Title: How to Thrive in the Sixties
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 66 - Whether Liu Mei lived well or not, it only took a few words from Su Yu (1)
Not only did Teacher Xu write a positive evaluation for Su Yu, she also gave her extra lessons. She thought that it would be difficult for Su Yu to catch up with the younger students after being out of school for so long.
Su Yu was so eager to learn and make progress. Her eyes shone with the deep desire for learning. Thus, Teacher Xu felt that she had to do something. Before she retired, she wanted to help Su Yu, a hard-working student, complete a major change in her life.
Knowledge can change fate. Teacher Xu firmly believed that hard-working people will overcome all difficulties, just like how new China was established after undergoing tribulations.
Of course, she ended up being surprised by Su Yu's strong learning ability.
Most of the time, she only had to explain a topic once for Su Yu to understand. For the more difficult knowledge points, she only had to explain it twice for the most part. That's why she increased Su Yu's learning intensity without restraint. She felt that with this accelerated progress, it really was possible for Su Yu to graduate early.
With this learning intensity, Su Yu very naturally showed her excellent academic progress. In the eyes of others, her learning progress advanced by leaps and bounds, dazzling the other students. While they were still learning the fundamentals of accounting, she had already grasped it.
And yet, she was still very hard-working and warm-heartedly helped them overcome any learning difficulties. They couldn't even be jealous of her. There was only admiration.
"Class Monitor, how do I solve this problem? Ah, you're writing an article?" Chen Qiuxiang, who shared the same desk as Su Yu, came over to ask her about a problem and saw that she was writing with furrowed brows.
Su Yu looked up and said, "Yeah, I feel that my life has been enriched by a lot since I started school. It was like opening the door to a new world. My life has direction now. I want to submit an article to thank my work unit."
At any time, flattery was indispensable, especially when she heard rumors that the factory would start recruiting clerical jobs in various departments in addition to the usual textile workers. She had to hurry up with attracting attention.
The other students were convinced by her words. Their class monitor truly valued this opportunity to learn. She was even going out of her way to write a thank you letter.
They reflected on themselves. Their family members had arranged for them to come to this class, and they weren't even happy about it. Most of the students here had graduated middle school and hadn't continued their studies after that. Later on, their family had arranged for them to come here after they joined the workforce or loafed at home. This was a gathering place for underachievers. As for those who had excelled in middle school, they naturally went to a regular vocational school or high school. They wouldn't have come to a night vocational school.
These underachievers felt somewhat ashamed in light of Su Yu's performance.
"Class Monitor, how do you persist? I think studying is too hard. If you weren't helping us ask the teacher, there would be many things I wouldn't understand."
Su Yu emotionally said, "It's just perseverance. I just want to learn more skills, so that I'm worthy of myself and the people that have helped me. Once you learn something, it's yours forever. A lifetime is so long. This knowledge will come in handy. A year of hard work now will give you a lifetime of happiness."
A year of hard work now will give you a lifetime of happiness? That seemed quite worthwhile.
"Class Monitor, we'll follow you to learn, okay? Don't dislike us for our slow learning."
Su Yu nodded, but she inwardly thought poorly of them. Not only were they not smart, they were also lazy. How could others not view them with disdain? But even so, they were her classmates.
For the sake of her future, she had to help these classmates. She didn't want to graduate from a class of underachievers that were total failures. That was too embarrassing.
Moreover, these classmates had helped her a lot. For example, Chen Qiuxiang's family worked at a charcoal stove factory. Her family agreed to help her buy a second-handed charcoal burner from their workplace and didn't charge her any industrial tickets. They just wanted her to get them some defective fabrics in exchange. Both sides would benefit from not needing coupons.
There was also Zhu Qiangqiang, who came from the provincial steel factory. He promised to help her get a kitchen knife. At this juncture when steelmaking was a priority for the nation, a kitchen knife was very valuable. He didn't ask her for any industrial tickets either and only asked for food tickets.
Not to mention, there were people from shoe factories, machinery factories, food factories, etc.
This was the convenience of being an employee in a factory. For example, as a textile worker, Su Yu didn't need to buy cotton thread. It was usually enough to use the discarded ones from work. And sometimes, she could buy defective products from the logistics warehouse that hadn't been disposed of yet. These defective products were sold at a steep discount to the workers.
Su Yu felt that this class was very useful. It could be regarded as an invisible department store. These resources were simply too precious in this age of scarcity.