Chapter 152

Chapter 152

How difficult was it to send a letter from Daba Village to the provincial university?

Zhang Ling first took her son Feng Jinbao to the county town. A fourth-grader could handle writing a letter—no problem. Zhang Ling gave very detailed instructions, and Feng Jinbao wrote word by word exactly as his mother told him. Zhang Ling went to the post office, bought a stamp, and mailed the letter. Only then did she let out a slight sigh of relief.

She crouched down, half-embracing her younger son, and asked, "Remember what to tell your dad when you go back?"

Feng Jinbao, with a candy in his mouth, nodded obediently. He knew it all.

Zhang Ling was still uneasy and added, "Your two elder sisters are so good to you. You must say exactly what I told you, otherwise your sisters will never come back again, understand?"

Feng Jinbao patted his chest and promised, "Don't worry, Mom. I know. I definitely won't say anything wrong." After saying that, the child took a candy from his pocket, unwrapped it, and put it in Zhang Ling's mouth, whispering, "Mom, I know. Don't be afraid. When I grow up, Dad won't dare to hit you or my sisters. Don't be afraid. I'll grow up soon." Zhang Ling hugged her younger son and instantly burst into tears, sobbing her heart out.

How many days did it take for a letter from the town to the school? Answer: Five days.

"Feng Jingui, Education Department? Feng Jingui, Education Department? She has a letter."

The gatekeeper uncle at the school gate shouted with a loudspeaker. Feng Jingui was still pondering the problems the teacher had explained in the morning when her friend gave her a firm nudge to bring her back to reality. Hearing the uncle's loudspeaker, she happily ran to fetch the letter.

In four years of college, Feng Jingui had received letters four times. Three were from Feng Xia, containing various clothes, money, and tickets; one was from Zhang Ling, who sent winter clothes. Now receiving a letter, she was very happy.

At first glance at the thin letter, Feng Jingui thought it was from Feng Xia, because her mother wouldn't be willing to spend money on mailing a letter. She was also thinking about making two more sets of clothes for Feng Xia to send, and maybe buying some peanut crisps from Dongshan, which Feng Xia loved.

But when she got to the dormitory and looked carefully at the return address and sender, it turned out to be from Zhang Ling. Suddenly, she felt an inexplicable panic. With trembling hands, she opened the envelope.

Inside was Feng Jinbao's crooked handwriting, explaining things in detail. Feng Jingui read it word by word, and her face gradually turned pale, until there was no color at all. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her eyes were hollow and numb, frightening to see.

Fortunately, Feng Jingui's roommates were there at the time. Eight people lived in the dormitory, but even so, the conditions were quite good compared to many people's mud houses and tile-roofed cottages in the countryside. Because it was the first batch of the college entrance examination, the age gap in the dormitory was large, ranging from 20 to 32.

An older roommate noticed Feng Jingui's expression was all wrong and quickly came over to express concern: "Jingui, what's wrong? If something happened, tell us, and we'll figure out a solution together."

Feng Jingui recoiled in panic, almost mechanically and numbly telling the story. The older roommate immediately slammed the table in anger upon hearing it. She herself had suffered from forced marriage through blind matches. At this moment, looking at Feng Jingui, tears came from her heart. She said firmly, "Don't be afraid. The leaders have always said that women in our new era shouldn't be forced into arranged or blind marriages. Your father and grandparents cannot force you to marry. If they dare to do so, we will report them to the Women's Federation. If the Women's Federation won't handle it, we'll go to the government. If the government ignores us, we will go to the capital to find the leaders. They will stand up for us. Don't be afraid. We've got your back."

Feng Jingui felt much calmer after being comforted by her roommate. She wiped her tears. Just then, Feng Jinlian also rushed over. After reading the letter, she was furious. She had a much hotter temper than Feng Jingui. Holding the letter, she cursed, "A bunch of bloodsuckers! It's not enough that we send money back every year, now they want to sell us off? What kind of father sells his daughters like pigs and dogs?"

The two sisters hugged each other and wept bitterly. Soon, the counselor also came. Both sisters were outstanding, hardworking students. Especially Feng Jingui, the school had already offered her a teaching position after graduation, and she had agreed without hesitation. They were practically part of the university. How could they let such a talent be ruined by a forced marriage?

The counselor was furious too! As educators, they truly sympathized with women and children persecuted by feudal ideas. So they decided right away to invite the parents of Feng Jingui and Feng Jinlian to the school to discuss this matter properly, and preferably the grandparents as well. The school would cover the travel expenses.

In recent years, the country has developed rapidly. To be honest, it wouldn't cost much to travel from the town to the city. The school was willing to pay for the sake of these two students.

To be honest, if the counselor weren't so young and swamped, he'd have gone to the sisters' home himself.

While they were still discussing ideas, Feng Jinlian and Feng Jingui, seeing how seriously the school took this, burst into tears even more. They dropped to their knees in front of the counselor. The counselor was shocked and quickly helped them up, telling them to relax, that with the school's support, no one would force them to marry.

At that moment, Feng Jinlian and Feng Jingui were immensely grateful to Feng Xia and Yao Hongxia, and also grateful to themselves for persevering through hardships. Education—what a wonderful thing it was! For thousands of years, the fate of girls had been like duckweed, but now a smooth road had suddenly appeared. From now on, they would ensure that the girls they taught would keep studying.

Only through reading could they change the bitter fate of being ignored.

It so happened that the authorities were already cracking down on arranged marriages. The provincial Women's Federation learned about this case and, after discussing with the counselor, planned to give the parents and grandparents a proper education on modern values, and absolutely eliminate their feudal ideas.

If this matter was handled well, it would be a feather in their cap politically. They naturally would not let it slip.

Somehow the case got kicked upstairs, level by level, eventually reaching Secretary Li. When Secretary Li heard the name "the Feng family," it sounded familiar. He went ahead and checked the archives. Oh! Isn't this that important person's family? Oh my, that's significant. He quickly passed it up again. The higher-up said anything concerning that person was too big for him to decide.

Finally, it was reported to Zhang Ying. Zhang Ying was now like Feng Xia's personal assistant; purchasing special materials and such all went through her to report to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Moreover, Zhang Ying had accompanied Feng Xia home before and knew the situation there. Her heart skipped a beat. She knew that Feng Xia valued her two sisters a lot; even at the front line so busy, she had taken time to ask Zhang Ying to send things several times. Suddenly, this news felt like a hot potato. Unfortunately, the research couldn't be interrupted. Within two days, Zhang Ying had two blisters at the corners of her mouth from stress and anxiety.

However, Secretary Li had mentioned it to the top leader, mainly because Feng Xia's childhood experiences were very miserable. The leader was very concerned about Feng Xia's mental state. As the saying goes, genius and madness are only a hair's breadth apart. The strongest familial bonds Feng Xia had in the world were with these two sisters.

The leader was also very angry about the forced marriage. The feudal society's persecution of women and children was too great. The next day, Beijing Daily published the leader's speech, which emphasized the need to eradicate bad habits, resolutely protect women's and children's rights, and abandon feudal dregs.

The experiment couldn't be interrupted here. A national treasure has no private affairs, and even more so, the national treasure was a twenty-year-old young woman. Secretary Zhang simply called Jiang Long over, gave him instructions, and assigned the task. Jiang Long solemnly promised to complete the mission. He went home, packed his bags, and headed straight to the station to buy a ticket to Dongshan.

Feng Xia was still totally absorbed in her research on "Nine Tails" at this time. The matter was taken care of without her needing to worry at all.

Now that's how you treat a national treasure! A national treasure's brain only has to focus on research; the country handles everything else—like a doting parent.