County No. 1 High School was worried too. This kind of thing did not happen often.
Old Wang and Teacher Qi had both interacted with Xia Xiaolan and did not want to give up on her. But the school felt she was being too stubborn.
They had already reduced her tuition. What more did she want? There were students at County No. 1 High School even poorer than she was. They still came every day eating cold steamed buns and free soup, determined to study.
Why couldn’t Xia Xiaolan endure a little hardship?
Xia Xiaolan thought to herself... She had already suffered that kind of hardship in her last life.
Why should she go through it again?
It was not that she could not endure hardship. It was just that there was no need to force herself to suffer for no reason.
If County No. 1 High School refused, she would register at No. 2 High School instead. This year, No. 2 High School’s gaokao results were even worse—only two students in the whole school got into a university.
Xia Xiaolan did not care.
Earlier, she had been worried because she did not know how much she still remembered. But after sorting through the textbooks, she had a clear idea of her level.
People always said the 1980s gaokao was hard. In the first few years after the gaokao was restored, students did not know how to study, and teachers did not know what exactly to teach. Everyone was still exploring, and experience was built up little by little.
Xia Xiaolan had taken the gaokao in 1995, eighteen years after it was restored in 1977. By then, universities had not yet expanded enrollment, and both teachers and students had far more exam experience than people in 1983.
Her degree had been worth a lot. She had simply chosen the wrong major. She had the brain to learn.
She preferred studying on her own to sitting in class. All she had to do was pick up what she had learned before. Her science subjects had always been decent, while her biggest losses were in Chinese and politics, both of which depended heavily on memorization.
She did not dare claim she could get into a top university, but a Key University should not be a problem.
Once she had confidence, her attitude became firm.
The school had no choice but to let her take the exam again. This time, it was no longer a new teacher supervising her, and they did not dump all the papers on her at once. She took them one subject at a time, and after each exam, the teacher for that subject graded it immediately.
Chinese came first.
She was still in her old rhythm.
By the time she finished math, Teacher Qi had already graded her Chinese paper.
“66 points.”
Teacher Qi was furious.
Her performance was unbelievably stable... just one point lower than last time. But those simple memorization and dictation questions were easy points, and Xia Xiaolan had thrown them away.
No, Xia Xiaolan had to study at County No. 1 High School. This promising student could not be dragged down by Chinese.
He would personally make sure her basics were solid. Quietly, he made up his mind.
By the time Xia Xiaolan finished the English paper, her Math paper had also been graded.
Math: 92 points.
That was already enough to crush a lot of candidates, and it was three points higher than her first attempt.
“She shouldn’t have lost marks here… how did she get the hard ones right and the easy ones wrong?”
The math teacher was practically burying his face in the paper.
This student still had room to improve. With ten months left, maybe she could even score over 100 in math. At County No. 1 High School, that kind of result would make her a standout.
As for English, there was no need to say much. It was graded quickly.
100 points.
The English teacher’s face flushed with excitement.
When the gaokao had first been restored, English had not even counted toward the score. Even last year, it only counted for thirty percent of its value. But the Ministry of Education had already announced the new rules nationwide.
In the 1984 gaokao, English would be counted at full value. No matter whether one was in Science Track or Liberal Arts, it was a required subject.
Students all over the country were moaning in despair. Big-city students might still manage. But in smaller places, people only knew the 26 letters.
Those 26 letters could form thousands and thousands of English words, but the words had no connection with the candidates at all.
Chinese, Math, and English gave Xia Xiaolan a total of 258 points. She still had politics, physics, chemistry, and biology left, another 350 points’ worth of papers.
Could she really not get even 100 points across those four subjects? No matter how you calculated it, she had already passed last year’s 350-point admission line for Junior Colleges and Vocational schools.
After three exams in the morning, the invigilator let her take a break, so she went to ask Chen Qing out for lunch.
Waiting at the classroom door for Chen Qing to finish class, she caused quite a stir.
She was simply too beautiful.
When had they ever seen a girl like this?
When the bell rang, a strange vacuum formed around Xia Xiaolan. The students kept sneaking glances at her, but no one dared come close.
In school, talking to a girl as pretty as Xia Xiaolan felt almost like doing something wrong.
“Brother Chen Qing!”
Chen Qing walked slowly through the crowd.
Xia Xiaolan had made him the center of attention.
Chen Qing was well liked, and some girls had feelings for him. The boys looked at him with envy, while the girls looked at Xia Xiaolan with hostility.
Chen Qing quickened his pace.
He already knew Xia Xiaolan had passed the school’s transfer exam. Thinking that they would soon be classmates, he was genuinely happy.
“Xiaolan, how did today’s exam go?”
“About the same as last time. Brother Chen Qing, I’m treating you to lunch!”
The two of them headed to the cafeteria, leaving behind a trail of whispers.
“Who was that?”
“Chen Qing’s girlfriend?”
“No way…”
“Chen Qing is going to take the gaokao. How could he already have a girlfriend? Stop making things up!”
The girls were unconvinced. Xia Xiaolan had called him brother, so maybe she was just a younger relative.
The boys, on the other hand, thought that if he had such a beautiful girlfriend, who would still bother taking the gaokao?
Besides, Chen Qing was from the countryside. Being engaged early was not unusual.
Xia Xiaolan’s appearance was like a stone thrown into a calm pond, sending out ripples everywhere.
Those students did not yet know that Xia Xiaolan was not just a passing sight. She was going to shine at County No. 1 High School, and leave many of them with a psychological shadow.
The cafeteria at Anqing No. 1 High School required grain coupons.
You could buy grain coupons with money, or bring grain from home each month to exchange for them. But at lunchtime, the cafeteria was too busy to handle exchanges.
Even with money, you still could not buy a meal.
Xia Xiaolan had planned to treat Chen Qing, but in the end, he treated her to a second meal instead.
Chen Qing’s family was well-off, so he did not care much about grain coupons.
He was simply happy for Xia Xiaolan.
“Do your best this afternoon.”
Xia Xiaolan nodded.
Chen Qing really was a good person. Though he blushed often, she could feel his kindness.
The Chen family had helped her a lot. Her mother’s smooth divorce and the transfer of their hukou had all been handled by Chen Qing’s grandfather.
Xia Xiaolan remembered that favor.
“Brother Chen Qing, you’ll definitely make it next year.”
Chen Qing’s score the year before had not been low. He had scored over 400 points, but his application choices had been wrong, so he had missed out.
Retaking the exam was not a bad thing. If he had been admitted last year, it would only have been a Junior College.
This year, if he worked hard again, getting into a University would be better. A University Degree and a Junior College Degree were not the same thing.
It was not just the salary difference after graduation.
The farther time went on, the bigger the gap between University and Junior College became. Thinking about next year’s gaokao, Chen Qing felt a little nervous.
“My English isn’t good. I don’t know how I’ll do next year.”
“You’re worried about that? Don’t worry! I’m pretty good at English. If you need help, just ask.”
“Xiaolan…”
Chen Qing looked moved.
Xia Xiaolan thought...
Brother, you blush this easily... how are we supposed to be classmates?
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