Early the next morning, Wei Jiajia arrived at school. After entering the campus, she looked at her watch and realized it was too late to go to the dormitory, so she headed straight for the Chinese Department!
Fortunately, when she registered yesterday, she had also asked Li Wenxiu for the exact location. Otherwise, she feared she would be late on her very first day.
Wei Jiajia ran all the way to the third floor of the teaching building, arriving at the classroom door, where she finally stopped to catch her breath.
It was a good thing that Qiao Haoyu had forced her to exercise; and that she continued on with it even after he left. Otherwise, with the way she was running today, she would have definitely collapsed from exhaustion.
Noticing that other students were still heading toward the classroom, Wei Jiajia quickly adjusted herself and followed them inside.
As soon as she entered, the chatter in the classroom stopped, and everyone turned to look at her.
Having been accustomed to this kind of attention since childhood, Wei Jiajia maintained a neutral expression and glanced toward the back of the room.
She noticed there was an empty seat there and was about to walk over when Yang Sisi’s voice rang out.
“Jiajia, over here!”
Looking up, she saw Yang Sisi waving her arms in an effort to catch her attention amidst the crowd.
Seeing that all her dormmates were present, Wei Jiajia quickly walked over to join them.
After sitting down, Wei Jiajia quickly turned to the others and said, “Thank you.”
“Why are you so late? I thought you were going to miss the class today,” Yang Sisi said after Wei Jiajia had settled into her seat.
“The bus broke down on the way here. Luckily, there was a truck driver on board who helped find the problem. Otherwise, I would have definitely missed the class.”
Wei Jiajia felt helpless. She had planned everything out, but who would have expected the bus to break down halfway?
“I figured! Our routes to school are pretty much the same, so I didn’t understand why you were so late.”
After hearing Wei Jiajia’s explanation, Su Pan nodded in understanding.
Just then, the counselor walked in, and the chatter in the classroom gradually faded.
Through the students’ self-introductions, a new chapter in their lives had begun…
Time flew by, and before they knew it, a year had passed, bringing them to 1958!
“Jiajia, wait for me…”
When she heard the shout from behind, Wei Jiajia stopped, holding her books as she waited for Yang Sisi and Su Pan to catch up.
When the two finally caught up, Su Pan was out of breath, just like how Wei Jiajia had been in the past! Meanwhile, Yang Sisi looked totally unaffected.
“Jiajia, how did you manage to finish the exam so quickly? I looked up and you were already gone! This exam was way too difficult. I’m definitely not going to get the scholarship.”
Yang Sisi admired Wei Jiajia. Aside from attending classes, she spent most of her time in the library. As a result, Wei Jiajia had the best academic performance in her major, so the scholarship was surely hers.
“I think it was fine. The questions weren’t much of a problem for me. I wouldn’t say the scholarship is guaranteed, but my exam rank should be quite good. At least I can justify all the time I spent going to the library this past year.”
Wei Jiajia wasn’t trying to be modest, she honestly expressed her own expectations for the exam results.
Having spent a year together, she understood both of her friends’ personalities. Yang Sisi was carefree, and Su Pan, somewhat spoiled by her family, had a bit of a princess complex. However, both of them had innocent hearts and no malice. The three of them shared the same major and lived in the same dorm, so their relationship was especially close. Wei Jiajia enjoyed spending time with them and never felt the need to hide her true self around them.
“The people’s communes have been established, and I’ve heard this year there’s been a huge grain harvest. The newspapers even say that several regions have started launching satellites, with yields reaching over 10,000 pounds per acre. Now the villages are starting to build big communal kitchens. Every household will eat together in a big communal pot from now on, so there’s no longer a need to worry about food shortages!”
“It seems like they’re starting to do that in Shencheng too! My mom told me our neighborhood has already started building a communal kitchen. Once it’s done, people can either eat at their workplaces or at the neighborhood kitchen. No more cooking at home—it sounds great! Everyone will be able to eat their fill every day, and we won’t go hungry anymore.”
Su Pan said all this with a big smile, excited about the big changes happening lately. She thought that once they started eating from the big communal pots, she wouldn’t need to learn how to cook, saving her mother from always worrying about her future.
“I heard that because the Soviet Union made so many unreasonable demands, the country had a falling out with this major ally, and as a result, many experts from the Soviet Union have returned home, leaving behind many unfinished research projects. This year’s bountiful harvest will help raise the morale of our people in light of these events.”
Yang Sisi, hearing Su Pan’s words, began to share some of the news she had recently heard at school.
The return of the experts from the Soviet Union had also created a sense of urgency among their group of university students. What the country needed most at the moment was talent, as only with skilled individuals could they take over the unfinished projects left behind by the experts from the Soviet Union.
As a result, the academic atmosphere in the school had become much more intense than before. Disciplines such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering were now the primary focus of the professors. In comparison, Wei Jiajia’s Chinese major was considerably less demanding.
The three of them walked towards the dormitory, discussing the recent big events. Wei Jiajia, walking alongside them, didn’t participate in their conversation.
As she listened to Su Pan and Yang Sisi enthusiastically discuss the bountiful harvest and the large communal kitchens, a shadow of concern crossed her face.
She thought about all the things that had been happening lately and the famine that was about to come. Even though she and her family had secretly stored some food this year, she still felt a sense of urgency.
She looked at the two girls walking beside her, full of hope for the future, while she knew that in two or three months, the lie about the 10,000-pound harvest would be exposed. When the harvest failed to meet expectations, the excessive waste caused by communal kitchens would only make the famine even worse.
Although her family had enough food to see them through the coming famine, thanks to the supplies she had secretly taken from the space and the food they had bought through Uncle Zhu in the black market over the year, she couldn’t stand the thought of Yang Sisi and the others going hungry.
“My distant relative came by the other day, his family lives in the countryside. They’ve been farmers for generations. He told me that a harvest of 400-500 pounds per acre is considered a good year for them. This year, their village’s yield is only a little over 400 pounds per acre, and the whole village is celebrating like it’s the New Year. He saw the newspaper saying yields of over 10,000 pounds per acre, and even he was shocked!”
Wei Jiajia noticed that both of them had stopped speaking and were now looking at her with innocent eyes.
“Couldn’t it be that some of the leaders in the communes are exaggerating for the sake of taking credit? Nobody’s actually seen what crops look like; it’s possible that even the reporters at People’s Daily have been fooled. It can’t be that my relative is deceiving me, can it? He’s been a lifelong farmer and has never encountered yields of that magnitude.”
“My relative also said we should take advantage of this time to stock up on food. I’m not sure what’s going on with the yields and the communal kitchens, but it’s better to be safe and store some food. At least it won’t go bad.”
Wei Jiajia finished speaking all at once, not paying attention to the thoughtful expressions on their faces, and continued walking ahead.
She had said everything she needed to say. If they didn’t talk to their families about it, there was nothing more she could do. In the end, she’d just have to take care of them and make sure they didn’t go hungry.
After hearing Wei Jiajia’s words, Yang Sisi and Su Pan fell silent, and the atmosphere grew considerably quieter. Although their personalities were a bit more naive compared to others, their intelligence was evident since they had managed to get into university. Both of them took in Wei Jiajia’s words and decided to talk to their families when they got home to see if the situation was normal.
The three of them entered the dormitory, where the three history students had already returned after finishing their exams. Everyone was packing, preparing to head home for the holiday.
“You’re back! What’s with the gloomy faces? It’s not a big deal if you didn’t do well on one exam. Take me for example, I didn’t do well in any of mine, yet I’m still cheerful every day!”
A tall girl with short hair, about 1.73 meters in height, saw them enter. Noticing that the two who had entered last weren’t smiling like they usually did, she assumed that they hadn’t done well on their exams and quickly stood up to inquire. Trying to comfort them, she even downplayed her own performance.
The girl speaking was named Yang Yang. She was the last to move into the dorm, joining Zhao Zhaodi and He Shengnan in the history department. Since her home was quite far from the school and her train had been delayed on the registration day, she hadn’t met Wei Jiajia and the others until the next afternoon when she finally made it to the dorm.
When the other two heard Yang Yang’s question, they put down what they were doing and looked over at them with concern.
Yang Sisi and Su Pan, seeing the concern in their eyes, felt very grateful. Although the personalities in their dormitory were quite different and they each had their own flaws, they all got along very well and had never argued.
The two quickly denied that they were upset because of the exam results and explained that they had simply been lost in thought.
When asked what they were thinking about, the two glanced at Wei Jiajia. Noticing that she wasn’t opposed to it and was busy packing her belongings, they proceeded to share the conversation they had had with the other girls in the dorm.
When the other three girls heard what they said, their expressions grew serious.
“My family’s wheat yield is about 400 jin per mu when the weather is good. When I saw the newspapers claiming yields of over 5000 jin, I thought that maybe our county’s other communes had adopted new fertilizers or something. But after hearing what you’ve said, this definitely doesn’t add up!”
Zhao Zhaodi, whose family lived in a rural area in Ji Province, spoke up. She’d been wondering about this herself—how could two communes so close to each other have such a huge difference in production?
When the others heard Zhao Zhaodi’s words, their suspicions grew. If the actual yields were nowhere near what had been reported in the newspapers, and with the large communal kitchens encouraging people to eat as much as they wanted, there wouldn’t be enough food to sustain everyone for even a few months. If the food ran out while the new crops were still in the ground, wouldn’t they all go hungry?
Upon thinking of the potential consequences, everyone shuddered collectively, exchanging glances with one another. They all decided that, regardless of whether their suspicions were true or not, they would definitely urge their families to stock up on food that could be stored for a while, just to be safe.
With this thought in mind, everyone moved faster, eager to return home and assess the situation in their hometowns. It would be best if their families could send someone to the rural areas to gather information and, if possible, collect some food supplies.
Wei Jiajia saw that everyone had taken the matter seriously and breathed a sigh of relief. She no longer had to worry about them or their families. Now, her top priority was to write letters to remind Uncle Qiao and Aunt Zhang in Beijing, as well as the uncles and aunts from the army who had taken great care of her and her siblings after their parents’ death, and Grandma Zhang’s family.
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