CH 110

The next day, Li Dali took his wife to the health clinic for inspection, and they really confirmed that his wife was pregnant.

He couldn't hold his mouth shut and happily carried his wife back home. He was hoping that the baby in her belly would be ripe sooner so that he could hold his child in his arms.

He Songye was embarrassed and pulled her husband's ear.

"Don't, don't do this...I can go myself."

Li Dali said, "I'm willing to carry you. You can rest for a while."

While checking out the fetus, the doctor also reminded He Songye not to work too hard. During this time, she was working really hard. She wished that one person could be split into two people, and she worked hard all day long to work on the sewing machine.

After returning home, Li Dali told everyone this news. This good news is undoubtedly exciting. Grandma's face was lightened up, and she laughed heartily.

Zhao Lanxiang, who got the good news, was also very pleasantly surprised. The elder sister had no children in her previous life. Both of them were empty under their knees in their later years, and they felt a sense of mutual sympathy. In this life, she heard Sister He's good news and was happy for her.

As for He Songbai, he looked at his older sister's haggard face and immediately decided to kill a chicken to nourish her.

Since the brigade divided the fields with everyone, no one cared about who raised several chickens. So He Songbai bought ten chickens in one breath and slowly raised them. Two of them died in the spring, and now there are eight left. In late autumn, chickens have just changed their new feathers. They are big enough and neither too old nor too young.

Zhao Lanxiang carefully boiled a pot of chicken soup, and thanks to Sister He's blessing, the whole family tasted the taste of chicken today.

Zhao Lanxiang, who is well versed in food supplements, stewed nutritious soup to Sister He for three days. Soon Sister He, who was haggard before, was blushing healthily.

The whole family is looking forward to this child, whether it is the Li family or the He family. Li Dali is getting older, and it is not easy to have children at his age. His way of expecting his child is by working hard and saving money for the baby. Also, he no longer let his wife do the heavy work.8

...

The weather is getting colder, but everyone's heart is hot, especially for the young intellectuals who are preparing for the college entrance examination. In the two-month preparation time, they can't wait to split one hour into two, competing for time to review, hoping to borrow this opportunity to change their fate.

Some are very old, and there are young men aged 17 or 18, but without exception, they are unable to absorb the knowledge of several years of school in just two months. They don't even have enough time to read the textbooks fully.

Wu Liangping jokingly said, "We have to relax our minds. There is a saying: A red heart, prepare with both hands."

He mentioned this sentence in front of the educated youth while explained the knowledge to everyone. It made everyone's mentality calmer.

For this year's college entrance examination, almost all of Hezi village's unmarried educated youth registered. They squeezed out a dollar of the registration fee while gritting teeth and handed it to the village secretary. Fortunately, this year they divided the fields, and they don't have to wait until the end of the year to divide the grain. Otherwise, this dollar is still not a small burden.

The new village party secretary said brightly, "Don't need to pay for the registration fee! Comrade D, the great leader, decided to allocate funds to reduce the registration fee for everyone."2

The stencil fee for the test papers this year is not cheap, and manual examinations are required to review the papers. The cost is quite high. For a country that has been implementing a planned economy for many years, the tens of millions of test papers were taken out at one go, which made it difficult for the Ministry of Education. In the end, Comrade D decided to put aside the printing of the fifth volume of the Red Book and free up the budget for exam papers.

This has made many college entrance exam candidates' hearts warm. They cherished the opportunity of this exam.

This year's college entrance examination is destined to be different. It is not held in the hot midsummer, but tens of millions of candidates endure the cold winter of the twelfth lunar month and trembled together in the dilapidated classroom.

The examination room in Hezi village is located in a nearby elementary school. The light is weak, and oil lamps must be lit during the day.

In the twelfth lunar month, when water dripping into ice, Zhao Lanxiang's ink was frozen and blocked her pen. She warmed the pen with warm water in advance to write fluently. In the dilapidated small classrooms, educated youths of all ages were eager to write, but most of them frowned bitterly and staring blankly.

It was too difficult!

How do they know about five countries that are adjacent to China? Apart from the Soviet Union, they can only stare at the remaining four empty spaces. A large number of people were dumbfounded in the geography exam.4

In the language test, He Songbai received the paper and scanned it carefully, answering each question without any hassle. There are only three questions in the foundation of language. The first question is about making sentences, the second is about poem appreciation, and the last is to translate classical Chinese. After writing these three questions, the rest is a 70-minute self-selection essay question.

He stared at the "Heart Words Dedicated to the Chairman" and "Contribute to the Modernizations" on the test paper. He did not hesitate to choose the latter and quickly wrote a full page.

Zhao Lanxiang and He Songbai were assigned to the same examination room. In fact, there were only ten or twenty people who actually registered on their brigade. After she finished writing, she secretly looked at him, trying to determine whether he was sure from his expression.

Although Zhao Lanxiang had also passed the college entrance examination in her previous life, she passed decades later, but the test questions blinded her. These questions may be similar to those of future generations, but it would be rare for candidates who have not studied for many years and only reviewed for two months to be able to pass. From more than 10 million candidates, less than 5% were finally accepted.

But in such a difficult mode, He Songbai not only needs to ensure that he can pass the test, but he also has to pass it well. If He Songbai can't get a rank in the county, he basically has no chance to go to college.

After each exam, Zhao Lanxiang was even more nervous than during the exam.

After the language test, Zhao Lanxiang was worried but did not show it. She only casually asked, "How do you feel?"

He Songbai looked at her lingering curiosity and couldn't help but laugh.

He said, "The problem is a bit difficult..."

He Songbai peeked into his girlfriend's slightly changed eyes and calmly remedied his words, "However, it is stable."

Zhao Lanxiang did not expect this answer from him. Although everyone was gathering after the exam, the two of them slipped home first.