“Only half a point short of getting into First High School. How could she be just half a point short?”
“She could’ve gotten two points just by getting one more multiple-choice question right.”
“How should she fill out her preferences? Xiaoxiao’s grades aren’t bad—she’s always ranked among the top five at school. It’s just that her school is too far behind the others…”
Lin Xiao lay on a single bed covered with a woven bamboo mat. A towel blanket patterned with peonies covered her stomach, leaving her navel just beneath its edge.
The old house had two floors. Her bedroom was a later addition built onto the house, and although it stayed cooler than the original rooms, it was no match for the sweltering summer heat. An old-fashioned electric fan whirred nonstop, yet a thin layer of sweat still clung to her face.
Lin Xiao had already been awake for an hour. She had spent the first half-hour desperately trying to process the fact that she had been reborn, and the second half quietly eavesdropping on her parents’ conversation next door.
“Eavesdropping” was hardly the right word. The old house had terrible soundproofing, so she could hear almost any movement from the room beside hers.
And her parents thought they were speaking in low voices, when in reality they both had rather loud voices. By now, Lin Xiao had completely figured out what point in time she had returned to.
It was the summer of 2002. She had finished the middle school entrance examination about ten days earlier. She had already gone to school and learned both her score and her ranking in the county.
She had attended a township middle school. At the time, township students were eligible for preferential admission: as long as a student ranked among the top thousand in the county, First High School would admit them regardless of whether they had reached the official cutoff score.
Unfortunately, Lin Xiao had not been so lucky. She ranked 1,003rd in the entire county, missing out on one of the preferential admission slots by just three places.
Without the benefit of that policy, admission to every school other than First High School was based on standard cutoff scores.
Lin Xiao’s score was two points below Second High School’s admission line, but more than forty points above Third High School’s.
In 2002, Huai County’s high school admissions process worked like this: the cutoff scores were announced first, after which students filled out their preference forms themselves.
Besides public high schools, there were also several private ones. The most famous of them was Xingzhi High School, affiliated with First High School.
Xingzhi had been newly established less than five years ago, and this year marked its fourth round of admissions.
Its promotional slogan was that students would eat and live on the same campus as First High School students, while being taught by exactly the same faculty.
In other words, students at Xingzhi would actually study in First High School’s environment, and their teachers would be members of First High School’s own staff.
This year, Xingzhi had its first graduating class sit for the national college entrance examination, and their results had been exceptionally good.
As a result, admission to the new freshman class that year was especially sought after.
When Lin Xiao walked into her parents’ room, the two of them were already discussing sending her to the private high school.
The moment she saw her daughter, Zhang Ruomei said directly, “Xiaoxiao, your father and I talked it over. Going to Third High School would be such a waste with your score. You might as well spend the money and go to Xingzhi.”
Lin Zhicheng nodded as well. “I asked your Uncle to look into it. He has connections. You’re only half a point short of First High School, so buying your way in should cost no more than ten thousand yuan. Once you’re there, you can be taught by the same teachers as the First High School students.”
At that time, students who were no more than one point below a school’s admission cutoff could openly buy their way in. But everyone wanted one of those spots, and the number available was limited. In the end, it all came down to whose connections were strong enough.
The Lin family had three daughters and two sons. Lin Zhicheng was the second among the siblings, with an older sister above him.
The other son was the youngest, Lin Zhijun. He was quite capable and, despite his young age, had become a driver for the owner of one of the top three factories in Huai County. Among all the Lin siblings, he was doing the best.
Whether because he was a man or because of his ability, Lin Zhijun was the most prominent and favored member of the family.
Her father’s words brought Lin Xiao straight back to that summer when she was fifteen in her previous life.
She had been deeply unwilling to accept being only half a point short. She had missed out on First High School’s preferential admission policy, could not get into Second High School, and had no desire whatsoever to attend Third High School. At that young age, she had felt as though the sky itself had collapsed simply because she had done poorly on the entrance exam. She had been completely lost.
So when her father said they would spend money to buy her a place at First High School’s private division, she had felt an enormous sense of relief.
The teachers were the same as those at First High School. Wasn’t that basically the same as attending First High School?
Her younger self had cared only about her own little hopes and had no idea what her parents were doing behind her back.
It was not until the year she graduated from college that she learned from her aunt that, in order to get her into the private high school, her father had asked Uncle Lin Zhijun for help. The spot itself had cost five thousand yuan, but the favors required to secure it had cost a full twenty thousand.
That was not all. Tuition at the private high school was twelve thousand yuan a year, making thirty-six thousand for three years—not including room and board, textbooks, and miscellaneous school fees.
In other words, sending Lin Xiao through high school had cost about as much as sending someone to a third-tier university.
Because of this, her mother had to borrow money from her maternal uncle before the start of every semester to make ends meet. Her aunt by marriage was difficult to get along with, and her mother had endured no small amount of humiliation.
Yet Lin Xiao still failed to get into a first-tier university.
After she started working, Lin Xiao calculated the expenses over and over again. The more she added everything up, the more it hurt. The money had been spent terribly unwisely.
She had never earned it back!
Now that she was facing the same choice again, Lin Xiao immediately shook her head. “I don’t want to. I’m not going to Xingzhi.”
“Why not? Xingzhi’s college entrance exam results were excellent this year. Dozens of students made the first-tier university cutoff. With your grades and the teachers from First High School, you’ll definitely be able to get in too.” Lin Zhicheng had very high hopes for his eldest daughter.
Lin Xiao also knew that her father had always raised her like a son. He had even thought about having her marry a man who would move into their household and carry on the family line.
In the rural areas of the 1990s, the preference for sons over daughters was still widespread. Five years after Lin Xiao was born, Zhang Ruomei had become pregnant again, taking advantage of the family-planning policy and hoping to have another boy. Instead, she gave birth to two more daughters.
That was right—a pair of twin girls. The family now had three daughters.
Twins were uncommon, so relatives and neighbors came to offer their congratulations and have a look. But some sharp-tongued people could never resist adding, as though merely making an innocent observation, “It would’ve been something if they’d been two boys.”
Zhang Ruomei was furious. She became even kinder to her three daughters and secretly vowed to raise every one of them to be successful.
When she heard that her eldest daughter did not want to go to Xingzhi, Zhang Ruomei’s expression darkened. “If you don’t go to Xingzhi, where do you plan to go? With your score, you can only go to Third High School. Do you know how many students from Third High School made it into first-tier universities this year? Not even ten.”
“We’re doing this for your own good. We’re spending money to get you in, and you still don’t appreciate it!” Zhang Ruomei felt frustrated. She had gone to such lengths to plan for her daughter’s future, only to have the child refuse to accept it.
Lin Xiao listened as her parents took turns lecturing her, saying nothing the whole time.
Only after they had both said everything they wanted to say did she finally speak.
“Dad, Mom, it’s not that I don’t want to attend a good high school. I just didn’t get into First High School.”
“So we’re finding a way for you to go!” they replied.
“But, Mom, Xingzhi isn’t only for students who are one or two points short of the cutoff. There are also plenty of students whose grades were poor to begin with. The good students and the bad students are all mixed together in the same classes. What good are excellent teachers if the overall academic atmosphere isn’t good?”
Lin Xiao had experienced this firsthand in her previous life. After entering Xingzhi, she had been full of expectations for the three years of high school.
She had believed that Xingzhi would be just like First High School—a place where students pushed one another forward, studied diligently, and worked hard toward the goal of getting into a good university.
Only later did she learn that no more than a quarter of the class had been admitted by paying just one or two points below the cutoff, as she had. The rest had all scored well enough on the high school entrance exam to get into No. 5 High School.
And No. 5 was the lowest-ranked public high school in Huai County.
Most of the families who owned factories had assets worth at least ten million yuan. Sending their children abroad was no problem at all.
In those years, studying overseas was all the rage. After returning with a foreign degree to their name, people seemed especially impressive back home, and even when looking for jobs, they were considered a cut above the rest.
Even if they did not go abroad, these families still had connections to find their children jobs. No matter whether their children attended a third-tier university or a vocational college, once they returned to the small county town, they would still have connections to rely on.
Then there were the families who had made their fortunes through demolition compensation. Their shops brought in tens of thousands of yuan in rent every year, so their children’s grades hardly mattered. As long as the children did not get into serious trouble, the rental income alone would be enough to let them live carefree for the rest of their lives.
Lin Xiao spent all three years of high school surrounded by classmates who competed over designer clothes and shoes, chased celebrities, and bought music albums.
She held on to her principles and did not allow herself to be led astray.
But the overall academic atmosphere in the class was an utter mess.
The top ten students in the class were always the ones who had gotten into No. 2 High School by missing the cutoff by only one or two points. By the time the college entrance exam came around, three of those students were admitted to first-tier universities, while the rest all got into second-tier universities.
Lin Xiao was especially unlucky. She missed the cutoff for first-tier university admission by just one point.
Part of the reason was that she herself had not worked hard enough, but the learning environment had also played a role.
One of Lin Xiao’s classmates from middle school, who had scored about the same as her, had gone to No. 3 High School instead.
That year, No. 3 High School underwent reforms and established an honors class. Three years later, the class achieved outstanding results. One of its students was admitted to one of the top three universities in the country, five were admitted to 985 or 211 universities, and as many as thirty students scored above the first-tier university cutoff.
No. 3 High School had always been mediocre in Huai County.
The county’s top students were picked off by No. 1 High School, followed by No. 2 High School. By the time it was No. 3 High School’s turn, there were hardly any promising students left.
The students who entered No. 3 High School were generally those whose grades were neither particularly high nor particularly low—the ones who could just about reach No. 2 High School’s admission cutoff if they worked extremely hard.
In the previous twenty years, No. 3 High School had never produced a student who made it into one of the top three universities in the country.
The year Lin Xiao took the college entrance exam, No. 3 High School became famous. It brought great honor to Huai County. People said the principal set off fireworks for an entire night in celebration. Students who made it past the first-tier university cutoff, especially those with the highest scores, were awarded generous scholarships.
That same year, No. 3 High School established a special college entrance examination scholarship to encourage students to work hard.
Lin Xiao’s former middle school classmate happened to score exactly at the first-tier cutoff and received a two-thousand-yuan scholarship from the school.
Before her rebirth, Lin Xiao had seen the girl share a nine-photo collage on her social media feed. She was vacationing at a famous scenic spot in the provincial capital as part of a staff recuperation trip.
After graduation, that girl had passed the exam to become a teacher at a prestigious middle school. Her life was better than that of the vast majority of people her age.
Lin Xiao felt a sour pang in her heart. She had always believed that she was no worse than the other girl, so why had their lives turned out so completely different?
Perhaps she simply had not worked hard enough.
But was it possible that, if she had been in a different learning environment back then, the outcome might have been different?
“Mom, we don’t even know whether Uncle’s connections are reliable. Even if he finds the right person, won’t the favor cost a lot of money? If we have that much money, why don’t we use it to buy a house instead?
“You’re always saying that the teaching quality in the countryside is poor, and that my grades suffered because I went to school there. Now that my middle school entrance exam results are out, isn’t that what you think too? Then why don’t we spend the money to buy a house in the county and let my younger sisters attend middle school there?
“I didn’t do well enough, but their grades aren’t bad. If they went to middle school in the county, maybe they could get into No. 1 High School…”
Lin Xiao knew that her mother took her three daughters’ studies very seriously. Part of it was because she wanted to prove herself, but more importantly, she hoped her children would have better prospects in the future.
Her twin younger sisters, in particular, had always ranked near the top of their class.
Seeing that her mother was beginning to waver, Lin Xiao pressed on and did the math for her.
“Mom, asking Uncle to pull strings is going to cost money, right? It’ll definitely be at least ten or twenty thousand yuan. Buying a spot will cost money too—like you said, probably another ten thousand. And Zhi Xing is a private high school. Tuition and boarding fees alone will be at least fifteen thousand yuan a year. Over three years, that means we’ll have to spend at least seventy or eighty thousand yuan.”
Once they did the math, the shock hit them hard.
The couple exchanged uneasy glances. Their total savings amounted to less than thirty thousand yuan.
Lin Xiao continued, “Dad, Mom, I heard from my homeroom teacher that houses in the county now cost around three thousand yuan per square meter. A three-bedroom apartment of a hundred square meters would cost only three hundred thousand yuan.”
“Only three hundred thousand? That’s an awfully big number for you to throw around!” Zhang Ruomei shook her head. “Our family doesn’t have that kind of money. Three hundred thousand yuan—your father and I would have to work for twenty years without eating or spending a cent to save that much.”
“I heard you can get a mortgage,” Lin Xiao muttered.
Lin Zhicheng waved his hand at once. “A mortgage is just giving money to the bank. If you borrow a hundred thousand, you’ll end up paying another hundred thousand in interest. What a loss.”
“But…”
“All right, we know what we’re doing. Your two sisters are about to get out of school. Go pick them up.”
Lin Xiao knew that she was only fifteen. Her words carried little weight, and convincing her parents to buy a house in the county was practically impossible.
She had never intended to achieve everything in one step. Her family had three children to feed, after all, and her parents truly had a lot to worry about. She merely wanted to take advantage of the low housing prices while they lasted.
What she really wanted was to use the cost of a house as a comparison and dissuade her parents from spending money to send her to a private high school.
For now, it seemed that the two of them were hesitating. With a clear bill of seventy or eighty thousand yuan laid out before them, they were showing signs of backing down.
