After Jiang Yue finished speaking, the three of them felt bored and went to read books. After resting for a while, Jiang Yue played cards for a bit. When it was time, the group prepared to go to sleep. They didn't plan to go into the mountains recently, so they didn't check for traps. They would deal with the house-building matter after things calmed down.
It started snowing right after breakfast the next morning, so we didn't have to leave the house. While the group was reading in the morning, Grandpa Xu and his family of three came over. They had come to express their gratitude to Jiang Yue. Grandpa Xu's son even brought a gift. After exchanging pleasantries for a while, they went back before the snow started to fall heavily.
At noon, Jiang Yue was too lazy to cook, so the three of them ate a bag of pastries that Grandpa Xu had brought over. Jiang Yue only ate one piece because it was too sweet; she didn't really like pastries that were too sweet. In the afternoon, the four of them killed three chickens. They had originally planned to kill them all for the New Year, but it would be a waste to feed them if they didn't lay eggs. Since the weather was already freezing, they decided to kill some to eat in the meantime.
Dinner consisted of stewed chicken in an iron pot with cornbread. In recent years, the frequency of eating meat has increased significantly. Since they started earning money, the three of them have become more confident and no longer experience emotional outbursts every now and then. Their family life has also improved considerably, as they no longer need financial support and can receive feedback from their children from time to time.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it was the Spring Festival of 1975. On New Year's Eve, every household was filled with joy. After getting up in the morning, several people started to get busy. This year, there was a lot more meat in the house, and there were also more kinds of vegetables.
This year's New Year's Eve dinner was the most lavish meal since we came to the countryside. Several of them drank a bit too much at the dinner, and when others came to invite them out tonight, they were still snuggled in bed sleeping. Only Jiang Yue recovered a bit faster.
After she woke up, she checked the time and it was already past ten o'clock at night. After heating up the kang (a heated brick bed), she tidied up the mess on the dining table and went back to her room to sleep.
When Jiang Yue woke up the next morning, breakfast was already prepared. While eating, Jiang Yue asked what was going on and found out that the three of them had gotten up around four or five o'clock. Several groups of children had come to wish them a Happy New Year.
After F4 was crushed in 1996, many families began to enjoy better days. By the end of the year, some educated youth had started to return to the city one after another, and by the beginning of 1997, even more had returned. Yao Ling, thanks to Jiang Yue's help, has indeed accomplished a lot in recent years.
She thought the puppet was the head of the black market, so she dragged Jiang Yue and the other two to buy a lot of stamps. Because Jiang Yue only said that stamps in this era would be valuable in the future, without saying which ones were valuable, she asked the puppeteer to collect a lot of stamp albums. In the end, she even used the excuse of buying too many to help the three of them, saying that if they were to separate in the future, they could keep them as gifts.
After the Chinese New Year in 1997, she started pressuring several people to start reviewing their studies, extending their study time by several hours each day. This was for a reason, as the school had indeed seen a significant increase in enrollment recently. She said that business was becoming less profitable, and if she ever lost her job, she could become a teacher.
In short, Yao Ling had a whole repertoire of stories. If Jiang Yue hadn't known beforehand, she would have believed Yao Ling's story. When she thought about it later, she would probably just say that Yao Ling was lucky. Jiang Yue also felt that she hadn't misjudged Yao Ling once again.
On October 21, the People's Daily reported the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination on its front page.
This news was like a spring breeze sweeping across the motherland, and young people all over the country were overjoyed! Especially for the educated youth who have been rooted in the countryside in recent years, this news was like a timely rain after a long drought.
Inside the educated youth settlement, Zhang Wei and Wang Liang excitedly passed around the newspapers in their hands, their eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Yao Ling is such a lucky star! If she hadn't kept reminding us to study hard, we'd probably be completely clueless right now!" Zhang Liang exclaimed in amazement as he looked at the newspaper.
Yao Ling snatched the newspaper from his hand, glanced at him, and said, "You can't just thank me; you should thank everyone who has never given up on learning."
"This suggestion was originally yours! Your contribution is undeniable." Wang Liang grinned, his mouth agape.
"Alright, don't get too excited yet. Let's go register tomorrow. They didn't say how to register, so let's go ask the brigade leader."
"Let's go, let's go."
When I arrived at the brigade headquarters, almost all the educated youth had arrived. Everyone was concerned about this matter. The brigade leader knew that everyone was anxious, so he took out the documents and read them carefully to everyone. He also answered some of the educated youth's questions and then summarized:
"Everyone, please prepare all the necessary documents and certificates today. Tomorrow, the brigade will send a tractor to take you to register. Don't worry, the brigade will provide streetlights all the way. During this preparation period, you don't need to go to the fields. Just stay home and study."
"Long live the brigade leader!" one of the educated youth couldn't help but shout.
"No, no, no! Don't shout 'Long live the Emperor!' If people find out, they'll think I'm trying to restore feudalism! Remember to watch your mouths after you leave, and don't say anything out of line."
"Understood, Captain. Thank you, Captain."
After returning home, the group discussed which universities to apply to. Wang Liang and Zhang Wei wanted to apply to universities in Beijing, and Yao Ling, who had memories of a pseudo-rebirth, also wanted to go there. Now, only Jiang Yue remained undecided. Seeing that Jiang Yue was silent, Yao Ling asked her, "Xiao Yue, what are you thinking? Is there a place you want to go?"
"No." Jiang Yue thought that she had always lived in Beijing or Shanghai. She was thinking about whether to change places and see if she could live in the south.
"Then come with us. If you want to go somewhere else, you can wait until you graduate."
"Yeah, yeah, let's go together, Xiaoyue, that way I can get a free meal or something."
"Wang Liang, Wang Liang, all you ever remember is food."
“Xiaoyue, Xiaoyue, come to Beijing with us. We all have some money now. Once we get there, we can buy houses together and visit each other from time to time.”
"Okay, it's all the same wherever I go."
After deciding which university to apply to, the group started preparing for the exam. Although they were fairly confident of getting into university, they still needed to work hard if they wanted to get into a good one. They had only been studying for half an hour when three female educated youths from the third batch of educated youths came to visit. They were relatively close friends.
The group knew what the people were doing when they came in. They knew there were books here and they guessed they were there to borrow them. In addition, Jiang Yue and the others hadn't tried to hide it, so basically anyone who could come to their house as a guest or come inside knew.
As expected, they guessed correctly. The four of them were not stingy and gave them a set of books. These were not for the three of them, but for the educated youth settlement. The three of them thanked them profusely and left. This was not because Yao Ling was overly kind or had prepared it in advance. Do you remember when Yao Ling and the other two went home for the first time? At that time, Jiang Yue bought the missing books from the recycling station. Yao Ling did not know this at the time. After she returned to the city, she bought a new set. So, since then, the family has had two sets of books.
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