[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981":3,"chapter-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-78":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","That Year, the Flowers Bloomed in 1981",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2294496,4489,"Chapter 78: The Bastard Cousin","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-78",78,"\u003Cp>May 7, the first Friday after Labor Day, Li Ye woke up early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today, he was attending his first \"somewhat important\" exam since his transmigration—the college entrance pre-exam, commonly abbreviated as yùkǎo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pre-exam system, in existence for nine years in Shenzhou, used uniform questions and a unified examination across every province, municipality, and autonomous region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, all senior high school graduates and repeaters in Dongshan Province would begin a three-day fate-deciding elimination contest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By May in Qingshui County, stoves were no longer needed for heating, so a new stove had been built in the courtyard of the second grain store, with a simple canopy erected as a kitchen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye woke up early today and temporarily took on the role of cook to prepare breakfast for the eight-person group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after picking up a plastic bucket in the kitchen, he discovered the peanut oil was gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No peanut oil again? Living right next to the grain and oil shop and still running out—old man’s really stingy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People in Qingshui County preferred soybean oil; peanut oil was significantly more expensive and in shorter supply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Xiaoyan usually cooked with soybean oil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye preferred peanut oil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Grandfather Li Zhong had always taught Li Ye: even if you have money, don’t forget your roots—soybean oil is plenty good enough; why eat peanut oil every day?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even this soybean oil was specially allocated to Li Ye and the others by his uncle, the bureau chief!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Remember, urban residents in the 1980s got only four taels of oil per Spring Festival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soybean oil dishes tasted fine, but whenever Jiang Xiaoyan cooked, Li Ye always kept far away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who’d never eaten soybean oil didn’t know—the smell when it sizzled in the hot wok was overpowering; one whiff shot straight from the nose to the forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sizzle~”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Scallion greens sizzled in the boiling soybean oil, releasing an unbearable odor; Li Ye held his breath as he poured water into the pot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Li Ye knew how to cook, he was lazy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no interest in making dumplings, pancakes, or wonton noodles—just fried eggs in oil with noodles: quick, easy, and filling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, Jiang Xiaoyan and Hu Man arrived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the thick layer of oil floating on the water’s surface, Jiang Xiaoyan nearly scolded Li Ye again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was just breakfast—used to be nothing but cold steamed buns—but now this oil layer could make two full meals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was once a joke that perfectly illustrated the common people’s attitude toward oil back then.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone went to the grain and oil shop with a jar to buy oil; after filling it, they realized they’d forgotten their money and had to pour it all back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then they’d go home, scrape the residual oil off the jar’s walls with bamboo slats, and make a “richly oily” meal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as you had thick enough skin and went every few months, your household would never go without meat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, you handle the rest. Two eggs each.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We’re eating lunch at the No.1 Middle School cafeteria today—that food’s fit for pigs; if you get weak from poor nutrition and mess up the exam, don’t blame me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye tossed the ladle aside and stepped away from the stove.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do you mean ‘fit for pigs’? Say that out loud and you’ll get beaten.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Xiaoyan muttered as she walked to the stove, readying noodles and eggs, waiting for the water to boil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Months of refined grain feeding had quietly spoiled the eight-person group’s taste, but none would admit it—people mustn’t forget their roots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this got back home, their fathers and mothers would chase them two miles with rolling pins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Look at what kind of breed you are—still eating fine bran?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At nearly seven, Wen Leyu shuffled in for breakfast, her steps sluggish but her spirits high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was one of Li Ye’s key training successes—the benefit of beauty sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Previously, the girl was malnourished and slept poorly, her face pale and bloodless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Li Ye noticed, he relentlessly drilled into her the benefits of sufficient sleep for skin and appearance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t fully understand, but she was obedient; gradually, she grew accustomed to it, and now her complexion was vastly improved, with a stubborn habit of oversleeping to rival Li Ye’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing their hearty egg noodles, the eight-person group headed to No.2 Middle School and joined the waiting line for departure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since it was a provincial exam, test sites couldn’t be arranged by individual schools, and the dispatched invigilators from other areas couldn’t travel dozens of kilometers to rural high schools.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So all Qingshui County examinees took the pre-exam at high schools and middle schools within the county.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Single person, single desk—identical to the actual college entrance exam.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Everyone, be quiet—I’ll repeat the rules again... Obey all instructions, raise your hand to report any issue, no disorder in the four-column formation... Depart!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Director Jin Feiyu delivered a brief speech, then led the No.2 Middle School examinees out the school gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to their location in the county seat, they could depart together in the morning and arrive on time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But schools from distant townships like Hebin and Liuqiao, thirty or forty li away, had to arrive the day before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wasn’t the future, where twenty kilometers took less than half an hour by vehicle—many students had to walk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Walk five hours in the morning, then take an exam?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nonsense!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After arriving in the county, few stayed at inns; most bunked at the exam schools, and if dorms were full, they brought their own bedding and slept on the floor in classrooms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the sight of hundreds carrying bedding on foot resembled a military march—years later, it still felt amusing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If any student’s parent had connections and provided a truck, that student was unquestionably the proudest kid in school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the No.2 Middle School marching line passed the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, it crossed paths with the No.1 Middle School group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps due to pre-exam anxiety, everyone was silent, the atmosphere heavy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye spotted Lu Zixue in the No.1 Middle School line—somewhat surprised, since Lu Zixue was a first-year student this year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the early 1980s, many provinces, including Dongshan, used a “ten-year system” curriculum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant five years of primary, three of junior high, and two of senior high—so Qingshui County’s high schools still had only two years, changing to three-year programs around 1984–85.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, Lu Zixue, a first-year student, taking the college entrance exam early wasn’t extraordinary; another failed attempt would benefit his official exam next year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Lu Zixue passing on his first try, Li Ye thought the odds slim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jingyao, once the top student at No.2 Middle School, could compete with the top three seeds from No.1 Middle School—she’d barely slipped into Beijing Foreign Languages College by “cheating” the system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the early 1980s, when English talent was scarce and basic English education abysmal, a decent English score could lower admission thresholds by twenty or thirty points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Jingyao had scored nearly perfect on English last year—admitted under special dispensation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, her base scores might not have even reached the undergraduate cutoff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So even if Lu Zixue studied hard, how could a first-year kid compete with repeaters who’d been prepping for the exam for years?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And with a college graduate right at home, a pearl shining ahead, with Lu Zixue’s mix of inferiority and arrogance, and this being his first try, would he dare to apply to a junior college?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Failure was certain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the crossroads in the northern part of town, the No.2 Middle School students split, heading to No.1 Middle School and Yuhong Middle School.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye was assigned to No.1 Middle School; once there, all students were completely mixed, reassigned randomly into classrooms of first-year, second-year, and repeater classes alongside students from two rural high schools.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Naturally, the eight-person group couldn’t stay together—only Jiang Xiaoyan and Li Ye shared a test room, plus a few repeater class students Li Ye vaguely knew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But shortly after he sat down, someone took the seat to his right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was his cousin, Cui Aiguo, from his aunt’s side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye blinked in surprise, then decided to greet him—only for the bastard to turn his head and pretend not to recognize Li Ye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Fine, real fine. We don’t know each other. Whoever speaks to whom is a bastard.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First exam: Chinese.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The invigilator was strict, rattling off exam rules as if cheating warranted a five-year sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye couldn’t shake the feeling—the foreign female teacher kept glancing his way as she emphasized discipline, leaving him puzzled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Could it be I’m too handsome? Or is it my watch?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye hadn’t dressed flashy today—he wore the jeans brought by Jin Peng and others, and only wore a Swiss Meihua  watch he wasn’t sure was genuine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hao Jian knew Li Ye was taking the exam on May 7 and needed to track time, so he urgently telegraphed San Shui, who was in Yangcheng, to find him a decent watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In 1982, buying a Shanghai watch still required a Shanghai watch quota; Yangcheng had water traders, so San Shui went through hoops and paid extra to get this Swiss watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye had never owned a watch in his past life and couldn’t tell real from fake, but the design and finish were exquisite, dazzling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just now, when Li Ye lifted his arm and revealed the watch from under his sleeve, his bastard cousin Cui Aiguo nearly stared with his jaw dropped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Pfft, drool all you want—don’t you dare recognize me!】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the exam papers were distributed, Li Ye picked up his pen and began writing, the scratch of ink never pausing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too easy—the first section was pinyin, but not obscure characters; just common, everyday words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【This question is water.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment this thought crossed Li Ye’s mind, the female teacher’s sharp voice rang from the podium.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No looking at others’ papers—caught again, and your paper will be confiscated immediately.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Who’s this idiot so unlucky? Need to cheat on this question?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye looked up—and saw several students quickly turning back, their stolen glances clearly aimed at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among them were students from No.2 Middle School, his cousin Cui Aiguo, and even Jiang Xiaoyan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Didn’t I tell them the exam rules? How could they be so careless and get caught?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Ye didn’t understand Jiang Xiaoyan’s behavior—but five minutes later, he noticed faint sweat behind her ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He suddenly realized: Jiang Xiaoyan’s pinyin skills were terrible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the second grain store, Li Ye mainly tutored the group in math, physics, chemistry, and English—subjects that could make or break scores.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no strong advantage in Chinese or politics, especially politics—he avoided it entirely to hide his true background.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Chinese knowledge was limited to quick-fix essay techniques.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he truly didn’t understand Jiang Xiao’s and the others’ language proficiency, at most knowing how many points they could score and roughly where they ranked in class.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【This psychological resilience is truly worrying!】\u003C\u002Fp>",1838,"2026-06-20T05:04:59.129Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e5b2c0c744f98b714106ecf502588df4b3e8c111178d0e5f3cdf166df7a7c00f","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-79","that-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-chapter-77",884,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthat-year-the-flowers-bloomed-in-1981-cover.jpg"]