Over the past few days, Ji Zhaoxi had been following Ji Zhuxin around to visit relatives, collecting quite a bit of New Year's lucky money.
The snow outside had not yet melted. The postman pedaled his heavy-duty bicycle, shouting from a distance, "Ji Zhaoxi, your admission letter has arrived!"
The surrounding villagers all poked their heads out. Chen Yiping's had arrived a few days ago, and today Ji Zhaoxi's had arrived too?
Ji Zhuxin was sitting at the door chatting with people. Upon hearing this, she was so startled that the peanuts in her arms spilled all over the ground.
She shouted loudly, "Here, here! This house!"
She stomped her feet in anxiety, her face full of unconcealable joy. "After waiting for so long, it is finally here!"
She shouted into the house, "Stop sleeping, stop sleeping, get up quickly to get your admission letter!"
Ji Zhuxin hurried into the house to drag Ji Zhaoxi out of bed. Still half-asleep, Ji Zhaoxi was scared out of her wits.
Ji Zhuxin casually threw a coat over her. "Hurry up, hurry up, do not keep him waiting."
Quite a few people had already gathered outside, all surrounding the postman.
"You are Ji Zhaoxi, right?" The postman smiled when he saw her.
Ji Zhuxin quickly nodded on her behalf. "Yes, yes, yes."
The postman pulled an envelope out of his green canvas bag. The name of Shanghai International Studies University was written on the admission letter.
Ji Zhaoxi blankly took the admission letter, still not having fully processed it.
Ji Zhuxin had already started thanking the heavens and their ancestors.
"When I went to get my fortune told back then, they said our family would produce a university student."
The surrounding people all laughed.
"Zhuxin, who told your fortune? I want to go get mine told too."
"What university is this? Someone read it for me."
"Shanghai International Studies University. Zhuxin's sister is really promising, getting accepted into a school in Shanghai. Will she ever have to worry about anything in this lifetime?"
"Shanghai? I heard before that the streets there are paved with gold, and the buildings are taller than mountains. My uncle has a shirt that is said to be made in Shanghai."
"Zhaoxi is so trendy now, she is even going to learn the languages spoken by foreigners."
Ji Zhuxin was incredibly smug now. She waved her hand grandly. "Let me tell you, I specifically went to ask our leader at the time. He is a very well-read man."
"He said back then that the bigger the city you go to, the better. When my Zhaoxi was preparing for the exam, she learned English especially fast. When she read those foreign texts, she sounded exactly like the radio broadcasts. You could not even tell if it was her speaking or the radio."
The surrounding villagers let out a burst of amazement upon hearing this.
Ji Zhaoxi blushed from her sister's praise.
The truth was, Ji Zhaoxi simply learned English a bit faster than other subjects, and then she read a few sentences in front of Ji Zhuxin's leader, who merely said it was not bad.
That leader was from Shanghai and had been assigned to work here. No matter who asked him, he always said the schools in Shanghai were the best.
Qin Du had just returned from the black market. As soon as he saw the crowd of people gathered at the door of the Ji family, he immediately knew what had happened.
Their eyes met instantly. Ji Zhaoxi shyly held up her admission letter to him, while Ji Zhuxin beside her stuffed a red envelope into the postman's hand and continued to praise Ji Zhaoxi.
Qin Du smiled and held up the meat in his hand.
The admission letters for the other educated youths in the village also arrived one after another. A few educated youths who did not pass the exam cried continuously in the educated youth compound.
"Even those village locals got in, how could I have failed?"
The educated youth who failed lay on the table, crying his eyes out.
Lin Yitang glanced at him and frowned. "Whether you pass or not has nothing to do with whether someone is a villager or not, right?"
She heard that Ji Zhaoxi had also passed.
She could not help but think of Qin Du again.
Jobs are assigned after graduation; Ji Zhaoxi could stay in Shanghai. She could do foreign trade, and with some effort, she might even enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When she sees a bigger world, will she still fancy Qin Du?
Lin Yitang did not think the two of them would last. As long as Qin Du did not get into a university, the gap between him and Ji Zhaoxi would only grow wider and wider.
Educated Youth Xie thought the same way.
Ever since receiving his admission letter, he had been in an extremely excited state all day.
Because he was admitted to Fudan University, he and Ji Zhaoxi would both be in Shanghai!
Looking at the crying boy, Educated Youth Xie felt a bit annoyed. "Stop crying. If you want to take the exam, you can still take it later. Missing this one time is not the end of the world."
He had so many study materials, yet when he asked to borrow them, he refused. He thought he would score so well.
Sure enough, the college entrance exam is not about having the most study materials; it still relies on brains.
If you do not have the brains, what is the use of reading so many materials and books?
Xinniu Village produced six university students. What did that mean? The entire county only had a few dozen university students, and some villages did not have a single one.
Although four of them were educated youths, the educated youths were also registered under Xinniu Village's household registration. The usually aloof village chief was now grinning from ear to ear, immediately organizing a farewell party in the name of the production team.
This was an honor for the entire village.
The production team provided two pigs, and every household contributed some potatoes or cabbage. The village chief led people beating gongs and drums to deliver red rosettes to the homes of every university student.
Those who got into university were all going to have their names entered into the ancestral hall.
Finally, the day of the farewell party arrived. Ji Zhuxin and the village chief's wife dressed in bright red. Ji Zhuxin originally wanted Ji Zhaoxi to dress like that too, but Ji Zhaoxi refused no matter what.
She looked at the other people who got into university and thought it was a good thing she did not wear it. The others dressed similarly to their usual attire, extremely plain and simple.
The entire village came, making it very lively. The village chief stood in the middle delivering a lengthy speech, the gist of which was how the commune had cultivated these university students in the village.
The several university students sat in a row behind him, facing all the villagers.
"Zhaoxi, I got accepted back to Shanghai. My family lives there, so I can take care of you in the future."
Educated Youth Xie purposely sat next to Ji Zhaoxi.
He quietly introduced Shanghai's delicacies and even spoke a few sentences in Shanghainese to her. Ji Zhaoxi did not understand a single word and kept quiet.
The educated youths nearby all felt Educated Youth Xie was embarrassing and did not want to sit with him.
Educated Youth Xie was still talking to Ji Zhaoxi, gesturing wildly and getting increasingly excited. "When the time comes, I will take you to Huaihai Road to eat pan-fried buns and buy butterfly pastries. The pastry has over a hundred layers; it crumbles at a single touch. You definitely cannot eat that in Xinniu Village."
Ji Zhaoxi did not take in a word of it. She looked at the dishes on the table not far away, and then looked at the birds in the sky.
Educated Youth Xie was just about to continue speaking when a brief sneer suddenly came from Ji Zhaoxi's right side.
Educated Youth Xie's face immediately flushed red. He glared at Chen Yiping. So what if he was the village chief's son? He was still just a local from Xinniu Village.
But Ji Zhaoxi's ears finally got some peace and quiet.
Chen Yiping leaned against the wall in annoyance. How long was his dad going to talk? It was annoying just listening to it.
His gaze could not help but fall on Ji Zhaoxi's hands. He frowned and compared them to his own hands.
How could her hands be that small?
