A Time to Live, a Time to Die Page #2

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There's hot water over there.

Take your bath

"One family, one foot of mouth"

That's a lot of food every day

Your father's salary

is 620 dollars per month

"He keeps 20 for the barber

and his own spending,

Food... the doctor...

Your father is in poor health

"Even if you teach,

you still have to get married"

We have so many children

in the family

"As the eldest,

you have to sacrifice"

The Teachers' Academy is free

"And after graduating,

you can be a teacher"

What do girls need

all that education for?

You just have to be able to cook,

sew, and help the farm work

That will be enough

She's not talking about me

She's talking about Ah-chung

One person attending

Teachers' Academy is enough

But it would be a pity if An-chung

can't go to university

"Ah-chung,

if you want to study more,"

do it yourself

Your father started teaching after

he finished high school

And he wound up going to university

"Before that,"

he went to South Asia to

learn business with uncle Chin

"He studied whenever he had time,"

while others play instead

Uncle Chin knew your dad

wasn't the business type

and told him to go back

to Guangzhou for college

He got accepted

by Chung-shan University

Where's it from?

Auntie An

From South Africa?

What does she say?

Ah-ching-gu stopped

going to school after third grade

The Communists threw him out

of his house

said he had bad background

They're doing some movement called

"Three Red Flags"

They took all of the iron

in our hometown

"Knives, pots, door handles, nails"

even the fire tongs and everything

There's no iron-smelting

Now they have a pile of junk iron

If only we had brought him out

with us...

Did Ah-ha get into the

middle school?

Don't know yet. He went to school

to find if he's passed

I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

Alright. Stop crying!

What happened?

Didn't pass

Crying just because

they didn't pass?

How do you know

if you passed or not?

The teacher just came

Chen Yen Didn't pass so she's crying

"Mom, I passed!"

Really?

I got into Provincial Fengshan

Middle School

There was a chalk mark on my desk

The teacher said that means

you passed

That's great!

Go tell your father

"Dad, I passed!"

I got into Provincial Fengshan

Middle School

There was a chalk mark on my desk

The teacher said that means

you passed

What? A check?

His teacher said he used a chalk

to mark the desks

of those who has passed

the entrance exams

Good! Then you must study hard

Yes

"Ah-chu, what happened to Ah-ha?"

He made it into the

Provincial Fengshan Middle School

Ah-ha!

You made it!

Right!

This is for you

You are so good

"Ah-chung, when will you know

about your exam?"

End of the month

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