A month flew by in the midst of intense preparation, and in December, the nationwide college entrance examination began, with over 5 million candidates rushing to the examination room from rural areas, factories, and troops.

There is no examination room in Shengli commune. The nearest examination room is located in Jiangkou county. At noon on the day before the examination, after the family had a meal, the three people set out from home to the county to stay in the county for one night and wait for the examination the next day, so as not to miss the examination time the next day.

Don’t have too much of a psychological burden. Just try your best. “

At first, Zhang Qiaoer reluctantly accepted their idea of participating in the college entrance examination. After this month, seeing that they reviewed until midnight every day, they were unconsciously infected. On the other hand, many people in the village made jokes about them. Don’t look at how three members of Zhao Manzhu’s family registered at a time. No one can say that one out of the three, no one could pass the exam.

People fight for their breath ((dignity) and trees fight for their skin ((as the bark is vital to a tree, so is dignity to a person). Things have come to this point. Zhang Qiaoer still hopes that they can all pass the exam, not because she wanted to raise her eyebrows at them to blow off steam. It doesn’t look bad to at least block the mouths of those people who like to talk nonsense.

But she can’t say, “You guys must do well in the exam. Don’t come back if you can’t pass the exam.” It’s better to let them relax.

“Yes mom, don’t worry, we will do well in the exam.”

Zhao Donghe borrowed the village tractor to send them to the commune to take the bus. On their way, they met the villagers. They couldn’t help but say a few words and ask them to do well in the exam.

“Alright, you can go back now. We’ll just wait for the bus here.”

It would take an hour to go to the county from the commune, and the bus arrives at three o’clock every afternoon.

“Well, then I’ll go.”

The tractor is on the team. He has to transport sand and soil in the afternoon. If only they wouldn’t use it this afternoon, Zhao Donghe would drive the tractor to send them to the county.

The three sat on the side of the road waiting for the bus. The bus was a few minutes late, and the bus was particularly crowded. Many of them were students who wanted to take the college entrance examination. There was no seat available.

Jiahui held the railing. As the bus shook, Zhao Donglin stood behind her, blocking part of the flow of people toward them.

“We have to get off the bus to find a place to stay. Look at so many people. The hostel must be packed.”

Jiahui whispered in Zhao Donglin’s ear. Zhao Donglin turned his head sideways and looked out of the window. The fine and soft breath in his ear wrapped around his heart like a blister, which was a feeling of special happiness and satisfaction.

His wish is the same as Jiahui’s; the school is the same, but the majors are different. He chooses economics and agriculture. Jiahui chooses English, education, and medicine, which are all the majors she is interested in.

The reason why she chose to major in English is that, although Jiahui was not an English major in her previous life, she also passed CET-8 after passing CET-6. In that year, she also considered going abroad. Her IELTS score was as high as 8.5, which fully met the requirements for applying to Cambridge, London’s political and economic colleges, and universities. However, in the end, she cancelled her plan to go abroad in consideration of other problems.

Considering the development trend of the times, learning English is very easy and useful for her. As for education and medicine, she also starts with her own hobbies.

After the old bus rattled on the road for more than an hour, it finally arrived at the terminal. The three of them couldn’t afford to relax and went to find a guest house first, starting near the examination center.

As expected by Jiahui, the guesthouse was full, and after searching for half a day, they were able to book a room in a guesthouse two blocks away from the test site.

There is only one bed. Naturally, Jiahui and Meixiang would sleep in the bed together. If it was summer, it was fine for Zhao Donglin to not sleep in the bed. But now it is the cold winter months. The floor was too cold, and Jiahui was distressed, so she asked the staff whether there was a marching bed.

“Sorry, we ran out of marching bed. If you had come late, you wouldn’t even have had the last room. “

Finally, the guest house evened out an extra bed of cotton wool. At least it could put a layer on the ground. Jiahui and Meixiang made the bed for Zhao Donglin.

The three had a simple dinner, read some books, washed and rinsed, and went to bed at least nine o’clock.

“Do you feel cold sleeping on the floor?”

“Not cold. You go to bed quickly. We have an exam tomorrow. We should keep our spirits high.

The floor is naturally cold. The door was not closed tightly. Zhao Donglin was dressed in a military coat and was covered in quilts. The good thing is that his body is strong. His body was originally warm, but he was still barely able to withstand the cold.

Zhao Donglin is wearing clothes and a military coat on the quilt. Fortunately, he is strong and has high heat production, so he can barely stand it.

“Miscalculation. We should have brought two quilts. “

Jiahui didn’t expect that the hostel would be full. In fact, it’s not that there are many people, but that there are too few places to live in this era. It’s not like later generations. There are all kinds of hotels all over the street.

Zhao Donglin knew what was on his wife’s mind. His heart was enveloped in warmth. But he didn’t want her to worry. Zhao Donglin comforted her again, “it’s all right. I’m really not cold. Go to bed quickly. “

Even though Jiahui’s heart ached for him, she could not help. Among the three of them, the one who could sleep on the floor was, naturally, only him.

“Meixiang, take it easy. With your review, there will be no problem with going to college. “

Although her mathematics was not outstanding enough, her mastery of knowledge points was very balanced, and she chose liberal arts. It was mostly about reciting and understanding. Meixiang worked so hard without looking for excellence. It’s no problem to reach the admission scoreline.

Meixiang thought she had affected her sister-in-law with her tossing and turning, and immediately said with apologies, “Sister-in-law, did I affect you?”

“No, I couldn’t fall asleep either.”

In fact, Jia Hui is a bit bed-sensitive, and she doesn’t like to sleep with others from her childhood, except Zhao Donglin.

Meixiang said softly, “I’m a little nervous.”

There is also some confusion, like standing at the crossroads of fate, each step is crucial.

Jiahui fully understands Meixiang’s feelings. She was a little nervous when she took the college entrance examination. Although she was fully prepared, who can guarantee that everything would be as smooth as you expected?

If you can’t sleep, you can count dumplings. One dumpling, two dumplings, three dumplings.. so count and count. You will soon be able to fall asleep.

“Why count dumplings, ah?”

“Dumpling is a homonym for “sleep,” which is equivalent to hypnotizing yourself.”

“Ah? That’s what it means; it seems to make sense. “

After talking to Jia Hui, Meixiang was not so nervous anymore. She closed her eyes in the dark and counted according to Jiahui’s method, falling asleep when she reached the 138th dumpling.

Zhao Donglin heard the sound of even breathing in the air and knew that his sister was asleep.

“What about you? Why aren’t you sleeping?”

A familiar voice rang out, and Jiahui curled her lips, “I am having difficulties sleeping in others’ beds.”

Zhao Donglin also smiled. In the night, his face was not as firm as in the day. The lines were completely soft, and his eyes were shining.

Jiahui reached out her hand from beneath the quilt. Their hands coincided in the air and held together.

Zhao Donglin rubbed Jiahui’s palm, missed the temperature and smoothness in her hand, got up from the quilt and helped her put her hand back into the quilt.

“You can sleep. I’ll stay with you.”

Jiahui mumbled and closed her eyes as she was told.

This night, Jiahui and Meixiang rested fairly well. Only Zhao Donglin didn’t sleep well in the first half of the night. The temperature dropped in the second half of the night. He woke up to do push-ups after being frozen. Later, he simply leaned against the corner of the wall and closed his eyes, just like in-field training in the army.

Early in the morning, Jiahui was awakened by the smell of food. It turned out that Zhao Donglin quietly went out at dawn, went to the state-owned hotel to buy meat buns and soybean milk, and asked the boss to cook half a pot of noodles. After eating, he sent the pot back.

“Ah! You’ve even bought breakfast! “

Jiahui got up from the quilt and began to dress. Meixiang, who was sleeping next to her, woke up vaguely.

After the three had breakfast together, they sorted out their things for the exam and walked to the examination room together.