke out these words slowly and jerkily, the whole family laughed.
Sanya walked up to her side, holding her hand up, "My teacher just taught me many words this semester. I could teach Elder sister to speak!"
This even made everyone laugh.
He Songye said slowly and seriously, "Okay, ah."
Zhao Lanxiang remembered that there was also a Red Star radio in her room. She bought it when she went to S City and wanted to earn some money, but it was "redeemed" by He Songbai. She opens the central radio station every night to listen to the news.
She moved the bulky radio out, patted it on the top, and said, "Sister, listen to the radio, so you will learn to talk!"
He Songbai simply laughed at his naughty girlfriend. "You had figured it out."
The family cared so much for her, which made He Songye so moved that she couldn't speak. She said thank you to Zhao Lanxiang, and thank you to her brother, and they thanked each other round by round.
Granny Li blames her, "What kind of thanks do you need for family. You might as well learn to speak quickly and chat with Granny more in the future. Rather than let a blind old woman look at your gestures all over and make my eyes tired."
In this way, He Songye would turn on the radio to listen to the broadcast for a while after finishing her agricultural work every day. She also sewed clothes while listening to the broadcast. Her busy days are like running water.
One day in October, the Red Star radio was tuned to the Central Radio Station as usual, and the sizzling electric current came out of the speaker. He Songye adjusted the antenna of the radio.
"From August 4th to 8th, 1977, State leader Comrade D held a scientific education work conference in City B... Comrade D made a speech at the meeting, proposing that the university's recruitment work is the first important link for our future. Emphasizing that the sixteen-word policy must be overthrown. The resumption of the unified college entrance examination will begin this year..."
He Songye was dumbfounded when she heard the news.
However, Grandma Li, who watched her granddaughter sew clothes and helped her with needlework, was shocked.
The movement in her hand suddenly halted in the air. She held her breath and continued listening. At that moment, the old woman's turbid eyes burst into tears. She said, "Sister Ye, did you heard it?"
The host's fluent Mandarin was faithfully said on the radio, "The conversation mentioned whether the children of the 'Rich vs. the Bad' are eligible for the political examination for the college entrance examination. There would be equality. Everyone has equal education rights."
He Songye said, "Equality in education. Am I right?" she asked quickly.
"What else does it say, I don't understand."
Grandma Li pursed her lips seriously and listened attentively to the sound from the Red Star radio, staring closely at the speaker, as if she was staring at the most important thing in her life.
She rallied the spirit she had never had before and listened to the broadcast of the day without a word. "Educational equality!"
She said happily to her granddaughter, "The news says that we, the country, resume the college entrance examination!"
She was excited and almost non-sentenced, "The landlord, the rich, the anti-government, the bad, the rightist, all also have opportunities. You and your brother can all take the college entrance examination. The national policy has completely changed, and everything is fine...
The country remembers them. They are accepted by the policy of tolerance. The rich and the bad can also have a fair education! They can be educated with everyone under the sun. They are no longer need to live like a gray mouse!
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As Granny Li speak, her tears rushed down, running down her old gully face. The turbid tears flowed into her mouth, salty and astringent.
She was so happy that she couldn't speak, and she shed tears sadly. This inexplicable and complicated emotion came to her heart, making the old woman succumbed to her feelings. He Songye was terrified. She lowered the needle in her hand and wiped the tears for her old grandmother.
She said, "This is a good thing. Granny, be happy. I will tell Brother Bai immediately."
Grandma Li asked her granddaughter to go quickly, but she put her face on the radio next to herself, attempting to hear more news about the college entrance examination. Unfortunately, after the news was over, it continued to broadcast other news. The time at that time was like this, but Grandma Li, who has always had a good memory, still keeps this news in her heart.
On the other side, He Songbai just poured the urine from the chamberpot and came back under the hot sun.
Soon he heard his elder sister shouting excitedly at him, "Brother Bai-Brother Bai-"
She rushed in front of him, using her substandard and slow speed of speech, curling her tongue and saying, "Grandma said, said, the country..."
"The country resume college entrance examination!"
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