The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 455 "Gold 77 Silver 78"

Due to the large number of applicants after the resumption of the college entrance examination, this year's college entrance examination is different from previous ones.

In most areas, the exam is held in winter, and in some areas with a large population, the college entrance examination is divided into two parts: preliminary and re-examination.

11月28日至29日进行初试，12月23日至24日进行复试。

The college entrance examination in Beijing is between December 12th and December 10th.

For this year's college entrance examination, candidates will adopt the method of voluntary registration, unified examination, municipal preliminary selection, school admission, and approval by provinces, cities, and autonomous regions.

Workers, farmers, educated youth who went to the countryside or returned home, demobilized soldiers, cadres and high school graduates who meet the admission requirements can sign up voluntarily and choose several schools and subject categories according to their interests and specialties.

On November 11, the college entrance examination registration point located in Liujiazhuang Senior High School began registration.

Liujiazhuang Senior High School decided to select a dozen students with excellent academic performance and character from the second year of high school, and have them sign up for that year's college entrance examination together with their seniors in the third year of high school.

(PS: Liujiazhuang’s high school is a three-year system, while some places’ high schools are two-year systems.)
Liu Shuxian was also one of the first students of Liujiazhuang Middle School to take the college entrance examination.

According to Liu Zhiye, it would be best if you pass the exam, but it doesn't matter if you don't. Just treat it as an experience and it will be safer to take the exam again next year.

Liu Zhiye is not a rash person and he never fights a battle without preparation.

Because the students in Liujiazhuang are different from those taking the exams in other places.

In Liujiazhuang School, children have unique advantages.

Students have a good learning environment and abundant educational resources, which allow them to accumulate a solid foundation in their studies.

Especially Liu Shuxian, under the careful guidance of her grandmother Professor Cui and grandfather Liu Jingzhai, her academic performance has made great progress.

In the past few months, her grades have been among the best in school, and she has become the focus of everyone's attention.

Liu Shuxian seemed very confident about taking the college entrance examination early.

The content of this college entrance examination was quite favorable to her, involving only four subjects: mathematics, Chinese, history and geography, and politics, with a total score of 400 points.

Students majoring in liberal arts in the capital area also have to take an additional foreign language test.

Such an exam scope undoubtedly reduced a lot of pressure for her.

Mathematics and Chinese have always been Liu Shuxian's fortes, and she has shown extraordinary talent in these two subjects since she was a child.

As for history, geography and politics, although she was not as proficient as mathematics and Chinese, she also put in a lot of effort and memorized the knowledge points firmly in her mind through rote memorization.

The candidates who took part in this college entrance examination later realized that it was not an exaggeration to describe their college entrance examination as a huge army crossing a single-plank bridge.

A total of 570 million people signed up for the college entrance examination, but only 27.8 were finally admitted, with an admission rate of nearly 4.9%. Almost only one out of every 29 candidates could be admitted to university.

Among these 27.8 people, 4 were students admitted to various college classes, creating the lowest admission rate since the implementation of the unified college entrance examination in Xiaguo in 52, and also the lowest admission rate since Xiaguo had modern university education.

This is the most legendary college entrance examination.

"July 77th is gold, July th is silver." The Class of not only had a uniquely low admission rate, but also had many "college entrance examination bests," which made them a legendary special group, unique in the history of higher education.

This year's college entrance examination also saw the shortest time for candidates to prepare for the exam. For some people, it took less than three months from the time they knew about the resumption of the college entrance examination to the time they took the preliminary examination, and only four months to the unified examination. Candidates worked up all night to "cram" and wished they could "snatch" back all the time they had wasted in the past.

In addition to lack of time, there is another problem, that is, there is a serious shortage of college entrance examination tutoring materials. At this time, there are only a few review materials that can be found, and everyone can only exchange and borrow them from each other, or even copy them by hand.

In early October this year, the front page of Renren Daily published the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination, and Yan Jiekuang's heart was finally at ease.

In fact, even earlier than this, news about the reform of the university admissions system had reached Yan Jiekuang's ears.

At first, he was skeptical about the news because the college entrance examination had been suspended for more than ten years. After learning the news, he was somewhat skeptical whether it was a real exam or a fake one.

Yan Jiekuang did not take this matter seriously at first, so he did not prepare for the exam seriously.

But less than a month later, Yan Jiekuang's father, who was a leader in the school, sent him a letter.

In the letter, Yan Bugui reminded Yan Jiekuang that he was the top student in his class when he was in school, that he had a good foundation and hope, and that no matter whether the news was true or false, he must take part in this college entrance examination, even if it was just a try, as it was a rare opportunity.

Yan Jiekuang wrote back to express his concerns, saying that he had not touched a textbook for many years and had no math, physics, chemistry or other textbooks on hand, so he didn't know what to review or how to review it.

Father Yan Bugui replied quickly and sent Yan Jiekuang several high school textbooks from before..., again encouraging him to study hard.

Going to college is not only Yan Jiekuang’s dream, but also the regret of his father Yan Bugui.

Compared to continuing to develop in the army, Yan Jiekuang felt that he might not be cut out for it, and he wanted to go to college instead.

With a mixture of trepidation and anticipation, Yan Jiekuang mustered up the courage to tell the company commander all his thoughts.

After hearing this, his company commander was not at all displeased. Instead, he thought it was an excellent choice. He immediately expressed his full support and quickly proceeded to submit an application report to his superiors.

When the news reached the battalion leaders, instead of opposing it, they highly affirmed and praised Yan Jiekuang's decision.

In the eyes of leaders, it is undoubtedly a matter of pride and honor if someone in their team can be admitted to university through their own efforts.

To this end, the battalion leaders gave Yan Jiekuang the green light, allowing him to only participate in some necessary military training and devote the rest of his time to preparing for the exam.

Not only that, they also arranged a single dormitory for him so that he could have a quiet and comfortable learning environment and prepare for the upcoming exams wholeheartedly.

As the exam was approaching, Yan Jiekuang asked for leave from the company and prepared for the exam seriously in the dormitory.

He locked himself in his room for nearly half a month without going out, and ate all his meals in the dormitory to save time.

I read when I woke up, and went to sleep when I got tired. I reviewed like this for half a month, and then the day of the exam arrived.

When Yan Jiekuang arrived at the examination room, he found that there were many empty seats. It seemed that many people gave up in the end.

…………

On December 10, Zheng Haisheng was arranged to take the college entrance examination in a middle school in the Miyun Mountain area of ​​Beijing.

On the first day, students take the political science test in the morning, and the liberal arts students take the history and geography test in the afternoon; on the second day, students take the mathematics test in the morning, and the Chinese test in the afternoon.

There was no place to rest at noon, so everyone squatted under the wall, ate cold steamed buns, and enjoyed the sunshine in the cold winter.

When educated youth candidates like Zheng Haisheng went to the countryside, they had to work in the fields and eat steamed buns when they came back. How could they enjoy such leisure time!

Before going to the countryside, I read a lot of novels describing rural life and I was quite envious of it.

Only when you become a real farmer will you realize that it is all fiction created by the writer.

The last subject was Chinese. When he opened the composition test paper, the topic really made him feel mixed emotions.

"My Year of Fighting" is the composition topic for the Chinese language examination in the Beijing area.

When the test paper was unfolded, Zheng Haisheng suddenly became excited, feeling that the questions seemed to be prepared specially for him.

The past year's "Qianshan Down to the Countryside" events came to his mind like a movie: the oath he took on behalf of all the educated youth at the mobilization meeting, the sleepless night on the first day of going to the countryside, the first day of work, the days and nights of "seizing food from the dragon's mouth", and every detail and every second of reviewing for the college entrance examination.

The hopes, worries and joys of the past year all flowed into my writing in an instant...

The experience of the past year was a year of fighting for Zheng Haisheng, and it was the beginning of his real understanding of society.

When we walked out of the examination room, the sun had already set and the weather was still cold, but the examinees' hearts were warm. They forgot about time and hunger.

On the way back, I talked about the mountains and the water, and said whatever I saw.

The more than ten miles of mountain road seemed to embody the scenery of the past year, and I finished it unknowingly.

"A guest is sailing on the fragrant grass ferry, who is playing the flute in the sunset tower?"

……

Since she made up her mind to take the college entrance examination, Yang Xiaotong has been reviewing until late at night every day. Sometimes she is still reading and reviewing under the oil lamp even when the roosters crow.

In two months, Yang Xiaotong reviewed both her junior high school and high school textbooks, and focused on reviewing science subjects because science was her weak point.

Early in the morning on the first day of the college entrance examination, Banggeng drove the team's donkey cart to take his wife Yang Xiaotong and educated youth Li Weijun and Tang Jinling to the commune bus station.

Then, the three of them took a bus to the county town and stayed in a small hotel near the county No. 1 Middle School.

That night, Yang Xiaotong and the other two stayed up almost all night. They discussed the difficult problems they encountered during review and guessed the content of the exam.

When preparing to enter the examination room the next day, Li Weijun suddenly asked Tang Jinling: "Zhang Chaoyang, what are the four great inventions?" "Compass, papermaking, gunpowder..."

When they arrived at the entrance of the examination room, Yang Xiaotong suddenly said to Tang Jinling: "There is also movable type printing!" As a result, this question really appeared in the college entrance examination paper. After the exam, many people left the examination room dejectedly.

Tang Jinling and Li Weijun did not do well in the exam. They did not know the answers to several questions, but they were still better than the others. Some of them did not even know the Four Great Inventions.

When they returned to the commune, Banggeng and the production team leader came to pick them up.

The captain asked hurriedly: "Xiaotong, did you do well in the exam?"

Tang Jinling said with a sad face and shook her head: "Captain, I wasted two months of my time. I will definitely not pass the exam. But if Xiaotong is willing to give me the pass, it will be fine..."

The production manager comforted him and said, "Don't worry! If you can't pass the exam this year, we can try again next year!"

Bang Geng took Yang Xiaotong's hand, walked to the side and asked, "Xiaotong, tell me quickly, how did you do in the exam?"

Yang Xiaotong nodded with some smugness, "I have answered all the questions, but I don't know what the result will be..."

Banggeng felt mixed emotions when he saw this scene. He was happy but also a little nervous. He was afraid that once Yang Xiaotong became a college student, she would be like a person with wings, and might fly away from him.

What is the status of a college student in this era? It is a symbol of a cadre candidate. Once graduated, they can directly become a cadre.

Banggeng knew that even if he could successfully return to take over, he would at best be an ordinary worker. Yang Xiaotong's future was obviously much brighter than his.

As time goes by, the gap between their status will only grow larger. Moreover, Yang Xiaotong is much younger than him. What if she really becomes successful one day... Banggeng dare not think about it any further.

Yang Xiaotong didn't know what Banggeng was thinking. As they walked, she looked forward to the future. "Banggeng, what do your family think about you going back to take over?"

"Or, let's go back at the end of the year and arrange your work as soon as possible so that we can go back to the city together..."

----

With not much time left before the college entrance examination, Liu Shuxian and other second-year students quickly formed a temporary review group. They classified Chinese, mathematics, politics, history, geography and other subjects into different categories, with each person being responsible for summarizing two knowledge points, which the three of them then shared together.

After school every day, they hurriedly finished their dinner and gathered at Liu Shuxian's house to study late into the night, sometimes only sleeping three or four hours a night.

Fortunately, Liu Zhiye's family is big, otherwise there would not be enough space for these ten students.

Fortunately, Liu Zhiye's house is spacious, otherwise it would be difficult for these more than a dozen students to find a suitable place to settle down.

The Liu family showed great enthusiasm and support for these children. Not only did they welcome the students, they also specially cleaned up the east wing of the front yard as their cram school.

It is spacious and bright here, providing a good environment for studying.

Professor Cui is responsible for tutoring the children in science. She has won the respect and love of the children with her profound professional knowledge and patient explanations.

Liu Jingzhai was responsible for tutoring in liberal arts. His humorous teaching style made the originally boring liberal arts knowledge vivid and interesting.

In terms of food, the Liu family also did not treat these children badly.

There was everything to eat and drink, and it was much better than what they had at home.

Deng Ru knows that these children are growing, so she often prepares midnight snacks for them, as well as various fruit snacks, so that the children can enjoy the fun of delicious food while studying.

Such thoughtful arrangements made these students feel that they were not coming to a tutoring class, but rather coming to the Liu family for vacation.

After a period of sprint, Liu Shuxian walked into the college entrance examination room with great excitement and took part in the college entrance examination together with candidates who were about ten years older than them.

In December in Beijing, the cold wind penetrated through the crack in the door into this classroom full of people.

But there was a girl named Liu Shuxian who was sitting in the last row of the classroom. She didn't feel the cold at all. Instead, she was busy writing at her desk.

This ordinary day in the lives of many people was the beginning of a huge change in their fate.

Sitting at the table next to Liu Shuxian was another girl, whose writing was also flowing with divine inspiration, and her wit was comparable to Liu Shuxian's.

In this examination room, except for these two girls, everyone else's faces were filled with various emotions and expressions.

When Liu Shuxian finished answering the questions, there was still plenty of time before the end of the exam. She carefully reviewed the test paper and after confirming that it was correct, she felt relieved and happy.

Driven by this good mood, she even had the leisure to observe the situation around her.

Just at this moment, the girl at the next table had just finished the test paper. She raised her head and happened to catch Liu Shuxian's gaze.

The two people's eyes met in the air, and then a knowing smile bloomed.

This may be fate.

When Liu Shuxian met the girl again later, she found out that her name was Liu Xuehong.

She was also the top scorer in the liberal arts college entrance examination in Beijing that year.

Her composition "My Fighting Year" was later published in Renren Daily, and she was admitted to Peking University as she wished with the help of the college entrance examination.

Here she and Liu Shuxian became classmates, roommates and best friends.

Liu Xuehong is different from other children. She has been trained to study since she was born. She has been bearing the pressure of studying from the transition from primary school to junior high school to the high school entrance examination to the college entrance examination.

Since Liu Xuehong could remember, she had never had much concept about studying, nor did she have any so-called pressure of going to college.

In this way, she simply completed her studies from elementary school to high school.

As an educated youth who had finished high school, Liu Xuehong naturally went to the countryside to settle down.

Although Liu Xuehong was at the top of his class in school, he could not enter university through his own efforts, but had to follow another system of admission.

In this regard, Liu Xuehong could only choose to keep his feelings to himself.

Originally, life should have passed like this peacefully. Perhaps Liu Xuehong would have gotten a chance to return to the city and get a satisfactory job to spend the rest of her life.

At the end of last year, Liu Xuehong received news that her production team had actually received a recommendation to study at Peking University.

The major recommended for this quota is exactly the liberal arts major that Liu Xuehong is good at and likes.

But as everyone wishes, the quota was not given to Liu Xuehong, but to the team leader's daughter.

The opportunity was just missed.

If it were an ordinary person, facing such a life with an unknown future, he might choose to be a wave swept away by fate and go with the flow.

But Liu Xuehong is not like that, because she still has a dream of going to college in her heart, and still holds the hope of changing her life and destiny.

It was not until this year that the radio announced that the Ministry of Education had resumed the college entrance examination and that anyone who met the requirements could take it.

After receiving the news, Liu Xuehong felt as if the knot in his heart had been untied at once. His life now had a purpose, and he immediately signed up with the other educated youth in the same team.

Because it was the first year that the college entrance examination was resumed, everything was special. The college entrance examination was scheduled in winter, and there were only 50 days of review time from the issuance of the notice to the examination.

Liu Xuehong began a life of reviewing in which every second counted. She worked in the production team as usual during the day, but spent all her rest time and evenings studying.

She didn't know the specific content of the exam, so she took out her old school textbooks and looked through them. Since she couldn't review all of them, she focused on studying the key points in the limited time.

Time passed quickly and there was only half a month left before the exam. Liu Xuehong decided to ask for leave from the production team so that she could concentrate on the final review time.

After all, this exam brings together candidates from 11 classes, and no one dares to take it lightly.

After returning home, old friends often came to chat with Liu Xuehong. In order not to disturb her studies, Liu Xuehong asked her mother to lock her in the room and began to study day and night.

...The Chinese composition test is the key, because the composition accounts for 80 points out of points in the test.

In the last Chinese class, when Liu Xuehong saw the composition topic “My Year of Fighting”, the life of the educated youth played in her mind like a movie.

Liu Xuehong kept writing and wrote more than 1700 words in one breath before stopping. He finished it smoothly after a brief thought.

After all the exams were over, Liu Xuehong was confident that she could get high scores in all five subjects, and she was looking forward to the day when her dream of going to college would come true...

One day, Liu Xuehong happened to meet a high school classmate in front of a store.

Her classmate said, "Liu Xuehong, your college entrance examination essay was published in the newspaper!"

Liu Xuehong asked excitedly, "Really? What newspaper?"

Her classmates admired her and said, "It seems to be the Renren Daily."

(End of this chapter)