Winter exams, spring enrollment, the 1977 college entrance examination was the first in the history of China's college entrance examination to be held in winter. The weather in Yuchuan County was obviously not good. It started snowing heavily two days before the exam, and there was no sign of stopping on the day of the exam. The snow on the road was already above the knees, and every step was extremely difficult.
Yuchuan County is one of the pilot counties for the J Province College Entrance Examination. Students from several nearby counties will come to Yuchuan to take part in the two-day college entrance examination. If they want to take a foreign language test, it will be three days.
This was a big event, and the Yuchuan County Party Committee mobilized all government personnel, as well as employees from several factories and voluntary helpers to clear the snow from several main roads.
This year's college entrance examination is estimated to be the one with the largest number of candidates in history. After the college entrance examination was suspended for many years, those who were delayed for several years or even more than ten years regarded this examination as a life-saving duckweed, and wanted to use this examination to completely change their destiny.
According to Jiang Yilu's memory, there were more than 5.7 million people who registered for this exam, but only about 270,000 were finally admitted, with an admission rate of almost 5%. It is no exaggeration to say that it was a process of survival of the fittest.
Thousands of people were trying to squeeze through the single-plank bridge of the college entrance examination. This might be the reason why college students were so valuable in that era.
More than a decade later, college entrance examination candidates looking back at this year's college entrance examination papers may find them extremely simple, especially the Chinese language test. Apart from the composition, there were only two or three major questions. In the eyes of future generations, anyone who cannot answer such questions is either a mentally retarded person or an idiot.
But nowadays, when even the educated youth sent down from the city are almost unable to read, those students coming from rural areas with poor educational environment, facing more than ten years of educational paralysis and millions of competitors, can stand out from these hardships. Although they may be the tallest among the short ones, it is already extremely difficult for them to work hard and get into university.
Except for the third and fourth sisters and Xiang Fang who chose to take the liberal arts exam, the rest of Jiang Yiliu chose the science exam. There were four exams in total. Politics, mathematics, and Chinese were all required subjects. There was also one more subject, history and geography for liberal arts and physics and chemistry for science, which was basically the same as in later generations. Those who wanted to take special majors such as diplomacy had to take a foreign language exam on the third day.
For fear of any accidents, Jiang Yilu and several others were taken to the county town by Jiang Dazhen a few days before the college entrance examination. Their examination site was in Yuchuan Primary School, not far from the Meng family, only about ten minutes away, which saved them more study time.
After Jiang Dani and Xiang Qianjin got married, Xiang Qianjin could no longer live in the single dormitory of the machinery factory. However, considering that he was now a family man and the Meng family was helping out, the factory allocated a public housing unit to Xiang Qianjin. The area was not large, only more than 20 square meters, and the kitchen and bathroom were shared. They were already very satisfied to have a stable home in the county town.
Jiang Dani's home is on the second floor of a small building across the street from Meng's home. Every day she would bring some food to visit her younger brothers and sisters who were preparing for the exam. It was not that she did not want to take her younger brothers and sisters to her home. Firstly, their home was not as comfortable as the Meng family's. Secondly, her daughter Niuniu, who had just turned one year old, was still too young. If she cried, it would affect the review of Erni and the others.
Finally the day of the college entrance examination arrived. The siblings, who were well fed and pampered every day, not only did not gain weight, but lost a lot of weight. However, they all looked energetic, with bright eyes, and it was obvious that they had made sufficient preparations.
On the day of the college entrance examination, the roads outside several schools were blocked by parents who came to see their children off. The actual candidates could not even squeeze in. After all, the college entrance examination was a big event. Families with candidates wanted to bring all the gossips at home to cheer for their children.
"Really? Why are they all crowding here when the kids are taking exams? Aren't they afraid of delaying the kids?"
Old Mrs. Miao complained continuously, pushing away the crowd in front of her, and admonishing her son and daughter-in-law who were following behind her: "Take care of Xiaobao, don't let his head get hurt by others."
He looked so angry, not realizing at all that he was one of those parents who delayed his child's development.
And Jiang Yilu really wanted to tell his grandma that his head was quite hard and wouldn't be easily damaged by squeezing.
Thanks to the old lady's female power, Jiang Yilu and his friends finally made it to the school gate safely. However, their new clothes, which had been ironed neatly before they went out in the morning, had long been squeezed into dried clothes.
Several people took out their admission tickets from their pockets and walked into the closed iron gate. Jiang Dahai said to them worriedly: "Don't be too stressed. If you don't pass, we can take it again next year."
He also heard Uncle Bai say before that one should not put too much pressure on children before exams, otherwise it will easily affect their performance.
"What nonsense are you talking about!" The old lady gave her once favorite eldest son a hard slap in the face, "Our child is the god of literature, there is no need for a next time."
Jiang Dahai rubbed his forehead a little aggrieved, seeing that not only his mother disagreed with what he said, but even his wife and daughter who was about to take the exam looked at him in the same way.
He felt wronged...
"Dad, don't worry. Your second daughter will definitely pass the college entrance examination and come back for you." Jiang Erni made a bold statement. Her teacher was still waiting for her in the capital.
Several people were in different examination rooms. Jiang Yilu looked at the instruction map posted at the gate and walked to his own examination room. His seat was one that all the candidates tried to avoid, right under the noses of the invigilators. However, Jiang Yilu had no intention of cheating, so he sat down in his seat calmly and took out a pen. He prepared two pens in case the ink in one of the pens got frozen and he couldn't write.
Fortunately, there were two stoves placed in each classroom, one in front and one in the back. The classrooms were warm, which immediately diluted the chill brought by the severe winter outside. Jiang Yilu made preparations and looked around before the exam began.
It's him!
Jiang Yilu saw Rong Jing sitting in the last row of the classroom. He had hardly seen him since he graduated from elementary school. He only occasionally heard about his progress with Meng Xiangwen from his aunt. Now, Meng Xiangwen is 24 years old this year and is already an unmarried woman. However, the Meng family has given up on her and the Wen family has had an affair with her, so no one is urging her to get married.
Jiang Yilu remembered that his aunt said that Meng Xiangwen seemed to have also taken part in this college entrance examination.
Rong Jing noticed Jiang Yilu's gaze, raised his head and looked at Jiang Yilu. He was slightly stunned when he saw him, as if he did not expect that Jiang Yilu, at such a young age, would actually come to take the college entrance examination. He also nodded and greeted Jiang Yilu in a friendly manner.
Jiang Yilu did not comment on Rong Jing's character, but Rong Jing had never provoked him, so he also greeted him in a friendly manner.
The college entrance examination at that time was really interesting. The entire examination room was like a civil service examination. In the examination room, you could see students who were still childish, as well as mature and steady middle-aged people who had worked for more than ten years. It was like a small society.
The first exam in the morning was mathematics. Jiang Yilu first glanced over the paper and then breathed a sigh of relief. The questions this time were relatively basic. Grandpa Ruan had basically mentioned them all when he was reviewing with them. Except for a few difficult questions, he estimated that his sisters and Guangpiao and the others should have no problem.
He finished the test paper smoothly and checked it twice carefully. He looked at the time and saw that there was still half an hour left. A candidate sitting near him, who looked to be about 30 years old, was holding a fountain pen in his hand and scratching his head with one hand. He looked worried and hesitated to write. There was also a girl who looked about the same age as the third sister. She seemed to be stumped by a difficult question at the end. Her face was red, as if she would cry in the next second.
I have only known about the resumption of the college entrance examination in the past few months. It is too difficult to complete more than ten years of courses in these few months. The appearance of those candidates is the normal level of this college entrance examination. Of course, there are also natives like Jiang Yilu who are relaxed, but they are rare.
After finishing the morning exam, Jiang Yilu waited for several sisters and friends under the old banyan tree in front of the teaching building. This was also what they had agreed on early in the morning.
"I spent a long time figuring out the answer to the last question."
"Is it A? I chose B."
"Shouldn't that formula be used for this?"
The familiar sound of checking questions was heard, and all the people leaving the examination room gathered together in twos and threes. It was an unprecedented scene. Among the candidates, there were brothers and sisters, which was common, and there were also uncles and nephews, and husband and wife taking the exam together.
When everyone left the examination room, they were no longer nervous or afraid. Regardless of whether they did well or not, they all had a look of sacred longing on their faces. For most people, it was already an extremely lucky thing to be able to see the college entrance examination resumed in this life.
"Xiaobao, you are simply my lucky star."
As soon as Guangpiao rushed out, he wanted to hug Jiang Yilu and kiss him madly, but Jiang Yilu covered his mouth rudely and pushed him away from him. He didn't want to have his face covered with saliva.
"You are amazing. You actually guessed most of the last difficult question correctly. If I hadn't done similar questions before, I would never have been able to solve this question. This is a 15-point question. What was the answer you finally calculated?"
Guangpiao talked incessantly to express his inner excitement, but he was also worried that he would make a mistake when calculating the answer at the end. He was too slow in doing the questions, and the test time was over just after he finished the last question, and he didn't even have time to check it again.
"There are three more exams to come. In order to regain confidence, we are not allowed to check answers with each other in the next two days."
Jiang Yilu refused mercilessly, and Guangpiao could only look at him with a sad look.
Not long after, Erni and a few others also squeezed through the crowd and came under the banyan tree. Judging from everyone's expressions at this moment, it seemed that they all did well in the exam.
Old Mrs. Miao and her son and daughter-in-law never left at all. They just held on to the iron railings and waited outside. I don’t know if Jiang Dahai told them what Bai Fangqiu said, but from the time Jiang Yilu and the others left the examination room to the Meng family, they never asked them how they did in the exam.
Jiang Cheng and Jiang Dachuan also came to the city, but because of their difficulty walking, they stayed at Meng's house and did not go out.
"How did you do on the test?"
Most of Jiang Dachuan's life has been wasted, and he now places all his hopes on his son. Seeing his son coming back with Erni and the others, he couldn't wait to ask.
Jiang Aiguo has been studying with Ruan Yuanjiang these days. The special lessons that Jiang Yi gave to his sisters will also be given to the two brothers, so he is still very confident in this exam.
The huge changes in the family really made Jiang Aiguo seem like a different person. Now, Jiang Yilu can no longer find any memories of his previous life in him.
Jiang Dachuan was very excited when he heard his son's reply. Since he came back, his gloomy face has become brighter.
During these two days, their daily routine became very regular - eating, taking exams, eating, taking naps, taking exams, eating, reading, and sleeping. The family members also spoke in unison and did not dare to mention anything about the exams at home.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and the most torturous part was the time of waiting for the results.
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