failed the exam
"Dad, I'm back!"
"Mom, I'm back!"
Xu Nian got off the back seat of Xu Fengkai's bicycle and started calling her parents at the door without waiting to stand firmly. She even forgot to say goodbye to her cousin and ran straight into the house.
Xu Fengkai silently shook his head, then rode his bike home with a little excitement.
Xu Nian's shouting wasn't actually very loud, but her family was worried about her today. As soon as she spoke, everyone in the room left the room and waited for Xu Nian to come into view. Before Xu's father and mother could ask anything, Xu's second wife smiled and blurted out, "Look at my little sister, this must be good news."
Mrs. Xu, who was a step slow to show her performance, secretly despised herself and rolled her eyes at Mrs. Xu Er. Humph, she was the one who showed it off.
In less than two or three seconds, he smiled and said to Xu Nian: "Don't you see how smart our little sister is? There is no other possibility."
Xu's mother has such sharp eyes that the quarrel between her two daughters-in-law could not escape her notice. But looking at her daughters with a smiling face and a proud expression as you said, it is inexplicably hard to bear to watch.
But she was also anxious, "Niannian, is this over?"
Xu Nian nodded vigorously. "Mom, my brother Kaikai and I both passed the preliminary exam." As she spoke, she opened her schoolbag and took out the preliminary exam pass notice and admission ticket to show everyone. "We both got our admission tickets directly and are now waiting for the college entrance examination."
The one who just thought his daughter was too arrogant now had the same expression as Xu Nian, both acting as if they were so great. The two daughters-in-law were so upset that they looked at each other and thought, well, she must be their own daughter.
Mr. Xu, who hadn't been active for so many years since the family split up, couldn't control himself after hearing this. He picked up his little girl and spun around to express how happy he was.
Before Xu Nian could sigh, his eldest and second brothers took turns holding him and spinning him around. He felt dizzy and terrified. All he could say was, "Stop, stop, stop. I'm still very young. I'm not like Fan Jin who passed the imperial examination..."
Perhaps the success in the preliminary exam brought too much hope to the family. In the following days, whenever Xu Nian was at home, including her three little nephews, they would quietly sit there and not disturb her while she was doing her homework or memorizing.
At school, after Xu Nian made the decision to take the college entrance examination, she told her small group directly. Only Liang Ting was ready to give it a try like her. Liu Xi and Wu Xinyu, who had such good grades, did not sign up. Xu Nian could vaguely sense a lot of concerns among them. It's easy for people to talk without any worries, and some of them can't be persuaded.
Liang Ting also passed the preliminary exam. The two of them gave it their all, and the other two also helped out. The learning atmosphere among the four of them was incredibly strong.
Time slipped away in the intense preparations, and the college entrance examination finally arrived. This era is difficult no matter where you are. Even when she arrives at the examination room, she still hopes that she can get a thermos to warm up the water. The college entrance examination is so rigorous that she can't bring anything in except the necessary stationery.
After three days of trembling and struggling through the exams, he was finally relieved. However, this did not mean he could relax. He still had to estimate his scores and apply for admission. As for Xu Nian, he also had to go to school as usual. Therefore, Xu Fengkai was under great pressure and was "idle" at home looking for information about schools in various places.
Xu Nian trusted him very much, but when comparing the answers, she found that there were still differences with her cousin, but she didn't think it was too big, so her family discussed that they should apply for the same place. Xu Nian liked writing work, perhaps influenced by her adoptive mother, she really wanted to do a job like editing, which she thought was glamorous and interesting.
In fact, Xu Fengkai is better at liberal arts, and his career plan is clearer at home. He aims to become a cadre. After much deliberation, the two of them chose Renmin University as their first choice, and the second choice was more stable, which was Zhou University, at least it was closer.
Liang Ting didn't have to think too much; she simply applied to a junior college, her family having chosen the medical and nursing program. Xu Nian, upon hearing this, felt a bit hesitant. She figured she'd been able to get into a third-tier university in the past, given the abundance of talented students, and now that educational resources were so limited, getting into an undergraduate program shouldn't be a problem. Despite some uncertainty, she still submitted her application.
While waiting for the admission notice, she didn't study as seriously as she used to. She was quite lax. Plus, the weather was cold, so staying in bed was the norm. Her family members were hopeful, so no one said anything.
It was not until the start of school in early March that the admission letters arrived one after another. Xu Nian began to get nervous, especially when Liang Ting's admission letter was brought to her directly by the teacher during class. The only college student in their class was born, and her heart was beating wildly.
But it was also true that they were happy for Liang Ting. Her family was politically complicated, and it would be best for her to have a good future now. Naturally, the students who applied for the exam congratulated her with joy, envy, and jealousy. Liu Xi felt a little lonely in the empty corner.
Xu Nian had no time to think about others at this moment. This week, while napping on her way home one afternoon, she was startled awake by the noise in the village. Not long after, Xu Fengkai ran over and said to her happily, "Niannian, I just received my admission letter to Zhou University!"
Xu Nian was still a little confused, so he asked, "What about mine?"
The moment these words were spoken, both of them fell silent. Since they were supposed to go to the same school together, but now only one of them had received the acceptance letter, the other one was in a bit of a precarious situation.
Xu Nian felt his lips were a little dry, and he couldn't help licking them. He said dryly, "Brother, I didn't pass the exam, did I?" His eyes were already red as he spoke.
At this moment, Xu Nian’s first thought was not that I did not do well in the exam, but that it was so embarrassing, really too embarrassing, and it was really depressing.
It was obvious that her family knew the news earlier than she did. During dinner, no one said anything discouraging. They all comforted her by telling her to wait a little longer. Even if they were from the same village and team, they might not arrive at the same time.
By the end of March, those who were supposed to receive admission letters had received them one after another, and the teachers also hinted that those who had not received them might need to work harder.
Xu Nian joined everyone in seeing Liang Ting off. She felt depressed. If she had known earlier, she would have applied for a junior college. When the scores came out, she would have been able to get in. Now, she really didn't want to face the people she knew.
Liu Xi didn't want to go home on weekends because she had to go home to work. She strolled alone on the street. When her feet were sore from walking, she happened to stop at the door of the supply and marketing cooperative. She accidentally saw a boy who was on the phone and thinking about something. She felt a little restless in her heart and wanted to talk to Xu Hongqi.
Before she could make up her mind, she heard a somewhat arrogant voice saying, "Yes, you didn't pass the exam. You didn't care about it before, so why should you show off now?"
I don't know what was said on the other end of the phone, but I heard him say, "I'm just like this, you can think whatever you want."
"..." After talking intermittently for a while, he simply hung up the phone.
After checking the power-on time, the salesperson said one dollar and fifty cents.
Xu Nian walked up silently, ready to take over the phone call. Then he saw clearly that the man was a young man wearing a green cloth shirt and black pants. His handsome appearance was completely different from his unruly words, and he seemed quite arrogant.
Xu Nian took a step back and waited, then saw the man touch his trouser pocket and frown. He looked at the salesperson and coughed, "Sister, I forgot to bring money to change clothes. Can I wait a while? I'll get it right away when I get back."
The saleswoman, who looked to be in her forties, was indifferent to the call of "sister." "I think it would be faster to go to the police station."
Xu Nian felt inexplicably better after seeing the boy being rebuked. This was probably a true portrayal of how I couldn't bear to see you holding an umbrella even when I was getting wet in the rain. Others felt worse than me, but miraculously I didn't feel that bad. Combined with the content of the phone call she had heard before, it was likely that the two of them shared the same pain and were both failed students.
She felt a little gloating, and before she could hide the curve of her mouth, she was caught red-handed by someone. Then she heard him say, "Classmate, please help me!"
Xu Nian deliberately looked around at the roof, pretending not to hear.
He was not discouraged, nor did he seem arrogant anymore. "Classmate, I'm also from No. 1 Middle School. Can you help me find someone to get some money?"
Xu Nian didn't want to respond, but she was a little confused as to how she knew she was a student of No. 1 Middle School. She was at the age where she couldn't hold back her words, so she blurted out, "How did you know I'm from No. 1 Middle School?"
The boy raised his eyebrows and said, "For the entire month of March, you and I went to the communication room every day to inquire about the admission notice, and you didn't pay attention for such a long time." What he wanted to blurt out was - are you blind? But after thinking about it, he closed his mouth.
Xu Nian heard the subtext and said unhappily, "My mom doesn't allow me to talk to strangers. I'm sorry, but you should think of another way."
The boy was in a good mood now, "Let's not talk, just listen to what I say and do it."
Xu Nian pursed his lips expressionlessly and said, "Bullshit."
Then she waved to him and said, "Let me make the call now."
He saw the girl also smiled sweetly at the salesperson and said, "Sister, can I make a phone call now?"
The salesperson was also quite bored at the moment. After watching them for a while, he thought that children nowadays were quite interesting and jokingly said, "You have money, right?"
Xu Nian almost couldn't hold back her expression when she heard this. She took out two dollars from her pocket and waved them at the person. "Haha, sister, you really know how to joke."
After saying that, she gave her aunt's home phone number. She didn't have Xu Hongqi's contact information, so she could only ask her aunt to see if she could get in touch with him this time.
As she finished speaking, the salesperson stretched out her finger to dial the number. But Xu Nian suddenly remembered that her cousin had been admitted to university and was already happily enrolled. How could her aunt not know about it? Then wouldn't she have known about her failure long ago? If she called now, the other party would definitely exchange a few words of greeting, whether to inquire or to comfort her. Thinking of this, she held the salesperson's hand and smiled embarrassedly, "Sister, I suddenly remembered that I might not be able to get through. I misread the contact date. Sorry."
The salesperson was stunned and speechless for a moment, then muttered, "How could they even get this wrong? Students nowadays..."
Xu Nian was also unhappy. It was all Xu Hongqi's fault. He had been away for so long without even leaving any contact information.
But now the situation was also her fault. She could only pretend not to hear other people's mumblings and smiled awkwardly to express her apology.
Someone standing by as a 'telephone pole' suddenly interrupted, "Classmate, how about you advance me the money first?" Then he leaned closer to her and whispered, "I'll pay you double when we get back to school, okay?"
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