Before daybreak the next day, the rooster had already crowed several times.
It snowed last night, and the thick snow covered the old trees outside the window with a layer of silver.
When Xie Tingyu woke up and opened his eyes, he saw his wife sleeping in his arms, so close to him. He could smell the sweet fragrance of her hair with every breath. Thinking of what happened last night, Xie Tingyu couldn't help but smile, and his heart felt as sweet as honey.
He just looked at his wife sleeping soundly in his arms, his eyes never widened for a moment. He felt very satisfied just staring at her sleeping face, and his heart was filled up little by little.
Although the heater in the room had been turned off long ago, the bed was warm, and Xie Tingyu's body was also warm, as hot as molten lava flowing through it.
Ye Qingshui woke up soon, and she felt a pain in her back and waist, as if her waist was broken. As soon as she stood up, she fell back into the bed uncontrollably.
Ye Qingshui looked at the man who was grinning brightly and glared at him fiercely.
Xie Tingyu lowered his head and gently kissed his wife's forehead, and said in a gentle voice:
"Shui'er, wait a minute."
He brought an enamel basin from outside, poured some hot water from the thermos, mixed it with water for washing face, and brought it to his wife. Xie Tingyu wrung out the towel himself and let her wash her face. After washing her face, he carefully handed her a toothbrush.
He is as considerate as a filial husband.
"I told the old lady and the others that you were not feeling well. You drank too much yesterday and needed to rest for a while."
Ye Qingshui grabbed the towel and threw it into the basin.
Shame on you, who drank too much?
Xie Tingyu smiled happily and stopped teasing her.
"I'm going to make breakfast. You're still not feeling well. I'll bring it to you in a bit."
After Xie Tingyu left, Ye Qingshui touched her belly.
Her belly felt flat, soft and warm. Ye Qingshui stared at it for a long time, unable to help but feel curious.
Is it that easy?
Ye Qingshui was not sure and felt a little uneasy.
Although the timing is right, life is full of changes. Will it happen again?
Thinking of the chaos of last night, Ye Qingshui's face turned hot.
Xie Tingyu quickly prepared breakfast. He cut some pork and mixed it with radish to make porridge. The porridge was thick and oily, and the radish was soft and melted in the mouth.
Ye Qingshui blushed as she drank the porridge that he had brought into the room openly.
"Grandma...what did they say?"
Xie Tingyu asked nonchalantly, "What?"
"You don't have to go to work today. You've been studying for so long for the college entrance exam. What's wrong with sleeping in today?"
He said lazily.
As he spoke, he looked at the small piece of skin exposed on his wife's neck, and his eyes gradually became darker.
If he wasn't concerned about her weak body, how could he let her go so easily?
Ye Qingshui is not as thick-skinned as Xie Tingyu. If there is nothing special that delays her, she will not get up so late. Today, she had to have breakfast brought into the room. How can people say this?
But Ye Qingshui suddenly understood.
I’m afraid the elders wouldn’t think too much about it. Which married couple would take almost a year to consummate their marriage like they did?
Ye Qingshui was completely relieved, and she could sleep for another half a day after breakfast. She basically didn't sleep well last night.
She ate up all the porridge in her bowl.
Ye Qingshui touched her stomach. She was a mother of two now, so she needed to eat more.
Xie Tingyu held the bowl and watched his wife from the side, without doing anything with his hands. He watched her quietly eat another egg. After she finished eating, she wiped the grease from her mouth, and the smile on her face seemed to be sweet enough to reach his heart.
He just watched her eat and felt so satisfied that it seemed as if a hole in his heart had collapsed.
Xie Tingyu asked inexplicably: "Would you like another bowl of porridge?"
Ye Qingshui held his bowl tightly and shook his head quickly.
…
capital.
Xie Tingjue, who is working as an ordinary clerk, has been working in the Statistics Bureau office for more than three months.
At seven o'clock in the middle of winter, it was still pitch black on the road, and you couldn't see your hand in front of you, but Xie Tingjue had already arrived at the office early.
He usually does things in a slow but steady manner. This remote department is commonly known as the elderly care department. Most of his colleagues are middle-aged and elderly people. When they are not at work, they like to play chess or queue up to buy vegetables at the market. The hard work is left to the young people.
Three months have passed, and Xie Tingjue is still an unknown new employee in the Statistics Bureau.
On the day after the exam, Xie Tingjue's leader suddenly slapped his head and remembered him for the first time.
"Xiao Xie, I heard that you took part in this year's college entrance examination?"
Xie Tingjue did not deny it and nodded.
In this kind of quiet department, young people who are transferred in would beg and plead everywhere to be transferred out, and the leaders are not surprised by it.
"This year's college entrance examination is not easy, right? My daughter started crying right after she finished her math test."
Xie Tingjue said modestly: "It's OK."
“Just try harder next year, don’t be too hard on yourself.”
Although the newcomer to the Statistics Bureau, Xiao Xie, is young, he has an old-fashioned temperament. He behaves in a very proper manner and does not make any mistakes. He does not feel out of place when he is with this group of elderly people. I heard that his family has a strong background, but he is not a sharp person at all.
He never refuses dirty, tiring or heavy work. He is not as slick and lazy as young people but is very hardworking and persevering.
If he had not already taken the college entrance examination, his leader would have written a letter of recommendation to promote him after he had worked in the unit for two years.
After work, Xie Tingjue came to the dormitory as usual. There lived an old man named Li, an ordinary employee of the Statistics Bureau. He was no different from others. He was responsible for compiling reports and handling ordinary and trivial work of the Statistics Bureau every day.
Xie Tingjue usually helps the old man with housework.
This time he came to Old Man Li's house. The doors and windows of Li's house were closed. Xie Tingjue called out to Old Man Li several times but there was no response.
He looked inside through the window and saw that the charcoal fire in the coal stove beside the bed had gone out.
The old man was sleeping soundly and didn't respond at all to the shouts from outside.
In winter, the doors and windows are closed too tightly, and the charcoal fire in the stove is still burning, so the probability of carbon monoxide poisoning is extremely high.
Xie Tingjue made a prompt decision and kicked the door open. With a loud bang, the door and the lock were opened. He used his hand to feel the old man Li's breath.
Old Mrs. Li still has a faint breath.
He breathed a sigh of relief, carried the person on his back and rushed to the hospital as soon as possible.
It was not until the evening that Old Man Li woke up slowly.
Old man Li’s name is Li Dejin.
The nurse who was changing his IV couldn't help but say, "Remember to open the window when you sleep with the coal stove on in the winter, otherwise you will easily get carbon monoxide poisoning. Fortunately, your son found it in time, otherwise it is hard to say whether you can save your life."
Old man Li had a complicated expression. How could he have any relatives?
The "son" the nurse was referring to should be the new clerk in the Statistics Bureau.
Xie Tingjue walked towards home. He carried the person on his back and ran two blocks to the hospital. He was sweating profusely in the cold winter day.
He wiped the sweat off his face and a rare smile appeared on his serious face.
Old man Li’s real name is Li Dejin. Ten years ago, he was exiled to the deserted Statistics Bureau due to negligence. During those turbulent years, his wife and children left him, and his life experienced ups and downs, but he finally returned to the peak.
It is not easy to establish a friendship with this person.
…
A remote small county in the south, Hongqi County.
One week after the exam, the College Entrance Examination Authority posted the answer keys and distributed them to various schools and the Youth League Office to help candidates estimate their scores and fill out their application forms.
After Zhou Tingting got the standard answers from the Youth League Office, she copied them several times and posted them on the bulletin board at the Youth League site.
Everyone crowded around the bulletin board.
"Oh... this question was almost correct!" an educated youth sighed regretfully.
"So this is how the question is written. I haven't reviewed it yet. If I had reviewed it, I would definitely have written it!"
This was a complaint full of hope. The educated youth clenched his fists, and after checking the answer, his eyes were full of determination to try again next year.
"Don't sigh. I did poorly on the test, and so did you. We all did poorly, so isn't that even?"
Looking around, everyone's estimated scores were low, but morale was not low.
After checking their answers, the educated youth asked each other about their scores, and they all had a rough idea in their minds: the scores on this year's exam would definitely not be high.
This is the first year that the college entrance examination was resumed, so the scores will not be too high.
"What is the admission score this year?"
"The county middle school should have a reference score line. Should we go to the school and ask?"
Shen Weimin asked around, and found out that the candidates at the educated youth point generally scored 100 or 200 points, which finally gave him, who scored more than 200 points, a little comfort.
Zhou Tingting checked her answers. This year she scored 328 points. Although she didn't know whether she could be admitted, her score was still good compared with everyone else. She took the answers to Ye's house with great enthusiasm.
Although the college entrance examination score line has not been announced yet, Zhou Tingting feels that her score should be enough to go to college.
"Qingshui, check your answers quickly and fill in your application form in a few days."
Ye Qingshui took the handwritten standard answers from Zhou Tingting and compared them with each question, her palms sweating. She was not nervous at all during the college entrance examination, but she became nervous when checking the answers.
Her composition was not very good, but thanks to Xie Tingjue's supervision, she got all the answers she recited correct, and did not lose any points for the classical Chinese translation. After adding and subtracting, Ye Qingshui finally estimated a score of 87.
She hesitantly wrote down her estimated Chinese score.
Zhou Tingting was almost scared when she saw that she had marked "87" under Chinese. It was really not easy to get such a high score in Chinese.
"Shui Ya, you can't be so careless when estimating the score, it's very important!"
Zhou Tingting hesitated for a moment, fearing that she might hurt Ye Qingshui's self-esteem, so she said in a tactful tone, "It's better to underestimate your score than to overestimate yourself. If you estimate wrongly, the school won't admit you if your score is not high enough, and your exam this year will be in vain..."
However, Zhou Tingting was wrong. Then she saw Ye Qingshui wrote "94" in the mathematics column.
"Physics: 96."
"Chemistry: 91."
"Politics: 83."
The total score is 451 points, with a full score of 500.
Zhou Tingting watched the whole thing with a dull expression on her face, full of disbelief.
Ye Qingshui was bathed in Zhou Tingting's shocked gaze. She couldn't help but laugh as she saw Zhou Tingting was so stunned that she couldn't speak.
She smiled and said, "Brother Yu helped me with my literacy, and I started learning high school knowledge last year... In order to do a good job of finding the water instrument, I specially studied math, physics and chemistry with Teacher Zhou. Don't worry, I didn't write it nonsense."
Zhou Tingting was half-believing and half-doubting. She thought she should really take Ye Qingshui to the educated youth site to feel the tense atmosphere.
A group of educated youth who were studying very hard were all worried that they would not be admitted to the university. Ye Qingshui was too relieved...
Did Ye Qingshui really do so well in the exam?
Zhou Tingting didn't disparage Ye Qingshui, but instead started to think about it seriously and dialectically.
This was indeed the case. If Ye Qingshui could get into university, Zhou Tingting would still believe it. But she not only got into university, but also got high scores, which was shocking enough.
But...did Ye Qingshui really score 451 points based on his own ability?
Could it be that this year's exam was not difficult, but they just didn't review well enough and forgot all the basic knowledge?
Based on Ye Qingshui's score, Zhou Tingting felt that her score of 328 was really dangerous, and she was afraid that she could not even go to university.
Zhou Tingting saw Xie Tingyu coming back and asked him for help:
"Comrade Xie, please come and persuade Shui Ya!"
Xie Tingyu asked: "What's wrong?"
Zhou Tingting repeated the story that Ye Qingshui had estimated his score too high.
Xie Tingyu picked up the standard answer, looked at it, and said calmly: "She can get this score."
Xie Tingyu couldn't tell what was wrong. Instead, when he saw his wife's Chinese score, he frowned and asked, "Can't your Chinese score be above 90?"
It is not easy to get 90 points in Chinese. Although the questions are simple, the judging standards are probably not low. The composition alone is worth 30 points. If you encounter a strict teacher, it is not impossible to lose 10 points.
Ye Qingshui was not convinced by what the man said. She really wanted to know how many points Xie Tingyu had scored, so she handed over the white paper and pen in her hand:
"Brother Yu, come and estimate the score too!"
Ye Qingshui looked at him expectantly.
Before the college entrance examination, Xie Tingyu was building a biogas tank and was not doing his job for a while. Ye Qingshui was very worried. Would Xie Tingyu become the top scorer in the college entrance examination because of it?
Xie Tingyu took the pen, glanced through it, and then slowly wrote down a string of numbers.
Something even more shocking happened...
When Ye Qingshui and Zhou Tingting saw the row of scores starting with 9 written fluently from the tip of the fountain pen, the two women opened their mouths in surprise.
Ye Qingshui turned his eyes away and drank a bowl of water to suppress the shock on his face.
Zhou Tingting was speechless, unable to describe her inner feelings at this moment. Why was it that she had to work so hard to get 300 points on the exam, while others could easily get close to full marks?
Xie Tingyu wrote neatly on the note:
"Language: 90
Mathematics: 98
Physics: 95
Chemistry: 100
Politics: 93.”
Such a neat and beautiful score made Zhou Tingting's heart beat fast!
Almost at the moment when Xie Tingyu finished writing down his score, Ye Qingshui calculated his total score, which was 476! Did Xie Tingyu really get this score?
This was beyond Ye Qingshui's expectations. Not only was it not lower than in his previous life, but it was more than 20 points higher. In his previous life, he scored 450 points, and this score was enough to win the provincial college entrance examination! 476, what does this mean?
Ye Qingshui breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Xie Tingyu as if he were an alien.
Grandma Xie finally didn't have to worry about her grandson being delayed. Not only was he not delayed, but he also became so successful that it was shocking. Ye Qingshui could already imagine the grand occasion after the scores were announced.
She couldn't hide her excitement and said, "I'm going to send a telegram to grandma. I'm afraid she will be so happy!"
However, Zhou Tingting, who was standing by, looked at these two surprisingly high scores. After being excited, she was overwhelmed by a feeling of frustration.
After being hit repeatedly by this couple, her face was like an eggplant hit by frost and was completely wilted.
One of the couple had never attended middle school and relied on self-study to take the college entrance examination, while the other had no free time at all to review and only had a month at most to review, but both of them scored over 400!
Zhou Tingting said worriedly: "I may not be able to get into university..."
She didn't get the predicted score and now thinks she failed the exam.
Ye Qingshui patted Zhou Tingting's shoulder comfortingly. She scored 328 points, which was over 300 points.
Although Ye Qingshui's memory was fuzzy, he still remembered that except for Province H, the admission scores of all provinces in the 1977 college entrance examination were generally below 300 points.
She said to Zhou Tingting seriously: "Don't worry, wait until the middle school releases the score line before making a decision.
Although Brother Yu did so well in the exam, he was not good at other things, but he was very good at studying. When he was studying in the capital, Brother Yu often got full marks in all his subjects and learned everything very quickly. "
If we use the scores of the top scorers in the college entrance examination as a reference, wouldn't it be a blow to everyone who sees it?
Although this top scorer in the college entrance examination looks a bit pitiful now, when he was repairing the biogas digester some time ago, the whole village was even worried that he would not be able to get into university.
Even she was worried that he might not perform well.
Ye Qingshui gave an example, saying: "Brother Yu can remember everything he has read, which is very useful for preparing for the exam in a short period of time. Not only that, he usually reads books after finishing farm work. Since last year, Brother Yu has been tutoring me in math, physics and chemistry in middle school, so it is reasonable that he did well in the exam."
Zhou Tingting was a little amused and confused after hearing this. Ye Qingshui even said such words to comfort her.
Xie Zhiqing is not a person who is “not good at anything else”, he is good at everything, right?
Where can you find someone who is well-versed in all cultural subjects and can bring benefit to the whole village through practical application?
At that time, others laughed at Xie Tingyu for being stupid, wasting time repairing the biogas tank instead of making good use of the time to review his lessons. Now Zhou Tingting understands that Xie Zhiqing is not stupid at all, he clearly has confidence in himself.
He was able to get such a score without much review. If he had reviewed well, wouldn't he have scored a few more points?
Thinking of this, Zhou Tingting admired Xie Tingyu from the bottom of her heart.
Ye Qingshui said, "Let's go to the county middle school tomorrow to find out the school's cut-off score. This will put your mind at ease. Without a reference cut-off score, we won't know how to fill in the application form."
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Internet had not yet developed, and information was transmitted very slowly. Candidates first filled out their applications, and the admissions office announced the college entrance examination scores. With it, candidates had a reference standard. Therefore, the reference score was particularly important.
The next day, Ye Qingshui and Zhou Tingting went to the county together.
The entrance to the only middle school in Hongqi County was crowded with people, and a group of candidates from other schools were stopped by the security guards and not allowed to enter.
"I'm going to fill out my application in a few days, and the school hasn't released the cutoff score yet?"
“Wait…it’s out!”
Ye Qingshui and Zhou Tingting were mixed in with a group of men. They were not very tall and could not see the red list that divided the scores.
At this moment, the county middle school's score line red list looked like the golden list in ancient times in the eyes of the candidates, and they were all anxious.
Ye Qingshui was afraid of being squeezed, so he carefully hid on the side where there were fewer people, but he was still pushed back by the surging crowd.
Zhou Tingting called out, "Shui Ya, get out of the way."
"Here it comes, the score line is here!" Someone in the crowd roared.
The crowd in front unconsciously moved backwards, while the people behind kept moving forward. Ye Qingshui was pushed unexpectedly and was about to fall. She subconsciously hugged her stomach.
At this moment, a pair of strong arms embraced her and lifted her up from the ground.
Those arms were as strong as iron, holding her tightly in their embrace. The thick, soft cotton jacket exuded the fresh and dry scent of its owner.
Xie Tingyu raised his eyebrows, revealing his white teeth in the sunlight. "You are such a grown-up, why are you still so reckless?"
Ye Qingshui touched her belly with lingering fear, wondering what would happen if she had just been hit. Although it was still early and the baby in her belly might not have formed yet, she couldn't help but worry.
She belatedly asked Xie Tingyu: "Why are you here?"
Xie Tingyu said, "I'm a little worried about you two, so I came to check the scores."
"Here I come! Why are you in such a hurry? If you can't pass this year, there's always next year, right?"
The teacher of the county middle school smiled and posted the school's score line.
“National Key Universities: 330.
Undergraduate degree: 250.
Provincial ordinary undergraduate: 200.
Vocational secondary schools: 180.”
The college entrance examination that was resumed in 1977 is actually called the National Unified Entrance Examination for Universities and Technical Secondary Schools. The meaning of technical secondary schools at that time was different from that of later generations. Technical secondary schools were very popular in the 1970s and 1980s.
Before the college entrance examination was reinstated, students could take the entrance exam for a technical secondary school after finishing junior high school. Only those who failed to pass the entrance exam went to high school. Students could enjoy government subsidies while studying at a technical secondary school, and would be assigned a job after graduation. Passing the entrance exam for a technical secondary school was equivalent to reducing the burden on the family and providing an extra labor force.
When the college entrance examination was resumed in 1977, admission to technical secondary schools was not cancelled.
"With only 180 points, if you can't go to university, you can at least go to a technical secondary school."
Zhou Tingting murmured to herself, and finally breathed a sigh of relief for her fellow educated youths.
She saw the school's cut-off line. Although she was a little disappointed that she was only two points away from the key line, she was happier that she could go to college. After a while, Zhou Tingting, who realized it late, covered her mouth in shock.
"The key score line is only 330 points. Xie Zhiqing did really well in this exam!"
Ye Qingshui also breathed a sigh of relief.
Tsinghua and Peking University in the capital are the two universities with the highest admission scores in the country, and the schools in the capital are also popular choices. If you don’t have 50 points higher than the key line, you may not be admitted.
Xie Tingyu secretly held his wife's hand under the cover of his wide coat sleeves.
"Shuiya, we can go to school in the capital together."
Ye Qingshui smiled happily and whispered back: "Yes, let's go to the capital together."
Zhou Cunren had finished grading the test papers. The test papers for the entire province were concentrated in the provincial capital, and tens of thousands of papers were being distributed to various cities and counties in a hurry.
"What is the highest score in Province G this year?"
"Wait a little longer until the highest scores for each subject are announced, then open the test papers and do the math."
Zhou Cunren didn't know any students who were particularly promising, and he didn't expect his only closed disciple, Ye Qingshui, to be accepted. Therefore, he was not very interested in the top scholar. He quietly packed up the work at hand and prepared to leave.
He casually asked, "Did anyone get full marks in math this year?"
The head of the math team said excitedly, "Yes, our province has one!"
"He-what's his name?" asked the teacher from Qingshi Middle School.
"Is he from Qingshi No. 1 Middle School?" another teacher asked proudly.
In their view, the students who did well in the exam this year must have come from the provincial capital and from key middle schools. As for the educated youth who were sent to the countryside, they were not within their scope of consideration.
How can those educated youth, who have lost their textbooks for so many years and whose hands have long been rusty from holding the hoe, compare with the students attending classes in school?
"No—" The head of the mathematics group flipped through the papers.
He said quietly, "It seems that we are from the same place as Teacher Zhou, Hongqi County, H City..."
He paused, and in everyone's surprised gaze, he continued: "Qingmu Township...Yejia Village."
"W-what?"
This answer was unexpected. The full score in mathematics was actually taken away by an unknown educated youth from the countryside?
"This student is incredible, he also got full marks in chemistry!" The chemistry teacher opened the test paper. He had been staying up for several nights in a row to mark the test papers, and his eyes were so tired that they were almost glowing red.
"Check out his scores in other subjects, quick!"
Zhou Cunren almost spit out the health tea for the elderly that he had brewed himself.
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