“Husband, did you hear something?”

After dinner, with no entertainment options available, rural folks typically went to bed early. The busy harvest season had just ended, and farmers needed rest after their intense labor. Yang Yonghong’s parents also retired early – electricity cost money, so they avoided using lights whenever possible. Yang Yonghong’s family was particularly poor; they didn’t even have electricity.

Earlier, when Yang Yonghong brought money home and told her parents that Yang Jie could earn money in Pengcheng, she suggested getting electricity installed. Her father inquired at the power supply office, but they told him to wait in line.

Mother Yang lit the kerosene lamp, and Father Yang put on his clothes and went outside with the lamp to investigate.

A white car was parked at their doorstep, startling Father Yang.

Yang Yonghong carried her suitcase, “Dad, you’re in bed so early today. My classmate was heading to Ji Bei and gave me a ride home – this is my classmate Xiao Lan!”

Xia Xiaolan smiled and called him uncle, while Father Yang’s hand trembled as he held the kerosene lamp.

How could this girl bring a classmate home without any notice?

“Come in, come inside first.”

And not just any classmate – there were barely any cars even in the county town, so a classmate who drove here must be from a wealthy family.

Xiaolan? Wasn’t she the classmate who helped introduce Yonghong and Ajie to work in the Special Zone?

The Yang couple didn’t know what to say to Xia Xiaolan.

Their debt of gratitude was immense. Without Xia Xiaolan’s help in their time of need, the Yang family would have either had to sell blood or left Yang Jie with lifelong regret. Mother Yang’s eyes welled up with tears, but she held them back, fearing Xia Xiaolan’s judgment. Their gratitude was so profound they could only express it in a few repeated phrases.

“Auntie, please don’t be like this. I should thank Senior for helping my uncle. Senior was excellent in school; she’s very capable!”

If she had known, she would have dropped Yang Yonghong at the village entrance and returned to stay at the county guesthouse.

Their arrival at night had disturbed the Yang household’s peace.

If Yang Yonghong hadn’t stopped her father, he would have gone to catch a chicken from the yard to cook.

Xia Xiaolan broke into a sweat: “We ate on the way there’s no need!”

“Don’t be like this – how can Xiaolan feel comfortable staying here if you keep acting this way? She’s only staying one night. I remember the great kindness she showed our family!”

Yang Yonghong had to repeat herself several times before stopping her parents’ excessive reactions.

Xia Xiaolan pretended to yawn, “Uncle, Auntie, let’s all get some rest early, no need to fuss.”

Mother Yang finally found something to do, hurriedly making the bed and bringing out their new quilt. That night, Xia Xiaolan and Yang Yonghong shared a bed. Yang Yonghong shook out the new quilt and smiled: “This quilt was made for my wedding. Our village is poor – most families only provide one quilt as dowry when their daughters marry. This quilt was made years ago, but I’m still not married!”

Xia Xiaolan wondered: “Why make the quilt so far in advance?”

Though the new quilt had a musty smell from being stored in a chest, Yang Yonghong’s bed, while old, was kept very clean. Xia Xiaolan, having slept on straw beds before, found nothing to complain about.

In the darkness, Yang Yong hong’s expression was invisible, and her voice remained steady:

“It wasn’t made early. You know our family’s situation – I should have been married long ago. During my first year of retaking the exam, my mother fell seriously ill, and we desperately needed money. A well-off family in our town said if I married their son, they would give us money to help us through the crisis. I was under tremendous pressure then. People said there was no point in girls studying so much and called me unfilial. Seeing my mother sick, I couldn’t bear it, so I packed up and came home. Both families agreed to the marriage, and they made this quilt for my dowry. I almost got married.”

Xia Xiaolan sighed quietly, “But you changed your mind in the end.”

“Yes, I did. It was shameless of me to take their money, get my mother treated, but then refuse to marry. My teachers came to my home several times, saying I could get into university if I retook the exam for one more year. I couldn’t give up either.”

Finally, her father had to humble himself and go to the prospective in-laws, saying he couldn’t persuade Yang Yonghong, and offered to betroth his third daughter to their son instead.

“That family was decent. My third sister was only 13 then, and they weren’t interested. They just had my father write an IOU, treating the bride price as a loan to our family, and dropped the marriage proposal.”

They only managed to fully repay this debt this year, which was why the family couldn’t provide much money for Yang Jie’s wedding.

This wasn’t unique to Yang Yonghong – her story was just a reflection of the times. Rural children had to work much harder than their urban counterparts to change their fate.

It was already difficult for a family to support one university student, and the Yang family dared to let all five children attend school – truly remarkable.

The topic was heavy, and Xia Xiaolan didn’t know what to say.

She could help Yang Yonghong, but looking at the whole country, there were countless families in similar situations.

Yang Yonghong had fought her way out with fierce determination, proving to everyone that she could not only get into university but into the best one.

But what about those who gave up midway?

Those whom Xia Xiaolan never even had the chance to meet.

Xia Xiaolan had always considered herself tough-minded, but even she felt lost at this moment. She could change her own life and earn wealth for herself, but how could the broader environment be changed?

“Let’s sleep. Tomorrow is a new day, and those difficult days that troubled you are over. Things will keep getting better, both for you and your family!”

Xia Xiaolan felt she needed to think.

Du Zhaohui could donate millions to universities at once – she didn’t have that kind of wealth now.

But besides donating books to schools, couldn’t she do something else?

She couldn’t help everyone, but helping one person at a time was worthwhile. What might be a small amount to her could change someone else’s destiny.

Xia Xiaolan needed to carefully consider this matter.

The next morning, they couldn’t stop Yang Yonghong’s parents from killing a chicken. By the time she and Yang Yonghong woke up, the aroma of chicken soup filled the courtyard, and Xia Xiaolan found two large chicken legs in her bowl.

Since the chicken was already killed, it shouldn’t go to waste. To honor the Yang family’s mother hen’s sacrifice, Xia Xiaolan cleaned the chicken legs to the bone.

“Uncle, Auntie, I’ll come back tomorrow to pick up Yonghong. Thank you for your hospitality!”

When Xia Xiaolan drove away, the whole village came to watch.

Hearing she was Yang Yonghong’s classmate, many people thought how nice it would have been if she were a male classmate – that would have solved all the Yang family’s problems.

But Yang Yonghong was indeed capable; her Huaqing University education wasn’t wasted. They heard she took Yang Jie out for two months and managed to gather enough money for his bride price. One of Yang Yong hong’s uncles came over:

“Tell your uncle, is it that easy to make money in the South? Can you just pick it up from the ground?”

Yang Yonghong didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Uncle, money isn’t just lying around to be picked up. It’s best to have a degree or at least a skill. Yang Jie is just doing odd jobs at my classmate’s uncle’s construction site. I still want him to come back and retake the exam for university.”

So it all comes back to education.

The middle-aged man had deep furrows in his brow. The Yang children were good examples – even Yang Jie was a high school graduate. These days, if you don’t let your children study, they can only dig in the soil for food.