Chapter 367 Enrollment

A buffet is one in which each family brings their own tables and chairs and places them outdoors. There is no fixed seat and everyone sits wherever they want. Some people feel embarrassed to sit at the table and instead squat on the side with their large bowls to eat.

In addition to mutton soup, braised pork with brown sauce, mixed-noodle steamed buns, and mixed-noodle noodles, they also used a large iron pot to boil pork fat and stir-fry a large pot of radish, cabbage and meat. A large pot was placed on each table, and everyone ate by themselves by scooping food into their bowls.

Secretary Zhao asked Xia Juanjuan to sit at his table and said with a smile:

"Ah! You, girl, when you and Li Zhan came to register your marriage, you corrected the characters in your name for me. I thought at that time that you were not an ordinary girl. I never thought that you would rank fifth in the province and be admitted to Beijing University! You really made our Qingshui Village Mayor proud!

You must encourage the children in the village school in the afternoon and tell them to study hard and not be lazy. In the future, I hope they can be admitted to Peking University or National Tsing Hua University just like you!"

Xia Juanjuan knew that Secretary Zhao respected knowledgeable people, so she couldn't refuse. In the afternoon, she went to give the children in the village an extra class.

We stayed in Qingshui Village that night.

The next afternoon, I asked the commune to issue me a letter of introduction, and then I took the university's admission letter and relevant documents for relocation to get a certificate of relocation.

As for the household registration of the six children in the family, Xia Juanjuan also arranged for them to be relocated this time, otherwise it would have affected Xiaowen and the others’ schooling.

After finishing all this, Xia Juanjuan, Xia Shuangshan and Lin Yuru took the children back to Beijing.

When she arrived at the county seat, Xia Juanjuan made a special trip to the Liu family and brought some snacks from Beijing.

Old Liu didn't say anything, but in his heart he still recognized Xia Juanjuan as his future boss. He didn't forget to come and pay New Year's greetings during the festival. He is really a polite person!

After returning from Liu's house, he took the train back to Beijing.

After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the Chinese New Year is over and all walks of life begin to open their doors to welcome customers.

Universities start on February 22nd, and elementary and middle schools start around the same time.

Xia Juanjuan began to arrange for Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei to transfer to other schools.

The household registration relocation has been completed, but as for the relocation, she has to wait until school starts. She has to complete it first before she can bring the kids in.

Fortunately, after listening to Xia Juanjuan's explanation, checking the relevant documents she brought, and knowing that she was a military dependent, the junior high school and elementary school did not hold back and agreed to allow Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei to enroll as temporary auditors first, and then officially register them for school after their household registration was transferred in.

Now that the matter was resolved, Xia Juanjuan felt relieved and gave instructions on the way back.

"You three should study hard. Jing City is not like the island. There are not so many students. If you work hard, you can get first or second place. If you get last place, I will beat you up."

Xiaowen smiled and said, "Mom, don't worry! We have a mom who was admitted to Beijing University. If we were to rank last, wouldn't we be laughed at? We will definitely study hard. Xiaowu will also, I will urge him!"

Beibei also expressed her determination: "Mom, I will definitely graduate from primary school with the first place and enter junior high school!"

Xiao Wu was frowning: "Ah... Mom, can you be a little more lenient? If I get the last place, I will be punished. If I get the second to last place, I won't be punished..."

Xia Juanjuan: “…”

Xia Juanjuan smiled without temper and said, "Can't you be a little more capable?"

"That's right!" Beibei helped out.

Xiao Wu made a face at her and said, "In the future, I want to be like Fourth Uncle, join the army, and defend my country with a gun! Big brother and you are going to college like mom, but I have to inherit Fourth Uncle's legacy!"

Xia Juanjuan was amused by what she said.

Although he is greedy for fun, Xiao Wu has a lot of reasons and crooked logic.

"Okay! If you can join the army, like your fourth uncle, I won't force you to study. However, you will need to have cultural knowledge to be a soldier in the future. Your fourth uncle will go to military school this fall. If you don't study hard now, the army won't want you!" Xia Juanjuan said.

When Xiao Wu heard this, he couldn't help but worry: "Really? Mom, you're not lying to me to make me study, are you?"

Xia Juanjuan shrugged: "Anyway, they won't want you in the future, so don't blame me for not reminding you."

Xiao Wu frowned and sighed, "Oh! Well... OK. I'll just study hard."

Xia Juanjuan couldn't help laughing: "It's okay, you still have a few years, you can catch up."

The two mothers talked as they strolled back to the courtyard.

Along the way, Xia Juanjuan was also paying attention to the shops on the roadside, thinking about buying a shop on the way from her home to the courtyard.

However, I didn’t notice anything good about it, so I can only watch it slowly later.

February 22nd soon arrived, the day Xia Juanjuan was going to report to Peking University.

When she actually went to report it, Xia Juanjuan realized that it was not that close at all, it was more than ten kilometers away! However, there was a direct bus, but even so, it took almost an hour to get there.

Fortunately, the other courtyard house she bought was near Yihe Garden. If she couldn't make it in time, she could teleport there through space.

When they arrived at the gate of the famous ancient school, Xia Juanjuan was still a little excited.

Many students of all ages poured into the school. They looked at each other and smiled knowingly.

Xia Juanjuan reported to the orientation office of the Economics Department. They were the first batch of students in ten years, so there were no seniors to greet them. They were all teachers in the department, and they all looked to be in their thirties or forties. Some were even older, with gray hair.

However, the candidates who came here are quite old, and some of the older ones are almost thirty years old.

A female teacher and a male teacher took the girls and boys to the dormitory respectively and asked them to put down their luggage first.

In the first year of the college entrance examination, most of the students were locals. However, Xia Juanjuan observed that there were about ten students from other provinces like her in each department. In her class, which was a small class of 30, there were also three or four students like her.

You don't have to pay for accommodation when you live in school, but you will have to pay for electricity and other expenses when the usage exceeds a certain level.

Xia Juanjuan saw that some students from Beijing had also applied for dormitories, so she also reserved a dorm.

The school dormitory was still enough for the first year, it was just a matter of one more bed.

The main reason was that the round trip was so far now, and she was afraid that if she had classes in the morning and afternoon, it would be too rushed to come from Siheyuan.

The dormitory room is for six people.

Their dormitory was divided into four people from Beijing, Xia Juanjuan and another person who passed the exam from Guangzhou.

The girl from Guangzhou was named Chen Lu, 24 years old, and unmarried. Her name sounded like a boy's name at first glance.

After hearing that it was the name of a deer, Xia Juanjuan thought it was quite unique.

It was obvious that Chen Lu had never been to the north. In the dead of winter, she was only wearing a thin cotton jacket. On the way here with the female teacher, her teeth were so frozen that they were chattering and she couldn't even speak a complete sentence.

The other four were from Beijing, and they were all about 25 or 26 years old. Two of them were educated youth who had their families get them quotas to return to their hometowns two years ago. One of them was married but had no children, her name was Li Zhixin. One was engaged and had a partner, her name was Sun Hui.

There are two more who came from Beijing to work in the countryside, but never had the chance to return to the city. This time they took advantage of the opportunity to take the exam and came back. One of them, like Xia Juanjuan, also married a country man and already had several children. She is the oldest, 28 years old, named Wang Wenmei. The other one is said to be unmarried, named Feng Yue.

After everyone briefly introduced themselves, they packed up their luggage and excitedly went to walk around the campus.

Chen Lu was so frozen that she even bought a thin blanket. As soon as the others left, she quickly got into the quilt to keep warm.

People in the north use heating in winter, but wood and coal are used for production and supplies are scarce, so the heating can only make the temperature slightly warmer than outside.

Chen Lu was still shivering from the cold.

Seeing her like this, Xia Juanjuan said with a smile: "Didn't you ask around before you came? The temperature outside here in winter is minus ten degrees Celsius or even lower. You'll be cold wearing that cotton coat."

Chen Lu stuttered in broken Mandarin: "I... our place is also... 10... 10 degrees in winter. Who knew that minus 10 degrees... could be so cold."

Xia Juanjuan thought about it and realized that if she had never experienced it, she really wouldn't know.

Seeing that she had come all the way to Beijing to take the exam, she felt sorry for her, so she lent her a quilt she had brought with her, and said with a smile, "Use my quilt on top of you first. When you warm up, go to the department store and buy a new one. Also, buy a thick cotton-padded jacket. You'll catch a cold tomorrow if you keep this way."

Chen Lu was reluctant at first, but later thanked her and covered his own thin quilt with Xia Juanjuan's quilt.

Xia Juanjuan went out to look around the campus and found the cafeteria. There was a master chef in charge of the cafeteria. Today was probably the first day of business. It was almost noon, and rice, steamed buns, fried noodles, and soup noodles were all on the table. However, most of the dishes were vegetarian, and the noodles were mainly mixed grains, with no refined white flour.

Many students are queuing up to get their meals.

College students receive a living allowance of 30 yuan per month. They can buy their own food coupons and use them to get meals in the cafeteria.

There is a place outside the cafeteria to get hot water. It costs two cents a pot, and there are also special hot water tickets.

Xia Juanjuan filled the aluminum lunch box she brought with her with half a bowl of rice, a plate of pickled cabbage, and ordered two steamed buns, a bowl of porridge, and a pot of boiling water before returning to the dormitory.

She handed the lunch box of rice and pickled cabbage to Chen Lu and said with a smile, "Go to the cafeteria to get some food. I'll just give you one portion. It will probably warm you up after you eat it. There's also hot water. Which enamel cup do you have?"

After being in a state of panic for a long time, Chen Lu finally recovered and sat up, smiling sheepishly, "Comrade Xia... Can I call you Juanjuan from now on? Thank you so much. That enamel cup is mine."

Xia Juanjuan poured some hot water into her cup and handed it to her, saying with a smile, "Of course you can."

Chen Lu used the cup to warm his hands for a while, then turned around and felt around for a while, and said, "How much is this rice and water? I'll give it to you."

After hearing this, Xia Juanjuan's impression of Chen Lu improved a little.

If she is someone who likes to take advantage of others, she will usually remain silent at this time, thinking that the other party was willing to buy it for her and she didn't ask her to bring it.

What's even worse is that she asked someone to bring her breakfast, but they just ran errands for her and didn't mention a word about the money. When she asked about it, she even annoyed them by asking for it.

Xia Juanjuan smiled and said, "They are all vegetarian dishes, and they don't cost much. You need to exchange them for meal tickets in the cafeteria. Remember to exchange them in the afternoon when it gets warmer."

Chen Lu shook his head and insisted, "There's a lot of time ahead. How can we start like this?"

Xia Juanjuan listened and stopped refusing. She smiled and said, "That's fine. A pot of boiled water is only two cents, that's fine. Rice and vegetables are 15 cents."

After hearing this, Chen Lu took out money from his pocket and gave it to Xia Juanjuan.

Xia Juanjuan accepted it without saying anything.

Xia Juanjuan ate two steamed buns and millet porridge by herself.

After lunch, I have no classes scheduled for today and will have to wait until tomorrow.

Xia Juanjuan left school and went to the courtyard to stroll around where Xiaowen, Xiaowu and Beibei were on their way to school.

As for choosing a store, there are actually some that are busier and more suitable than this one, but Xia Juanjuan still wants to buy one here first.

After strolling around for a few times, she noticed that opposite a state-owned pastry shop, there was a small shop, but it was often closed. Xia Juanjuan asked the neighbors and found out that the owner was not at home. She waited for a long time but to no avail, so she had to go back.

The triplets were playing war in the yard and running around.

Xia Juanjuan hugged Yanyan and said with a smile: "Run slower. Where are your grandparents?"

When the triplets saw Xia Juanjuan coming back, they all ran over happily and shouted, "Mom!"

Yanyan replied in a baby voice: "Grandma is washing clothes, Grandpa is out!"

After hearing this, Xia Juanjuan went to the backyard and saw that Lin Yuru was washing clothes with water from the well.

Xia Juanjuan hurried over, stopped her, and said, "Mom, didn't I tell you to leave the dirty clothes there and I'll wash them? It's winter, the water is so cold, why did you start washing them without even heating some water?"

She had a washing machine in her room, and she would secretly put the clothes in there to wash every time.

After hearing this, Lin Yuru smiled awkwardly and said, "I have nothing to do at home. The water in the well is warm in winter and cool in summer. It's not cold. Boiling water requires firewood. Now that we are not in the countryside, your father can just go up the mountain to look at some branches and come back to boil water. Firewood also costs money..."

Xia Juanjuan sighed and brought the clothes and the basin into the house. When she saw that the stove was off, she knew that she had turned off the coal stove during the day in order to save coal and firewood.

Xia Juanjuan felt angry and helpless.

She also knew that she couldn't blame Lin Yuru. Things that were free in the countryside suddenly had to be bought with money in the city, and she had to buy them. At first, she couldn't get over the hurdle in her heart.

Lin Yuru stammered, "Yanyan and the others are having fun in the yard every day. It doesn't matter whether the coal stove in this room is burning or not. It's a waste if it's burning. It will be the same if we turn it on again when it gets cold at night..."