Chapter 108
Qiao Wei specifically consulted with someone from the Health Bureau regarding vaccines.
There weren’t any. The people at the Health Bureau had never heard of such a vaccine, which meant it truly didn’t exist.
Qiao Wei vaguely remembered that in history, our country did indeed experience a very severe hepatitis epidemic. Was that why vaccines were eventually developed?
How frustrating. That meant this current era was exactly that time of “very severe transmission.”
Frustrating.
But there was truly nothing to be done.
Under her suggestion, not only did the Health Bureau send people to conduct a comprehensive disinfection of the Kindergarten, but Secretary Meng also arranged a physical examination for the Town Committee staff. It was especially strict for the Kindergarten and Cafeteria personnel; everything that could be tested in this era was checked.
Everyone supported it without a single complaint.
Because this incident had genuinely come close to endangering their own children.
There was actually another reason for arranging for Teacher Zheng to go to the manure processing plant: no other unit was willing to accept a hepatitis patient.
If you were infected, you would face discrimination at school and at work. If others found out, they wouldn’t eat with you or play with you. They would all walk around you.
No one wanted their child to have a life like that.
Regimental Commander Zhao’s son, Gangzi, would be 15 after the new year; it was becoming ridiculous for him to keep hanging around in elementary school.
Regimental Commander Zhao felt that they weren’t really learning much culture in school anyway, so he wanted to skip junior high and get him directly into a technical secondary school in the county. At this time, a technical secondary school diploma held a lot of weight.
But as soon as Gangzi heard that he would still have to study at the technical secondary school, he couldn’t stand it.
He really didn’t want to read books at all.
Not even a little bit.
In the end, Regimental Commander Zhao was so angry he went to find Yan Lei for a drink.
Qiao Wei thought about it and suggested, “Either go learn to drive, or go to the technical school run by the factory.”
The technical school was hosted by the factory and used to train skilled workers.
Regimental Commander Zhao went back and asked Gangzi which one he wanted to choose, but Gangzi couldn’t decide. Because being a factory worker was a well-known good job, but driving was also very enviable. It was too hard to choose; wasn’t this putting him in a spot?
Lin Xixi chimed in, “Don’t choose driving.”
As society and the economy developed, the treatment and social status of the driving profession plummeted. Taxi drivers were once arrogant and would pick and choose their customers. But that only lasted a few years; later, as the country developed, taxis quickly became dime a dozen.
The era of drivers picking their customers was gone forever.
When people mentioned being a driver again, others no longer felt any respect or envy.
Regimental Commander Zhao said, “What do you know?”
Lin Xixi said, “Regardless, whatever you choose, don’t choose being a driver.”
But she didn’t know if being a skilled worker was good or not.
Because they weren’t in the same city, she wasn’t actually very clear on what specifically her cousins did for work. She had her own endless worries about pots and pans at home. She only knew her uncle was a cadre, and at least he had arranged for her younger brother and sister to be settled, so they wouldn’t end up laid off and unemployed like her husband, with no rice to put in the pot.
Gangzi couldn’t choose, so Regimental Commander Zhao simply said, “Draw lots.”
He made two slips of paper, shook them in his palm for a long time, and Gangzi blew on his claws several times before finally grabbing the one for the technical school.
Regimental Commander Zhao said, “Alright, your Aunt Qiao will help arrange this matter.”
Qiao Wei was now a capable subordinate of the top leader; her own position didn’t hold any real power. But because of the top leader’s power and trust, it naturally allowed his trusted subordinates to obtain some conveniences.
Secretary Huang could get many things done.
He was equivalent to the Emperor’s chief eunuch in charge of writing edicts.
Qiao Wei didn’t have as much influence as Secretary Huang, but arranging for Gangzi to enter the technical school was no problem.
“There are many departments, which are the trades,” she told Gangzi. “I’ve already spoken to the director over there. On the first day, you can go and try them all out, see which one interests you, and then decide which trade to learn.”
Since the future path had been decided, Gangzi didn’t waste any more time at the elementary school and went straight to the technical school.
The factory he was arranged to go to was in the industrial zone between Xiahekou District and the old county town. Now that the roads were paved smoothly, it took less than ten minutes to get there by short-distance shuttle bus. It was very convenient.
Gangzi might just be a born worker. He truly got a headache whenever he saw a book, but when he came back on the first day of technical school, his face was full of excitement.
He liked the technical school.
He chose to learn welding.
Amidst the crackling sparks, watching two separate pieces fuse into one made his mind, which was always foggy, feel particularly calm.
The bead patterns welded by his master had a beauty that fascinated him.
Regimental Commander Zhao brought a thank-you gift to Qiao Wei’s house.
Upon hearing about Gangzi’s choice, Qiao Wei also thought it was quite good. “A single skill can sustain you for a lifetime. This skill is useful in any industry. If you learn it to an average level, you can just weld steel plates in the factory; if you learn it to an expert level, it’s not impossible to weld airplanes in the future.”
“I’m afraid the planes he welds will fall out of the sky, so let’s stick to steel plates.” Regimental Commander Zhao smacked his lips, having absolutely no confidence in his son.
Yan Lei burst into laughter.
At this moment, a package was mailed from Beijing; it was quite heavy. It was sent to the Military Unit.
Yan Lei carried it home. “The things you wanted.”
“Huh?” Qiao Wei was confused. “What is it?”
“The books you wanted,” Yan Lei said. “I asked someone in Beijing, and they managed to get this many.”
Qiao Wei’s eyes lit up.
She opened it and saw that they were indeed related to math, physics, and chemistry. There were science and technology magazines that couldn’t be found in the small county town at all. There were even university textbooks. The Capital was truly different. The resources were just different.
“This is great.” The more Qiao Wei looked, the happier she became. “You must thank them properly.”
Yan Lei said, “Don’t you worry about it.” This was Yan Lei’s network; Qiao Wei didn’t need to worry, Yan Lei would handle it himself.
Yan Xiang had already finished reading all the junior high and high school textbooks.
Because they involved many symbols, Qiao Wei also taught him the twenty-six English letters, as well as symbols like α, β, sin, cos, and so on. Now he just read them repeatedly. He was very fascinated.
Yan Lei was also reading.
Qiao Wei said to him, “Mathematical formulas and such aren’t really necessary. But learning a bit of physics and chemistry can give you a basic understanding of the world. Learn some biology, too.”
Yan Lei felt that physics and chemistry were quite interesting. They opened a door to a new world for him, allowing him to understand the world from a different perspective for the first time, rather than relying solely on life experience.
Qiao Wei said, “After understanding these basic concepts, the biggest benefit is the breaking of feudal superstitions. Everything in the world must have a scientific explanation; for example, the ghost fires that appear in graveyards in the middle of the night are actually just the spontaneous combustion of phosphorus in the air. See, once it’s explained clearly, it’s not scary at all.”
Yan Lei said, “That’s true.”
Qiao Wei said, “If we can’t explain it, it’s just that our scientific theories aren’t advanced enough yet, and scientists still need to keep working hard.”
Yan Lei burst into laughter.
Yan Lei managed to get a furniture coupon and went to Qingshan Town to buy a brand-new, larger desk for Qiao Wei. The original desk was moved to the outer room of the east wing, so Yan Xiang also had his own study.
Yan Lei thought it was for Yan Xiang to draw pictures or practice writing characters. He hadn’t imagined that Yan Xiang spent most of his time reading those books that he himself couldn’t understand at all.
The books mailed from Beijing were simply a treasure trove for Yan Xiang.
But there were things Yan Xiang couldn’t understand, so he brought that book to find Qiao Wei. “Mom, I don’t understand this.”
He also said, “This is the same as that one in the textbook.”
The book he was holding was sandwiched between many others, and Qiao Wei hadn’t opened every single one to look. She only opened it now and discovered it was completely in another language. Russian.
She flipped through it more and saw many mathematical symbols; it should be a math book.
“Oh my, it’s Russian.” Qiao Wei held her chin in a dilemma.
In the textbooks that Qiao Wei had asked the homeroom teacher at the Second Factory Middle School to get, there were Russian textbooks. Qiao Wei had never learned Russian, but she had the memories of Qiao Weiwei having learned it. It was very interesting; having inherited the memories, she had also inherited this foreign language.
But previously, when Yan Xiang had brought the Russian textbooks to her, she had considered various factors like the social situation and political climate, and hadn’t immediately let Yan Xiang study Russian.
With Yan Xiang’s intelligence, he could just learn it whenever he needed it when he grew up.
But she hadn’t expected that Yan Lei’s friend in Beijing could actually get Russian materials, and they looked very professional.
“Do you really want to read this book?” Qiao Wei asked. Yan Xiang nodded.
There were many symbols learned from the high school textbooks, but there were even more that he didn’t recognize. What did that mean? It meant that the content covered in this book was more than that in the high school math textbooks. He was extremely eager to learn.
[Fichtenholz’s “Differential and Integral Calculus.”]
[Differential calculus of one and several variables, the study of Riemann integral theory and series theory, multiple integrals, line integrals, surface integrals, Stieltjes integrals, Fourier series and Fourier transforms… The world began to become different to me from that moment on.]
[Even now, thinking back, it still feels incredible. Because the place I lived was a small town, and my trajectory at most extended to the county seat. People’s general education levels were elementary school or junior high; technical secondary school students could already be assigned to very good job positions, and their starting salary level was higher than others.]
[In such an environment, my mother obtained Fichtenholz’s “Differential and Integral Calculus” for me. I am very certain that even she herself did not fully understand the status of this book in the mathematical world, let alone know what level of nourishment this was for me. She was just like that, nourishing me without reservation, with all her might.]
[She knew I needed it.]
[What has always puzzled me is that as I grow older now, she seems unwilling to admit this fact. To admit that she understands me and knows what I need.]
[She has always tried to convince me to believe that those books were obtained by Dad through great effort.]
[But I know that in this matter, Dad only fulfilled her request and executed her command. Dad was just the object; she was the driver.]
[Although it has always been puzzling, and I can no longer get the answer now, it doesn’t matter. This doesn’t stop me from being able to realize at every moment… she loved her child.]
[That is me.]
[From that time on, she began to teach me Russian, secretly.]
[This was our little secret, promised, not to tell anyone.]
