No matter how heavy the rain, it must eventually stop; no matter how long the night, it must eventually pass.
Day broke, and Wang Shufang, who had barely slept all night, was in Third Aunt's kitchen, insisting on using her own rice to cook. This time, Third Aunt couldn't talk her out of it.
However, Third Aunt would not allow Wang Shufang to wash and eat the cured meat. She knew that after this disaster, life for Wang Shufang's family would only get harder.
If Wang Shufang's life had been even a little bit better, she wouldn't have gone years without replacing the small blue tiles on her roof.
It was precisely because the roof leaked that the earth-walled house had collapsed. Of course, neither Third Uncle nor Third Aunt would say such a thing now.
Lin Fan, who had only slept for a short while, also got up with San Bao from Third Uncle's family. Third Uncle was already arranging for his three sons to go with him to salvage belongings from the front of Lin Fan's collapsed house.
He knew Lin Fan was physically weak and had just rolled down the Hillside yesterday, so he only had Lin Fan stand to the side and keep watch for any surrounding dangers.
While cooking, Wang Shufang was also worrying about the house. Third Aunt pushed her out, telling her to go tend to her own affairs as one person was enough to handle the cooking.
Wang Shufang took only one look at where the house had been before asking Third Uncle and the others to help clean out the kitchen first.
The kitchen wasn't a main room; it was built using wooden poles as supports. Now that one wall had fallen, it had merely tilted over, making it relatively easy to clear.
By the end of the morning, they had cleared the kitchen. They replaced the fallen wall with several new wooden poles, effectively putting the kitchen's frame back up.
Now they just had to wait to cut some thatch to cover the roof, and it would be considered finished.
Wang Shufang kept busy there the whole time. She didn't know if the pigs in the pen and the chickens they raised had been crushed or if they had escaped.
She couldn't worry about them for the moment. After eating breakfast at Third Uncle's house, everyone else in Lin Family Gully learned about what had happened last night.
Seeing the three members of the Lin family safe and sound, everyone said it was due to the virtue of the Lin family's ancestors and their protection that all three could survive such a disaster unharmed.
Property in the countryside wasn't much to begin with, and a house was considered the most important asset, but compared to the lives of the family of three, the house was nothing.
Yesterday evening, they were the ones saying the Lin family must have done something wicked for both father and son to fall in the same place and lose their lives in the same place.
Yet when they got up this morning, they saw Lin Fan was just as before, weakly helping to move small things or pull out small boards and wooden poles, clearly unharmed.
As much as people were surprised, they were just as ready to help.
Wang Shufang asked them to set up a large pot outside. First, she boiled a pot of Lao Yin Tea and filled a wooden bucket with it.
Then she began preparing lunch. When these people came to help, she might not give them wages, but she couldn't neglect to treat them to a meal.
In any case, the summer vegetables were already in season; there was plenty of green beans, cowpeas, peppers, pumpkins, and potatoes.
The cured meat had been moved last night. Third Aunt brought over half a bag of rice from her home, and the women in charge of the other households did much the same, each sending over ten pounds of rice or ten pounds of flour.
When one family is in trouble, support comes from all sides. Wang Shufang was a woman running a household with two children, and life was already difficult; now her house had collapsed.
Every household reached out to help a little; no matter what, they had to help her family get through this crisis.
With many people, the work went much faster. The small blue tiles were cleared out and stacked neatly to one side, while the broken and ruined ones were carried away to be dumped.
The beams and purlins from the roof were also completely cleared out. Those that were intact were placed to one side, while the broken but longer ones were set aside elsewhere. Only the completely useless pieces were piled together to be burned as firewood.
The Lin family's cleanup took two days. In those two days, even the drying yard was cleared completely clean. Nothing was left on the original foundation, as the earth walls had collapsed from the base.
Now only the foundation remained. Third Uncle and the others temporarily cut down a lot of trees from the mountain, set up wooden stakes along the foundation, and built two temporary rooms.
The partitions in the middle were woven from bamboo strips. The roof was covered with thatch. Regardless of the circumstances, Lin Fan and his family finally had a home again.
During these days, Lin Fan was so busy his feet barely touched the ground. He had completely immersed himself in everything here; he had no time to think during the day and fell asleep as soon as he lay down at night.
Miraculously, his body no longer hurt from rolling down the Hillside. One could only say: it's great to be young!
Time passes unrecorded in the mountains. Lin Fan had been so focused on his family's affairs these past few days that he didn't even know how many days had gone by.
It wasn't until the school sent someone with a message, notifying Lin Fan to make a trip to the school.
Only then did Lin Fan remember his identity: he was still a Grade 12 student, even if only a student at a Vocational High School.
The next day, Lin Fan went to the school. The Grade 12 Accounting Class had long since started their break, as they were told to find their own units for internships.
These students only needed to come to the school on July 12th to collect their graduation certificates, and their student lives would be over.
In 1991, the College Entrance Exam was still very strict, and Vocational High School students were not eligible to take it for University.
Even among regular high school students, not everyone was eligible to enter the exam halls during those three days of July 7th, 8th, and 9th.
In this era, regular high school students also had to take a Preliminary Exam. This Preliminary Exam would eliminate seventy percent of the people, and of those remaining, less than half would successfully get into a University.
A school like the one Lin Fan attended had not produced a single University student since the restoration of the College Entrance Exam.
This was also why, when the Education Commission established new Vocational High Schools, this school was the first one they converted into a Vocational High School.
Lin Fan knew that an unexpected event had occurred this time. It wasn't his fall from the Hillside or his house collapsing; rather, the Education Commission had suddenly decided to select a batch of vocational students to participate in the College Entrance Exam.
The entire city was to select two outstanding Accounting Major students from Vocational High Schools to study at a University through targeted training. After graduation, they would return to their schools to teach Accounting.
This was a first for Suiding City. For the sake of fairness, the city Education Commission allocated the College Entrance Exam slots by school; every school with Accounting graduates this year would select two students to participate, based on their April graduation exam results.
Lin Fan had excellent luck; his grades were ranked first, so he naturally got one of the spots. The second-ranked student was Chen Hong, the principal's third daughter, who had just transferred from a regular high school last semester.
In the principal's office, Lin Fan heard the principal personally notify him to return to school immediately for review in preparation for the July exams.
There were ten schools eligible for this selection, meaning two students would be admitted to University from among twenty top students.
Principal Chen had high expectations for Lin Fan because in Lin Fan's graduation exams, he had received full marks in all four professional subjects: Accounting Basics, Commercial Accounting, Industrial Accounting, and Statistics.
High scores weren't scary, but full marks across the board were somewhat terrifying.
He said to Lin Fan, "It's been over twenty years since the Reform and Opening-up, and it's been twenty-four years since the country restored the College Entrance Exam, yet the number of University students from our school has always been zero."
"This time, the breakthrough for our school's zero record rests on you and Chen Hong."
"You must help Chen Hong with her professional courses, and she will help you with Mathematics, Chinese, and Politics."
"We must strive to ensure both spots are taken by our school. To help you study, the school has decided to hire professional teachers from the City Commercial Technical School to give you lessons, and your Mathematics, Chinese, and Politics teachers are also being invited from No. 1 High School."
"Lin Fan, you must cherish this learning opportunity, bring glory to the school, and fight for your own future."
In his previous life, Lin Fan didn't understand the significance of these words, but after experiencing thirty years of the world's hardships, hearing Principal Chen's words now made it clear.
Lin Fan finally understood how much the school had done for him back then, even though he had thought it was normal at the time.
He immediately stated his position: "Please rest assured, Principal. I will study hard and earnestly help Chen Hong, while also learning from her. Let's improve together and ensure that these two spots belong to Chen Hong and me."
He deliberately put Chen Hong's name first. The fact that the principal had transferred his daughter here six months ago meant this news hadn't just appeared overnight.
Principal Chen was very satisfied with Lin Fan's attitude. For a student from the countryside to have such an attitude at this time, he was truly a standout among his peers.
The more he looked at Lin Fan, the more he liked him. He had said so much, and the young man had finally found the key point: the priority was to help Chen Hong catch up in her professional courses.
His daughter's three subjects—Chinese, Math, and Politics—were studied in a regular high school, so she naturally had an advantage over vocational students. Only the professional courses couldn't be mastered in such a short time; she needed someone to teach her well.
When students teach students, they have a common language and know which parts are difficult to understand.
Furthermore, this was a top student who got full marks in every professional course. This arrangement was not a loss in any way.
As for the many good teachers hired by the school, that was done out of public spirit regardless. What was a little money compared to breaking the school's record of zero University students?
"Lin Fan! Do you have any other difficulties?" Principal Chen asked kindly. He had noticed a look of hesitation on Lin Fan's face, which prompted the question.
Lin Fan looked troubled. "Uncle Chen! Just three days ago, my house was washed away and collapsed by the heavy rain."
"Now the family has no place to live. I originally thought about taking my mother and younger sister to the south to find work."
"Since the school has given me the chance to take the University entrance exam, I must go to University no matter what."
"But if I do that, my mom and sister will temporarily have nowhere to stay. I was wondering if we could borrow a room at the school to live in during the summer vacation."
"My mom can find odd jobs outside to earn some living expenses. Once the University admission letter arrives, our whole family will move to the city where the University is."
"I'll go to school and find time to work odd jobs to earn money."
"Mom will work, and we'll find a school for my sister. Once we've saved enough money, we'll come home to build a house."
This time, Lin Fan didn't call him Principal but called him Uncle, bringing their relationship much closer.
Principal Chen thought for only a moment before saying, "The dormitories for your Grade 12 graduating class are empty now. Your family can stay there for a few months for the time being!"
"Also, would your mother be willing to clean at the school? I can arrange that for her."
After saying that, he explained to Lin Fan, "I could also arrange for her to work in the Canteen, but the Canteen will be closed during the holidays."
"Temporary workers wouldn't get wages then, but cleaning is different; the school still needs to be cleaned during the summer vacation."
"That way she can have a steady wage. Even after you go to University, she can continue working here."
"As for your sister, I'll find a way to get her into Seventh Primary School; it's the best primary school in the city."
These few sentences left Lin Fan somewhat overwhelmed.
What he had in mind was just borrowing a place to stay at the school while looking for an opportunity to open a small shop nearby to sell Spicy Hot Pot.
Principal Chen's arrangement could be said to have taken care of every aspect, completely freeing him from any worries.
After thinking it over, Lin Fan said, "Uncle Chen, you're truly too kind. I'd like to settle into the school first and see if I can find a place in the city to open a small shop."
"If the shop doesn't work out, I'll come to trouble Uncle Chen again!"
"Good! You have ambition. You're studying Accounting and doing so well; you should indeed put it into practice."
"When you open the shop, if you need help with the paperwork, you can come to me." The principal of a Vocational High School held some degree of renown here.
Lin Fan thanked Principal Chen profusely before hurrying home. He had to go back quickly to bring his mother and sister out.