Chapter 310
At the end of December 1976, an extremely cold air came to Guangdong Province, and the temperature dropped to minus four or five degrees Celsius. For Guangzhou, where the average winter temperature is more than ten degrees, this is a rare bad weather in decades.
The whole sky was gray, and tiny ice particles floated from time to time.
When I woke up in the morning, there was thick frost on the ground, and many roads were frozen. Public transportation was seriously affected. Bicyclists could be seen falling from time to time.
Most of the vegetables grown by the surrounding communes were killed by frost and snow, and the economic losses were heavy. Those cities that relied on Guangdong Province to supply winter vegetables were even in a state of difficulty in finding vegetables.
Guangzhou has a strong sense of folk customs. Seeing this, many local elders kept saying that this was a warning from heaven, and that next year would not be a good year.
In this way, Guangzhou ushered in 1976 while preventing and controlling ice and snow disasters. In early
January, the bad news came that the man who had devoted himself to the country had left us forever.
For a while, there were cries everywhere.
Ten miles of Chang'an Avenue, millions of people bid farewell with tears.
He had no children, but he was the parent of hundreds of millions of people; he had no tombstone, but he built an immortal monument in everyone's heart.
People from all over the country mourned spontaneously, and the people of Guangzhou also went to the square at the entrance of the exhibition hall to mourn the great man in their hearts.
Because they knew that without his strong support, the export trade fair would not have been held so smoothly, and Guangzhou's economy would not be as good as it is now.
The great man's death made everyone feel very heavy. During the Spring Festival this year, there was less laughter and joy everywhere.
People in politics were also worried that the movement that was finally coming to an end would come back again.
In such worries, the announcement of a piece of news was like a sharp blade breaking through the maze, giving everyone the dawn of victory. On
February 3, the fourth day of the Chinese New Year, the first day of work, the People's Daily announced on the front page that the college entrance examination would be resumed. At the same time, radio stations and televisions were also broadcasting this news non-stop.
The news spread all over the country in an instant, and educated youth from all over the country rushed to tell each other, crying on the spot.
The college entrance examination is scheduled for July 20 to July 22.
The enrollment targets are: workers and farmers, educated youth who went to the countryside and returned to their hometowns, demobilized soldiers, cadres and high school graduates.
Compared with the previous announcement, which only had more than a month of preparation time, this time, everyone has ample time to review.
At the same time, in order to facilitate the review of all students, the government has also reprinted the "Self-Study Series of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry". For a while, Luoyang was in great demand, and people were everywhere asking for books.
In order to ease the pressure from the central government, each province spontaneously organized backbone teachers to compile review outlines and exercises to help students in the province.
As related households, Su Mo and Lu Xiaolan had already obtained various review materials from Zhang Zhen in advance.
Everyone has plenty of time to review this time, and Su Mo doesn't dare to be careless. There are many capable people, so she must not fall into trouble.
But Su Mo is a little troubled about which school to apply for.
If she hadn't come to Guangzhou to follow the army, she would have applied to Huazhong University without hesitation, but now she has to reconsider.
First, Lu Changzheng and the children are in Guangzhou. If it was only Lu Changzheng, she could take the children to Beijing when they were in school. But the two children are valued by Commander Xu, and they have classes to attend the next day, so they definitely can't leave Guangzhou. She is a little reluctant to abandon her husband and children and go to Beijing alone.
Second, judging from the current trajectory, Guangdong Province is definitely still a pioneer in reform and opening up. Soon it will be the time when "you can make a fortune in Guangdong", and it is not wise for her to leave Guangzhou and go to other places at this time, as she wants to enter the business world.
Third, she has built up some connections in Guangzhou over the years. As the saying goes, when people leave, the tea gets cold. If she leaves for a few years, some relationships may fade.
In the end, Su Mo decided to stay in Guangzhou and apply for the best university in Guangzhou. Then she can study and do business at the same time, and she will not miss the opportunity.
Su Mo put all her efforts into translating the rest of the novel in early March. After the Spring Fair, she will devote herself to reviewing.
This novel has nearly 800,000 words. When Su Mo was in Lujia Village, she had already translated about 200,000 words. The remaining 600,000 words were translated in more than four months.
The translation fee given by the newspaper this time was 5 yuan per thousand words. In less than five months, Su Mo earned a huge sum of 2,935 yuan. However, Su Mo did not make it public. She quietly put the money away and saved it as capital in the future.
After the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination was announced, Lu Xiaolan wrote a letter back to her family and told them that she and Su Mo were preparing to take the college entrance examination.
Lu Qingan was very happy. He had always regretted that Lu Changzheng did not go to college. Now, no matter which of the two sisters-in-law can pass the exam, his Lu family can be considered to have a college student.
Hearing that walnuts are good for the brain, Lu Qingan and his wife exchanged walnuts in their own brigade and also went to the next brigade to exchange a lot of walnuts. They exchanged four or five sacks in total and prepared to mail them to Guangzhou.
The mailing fee for so many things was very expensive, so Lu Qingan found Tao Peisheng and asked him to help transport them by train. Last year, the third brother brought back special rations twice, and he asked Tao Peisheng for help to transport them by train.
Tao Peisheng saw that Lu Qingan was going to transport so many bags of walnuts to Guangzhou, saying that they were for Su Mo and the others to supplement their brains, so he asked him for a bag.
Ma Xiaojuan worked very hard during this period to prepare for the college entrance examination. She taught during the day and studied hard at night. Unfortunately, she was pregnant at that time, and Tao Peisheng was also very worried.
Since walnuts can nourish the brain, he should give more to his wife. He can't help much, so he can only do some small things.
When Su Mo saw the four big sacks of walnuts that Lu Changzheng brought back from the station, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but she was grateful for the old man's sincere heart.
Su Mo gave some to her parents, Grandpa Zhang and Commander Xu, and kept the rest at home for the two children and Lu Xiaolan to eat more.
Although walnuts can't nourish the brain, they are rich in nutrients and can supplement calcium. It is beneficial for children and the elderly to eat them often.
This year's Spring Fair was held very smoothly. There were many more foreign businessmen than in previous years, and the transaction volume also set a new record.
After the Spring Fair closed, Su Mo began to devote herself to the intense review.
In May, Lu Xiaolan quit her job, a desperate move.
When filling out the application form in June, Lu Xiaolan thought again and again and decided to apply for the Teachers College in Harbin.
The two children have grown up and are very sensible and obedient, so they don't need her to take care of them. After all, Heijiang Province is her home, her parents are there, and she has not been there to fulfill her filial duties in recent years.
If she can pass the exam, she can go home to fulfill her filial duty during the winter and summer vacations; if she fails, she is also ready to go home, and do anything when she returns.
Nowadays, the atmosphere is getting better and better. I heard from my third sister-in-law that private business may be allowed soon. If she fails the exam, she will go back to do farm work first, and when private business is allowed, she will do some small business on her own.