090 Graduate Student (Bug Fixing)

On the other end of the phone, Ding Xianzong had just put the receiver back when his wife patted him on the shoulder, asking in confusion, "Your fourth uncle's name is written on the commune's big red paper, how can you say it's not there?"

"If they find out, will they be able to live a good life off my fourth uncle?" Ding Xianzong said, his heart filled with resentment. "Our daughter is sick and wants to borrow some money from home, but we don't have a single penny. When my fifth uncle and my eldest brother went to the countryside, our family sent them a lot of money and things. I only asked our family once, and they still... Anyway, they can forget about living off my fourth uncle!"

His wife thought about it and agreed.

The only time they went back to visit their family after they got married, they were scolded and kicked out. At that time, she felt that the Ding family was difficult to deal with.

"Forget it, let's not depend on them for our livelihood." Ding Xianzong's wife added, "At least last time when we went to the hospital, your fourth uncle gave them twenty yuan, so we've repaid the favor."

"Stop making that face, come on, let's go home for dinner!"

Ding Xuewen had no idea that Aunt Ding would think of calling Ding Xianzong, nor did he know that Ding Xianzong had kept it a secret from him.

After staying at Chen Lizhong's house for only a few days, relatives and friends who had come to pay New Year's visits started to approach him again, all wanting him to tutor their children.

He was too embarrassed to ask for payment, but Chen Lizhong had no such concerns and asked for an exorbitant fee: 40 yuan for 20 days of supplementary classes, with a discount for relatives and friends, so in the end each student would be charged 36 yuan, and additional fees would be charged for weekend tutoring if needed.

Chen Lizhong counted the money very smoothly, and quickly counted it all.

He exclaimed, "We've struck gold! We should just open a tutoring center, it's more profitable than raising pigs! Four hundred yuan in one go!"

Ding Xuewen gasped in shock, "Are you crazy? Taking in so many students? Where are you going to teach them?"

However, it was not mentioned that Chen Lizhong was asking for a high price.

Chen Lizhong said that not many of his relatives and friends were good people. When he first came to them to borrow some money, they all claimed to be poor. If he cut off all contact with them, he would have no problem with that. But if they saw that his family was doing well again and wanted to come back to him, he had to take the opportunity to vent his anger.

Chen Lizhong's mother, Yang Shuqin, waved her hand and said, "There's a small courtyard in the house that Uncle Lizhong's family returned. Let Lizhong go and borrow a place there."

Chen Lizhong unceremoniously took ten large bills and gave the rest to Ding Xuewen, saying, "Consider this one hundred as a reward for your hard work in promoting this place, as well as the cost of renting the venue."

"Hurry up and take it, stop being so indecisive. Lin Sitian is right, you're just a pedantic scholar, you need to be more flexible!"

After saying that, he called Ding Xuewen to borrow a yard from his uncle's house. After all, Ding Xuewen was tutoring his uncle's son, and with his cousin's "teacher" there, it would be easier for him to ask.

Yang Shumin raised her eyebrows. Since her son came back, she had heard the name "Lin Sitian" several times.

I was curious, but judging from her son's appearance, he didn't seem to be in a relationship.

"Never mind him, he'll find someone when he's in a hurry." Chen Fu leisurely picked up the newspaper and flipped through it.

“I’m not in a hurry. Tell your relatives to stop eyeing him. What do you mean by finding someone decent so they can help each other out? Pshaw! When things weren’t good for the family before, they didn’t help us at all.”

Chen Fu agreed, jokingly saying, "If they mention it to me, I'll say that our butcher isn't good enough for the nice girl they're introducing."

"Tsk! So what if you're a butcher? That skill is much more impressive than being able to read a few books. When you were struggling in the countryside, who sent you pork sausages?"

"I was wrong, I was wrong. That's not right. None of the people they introduced are good enough for our family's butcher."

That's more like it!

—

After attending the wedding, Lin Sitian returned to school to continue her final semester of classes after only two days.

Before returning to school, he made a special trip to the Workers' Hospital to find an old friend and exchanged some family planning supplies for Guan Yuehe.

"This stuff is in serious short supply, the supply is too limited." Lin Sitian laughed, "The factory should really give Chang Zhengyi an 'Outstanding Pioneer Award'."

Why?

“Previously, cadres could only have two children, but now their children are also expected to take the lead. As a result, there aren’t many family planning supplies to collect, so sterilization and IUD insertion are the easiest options. Every month, the Women’s Federation sends doctors from hospitals to promote the idea to workers and their families that male sterilization is safer and more effective.”

Lin Sitian continued, "Some people are afraid that they won't be able to use their bodies after getting a vasectomy, so the Women's Federation keeps using Chang Zhengyi as an example, and it has actually persuaded quite a few men to get vasectomies. Don't you think he should be given an award?"

Guan Yuehe nodded immediately, "It's a pity that Chang Zhengyi isn't from the car factory, otherwise he would definitely have won the year-end outstanding worker award."

Just as he finished speaking, Chang Zhengyi returned carrying Shunshun. A moment later, Aunt Zhao wailed, "Which mud puddle did you fall into?"

It's too dirty to want anymore.

Wu Jiawang from the front yard ran over and egged them on, "Aunt Zhao, it was Ding Laowu who did it! He pushed Shunshun and my brother into the ditch!"

After he finished complaining, he still had to go back and deal with his brother, who was so smelly and dirty that he couldn't wait for his parents to come back.

"I think he's made a king out of lying at home, and now he wants to be the king of the alley!" Aunt Zhao rolled up her sleeves and rushed towards courtyard number three. Grandpa Chang tried to stop her but couldn't, and was pounced on by Shunshun, who was covered in filth and stench.

After only a couple of days of peace, they're about to start fighting again.

Lin Sitian excitedly pulled Guan Yuehe over to see.

"Our alley is so much better, it's so lively. I never encounter anything like this at school!"

Guan Yuehe had seen a lot of fights and concluded that the elderly men and women's arguments and fights all followed a similar pattern: they would start by hurling insults at each other, blaming the other person for everything, and then they would start fighting when they got tired of hurling insults. They would only calm down when the person in charge or Officer Song arrived.

Guan Yuehe and Zhou Hongqi are capable of keeping people in check, but they either don't participate or they take sides.

Sure enough, once Officer Song was brought over, he quickly separated Aunt Ding and Aunt Zhao.

But from that day on, Ding Laowu's already bad reputation in the alley became even worse.

This is just an ordinary little thing in the alley.

After that, Guan Yuehe went to wedding banquets for several weekends in a row. In reality, it was just that her child had been admitted to university and the family was hosting a banquet.

Apart from Sister Luo's family, the rest all belong to colleagues from the factory.

After waiting and waiting, the invitation finally arrived at He Shuangshuang's home on the first weekend of March.

In February, He Shuangshuang invited them out for dinner alone. At that time, Sitian had returned to school, Lin Yiku couldn't make it, and Xie Dongxue's husband had to work. In the end, only the few of them had dinner together.

He Shuangshuang also mentioned that her mother-in-law had been giving her a cold shoulder since learning that she had been admitted to university and did not plan to host a banquet.

"Didn't you say you weren't going to invite anyone? Why did you change your mind?" Guan Yuehe asked curiously, flipping through the invitations in her hand.

It's rare to see He Shuangshuang roll her eyes like this. "A relative who has influence in the family called a couple of days ago to ask when we'd be having a dinner party. They even said that the school and major I got into would be just as good as staying in the garment factory after graduation. Mo Zhinan's parents' attitude changed immediately. And look, the dinner party is being held at a state-run restaurant."

Guan Yuehe didn't know what to say about other people's family affairs, so she could only comfort her by saying, "Anyway, you don't need to worry about it. Just go and eat happily."

“I’m not unhappy at all. My mother-in-law didn’t like me when Mo Zhinan and I got our marriage certificate. She would find any opportunity to nitpick, but I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to her.”

He Shuangshuang sighed, "Let's not talk about this anymore. If your husband is free, you should invite him too."

After delivering the invitation to Guan Yuehe, He Shuangshuang walked a short distance forward, sat on the back of Mo Zhinan's bicycle, who was waiting there, and soon turned out of the factory gate.

After attending He Shuangshuang's university banquet, it was already mid-March, and universities across the country were gradually starting their new semester.

Guan Yuehua couldn't go back and forth between school and home every day, so she had to live in the school dormitory.

Gu Mannian had already enrolled Gu Yu in a childcare program at the clothing factory, but Jiang Guiying insisted on canceling it.

"Don't worry about it. Yangyang doesn't need to be carried all day anymore. Just bring Guyu over before you go to work, and bring her home for dinner after you get off work before taking her back."

The after-school care program at the factory certainly wouldn't be as attentive as the child's maternal grandmother's. Seeing that his sister-in-law Lin Yufeng also agreed, Gu Mannian went along with it.

"Okay, Mom, we're really troubling you with our little family. I'll bring your monthly food rations home, and I'll also give you fifteen yuan a month. Guyu is small, but she eats quite a lot."

"I think you two really don't know how to manage your money! Who raises a child for fifteen yuan a month? Just bring the food rations over."

Gu Mannian disagreed. His own mother wasn't as attentive as his mother-in-law, who had helped Guan Yuehua a lot since she became pregnant.

“Yuehua is still getting paid even though she’s in school. We both make a good amount of money every month, so you can keep it. Even if I hire someone in the family compound to help take care of the kids, I’d have to pay them seven or eight yuan. How could I give you less than a stranger? Yuehua will scold me when she gets back.”

Jiang Guiying couldn't refuse, so she had to accept the money, thinking that her family's dinners would need to be more oily from now on.

"Yuehua is all bark and no bite, she's a bit short-tempered... If she insults you, just tell me, and I'll get revenge for you."

Gu Mannian found it amusing and went along with her words, saying, "Okay, if she's going to scold me, you'll have to back me up."

Guan Aiguo, standing nearby, chuckled to himself. If his older sister really started yelling, no one in the family could out-yell her.

"Smile, smile, smile. When you have time, go to your master's house and see if there's anything you can help with. When you're learning a skill from someone, you have to be sweet-talking and hardworking!" Jiang Guiying shooed the man out the door and told him to take a bottle of wine to the machinery factory's residential compound.

Carrying the wine his father had secretly hidden, Guan Aiguo rode his older brother's bicycle out the door.

Guan Aiguo returned to the city with his luggage on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. He is now a temporary worker at the Wuxing Automobile Factory barbershop and has been assigned to learn advanced hair perming techniques at the Machinery Factory barbershop.

The men, women, and children in the alley were all very curious and often caught him asking, "Is it that kind of curly hair? In the past, only the wives and young ladies of capitalists could get their hair permed. Now we can get it too?"

"Why is it that only capitalists can get perms? There used to be someone who lived in No. 7 Courtyard, and he could perm his hair at home with hot tongs and it looked pretty good. Lots of women would come to him for it. If perms hadn't been banned later, I would have gotten one when I was young."

Guan Aiguo hadn't even mastered the hair-perming technique yet, but people were already making appointments and queuing up to get their hair permed.

Of course, some people think this is an improper hairstyle and immediately scoff and shake their heads, but young people like it no matter what.

"The workers in the machine factory are all getting burned, how can our car factory lag behind them?"

Guan Yuehe was even stopped by someone who asked, "Yuehe, are you getting your hair permed?"

Guan Yuehe has no time to think about getting her hair permed right now!

Her teacher called the neighborhood office to ask how her review was going, and also said that the postgraduate admissions were coming up soon, so she shouldn't relax.

In early April, the postgraduate admission process officially began. The news of the admission was broadcast and published in newspapers, and the examination was scheduled to begin on May 15 and last for three days.

For example, the English major that Guan Yuehe wants to apply for includes an oral conversation assessment during the re-examination.

She doesn't need her employer's approval to register for the exam, nor does she need to provide any proof. If she hadn't said anything, no one would have known that she was preparing to take the postgraduate entrance exam.

She also found the graduate admission documents and studied them carefully, discovering that the admission requirements for graduate programs were even more lenient than those for the college entrance examination. A junior high school diploma was sufficient to apply, and the age limit was even extended to forty.

However, the exam content leans more towards professional knowledge, and regardless of the major, a foreign language test is required. While the entry requirements may seem low, the assessment content is far from simple.

She didn't hesitate when it came to the application process; she directly applied to the Department of Foreign Languages ​​at Peking University and submitted her application form there early on.

I received my admission ticket from Peking University in early May.

Unlike the wave of discussion sparked by the college entrance examination, most people believe that the restoration of the postgraduate admission system has nothing to do with them.

But she learned from her teachers that many people also wanted to take this opportunity to change their work units and solve the problem of couples living apart.

Many of those who signed up were already working workers and middle school teachers.

Of the letters Guan Yuehe sent to her classmates last year, less than one-tenth have replied in the past six months, and only three have said they would consider applying for postgraduate studies. She wonders if her former classmates will have a different opinion now that this news has been announced.

But she didn't have time to think about it anymore.

With less than half a month until the exam, both families knew she was preparing for the Peking University graduate entrance exam. They didn't tell anyone, but simply asked her to come home for dinner every day after get off work.

Aunt Bai laughed at her, saying, "You're so fair, going back to your parents' home today and your husband's home tomorrow."

Her unusually lazy behavior led some to speculate: "Is Yuehe pregnant?"

"Oh my! That fierce girl! She pedals so hard every time she goes to work, doesn't she worry about jolting the baby off?"

Therefore, when Guan Yuehe suddenly asked for three days off, her colleagues in the planning department said with concern, "If you're not feeling well, you should take a few days off to rest. You must not be careless."

Guan Yuehe looked at her colleague blankly, wondering where she had guessed, but Section Chief Long signed the document without saying a word, and she was too lazy to explain.

Let's talk about it after she passes the exam.

It's not time for her to show off yet.

Lin Yiku carefully put away her exam admission ticket. "Should we book a guesthouse next to the Education Bureau?"

Guan Yuehe was unaware of the situations of others; she only knew that she had been assigned to the Municipal Education Bureau to take the exam.

She often passed by the Municipal Education Bureau on her way to meetings at the Municipal Government, so she knew roughly where it was located, and it wasn't far to ride her bike there.

"No, I'll take one exam a day, and I'll come back as soon as I'm done."

Seeing him frown, Guan Yuehe chuckled and said, "It's my exam, why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous when I take the exam myself."

“That’s true,” Guan Yuehe agreed. “I was also nervous when my sister and her siblings took the college entrance exam, afraid that they wouldn’t pass.”

Before she knew it, it was time for her to take the postgraduate entrance exam. She felt relaxed, and Lin Yiku, who had gotten up early, helped her check the contents of her bag twice.

Lin Yiku usually leaves for work before 7 a.m., but it's rare that Guan Yuehe leaves at the same time today.

The early-rising neighbors thought the guess that "Yuehe is pregnant" was more accurate.

"The young couple got up early to go to the hospital for a check-up; everything is normal."

But Guan Yuehe's early morning departures continued for three days in a row, causing the neighbors to begin to doubt their own judgment: Could it be for something else?

Aunt Xie's eyes darted around, and another guess came to mind, but when she thought of her daughter-in-law Liu Axiu's warning, she remained silent and said nothing.

But some observant people noticed something was amiss: "Didn't Zhang Desheng take leave recently? Why is he going out early every morning?"

"Huh? Why are you suddenly bringing up Zhang Desheng?"

“My grandson is in his class. He came home the day before yesterday saying that Teacher Zhang had taken three days off because a new teacher had come to teach them.” The woman found it strange. “Why would he take leave for no reason? And if he did take leave, why would he leave home so early every morning?”

A moment later, someone else chimed in, "I just remembered too, that guy, Teacher Xie Zhenhua, he also took leave! He goes out every day!"

"Now that you mention it, it seems like several teachers at the junior high school in our car factory have also taken leave. My daughter said that several teachers have taken leave and can't teach, and I was wondering if she was skipping class to be lazy."

Aunt Xie was startled and, taking advantage of the fact that no one remembered her, secretly slipped back home.

On the other side, Guan Yuehe's answer sheet was collected, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She felt she had written it quite well, but she didn't know how the teacher would grade it.

There were forty people in her exam room, applying to different schools and majors. She didn't know any of them. After the exam, everyone went their separate ways, saving them the trouble of comparing answers.

But today, as soon as she came out of the Municipal Education Bureau, she first ran into Zhang Desheng at the main gate, and then bumped into Xie Zhenhua.

Clearly, everyone here is taking the postgraduate entrance exam, but after three days of exams, we only bumped into each other today.

Xie Zhenhua actually saw Guan Yuehe on the first day. She was riding her bicycle so fast that she seemed to be flying, and Xie Zhenhua couldn't catch up with her even if he wanted to say hello.

He saw Zhang Desheng again the next day, but Zhang Desheng was acting suspiciously, as if he was afraid of being seen by an acquaintance, so he gave up the idea of ​​greeting him.

The three of them looked at each other, and only Zhang Desheng felt awkward. "What a coincidence, what a coincidence."

Then he pedaled away as fast as he could.

Guan Yuehe watched as Zhang Desheng rode to the right, then rode back a short while later, pedaling rapidly to the left without looking back.

"Hey! I was just about to remind him, he's rushing too fast!"

Guan Yuehe rode her bicycle slowly back, chatting with Xie Zhenhua along the way.

"Teacher Xie, which exam did you take?"

"I applied to Tsinghua University. I majored in chemistry in college and I also applied for graduate school in chemistry."

Guan Yuehe exclaimed in surprise, "You majored in chemistry in college?!"

All she knew was that Xie Zhenhua was a former college graduate who was assigned to teach math at the Third Middle School after graduation, and later transferred to the automobile factory's technical school to teach physics. But he actually had a background in chemistry?!

Seeing Guan Yuehe's confusion, Xie Zhenhua smiled and said, "Among my college roommates, there were those who studied mathematics, physics, and even radio. Back then, we had to know a little bit about everything, even things from other majors. I just learned a little bit from my roommates."

Putting aside Xie Zhenhua's usual carefree and unhelpful attitude, she really admired his knowledge.

No wonder Zhang Xinbi and Guo Xusheng said that most college students in the past had real skills.

"Are you still applying to the foreign language department at Peking University?"

"Ah, right." Guan Yuehe smiled shyly, "I'm used to studying there, and I don't want to study in another place."

Xie Zhenhua replied, "Learning foreign languages ​​is good. The country needs to develop in all sectors. Foreign countries are developing well, and we will have to learn their technology. In the future, we will need talents like you who know foreign languages."

To be honest, Guan Yuehe didn't see that long-term development. For now, she just wanted to improve her education level as soon as possible.

Feeling that it was difficult to get into university and that there was little hope of getting into an undergraduate program, she took another path and tried to get into graduate school, which had a much higher chance of success.

A postgraduate degree is an even higher qualification.

As they chatted, they reached a fork in the road. Xie Zhenhua turned towards the car factory, while Guan Yuehe continued forward; she had finished her exams and was going back to work at the factory.

When she came home from get off work in the afternoon, Jiang Guiying came to find her carrying Guyu, eagerly asking, "How did the exam go? Are you confident?"

Guan Yuehe shook her head and sighed, "It's hard to say."

Jiang Guiying was not discouraged. "If I don't pass this time, I'll try again next time."

Isn't the college entrance exam the same? It was taken once last December, and it can be taken again this July.

Guan Yuehe felt that she couldn't rely on the next time, and wondered if the postgraduate admission policy would change in the future.

We can only wait for the results of the preliminary test to come out before making a decision.

She still turns on the TV at night, but it's not just kids who come; there are also several older women.

"Yuehe, have you been taking the postgraduate entrance exam these past few days?" Auntie Er asked bluntly.

Guan Yuehe never underestimated the ability of the elderly to gather information. Although she didn't know where she had slipped up, she didn't try to cover it up when she was discovered, and even asked, "How did you know?"

That's a long story.

The older women compiled a list of recent anomalies and inquired about them one by one. They eventually discovered that a middle school teacher had taken leave to take the postgraduate entrance exam, so they concluded that Guan Yuehe, Zhang Desheng, and Xie Zhenhua were also taking the postgraduate entrance exam.

Guan Yuehe gave a thumbs up and praised, "You guys would have been excellent at intelligence work in the past!"

The women, without any modesty, cheerfully said, "We even provided the police with a lead a while ago, which led to the arrest of a group of human traffickers!"

"You have to admit that our people are truly enthusiastic and wise!" Guan Yuehe continued to praise.

Unfortunately, the older women were shrewd and experienced, unlike Lin Yiku who was easily swayed by her sweet talk and didn't forget her original purpose for coming here.

"If Zhang Desheng, with his level of education, can take the postgraduate entrance exam, then my third child, who only graduated from elementary school, can also do it?"

Guan Yuehe corrected her, saying, "I heard from Zhang Ersao that Teacher Zhang obtained his high school diploma a long time ago by studying on his own and taking the school's exams."

"No wonder Zhang Quanbin doesn't do well in school; Zhang Desheng is focused on improving himself."

Guan Yuehe: "......" There's no way to respond to that.

"What a pity! I should have let my eldest grandson take the entrance exam for this master's program. I heard it's even more prestigious than a bachelor's degree, and graduates can become experts, right?"

Guan Yuehe scratched her head, "It's hard to say."

The preliminary examination for postgraduate studies has concluded, and many students are beginning to ponder the application requirements and examination subjects. Some have even given up the college entrance examination and decided to prepare for the next postgraduate entrance examination.

Along with the interview notice came a letter from my classmate Chunmei.

The letter was sent on the very day the country announced the resumption of postgraduate entrance examinations, but it went through some unknown difficulties and finally arrived on her desk more than a month later.

Chunmei transferred back to work in the security department of the cannery in her hometown at the beginning of this year, while her boyfriend worked in the city. Firstly, she wasn't satisfied with her assigned unit, and secondly, she thought that graduating with a master's degree would give her a better chance of being assigned to the city. Therefore, Chunmei also signed up for this exam.

The handwriting in the letter revealed Chunmei's excitement when she wrote it. Guan Yuehe read the last part, which read: "Please tell Director Zheng Xingmin that opportunity truly favors the prepared mind!"

Guan Yuehe laughed out loud, read the contents of the letter again, took out the letter paper to write back, and reminded Chunmei to mobilize her relatives, friends and colleagues to support the clothes and shoes of Zhuoyue Garment Factory.

After writing the reply, she opened the envelope from Kyoto University. Inside was her interview notice, informing her to go to Kyoto University at the end of this month to participate in the interview.

After reading it, Guan Yuehe wrote the good news in her reply to Chunmei, and continued: Comrade Guan Yuehe will bring Chunmei's sincerest greetings to the teachers when she enrolls.

After finishing writing, he handed it to Lin Yiku and asked him to help put it in an envelope.

Lin Yiku glanced at the last sentence of her reply unintentionally and smiled along with her.

She had just received the interview notice when she started showing off to her roommate.

In order to participate in the re-examination, Guan Yuehe asked Section Chief Long for leave again.

This time, Section Chief Long didn't ask any further questions, only saying, "Prepare well."

It seemed to be a complete mystery, but Guan Yuehe knew that many people in the factory must already know that she had applied for the postgraduate entrance examination.

Tao Cheng's blessing in the office was the most sincere: "Section Chief Guan, I wish you great success in your exam!"

"Thank you for your kind words!"

Tao Cheng's smile stretched from ear to ear. He was still thinking about when Section Chief Long would be promoted, and Guan Yuehe would follow suit, making room for him.

A new path opens up before you do!

Guan Yuehe has applied for the postgraduate entrance examination. If she passes, the position of deputy head of the planning department will be vacant! He feels that he has no other competitors in the department. Now everything is ready, except for Guan Yuehe passing the exam!

On the second-to-last day of May, Guan Yuehe rode her bicycle to Peking University, registered at the school gate, and went directly to the classroom for the re-examination.

"Oh, Xiao Guan, so early? Come help me move the table." The teacher ordered her around without any politeness as soon as she saw her.