"Jin Bao, I'm leaving." Yao Hua's eyes were red and he was reluctant to leave.
Jinbao put him on the train. Although he tried hard to hold back his tears, the tears still flowed out inadvertently.
I am used to having someone by my side, and suddenly one day I have to say goodbye to him, and I feel really sad. Even though I know that I will meet again in the future, my heart instinctively feels sour and swollen, as if a piece of it has been hollowed out by someone.
After Yao Hua left, Jin Bao took a long time to recover.
For the next six months, she and her third brother lived in a government dormitory, went to school during the day, cooked for her third brother in the evening, and stayed up late at night to study.
Su Wennian spent several months' salary to buy Jinbao a desk lamp.
Even electric lamps were not common at that time, let alone table lamps. Jinbao was reluctant to let his third brother spend so much money on her and wanted him to take the table lamp back to the department store and return it. His third brother said: "If my sister suffers from bad weather,
If you lose your eyes, you can’t get them back no matter how much money you have.”
"Third brother, you read a book every night, but you didn't even buy one for yourself..."
"It doesn't matter to me," Su Wennian said, "Jinbao, you are still growing, and your eyes are more likely to be nearsighted."
After saying that, as if he had thought of something, he added, "Shall we eat directly in the cafeteria from now on? You have to cook for me every day after school. How hard is it? I, the older brother, should have taken good care of you."
"Cooking is not hard at all," Jinbao said with a smile, "My mind is full of test questions and knowledge points. Only when I am cooking can my brain relax a little. I want to cook to relieve stress."
Su Wennian touched her head and said, "Don't put so much pressure on yourself. There is no news about the resumption of the college entrance examination. I don't know how long it will take..."
"Soon." Jin Bao glanced at the calendar on the wall.
In September 1977, the Ministry of Education held a national college admissions conference and decided to resume the national college admissions examination, using a unified examination and merit-based admissions to select talents to go to college. After that, major media announced the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination.
As soon as the news came out, the whole country was in an uproar, and millions of educated young people were so excited that they could not sleep at night.
In Luohu Village, Fan Jiajia's hand holding the book kept trembling. She looked at the cattle grazing beside her and her voice was full of excitement. "I've really recovered. Jinbao didn't lie to me. She really resumed the college entrance examination!"
The college entrance examination registration fee only costs 50 cents.
It breaks the restrictions of age, marriage and origin, and becomes the only opportunity to reverse their destiny. Many educated youths in rural areas who have married wives and become fathers also sign up to take the college entrance examination without hesitation.
At work, Su Wennian's colleagues discussed the college entrance examination and said, "Although it's a pity, I won't take it. I feel like my job is pretty good now, with good salary and stability. My wife also advised me not to take it."
"I won't take part anymore. I haven't read in so many years. It's a waste of money to sign up. I will definitely not pass the exam."
"Wen Nian," someone asked Su Wen Nian, "I heard that you signed up early this morning? Did you sign up for your sister or..."
"I signed up for myself and my sister," Su Wennian said.
"Have you signed up yourself?"
Su Wennian didn't say anything more and nodded.
Someone came up and said: "Wen Nian, the minister values you very much. You may be promoted soon. I advise you not to participate. What if you finish college? Don't you still want to find a job?"
We have a pretty good job now, so why should we go to college again?"
"Yes," others said, "it seems that you may not be able to find a stable job within such a system."
Su Wennian smiled lightly and said: "I miss the oil painting department of the Academy of Fine Arts. This is my dream."
"Academy of Fine Arts?" Everyone looked at each other for a while.
The person closest to Su Wennian said to him: "You are good at painting, but I heard that if you want to get into the Academy of Fine Arts, you must take the drawing test, and you also have to pass the preliminary entrance examination first. It is more difficult than other exams. Have you studied drawing?"
"
"I have taught myself sketching. I must take the exam for college. If I don't pass the exam this year, I will continue to take the exam next year."
When Su Wennian said this, a girl named Li Shiqing in the office stared at him and could not look away for a long time.
She was a publicity intern who took up the position at the beginning of the year, and had been working with Su Wennian as his assistant.
At noon, everyone else went to the cafeteria to eat, but Su Wennian walked up to the rooftop alone.
He took out an extra steamed bun he bought in the morning and ate the already cold steamed bun while reading.
Unlike the science subjects that Jinbao took the exam, he chose liberal arts. In addition to Chinese, mathematics and politics, he also had to take the exams in history and geography.
“In 356 BC, Shang Yang’s reform of the Qin State included the abolition of well fields and the opening of roads; the abolition of privileges and rewards for farming and war; and the establishment of a county system.
In 485 AD, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty carried out reforms, promulgated land equalization orders, and implemented sinicization policies, which promoted the integration of northern ethnic groups..."
When Su Wenian lowered his head and recited the knowledge points silently, Li Shiqing walked up to him, handed him the aluminum lunch box in his hand, and said, "Can you feel full if you only eat steamed buns for lunch? This is the lunch I brought you, please eat some.
?”
"No, thank you." Su Wennian did not look up.
"Wennian, you have been avoiding me recently, why?"
Li Shiqing pursed her lips, "Is it because I said I like you? I annoyed you?"
"You go, I still want to endorse," Su Wennian said in a cold tone, "The college entrance examination will be in two months. For me, this is an opportunity I have been waiting for ten years. Please don't hinder me."
"Why do you have to take the college entrance examination? Is it so important to you to go to the Academy of Fine Arts?"
Su Wennian, who had always lowered his head to read, finally raised his head and said in an emphasis: "Yes! It's very important!"
In an instant, Li Shiqing's eyes were red, and she asked with a choked voice: "I confessed to you before, and you said you didn't plan to fall in love and start a family so soon. Are you just waiting for the college entrance examination to go to university? I don't understand. You are already 26 years old. After studying
University is at least 31 years old...
Do you know what this means? As a 31-year-old who just graduated from college, what kind of job can you do? What will you do if you can't find a job? It is difficult for art students to find a job, let alone those who study in the West.
What oil painting!"
Su Wennian's voice was light, "Sometimes people don't live just for the sake of living."
"But if people want to live, they must have the most basic material conditions!"
Li Shiqing clenched her hands into fists and spoke in an excited tone, "You know that literature and art are the most useless nowadays. The pigment factories are either short of linseed oil or titanium dioxide. They can't even make oil paints, and the prices are ridiculously high. Yet you still insist on asking for them?"
What do you think about learning oil painting? If you can't make money to support your family, which woman will be willing to marry you and have children for you?"
"The money I have earned from working over the years should be enough for me to buy a lot of paint," Su Wennian said indifferently. "As for marrying a wife and having children to earn money to support the family, these things are not in my life plan, so there is no need to consider it."