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Chen Qing didn’t drink, so he was seated at a table with the aunts and sisters-in-law.

When Xia Xiaolan stood up, Chen Qing kept staring at her absentmindedly.

Fourth Aunt Chen, who interacted with Xia Xiaolan more often, teased him with a laugh.

“What’s this? Thinking about getting yourself a wife?”

“No, Fourth Aunt, nothing like that!”

Luckily, Liu Fen and Xia Xiaolan weren’t there.

Chen Qing hurriedly denied it.

Fourth Aunt Chen chuckled.

“When your Fourth Uncle was your age, we already had kids! There’s nothing embarrassing about wanting a wife!”

Chen Qing flushed bright red.

He knew the village women liked teasing young men, it wasn’t malicious. Gradually calming down, he said, “I still want to study. Until I get into college, I won’t even think about finding a partner.”

Getting into university wasn’t easy. The college entrance exam had only been reinstated a few years earlier in 1983.

During the years it was suspended, students had lost motivation to study and teachers to teach, and the country’s overall education level had declined. Even after the exam resumed, the shortage of qualified teachers couldn’t be fixed overnight.

In places like Anqing County, only a handful of students were admitted to undergraduate programs each year.

Chen Qing himself was a repeat test-taker.

He had to compete not only with fresh graduates, but also with students who had already been repeating for two or more years.

That year, 1.67 million people took the exam nationwide, and 390,000 were admitted to colleges and universities.

At first glance, a 23% acceptance rate seemed fairly high... 23 out of every 100 candidates could get in!

Yet Chen Qing still failed, which showed his results weren’t good enough.

In reality, that acceptance rate was misleading.

After the introduction of the pre-exam screening system in 1980, anyone who failed the preliminary exam, whether a fresh graduate or a repeater... weren’t even allowed to register for the official exam.

This preliminary round had already eliminated more than 60% of candidates, which is how the 23% admission rate came about.

Anqing County was a small county in southern Henan Province, a region known for intense competition in the college entrance exam.

With many candidates and low acceptance rates, competition was extremely fierce.

Under such circumstances, rural students who made it into university were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

That was why Xia Ziyu was so valued, and why Chen Qing chose to repeat the exam without hesitation after failing. Either he would get into university, or he would return home to farm.

Those were his only options.

At the time, even Vocational Secondary school graduates were assigned jobs, and College graduates all the more so.

Only high school graduates were stuck in an awkward middle ground.

Urban students who failed could still get factory jobs, but Chen Qing had no such option.

When the topic turned to the exam, Fourth Aunt Chen stopped joking.

Chen Qing was the pride of Uncle Da’s family. If she said something careless that affected his mindset, not only would Chen Wangda be upset, but even her own husband wouldn’t let her off.

Thinking about the exam, Chen Qing’s youthful infatuation faded.

After finishing his meal, he put down his bowl and wanted to go home to study. But remembering Xia Xiaolan’s earlier request, he patiently stayed and waited for her.

Xia Xiaolan had also been thinking about it.

She found a moment to speak with him.

It turned out she wanted to ask about the college entrance exam.

“You want to take next year’s exam?”

Chen Qing was surprised. He thought Xia Xiaolan planned to keep running her small business.

“Yes, but I’ve only finished junior high. I don’t know if I can transfer into the final year of high school. Could you help me ask at your school?”

Her age wasn’t an issue. Many current students were older than her, not to mention repeaters.

But the exam had been reinstated for several years now, and most people followed the normal path of finishing senior year before taking it.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t touched her books for two or three years, and her grades hadn’t been good to begin with.

Wanting to take the exam so suddenly…

Chen Qing didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm. Wanting to improve herself was a good thing.

“I’ll ask at school for you. Even if they allow you to transfer in, they’ll definitely make you take a test.”

He said this in advance so she’d be mentally prepared.

Seeing her hesitate, her misty, luminous eyes were strikingly beautiful. Feeling a surge of sympathy, he blurted out.

“I’ll help you borrow a set of high school textbooks first. You can start reviewing them. If the school requires an exam, at least you’ll be prepared.”

“Thank you so much, Brother Chen Qing!”

“Y-you’re welcome.”

Chen Qing bolted off as if chased by a dog.

Xia Xiaolan had taken the college entrance exam before. Back then, her grades weren’t bad. Although she hadn’t gotten into one of the “top 10” elite universities people talked about later, she still made it into a first-tier university.

She could have done even better, but her parents had passed away early, and she had to worry about tuition and living expenses while studying, so she couldn’t fully focus on academics.

In the end, she entered an ordinary first-tier university.

Worse still, I had no guidance when choosing my major and picked a low-cost, unpopular one. After graduation, I really struggled to find work and had to start as a salesperson, taking many detours before eventually becoming an executive at a multinational corporation.

It couldn’t be helped... I entered university in 1995, and in 1996 the state abolished job assignments for graduates, so I had to find my own way.

Now, Xia Xiaolan planned to take the 1984 college entrance exam. But she couldn’t even remember the questions from her own 1995 exam, let alone one from eleven years earlier.

If she had known rebirth was possible, she would have memorized every practice test she had ever done!

Since her rebirth, she had tried to avoid thinking about her previous life.

This world was indeed the same as before. At least the national leaders and overall background hadn’t changed.

That made her wonder: did her original self also exist somewhere in this timeline?

“Xia Xiaolan” was 18 this year, born in 1965.

She herself had been born in 1977 and was only six years old now, the same age as Tao Tao.

Following the trajectory of her previous life, her parents had already passed away, and she was living with relatives.

A sudden urge rose within her... she could go see for herself as soon as possible.

If she could find “herself,” she would definitely take extra care of that child.

...

That evening, Liu Fen carefully put away her divorce papers.

After Xia Xiaolan had comforted her all day, she seemed much calmer.

“In the future, when you go to the city, I’ll go collect eels elsewhere. Let’s save up quickly and build our own house.”

Farmers depended on land for survival. Xia Xiaolan’s plan to settle in Shangdu City was still uncertain, but Chen Wangda had agreed to transfer their household registration back and allocate them land.

Getting a small plot to build a house shouldn’t be difficult. Only with a house and land could they truly have roots.

Liu Fen no longer cared about the shame of divorce. Her mind was full of earning money together and having a home of their own.

A home that belonged to her.

A place where she didn’t have to live under her in-laws’ scrutiny.

A place where she didn’t have to lower her voice out of fear.

Just thinking about it filled her with anticipation.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t argue. It was good to give her mother something to do.

The late summer heat wasn’t too intense now—collecting eels was just physically tiring.

“Then I’ll give you some money.”

Xia Xiaolan took out all her savings. She had started with just over seventy yuan. After more than ten days of business, her biggest expense had been buying a schoolbag for her cousin.

The next was losing some eggs when she was harassed by three thugs.

Selling eggs earned her about ten yuan a day on average, and she had gone to the city twice to sell eels, making over twenty yuan profit each time.

Household expenses like oil, salt, and condiments cost little, and occasional meat purchases were only two or three yuan.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t stingy, but she knew how to turn small money into bigger money. Including profits, she now had 156 yuan on hand. That didn’t even include the eels and eggs she still had in stock.

Just the eels she planned to bring to the city tomorrow weighed nearly 60 jin, plus 300 eggs.

Her total assets exceeded 200 yuan.

Still, her ability to withstand risk was low. She kept 50 yuan for herself and gave the rest to her mother.

“As long as the purchase price stays under 0.9 yuan per jin, we’ll make a profit. At this rate, we should be able to repay Uncle’s money by the end of the month.”

She could repay it now, but she wanted to keep enough capital on hand to try trading other goods in the city.

Hearing her calculations, Liu Fen was astonished. Earning so much in just over ten days!

Making money seemed too easy…?

Yet Xiaolan had worked so hard.

As her mother, she couldn’t hold her back.

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