1980 My Entertainment Era

Chapter 23 College Entrance Examination

Xia Tian didn't have the chance to learn some knowledge about antiques from Old Man Zhu. He just took two books to read. As a result, something big happened the next day.

On October 10, the People's Daily published a front-page headline reporting "Major Reforms in College Admissions."

Major media outlets announced the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination and revealed that this year's college entrance examination will be held nationwide in a month.

This news is undoubtedly exciting!

For the educated young people who were working in the countryside at that time, this seemed like a declaration of change of destiny.

But, isn’t this too hasty?

The exam will be held more than a month after the announcement.

This month will determine your entire life!

Moreover, the chief designer said that this year's college entrance examination cannot be like the previous ones that only looked at background.

But for many people, it takes a lot of twists and turns to determine whether they can apply for the exam.

But anyway, it's definitely a good thing.

Let’s put it this way, the whole society was shaken.

People on the streets and in the neighborhoods are discussing this matter.

Many young people are very excited and want to try to change their destiny.

If the resumption of the college entrance examination has little to do with Xia Tian, ​​after all, he only has a fifth-grade primary school diploma, then the resumption of enrollment in middle schools has something to do with him.

During this period, Xia's parents have been worried about Xia Tian's schooling. It is said that the higher-ups are holding a meeting recently and there should be some results soon.

I have to go to school!

A child of twelve or thirteen can’t go to a factory or the countryside, right?

How can we just waste time like this?

Being a fisherman every day, I have avoided taking decades of detours.

Although the fish is delicious, we can’t delay the children!
In the next few days, Old Man Ma and Old Man Zhu were very interested in the resumption of the college entrance examination and talked a lot with Xia Tian.

Especially old man Ma, maybe he has some filter for scholars, he seems very excited when talking about the college entrance examination.

Xia Tian did not think too much about it and learned two more plays. He also began to learn some basic knowledge of the antique business from Old Man Zhu, mainly historical knowledge.

You have to read all the Twenty-Four Histories, such as the Zizhi Tongjian, and basically you have to know most of the historical materials by heart. This is the foundation.

Coach Liu at the Children's Palace is still actively looking for new masters.

The area of ​​Yanjing is almost being plucked bare by the summer.

Many experienced masters came here excitedly showing off their skills, but left in a matter of weeks with confused faces.

Not to mention the big boxing styles like Tai Chi, Baji, Bagua, Xingyi, Xinyi, Five Elements, Hung Gar, Tan Leg..., even the Dacheng boxing, Wu Song's handcuff-breaking boxing, Yanqing boxing, Eagle Claw Kung Fu, Mantis boxing... Xia Tian learned a lot of them.

Those basic skills that require years of practice, such as horse stance, standing still, grabbing stalagmites, grabbing jars, and stepping on plum blossom piles... do not need to be practiced in the summer.

He was born with the basic skills that others had practiced for eight or ten years, and his strength even far exceeded that of ordinary people.

Coach Liu even thinks that he is still young and his various indicators can still improve in the future!
He even started to give Xia Tian scientific training and made a table of various indicators, and had Xia Tian tested once a month.

Things like the 100 meters, standing long jump, high jump, grip strength, and power.

The numbers are indeed still increasing!
He is still producing in the summer!
……

In November, Xia received several newspapers and magazines from the postman.

Because today is the beginning of the month, many publications are released today.

Dad Xia subscribed to several books, especially after he started to "create" in the summer.

Not to mention "Children's Literature", this issue published Xia Tian's "Monkey Catching the Moon".

For example, the 77th issue of "People's Literature" in 11 in Xia Tian's hand.

At that time, supplies were tight, even paper was not abundant.

There are no weird entertainment magazines or street literature. Now they are all pure literary publications.

Among pure literature, People's Literature has an extremely high status.

"People's Literature" is a magazine that was launched within one month of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

At the request of the first editor-in-chief, Mr. Mao Dun, the teacher wrote an inscription for the inaugural issue of the first national literary magazine in New China: "I hope more good works will be published."

The title of the magazine was written by Mr. Guo at the suggestion of the teacher; 62 years later, the title of "People's Literature" was changed to a collection of words from a letter written by the teacher to the editor-in-chief.

Let’s put it this way, it’s a national, semi-official pure literature magazine.

In this issue of "People's Literature", Xia Tian saw a short story "Class Teacher" written by Liu Xinwu.

The novel unfolds the plot with the clue of a head teacher of a middle school in Yanjing accepting a little hooligan as a transfer student.

This novel brings scar literature to the platform of mainstream literature.

Of course, there is no such term as scar literature yet. It will have to wait until... next year? "Witnessing history again?" Xia Tian said, looking at the magazine in his hand.

I read a lot of newspapers that summer. The newspapers seem to be much more active now, with a lot of discussions on the resumption of the college entrance examination. There should be a lot of people paying attention to this aspect now.

But Xia Tian was too busy to pay attention to it, as he had to go with his parents to stock up on autumn vegetables.

There are only a few kinds of vegetables available in the north in winter, so you have to stock up more.

Many of our friends in the south have no idea about this and will be shocked when they see it for the first time.

For example, in the summer, their family would use a donkey with a bucket at the front to pull vegetables.

In early November, autumn vegetables are available.

This is an important task for northern cities. There is even a special agency in Yanjing City to take care of this matter.

After all, in a big city with a population of more than 8 million, do you know how much food you need to stock up?
And if something goes wrong, how many people will not be able to eat vegetables for the whole winter?

In later generations, stockpiling autumn vegetables became a habit, but this year stockpiling autumn vegetables is related to the issue of food for the next three or four months, or the entire winter.

A very, very important issue of people’s livelihood!
The Dongsi People's Market was packed with people, almost to the point of being blocked off.

There were crowds of people, all kinds of tractors, carts and so on, piles of cabbage as high as a hill, countless potatoes and radishes, and some niche dishes like mustard greens and snow red tassels.

I'm afraid this scene will last for half a month before gradually dissipating.

The Xia family specially cleared space in a cool, dark place at home to store the autumn vegetables.

Storage is a big deal, after all, it needs to be stored for more than three months. If it is not stored properly, it will rot, shrink, or sprout.

For example, the Xia family and the Dachun family stored cabbage together.

The main thing is that Dachun’s mother is very good at pickling sauerkraut—not the sauerkraut from Sichuan, but the sauerkraut from Northeast China.

It is said that the big stones used to press sauerkraut were brought from the Northeast and have been passed down for three generations!
The Xia family has a large place, so the three large jars of sauerkraut are all kept at the Xia family's house.

How should I put it? This craft seems simple, just follow the steps and pay attention to hygiene.

But in specific cases, the taste of each jar of sauerkraut is different, not to mention that some are pickled too much.

Maybe it's because the lactic acid bacteria are different?
As a person from Northeast China, Xia Tiandi is quite concerned about this aspect.

You should know that some agricultural universities in Northeast China have college students and graduate students who specialize in pickling sauerkraut and researching lactic acid bacteria!

The Xia family had just finished stockpiling autumn vegetables, and on November 11, the workers’ team evacuated schools at all levels.

The school is beginning to resume normal operations.

After another three or four days, the exact news finally came.

That day, Xia's father came home from get off work and excitedly said to Xia Tian, ​​"There's a plan for middle school!"

The middle schools in Yanjing have finally started recruiting students normally.

However, it is definitely too late this year.

So early next year...

When the friends got the news, they were very excited.

Not to mention his glasses, he felt uncomfortable without going to school.

Xiaodong also prefers to go to school, otherwise he always feels invisible and redundant when staying at home.

Life is not easy these days, and with so many children, it is really difficult to pay attention to each and every one of them.

Xiaodong would rather go to school and do nothing than stay at home.

As for Dachun, he was so excited that he shed tears: "Still going to school? Why are you still going to school?! Ah~~~"

The days pass very quickly during the fulfilling study.

Learning martial arts, painting, calligraphy, Peking Opera, antique knowledge... a day in the summer is very fulfilling.

My friends were also very impressed: How did you learn so many things?
Towards the end of the month, something happened.

Dad Xia took Xia Tian to the Shougang factory to watch TV...

That’s right, watch TV!

Just yesterday, on the evening of November 11, CCTV broadcast the Yugoslav TV series "Behind Enemy Lines".

This single-episode TV series is the first foreign TV series broadcast in my country. The series consists of 13 episodes.

The first episode is the movie version, and the next 12 episodes are the TV version.

The emergence of this drama further illustrates the openness of the atmosphere.

As someone who works in publicity, Mr. Xia felt this spring breeze very keenly.

"The wind direction may be changing!" said Xia's father on the way back.

(End of this chapter)