Chapter 65
◎The College Entrance Examination is Restored◎
About two months after Wani’s escaped marriage, a piece of news that brought explosive joy came from the capital: the “Gang of Four” had been arrested!
The Chinese nation once again showed her greatness, calmness, and infinite vitality. This news spread like a prairie fire, along the railway lines, telephone lines, and the big loudspeakers at the village entrance, throughout the entire Yuhuai Village. The villagers spontaneously gathered at the village entrance, repeatedly listening to the broadcast read out this news, cheering and discussing. This disastrous page in Chinese history had finally been turned over.
In the second year after Tangtang graduated, another exciting piece of news came from the broadcast at the village entrance: the college entrance examination was to be restored!
In the year the turmoil began, the college entrance examination was the first to be canceled. Since then, both recruitment and further education had adopted the method of recommendation and selection. The restoration of the college entrance examination, using a unified examination and selecting the best to enter university, after ten years, tens of thousands of students finally welcomed their own spring again.
Spring would always come, although this spring was ten years late.
On October 21, the definite news of the restoration of the college entrance examination was announced. The college entrance examination was scheduled for December. Time was tight. The materials in the various Xinhua bookstores in the city were all sold out. There were people everywhere who were willing to pay high prices for books related to the college entrance examination, but even so, it was still difficult to find a single book.
Tangtang, Juesheng, and Wani all decided to take the college entrance examination.
The school had no textbooks. The high school graduates from a few years ago had long since torn up the books issued by the school to paste on the pigsty. Tangtang had a complete set of high school textbooks, all filled with dense notes, as well as some second-hand materials she had bought from bookstalls and recycling stations when she was in high school. Considering that some of her former high school classmates were also taking the college entrance examination but lacked review materials, after discussing it, Tangtang, Wani, and Su Juesheng gave Wani and Juesheng’s textbooks away. The three of them shared one set of textbooks.
Tangtang had been very serious in her studies in high school and had a solid foundation. The three of them reviewed together. If there was anything they didn’t understand, they would ask Tangtang, and she would explain it to them.
Su Juexiao knew that his younger brother and sister were going to take the college entrance examination and was very happy for them. He also tried his best to buy some college entrance examination materials that were not available on the market and mailed them to them.
“Third Aunt, isn’t Juexiao taking the college entrance examination?” Wani asked, looking at the thick and detailed stack of materials.
Although Juexiao had been recruited by the coal mine, he was still eligible to take the college entrance examination. He was probably the one among them with the strongest desire to go to high school. His grades at school were also very good. How could he not take the college entrance examination?
It was most likely not for economic reasons. Third Uncle Su Huimin’s salary had also been rising these past few years. Juexiao had been working for several years, and it was said that the coal mine’s salary was quite considerable. Juesheng was still sending money home from the army. Looking at their family’s living standards, it shouldn’t be very difficult to support three children in school.
Yu Juanfang shook her head. “I don’t know what this child is thinking. He said that his current job is very good, and even if he graduates from university in the future, he will still choose to go back to work at the coal mine, so he’s not taking it.”
“Brother Juexiao always has his own ideas,” Tangtang said from the side.
Wani thought for a moment. That was true. Juexiao had always been more assertive than them in his actions. No matter when, he could always find something that he thought was meaningful. She only hesitated for a short while before she threw herself back into the intense review.
Su Juesheng knew that his younger brother and sister were going to take the college entrance examination and specially asked someone to buy a lot of nutritional supplements to nourish their bodies and brains and sent them back. Among them were two cans of malted milk extract. That stuff was so delicious. You could scoop a spoonful of the milky white malted milk extract, and with a little hot water, the whole room would be filled with a rich, milky fragrance. It was sweet to drink and so delicious.
The whole family had to focus on the two children’s review. Tangtang and Juesheng couldn’t go to the production team to work. Yu Juanfang also simply took a leave of absence and concentrated on managing the household chores at home, trying different ways to cook for the two children. She didn’t let them touch any of the housework.
Tangtang spent all her time in her textbooks except for sleeping, racing against time. This state lasted for more than half a month. She felt dizzy from studying. Tangtang felt that she really couldn’t go on like this anymore, so she took on the task of buying soy sauce for the family, just to get out and relax.
Just as she walked out of the supply and marketing cooperative with a bottle full of soy sauce, she ran into some of her old classmates. They had also signed up for this year’s college entrance examination.
Two or three of the classmates couldn’t help but complain that the atmosphere at home was too bad, and they couldn’t concentrate on their review.
“The environment at my house is quite good. You can come and review together.”
Tangtang’s words made the others’ eyes light up. Tangtang had been the most serious in her studies at school, and several of the subject teachers liked her very much. It would be great to be able to review with her. “Really?”
Tangtang nodded. “Really.”
“Tangtang, you’re so good!”
Tangtang’s family’s house was spacious, with good lighting and ventilation. From the second day on, classmates came to their house one after another to review together. If a classmate had a question they didn’t understand, they would ask her. Tangtang would tell them everything she knew and explain it to them in detail, just to consolidate her own knowledge.
With the restoration of the college entrance examination, Su Huimin was full of passion. On the one hand, he was happy that his daughter and son had caught this exam. The college entrance examination was an opportunity to change one’s destiny, and everyone could compete fairly.
On the other hand, the restoration of the college entrance examination also meant that more people would shift their focus to education. In these years, the policy of open-door schooling had been advocated. Schools would have half a day of classes and half a day of labor, and political movements were in full swing. Many people who went to school were not in the mood to study, but were thinking about how to get a diploma and then how to maximize the use of this diploma.
Even if they managed to graduate from high school, the students’ foundation was very poor, and their knowledge of mathematics, physics, and chemistry was extremely weak. After the restoration of the college entrance examination, all of this would slowly be corrected and cleared up.
Su Huimin poured a little hot water into his enamel mug and looked out the window into the courtyard. Tangtang was explaining a math problem to Su Zitian. She was very patient. Su Zitian was very impressed with this “teacher” Tangtang. He listened carefully and was busy taking notes.
A couple of days ago, to thank the Su Huimin family for letting Su Zitian come over to review, his father had specially brought them a basket of eggs.
And the other classmates, they didn’t just take up space to review for free. They all gave something to the Tangtang family. Tangtang would return the valuable things and only accept some pastries and snacks.
The knowledge that Tangtang had was also something she had gnawed through bit by bit, and she had put in a lot of hard work. She was still willing to generously teach what she had learned to others. Su Huimin took a sip of the tea in his enamel mug and couldn’t help but sigh. “She’s my daughter, Su Huimin, after all.”
Although Su Huimin only had a secondary school education, he had many years of primary school teaching experience, and he had been constantly learning these years. In terms of review, he also tried his best to help solve some problems.
…
In a blink of an eye, it was the end of November. Not only the children, but even Su Huimin and Yu Juanfang were also very anxious. They even couldn’t sleep for several nights. Yu Juanfang knew that these two children were usually very worry-free, but this was the college entrance examination, a competition of tens of thousands of people, a thousand troops crossing a single-plank bridge. The teaching level in Yuanlin County was not as good as that of the big cities outside, not to mention that the society and schools had been in turmoil for those few years, and there was no opportunity to properly cultivate students!
Su Huimin was not on duty today. He decided to go to the department store in the county town with his wife to buy a watch for Tangtang and Juesheng each, so that it would be convenient for them to check the time.
The batch of watches that the department store had in stock were electronic watches from Shanghai. The price was much cheaper than that of ordinary watches, and they were very popular. The couple queued for a long time and even had an argument with someone who cut in line before they finally bought three watches.
They paid a total of sixty yuan. After returning home, they gave the three watches to Tangtang, Juesheng, and Wani respectively.
With a watch, they no longer had to keep staring at the wall clock to check the time, and studying was also more convenient.