Studying back in their hometown and pulling strings or relying on connections would certainly be much easier than doing so here.
Yet the problem lay precisely in returning to the hometown.
The older generation of the Fu Family had all passed away; Fu Ying's paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents had passed away one after another a few years ago. Fu Ying and Fu Zhe had originally been "left-behind children" living in their hometown, and it was precisely because of the passing of the elderly family members—leaving no one to care for them—that they had followed their parents to Guangdong Province.
Dad and Mom Fu had once entrusted the two of them to the care of Eldest Aunt Fu and their maternal uncle.
Ultimately, however, they were not children of their own household. Living under someone else's roof, Fu Ying and Fu Zhe were treated as dependents; the relatives counted on the living expenses sent for them, while also expecting Fu Ying to look after the relatives' own children. Following the death of the last elder—Fu Ying's maternal grandfather—in 2008, Mom Fu gritted her teeth and brought the two children to live by her side so they could attend school.
Therefore, if they were to return to their hometown to study once again, the problem of having no one to care for them would resurface.
Fu Ying remembered that when she received her acceptance letter for vocational high school, Dad Fu had been deeply disappointed. Having only managed to get into a vocational school, and for a tourism major with little practical use to boot, Dad Fu was somewhat reluctant to let his daughter continue her education.
Fu Ying had never intended to attend a vocational school either. It was only when filling out her choices that she realized she could only select a few private schools and vocational institutes. Knowing she likely wouldn't score high enough for those private high schools, she had gritted her teeth and put one down as her first choice anyway. As for the vocational school, her teacher had persuaded her to list it out of fear she wouldn't get placed anywhere at all, so she had simply checked the box at random.
Looking at the acceptance letter, Fu Ying had brought up the idea of returning to her hometown to study. Her reasoning was that they still had a house there, the high school was right near the home, she could eat at the school cafeteria, and she could cook for herself on the weekends.
After much agonizing and discussion, Dad and Mom Fu had ultimately decided to keep their daughter by their side—attending a vocational school was better than nothing.
In fact, several of her classmates had transferred back to their hometowns to study during the second year of junior high, claiming it was necessary in order to test into an ordinary high school. At the time, Fu Ying had not understood why one absolutely had to return to the hometown to take the high school entrance exams; after all, Guangdong Province possessed far better educational resources, and others managed to get into high schools just fine.
It was only after taking the entrance exams that she realized someone like her—an outsider without local household registration—virtually had no choices at all.
Thus, Fu Ying resolved that she must persuade her parents to let her return to her hometown to repeat the third year of junior high. The fifteen-year-old Fu Ying might have been immature, incapable of caring for herself or protecting herself. But the twenty-eight-year-old Fu Ying, tempered by the harsh realities of society, possessed life skills, self-discipline, and the ability to read people; she was entirely capable of living independently.
Moreover, Fu Ying considered that in a couple of years, when her eldest nephew reached primary school age, her sister would be returning to the hometown with all three children. If so, she could have her sister come live with her, which would set her parents' minds at ease while giving her sister a place to stay as well.
She had heard her sister and mother mention that when the nephews were first brought back, her brother-in-law's family didn't even have a place for them to live. The entire family of five was crammed into a single room belonging to the brother-in-law's eldest brother, making living arrangements and meals extremely inconvenient. Furthermore, the eldest brother's children were somewhat light-fingered, and her sister had constantly worried that her nephews would be negatively influenced.
Besides, if her sister lived with her at home, she wouldn't have to swallow her pride dealing with tense mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relations. Among the brothers at home, her brother-in-law ranked second and commanded the least respect. Having married Fu Yu, a wife from outside the village, his parents held this branch of the family in even lower regard. The elders' favoritism was absolute: many of the things Fu Ying and Fu Zhe bought for the three nephews would, openly or behind their backs, end up in the household of the brother-in-law's eldest brother.
Because of this, Fu Yu and her husband had quarreled countless times. At first, Fu Yu's husband had been reluctant to trust what his wife was saying, feeling that the children were still young and it wasn't a major issue. Later, after staying at home by himself for two months, he finally opened his eyes to reality. The couple had borrowed money from relatives and friends, moved out, and built a home of their own. Only by having Fu Yu show proper filial respect to the elders during holidays and occasionally taking the children to have meals at the grandparents' house did they manage to avoid a far worse outcome.
No matter how one looked at it, the pros of returning to study in her hometown outweighed the cons. Fu Ying felt she needed to talk to her sister first to see if she would be willing to return to the hometown ahead of schedule. She also harbored a further thought: if her sister was willing to carry out this plan, it could likely help her sister immensely.
Checking the time once more, she saw it was already past three o'clock. Unsure whether her young nephews were taking their afternoon nap, Fu Ying decided to go over to her sister's place to take a look; if they were awake, she could have an exploratory chat with her sister.
In fact, there was still one very important issue: she had been reborn, yet she had no mobile phone, and there was no wall calendar in this house. She didn't even know what month and day it was today, and she needed to find her sister to clear that up.