When it was time for Zhang Shengli to go to Grade Three， his father summoned Zhang Shengli to the front of the kang and said to him， "It is really difficult for me to support you with your further study. So I think maybe you should stop schooling. No matter you continue with school or not， it is predictable that you will be a farmer in the future." "Dad， please， let me finish my primary school. I'm so eager to study in school，" begged Zhang Shengli. His father got so angry and he slapped Zhang Shengli's face. "You are now a grownup， why cannot you be more considerate of me and our family？" With tears pouring down his face， Zhang Shengli implored， "Dad， you can beat me as you like； but please， please never let me drop out of school." The next morning， his father saw him go out with his schoolbag. Immediately he seized Zhang's schoolbag and threw it into the hearth. Zhang Shengli anxiously took his schoolbag out of the fire， he tightly held it within his arms and said in tears， "Dad， I want to go to school！ I want to go to school！"
It seemed that there was no hope for Zhang Shengli to continue with his study. He secretly wrote to Che Zhizhong， the vice president of the People's Political Consultative Conference of the county who had come to Jiucai Mountain twice，
"Dear Grandpa Che：
Have you had enough grain to eat this year？ My father doesn't allow me to continue with my study due to poverty. They cannot support me any more. However， I want to go to school. I want to beef myself with knowledge and in the future become a person like you to win honor for our country！
Kind regards，
Zhang Shengli"
In April， his father passed away and soon his mother remarried. Zhang Shengli was too small and too weak to bear the heavy burden of this broken family. Finally， he had no choice but to send his younger brother to a non-native for adoption and entrusted his youngest brother and sister to the care of his sixth uncle who was also a mute. He supported himself by doing odds and ends for his neighbors.
When Zhang Shengli dropped out， there was only one student — Lü Chengshan left in Grade Three， which meant Lü Chengshan couldn't go on with his study either for the school wouldn't give lessons to him alone. During that period of time， because of poverty， seven students dropped out in succession. The village primary school could not survive any more.
Zhang Shengli had behaved like a blockhead， dispirited and discouraged all day since he dropped out. Once he met Lü Cheng-shan when he was herding sheep in the mountain and when the two friends talked about their sufferings， both cried bitterly.
They didn't know that Project Hope — an ad hoc project aiming at helping poor children in impoverished areas had been born.
In October， Jiucai Mountain had never seen so many strangers. "Do you want to go to school？" Zhang Shengli was asked. Zhang nodded and tears couldn't help pouring out.
Zhang Shengli was fortunate to become one of the first group of students that could receive financial support from Project Hope. He and his twelve classmates went to school with their schoollbags again. Many kind-hearted strangers encouraged him to study hard and contributed to the construction of his hometown when he grew up. In a letter from a soldier in People's Liberation Army， he said， "Shengli， you should not give up schooling. Perseverance finally will prevail." Another sister， who also had paid great attention to his growth， wrote to him after falling seriously ill， "I cannot take care of you any more. However， even if I were not in this world， I would bless you with your schooling." after three years， Zhang Shengli went into Shangzhuang Middle School which was eighty li[1] away from his home. Again， he was sponsored by "Project Hope Special Grants" . He wanted to apply a normal school when he finished his middle school education. He longed to become a primary school teacher； however， despite working quite hard， due to his poor foundation and heavy living load， he failed.
He came back to Jiucai Mountain. Now he had been the most educated man in his village. He was considering what to do next. Above all he had received nine years of education and he would not like to live like his elder generations， farming in the fields with their faces towards the yellow soil and backs against the sky and ending his life in the Jiucai Mountain. He planned to start his migrant's working life in the south. Just at this moment， the only teacher in the village primary school asked for a long leave for his illness. No teacher could take care of those students. So all the students went home， which reminded Zhang Shengli of the day when he had to leave school. Therefore， he gave up the idea of working in the south and volunteered to be a substitute teacher in the mountains. Because he didn't receive any formal training， whenever he encountered difficult questions， he had to climb over mountains to consult someone else. In order to buy school things， like pencils， rulers for those students， he had to sell all of his family belongings， even including the tiles on the roof.
People were still concerned about his fate. On the recommendation of the China Youth Development Foundation， Shanghai First Normal School made an exception to admit Zhang Shengli， offering him an opportunity to receive further education. The school waived all his tuition and fees. What more was that every month， Zhang was provided with 200 yuan for his living expenses. The teachers and students of First Normal School devoted a lot to him. There were consecutively nine senior teachers volunteering to give him special guidance. Besides， they brought him to some primary schools to observe and evaluate other teachers' lessons. With his classmates' sincere help， he overcame many difficulties.
Two years later， Zhang Shengli graduated from Shanghai First Normal School. When he stopped by Beijing， we had a talk.
"Do you have any plans for this return？" I asked.
"I want to go back to my village and work as a teacher there，" he replied.
