Struggle Life in the 1970s

The technical secondary school entrance exams in this province are all held in early June, so there are only about fifty days left.

Chu Ye did not dare to slack off and had to squeeze out more time for study. After a few days, dark circles appeared under her eyes. She was born fair-skinned, and now from a distance, it looked like two fists hitting her eye sockets.

In addition, she had to go to work every day and cook for the family, so she looked more and more haggard.

Not to mention, every day when she had free time, she would memorize words, Chinese and politics. When she had any more time, she would hold the notebook given by Mu Jiajun and do the exercises on it. All her time was spent on studying, and she looked even more silent and lifeless.

Mu Jiajun saw it in his heart and understood her efforts, so he could only feed her more food when he was tutoring her.

At first Chu Ye refused to accept it and kept refusing. Later she was really hungry. After all, the weather was getting hotter and the work in the fields was becoming more and more difficult. She also didn't eat well at home, so her stomach often growled when she was studying at night.

Every time this happened, Chu Ye felt embarrassed and smiled shyly at the two of them. Mu Jiajun would take out food from the cupboard and hand it to her.

After a long time, she could no longer resist the persuasion of Mu Jiajun and Sister Deng, and finally accepted the night feeding.

Time flies and it is June, and Chu Ye’s tutoring life is declared to be over.

Mu Jiajun specifically told her to adjust her schedule these days and prepare for the exam.

Chu's father and mother also gave her a holiday so that she didn't have to go to work and could prepare for the exam at home.

Chu Ye agreed to all of them. Now was a critical moment that would decide her fate, so there was no need for her to be pretentious and refuse to accept them.

Then she took out her book again, ready to consolidate her knowledge. A piece of white paper lay quietly in the cloth bag. This was what Chu Guangyao brought home yesterday.

This is her admission ticket.

Chu Ye put down the book, took the white paper in his hand and looked at it carefully.

I saw a few conspicuous big words printed on the front of the white paper - Admission Ticket, and above these three words, the 1976 Qingyang City Secondary School Admissions were printed, and below the words were the examination room, category, number and name.

On the right side was a black-and-white photo of Chu Ye glued to it. This was the photo she had given to Teacher Chu together with the registration fee.

Chu Ye turned his wrist and saw that on the back of the admission ticket, there were instructions for candidates, which were some things to pay attention to in the examination room, and the examination time was written below.

Looking at it again, the exam will last for three days, from June 5th to 7th, with one session every half day, a total of five sessions, and it will be over at 10 am on the 7th.

The examination venue was the school where she attended junior high school. Chu Ye calmed herself down and carefully put away her admission ticket and stationery into a cloth bag.

This morning, she went to find Brother Jianwen and begged him to take her to town in a bullock cart when she took the exam. To this end, she hid the snacks she had every night and wanted to secretly give them to Brother Jianwen so that he could use them to replenish Sister Nianci's body.

However, Jianwen directly refused. He said that he had just gone to town a while ago and bought a lot of nutritional supplements for Nianci. His family didn't need the things that Chu Ye brought.

Jianwen looked at Chu Ye's thin body. He also knew that Chu Ye was going to take an exam.

After all, during this period, Nianci's belly gradually became more obvious, and sometimes she felt uncomfortable. Aunt Wang just let her rest at home, but she was afraid that she would be bored at home alone, so she often called Chu Ye to come home to accompany Nianci.

When Chu Ye came, she often brought books with her, and sometimes asked Nianci questions about the books. After a long time, Jianwen also realized that she wanted to continue studying and going to school.

Now that Chu Ye came to him for help, Jianwen naturally had no reason to refuse. Besides, if he dared to refuse, Nian Ci would quarrel with him.

So the two of them agreed that on the morning of the exam, Jianwen would send her to the school gate and pick her up after the exam in the afternoon.

Although it was a bit troublesome to travel back and forth during the day, it was a major event in Chu Ye's life after all, so Jianwen felt that he should help if he could.

Chu Ye was deeply moved by this. She couldn't say many high-sounding words of thanks and could only put more effort into her studies.

Time passed quickly and it was the evening of the 4th. After dinner, Chu's father and mother gave her some earnest advice, asking her to get good grades in the exams, get a job, and help the family.

Chu Ye naturally nodded in agreement, and then Chu's mother took out two steamed buns, which she had steamed at noon. To save trouble, she steamed six in total.

"These steamed buns are made of white flour. You should study hard for the exam. At noon, find a place to rest and eat some steamed buns to fill your stomach." Mother Chu instructed earnestly as she stuffed the steamed buns into her cloth bag.

Chu Ye nodded, knowing that the journey would take a whole day and he would have to take some dry food with him.

In the evening, she checked her bag again to make sure everything was ready, and then went to bed early.

The next day, cocks crowed.

Looking through the window, it was still dark outside. Chu Ye got up, packed his things, and went to the kitchen to cook.

When the corn paste was ready, the sky outside the house gradually became clearer and the white mist in the air could be seen with the naked eye. Chu Ye hurried to finish his meal, then went next door with the cloth bag.

However, as soon as she walked out of the door, she saw a figure in a white shirt leaning against the door.

The person who came was Mu Jiajun. He obviously saw Chu Ye as well. His eyes lit up, and he raised his arm holding the briefcase and greeted him enthusiastically.

Chu Ye ran over in confusion, "Why are you here? How long have you been standing here so early in the morning?"

Ever since her tutoring career ended a few days ago, she no longer went to the educated youth compound and has been staying at home to review. It has been many days since she last saw him and Sister Deng.

Chu Ye originally planned to look for them after the exam, but he didn't expect to see Mu Jiajun this morning.

Mu Jiajun's eyes curved as he answered, but he lowered his voice deliberately, as if he was afraid of waking up the neighbors. "I just stood here and you came out. I thought you had an exam today, which is an important moment in your life, so I wanted to see you off." After that, he raised his chin slightly, with a little pride in his tone, "I'm a teacher, I must escort my students into the examination room."

After hearing this, Chu Ye was stunned for a moment, and finally smiled helplessly. Mu Jiajun also grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

She looked carefully again and easily saw that Mu Jiajun was lying to her. She saw the moisture on Mu Jiajun's hair and guessed that he must have been standing outside for a long time.

Chu Ye lowered his eyes, feeling an indescribable emotion in his heart.

Since her rebirth, she has been very fortunate to have met Mu Jiajun and Sister Deng. The two of them have helped her a lot free of charge, which has enabled her to get to where she is today and given her the confidence to take the exam.

Mu Jiajun's voice came from above her head, "I brought you some food, don't go hungry during the exam." Chu Ye looked up and saw Mu Jiajun waving the briefcase in his hand towards her, indicating that the bag was full of food.

Chu Ye wanted to refuse, but heard the door of the next door creak, and Brother Jianwen pushed the door open and walked out.

He didn't walk a few steps, then looked up at her and Mu Jiajun with some surprise. Finally, he raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

It was Chu Ye who took the initiative to ask Brother Jianwen if he had eaten.

After getting a positive answer, Jianwen didn't waste any time and said directly, "The ox cart is at the brigade. You two go to the village entrance and wait for me. I will bring the ox cart over."

This is the rule in the village. It is okay to raise a small number of chickens and ducks at home, but cattle and sheep are collective property and must be raised in the brigade.

Chu Ye nodded, greeted Jianwen, and walked towards the village entrance with the cloth bag on his back, while Mu Jiajun followed closely behind.

A white light rose on the distant horizon, the sky gradually brightened, and the fog in the air dissipated, bringing a hint of coolness.

Chu Ye was wearing a green coarse cloth shirt today, black pants, and a pair of handmade cloth shoes. Her two braids hung straight down in front of her chest, and they were a little longer than they were a few months ago.

Mu Jiajun followed silently behind him, always not too far away, always one step behind.

I don’t know why, even though we haven’t seen each other for just a few days, the silent environment made Chu Ye unable to speak.

As they were almost at the entrance of the village, Chu Ye turned around and asked, "You got up so early, have you eaten yet?"

Mu Jiajun was originally kicking a small stone with his foot. Hearing this, he raised his head and said "Ah?" Then he thought about it, scratched his head, avoided Chu Ye's sight, and said that he had eaten.

Chu Ye turned around and the two fell into silence again.

Chu Ye knew that this was the second lie Mu Jiajun had told today.

The educated youth compound always prepares meals in the morning and eats together. Where can we get food so early now?

She thought of the yellow flour buns in the cloth bag and wanted to take them out, but she held back. She was conflicted, mainly because she was afraid that Mu Jiajun would not be used to eating them.

After a long while, she asked, "I have some steamed buns here, do you want some?"

After saying that, she reached into the cloth bag, took it out and handed it over.

The steamed bun didn't look very good. The skin was broken in some places, revealing the steamed bun crumbs inside.

Chu Ye also felt a little embarrassed and was about to retract it, but he saw Mu Jiajun's pair of hands with distinct finger bones reaching out, taking the bun and putting it into his mouth.

After taking a bite, he chewed it in his mouth and then smiled at Chu Ye.

Then he followed suit, took out a biscuit from his briefcase and handed it over.

He said, “It’s called reciprocity.”

Mu Jiajun still had the same smile on his face as always, which made people feel good just by looking at him. His complexion was not as white as before. The farm work in the past few months had made the young master in front of him realize the hard work of farmers.

But during this period, Mu Jiajun and Sister Deng never complained at all. They were both very enthusiastic and enthusiastic, which also infected Chu Ye.

Chu Ye also took it with a smile, tore open the package and started eating slowly.

The two of them quickly walked to the entrance of the village. After a while, Jianwen drove the ox cart over. The two of them sat on it swiftly, one on the left and one on the right. After they were seated firmly, Mu Jiajun took out some dried meat from his briefcase and handed it to Jianwen.

But Jianwen took a glance and waved his hand to refuse, but Mu Jiajun still insisted on handing it over. Chu Ye also joined in and indicated that the biscuits in her hand were also given by Mu Jiajun.

Jianwen couldn't defeat the two of them alone, so he had to reach out and take it.

The sun gradually rose in the east, the fog in the air dissipated, and the weeds on the roadside were swaying with dewdrops. Jianwen drove the ox cart, carrying the two of them away.

The country road was bumpy, but Chu Ye did not feel uncomfortable. On the contrary, she felt excited.

She is now standing at the fork in her fate. On one side is a repetition of her previous life of getting married and having children, and on the other side is a new life of studying that is about to begin.

She was full of expectations and confidence in herself.

(End of this chapter)