Chapter 2: Chapter 2 : University Dream
The story was talking about how Xia Hong wanted to study despite living in a remote area among the mountains.
Xia Hong had a lot of family members in her house. She was the fourth daughter in the family. She had three elder sisters. Her parents were desperately trying for a son, but they could not bear it. For this reason, she and her mother were blamed; they had to live carefully at home for this sole reason. She had a kind-hearted uncle. Her uncle used the reason to take care of his son to let Xia Hong eat at his house and accompany his son to go to school.
The school was far away from their home. They had to climb over the mountains, walk more than 10 miles of mountain roads, cross the canyon and the trails pass through the middle of the cliffs. If they looked up at the mountains, they could never see the top of it; if they looked down at the canyon, they could never see the bottom. They could only see the mist surrounding the mountainside. Just by hearing the sound of river water flowing non-stop, their legs would even tremble if they stood in the middle.
However, the opportunity to study was really rare, and she cherished it. When it was summer period where she was walking on the scorching hot ground, she felt as if her feet were like the meat on top of a grill. When it was the cold winter, the snow blew her cheeks until it bled. Even when she had a fever that was nearly forty degrees and she was seeing doubles of everything, she still insisted on going to school as she was afraid of falling behind in her studies.
Her family did not give her lunch money, and the lunch money her uncle gave was naturally taken away by her cousin. She was often hungry all day, and the worst case scenario was her being hungry to the point of receiving gastrospasm. Every time she saw the steamed bun shop at the school gate, she would be extremely eager to try it out. She would stand beside the steamed bun shop for a long time just for the sake of smelling the smell of steamed buns. She had never eaten one before ever since her birth.
In school, she had to help her cousin do his assignments and homework. She also had to bear with her cousin's bullying as she was afraid that if she retaliated, her cousin would stop her from studying just because he was unhappy being offended.
Her teachers often sad that as long as they got admitted to college, they could change their own destiny. Xia Hong was more eager than anyone to go to college in order to change her own destiny. Although her efforts put into her studies didn't make her academic performance particularly good, she was still among the best among her peers. After several exams, her cousin disliked her more and more.
It also caused her cousin to hate her more and more. She was troubled by him almost every time. However, she owed her uncle a lot, and decided to not complain if possible. Her cousin even took his classmates to bully her. Luckily, Xia Hong's mother saw it and thus she was saved. Her mother advised her to not study anymore as the living conditions in her house definitely would not allow her to stand out.
She was also already at the age of sixteen which she could marry others without much problem. Since she had already studied in highschool, she could afford to marry into a good family; she didn't have to live the same life as her mother anymore. However, Xia Hong still insisted on going to college.
Her cousin's behavior was also getting worse. Maybe it was due to the fact that the bullying was seen by her mother the last time it happened, he dared not do it again. Instead, he decided to change his methods. He knew that Xia Hong had only one pair of trousers that could be worn, and he purposely cut a large hole in it. Xia Hong bit her teeth and patched her pants while hiding under her blankets. Previously, he only took one meal from her. Now, he snatched all of her meals.
Xia Hong could only wake up very early in the morning. She learned to look for food sources in the mountains. Wild fruits, wild vegetables, or even tree roots that couldn't be eaten. Whichever could be eaten, she would eat them. She even secretly brought them to school and ate behind other people's backs. Since school ended early on Fridays, she would take the risk to go catch fish in the river. After that, she would eat the fish without giving any thought to the taste.
Ever since she tasted the taste of fish, even though she did not cook it, she was still fascinated by it. There was a river at the foot of the mountain. She thought of ways to fish for animals from the river in order to eat them. She felt that her life was truly enjoyable at that period of time.
Finally, she managed to hold up until she managed to enter a university. The whole village was shocked by the news.
Her parents, grandmother, and uncle all felt happy for her. For the first time, they envisaged her existence. Everyone in the mountains was willing to give her money to allow her to further her education in the university. The teachers knew her difficulties as well. The school gave a little subsidy and prepared to help with the procedure of applying for student loans.
2The settlement of tuition fees had made everyone happy.
On the day when her teacher was about to handle the procedure of applying loan, Xia Hong's whole family decided to go to the country seat. Xia Hong's uncle asked her if she wanted to eat anything as he prepared to reward her with food and drink.
She told him that she wanted to eat steamed buns. She had long for it for a very long time.
And so they went to the steamed buns shop. The first item that was served was a basket of soup-filled steamed buns. Xia Hong took one and put the whole bun into her mouth impatiently. Her teacher wanted to remind her that the soup was boiling hot, but her teacher stared at her as she ate the steamed bun as if she could not feel the heat of the soup inside it.
Xia Hong's father followed the way she ate. As a result, his tongue became numb to the hotness of the steamed bun. His anger surged, and he gave Xia Hong a slap.
It was this slap that ended Xia Hong's life.
4Her neck bent aside. When she was taken to the hospital, her body was full of parasites. It all originated from the foods she ate from the river in which she ate secretly without putting any salt.
For some people, college would always remain a distant dream.
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Sweetfoodlover
Sweetfoodlover Hope you guys like it.Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
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