"Patrick, Patrick?"
In the hazy dream, this familiar yet unfamiliar voice always resonated by my ear.
Ah, Patrick Jones lifted his eyelids that seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.
What caught his eye was a woman dressed in green military attire with a green cap on her head, and her hair braided into twists. Her name was Ella Miller; she was the girl Patrick had known during his period in the Portland.
On the green canvas bag draped over Ella Miller shoulders, shimmering red words were written. "Serve The People."
Everything around him was so nostalgic; it made Patrick feel as if he'd dreamt himself back to those times he was living in the Portland.
"So, it was just a dream."
He slapped himself hard across the face. It hurt a lot. And then, he slapped once more, it hurt even more.
"Patrick,what are you doing?"
Ella Miller held on to Patrick hand, a furrow of worry lining her face.
"Could it be that it's not a dream? Could it be that I was reborn?"
In a state of confusion, Patrick sat up and stared at the wall plastered with newspapers, somewhat out of sorts.
"Patrick, are you still half-asleep? Come outside with me, I've got something to talk to you about."
Jones' Patrick didn't respond to Ella but instead he begins looked at the old calendar hanging on the wall.
May 1, 1977, a day that was rather memorable.
"Patrick, did you hear what I just said? I said, step outside with me for a moment."
Ella Miller with her beautifully white neck, was an image of a proud swan in the lake. A hint of anger was subtly visible on her face.
"What is it? Can't we just talk here?" Patrick yelled his mind was in turmoil, but one thing wasn't crystal clear to him that Ella has draw down a lane of break up with him.
"We can talk here, too. I'm going back to Portland for work. My dad found me a job as a worker through his connections. So, what I mean is, our relationship should end here."
After saying this, she looked Patrick Dong nervously.
She had anticipated that maybe Patrick would get furious, possibly even tossing things around, but she was bound to be disappointed of his less reaction.
Jones' Patrick face was as tranquil as a mild breeze and a gentle cloud, without a ripple of disturbance.
In his past life, upon hearing these words,he believes that there's no pains that's too strong for his to bear in his lifetime.
Patrick indeed was very angry.
At that time, he's confused, Patrick had a heated argument with Ella, which led him to a state of depression for several years before finally moving on from the heartbreak.
That was the initial stage of the reform and opening-up period, a time when the entire world was undergoing ground-breaking changes.
Missing out on the opportunities during those years could mean missing out on the chance to rise for a lifetime.
But this time around, miller Ella didn't care anymore.
Time is the best healer for love wounds, and being reborn in 2022, he has long been indifferent to all of this.
"If you're angry, yell at me! If you keep it bottled up this way, I'll feel really guilty."
"I'm not angry, but can't we wait a bit longer to break up?" Patrick asked.
"There's no need, I need to go back to the Portland, and you can only continue to stay in Brown Ville working in the fields. We will be far away from each other, not knowing when we will meet again. Continuing being together is not realistic."
If the great revolution did not end for another decade, indeed Patrick I would not be able to return.
He's thought was different from what Ella's thought,but at that moment he has no audacity to hold her back.
Miller Ella father entered the factory as a poor peasant and became an honorable worker. He was deemed thoroughly proletariat.
As for Jones patrick, his father was once the director of the Portland third canning factory. Later, because he advocated for the piece-rate system, he was labeled as a capitalist-roader and locked up in jail.
The two of them, one came from a worker's lineage, while the other came from a prisoner's lineage.
Initially, there were over a hundred "sent-down youths" who had come to work in Brown Ville. Those with connections had already found someone to arrange for them to return to the Portland.
By 1977, only half of the "sent-down youths" had not returned to the Portland.
The reason why Ella Miller had not left was because she was waiting for Jones patrick before, Otherwise, she would have returned two years ago.
As for Jones patrick, he had applied three times to return, and each time he was rejected.
Even Patrick himself believed that he would stay in Brown Ville for the rest of his life, spend his life as a "sent-down youth", everyday planting seedlings in the fields and applying fertilizer, and that would be his life.
He felt guilty for holding Ella's up from not going back to Portland.
But history is always full of dramatic twists.
After some time, Jones patrick father would be acquitted and reinstated to his former position.
In due course, the nation will re-examine past wrongful cases and many imprisoned individuals would be exonerated.
"As for our breakup, I have no hard feelings on my side. I just fear that you might regret it one day." Patrick mind keep singing this songs within his mind, whenever he remember the pains that Ella breakup cause him, before finally heald.
Ella later married a worker and they both got laid off. Their life became challenging, often going without meals.
"Regret? What do I have to regret? Rest assured, I won't regret it in this lifetime."
Ella's felt rather amused.
Upon returning to the Portland, she thought she would immediately become an honorable worker.
In this era, being a worker represented a secure job and stability.
As long as you were employed in a factory, you would be guaranteed a carefree life of food and clothing.
The factory had everything, a cafeteria, a bathhouse, a convenience store, and even a pharmacy, offering a complete array of facilities, much like an independent kingdom.
Moreover, these services were free for the workers, with a certain quota.
As long as you remained within the system, you would have a worry-free life,this has been want Ella has paste up her mind too.
As for Jones patrick his father was a criminal. If he returns to the Portland, he will probably struggle to find a steady job.
Henceforth, they would belong to two different worlds.
"People climb upwards and water flows downwards", this saying still remains applicable in the Portland.
Ohh!
Viewing all Ella past conversation in his mind makes Patrick lets out a long sigh of relief, as if a burden has been lifted off his shoulders.
In seeing Patrick expression, Definitely Ella mostly quickly feels a hint of dissatisfaction.
In her perception.
Patrick reaction should be one of devastation, of passionate outburst, of immense anger. But what does his casual demeanor signify?
"Patrick, I thought I held an important place in your heart, but it seems I was mistaken. This is better though, at least the burden on my conscience is lighter now."
Hmm?
Was there a plot twist?
Patrick Jones become a shadow to himself, keep rethink his previous life with Ella, ohh my gosh! didn't have forgotten those words?
"Reality is often disappointing, but memories are always beautiful. Since neither of us can hold onto the other, why feel sad?" Patrick consider himself a loser over his long thought,not until he suddenly remember that if it's up to him,he has to begin his journey of life all along.
A
Jones' Patrick meticulously dressed, shoulders his hoe and shoots her a fleeting, winsome smile.
"Camila,make yourself comfortable okay" Patrick left.
Seeing the gently dusting off his clothes and casually walking away, Camila was dumbfounded.
Jones' Patrick seemed a bit different today.
But as to how different, she could not quite put her finger on it.
Hummm!
Now that he had once again returned to the turbulent era of the beginning of the reform and opening-up, if Patrick did not make a big move, he would really let down his reborn identity.
As for all the regrets and resentments from his previous life, he would not let them happen again.
So, what exactly should he do in the early period of reform? Camila is so much concern about Patrick improvement than herself.
1977 was the first year when the national college entrance examination was resumed.
Let's start with getting into a university!
The decade of turmoil had accumulated a large number of prospective college entrance examination students.
However, the same was true for a decade of going to the mountains and down to the countryside. The studies of the students were completely neglected.
Therefore, in the first year of the resumption of the college entrance examination, the questions were very simple.
The difficulty of many questions was only at the level of middle school, or even elementary school.
Maybe Later on, he could even help the children with their homework.
Patrick had a solid grasp of the knowledge from high school and middle school in the later generations.
