The Abandoned Daughter's Second Chance

Grandpa had previously spoken to Principal Lan about Xiao Man wanting to skip directly to the fifth grade. As it happened, the county grain station in their village had just gotten a new warehouse keeper transferred in from another commune. He brought his son with him, who also needed to join the fifth grade. Principal Lan and the fifth-grade homeroom teacher, Chen Jian Country, were already preparing an exam to test the boy’s abilities, so they simply made an extra copy for Xiao Man to take as well.

After the test, the teacher graded the papers on the spot. The boy barely passed, while Xiao Man, who had intentionally gotten a few questions wrong, scored an average of eighty-nine and was successfully admitted into the fifth grade.

Hearing the principal’s praise, Grandpa chuckled happily, his face beaming with pride. Guan Ailan, Mo Shuixia, and Mo Linghui, who had been peeking through the classroom window the whole time, jumped for joy when they learned the results. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

And just like that, Xiao Man’s one-year life as an elementary school student began.

The fifth grade had only one class of forty-eight students. Aside from the other new transfer student, everyone was from the same village and more or less knew each other. Normally, there shouldn’t have been any scheming or social exclusion. However, this class already had Mo Xiaosu. Her grades were excellent, consistently placing her in the top three, and she was particularly good at math, which made her a favorite of the math teacher, Yu Meizhu. Although Mo Xiaosu was temporarily on leave from school to let her two front teeth heal, her influence was still considerable. Her friends, like Chen Yujiao and Lin Meilian, spread gossip among the other students. As a result, Xiao Man faced some minor trouble when she first joined the class. Fortunately, she had the formidable class president, Guan Ailan, looking out for her. With Mo Shuixia and Mo Linghui also frequently by her side, Xiao Man’s life was relatively carefree.

The homeroom teacher, Chen Jian Country, who also taught Chinese, was around thirty years old—a bit long-winded but very enthusiastic. The math teacher, Yu Meizhu, appeared gentle but was in fact very strict. None of this was a problem. ’In the teachers’ eyes, an obedient student with good grades is a good student,’ Xiao Man figured. ’I just need to be sure I am one.’

In the countryside, children who went to school had to help with chores at home after they got out. This included tasks like gathering pig feed, chopping firewood, fetching water, cooking, doing laundry, watching younger siblings, and feeding the pigs and chickens. Many were so busy they didn’t even have time to do the homework their teachers assigned.

Since coming to live with her Grandpa and Grandma, Xiao Man had long been freed from tedious household chores. Her family didn’t raise pigs or chickens yet, and Grandma hardly even let her go outside. The reason back then was the fear she might be harmed by Liu Fengying and Mo Xiaoqiang. Now that she was in school, all Grandma wanted was for her to review her lessons, practice her writing, and do her homework. As long as Xiao Man did well in her studies, that was enough. As for all the other work outside, that could be left to Grandpa!

’Grandma really is something else,’ Xiao Man thought. ’It’s like she wants to hide me at home and raise me like some sheltered young lady. She doesn’t even seem to worry if Grandpa can handle all the work by himself.’

Surprisingly, Grandpa had the same idea. He told Xiao Man not to chop firewood or cut grass, saying that with only three of them, they didn’t use much fuel. They still had a supply of the dry firewood he used to bring back on his way home from work. Once that was gone, he said he could ask a few of the younger men in the clan to spend two or three days chopping more, which would be enough to last a whole year.

So, Xiao Man obediently stayed put. Every day, she went to school and spent seven or eight hours with a bunch of little kids, making sure to finish all her schoolwork and homework right there in the classroom. After returning home and watering the vegetable garden, she would immerse herself in the Sun’s Medical Books. When Grandpa was out and only Grandma was home, she would take out the rubber mannequin to practice her needling techniques. She also spent her time learning to identify herbs with Grandpa. This involved more than just their appearance; she had to learn their smells and tastes and meticulously study how to process them. These days, she was the most frequent visitor to the room where Grandpa stored his herbs.

A little over half a month after school started, Grandpa had settled into the production team’s work routine. The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month, was overcast and rainy, so the production team didn’t assign any work. Grandpa took the opportunity to prepare for another trip to Wancheng.

This time, he was going to deliver a return gift, and he was also taking two bags of herbs. The thought of Grandpa traveling such a long way alone at night pained Xiao Man. But she had school, and her Grandpa and Grandma considered her education more important than anything else; they would never let her skip class to accompany him. There was nothing she could do but help load the ox cart and see him off into the misty, drizzling night.

The ox cart was lined with a thick layer of straw and covered with a plastic sheet. Beneath the sheet was a cage of free-range chickens, a basket of eggs carefully cushioned with wood shavings, a fifteen-jin jug of tea oil, thirty jin of newly harvested rice, a few large dried fish from Uncle Man Cang, and over ten jin of dried mushrooms and wood ear fungus.

Without Xiao Man tagging along and no heavy cargo to transport, the ox cart moved quickly. Grandpa made good time, returning home around eight or nine in the evening on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Though he had gone to deliver a gift, Sister-in-law Sun had insisted on sending Grandpa back with a cloth bag of his own. Inside were all sorts of food: two packets of noodles, twenty jin of high-grade flour, and two jin of brown sugar. These were all items that only people with city household registrations could obtain. For rural people, especially in a Southern Village, the supply of wheat-based foods was extremely scarce. Whenever the grain station received a small quota, the brigade and production team cadres were the first to be notified. They would naturally buy some for themselves and help their relatives buy some too, leaving basically nothing for the ordinary commune members.

The packet of noodles Grandpa had taken to Uncle Man Cang’s house last time had been acquired through a trade with Secretary Mo’s family.

In addition to the noodles and flour, Sister-in-law Sun had also included a small cloth bag of red dates and six glossy, golden-brown mooncakes!

Mooncakes were a rare delicacy in this era. People in the city might be able to eat them, but they were almost never seen in the countryside. So, what did rural families eat for the Mid-Autumn Festival? More fastidious families, or those who doted on their children, might grind rice into a paste to steam rice cakes. Otherwise, they did nothing special at all, treating the day just like any other!

In any case, for the Southern Village folk of this era, besides the Lunar New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Ghost Festival, no other holidays really mattered!

Grandpa said guiltily, "I told her no, but Sister-in-law Sun insisted and pushed it onto the cart... Sigh, I feel so indebted. If I had known, I wouldn’t have brought our meager gifts, only to make them spend so much more on us!"

Then he turned to Xiao Man and said, "Mr. Sun also had a message for you. He said: ’Focus on your studies for now. There’s no rush with the medical training, just take it slow. He’s not feeling well right now, so he can’t teach you personally. Once you get into medical school, you can ask your professors if you have questions. It’s all the same!’"

Xiao Man could only nod in agreement, thinking to herself, ’Transportation is so inconvenient. I guess I’ll have to wait until winter break to visit Mr. Sun.’

The sky was overcast from the rain, without a single star in sight, so there was no need to make offerings to the moon. Grandpa went to return the ox cart to Secretary Mo’s family, giving them three of the mooncakes. This left three, exactly one for each of them. Xiao Man fetched a small knife and a plate and cut the mooncakes into small pieces so that all three of them could taste each flavor. Then, she poured three bowls of hot water, and the three generations sat together in the main hall, slowly savoring the treat.

You had to admit, while this era was one of material scarcity, many things were still made with traditional, authentic quality. The mooncakes were no exception. The ones from Sister-in-law Sun were genuine Cantonese-style mooncakes, beautifully shaped with exquisite patterns on their thin, soft crust. The lotus seed paste filling was fragrant, delicious, and silky smooth. The salted egg yolk filling was rich and savory with a touch of sweetness. The five-nut and char siu filling had a satisfying chewiness that became more aromatic the longer you chewed. It was an incredibly satisfying treat.