Chapter 89: Resuming the College Entrance Examination
"Auntie."
"Hey, I'm here."
"These are for you." When the old man was the only one left outside the house, Tang Yuan grabbed a handful of rags and handed them to her. "Take these rags back, they should be very useful for sewing and mending."
If this happened in the future, and she gave away a handful of rags, people would say she looked down on others. But now, when the in-laws saw it, they were overjoyed. They quickly opened the bag they were carrying and let her throw the rags in: "Thank you, you are so kind."
"They are just some scraps of cloth. It would be best if they can be put to good use," Tang Yuan said with a smile. "Then, Auntie, please walk slowly. It's getting dark soon. If you leave too late, you may have to walk in the dark."
"Yes, it's getting darker and earlier. If it were a few days ago, I could have done one more," the old lady sighed, with some regret in her words, "Then I'll go back first, you can go back too, no need to see me off."
Tang Yuan nodded, watched the grandparents leave, turned back, closed the door, and went into the shed to take a look.
Sewing a purse is not as delicate as embroidery. As long as one has the skills, one can do it even in the dark. If her parents-in-law can bring the things back, she can do it at night.
But it was not good to be too dark, so she raised her head and looked around. After looking around, she went into the house, turned on the light, and looked for the location of the wires in the house.
In winter, it's not just the night when it gets dark, there are also days on rainy days. There are lights on at the waste station where Shen Wenyu is, and there are lights in the house where Aunt Wei is embroidering flowers at home, but there are no lights here.
The wires were exposed at the moment, so it was not appropriate for her to go out openly and find someone to help her pull the wires, but she could go to Hong Kong to buy wires and light bulbs.
Normally, no outsiders will come in from this side, and if you place the light bulb lower, the light from the room will not leak out.
She did this for two days. On the evening of the third day, after everyone had left, she pulled out the wires herself and hung the brand new light bulb above the workbench.
The brightness of the light bulb is not very high at this moment, and it is not dazzling even if it is placed not far above. It is always better to be on than in the dark.
The day after I installed the light bulbs, it happened to be a rainy day. The weather was gloomy, it was dark outside, and even darker inside the shed.
The people who made small wallets came over one by one. Although it was not raining, they still held umbrellas in their hands. After greeting Tang Yuan, they quickly went into their own small compartments.
The grandma and the old lady were a few steps behind the first person. When they came over, Tang Yuan was about to turn on the light. When they saw her coming, they took her in first and then went to turn on the light in the house.
The light bulb came on and there were immediate exclamations from outside.
"It's dark now, it's a little brighter now. Don't worry about it, just do your own thing." Tang Yuan stood at the door and spoke to the two people who followed him.
Afterwards, the remaining two people came over one after another, and when they saw the light, they couldn't help but exclaimed.
Tang Yuan closed the door and repeated his words, and they stopped talking.
The rain outside fell at this time, hitting the roof, making a dull sound, and making the house and the outside darker than before, but the lights were on in the compartment, and the dimness was more or less warm.
The previous owner of this shed built it and usually lived in it. It was similar to any other house and most places were well sealed. Even when it rained heavily, there would be no leaks. The only difference was that the sound of rain hitting the roof was a little loud.
Tang Yuan stood at the door of the inner room for a while, listening to the sounds of cloth cutting coming from both sides, and the sound of rain on the roof, and felt the quietness of the years.
However, the rain outside was quite heavy, so she soon closed the door and went to the top of a mountain in some village in Yun Province where it was not raining.
After leaving the house, she went straight to the shed opposite the gate and found the food that had been placed there early in the morning. The food was fed by the villagers. There was not much, just some things from the mountains, such as mushrooms, fruits, and vegetables. Maybe it was because Yunnan Province was rich in resources, or maybe it was because the villagers were really kind-hearted, but this "mad girl" was treated very well, with almost no interruption in the past few months.
After getting the things, she went back to the house and brought a bag of rags from the house into the game space. She sorted them in the game space and selected the rags suitable for making a small purse.
After a while, her daily life returned to normal, the small wallet business was very stable, and the coffee business increased from only selling six or seven kilograms before to having more and more regular customers and many new customers. On average, she could sell at least ten kilograms a day, and sometimes she could sell twenty kilograms a day.
However, twenty kilograms is not a large quantity. Each person takes one kilogram. There are only about twenty customers every day, and there are not many customers in the handicraft shop. Xue Shiqi can manage two stores at the same time.
In mid-October, sweaters were back on the shelves, and Shen Wenyu and Second Aunt also returned to knitting sweaters.
"I heard that life in Shanghai is very refined. These sweaters might have been sold there."
"It's possible. Winter comes slowly there. We all have to wear cotton clothes now, but there we only need to wear a single layer of clothing. We don't need to wear sweaters that early."
"No, they are all thin. Such sweaters are useless here."
"It's beautiful," Second Aunt looked at the sweater in her hand, "If I were young, I would also wear such a beautiful sweater. Even if I don't wear it outside, it's good to wear it at home. It doesn't cost much to buy only one such beautiful sweater."
"Second aunt, you didn't think this way before." Shen Wenyu raised her head.
"Isn't it that I've made money now?" Second Aunt said with a smile, "They say money can solve a lot of problems. As expected, making money makes me feel good, and there are no problems."
Shen Wenyu was about to say something else when he saw someone coming from a distance: "Xiaofang——"
"Sister Shen, have you heard the news?" Tang Yuan walked in with some joy in his eyes.
"What news makes you so happy?" Shen Wenyu wondered, "Did you pick up money from the ground?"
"No," Tang Yuan lowered his voice, "The college entrance examination has been resumed. It was announced today that everyone can take the college entrance examination and become a college student!"
"Ah! There is such a thing?" Shen Wenyu was surprised and quickly said to her second aunt beside her, "Second aunt, isn't there a child next door who is about to graduate and is afraid of going to the countryside? If he passes the college entrance examination, he won't have to go to the countryside!"
In the past two years, many educated youth have returned to the city, but the policy is unclear. After what happened in the past, many people are still worried that they will need to go to the countryside when they reach a certain age. Given the current situation, if you are admitted to a university, you will definitely not have to go to the countryside.
"Yes, I always saw them worried before, now they don't have to worry anymore," Second Aunt clapped her hands, "How can such a thing still happen? It's been many years since we had the college entrance examination."
"That's right, this is a good thing," Shen Wenyu smiled, and then thought of something and looked back, "Xiaofang, you are not going to take the college entrance examination as well, are you? You...I am not stopping you from taking it, it's just...just..."
"No." Tang Yuan shook his head.
None of her current identities are suitable for taking the college entrance examination. If she really wants to take it, she has to attend school every day, which will really interfere with her business.
She has learned all the knowledge points in school and university. The main reason for doing business now is that she doesn't understand some business-related knowledge. She will learn it, but there is no need to go to school specifically for this.
If a diploma is really needed, she can find a way to get one when more policies come out.
In this situation, if she takes the college entrance examination with any of her mainland identities, she will get into trouble.
"You don't want to participate, that's fine," Shen Wenyu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that if she took the college entrance examination, she would have no business in the future. "No, you're not going to participate, so why are you so happy?"
"I'm... happy for everyone," Tang Yuan said, then he remembered something and whispered into Shen Wenyu's ear, "Also, I've collected a lot of high school textbooks this year. Do you think I can sell them?"
Shen Wenyu's eyes widened: "You didn't know it a long time ago?"
"No," Tang Yuan shook his head, "I just taught myself, but my level is not yet at the level where I can take the college entrance examination. The reason I accepted those people before was because I thought that the country always needs talents. What if someone wants them? Isn't this catching up?"
"That's true," Shen Wenyu nodded, "but you are really lucky. With such good luck, the batches we have been stockpiling..."
Tang Yuan stretched out his finger and placed it in front of his lips.
Shen Wenyu immediately stopped talking and returned to the topic of the college entrance examination: "Many of what you have are bought from me. Otherwise, you can bring a few sets over. If anyone needs them, I can help you sell them."
"That won't work. Sister Shen, your status is different. It's too blatant to do this," Tang Yuan lowered his voice. "How about this? You can just say you know someone bought a few extra sets and help to make a connection. That way people won't think too much."
While we were talking, someone came running over and ran towards the waste paper pile without saying a word.
After the first one appeared, the second one came, and the third one*.
The first person found a book and immediately held it in his arms.
Shen Wenyu and Tang Yuan looked at each other and immediately understood, shouting, "What are you doing? I want to sell the waste paper here for money, don't just hide it and run away, what good things are worth doing this to you?"
"Do you have any high school textbooks here?"
"Textbooks? Someone came to sell them before. What's wrong? What happened?"
“The college entrance examination has been resumed!”
"What? The college entrance examination has been reinstated? When did it happen? The waste paper here is taken away every once in a while. I wonder if there are any high school textbooks in it," Shen Wenyu walked forward and looked at the pile of waste paper helplessly. "I don't know if there are any in it either. If I had known earlier, I would have hidden a few more books."
Tang Yuan looked at Shen Wenyu and couldn't help but sigh that she had good acting skills.
Looking at the second aunt again, they both smiled.
Second Aunt knew about Tang Yuan's search for high school textbooks, but she would not speak up at this time. Instead, she turned her head and knitted a sweater facing the wall to avoid having the pattern on her sweater seen by others.
Everyone guessed that there were high school textbooks at the scrapyard, and more and more people came running. Shen Wenyu accompanied them to look for them, feeling worried as she searched, pretending that she didn't know about the resumption of the college entrance examination.
This is normal. If Tang Yuan hadn't come, she would not have known the news. After all, the waste station is located in a remote area. Shen Wenyu has hardly read the newspaper recently because she has been knitting sweaters. She would not have known the news that just came out in the newspaper today.
Tang Yuan looked at Shen Wenyu, they looked at each other, and she nodded and left.
Coming out onto the street, she looked at the crazy people and walked through the crowd with a smile.
She was naturally happy when she heard the news that the college entrance examination would be resumed. It was not because she wanted to take the college entrance examination, but because it also meant that the time for reform and opening up was getting closer.
When that time comes, she can do business openly!