Chapter 3 — It's Never Too Late to Start

At that moment, my mother carried a hoe and walked over. She glared at them, her voice sour:
"Did you guys just eat shit? Why is your mouth so stinky?"
“It's your business if you want to rot for the rest of your life in this village!”
"And me! I will take my daughter to the district, then to the city, and later we will travel around the world!"
"A bunch of frogs sitting at the bottom of a well, sitting around all day laughing at other people's efforts. Try looking in the mirror and looking at yourself!"
She pointed straight at her grandmother's face:
"You still dare to say that Thanh is from the city? He's just an in-law!"
"If you have a son in the future, you can't have the surname Vuong!"
These words hit Grandma's "death point" and made her so angry that she stomped her feet loudly:
"You spoiled woman, you dare to curse this old woman? All your life, you are just a country woman!"
"Little Boi, you have such a stupid mind, how can you get into middle school in the district? And you, you haven't finished elementary school yet you dream of being accepted into a factory in the city? Daydreaming!"
As soon as she finished speaking, on the small slope in the distance, Ms. Trieu shouted loudly:
"Ngoc Phan! Truong Thanh Nam in the district and the bamboo factory are both calling your house!"
“Hurry and answer the phone!”
14
My mother and I immediately ran like crazy. A group of women in the village also hurriedly followed to watch the excitement. At that time, calling on a landline phone was unfamiliar and held close to the ear, everyone turned on the speakerphone. Mom dialed Truong Thanh Nam's number back first. Just waited two or three rings, the other party picked up:
"Congratulations, Kim Boi has passed into our school! You and your mother can arrange a time to receive the admission notice and at the same time prepare the tuition fee..."
Mom grabbed my hand so tightly it hurt so much that I had to scream. Her eyes were red:
"It's not a dream! It turns out it's not a dream!"
Grandma rolled her eyes and muttered:
"It's true that he's really lucky! But what about passing the beans? Thanh Nam is an expensive private school, do you have money to pay tuition?"
Mom quickly wiped the corner of her eyes and immediately dialed the bamboo factory. The other party quickly reported:
"We just had someone resign, you can come and take the job right away."
“Monthly salary 480 yuan, accommodation included.”
At that time, a construction worker worked hard all day under the hot sun and only earned 18 yuan. Not to mention wages are often paid in installments, sometimes there is not even a regular job every day. In the living room, the atmosphere was suffocatingly silent. Mrs. Trieu was the first to react, smiling and saying to my mother:
"Ngoc Phan, what a double joy! Tonight we have to be chickens and ducks to celebrate!"
The aunts in the village immediately started to stir.
“The salary is 480 yuan and includes room and board, so isn't that all profit?”
“Going all the way to Guangdong to work as a worker can only earn 500-600 yuan a month, and it's so far away it's expensive!”
"Ngoc Phan just finished elementary school and can still enter the factory, so my daughter finished middle school and can definitely enter!"
… People's attitudes changed dramatically. Everyone surrounded my mother, flattering her, asking if she could help her daughter/niece/daughter-in-law apply for a job in the factory. Mrs. Trieu sneered:
"Ngoc Phan hasn't even sat down yet and you guys think she has that much power?"
"If you want to work in my family, you must first learn as much as she did!"
The aunties were teased and everyone looked embarrassed. My grandmother gritted her teeth, her voice filled with jealousy:
"How can an uneducated kid like him even get into the factory? Maybe he's sleeping with the boss!"
15
My mother was angry, blue veins appeared on her forehead:
“I only slept with your ancestors for eighteen generations!”
“I entered the factory with my own strength, and in the future I will earn money to support myself with my own strength!”
“If you talk dirty again, I'll tear your mouth out right now!”
She rushed forward to make a move, but the surrounding women quickly pulled her mother back. My grandmother was so scared that she cowered and disappeared. Before leaving, I didn't forget to say a cruel sentence:
"If you go to the district, don't look for my son! He won't even look at a lowly woman who works as a line worker!"
Mother smiled faintly and said frankly:
“I don't even want a man to live with me!”
This sentence almost choked Grandma's throat until she couldn't breathe. In the following days, my mother took care of arranging the house and discussed plans with me.
"I will follow my mother to the district to study further. I am not a smart person, if I don't work hard, I won't be able to keep up with my friends."
"But where is Mom? Renting a house costs a lot of money!"
"You don't need to worry about these things. Mom has been fasting for many years, just to save money for this moment."
“As long as your child studies well, that money is not wasted at all.”
At that time, most girls in the village dropped out of school early to go to work. A person like a mother, trying her best to create better learning conditions for her child, is a rare case. A few days later, my father also returned to the village. He frowned and said:
"Ngoc Phan, I think you're crazy! Anyway, I won't spend any money, and Baby Boi can't stay at my house!"
Mother curled her lips and smiled coldly:
"Don't worry! I know that a live-in guy like you has to flatter his wife, and also has to carry water to wash her stepson's feet."
“What qualifications do you have to dare to take my daughter away from me?”
My father blushed and roared:
“I'm not a live-in!”
Mother glared at him, her voice full of contempt:
"If you're good at it, then buy your own house in the district. Let's see if your wife will follow you!"
“Besides your face, what other skills do you have?”
“After three minutes in bed, your wife probably can't stand it?”
My father turned pale and then turned white, almost vomiting blood.
"You shameless woman! Saying such things in front of a girl!"
Mother burst into laughter:
“Someone jumped up when he said something so heart-wrenching!”
In this match, my father lost miserably! The day my mother went to the bamboo factory to get a job, she took me with her. When asking the team leader if there was any house for rent nearby, he was accidentally overheard by the factory manager - Mr. Cao. Mr. Cao's wife left with someone else eight years ago, and since then he has raised his son alone. Perhaps out of sympathy, he pointed to a prefabricated house right in the factory:
“If you don't mind the heat, you can stay here temporarily.”
16
Have any of you here ever experienced the summer heat in a prefab house? The wind from the fan blew into the tunnel's face like fire from a coal stove. Just by accidentally touching the wall with my hand, I can hear my skin sizzling. Before going to sleep, my mother had to sprinkle water to wet the floor several times. However, throughout the night, sweat soaked through my clothes, stuck to my skin, and didn't dry at all. But I still like this prefab house. Because here there are no snakes crawling into the room in the middle of the night. No mouse running
rustling on the ceiling. No more waking up at three o'clock in the morning, discovering that the roof is leaking and the blanket is soaked with rainwater. Mr. Cao - manager of the bamboo factory - has a son about the same age as me, studying at a supplementary center. Mom took the opportunity to ask about extra classes in the district. After hearing this, Mr. Cao was surprised and couldn't believe it:
“You only earn 480 yuan a month, but you dare to send your daughter to a supplementary class for 400 yuan?”
Mom was a bit shy, but still determined:
“It doesn't have to be forever, it's only two months of summer.”
“I only have one child, should I let him live a life of luxury?”
No one in the factory understood my mother's thoughts, but she still gritted her teeth and sent me to extra classes - a luxury expense for us. However, I can only study in a class of 8 people, while Mr. Cao's son - Cao Triet Vien - is in a 1-on-1 tutoring class for excellent students. Mother worked as a general worker. Daily work is sorting and pressing bamboo. But because she was used to weaving baskets and baskets in the countryside, her skill in choosing bamboo was much faster than others
other. She just needs to glance at which ingredients to use immediately, and which ingredients can be kept a little longer. After work, my mother did not go out or rest but continued to read books about bamboo and the production process. Day and night, she only revolves around work. These things gradually caught Mr. Cao's eyes. He occasionally talked to his mother in a quite friendly way. Sometimes when he saw my mother yelling at me or hitting me, he spoke up again:
"Baby Boi is grown up, girls shouldn't hit."
Mother laughed:
“In the countryside, people still teach their children with a whip.”
Even though she said that, my mother gradually beat me less and less. Opening of the new school year. Start with a placement test. Even though I tried to take extra classes during the summer, my school had 500 students, and I was only ranked 300. Mom received the transcript, her face pale. She roared like thunder:
“I spent that much money for you to take extra classes, but you ranked 300th?”
On the other side, Mr. Cao was also so angry that his eyes exploded:
“If you spend money on 1-1 tutoring, you're ranked 400th?”
“You… do you want to make your father mad?”
He grabbed a bamboo stick, intending to hit his son. Mom forgot about scolding me and rushed over to intervene:
"Isn't it true that when children are older they can't hit them?"
Mr. Cao was so angry that his whole body trembled:
“I can't stand it anymore!”
17
Cao Triet Vien was beaten. For rushing into the police, my mother also received two strokes of the cane, so she no longer had the strength to deal with me. That night, she held a book and read until midnight. I glanced at the book cover, the title was:
“How to accept a normal child?”
After reading it, my mother happily introduced the book to Mr. Cao. My classmates and I have a huge gap. They all love idols. Every day we talk about which group F4, Fahrenheit or the character from Slam Dunk is the most handsome. They also collect all kinds of posters and postcards and bring them out to show each other after school. Occasionally, they also turn to me and ask:
“Who do you like the most?”
I do not know. Because I don't know any of them. I don't even understand how handsome the guy with curly hair, wearing a headband, and wearing a Dao Minh Tu tank top is? Every day the girls wear clothes from Aiyilian, Semir, and even many brands I've never heard of. As for me, I could only wear the old clothes that Aunt Tu brought back from the city. One time, after finishing the gym session, everyone took off their uniform jackets. The English class monitor suddenly stared at my shirt and said:
“Your shirt looks exactly like mine.”
Having said that, she pointed to the button on the sleeve:
"This button was added by my mother, because I found it asymmetrical so I didn't like wearing it anymore."
“After that, my mother packed it with a pile of old clothes and sent it to relatives in the countryside.”
She opened her eyes wide and looked at me:
“So you are that relative?”
“I have a lot of clothes I don't like to wear, do you want them?”
The whole class turned to look at me.