Chapter 76
◎Winter goes and spring comes, the swallows leave and come back, the cicadas start chirping again, and the lotus flowers stand tall.
Ink continued
Winter goes and spring comes, the swallows leave and come back, the cicadas start chirping again, and the lotus flowers stand tall.
I filled bottle after bottle of ink and the nib of my pen became blunt.
Bei Bitang woke up a little after four in the morning. She knew the time without checking the clock. Living in her own home was the most uncomfortable experience. With Zhou Jiewen and Feng Guangmei, she could sleep until six. With Gu Wangxi, she forced herself to wake up early for morning study. Every night before falling asleep, she reminded herself to wake up early to finish her exams.
After getting dressed and crawling out from under the thin towel blanket, Bei Bitang skillfully rolled up the bed on the floor and placed it on top of the box.
Picking up the thing for rinsing her mouth, Bei Bitang walked around the room quietly. Before she took two steps towards the door, Bei Bitang bent down and felt around on the ground, picked up the clothes that Lin Bilan had thrown on the ground, and put them on the shelf at the end of the bed.
As for Huang Dashan next to her, she ignored him and stepped over his clothes with her feet raised high.
Bei Bitang didn't come back often, and the house became Huang Dashan's world. He had the final say and took Lin Bilan to sing and rejoice every night.
Occasionally, when Bei Bitang came home, he would not restrain himself. He felt that he did not need to look at Bei Bitang's face, and Lin Bilan could not persuade him.
In the quiet bathroom, Bei Bitang was brushing her teeth, thinking to herself, I'll come back before the next college entrance examination. Without her, everyone will be happy and comfortable.
Bei Bitang picked up a pocket comb and combed her hair two or three times. Then she went downstairs, unlocked the lock on her bicycle, and pushed it down the stairs.
This bicycle was lent to Bei Bitang by Feng Guangmei. She had someone cover for her and was concentrating on reviewing at home. She didn't need to leave the house and the bicycle would just gather dust. Bei Bitang was almost always outside, so it was better to lend it to her.
The old lady working at the breakfast shop yawned and squinted as she walked past Bei Bitang. She asked, "Leaving again? When will you be back next time? Mid-Autumn Festival?"
His words showed that he couldn't stand Bei Bitang's behavior of hanging out outside all day and not being at home.
Bei Bitang smiled and said calmly, "Yes."
The old lady hit a snag.
Bei Bitang rode her bicycle on the bumpy cobblestone road. The bicycle bell made a crisp sound, which echoed with the birds perched on the telephone poles, forming a morning song.
Bei Bitang and her bicycle passed through the alley filled with morning mist, her figure appearing and disappearing.
The night stars in the sky are looking forward to it, taking turns with the sun to be on duty on earth.
As she said, Bei Bitang spent the Dragon Boat Festival at the Peace Hotel instead of going home. She also ate a rice dumpling that Gu Wangxi brought from his home.
The day before the college entrance examination, Bei Bitang went home, and Wei Bili also went back to her parents' home alone.
As soon as Wei Bili put down her bag, she turned and went into the kitchen.
The kitchen was cold and empty. Wei Bili was very disappointed with Miao Xiuxiu and the others. She was usually cold to Bei Bitang, but tomorrow, Bei Bitang would be taking the exam. To save face, she bought a good dish and cooked it. How much would it cost? How much effort would it take? They also needed to eat.
Wei Bili put down her apron, took out her small wallet from her bag, and hurried out, wanting to go to the vegetable market to buy some good vegetables to cook.
Lin Bilan held the little brat in her arms, leaning against the door frame. With a smile on her lips, she said cheekily, "Buy more. The little brat has grown taller, and his appetite has gotten bigger lately. He's really eating me out of money."
Wei Bili frowned, not wanting to quarrel with Lin Bilan. She went home today with only one purpose, to give Bei Bitang some family warmth so that she could feel at ease.
If Lin Bilan’s son wants to eat, go find his father!
Even though Wei Bili usually loved the little brat very much, she got angry. She snorted coldly, glanced at Lin Bilan, and left.
Bei Bitang watched all this silently and did not reject Second Sister's kindness. If she stopped Second Sister, she would be sad.
While Wei Bili was out buying groceries, Bei Bitang secretly stuffed the hundred yuan that Wei Bili had given her earlier into her bag.
Half an hour later, Wei Bili came back with a lot of bags, sweat on her forehead. Bei Bitang had already cooked.
The two sisters went into the kitchen together and worked for almost two hours to prepare a small table of delicious dishes.
They are all home-cooked dishes, sweet and sour spare ribs, braised pork, steamed sea bass, stir-fried Chinese cabbage, half a boiled chicken, and winter melon meatball soup.
Wei Bili didn't eat a single bite. She watched Bei Bitang eat with a smile on her face. She picked up some vegetables for her, removed some bones for her, scooped some soup for her, and served her some rice.
Finally, Bei Bitang put down her chopsticks and couldn't eat anymore. She even held the handkerchief to the corner of her mouth.
The two sisters were so affectionate and affectionate, it was as if they were isolating her, doing it just to show her. Lin Bilan curled her lips, thinking, but then she remembered that she had also eaten the dinner made by Wei Bili and Bei Bitang, and she kept her dissatisfaction to herself.
Wei Bili moved the dishes and chopsticks in front of Bei Bitang and said gently, "Take the exam well tomorrow and don't be nervous."
Lin Bilan's eyelids rolled up. Huang Dashan, who had half a foot on the stool, sneered. Miao Xiuxiu said, "After the exam, Bitang, you have to listen to me. Stop messing around. I've found a family for you."
This year, Miao Xiuxiu and the others also considered letting Bei Bitang get married.
Bei Bitang's temper suddenly became fierce. The first time Miao Xiuxiu started talking, she took an arrow and stabbed it into her neck, saying fiercely: "If you want me to get married, then carry my corpse! After I die, you can still arrange a ghost marriage for me!"
After speaking to Miao Xiuxiu, Bei Bitang glared at Lin Bilan fiercely, treating her like an enemy, and threatened, "You don't want me to marry He Dafei, so you're targeting me! If I marry He Dafei, you won't get a single benefit. I'll even whisper in your ear and vent my anger at marrying a fool on you. I'll use the He family to deal with you and make sure you can't stay in the factory!"
Miao Xiuxiu and Lin Bilan were both frightened by this. Bei Bitang wasn't a talkative person, but she always kept her word and wasn't one to talk big. They only dared to bring it up once before being shot down by Bei Bitang.
Bei Bitang left the dishes and chopsticks behind and sent her second sister to the bus stop. She watched the car Wei Bili was riding in disappear around the corner before turning back.
Bei Bitang entered the house, picked up the washbasin and went straight to the bathhouse. After taking a bath and getting ready, she took the things she needed for the exam and went straight to Feng Guangmei's house.
The exam was held at a nearby primary school, very close to the Shikumen housing estate. The two agreed that Bei Bitang would sleep at Feng Guangmei's house for the three days of the exam.
At six o'clock the next morning, the two were woken up by Feng Guangmei's mother.
After brushing their teeth and washing their faces, Bei Bitang and Feng Guangmei shared a fried dough stick and two duck eggs. When they were seven-tenths full, they took out their notes and recited aloud some ancient poems that they had copied down and were easy to forget, before walking to the examination room.
The college entrance examination in 1979 was the third year after its resumption. It was the last chance for most educated youth who went to the countryside to take the college entrance examination. It was also the first year of unified national examination questions. Millions of candidates used the same test paper, and everyone started from the same point.
Bei Bitang and Feng Guangmei both studied science, and they had to take a total of six exams: Chinese, physics, mathematics, chemistry, politics, and foreign languages.
Bei Bitang's examination seat was next to the window on the first floor. Outside the window were shaded trees, casting a slight coolness on Bei Bitang, with occasional cool breezes bringing refreshment.
From the first exam onward, Bei Bitang became more and more comfortable with each one. All the worries she had before the test—not being able to absorb the ink, the pen breaking when it fell, someone throwing notes at her, stomachaches—none of them happened.
With golden clouds filling the sky and the afterglow of the setting sun, Bei Bitang wrote the last period on her foreign language paper, bringing a perfect end to her year.
No matter whether she passed the exam or not, she had no regrets. At least she had tried her best, struggled, and refused to accept defeat.
Bei Bitang didn't look up to check the time. She turned over the test paper and started checking the types of questions that she was most likely to lose points on due to carelessness.
"Ring, ring, ring" the electric bell in the primary school resounded throughout the entire campus.
The quiet examination room suddenly became noisy due to a sudden disturbance.
"Quiet! The exam is over! Put down your pens, stop writing, and take this last minute to double-check your names and admission ticket numbers! Get them right!"
The invigilator on the podium stood up and spoke loudly with a cold face.
The invigilator at the back of the classroom also came up and collected the test papers together.
People wearing black pants, black shoes, white shirts and floral shirts poured out of the classroom, all looking exhausted.
The moment she left the examination room, Bei Bitang couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. A faint headache began to ache in her head. The fatigue accumulated over the past three days suddenly surfaced.
She stretched out her hand, gently pressed her temples, and walked to meet Feng Guangmei.
Bei Bitang and Bei Bitang were standing under a tree on the campus, comparing answers.
He began to recall the foreign language test he had just taken, took out a piece of scratch paper, and placed it on his palm, writing as he spoke. His expression changed rapidly: shaking his head, biting his lip, sighing, clapping, and smiling.
They were like this, and so were the people around them. Everyone stayed on campus, had heated discussions, and listened attentively to the conversations next to them. Some even went directly to other groups to join in.
It was not until the school security department came to drive them away that this group of people who had just finished the college entrance examination walked towards the school gate with a look of reluctance on their faces.
Bei Bitang and Feng Guangmei stayed in Feng Guangmei's room for several days, estimating scores from morning to night.
On the day of filling out the application form, Bei Bitang filled in the physics, mechanical manufacturing, and vehicle engineering majors of Jiaotong University from top to bottom, and filled in the word "obey" in each of them.
Feng Guangmei only filled out one application, the accounting major at the School of Finance and Economics, and she stubbornly refused to indicate that she would accept adjustments to her voluntary application.
Bei Bitang couldn't persuade her, and she even helped to hide it from Feng Guangmei's mother.
But judging by the estimated scores, it is certain that Feng Guangmei will be admitted to the School of Finance and Economics. Accounting is a popular major, but Feng Guangmei's score is high.
So Bei Bitang helped to lie without any psychological burden.
After filling out the application form, Feng Guangmei wanted to visit her grandmother in Nanjing and invited Bei Bitang to go along.
Bei Bitang shook her head and refused. Although Nanjing was not far away, she only had ten or eighty yuan left to take a bus. She couldn't let Feng Guangmei pay for the round-trip fare.
Feng Guangmei planned to stay at her grandmother's house for a month. Her grandmother lived in the countryside, and if nothing else, there were plenty of places for her to live.
Bei Bitang couldn't afford to go to someone else's grandmother's house and eat and drink for free for a month, even though Feng Guangmei was her best friend.
Feng Guangmei left Shanghai and went to Nanjing. Bei Bitang couldn't think of what she should do or who she should contact for a while.
As for her second sister, she called her on the night the exam ended.
Even though she told Second Sister she was fine and everything was going well, Wei Bili still questioned her for half an hour. She even called her a fool for not wanting the money she had given her for free and then giving it back. If she hadn't been worried about the phone bill, this wouldn't have ended there.
After thinking it over, Bei Bitang bought a bunch of bananas and went to Zhou Jiewen's house.
Zhou Jiewen had not returned from get out of class yet. Bei Bitang greeted Zhou Jiewen's mother, peeled a banana for her, then went downstairs to the nearby vegetable market and bought some vegetables.
Bei Bitang entered the Zhou family's kitchen and felt more comfortable than at home. She was frying, stir-frying, and cooking, and the aroma wafted from far away.
Bei Bitang spent six dollars to make a table full of dishes. Just as she took off her apron, Zhou Jiewen came back.
Zhou Jiewen looked at the dining table and said sheepishly, "I smelled the aroma as soon as I entered the alley. I should have treated you to Bitang. I'm here to congratulate you in advance on your success in the college entrance examination and your admission to your dream university, your first choice."
Bei Bitang smiled and said, "I'm sitting here waiting for you, so I have nothing to do."
She was confident she could get into Jiaotong University. It wasn't 100 percent, but to be modest, she said there was a 90 percent chance. Zhou Jiewen played a crucial role in her getting the estimated score.
A deal is a deal. Zhou Jiewen not only gave her knowledge, but also a place to sleep. If her simulation scores were bad, she would talk to her. Zhou Jiewen's mother would also comfort her softly.
The two of them worked together to move Zhou Jiewen's mother to a chair with a backrest. The three of them sat around the table, chatting and laughing, and congratulated Bei Bitang in advance on her admission to university.
After dinner, Bei Bitang said goodbye to Zhou's mother and daughter, and said that she would come to visit Zhou's mother in the future and would also play with Zhou Jiewen.
Zhou Jiewen also said that she would go to Jiaotong University to find Bei Bitang in the future.
Bei Bitang took away the textbooks and other miscellaneous items left at Zhou's house. If they stayed at Zhou's house, they would be of no use and would cause trouble to others.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
