Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 821 - 0821: Letter from Tianjun 4

Chapter 821: Chapter 0821: Letter from Tianjun 4

The simple, warm life continued until winter when Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue received a letter from Lu Tianjun.

This year, the harvest in Wanglou Brigade wasn’t too good, mainly because the yield of wheat and rice decreased by thirty percent. After delivering the government quota, there wasn’t enough left to distribute among the households. Fortunately, most families were content with coarse grains, which they needed, not demanding fine grains, and the reduction in the yield of coarse grains such as sweet potatoes and corn was limited. As a result, the family only sent them fifty pounds of white flour, twenty pounds of rice, and a variety of dried vegetables from their private plot.

Lu’s father made it clear that the white flour and rice were for the children to eat.

Towards Xibao and Fubao, the elderly grandfather was impartial, not refraining from sending fine grains to the children despite the reduced harvest.

After Feng Qingxue joined the army, the correspondences with Lu Jiang’s comrades were managed by Lu’s father and Lu Tianjun. Huo Beiting, as usual, sent grain tickets and money, then bought some grains from here to send back to him. Hu Ping continued to send specialities from the Northeast, but he no longer needed grain. It was said that there was plenty of food there, so Lu’s father let Lu Tianjun send money to them instead.

As for other comrades, the exchange of grain and special products gradually decreased. They probably realized that the Lu Family couldn’t possibly have so much grain to trade with them. The famine was over, and there was no need to ask for more, but they would still occasionally send some special products to the Lu Family.

Seeing this, Feng Qingxue said to Lu Jiang, "We’ve saved quite a few grain tickets in the past few months. Let’s send them back home."

With the support of their space, the couple could save an extra twenty to thirty pounds of grain tickets every month.

Lu Jiang nodded. "What else did Tianjun mention in his letter?"

"Read it for yourself," Feng Qingxue handed it to him.

After only a brief glance, Lu Jiang furrowed his brow, "Tianjun can no longer continue his education?"

"Yes. Tianjun took the college entrance exam this year. He has always had excellent results and, under normal circumstances, he would have been able to get into the university of his choosing; however, due to his ’class status’, no one is willing to take the risk, so his education ends here."

In Feng Qingxue’s view, whether Lu Tianjun attended university or not didn’t matter much now, as the Cultural Revolution was just around the corner in ’66.

Even if Lu Tianjun had managed to get into a university despite his class status, he would have been forced to interrupt his studies and return home to farm that year. Country kids were expected to go back to the countryside, unless they had a city residence permit or could find a job.

A high school education wasn’t low at all.

However, Feng Qingxue remembered that Lu Tianjun had mentioned several times that he wanted to join the military, which was also expressed in his letter.

Lu Jiang, unaware of the future turmoil that would involve the cultural sector, felt sorry for his nephew, "The country conducts conscriptions every year. There’s no lack of opportunities for him to join the army, but the class status issue that prevents him from entering university also bars him from getting into governmental institutions and factories. Naturally, he wouldn’t be accepted into the armed forces either. I must pull some strings; without doing so, he simply won’t be able to become a soldier."

His elder brother and sister-in-law passed away early, leaving behind only two children who, orphaned, were quite pitiable. For their sake, Lu Jiang was willing to go against his own principles and seek help through a backdoor, aiming to get Lu Tianjun into the military.

Feng Qingxue agreed, "Then let’s pull some strings and give Tianjun a chance, especially since he meets all the conscription requirements."

If the country treated everyone equally in this regard, Feng Qingxue would not let Lu Jiang use his influence but rather have Lu Tianjun achieve his goal through his own efforts. After all, nepotism is a corrupt practice that shouldn’t be allowed to proliferate. Unfortunately, this era was too discriminatory against children with poor class status, ruining the lives of many children.

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