Chapter 78: The Wang Ba Cousin

May 7th, the first Friday after Labor Day, Li Ye woke up early.

Today, he was going to participate in the first "somewhat important" exam since his transmigration—the college entrance exam preliminary selection, referred to as the preliminary exam.

The preliminary exam system, which existed in Shenzhou for nine years, used unified test questions and unified exams for every province, municipality, and autonomous region.

Therefore, all high school graduates in Dongshan Province in 1982, plus all repeaters, would begin a three-day fate-elimination tournament.

In May in Qingshui County, there was no longer any need for a stove for heating, so a new stove was built in the small courtyard of the Second Grain Store, and a simple shed was set up to serve as a kitchen.

Li Ye woke up early today and temporarily acted as a cook, making breakfast for the eight-person small group.

However, after Li Ye picked up a plastic bucket in the kitchen, he discovered that the peanut oil inside was bottoming out.

"Peanut oil is gone again? Sitting on a grain and oil shop and yet lacking oil to eat—the old man is really stingy."

People in Qingshui County had the habit of eating soybean oil; peanut oil was much more expensive than soybean oil, and the supply was not sufficient.

Jiang Xiaoyan basically used soybean oil for cooking.

But Li Ye loved eating peanut oil.

His grandfather Li Zhongfa had always taught Li Ye that even if you have money, you shouldn't forget your roots; having enough soybean oil was already not bad, and yet he wanted peanut oil every day?

Even this soybean oil was specially approved by his Bureau Chief Li for Li Ye and the others!

You have to know that for urban residents, the supply for a Spring Festival in the early eighties was only 4 taels of oil.

Food made with soybean oil was also quite delicious, but when Jiang Xiaoyan was cooking, Li Ye would definitely stay far away.

Those who haven't eaten soybean oil don't know that the smell when soybean oil is used to stir-fry scallions is extremely pungent; smelling it once can go straight from your nose to your forehead.

"Sizzle~"

The scallions were stir-fried in the boiling soybean oil, emitting an indescribable smell. Li Ye held his breath and poured water into the pot.

Don't look at Li Ye knowing how to cook; he was very lazy.

Things like potstickers, pancakes, wontons, or noodles—he was too lazy to make them, so he just used soybean oil to stir-fry eggs and make noodles, which was both easy and filling.

Just then, Jiang Xiaoyan, Hu Man, and the others arrived.

Looking at the thick oil slick floating on the water in the pot, Jiang Xiaoyan almost muttered a few words at Li Ye again.

Just for breakfast, it used to be a matter of gnawing on a cold steamed bun, but now it was good—this oil slick could make two meals' worth of dishes.

There was once a joke that illustrated the oil-eating concept of the simple masses at that moment.

Taking a mug to the grain and oil shop to get oil, and after getting it, reaching into your pocket and finding you didn't bring money, you could only pour it back.

Then going home and using bamboo strips to scrape the residual oil off the walls of the mug, you could make an "oil-rich" meal.

As long as your face was thick enough, going once every few months, the family could be considered to have meat and fish.

"Alright, you do the rest! Two eggs per person on average!

We'll eat at the No. 1 Middle School cafeteria at noon today; that food is like feeding pigs. If your nutrition doesn't keep up and it affects the exam, I won't be responsible."

Li Ye threw the water ladle and gave up the stove.

"What do you mean 'like feeding pigs'? If you say that out loud, you'll get scolded."

Jiang Xiaoyan muttered as she walked to the stove, preparing the noodles and eggs, then waiting for the water to boil.

Several months of fine grain feeding had actually secretly spoiled the mouths of the eight-person small group, but everyone definitely couldn't admit it—one shouldn't forget their roots.

If this word got out, their fathers and mothers at home could swing a rolling pin and chase them for two miles to beat them up.

【Don't even look at what breed you are, and you're still eating fine bran?】

By nearly seven o'clock, Wen Leyu strolled over to eat, but although her steps were lazy, her spirit was excellent.

This was the result of Li Ye's important training—the credit of a "beauty sleep."

In the past, the little girl was malnourished and didn't sleep well, her whole little face pale and bloodless.

Ever since Li Ye discovered it, he had been desperately instilling in her the various benefits of "sufficient sleep" for her skin and appearance.

The little girl was a bit puzzled, but fortunately, she was obedient. After slowly getting used to it, her complexion was now much better than before, and she had developed a habit of sleeping in that she couldn't give up, which was on par with Li Ye's.

After finishing the filling egg noodles, the eight-person small group headed to the County No. 2 Middle School and lined up in the team that was about to depart.

Because it was a province-wide unified exam, the exam halls couldn't be arranged by each middle school itself, and the invigilators sent from other places couldn't go to township middle schools dozens of kilometers away to invigilate.

Therefore, all candidates in Qingshui County were participating in the preliminary exam in the high schools and middle schools within the county seat.

Single person, single desk—it was no different from the college entrance exam.

"Stop talking, I'll repeat the discipline again... obey all commands, raise your hand to report if you have something to say, four columns, no disorder... depart!"

Dean Jin Feiyu delivered a concise speech and then led the candidates from County No. 2 Middle School out of the school gate.

They had the advantage of being in the county seat, so they could arrive at the exam hall on time by departing collectively this morning.

But township high schools like Hebin Township and Liu Qiao Township, which were thirty or forty miles away, had to arrive at the county seat a day in advance.

This wasn't the later generations where twenty kilometers took less than half an hour by car; a large portion of students needed to walk.

You walk for four or five hours in the morning and then take an exam?

Are you kidding?

After arriving at the county seat, only a minority stayed in inns; most borrowed lodging at the exam school. If the dormitory wasn't enough, they could only bring their own bedding and sleep on the floor in the classroom.

So the scene of hundreds of people walking with bedding on their backs was like a forced march; thinking back on it years later, it was quite interesting.

If a student had parents with strong connections at this time and could provide a large truck, they would definitely be the proudest kid in the whole school.

When the walking team from County No. 2 Middle School passed the entrance of the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, they crossed paths with the team from County No. 1 Middle School.

Perhaps because of the nervousness about the preliminary exam, everyone was very silent, and the oppressive atmosphere was heavy.

Li Ye saw Lu Zixue in the team from County No. 1 Middle School, which was somewhat unexpected, because Lu Zixue was a first-year high school student this year.

In the early eighties, many provinces, like Dongshan Province, used the "ten-year system" textbooks.

That is, five years of primary school, three years of middle school, and two years of high school, so the high school in Qingshui County still only had two years, and it wasn't until around 1984 or 1985 that it was changed to a three-year system.

So a first-year high school student like Lu Zixue taking the college entrance exam in advance wasn't an earth-shattering act; having one more experience of failure would be of no small benefit for next year's official college entrance exam.

As for Lu Zixue achieving success in his first battle and successfully landing, Li Ye didn't think there was much hope.

Lu Jingyao, as the top student of County No. 2 Middle School back then, could compete with the top three seeds of County No. 1 Middle School, and it was also by "taking a shortcut" that she went to the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

In the early eighties, when foreign language talent was extremely lacking and basic English education was extremely backward, a candidate who could score well in the college entrance exam English could have the admission score line dropped by twenty or thirty points.

And Lu Jingyao almost scored full marks in English last year, which belonged to special admission.

If you really talked about it, her basic score might not even reach the undergraduate line.

So even if Lu Zixue's studies were good, could a first-year high school child compete with those college entrance exam seeds in the repeater class?

And with an undergraduate in the family, a pearl before him, with Lu Zixue's personality of inferiority mixed with pride, and it being his first time testing the waters, would he be willing to fill in a junior college when reporting his preferences?

Failing the exam was a sure thing.

At the intersection in the north of the city, the students of County No. 2 Middle School split into two, heading to County No. 1 Middle School and Yuhong Middle School respectively.

Li Ye was assigned to County No. 1 Middle School. After arriving, all the students were completely shuffled and mixed with students from two high schools in the countryside, assigned to the classrooms of the first year, second year, and repeater classes.

The eight-person small group naturally couldn't gather together; only Jiang Xiaoyan was in the same exam hall as Li Ye, and there were also a few students from the first and second repeater classes whom Li Ye barely recognized.

However, not long after he sat down, someone sat down at the desk to his right.

It was actually his cousin Cui Aiguo from his aunt's house.

Li Ye was surprised for two seconds and finally decided to greet him, but that bastard actually turned his head and pretended not to know Li Ye.

【Fine, super fine. Let's pretend we don't know each other. Whoever speaks to whom is a Wang Ba (turtle/bastard).】

The first subject was Chinese.

The invigilator was very strict, blabbering on about exam hall discipline and making cheating sound as serious as starting with five years in prison, which was scary.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but Li Ye always felt that when that female invigilator from out of town emphasized discipline, her gaze always landed on him, which made him very puzzled.

【Could it be that I'm too handsome? Or is it because of my watch?】

Li Ye wasn't showing off today; he was wearing the jeans that Jin Peng and the others had brought back for him, just wearing a Swiss Mido watch that he didn't know if it was a parallel import.

Hao Jian knew that Li Ye was taking the exam on May 7th and needed to keep track of time, so he immediately sent an urgent telegram to Sanshui, who was still in Yangcheng, asking him to find a watch of sufficient quality.

Because buying a Shanghai watch in 1982 still required a Shanghai watch ticket, and there were parallel traders in Yangcheng, Sanshui went around and paid extra to buy this Swiss product.

Li Ye hadn't played with watches in his previous life and couldn't distinguish between real and fake, but the style and texture of the watch were very exquisite and eye-catching.

Just now, when Li Ye stretched out his arm and revealed the watch from his sleeve, that Wang Ba cousin Cui Aiguo next to him almost stared straight.

【Pfft, drool to death, don't know me!】

After the paper was handed out, Li Ye picked up his pen and started filling it in, the rustling sound of the pen never stopping.

It was too simple. The first part of the questions was pinyin questions, but they were definitely not obscure characters; they were very common characters.

【This question is really watery.】

Just as this thought arose in Li Ye's mind, he heard the very strict voice of the female teacher on the podium.

"Do not look at other people's papers. If I find it again, I will confiscate the test paper immediately."

【Which academic failure is so unlucky? Do you even need to cheat for this question?】

Li Ye looked up and happened to see a few students hurriedly turning their heads back, and the target they were originally peeking at was none other than him, Li Ye.

These few students included some from County No. 2 Middle School, cousin Cui Aiguo, and even Jiang Xiaoyan.

【Didn't I tell them about the exam hall rules? How could they still be so careless? Being stared at by the teacher is not a good thing.】

Li Ye didn't understand Jiang Xiaoyan's behavior, but five minutes later, Li Ye saw that there was actually faint sweat behind Jiang Xiaoyan's ears in front of him.

He suddenly understood that Jiang Xiaoyan's pinyin level probably wasn't very good.

Li Ye usually tutored everyone in the Second Grain Store in subjects that were easy to pull scores in, such as math, physics, chemistry, and English.

Because he didn't have much of an advantage in Chinese and politics, especially politics, he didn't touch it at all to avoid revealing his background.

He dabbled a little in Chinese, but only in things like essay-writing techniques, which were quick-fix content that showed results fast.

So he really didn't understand the Chinese level of Jiang Xiaoyan and the others; at most, he knew how many points they could score and roughly where they ranked in the class.

【This psychological quality is really worrying!】 ===== CHAPTER 79 =====