My dad gave me a few dimes each week. For a whole semester, I didn’t buy any romantic novels. I didn’t eat snacks. I didn’t spend them on shuttlecocks like all the other kids. At the very last day, I spent them all. I remember that was 2 cents. Big number at that time. For me. Do you know what I got? I subscribed a whole year of Mathematics Newspaper.
When I was in secondary and high school, I didn’t think about what I want to do in the future at all. I only know that going to college is the way to go. To the city, and change my fate of becoming a peasant. I dared to dream about what I can do only after I got into college. For rural kids, the only possible way to change identity in the past was to study. But now as long as you have some talent, some nerve, nothing illegal, you may achieve it. The nation has changed.
After school, I needed to do farm work and cook dinner. After that, I have to do the dishes too. I couldn’t start doing school work until 8 p.m. At that time, I was a big fan of Maths, so I often stayed up past midnight to solve tricky math problems. Sometimes, I got really sleepy so I fell asleep with candles lit. When the candles melted, the desk would catch fire—this happened three times. Every time I managed to save my Math book first. I’d cry really loud if I see the book was burnt broken. I didn’t think of anything else.
