I was scolded by the village party secretary, "The country stipulates that you must receive nine years of education.

　　If you don't let her study, you will go to jail.

　　Will you go?"

　　The old lady got scared instantly.

　　My parents didn't care about my grades and hardly asked.

　　But they intentionally found a good primary school in Zhejiang for my younger brother to attend as a boarding student.

　　They went through connections and spent money to get him in.

　　"Since Guicai is so smart, we have to cultivate him well!" My entrance exam scores were good, and I thought I could excel in junior high.

　　But the mid-term exams in the first year hit me hard.

　　I only ranked fifteenth in my class and over one hundredth in the grade.

　　That's when I realized that talent really does play a role in studying.

　　My deskmate slept in class every day and played basketball after school, but he could understand and apply any subject after just one glance.

　　I needed dozens or even hundreds of repetitions to memorize ancient texts, while he could summarize them after reading them three times.

　　For children who lack money, focusing on studying is an especially difficult task.

　　My mother gave me very little allowance.

　　She was unwilling to spend money on study materials for me.

　　I had to cut corners with my meals.

　　I bought pickled vegetables for 50 cents and three steamed buns for one yuan from the school cafeteria.

　　With one yuan and fifty cents, I could survive for a day.

　　Sometimes when I was really hungry at night, I would drink tap water to fill my stomach.

　　Water was free.

　　I wore fake brand-name shoes that I bought for ten yuan at the market every day.

　　The soles cracked, so I kept gluing them back together.

　　I repeated this process several times until the entire sole came off during PE class.

　　My socks, with holes in the toes and soles, were exposed to the air.

　　I had no choice but to abandon that pair of shoes.

　　By then, I had already hit puberty.

　　But my mother didn't buy me underwear.

　　"A young girl wearing adult clothes looks vulgar." So I sewed and sewed the two five-yuan camisoles together, making them tight on my body so they wouldn't jostle around.

　　Compared to the hardships in life, it is the difficulties in academics that make me feel more desperate.

　　Perhaps I am just not cut out for studying.

　　I just can't think critically like others.

　　I can't simply remember a text after reading it seven or eight times.

　　Even though I never slack off, my grades are hard to improve.

　　Soon, the third year of junior high school arrived.

　　Many classmates stopped studying and went to work directly.

　　Grandma urged my parents, "Why spend so much money on her education? Just let Xiaoyan drop out.

　　After all, there's only one year left.

　　Whether she studies or not, it's all the same!" My parents were tempted.

　　My mom said, "Why don't you come to Zhejiang with us? The factory there offers a 500 yuan bonus for bringing in new employees!"