Chapter 66
◎The College Entrance Examination is Restored 2◎
In December, with only two or three days left before the exam, the first snow of the winter fell. Tangtang was wearing a cream-colored cotton coat and a red scarf around her neck. She packed all the stationery, review materials, and some daily necessities for the exam into her yellow schoolbag.
“Tangtang, are you done packing?” Yu Juanfang came in with a large handbag of food. “After you’ve finished packing, check everything carefully. Don’t leave anything behind. Your dad and the others are waiting at the door. These are the white flour pancakes I made last night, and some fruit. Remember to eat fruit every day. I’ve also put some common medicines in the handbag for you. It’s gotten colder these past few days, and there’s snow mixed in the rain. You must take care of yourself, remember?”
Yuanlin County only had one exam center, which was set up at the county middle school. The candidates from the city basically all stayed at their own homes. But for rural students like Tangtang and the others, who were more than forty kilometers away from the exam center, they could only consider staying with relatives or renting a room from a resident in the county for a few days. If that didn’t work, they could only sleep on the floor in an empty classroom at the school.
Yu Laowu had a dormitory at the county breeding farm. After learning that Tangtang and the others were coming to the county for the exam, he immediately contacted his sister and brother-in-law and said that Tangtang, Juesheng, and the others could stay in his dormitory when they came to the county for the exam. Originally, Su Huimin and Yu Juanfang were still worried about where the children would stay for the exam. They hadn’t expected the problem to be solved so smoothly.
Tangtang nodded. “Mom, I remember.”
Yu Juanfang saw the two children out the door and took out a roll of money to stuff into their pockets. “Take care of yourselves outside. If you need anything, just buy it for yourselves. You don’t have to save money for the family. Juesheng, you’re the older brother. Remember to take care of your sister.”
Yu Juanfang looked at Tangtang, who was almost as tall as her, and was a little dazed. She remembered that one year, she had also sent Tangtang and Juesheng out the door like this, but at that time, it was to send them to primary school. This time, it was to send them to take the college entrance examination.
Su Juesheng raised his head. “Mom, I remember.”
“The bus is almost here,” Su Huimin urged. There were two public buses a day that went back and forth between the countryside and the county town. From a distance, they could see a public bus swaying on the dirt road, heading towards Yuhuai Village. Su Huimin would take them to the county first and then come back.
Tangtang held her mother’s hand, a trace of reluctance in her eyes. “Mom, then we’re leaving.”
“Go on, have a safe trip.”
The public bus soon arrived at the bottom of the slope of Yuhuai Village. Tangtang and Su Juesheng reluctantly said goodbye to Yu Juanfang and got on the bus to the county town. The bus was very crowded, and the floor was piled with luggage. Although the windows were open, it was still difficult to ignore the smell of live chickens and ducks in the air.
It started to rain again, and the rain came in through the window. Someone closed the window, and the smell in the carriage became even more unbearable.
Tangtang moved her sore and numb feet slightly, took out a handkerchief from the side pocket of her yellow schoolbag, and covered her mouth and nose, trying her best to ignore the strange smell in the carriage.
Yu Laowu and Li Suqin were both working, and the dormitory they were allocated was a two-bedroom apartment of a decent size. There was a bunk bed. Su Juesheng slept on the top bunk, and Tangtang and Wani, the two sisters, slept on the bottom bunk. After settling down in the county, they immediately took out their materials from their schoolbags and started to review.
At ten in the evening, the lights were turned off for sleep.
Wani thought of the exam tomorrow and felt as if a very tight string was stretched in her mind. For Tangtang and the others, this college entrance examination might not be the only opportunity. Even if the results were not ideal, Third Uncle and Third Aunt would do their best to support them in repeating the year. But for her, it was different. This college entrance examination was her only opportunity.
The bed was only about one meter wide, so the two of them could only sleep on their sides, not flat on their backs. She didn’t dare to turn over, afraid of disturbing Tangtang next to her.
Tangtang had already woken up from a sleep. She turned over and tucked her frozen feet into the quilt. She found that Wani next to her was still not asleep. “Sister Wani, can’t you sleep?”
Wani felt that as soon as she closed her eyes, her mind was in a mess, and she had no sleepiness at all. “Tangtang, I’m a little nervous about tomorrow’s exam… What if I don’t pass?”
“Sister Wani,” Tangtang saw that her hands and feet were icy cold and quickly warmed them with her own hands. “My mom said that taking an exam is like sewing a shoe sole. Even if the stitches are crooked, as long as you put in the effort, it won’t be wrong.”
“Sister Wani, you didn’t neglect your studies when you were in high school, and you’ve been working day and night for the past two months. Do you remember what you said when you were teaching me about series circuits a few days ago?” Tangtang shrank into the quilt, her voice wrapped in warmth. “Just as you said, the current will always find the right path. We’ve worked so hard for so long, it can’t be wrong. You have to believe in your own efforts.”
“Didn’t my dad also say that with your grades, as long as you perform normally, there’s absolutely no problem getting into medical school? Even if you don’t perform as well as usual and don’t get into medical school, you can still get into a junior college, right? As long as you get into a junior college, you can be assigned to be a teacher at a school, or a cadre at a government office or bank. That’s much better than what we have now.”
A sliver of light from the streetlight outside came in. Tangtang looked at her with sparkling eyes full of trust.
Tangtang’s palm was warm, like an unextinguished spark in the stove.
The wall clock in the living room struck twelve. It was midnight. Wani suddenly heard the sound of her own heartbeat. It was no longer a tight string, but like a cotton coat that had been warmed up in the winter, slowly unfolding its frozen wrinkles.
Wani’s tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed. Tangtang was right. She had to believe that her efforts would bear fruit.
She had come this far. No one had pushed her forward. She had insisted on her own wishes and had successfully finished primary school and middle school. The direction of her future would also only be in her own hands.
“I remember a folk remedy that says you can drink a little vinegar when you can’t sleep. There must be some in Uncle’s kitchen. Wait for me, I’ll go and get you some vinegar.”
After saying that, Tangtang put on a shirt and walked out of the bedroom in the dark. The dormitory allocated by the breeding farm was a corridor-style dormitory. They could only cook in the public kitchen in the corridor. The seasonings were placed in the cupboard. Tangtang found a small cup, poured a little vinegar, and then added a little hot water from the thermos.
“Sister Wani, drink it while it’s hot.”
“Thank you, Tangtang.” Wani took the cup and took a sip. The vinegar taste was not strong, a little sour. It seemed that a little hot water had been added.
She didn’t know if it was a psychological effect, but after Wani drank the vinegar that Tangtang had poured for her, she soon fell asleep.
The next morning, Tangtang and the others got up at 5:30. Perhaps because they had slept well last night, they were full of energy. They quickly washed their faces and brushed their teeth, ate the buns that Yu Laowu had bought from outside early in the morning, and then used the time in the morning to read a little more. At 7:30 in the morning, the three siblings set off for the exam center.
When they went out, a small amount of snow was already falling in the air. A dark mass of people walked into the exam center. More or less, everyone had traces of physical labor on them. There were educated youth, farmers, women, and also many candidates like Tangtang and the others who had just graduated from high school. There had been no college entrance examination for ten years, so the age span of the candidates was very large. Some looked as if their temples were already gray, and there were also current high school students. The temperature was very low today, but everyone’s face was filled with a passionate excitement. For them, the college entrance examination was an opportunity they had been looking forward to for many years.
From now on, whether they would wear leather shoes or straw sandals, continue to scrape a living from the soil or go to university to receive higher education, it all depended on this opportunity.
The exam bell rang. Tangtang found the corresponding exam room and seat according to the information on her admission ticket.
After finishing the math exam in the afternoon, Tangtang walked out of the exam room and couldn’t help but clutch her cramping lower abdomen. She had felt a little uncomfortable when she went out in the morning, but she had been in a good state all day. After finally handing in her paper, she felt that the energy in her body had been released, and her lower abdomen began to ache in waves.
Tangtang pressed her lower abdomen hard, trying to relieve the cramping pain. Her face was as white as paper.