Yan Yan was born in a small village in Jiangnan. The houses here had blue-tiled roofs and earthen walls. In front of each door was a muddy path. When it rained, the water would flood into the houses, making it impossible to find a dry place to stand.
Yan Jianguo, Yan Yan's father, was the only carpenter in the village. His craftsmanship was exquisite; he could carve beautiful floral window lattices. However, with the development of the rural economy in the 1990s, more and more people chose to build new houses and no longer needed traditional carpentry. As a result, Yan Jianguo's work became less and less frequent.
Yan Yan's mother, Lin Xiuzhen, was a substitute teacher at the village primary school. Her monthly salary was a mere eighty yuan. Despite their meager living conditions, Lin Xiuzhen always believed that education was the way out. She saved every penny, using her small income to buy Yan Yan a set of 100,000 Whys. This set of books became Yan Yan's most precious gift in her childhood, accompanying her through countless nights of thirst for knowledge.
1996 was a year filled with darkness and despair for Yan Yan's family. In this year, her mother was diagnosed with late-stage Stomach Cancer. This news was like a bolt from the blue, plunging the whole family into immense grief.
Due to the limited medical conditions in the village, there was no decent hospital that could treat such a serious illness. Helplessly, her father could only take her mother to the hospital in the county town for treatment. However, after examining her mother's condition, the doctors at the county hospital shook their heads helplessly, telling them, "Go to Shanghai, perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope there."
Hearing this, her father's heart sank, but he did not give up hope. He gritted his teeth, borrowing money from all directions, even resorting to high-interest loans, just to be able to take his mother to Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai for better treatment.
After a long journey, they finally arrived at Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai. However, when the doctor told them that the surgery would cost fifty thousand yuan, both her father and mother were stunned. Fifty thousand yuan was an astronomical figure for this impoverished family; they could barely scrape together five thousand yuan.
Faced with such a high cost, her mother resolutely decided to give up treatment. She said to her father, "Don't waste money, save it for Yan's education." Despite her father's strong persuasion, her mother was determined. She only stayed in the hospital for three days, spending all the borrowed money, before returning home.
In the days after returning home, her mother's condition worsened, yet she never uttered a single complaint. She silently endured the torment of her illness, her only concern being her daughter Yan Yan's studies.
The day her mother passed away, Yan Yan was taking the entrance exam for County No. 1 High School. She had no idea her mother's condition had deteriorated so drastically. She was still in the exam hall, writing furiously, hoping to achieve good results and live up to her mother's expectations.
When Yan Yan finished the exam and rushed home, she found her mother had closed her eyes, having left her forever. She also didn't get to see her acceptance letter to County No. 1 High School, the top three in the county.
That moment, Yan Yan's world seemed to collapse. She couldn't accept this cruel reality, and tears poured out like a flood. She regretted why she hadn't spent more time with her mother before she died, why she hadn't discovered her mother's worsening condition sooner…
However, no matter how heartbroken Yan Yan was, her mother had already left her forever. And this acceptance letter became the last gift and encouragement her mother left her.
After her mother's passing, the already poor family instantly fell into unprecedented difficulties. Her father's meager salary could barely cover the family's basic living expenses. Now, he was also burdened with a debt of four thousand yuan, which undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to the already fragile family.