December 5, 1977.

The day before the 1977 National College Entrance Examination.

Li Ping and the others looked at Li Zhen's admission ticket with great interest. The admission ticket was first written with "Zhao Province Higher Education Admissions Committee (1977)", and below it were three large bold characters in a flower frame - "Admission Ticket".

On the left side of the admission ticket was Li Zhen's one-inch photo, glued on. On the right side, symmetrical to the photo, were four lines of text: registration number, name, application category, and examination location.

At the bottom are the exam subjects and times. Tomorrow morning is Chinese, afternoon is Physics and Chemistry; the day after tomorrow morning is Math, afternoon is Politics.

Li Zhen is applying for a science and engineering major, so she will take the physics and chemistry exams. Liu Junbo is applying for a humanities major, and he will take the history and geography exams tomorrow afternoon; the other subjects are the same as Li Zhen's.

"Xiaoping, put your fourth sister's exam admission ticket in her pencil case. Don't damage it."

Zhao Sufang instructed Li Ping, but she didn't know what she should do. She just couldn't stop and her mind was restless.

Li Lan was preparing a nutritious meal when Li Xiangdong saw that she was making mostly meat dishes. He quickly stopped her, saying, "Big sister, just give fourth sister her regular meals. If you suddenly make a lot of meat, what if her stomach can't handle it and she gets diarrhea?"

"Oh dear, it's true! Look at me, I'm so confused, I don't know what to do!"

"Boil a few more eggs, they'll fill you up!"

The main reason is that eating eggs makes me feel like I need to go to the toilet more often.

As soon as Li Jin received the admission notice, he rode his bicycle with Li Zhen to the examination venue to check it out. This way, they wouldn't be in a rush and unable to find the examination venue the next day.

The examination venue for this year's college entrance examination in Huichuan was set up at Chengguan Town Primary School. When the father and son arrived, the school's large iron gate was tightly closed. Looking through the iron railings, they could see that the classroom doors were all closed, with white seals with black characters and red stamps pasted diagonally on them.

When Li Zhen was scouting the location, she ran into Liu Junbo, who was also looking for his exam room in advance. They chatted and discovered that they were taking the exam in the same classroom.

After exchanging a few words of encouragement, Li Jin took Li Zhen home.

It's already quite cold, and no one's lit a stove in the classroom. Li Jin went home and told his family this important information.

That very night, Zhao Sufang and Li Lan hurriedly made a pair of thin cotton gloves for Li Zhen, covering her palms and half of her fingers. These gloves were both warm and would not interfere with her handwriting.

Nothing was said that night.

The next morning, when it was still dark, there were rustling sounds of people getting up in the Li family's house.

As Li Jin was carrying firewood from the yard into the house, Li Xiangdong pushed open the door and came in.

The young man looked refreshed. He opened the door to the main room for Li Jin and let his father go in first. By the light of the main room, he saw that Zhao Sufang and Li Jin both had dark circles under their eyes, looking like pandas.

Li Xiangdong chuckled inwardly, thinking that the old couple must have been so nervous that they hadn't slept all night.

At this moment, Li Zhen had also finished tidying up and was sitting at the table studying. Li Xiangdong carefully looked at his fourth sister a few times. Li Zhen's expression was fine, as calm as usual.

After breakfast, the whole family mobilized to take Li Zhen to the college entrance examination.

This year, besides Li Zhen, there were four other candidates from Lijiapo. Everyone walked silently along the road, nodding and greeting each other when they met. Li Xiangdong noticed that they were all looking down, muttering something under their breath.

When they arrived at the entrance of the town's primary school, the school gate was already packed with people. Everyone was wearing the same style of blue padded coats, black padded trousers, and hats. Despite this, their cheeks were all red from the cold, and their breath formed a white trail when they spoke.

Huang Guimei and Factory Director Yan were already waiting there. As soon as Li Zhen saw Huang Guimei, she took two quick steps forward and grasped her hand, "Teacher, why did you come in this freezing weather?"

"You are my first student in ten years, how could I not come?"

Huang Guimei was previously a chemistry teacher at a university.

"Just take the test, just like we do every time we practice questions, don't feel any pressure."

She patted Li Zhen's thin but straight back, "Go on, we're all waiting for you outside."

Li Zhen glanced back at her parents, and Zhao Sufang and Li Jin waved to her in unison, smiling and saying, "Good luck!"

As soon as the iron gate opened, the crowd stirred instantly and then surged into the primary school like a flowing river.

In his past life, Li Xiangdong had also accompanied those two adopted children to their exams. Back then, he was already wealthy, and he would book a room in a hotel near the exam venue for them to rest at noon. The meals they had been eating these past two days were also carefully prepared nutritious meals by someone he had arranged…

After the examinees entered, the gatekeeper closed the school gate again, separating the examinees from the people who came to see them off into two separate spaces.

The outside world remained bustling and noisy, while the campus was serious, tense, and orderly.

In the winter of 1977, a total of 5.7 million people across China entered the examination hall with their long-held dreams of attending university, picked up their pens, and wrote their ideals on the exam paper, competing for a mere 270,000 opportunities to go to university.

...

"Let's go home and warm up first. We also need to prepare lunch for Zhenzhen in advance."

Huang Guimei took the arms from Li Yan and said to Zhao Sufang.

Because Director Yan's house is relatively close to the town's primary school, lunch is cooked at his house, which also makes it convenient for Li Zhen to rest at noon.

After two days of exams, except for students taking foreign language majors who need to take an additional foreign language exam, the college entrance examination journey is over for most students.

After finishing the college entrance examination, Li Zhen put down her books and went to the fields to harvest bok choy. In her words, "I haven't lifted a finger in the past six months, and I feel completely rusty. I need to get to the fields and get some work done so I can relax!"

The other girls looked at Li Zhen and felt that she was the same as before, but also that she was different from before.

Whether it's the same or different, Li Zhen is very meticulous in her work.

She quickly pulled up a patch of bok choy, then, needing more help at the shrimp pond, she went there with the others to assist. Their task was to sort the giant freshwater prawns of different sizes.

As soon as winter arrives, the demand for giant freshwater prawns in major cities surges. In the north, only one store in Lijiapo carries them; there are no other branches. Therefore, to buy giant freshwater prawns now, you not only need to pay in cash, but you also have to wait for a quota.

Guo Daming watched Li Zhen carefully selecting giant freshwater prawns. He hadn't seen her for several months, and she seemed to have grown taller and more beautiful.

Her eyebrows, as black as raven wings, slanted upwards towards her temples; her bright almond-shaped eyes held a charming smile; and two thick, black braids drooped down her chest.

He looked at her tenderly and wistfully. If Li Zhen got into university, they would never have another chance.