Chapter 10: Phoenix Man (10) *edited

Yan Jingze spoke with absolute certainty, his words resolute and decisive. His parents, as well as his elder sister and others, were all left dumbfounded after listening.

Going to college was not a simple matter at all. How could Yan Jingze make it sound like going to college was so easy?

Yan Damei couldn’t help but say, “Going to college is not that easy. I can’t even pass the high school entrance exam now.” As she spoke, a hint of sadness crept into her expression.

She was only in her second year of junior high, and she considered herself a diligent student. She had mastered the content from her textbooks, and she could solve the problems assigned by her school teachers. However, when faced with exam papers from other schools, there were many questions she couldn’t answer.

The material they were taught at their school was too simplistic.

But there was nothing she could do about it. For the questions she couldn’t solve, asking the teachers was futile, as they didn’t know either.

Her brother was the smartest person in the village. He was the first student in their middle school to be admitted to the best high school in the county. When she encountered difficult questions before, she wanted to ask her brother, but he refused to help her with the problems.

And that was just math.

English and language arts were even more challenging for her. She struggled with writing compositions and had no idea how to approach them. Other subjects were even more difficult. They were asked to observe onions under a microscope in their textbook, but she had never even seen a microscope before.

“Damei, you’re very smart, and I’m sure you can make it to high school,” Yan Jingze looked kindly at Yan Damei.

Based on the original owner’s memories, Yan Damei was indeed quite intelligent. Many knowledge points taught in their middle school were even unclear to the teachers themselves, but Yan Damei managed to learn all of math through self-study!

In fact, if the original host was willing to teach his sister more, it wouldn’t be a problem for her to attend high school. Unfortunately, the original owner saw his siblings as competitors for resources and didn’t have a favorable opinion of them.

Let alone teaching them, the original owner discarded study materials he had used rather than giving them to his younger siblings.

Yan Damei also believed in her own intelligence, but no one had ever praised her. After all, she had a brother who was even smarter. As for attending high school, everyone believed that girls didn’t need to go to high school; they could finish junior high and then work or get married.

Now her brother was saying she could definitely make it to high school. As Yan Damei looked at her brother, the hostility in her eyes vanished.

Yan Jingze continued, “Today, I’ll go to the town and rent a house. Once school starts, Mom, you’ll accompany Damei, Ermei, and Xiaodi to study in town. Cook for them and let them focus on their studies. I’ve brought two tablets back this time—one for Damei and one for Ermei and Xiaodi. These tablets can be used for online courses, which will be beneficial for your studies.”

Whether it was Yan Jingze or Yan Damei, they both attended a nearby small town’s middle school.

This town only had one street, and the entire middle school had just two classes per grade. In short, the quality of education was poor.

That could be overlooked, but the journey from the town to their home took almost two hours.

With Yan Damei traveling back and forth daily, and also taking care of her younger siblings, it consumed nearly four hours. Wasn’t that a waste of time?

Yan Jingze was well aware that if they wanted to study properly, things couldn’t continue like this!

As for the issue with the school’s teaching quality… the best solution would be changing schools. However, changing schools wasn’t so simple. It often required connections or money, and he had neither.

Fortunately, there was a better option now—online courses!

Nowadays, various online courses were quite affordable, and even for some classes, there were free options available online. He didn’t need to enroll Yan Damei and the others in expensive classes. He could simply purchase recorded video lectures for each subject in middle and elementary school for them to watch. It wouldn’t cost much money.

Children from well-off families in the city might find it hard to focus on non-interactive video lectures, but he believed that Yan Damei and Yan Ermei, who aimed to change their lives through education, would surely be able to concentrate on these lectures.

Yan Jingze’s plan was a good one. Yan Damei even stood up in excitement, but Father Yan was unhappy about it. “Rent a house? How much will that cost?”

“It won’t cost much, I have the money,” Yan Jingze said.

“Then there’s no need for your mother to go with them… Damei can cook too,” Father Yan added, “There’s a lot of work to be done on the farm!”

“Dad, they’ll have to spend time cooking while studying. How much time would that waste?” Yan Jingze said. If his mother didn’t go, Yan Damei would have to take care of her younger siblings as well. How could she study properly? “Dad, if you don’t want to stay home alone, you can also live in town.”

“That won’t work. If everyone goes to town, what will happen to our land? What about the pigs at home?” Father Yan responded without much thought.

In fact, Yan Jingze also didn’t want Father Yan to go to town. Hearing this response aligned perfectly with his intentions.

Mother Yan was mute and couldn’t speak. Not only that, she didn’t show clear favoritism toward any of the children. She even listened to Yan Damei quite a bit, so it would be good for her to accompany her in studying. However, Father Yan was different.

Father Yan actually favored sons over daughters and often liked to criticize his children. If he went to town and didn’t have any work or responsibilities, he might stay home and give pointless orders every day, or talk about getting Yan Damei married all the time. It would definitely affect Yan Damei’s studies.

As Yan Jingze was thinking this way, he heard Father Yan say, “Actually, for girls like Damei and Ermei, after finishing middle school, they can just go work. Why bother with high school?”

Yan Jingze said, “With more education, they can earn more money.”

“No matter how much money girls earn, they’ll belong to their future in-laws,” Father Yan remained unmoved.

Yan Jingze countered, “Who said that? When Damei finishes college, won’t she still take care of you?”

“Dad, I promise to support you in your old age!” Yan Damei assured.

“Would your future in-laws agree?” Father Yan asked.

Yan Jingze: “…”

Father Yan’s mindset was truly problematic; he just couldn’t be convinced.

After thinking for a moment, Yan Jingze decided not to waste time convincing him further. He simply said, “Dad, no matter what, I’m going to make sure my younger siblings study. You have to agree.”

In this household, the original owner always had the final say. Once he made a decision, no one could oppose it.

Father Yan had always relied on his eldest son for support in his old age. He was afraid that if he upset his eldest son, he might not take care of him anymore. Moreover, he didn’t dare oppose his eldest son’s decision. Now that Yan Jingze had spoken this way, then… let them study if they wanted to!

With no objections from Father Yan, Yan Jingze continued, “Dad, think about it. If I succeed and rent a house in town for my younger siblings to study, it’s a matter of great face for you. When you talk about it to others, everyone will surely envy you.”

Father Yan was particularly concerned about maintaining appearances.

He had a limp leg from a young age, and his wife was mute. He couldn’t hold his head up in the village. It wasn’t until his son succeeded that he could stand tall and proud. What he cherished most was hearing praise about his good son – that was a matter of great face!

Following Yan Jingze’s words, Father Yan suddenly felt a sense of anticipation for the life ahead.

After the family had dinner, Yan Jingze took out a stack of money and had Father Yan accompany him to pay off their debts.

The total of all their debts was less than ten thousand yuan. He had the money to pay them off now. Moreover, clearing the debts was necessary before his younger siblings could move to the town.

He couldn’t possibly leave a bunch of debts unpaid while sending his mother to accompany his siblings for their studies, right?

Hearing that they were going to pay off the debts, Father Yan immediately became energized.

With Yan Jingze by his side, they went house to house, repaying the money owed. During the process, Father Yan couldn’t help but boast, “My son Jingze is really amazing. He’s in college now and has already earned a lot of money!”

“He’s been independent since he was young; I don’t need to worry about him at all!”

“He even wants to let his younger siblings rent a house in town for easier studying… In my opinion, there’s no need to make things so complicated. But he insists on doing it this way. He’s got more money and no place to spend it!”

“Studying is really good. Look, our Jingze is still in college and he’s already making money!”

Father Yan dragged his lame leg from one end of the village to the other, then back again. Even though he hadn’t been drinking, his face was flushed, and his voice was much louder than usual.

He took up a lot of time, but Yan Jingze didn’t rush him.

Father Yan was obviously very happy now, so it was fine to let him enjoy his happiness for a while. However… originally, Yan Jingze had planned to rent a house today, but it seemed that it wouldn’t be possible.

The next day, Yan Jingze took his younger siblings and mother to the town early in the morning.

This area had suffered a significant population loss. Most of the young people from the village had gone to work elsewhere, and it was the same for the young people in the town. The number of students in the schools was decreasing each year. Due to this situation, housing in the town was very affordable. One could buy a house for around ten to twenty thousand yuan.

Unfortunately, he didn’t even have this money now, and moreover, there was no need to buy such a house.

Yan Jingze rented a small, rundown two-story house for a monthly price of 150 yuan.

This house was quite old, with a kitchen, dining room, restroom, and a tiny bedroom on the first floor. The second floor was a low-ceilinged attic divided into three rooms, perfectly allowing space for Mother Yan and the others, with each person having their own room.

The only downside of the house was that there were no electrical appliances inside, only a few pieces of old furniture. However, this wasn’t a big issue. He went to the county town, bought some things, and had the internet connected to the house.

After renting the house, Yan Jingze went to the county town again. He bought some electrical appliances, including a second-hand television. The Yan family didn’t have a television, and Mother Yan hadn’t really watched TV much. It was good to get one for her to watch.

For the next period of time, Yan Jingze spent most of his time at the house. He also gave the tablets he had brought back to Yan Damei and the others.

The tablets he bought were also second-hand. After all, he was short on money at the moment. However, he spent quite a bit on online courses and various exercise books. This was an area where he couldn’t cut corners.

For children, having the motivation to study was crucial. With sufficient motivation, they could excel in their studies. Yan Jingze was well aware of this, so whenever he had the chance, he would talk to them about the benefits of going to college.

Yan Damei and the others listened with wide-eyed amazement, and they were full of yearning for college.

Yan Jingze also told them how comfortable life would be when they lived in the city. After hearing this, one by one, they all started to want to become city dwellers.

By the time everything was arranged, Yan Ermei and Yan Xiaodi had already started to worship their brother, Yan Jingze, as someone who could do anything!

Even Yan Damei, who had been dissatisfied with Yan Jingze before, was now very attentive to him. She was constantly serving him tea and water, almost feeding him food herself!

While wandering around the village, Yan Jingze overheard her with her sunburnt face talking to a girl of similar age, “My brother said I will definitely be able to get into high school.”

“When I get into high school, I’ll go on to college!”

“I want to become a city person!”

“My brother is amazing. He didn’t even spend our family’s money on his education. He’s only a freshman in college, and he brought back so much money!”

“I want to learn from my brother!”

Then, Yan Damei’s friends began to envy her. “Damei, your brother is really great.”

Someone even asked Yan Damei, “Damei, what kind of person is your brother looking for? Do you think I’m his type?”

Yan Jingze was the dream guy of all the young girls in the village!

Without hesitation, Yan Damei replied, “You definitely aren’t. My brother will probably find someone from the city to be my sister-in-law, someone who went to college!”

Yan Jingze: “…”

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