Zheng Xu was rushing to a meeting, waving his hand: "The news is definitely true. You guys hurry up and figure out how to get the textbooks. I'll tell you the details when I get back from the meeting. Hurry up and go!"

Zheng Xu didn't want to cause trouble for Bai Jiaojiao, so he didn't expose her.

These educated youths all rushed back to write letters. Zheng Xu wasn't there, and no one cared if they didn't go to work.

Some people who had good relationships with the village could borrow textbooks from others and study together.

Because these things are unwanted by scrap collectors now, they don't fetch much money, and high school students are reluctant to part with their textbooks. If they want to use them, they can easily find them themselves.

Upon hearing this news, Yu Wenli was deeply impressed by his own analytical abilities.

He knew that Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng studying late into the night couldn't possibly be for the real purpose of improving their knowledge.

While others were frantically rushing around like headless flies, Yu Wenli, who had already reviewed half of his material, was confident of victory.

Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng continued their studies methodically. Zheng Xu hadn't transferred Shen Heng before, and now that he knew they were going to take the college entrance exam, he felt even more embarrassed to transfer him.

Zheng Xu nodded to himself, realizing that Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng were actually the most promising candidates in the village to get into university.

Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng are both registered residents of their village. If they can produce two college students, their Shili Village will become famous overnight.

If he gets published in the newspaper and someone interviews him, he'll definitely talk about how Bai Jiaojiao helped the village raise pigs, which will both praise Bai Jiaojiao and promote the pigs raised in the village.

Zheng Xu had even prepared his acceptance speech, just waiting for these two to help him get into university.

When the Bai family found out, Deng Min visited almost every day, bringing them delicious food and drinks. Wang Fushun also stopped Bai Jiaojiao from making pastries anymore. Earning money was not as important as getting into university. Getting into university was like changing one's life.

As soon as the autumn wind blows, the weather gets cool.

Because there were so many participants in this exam, each region first organized a preliminary exam, which only tested Chinese and mathematics. Only those who passed the preliminary exam could participate in the final exam.

For Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng, this was an exam to test the results of their hard work over the past year; for the other candidates, it was undoubtedly a difficult hurdle.

They were both excited and afraid, excited to get good grades, but afraid of failing even the preliminary exam.

At the end of November, the preliminary exam results were released.

Some were happy while others were sad. Of the twenty people who signed up for the preliminary selection in Shili Village, only three passed.

If the preliminary rounds are this intense, imagine how fierce the final unified exam will be.

Later, Zheng Xu inquired and found out that getting three people into the top three was already a lot; in the neighboring Xiangyang Village, not a single person had passed the preliminary selection.

Of the three people from Shili Village who passed the exam, besides Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng, the last one was Yu Wenli.

Zheng Xu was initially a little surprised, but after a moment of astonishment, he remembered that Yu Wenli had also been a well-mannered educated youth.

Zheng Xu shook his head regretfully. Yu Wenli might have good grades and could probably get into university, but he was terrible at being a person.

Exams can filter out those who are not good at studying, but they cannot filter out those who are not good at character.

Zheng Xu thought that if Yu Wenli went to any unit in the future, he must not become a leader. He could not take responsibility and liked to flirt with female colleagues.

There are only a few eligible girls in their village. Yu Wenli has been here for five years and has already gotten married twice.

The official exams are scheduled for three days, from the 8th to the 10th, with the four main subjects concentrated on the first two days.

Zheng Xu notified Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng a week in advance to go to the high school in town to pick up their admission tickets and check out the examination venue.

They were scheduled to take the high school exam in town, and the two of them were in the same exam room. Their admission ticket numbers were 001 and 005, respectively.

Bai Jiaojiao looked at the "001" in the lower right corner of her admission ticket number and knew that it meant she had ranked first in the preliminary exam.

Shen Heng said, "I wonder who the three in the middle are. They're so inconsiderate."

"Heng-ge, when you take the math and physics exams, remember to write out the steps!"

Bai Jiaojiao gave instructions.

This was just a preliminary exam in the county, and Shen Heng was only four places behind her. If it were a province-wide unified exam, wouldn't the difference be huge?

Although Shen Heng's strengths lie in physics and chemistry, Bai Jiaojiao is still somewhat worried.

"I know, you see I'm writing it right now."

"Make sure you check it after you finish writing."

Don't worry.

"You need to write your essay more carefully."

"Um."

Bai Jiaojiao was more worried about Shen Heng than about herself. Shen Heng saw that she was getting anxious and said, "Don't worry, I won't hold you back. Even if we don't get into the same school, we'll apply to schools in the same city. I'll ride my bike to see you every day."

Shen Heng smiled at Bai Jiaojiao and rubbed her head.

"Mmm." Bai Jiaojiao buried her face in Shen Heng's chest, smelling the scent of soap on him.

"But you never know, how do you know I can't beat you?"

Shen Heng raised an eyebrow; he never spoke more than three sentences in a row when he was serious.

"If you can surpass me in just one year, what will become of my dignity?" Bai Jiaojiao was no longer nervous after being interrupted by Shen Heng.

For convenience, the two booked a room at the town's guesthouse a day in advance, bringing their marriage certificate and exam admission ticket with them.

The guesthouse in town was in very poor condition. Although it had a cement floor, it looked wet and sticky, and Bai Jiaojiao didn't know where to put her feet.

Shen Heng also said, "This isn't even as clean as the pigsty in our village. Why didn't they invite Yu Wenli to clean up this guesthouse?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Jiaojiao immediately laughed: "Then he's found a good business!"

This guesthouse is only a 15-minute bike ride from the high school where they'll be taking the exam. If the exam is at 9 a.m., they can get up at 7 a.m. and everything can proceed smoothly.

Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng studied for a while before going to sleep. They had already adjusted their biological clocks to ensure they were full of energy during the exam.

Yu Wenli also slept in this guesthouse, but he tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep.

He was worried about tomorrow's exam and also harbored resentment towards Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng.

Yu Wenli couldn't understand why Shen Heng could pass the preliminary exam, no matter how hard he tried.

So many educated youth from their village, including some who had good grades in school, failed the preliminary exam after a month of studying. This shows how rigorous the selection process was.

Even if Shen Heng had learned from Bai Jiaojiao beforehand, it had only been about ten months since they met Su Yangang. Yu Wenli had already found out that Shen Heng was an illiterate who had never attended primary school. How could he pass this preliminary selection?

Yu Wenli felt something was wrong; Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng must have been involved in something during the preliminary exam.

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that this was true. He decided that he would report it to the proctor tomorrow and ask the proctor to keep a close eye on the two of them!

Yu Wenli became more and more excited as he thought about it all night, and even seemed to see Bai Jiaojiao and Shen Heng's miserable lives after they were caught cheating.