Chapter 92

Ye Manzhi has no obsession with prestigious universities.

As long as you can get into university, whether you are a graduate from a key or ordinary school, the state will assign you a job and the salary levels will be similar.

There are two popular sayings among middle school students nowadays:

"Stand out and let the motherland choose you!"

“Among thousands of aspirations, the Party’s needs come first.”

Ye Manzhi sincerely felt that with her academic performance, it was lucky that the motherland chose her, and she had no room to be picky.

To her, the provincial university is no different from Tsinghua University and Peking University. They are both beyond her reach with her score.

"You haven't taken the exam yet, how can you be so sure that you won't pass?" Dean Wu was very disappointed.

Since it concerns his own future and destiny, Ye Manzhi has to tell the truth to his instructor.

"When I graduated from high school, only two people in my class got into university: one went to Beijing University of Political Science and Law, and the other to Binjiang Teachers College. Both of their academic performance was better than mine."

"Others are others, and you are you," Dean Wu asked. "What are their family backgrounds? Are there any sensitive relationships among their relatives? Do you know?"

Ye Manzhi shook her head. Of course she had no way of knowing other people's private affairs.

"Besides scores, universities also consider your background when admitting students. You have a significant advantage in this regard. You could also consider applying for some classified majors." Dean Wu paused for a moment, then muttered, "There don't seem to be many classified majors in the humanities."

Ye Manzhi: “…”

Dean Wu took a sip of tea and sighed with great satisfaction, "The liberal arts and history majors don't have as many options as the science, engineering, agriculture, and medicine majors. Look at Zhengrong..."

He stopped talking in time as soon as his grandson's name was mentioned.

Wu Zhengrong's decision to join the army has always been a thorn in Dean Wu's heart. In the past two years, every time he saw that bastard, he would have a heart attack.

However, Wu Zhengrong recently went to the Military Academy for further studies. Although his degree and major are confidential, Dean Wu has already guessed it roughly.

A while ago, an old friend said that he met Wu Zhengrong at Binjiang No. 2 Machine Factory, and it seemed that he went there with Soviet expert Panov.

Panov is a professor at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute and an expert in mathematical computing instruments and devices. President Wu had contact with him once two years ago, and later heard that he seemed to have been invited to the Binjiang Military Academy to serve as a consultant.

Combined with the news that Wu Zhengrong went to the Military Academy for further studies, Dean Wu suspected that his grandson might have been selected by the army to study computers!

This speculation made him secretly happy for several days, and even the news that his little grandson Yifeng had signed up to join the army was not so difficult to accept.

If Sun Tzu had not joined the army, he might not have been able to access such a confidential profession.

Dean Wu could only sigh silently, thinking that one might as well gain something in another.

Glancing at his granddaughter-in-law who was still eagerly waiting for his help, Dean Wu felt that this application still needed to be carefully considered and filled out scientifically.

He said, his hands behind his back, "Since you're a transfer student, don't always compare yourself to freshmen. The school has different admission criteria for transfer students, and students with relevant professional work experience are generally given priority. What are your main responsibilities in the street?"

"The work at the subdistrict office is quite diverse, and I've heard that candidates with work experience will be given priority, so I'm thinking of applying for a major in politics or economics."

This year, Liu He, a young policeman from Guangming Police Station, will also take the college entrance examination.

He applied to all schools related to politics and law.

Dean Wu picked up her application form and instructed, "For the ten key universities you choose, apply for all the majors at the provincial university. Write down literature, foreign languages, journalism, social history, and political economy. You should definitely get accepted by one of them."

There are two application forms in total.

One is for applying to key universities, and the other is for applying to ordinary universities.

Others have to choose between institutions within and outside the province, the Ministry of Education and local colleges and universities.

But Ye Manzhi only wanted to apply to a university in his province, but there was only one key university in his province, the Provincial University.

Therefore, she can apply for all liberal arts and history majors in the provincial university.

Hearing this, Aunt Wu interrupted and said, "Xiao Ye, don't listen to your grandfather's blind instructions. He doesn't understand anything about filling out college applications. The majors he mentioned are all popular majors in the province, and the admission scores are high every year. If you're not sure about your grades, don't apply."

The candidates themselves do not know their college entrance examination scores, and the school will not announce the admission score lines to the public.

Therefore, candidates have no idea which major is popular and which department has a high admission score.

Ye Manzhi therefore had no idea where to start when choosing between colleges and majors.

She listened to Aunt Wu's explanation of the application experience, and then followed her grandfather's instructions and filled in all the majors of the provincial university on the first application form for a key university.

However, she avoided popular subjects such as literature, history, foreign languages, and philosophy.

After careful consideration, he filled in eight choices in politics, economics and journalism. Finally, there were two blanks left, so Ye Manzhi wrote down the "Economics, Organization and Planning of Mechanical Manufacturing Enterprises" and "Department of Industrial Economics", which had just been established.

She had no idea what these majors were about or where she would be assigned after graduation. Anyway, she had worked in politics and economics at her workplace, so applying for these majors would give her a certain advantage in admission.

Her goal is to get in first and worry about the rest later.

Compared with the application form for the key university, she filled in the application form for the ordinary university very boldly.

Grandpa Wu always gave her the illusion that anyone could pass the exam no matter how casually they took it.

Therefore, in addition to the Provincial Business College, Binjiang Finance College, and Youth Political College, she also wanted to boldly apply for a music college.

However, after Wu Zhengrong laughed twice, her mind became clear again and she did not waste this precious volunteer spot on the music school.

She didn't want to turn her hobby into a job, and she didn't have much time to prepare for the art exam, so she had to give up the music school with regret.

When filling out the application form, she felt uneasy. After finishing the draft, she showed it to Wu Zhengrong and Grandpa Wu.

Grandpa Wu was quite satisfied. Based on Ye Manzhi's usual love of learning, he felt that his granddaughter-in-law would definitely be admitted to one of the top five choices.

But Wu Zhengrong is still quite clear about his wife's background.

After looking at the application forms of key universities, she was advised to put the major of "Economics, Organization and Planning of Mechanical Manufacturing Enterprises" as the last choice.

"This major accepts both arts and science students. If you're admitted, you'll have to go to a factory for a metalworking internship."

Ye Manzhi listened to the advice very much and quickly put this major at the end of the application form. He even thought about changing his choice.

She has a liberal arts mind and likes things with a romantic touch. She really can't handle engineering majors.

Ye Manzhi made some revisions and submitted his college entrance examination application form.

After seeing her application, several transferred students in the district who applied for the exam with her were amazed at her courage for choosing such a high application.

Under Grandpa Wu's brainwashing, Ye Manzhi still felt that she had reported a low figure.

But she took the opportunity to look at other people's application forms and found that almost everyone had applied to junior colleges.

There was not a single junior college application on her two application forms; all of them were for undergraduate programs.

Ye Manzhi returned the application form and had to admit that she might have been a little carried away recently.

*

It seemed that the fact that she had applied for a high-ranking university made her toss and turn for several days in a row, and she couldn't enjoy her meals or sleep.

Wu Zhengrong couldn't sympathize with her anxiety, so when she turned over in the middle of the night again, he hugged her in his arms.

"Can't you just stop?"

Ye Manzhi lay on his chest and muttered, "Grandpa and my aunt have both given me advice. If I fail the exam this time, it will be so embarrassing."

"They guided you in choosing your major, so even if you don't make the cut, it's their fault. Besides, if you crammed before the exam, your chances of getting in are pretty good." Wu Zhengrong's words were a bit hazy, his eyes still drooping. "You're only taking four subjects, and the one that's going to make the biggest difference is actually the composition. Out of 100 points for Chinese, the composition accounts for 50 of those. Try writing a few more during this time."

"I've already prepared a lot of essays, why should I write another one?"

Ye Manzhi couldn't sleep, so she leaned on his arms and scratched his chest with her fingers.

Wu Zhengrong grabbed her rebellious hand and pushed it down, warning her vaguely, "If you keep scratching, the previous agreement will be void."

In order to let her conserve her energy and concentrate on preparing for the exam, they put their weapons into storage and retired after their first wedding anniversary.

Wu Zhengrong was forced to live a simple life with her.

"There's still nearly a month until the exam," Ye Manzhi continued to scratch at the bulge. "Isn't it a bit too early to start recuperating now? How about changing it to half a month in advance?"

Wu Zhengrong endured it again and again, and pushed the person out of his arms, "Go sleep over there by yourself."

"I'm not going!"

Ye Manzhi came back from the cricket pupa again and wanted to continue digging, but before she could move, she was wrapped in a towel and rolled up into a big dumpling, and her hands and feet were unable to move.

“…”

The last person to be wrapped like this was her niece Niuniu.

To prevent newborn babies from moving their hands and feet, babies are swaddled like this.

Wu Zhengrong patted her on the back and said sleepily, "Go to sleep. When you finish your exams, we'll have a baby."

Upon hearing this, Ye Manzhi stopped struggling immediately.

Wrapped in rice dumplings, I diverted my thoughts to my future children.

She doesn't have too high expectations for her children for now. She just hopes that their child, no matter whether it is a boy or a girl, may not inherit Wu Zhengrong's smart brain, but must inherit his long eyelashes!

Ye Manzhi silently wished in her heart that her eyelashes would grow longer, and finally fell asleep in a daze.

…

The 1958 college entrance examination officially began on July 18 and lasted for three days.

Because the exam was on a weekday, everyone had to go to work as usual, even Chang Yue'e had to go to the paperboard factory to paste paperboard, so Ye Manzhi went to take the exam alone.

On the first day, she only took the Chinese language test.

When I set out from the compound in the morning and walked to the examination room of the Commercial Technical School, I saw several small blast furnaces for steelmaking.

These small blast furnaces were emitting black smoke, and workers were guarding them all day long. Once any of the blast furnaces produced steel, a congratulatory message would be written on the spot and sent to the Municipal People's Committee to announce the good news.

Ye Manzhi walked around these small blast furnaces and reviewed several essays he had prepared recently in his mind.

She has already written a lot of regular essays, and this month she prepared some essays that are closely related to current affairs.

Originally, she just took it as a precaution, but when she sat in the examination room, got the test paper, and saw the final essay topic, Ye Manzhi became alert.

An Exciting Scene During the Great Leap Forward.

She has almost prepared for this question!

Their small blast furnace on Guangming Street was the first small blast furnace in the entire Zhengyang District to produce steel.

Zhang Qinjian, the furnace master, was almost going crazy with excitement at that time.

Although Ye Manzhi was not selected to make steel, she was so excited that she burst into tears when she saw the molten iron flowing out.

It’s not for any other reason, it’s just because steelmaking is really not easy.

In order to maintain the high temperature inside the furnace, the small blast furnace cannot be left unattended and must be monitored 24 hours a day. Coke must be added from time to time. Otherwise, once the furnace cools down and the molten iron solidifies, the entire blast furnace will be wasted and completely scrapped.

The residents had no experience in steelmaking, and their small blast furnace had been scrapped four times before they could officially produce steel!

Ye Manzhi was in high spirits and wrote quickly, putting himself into the excitement of the time and writing a composition that was particularly heartfelt.

This excitement lasted for three days. When she finished her last exam and saw Wu Zhengrong coming to pick her up at the entrance of the examination room, she ran over like a young swallow, wanting to hug him and kiss him hard.

After preparing for the college entrance examination for several months, she can finally be free!

Wu Zhengrong didn't ask her how she did on the exam. He took the bag from her hand and said, "Let's go. Mom has made dumplings at home and is waiting to reward you!"

Ye Manzhi was in a good mood. She felt that today's military representative was particularly handsome and impressive. She couldn't help but pull him aside and whispered, "Did you bring your work ID?"

"I brought it."

"Where's the letter of introduction?"

"I brought it."

"..." Ye Manzhi observed his expression and asked tentatively, "Where's your marriage certificate? Did you bring it?"

"Um."

"You came to pick me up at the examination hall, why do you bring your marriage certificate?" Ye Manzhi smiled.

Wu Zhengrong asked back, "You just left the exam room, why are you asking me if I brought my marriage certificate?"

"Forget it," Ye Manzhi was embarrassed by his smile and turned away, "Let's go home first."

Others checked into the guesthouse in advance for the convenience of taking the exam.

The exams are over now. It would be too unreasonable for them to move into the guesthouse now!

Wu Zhengrong stopped the man and said, "There's no electricity or water in the compound. You might not be able to take a shower today."

"Oh, let's go then."

Archimedes said, give me a lever and I can move the earth.

When it came to Ye Manzhi's turn, it became a matter of giving her a reason so that she could go to the guesthouse to take a shower.

But halfway through, she felt a little regretful and said, "Let's go home. I want to go to bed."

The man pressed against her from behind, his tone bumpy, "You can lie down here too."

"You're shameless, but I still have some! What will it look like when I ask the waiter to make the sheets?" Ye Manzhi was dripping wet and steaming. She bit the arm across her chest and scolded, "You even brought your marriage certificate, why didn't you bring a sheet?"

Wu Zhengrong kissed her behind the ear and said, "Be more careful next time. This time, Comrade Xiaoye, please stand a little longer."

In order to support Ye Manzhi's exam, the two of them abstained from desires for more than a month.

This time, taking advantage of the water and power outage in the military industrial compound, the couple stayed in the guesthouse and had a good night.

*

After Director Xiao Ye finished the college entrance examination, not only did her married life return to normal, but her daily work also got back on track.

Her superiors and colleagues were very concerned about her test results, especially Liu Jinbao, who would ask Director Ye every two days whether she had received the admission letter.

Ye Manzhi was already nervous about her grades, and being questioned over and over again by him was almost driving Liu Jinbaoer crazy!

That day, she had just sent the enthusiastic Liu Jinbao away when she received a call from the district chief.

It is rare for the district chief to make phone calls to the street offices in person.

Generally, meeting notices or the spirit of documents are conveyed by secretaries.

When Ye Manzhi heard the district chief ask them to go to the district, he quickly put down the phone, ran to the small blast furnace, and called Zhang Qinjian.

"What's going on? This batch of molten steel is almost out." Zhang Qinjian was even more obsessed with steelmaking than alchemy. Seeing that another batch was about to succeed, he didn't want to leave at all. "Director Ye, as the street representative, why don't you go to the district?"

Ye Manzhi shouted amid the clamor, "The district chief called personally! He told us to go to his office together!"

"Which district chief?"

"Who else could it be!" Ye Manzhi thought that Old Zhang Liangang was confused. "District Chief Chen!"

When Zhang Qinjian heard that it was the district chief who called in person, he finally came to his senses, immediately took off his gloves and sleeves, and went to the district people's committee with her.

When the two arrived at the door of the district mayor's office, they also met the director and deputy director of the Yong'an Road Sub-district Office.

"Lao Xu, do you know what it is?" Zhang Qinjian asked in a low voice.

"I don't know," Director Xu shook his head and revealed, "Deputy District Chief Zhang and Deputy District Chief Mu are both in there. We have to wait a while."

As soon as he finished speaking, the district chief's secretary pushed the door open and said, "Comrades, please come in!"

Several people filed in, and Ye Manyi indeed met District Chief Mu in the office.

After greeting the leaders, he smiled and nodded at her.

"I heard Director Xiao Ye took the college entrance exam?" District Chief Chen asked with a smile. "How did you do? Are you confident you'll be accepted into university?"

Ye Manzhi had no confidence to say such big words. She waved her hand and said, "Some comrades have failed the exam two or three times. This is my first time taking the exam. The most important thing is to participate."

District Chief Chen chuckled and said, "Don't be discouraged if you don't pass the exam. There's a lot of potential in grassroots work. It won't hurt for young people to get more exercise."

Ye Manzhi didn't understand what this meant by more exercise, but still smiled and nodded in agreement.

"When I say there's great potential for grassroots work, I'm not just saying it in a cliché," District Chief Chen said seriously. "I think you've heard about the establishment of people's communes in the countryside, haven't you?"

The four of them nodded.

Although the rural people's communes had nothing to do with them, they were reported in newspapers and on the radio every day. As street cadres, they had some understanding of such news.

"Well, now people's communes are being established in rural areas across the country. Some towns in Binjiang have already established people's communes. The city government is suggesting that in addition to rural areas, several pilot people's communes should also be established in cities..."

Zhang Qinjian asked, "District Head, you called us here because you want to establish a people's commune on Guangming Street, right?"

"We do have plans," District Chief Chen nodded. "Guangming Street and Yong'an Road are both located at the intersection of urban and rural areas. Compared to other urban streets in the city, you are closer to the townships. Moreover, a large proportion of the residents on these streets are a combination of workers and farmers."

Director Xu from Yong'an Road asked, "District Head, although we've heard of people's communes, we don't really have a deep understanding of them. Rural residents can work and produce together, collaborating through the commune. But residents in our neighborhood belong to different units. How will this new commune differ from the existing neighborhood offices?"

District Chief Chen looked at Zhang Qinjian and Ye Manzhi and asked, "Do you guys on Guangming Street also have the same idea?"

Zhang Qinjian indeed thought so. He felt that it was a bit of a forced imitation to establish people's communes in cities based on the rural methods.

But he always obeys orders from above, and even if he has doubts, he will not express them in front of his leaders.

Ye Manzhi was the deputy director and gave face to Zhang Qinjian in public. When the two attended meetings together, Zhang Qinjian always spoke on behalf of Guangming Street, so she followed Zhang Qinjian and did not say a word.

Mulan smiled and said, "Look, comrades are still relatively unfamiliar with the commune's situation, and our district isn't completely unified in its stance. District Head, I think this matter warrants further consideration. Should we postpone the application for the city's pilot program?"

District Chief Chen frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "Here's some information. Take it back and look at it. Make your own decision on whether to become the city's first pilot subdistrict people's commune. This is a brand new experiment, so it's understandable that everyone has concerns. Go back and study and discuss it!"

The four of them came in together and walked out of the office together.

Director Xu asked in confusion, "Old Zhang, what does the leader mean? Will we establish the people's commune or not? Why isn't there a definite answer?"

Zhang Qinjian was preoccupied and didn't respond. Ye Manzhi helped him by saying, "The leadership hasn't made up their minds yet. Didn't the district chief just say that we should go back and discuss it?"

The two sides parted ways at the entrance of the office building.

Zhang Qinjian stared at the study materials that seemed like a hot potato and whispered, "What the hell is this?"

The steel hasn't even been refined yet, and now he's being asked to set up a people's commune.

"Director, I think this people's commune is worth a try."

"People's communes and sub-district offices are completely different. We can't just give it a try!" Zhang Qinjian led her to a shady spot and whispered, "We're the only two directors of the sub-district office right now. Once it becomes a people's commune, things will get complicated!"

They are the ones who have the final say in the Sub-district Office. After it becomes a People's Commune, several more committee members will be added, and that will really change the situation.

Ye Manzhi flipped through the documents in her hand and said cheerfully, "Don't always think about the bad, think about the good too! What's the biggest difference between our street office and a township? We don't have any fiscal revenue. All taxes collected on the street have to be handed over to the district! But if we take advantage of this pilot program to establish an urban people's commune, it will have to be like a rural commune. Our street office can collect its own revenue, and then we can control everything from property taxes, commercial taxes, and traffic license taxes!"

The street office is not a first-level government, but a branch of the government. Now, it has to ask for money from the higher authorities for everything it does. Even if it wants to buy a monthly car ticket for the cadres, it has to save some money in the treasury first.

If we can establish a people's commune and take control of financial power, we can really let go in the future!