Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn
Chapter 181 - 12: Oddballs (Part 2)

Chapter 181: Chapter 12: Oddballs (Part 2)

"This teacher is really enthusiastic. Xiao Xian, you really made your aunt proud. I finally understand why the parents of good students are always beaming with joy at parent-teacher meetings," Zhuo Feng hugged Xiao Xian as she praised non-stop. Just half an hour earlier, she was fretting and saying, "It’s okay if we fail, there are good schools everywhere, even considering third or fourth-tier schools is fine."

Sacred Heart Middle School has a high efficiency in handling matters. The middle school entrance exam consisted of four subjects: Chinese, Mathematics, English, and Science. Given time considerations, each paper was divided into two parts, and all Xiao Xian had to do were the multiple-choice and true-or-false questions. When the results came out, her scores were above average in all four subjects, with English being the most outstanding. When the English teacher was marking the papers, she couldn’t believe that Xiao Xian was from Guizhou, as even local Beijing elementary students couldn’t achieve such scores.

After the exam results were out, due to the strong reaction from the sports department, the school made an exception to admit Xiao Xian as a special basketball recruit, but her hope to be placed in Grade 7 was temporarily shelved.

"It’s only temporary for you to be in Grade 6; you’re only ten years old, even Grade 6 is too early for you. You’ll start with one term first, and if you can maintain your current performance, then I’ll help you apply for grade skipping," Zhuo Feng thought that Xiao Xian might be somewhat saddened by not being able to attend Grade 7, but looking at her, she wasn’t particularly excited nor particularly upset.

What she didn’t know was that although Xiao Xian occasionally acted childishly because she was new to the city and had lived in a secluded mountain village for four years, struggling to keep up with the city’s pace of life and learning, in other aspects, Xiao Xian was truly a twenty-year-old adult. For her, there wasn’t much difference between attending Grade 6 or Grade 7.

The aunt and niece went to Sacred Heart Middle School’s administrative office to process the enrollment, and upon seeing the enrollment guidelines and realizing, "Sacred Heart Middle School is a boarding school?"

The admissions officer gave her a look of feigned ignorance and replied not that politely, "Sacred Heart Middle School has always been a boarding school, everyone in Beijing knows that." Her tone annoyed Zhuo Feng. But it was not surprising since it’s such a well-known school. Every parent meticulously researched the school before applying, some almost to the extent of unearthing everything, even what the school cafeteria serves. Unlike Zhuo Feng, who came to register and got admitted on the same day, such a scenario was indeed a rare spectacle since its establishment.

**

During Beijing’s evening rush hour, a small Alto car was squeezed between two taxis on the Third Ring Road.

Sitting in the car, Feng Xing anxiously looked at the traffic lights a few hundred meters ahead, continuously checking the second hand ticking on his watch, "It’s already six, the market is closed, I’ll have to go to the market outside our neighborhood to buy some vegetables, but at this time, the vegetables and fish won’t be fresh." After he and Zhuo Feng got married, they would only eat one meal at home. Breakfast and lunch were always sorted outside where the food was too oily and contained too much MSG, which made Zhuo Feng always complain about needing to lose weight.

Thinking it through, Feng Xing decided to buy groceries after work and cook himself. These days just happened to coincide with a statistics gathering for retired officials in Beijing, delaying his after-work timing. Normally, Zhuo Feng would buy some groceries after quitting her job, but today she had to accompany Xiao Xian to buy clothes and was also planning to visit Sacred Heart Middle School, probably leaving her no time to shop for groceries.

Seeing the intersection ahead completely congested, Feng Xing had no choice but to queue up in the traffic. "Still blocked? Forget it, let’s come up with a menu. I don’t even know what Xiao Xian likes to eat. A dish of crabmeat lion’s head meatballs, mushroom and bok choy, and a braised carp; the weather is so hot, let’s buy a watermelon too." Feng Xing was quite a thoughtful person. As he muttered to himself, the traffic light ahead finally turned green.

When he got home, it was nearly seven o’clock. Being a city person really wasn’t easy. Carrying bags of still fresh vegetables, he took out his keys, unlocked the door, only to find the house eerily quiet. Not to mention Zhuo Feng, there wasn’t even a person in sight.

"Strange, where did both of them go? Shopping can’t take all day, right? Women, once they start shopping, it never ends," Feng Xing had barely settled down when the home phone rang urgently. Answering it, Zhuo Feng’s cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Husband, where have you been? You didn’t respond to the pager." In those years before cellphones were widespread, pagers were the norm. Feng Xing looked down and realized the pager strapped to his waist was out of battery, no wonder he received none of Zhuo Feng’s pages.

"Just got home. Pager is out of battery. Where did you and Xiao Xian go? It’s so hot outside; don’t get heatstroke." Feng Xing, sensing his wife’s happy tone, guessed she must be in a good mood. Speaking of which, a dreaded thought struck him—if his wife was in a good mood, she loved to shop for clothes, and once started, she couldn’t stop. "What did you buy that made you so happy?"

"We bought the clothes earlier and left them at home. You should hurry and drive over; tonight, we need to celebrate properly. We’ve secured a school for Xiao Xian, Sacred Heart Middle School." Zhuo Feng stood inside a public phone booth, her emotions vividly displayed through the glass.

"Sacred Heart Middle School? She got in so smoothly? We really should celebrate," Feng Xing was also pleased to hear this, things went more smoothly than he anticipated. He had even thought that if things didn’t work out, he might ask his good friend to pull some strings and look for other schools for Xiao Xian. Unexpectedly, by merely bringing Xiao Xian for the special admission test, Zhuo Feng had neatly managed everything.

Feng Xing also felt a sense of satisfaction as a father. Getting into Sacred Heart Middle School meant that there was more than a fifty percent chance of getting into the high school section; getting into Sacred Heart High School would mean setting foot into the threshold of top universities in Beijing.

"Look how happy you are. Xiao Xian was really impressive today. I can’t explain over the phone; we’ll talk more at dinner, meet at Quanjude’s entrance." Zhuo Feng briskly hung up the phone. When in Beijing, how could you not eat roast duck, and where else but at Quanjude? (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)