Chapter 367 – Sun Shengnan’s Letter
Lu Xia didn’t know how the educated youths in the countryside had performed in the college entrance exams. But when she passed by the school’s mailroom on her way home after school, she subconsciously glanced at it and saw her own name.
Upon closer inquiry, she found out that there was a letter for her.
Curiosity got the better of her, so she quickly retrieved it and opened it when she got home.
The letter was from Sun Shengnan. Because Lu Xia didn’t know her address, she hadn’t been in touch with her all this time. However, after so long, she had started to worry about how Sun Shengnan was doing.
So, she opened the letter and began reading it.
This letter had been written before the second round of college entrance exams.
In the letter, Sun Shengnan first asked how Lu Xia was doing, whether she had adapted to her in-laws’ family, and if she had gotten used to going to school, among other things. Then, she shared her own recent experiences.
She and Liu Jun, along with their child, had only completed the formalities to return to the city after the Chinese New Year.
After returning, they initially lived with Liu Jun’s family, but their house was small, and there were many people, so it was cramped. After Sun Shengnan started attending school, they decided to rent a small house near the school and moved out.
Afterward, she went on to describe her life at school and her eagerness and reflections on her studies.
She also wrote about how Liu Jun had initially been discouraged because he couldn’t find a job and the hardships of his preparations for the college entrance exam. Even though he had been diligently studying, she felt that with his level, he might not make it.
She mentioned that Liu Jun planned to give it one more try, and if he didn’t succeed this time, he would stop trying and find a job to support their family.
From the letter, Lu Xia could see that Sun Shengnan had experienced the confusion of returning to her in-laws’ home, had high expectations for university life, and felt frustration with Liu Jun’s lack of progress, yet she hadn’t given up on him.
It was evident that her life had changed, but her resilient personality remained unchanged.
Lu Xia felt happy for her and, after finishing the letter, took out a pen to write a response. She shared her own experiences after returning to the city and her life at school.
Just as she had finished writing the letter, Jiang Junmo returned after finishing his evening routine.
Seeing her sealing the letter in an envelope, he knew what it was about and asked, “Are Educated Youth Sun and Educated Youth Liu doing well?”
Lu Xia nodded, “They’re doing okay now, they’ve pretty much adapted.”
Jiang Junmo nodded, noticing a hint of nostalgia in her eyes. He thought for a moment and said, “Even though it’s quite a distance, once Kang Kang is a bit older, we can visit them and catch up.”
Lu Xia smiled at his words, understanding his intentions. “Let’s talk about that later. For now, it’s already great that we can stay in touch through letters.”
Jiang Junmo accepted her response and didn’t press the matter further.
The next day, when they went to school, they sent the letters, and afterward, Lu Xia resumed her translation work.
This time, the materials were quite extensive, taking almost twenty days to complete.
After delivering the translated materials to Teacher Li, Lu Xia could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
However, during this time, she noticed that Xie Guifang had once again stopped attending classes.
“What’s going on?” She looked at Yu Wan.
While Xie Guifang had still been under some scrutiny during this period, it had significantly lessened. With so much time passing, the incident had started to fade from everyone’s minds, and her consistent attendance had led many to believe that the previous incident had been a misunderstanding.
Yu Wan shook her head, “I’m not sure. The counselor came to look for her yesterday after school, and she didn’t return to the dorm in the evening. She hasn’t shown up today either.”
*
Chapter 368 – Expelled
.
Lu Xia furrowed her brow but didn’t pay too much attention, thinking that perhaps she had taken a leave of absence.
However, at lunchtime when she went downstairs to eat, she noticed everyone gathered around the bulletin board, discussing something.
Curious, Lu Xia and her friend approached, thinking that the school must have posted some announcement. Just as they were about to take a look, they saw Ye Nan and two others walking over with complex expressions.
“Xie Guifang has been expelled!”
…
“What?”
“What?”
These two exclamations came from Lu Xia and Yu Wan.
“What happened? How did she suddenly get expelled?” Yu Wan asked in astonishment.
Ye Nan pointed to the bulletin board, “The school issued an announcement. Xie Guifang was found to have entered the university by taking someone else’s spot, exploiting her parents’ positions, and tampering with someone else’s records. So, the school expelled her!”
“Ah!… It’s actually true!” Yu Wan didn’t expect the situation to escalate like this so suddenly.
Lu Xia was also surprised. She had thought that the matter had been unresolved for so long because something had gone wrong. She didn’t expect it to be discovered in the end.
The school acted swiftly, expelling Xie Guifang and issuing an announcement. They probably knew that this incident had already spread within the school, and the impact was not good.
While they were talking, they noticed that there were fewer people around the bulletin board. Yu Wan pulled her towards it.
Then, they saw a prominent notice on the bulletin board with the following message:
“Xie Guifang, a freshman from the English Department of the Class of ’77, originally named Xie Yunyun, has been expelled for taking someone else’s university spot, using her parents’ positions, and modifying someone else’s records. After verification, the situation is confirmed to be true, and she has been expelled.”
…
The two of them read it and then silently exchanged glances before leaving with the others. Clearly, the news had already spread, and even the cafeteria was buzzing with discussions about the matter.
When they returned to the dormitory, they found that there were no longer any belongings of “Xie Guifang” in the room. It was evident that she had packed up and left in the morning.
The other roommates were still in shock.
Who would have thought that someone who had been living with them just a few days ago would be expelled today?
“So, she really did steal someone else’s admission notice to come to Peking University!” Tang Yuan spoke up.
At this moment, not just Tang Yuan but everyone else was also surprised. Although they had suspected the outcome for a while, now that it had been confirmed, they couldn’t help but find the situation quite astonishing.
Yu Wan sat on Xie Guifang’s former bed and sighed, “She really had the audacity to steal someone else’s admission notice and come to the university so openly. Looking back, it’s a bit frightening. When we finished the college entrance exams, we could only wait for the admission notices to see if we got in. If someone had taken them, would we have thought we didn’t get in?”
“Yes, and we wouldn’t know if nobody informed us. I don’t know how that female comrade found out that day, and it’s lucky that she found out, or else she might have spent her whole life not knowing.” Tan Yunfang also followed and sighed.
Ye Nan nodded, “That’s why doing bad things should come with the readiness to be caught, and one should also have the courage to seek the truth.”
“Exactly,” Lu Xia agreed. In this day and age, not everyone has the courage to pursue a truth that may or may not yield results.
For a while, everyone fell silent. Then, Tang Yuan asked, “Now that this has been discovered, what will happen next? Xie Guifang… I mean, the fake Xie Guifang, Xie Yunyun has been expelled, will the real Xie Guifang come to Peking University?”
This question left everyone in silence again because, honestly, they were not sure how the school would decide on this matter.
I’m glad the fake Xie Guifang was expelled and the truth was revealed to everyone. I just hope her parents were removed from their official positions because it goes to show that they’ve probably abused their positions for other gains since they were pretty confident stealing someone’s admission notice.
Hopefully other schools will look into possible theft of admission notices to get justice for other students who don’t know the truth. The whole point of having stringent requirements for university was to improve the overall stability of the country, so I’d like to think the country as a whole would be concerned about losing potential future pillars of the country for incompetent individuals.
Thanks for the chapter! 😀