Chapter 360 Educated Youth Sent Down to the Countryside in the 1960s 22

"You, you're such a grown man, and you're so unreliable! Why did it take you so long to tell me about something so important!"

The voice was a bit loud, which startled Yao Ling's mother. She came out with a spatula and asked Yao's father, "What's wrong? What's the big deal? Keep your voice down, we have guests."

Do you know why your daughter came home?

"It's good that she's back, who cares why? Wait, did she secretly get married and get pregnant?"

Jiang Yue, watching Yao's father's speechless expression, almost couldn't help but laugh. No wonder Yao Ling has this personality; she's just like her mother. Yao's father shook the admission notice, then abruptly stopped himself: "Come and see what this is."

Aunt Liu wiped the water off her hands, picked up the notice and looked at it. Then she had the same expression as Mr. Jiang. After calming down, she carefully folded the notice and put it away. She handed it to Mr. Yao and then walked towards Yao Ling with a spatula. Yao Ling knew her mother very well. She pulled Jiang Yue to her feet and hid behind her.

Aunt Liu cursed and hit her, but Yao Ling kept hitting her by using Jiang Yue as a shield: "You're getting more and more out of control as you get older. Why didn't you say something about something this important earlier?"

"You didn't even ask, did you?"

"You're still trying to argue?!" After finishing, he circled around Jiang Yue a few more times. This time, Yao Ling didn't dodge and was lightly slapped twice. Yao's father received the notice and came over to pull Aunt Liu aside: "Okay, we'll talk to her later. Go and cook. Xiao Yue hasn't eaten yet."

After the meal was prepared, the family sat down to eat. Yao Ling told her parents about the events of the past six months, focusing on the college entrance examination. After she finished, Yao Ling was starving. Ku Ku ate a dry meal. Jiang Yue ate quietly from the beginning. Aunt Liu kept putting food on her plate, and she could barely finish the full bowl.

Mr. Yao was very happy and even had a couple of drinks. After dinner, he told Yao Ling and Jiang Yue to go back to their room to rest. The old couple tidied up the house and went to visit their neighbors. Even in Yao Ling's house, Jiang Yue could hear Mr. Yao's voice: "Yes, Xiao Ling is back today. Yes, yes, she got into university! Peking University! Oh, no, no, she got in on her own merit. How could we have helped her!"

Yao Ling and Jiang Yue exchanged a knowing smile. It seemed the two wouldn't be back anytime soon. They were tired from traveling for several days and fell asleep shortly after lying down in bed.

When they woke up the next day, it was almost noon. While eating, Aunt Liu told them that Yao's father had left for work an hour early that day. As soon as they finished eating, a lot of people came to their house, especially those with children. They all came to ask the two of them for advice. The two of them couldn't avoid them and were caught red-handed.

Two hours later, Yao Ling made an excuse to take Jiang Yue out to buy something before she could leave. Many people recognized them when they went out, and the conversation only stopped when they left the neighborhood. After all, everyone in this neighborhood was a factory worker who had lived there for decades, so who wouldn't know who everyone was?

After going out, Yao Ling took Jiang Yue for a walk, visiting the primary and secondary schools she had attended, and going to places she often played. She also took Jiang Yue to buy some food. The two returned home in the afternoon for lunch. When they got home, they found a large new item in the house: a television set.

The reason for buying the TV was for Yao Ling and Jiang Yue to watch the news broadcast. According to Yao's father, since they got into such a good university, they might become leaders in the future, and it wouldn't hurt to know more about national affairs.

"Dad! You think too much. Who knows what the future holds?"

"What do you know! This is called being prepared."

In the following days, Yao Ling took Jiang Yue sightseeing in Beijing and introduced her to some of her classmates. She asked about housing along the way, but now she was thinking too much and decided to wait until after the reform and opening up to buy a house.

They stayed at Yao Ling's house for a few days, and they were quite busy during those days. Many children from the neighborhood came to study with them, especially those who were preparing for the college entrance examination for the second time. These were children who had failed the first time and had a really poor foundation. Yao Ling was not as patient as Jiang Yue, and she started to get angry while teaching them.

Jiang Yue has lived for so many years and seen all kinds of people. She is quite composed. Yao's father and aunt said in private that it was no wonder Jiang Yue applied to a teacher's college. She is a natural teacher.

The tutoring classes continued until just a few days before the start of their school term. Zhang Wei and Wang Liang sent a telegram stating their arrival time in Beijing. Jiang Yue and Yao Ling arrived at the train station early this morning to wait for them. Their homes were quite far away, and they had money on hand, so they planned to buy their things after arriving here and didn't have much luggage.

After picking them up, they went back to Yao Ling's house and found them a guesthouse to stay in, since Yao Ling's house couldn't accommodate so many people. When they came to eat at her house, Wang Liang and Zhang Wei had a few drinks with Yao's father. The two of them drank too much and almost said something inappropriate, revealing that they were doing business together. You know, this kind of thing isn't allowed these days.

When they took them back to the guesthouse, the two of them gave them a few words of advice: after they stopped drinking together, they shouldn't drink too much when they went out for drinks, at least not during their university years, and they shouldn't talk about this with others, because if someone suggested it, it could be a matter of life and death.

Startled by the words, the two of them calmed down. They had been a bit restless lately. The next day, they first accompanied Zhang Wei to school to complete the enrollment process, then Jiang Yue, and finally Wang Shiliang and Yao Ling. The two of them were in the same school, so they could look after each other.

All four of them live on campus. Although Yao Ling's home is here, she doesn't plan to go home every day. She only goes back for one day on the weekend.

Jiang Yue is a history major. There are only about 60 students in her year. The dormitory is not big. The bunk beds take up most of the space. There are empty spaces in the corners from bottom to top to put luggage. These days, girls don't have much stuff. Each person has a long, flat little suitcase.

The better ones are made of artificial leather, studded with shiny silver nails and buckles, while the worse ones are just bags sewn from coarse cloth. The living space isn't too cramped. When Jiang Yue arrived, there were already five people living there. These five people had already introduced themselves, and Jiang Yue, with her good memory, remembered them all.

Perhaps because they had just met, the six of them weren't very familiar with each other and didn't talk much. Everyone was reading. Jiang Yue checked the time, then looked at the empty kettle, and prepared to get some hot water. As she left, she casually asked, "Anyone want to go get some hot water together?"

"Yes, wait for me, let's go together."

As soon as Jiang Yue spoke, someone responded. The three of them each carried a water bottle to fetch water. Perhaps because there were fewer people, they relaxed and started chatting. By the time they returned to the dormitory, they had become familiar with each other. After dinner that night, they could basically call each other by name.

The next day, everyone got up very early to study. Since school hadn't officially started yet, everyone had to go to the library every day to grab a spot. If you went late, there wouldn't be any spots left. Those without spots could only study in their dorm rooms, which didn't have the same atmosphere, so their study efficiency was naturally much slower.