However, Yu Bai'en was unaware that such an unexpected situation would arise. Upon hearing Jiang Si say she wouldn't be taking the exam, his expression was one of considerable surprise.
"You're not planning to take it?"
Jiang Si nodded, "Yes."
If anyone else had asked, Jiang Si might have simply replied with "she doesn't want to," but her master was different.
To her, Master was not just a teacher and a friend, but also a father-like figure.
Of course, she had no intention of mentioning anything about the blank-exam candidates.
Just as Jiang Si was about to explain the reason she had prepared in advance, Yu Bai'en waved his hand to stop her.
He was someone who devoted himself wholeheartedly to his work, but that didn't mean he was completely oblivious to human affairs.
The news about the reinstatement of the cultural exams was publicly announced today, but quite a few people must have already gotten wind of it beforehand.
Given the Huo family's circumstances, it wouldn't be strange for them to have learned some insider information ahead of time.
Although he didn't quite understand why his young apprentice was giving up this opportunity, she must have her reasons for doing so.
And those reasons he didn't need to know.
After a moment of thoughtful silence, Yu Bai'en advised, "Since you've decided, proceed according to your own plans. Just remember, some matters are best kept to yourself; there's no need to explain them to outsiders."
Jiang Si nodded solemnly, "I understand, Master."
She knew the principle that talking too much leads to trouble. Moreover, most members of her team were in their thirties to forties.
These individuals already had university degrees; within the first team, aside from her, only two or three others had just a high school diploma.
As far as she knew, all of them met the conditions for college entrance exam registration.
This was something she couldn't advise against, and even if she did, they likely wouldn't listen.
Sure enough, by the time Jiang Si finished her work there and returned to the unit, those few people had already uniformly completed the procedures for taking unpaid leave while retaining their positions.
Her own first team didn't cause any trouble, but she heard that several other teams had stirred up quite a bit of commotion.
Due to issues like age not meeting requirements or insufficient work experience, a crowd had now trapped Director Chang, who was responsible for the recommendation list, in his office, unable to leave.
On ordinary matters, one might turn a blind eye, but this involved the college entrance exam.
What were they all thinking? If an exception were made for one, where would it end?
Director Chang certainly couldn't agree, but he was simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of people...
"Director Chang, I'm just over a month short of fulfilling the two-year practical work requirement. Could you please make an exception!"
"Director, my age is slightly over the limit, but I've worked at the unit for six or seven years. Being a unit model worker counts as an honor too, right? That should be acceptable."
"Director, you know my family's situation..."
Pleas, tales of hardship, and even a few grumbles of dissatisfaction intertwined. In an instant, the entire office building became chaotic.
Jiang Si paid no attention to this and left work on time to go home.
Although she was only a section-level cadre, considering her special circumstances and that she was specially recruited, the unit made an exception by providing her with a car for her commute.
When Huo Tingzhou returned home that evening, Jiang Si told him about her decision not to participate in the college entrance exam.
Regarding her thoughts, Huo Tingzhou had always been respectful. Since his wife had stated her decision, it meant this was the result of her careful consideration.
However, just in case, the next day he found an opportunity to inform his family.
In this era, educational background was closely tied to salary and promotions. He was worried his family might later try to persuade his wife, causing her unnecessary pressure.
Mother Huo chuckled on the other end of the phone, "What, in your eyes, am I such a tactless mother-in-law?"
Never mind her daughter-in-law not taking the college exam; even if she didn't work and stayed home every day, Mother Huo wouldn't utter a single word of objection!
After a pause, Mother Huo added, "You two young people make your own decisions. Don't worry, we won't interfere. As long as Sisi is happy, that's all that matters."
The family didn't ask, and they didn't even bring up the matter in front of Jiang Si.
But as the college entrance exam registration deadline was about to pass and Jiang Si still hadn't come to collect her recommendation letter, Director Chang began to feel restless.
When Jiang Si first joined the unit, he had personally reviewed her file.
Her resume was impressive, her honors dazzling.
Although her family background wasn't considered "staunchly red," this year's recruitment policy clearly stipulated:
A quota of one percent of exam spots was allowed for "educable children of good background"—meaning candidates from ordinary family backgrounds but with outstanding personal performance.
Thinking this, Director Chang directly took the prepared recommendation letter and decided to deliver it to her personally.
As luck would have it, he saw Jiang Si at the stairwell just as he went downstairs.
"Xiao Jiang, I was just looking for you."
Director Chang stepped forward and handed her the recommendation letter, "Here, this is your recommendation letter. Hurry and take it to register; it'll be too late in another couple of days."
Looking at the recommendation letter being offered to her, Jiang Si was momentarily stunned. She hadn't expected Director Chang to have already prepared the letter.
Touched, Jiang Si also explained that she wouldn't be taking the exam.
"Director Chang, thank you for your kindness! But I don't plan to take the college entrance exam this year."
"You're not taking it?" Director Chang was very surprised.
Jiang Si nodded, not explaining too much.
She merely said she had already self-studied the university curriculum and currently just wanted to focus on doing her job well.
It would be untrue to say Director Chang wasn't regretful. With Jiang Si's abilities, she would be promoted within a few years at the unit.
How unfortunate it would be if she were held back then due to her educational background!
Because of this matter, Director Chang sighed deeply for a long time at the unit.
Before he could recover from this, the month after the college entrance exams concluded, the "National Daily" published front-page headline news that left everyone astounded.
Just as Jiang Si had anticipated, the sudden appearance of the blank-exam candidate completely rewrote the admission rules for that year.
Nearly fifty candidates from the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building had participated in the exams.
Everyone had meticulously prepared for two months, and with the waiting period for results, the whole process took nearly four months.
But in the end, the result was all for nothing—like drawing water with a bamboo basket.
If they had simply been outmatched in skill, perhaps they wouldn't have felt so aggrieved.
But it wasn't that no one from the Seventh Ministry passed; two comrades from their unit actually received university admission notices.
One for Peking University, one for Renmin University—both top-tier schools in the capital.
They weren't clear about the situation of the one admitted to Renmin University, but the candidate admitted to Peking University hadn't been feeling well during the exam days.
He hadn't finished answering the papers, and he even missed the final exam entirely!
When the admission notice arrived, not to mention others, even the candidate himself was dumbfounded...
The long-awaited college entrance exam ended just like that, but its impact was profound. Many candidates were disheartened and depressed for a whole year because of failing to get in.
However, the giant wheel of the era would not stop moving forward because of any single person or event.
During the months when other teams were fully engaged in preparing for the exams, Jiang Si had already led her team in immersive research.
After more than half a year, they finally completed the 1:50 scale axonometric drawings of the rocket's three-stage body, the structural drawings for the radar's high-precision electromagnetic shielding, the subsystem explosion diagrams, the flow field diagrams for wind tunnel tests, and the stress-strain cloud diagrams. This included converting the "aerodynamic drag reduction design" into three-dimensional perspective views.
Jiang Si also attempted to hand-draw a complete set of mechanical transmission diagrams for the satellite's automatic stabilization structure.
Furthermore, all data errors were controlled within 0.2 millimeters.
Due to her outstanding performance, in early 1974, after signing a top-secret confidentiality agreement, Jiang Si officially joined the re-entry thermal protection design team for the Dongfeng X intercontinental ballistic missile.
She was primarily responsible for a series of tasks, including drawing the distribution diagrams for ablative materials.
By the end of that same year, she was exceptionally promoted to assistant engineer.
Subsequently, she formally led the standardization work for the structural drawings of the "Julang-2" submarine-launched ballistic missile body.
