Daily Life in the 70s-Chapter 256: Return to School

Yang PeiMin was taken aback.

Was he serious?

Yiguang Shen raised his eyebrows, his face a picture of seriousness.

Yang PeiMin rolled her eyes at him.

It was still Yiguang Shen driving, as he was still in the recovery period, although he couldn’t stay away from the training field, but he had a lot of free time.

By the time they got to the city, it was nearly eight o’clock, and it was too late to return to school. They found a guesthouse near the school childcare center, booked two rooms, and Yiguang Shen, concerned, decided to stay the night as well to take the kids to the childcare center the next morning.

The childcare center that Yiguang Shen had someone find was quite standard, located near an ice-lolly factory and a soy sauce factory where many workers’ children were sent. Only children whose families couldn’t look after them were admitted there. Otherwise, if someone could look after them, they wouldn’t send them because it was merely for play and still cost money — five yuan a month.

There wasn’t any division into academic terms or anything; as long as the fee was paid, the child could attend. The kindergarten teachers, though salaried, were attentive. There may have been some negligence, but there was certainly no mistreatment. They rushed over early in the morning and sent Da Niu and Xiao Niu to the childcare center. Yang PeiMin also took the opportunity to check out the environment. It wasn’t great, but it was clean, and the children loved it. Near the entrance of the small courtyard, there were wooden horses, concrete slides, and seesaws—child-friendly facilities that the kids couldn’t take their eyes off from the moment they arrived, greatly enjoying them.

When a teacher came over to take the children, Yang PeiMin bade farewell to the two girls. "Da Niu, auntie has put some candies in your little bag. You and Xiao Niu are new classmates, so please share one with each of the other students later, and don’t fight. Take care of your little sister, okay?"

Then, she spoke with the teacher to have Da Niu and Xiao Niu placed in the same class, as she worried Xiao Niu might struggle to adapt. It would be better if her sister was there with her.

After that was settled, she had to rush back to her own school for class. Though it had only been two days, Yang PeiMin felt a strong reluctance to leave. She knelt down, gave each of them a hug, and made a pinky promise to pick them up in the evening.

Yiguang Shen patted her shoulder and reminded her, "Let’s go, you’ll be late."

Yang PeiMin and Yiguang Shen left the childcare center. She whispered to him, "Ah, the trouble with raising kids is just this, they grow up and fly away."

Yiguang Shen couldn’t help but laugh, "You don’t even have kids yet. Where are all these sighs coming from?"

"It’s just a rehearsal," she replied.

"Come on, we need to hurry."

Yang PeiMin felt somewhat annoyed, not knowing why.

She rushed back to school and just made it to the classroom as the clock struck the hour.

"Were you chased by a dog?" her classmate Li Yue teased.

"I was about to be late," Yang PeiMin sat down, catching her breath before responding.

In the class, it was just her and Li Yue as female students, so they naturally sat together and became friends.

"Letting you flounce home," said Li Yue.

"Just be envious," Yang PeiMin retorted.

Li Yue, annoyed, glared at her, "You don’t know, my first night here, I cried so much missing my mom that my eyes were swollen. Go on, rub it in."

"Really? Let me see."

"Oh, go away."

The bell rang for class, and before the teacher arrived, Li Yue whispered to her, "I heard this specialized class is taught by a professor who studied abroad... I’m looking forward to it."

Right then, the teacher came in.

Seeing the teacher at that moment, Yang PeiMin could feel Xiao Niu next to her instantly sit up straighter. This professor was indeed young, looking only about twenty-five or twenty-six, even younger than many students in the class, but he was already a professor, which was incomparable. The professor’s last name was Gao, named Gao Lingfeng, and he was handsome, refined, and scholarly looking.

The classes had just started, covering only basic subjects and some theoretical professional courses.

For Yang PeiMin, this was an entirely new journey. She didn’t dare to be sloppy, her hand quickly flipping through her notebook as she took notes—of course, all the students in the class did the same.

She had been a liberal arts student in her previous life and leaned away from the sciences. She felt she had to put in more effort than others to catch up on her shortcomings, which was fortunate because Mr. Gao’s lectures were not as dry as others’; he would incorporate interesting little life metaphors, which, with a bit of imagination, helped her quickly absorb the material.

Plus, the teacher was particularly approachable, telling them his dorm and office were open if they ever needed clarification on anything.

After class, Li Yue came up and whispered to her, "This teacher is good."

Yang PeiMin nodded in agreement.

After school at noon, the two went to grab lunch together and then headed back to the dorm for a nap, trying to relieve the tension of the past few days.

When she returned to the dorm at noon, the others looked over and asked if she had just rushed back that morning.

"Yes, I had a lot going on at home, I couldn’t make it back yesterday."

She then noticed Sister Guo and Xiao Lian were not there and couldn’t help asking, "Where are Sister Guo and Xiao Lian?"

"Oh, Xiao Lian caught a cold last night, and Sister Guo, worried, took her to the campus doctor for medicine."

"Taking care of a child is really not easy," someone sighed.

"Indeed, if it weren’t for my mother-in-law who’s willing to help, I really couldn’t manage to come here."

Erxi finished speaking and then asked Yang PeiMin, "PeiMin, have you had children?"

"Not yet."

"Then you’re still fairly relaxed."

"Relaxed? Erxi, you forgot PeiMin is married to a military man. If she doesn’t have kids, her in-laws will definitely have opinions." This was said by Tan Yan, who came from the countryside but later married into the city and had since considered herself a city dweller. She spoke with an air of having extensive experience.

"Speaking of my marriage, I also have a cousin who married a soldier. She didn’t move with the military, and her husband has short leaves. They’ve been married for five or six years with no children yet, and his family is really anxious. No offense, but military jobs aren’t as stable as others. If something happens, it’s the end of the family line. Eventually, his family figured out a way to have their son come back and divorce his wife, who hadn’t borne a child in those five or six years—they actually divorced..."

"The situation was messy, our family didn’t agree. But the husband’s family was willing to pay my cousin off just to divorce her, and when they filed the divorce to their superiors, they blamed it on her infertility..."

"PeiMin, you still have four years of university to consider; you really need to plan accordingly," Tan Yan said earnestly to Yang PeiMin.

Yang PeiMin smiled slightly, ’Thanks for the reminder, I’ve got it in mind.’

Miao Ying sighed beside, "I don’t understand why you rural people marry so early; see, it’s troublesome now..."

"That’s not something you can say, it was unavoidable," Erxi responded.

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