Cannon Fodder Husband Ch.289-290

Chapter 289 – The Restoration of the College Entrance Examination

Lu Xia smiled and shook her head as she watched Sun Shengnan’s departing figure. Then, she took out a set of “Self-Study Series for Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry” and handed it over to her.

With the college entrance examination approaching, seeing Sun Shengnan so anxious, having this book would help her review better.

Originally, she had bought three sets of this book. She intended to keep one set for herself and planned to sell the other two sets when she went to the countryside later. After all, everyone knew it would be difficult to acquire this set of books in the future.

Now, she decided to give one set to Sun Shengnan and keep the remaining set for later.

As August approached, when the Jiang family wrote them a letter, they indirectly suggested that both of them should read more books and sent a set of “Self-Study Series for Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry”…

Lu Xia looked at the book in silence for a moment. Then she saw Jiang Junmo take a deep breath, his eyes bright. “It seems like the policies are really changing…”

“Yes!” Lu Xia sighed in agreement. Indeed, those with the ability would foresee policy changes in advance.

Upon receiving the news from the Jiang family, the two of them became even more diligent in their studies. Jiang Junmo worked during the day and would study with Lu Xia after work.

Fortunately, Kang Kang was obedient, and even at just over two years old, he was quite well-behaved.

Every time Lu Xia and Jiang Junmo studied, Kang Kang would obediently play with the tangram puzzle that Luo Xia had made.

This saved them a lot of trouble.

…

October 21, 1977, was a special day for all educated youths in the country.

For these educated youths, it was an especially unforgettable day…

On that day, while they were still at work, a mailman suddenly arrived at their village and shouted to the people working.

“The college entrance examination has been restored!”

Before the workers could fully react, the mailman shouted again, “The college entrance examination has been restored! The country has issued an announcement, and it’s also in the newspapers.”

He waved the newspaper in his hand as he shouted.

Someone suddenly realized what was happening and rushed over, snatching the newspaper from his hand.

Trembling, they found the front-page headline.

“Major Reforms in Higher Education Admissions”

“…Workers, farmers, educated youths sent to the countryside, demobilized soldiers, officials, and recent high school graduates—all are eligible to participate!”

“It’s restored, it’s really restored!” Educated Youth Feng Xuegong, holding the newspaper, burst into tears!

At this point, others who had realized what was happening also gathered around.

Everyone bombarded the mailman with questions and took turns reading the newspaper.

Even at this moment, some of them found it hard to believe.

The college entrance examination had truly been restored!

And they had finally waited for this moment…

At this moment, many educated youth, like Feng Xuegong, couldn’t hold back their tears.

Some villagers were also curious. While they weren’t as excited as the educated youths, they understood that the restoration of the college entrance examination was a good thing. It meant that their children could also attend university in the future!

So, there was a buzz of discussion among everyone.

The village chief could tell that nobody was in the mood to work, so he waved his hand and told the educated youths to stop working and first understand what was happening.

The educated youths immediately left.

As for the mailman, he was surrounded by them and bombarded with questions, but he didn’t have all the details.

He had only been instructed by his organization to convey the news to every village, and all the details were in the newspapers.

Thus, they let the mailman go and went together to the educated youth office to study the newspaper.

Lu Xia, who had heard the news, hurried over with Kang Kang in her arms.

She already knew that the official announcement of the restoration would be issued in October, but she couldn’t remember the exact date.

It wasn’t until she heard the commotion outside that she realized it must be today.

Even though she had been prepared for this, she was still quite excited at this moment.

Walking over to Jiang Junmo’s side and seeing that he was just as moved, the two exchanged a glance. Jiang Junmo squeezed her hand, and Lu Xia noticed that his hand was full of sweat…

*

Chapter 290 – Buying Books

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The two of them followed everyone to the educated youth spot.

This time, there were not only the original educated youths from their educated youth spot, but also some who had already settled down in the village. Additionally, there were two villagers who also had high school students in their families, unsure if they could take the college entrance exam.

After arriving at the educated youth spot, everyone carefully studied the contents of the newspaper’s documents. They discovered that apart from the application conditions, the exam date had also been confirmed for December.

In other words, they had less than two months for their review.

This situation made everyone anxious. After spending so many years in the countryside, many people had forgotten much of their knowledge, and they were unsure if they could catch up with the review now.

A sense of urgency spread among them.

“These two months won’t be enough, will they? I don’t even have any books with me now!”

“Same here, I’ve forgotten everything. How can I take the exam?”

“Ah, I regret it. I don’t know if it’s too late to ask for leave tomorrow and go buy some books.”

“I want to go too.”

…

Seeing that everyone was quite anxious, at this moment, Gu Xiangnan, the person in charge at the educated youth spot, spoke up proactively:

“Don’t worry, everyone. We feel that time is tight, and others are in the same situation. So, we’re all starting from the same line.
The village doesn’t have much work left now. I’ll talk to the village chief later. For now, let’s not go to work as educated youths and focus on studying.
If necessary, we can study together in groups. Those who know can help explain to those who don’t, which can deepen the impression.”

Everyone thought his proposal was good and agreed one after another.

Afterward, Gu Xiangnan acted as a representative and talked to the village chief about this matter. The village chief agreed as well. After the notice came down, the village chief knew that these educated youths probably wouldn’t stay anymore, so it was better to leave a good impression.

The next day, the educated youths went to the county town together to buy books.

Lu Xia and the others also went. Buying books was secondary; the main goal was to see if they could get some additional practice materials.

However, when they arrived at the county’s bookstore, it was packed with people, and the line outside had already stretched fifty meters away.

Lu Xia even wondered if everyone in the entire county who was taking the college entrance exam was here.

But even with so many people, they didn’t leave; they just felt anxious, afraid that they wouldn’t be able to buy the books they needed.

As expected, after waiting in line for several hours, when it was finally their turn, the bookstore was nearly empty.

Lu Xia and Jiang Junmo ended up buying only some ink and draft paper before leaving.

The educated youths were all somewhat disappointed, but luckily, the bookstore promised to restock as soon as possible, so they could come back in a few days.

However, no one gave up. Someone suggested going to the scrap collection station to see if they could find something there. Everyone thought it was worth a try. When they arrived, they found that it was crowded as well, though not as much as the bookstore.

At this point, everyone didn’t care about appearances anymore. They rushed in and started competing with others.

Lu Xia found a less crowded spot and, while not finding any useful books for the college entrance exam, stumbled upon two English foreign classics. These weren’t exactly allowed in this era.

Still, Lu Xia secretly stashed them away in her space.

This time, everyone made some gains. At the very least, they finally managed to collect all the high school textbooks, and the group breathed a sigh of relief.

Afterward, they went to the post office to send letters, asking their families to help them find the books.

Upon returning, Lu Xia went to Sun Shengnan’s place to see Kang Kang. She heard about the situation at the bookstore and realized just how precious the books Lu Xia had given them earlier were.

So, she proactively said, “The set of books you gave me before is written in great detail and is suitable for self-study. Maybe I should return it to you. It’s too valuable.”

After hearing this, Lu Xia smiled and said, “No worries, take a look. We’ve already finished reading that set of books.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Shengnan finally felt relieved.

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