The golden age began in 1977

Chapter 127 Principal Qian Serves the Examinees Wholeheartedly (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Back home, Huangchui wagged his tail enthusiastically.

It frolicked around under the curtain, lifting it and letting the cold wind whistle in.

The four children were roasting sweet potatoes around the tin stove. Little Tangyuan was riding on Liu Dajia's shoulders. They had probably just returned to the house, as their faces were red from the cold, looking just like the enamel dolls displayed in the supply and marketing cooperative.

"Delicious Uncle!" The little girl opened her arms to hug him, her two frozen braids sticking up on her head.

Qian Jin took out a handful of sorghum candy from his pocket and distributed it to the four children.

The four little ones helped take good care of the child. Little Tangyuan has become much more robust from following the four of them around and running around every day. She has gone from a chubby little girl to a strong little girl.

Now she's not a little gas cylinder anymore, she's become a little bomb.

On a snowy day, the four little ones went to find wine and cigarette labels for Qian Jin. Qian Jin had been very busy lately and hadn't noticed. He only realized how much work they had done when he saw the bundles of dried wine labels in the drawer.

He quickly called the four children in: "It's so cold, why are you still peeling off wine labels? Don't go, are you out of your minds?"

"Hands out."

Qian Jin checked each of the four little fingers one by one.

Liu Eryi's palms were calloused, and there was a fresh scratch on his index finger, from when he pried open a bottle cap and got scratched by glass shards.

The children's earlobes were swollen like ripe mulberries, gleaming with a purplish-red light under the kerosene lamp.

Liu Sanbing showed him his hands: "It's okay, the cold weather is actually quite nice. We helped the uncles and grandpas at the purchasing station get hot water, and they used warm water to soak the wine labels for us."

Qian Jin was relieved to see that the four children did not have frostbite on their hands.

But their earlobes already had frostbite.

Nobody cares about that. These days, whether it's children in the city or the countryside, getting chilblains on their hands, face, ears, and feet in winter is standard. It's rare to not get chilblains.

After thinking about it, he closed the door, took out the gold chest, and bought a cotton military cap from the mall.

Two big hats and three small hats, but they were all a bit too big for the five little ones' heads.

Just right.

Nowadays, when people buy clothes, pants, shoes, or hats for their children, they are willing to buy a size too big.

Children need to grow and wear more clothes for two years.

He bought a green polyester cotton military cap, which was similar to the military caps with ear flaps that were popular at the time, and even had a red five-pointed star sewn on the front.

Of course, the details will be different.

This cotton military cap provides comprehensive protection for the head, and for children, it can even protect the neck, making it absolutely warm and comfortable.

The cotton hats have three layers: an outer layer of coarse cloth, a middle layer of cotton, and an inner lining.

The cotton military cap that Qian Jin bought had a high-quality outer layer that was very effective at protecting against the cold wind.

The middle is padded and thickened, providing excellent warmth. The cotton filling inside is very even, offering ample protection.

The lining is the most important part; it's skin-friendly, soft, and breathable, and feels smooth and comfortable to the touch.

When the five children ran in again, Qian Jin handed them the hats: "Wear these, all of you wear these."

Liu Dajia and Liu Eryi were very sensible. They were overjoyed when they saw the cotton military caps, knowing that they were good things.

Liu Sanbing cheered, "Oh my, it's a cotton military cap! This is the kind of cap that children of cadres wear!"

He pulled his hat up over his head, the brim pressing down to his eyebrows, looking just like a young Eighth Route Army soldier in a movie. Then he waved excitedly and shouted, "Pan Dongzi! I'm Pan Dongzi!"

Liu Siding took the hat, looked at the red five-pointed star on it, and immediately began to sing "The Shining Red Star".

Little Tangyuan's head was too small, and after putting on the hat, she frantically waved her hands, saying, "Ah, I can't see it, I can't see it!"

Qian Jin pulled her hat back to reveal her eyes. Her big, dark eyes darted around, and she exclaimed happily, "I can see again! Uncle, I thought I was going blind!"

This made Qian Jin laugh.

The four little ones put on their cotton hats and ran outside, eager to show off to their friends.

Tangyuan, following behind, tugged at the earmuffs of her hat and called out anxiously, "Brother, brother, wait for me! My legs are short, I can't run fast..."

With meat coupons in hand, Qian Jin didn't hesitate to buy meat from the mall and stew it.

On such a cold day, stewed cabbage, pork, and glass noodles is absolutely delicious.

I also added tofu to the stew today.

The Liu family production team sent someone to bring over a large block of tofu, along with a message: their tofu workshop was now completed and producing tofu.

Good news keeps coming today.

Qian Jin was in a good mood and decided to go to the study room to check on things.

The main thing is to go and call my wife back for dinner.

The study room was converted from a storage room. There were many people inside, and people were constantly going in and out to use the restroom. To keep it warm, a curtain made from a cotton quilt was hung inside the door.

Qian Jin pushed open the curtain and went inside. Under the bright lights of the 500-square-meter dome, his shadow was projected onto the brick wall covered with new newspapers.

The newspapers, their edges curled from the steam, resembled fluttering flags in the halo of light.

"Is the principal here for inspection?"

Professor Song Zhiyuan was squatting beside the coal stove, tending to the fire. When he saw Qian come in, he stood up and greeted him.

The front of his coarse blue overalls was covered in chalk dust, his hair and beard were messy, and the broken eyeglasses were haphazardly taped back together.

But his energy and spirit were much better than before; his face was rosy and he was all smiles.

Qian Jin smiled at him and handed him the milk powder and vitamin drippings he had brought: "What kind of principal am I? I'm the team leader."

The study room is much better now than when it was first built; the students built it themselves.

The quilts used as door curtains were brought by the students, as were the dozen or so stoves and coal. The large blackboard, made up of a dozen small blackboards, was also created by the students.

Many of them had already started working, and the factory had plenty of supplies, so they tried every means to bring things into the classroom, treating it like their own home.

On the blackboard, algebraic formulas and chemical equations intertwined like vines.

Students wearing cotton-padded work jackets crowded around a long table made of wooden planks. More and more people gathered, and at first glance, all Qian Jin could see were the backs of their heads.

People kept raising their arms to ask questions, like new saplings sprouting in a jungle after the rain.

When Wei Qinghuan saw him arrive, she waved as a greeting, but she had no time to be affectionate with him. Every time she explained a problem to a student, there would be more than a dozen students waiting behind her.

"This is the seventh time, and I still can't get the weightless and overweight problems right." A girl with braided hair sobbed, her frostbitten fingers tracing across her self-study book on mathematics, physics, and chemistry, which was covered in notes.

The student next to her sighed and comforted her, "Physics is the hardest subject. I can't even remember the equations for how the horizontal velocity is constant and how the vertical velocity changes with free fall..."

"I'm most afraid of force analysis problems now. I always tend to miss forces. Static friction, electric force, magnetic force, sigh, it's really difficult."

"What are you guys talking about? Holy crap, are we studying from the same book? I'm still learning about points of mass."

Upon hearing this, Qian Jin cast a pitying glance at the boy who spoke last.

What's the point of taking the college entrance exam if you're at that level?
Is participation the most important thing?
Wei Qinghuan finally managed to have a few private words with her lover when she had a spare moment:
“Look at those old bicycles over there. Those belong to the educated youth from the county commune. They rode forty kilometers to come here to study.”

Qian Jin was astonished: "I knew they worked hard, but I didn't expect them to work this hard."

Some students were eating and studying at the same time, with one lunchbox lid half open, revealing white teeth marks on the exposed sweet potato flour buns.

Qian Jin was still astonished; just how hard must this thing be!

Wei Qinghuan said, "They really worked very hard. The situation of the educated youth I told you about is nothing compared to what they did."

“Some of these candidates were excluded from university admission due to their family background or social connections. They were previously recommended for university admission, but the recommendation system has prevented them from having any chance to go to university.”

"Now that the college entrance examination has been reinstated, they finally have a fair chance to compete, and they've all become workaholics!"

Comrade Xi Xian has the courage to break new ground.

His first condition for restoring the college entrance examination was that all schools should abolish the restriction that "admission to university requires the consent of the employer."

To ensure that workers, farmers, educated youth, and other groups can freely apply for the exam, thereby breaking down class barriers.

Qian Jin hopes to have the opportunity to meet this great man who ushered in a new era for China in the future.

As he was lamenting this, all the light bulbs suddenly went out.

The darkness came silently.

Qian Jin quickly pulled Wei Qinghuan into his arms: "I'll protect you..."

"Stop messing around!" Wei Qinghuan patted his chest. "This is a classroom, don't do anything reckless, go away."

power cut.

Power outages are common these days, and some people feel uncomfortable if their power goes out twice in one night.

The darkness that enveloped the warehouse was brief; no one complained or cried out, only people struck matches to light candles.

Soon the firelight illuminated the students' faces, and candles were lit, adding hundreds of fires to the huge warehouse.

The golden-red flames flickered slowly, like the Milky Way falling into a warehouse in 1977 on a winter night.

Qian Jin instructed the people in charge: "You must be careful with fire. There are many people, trees, and wood here. If a fire breaks out, it will be a big problem."

Song Zhiyuan said, "We had been preparing for this for a long time, so we required the students to use candles and not to use kerosene lamps, gas lamps or other oil lamps for lighting."

"Classroom fires are all caused by oil, such as kerosene lamps or oil lamps that have spilled oil and the fire cannot be controlled after being lit."

“Using candles is no problem; even if they ignite a textbook, a single slap can put it out.”

As he spoke, he grabbed an enamel mug and took a swig of cold water, his Adam's apple bobbing as he loosened the top button of his Zhongshan suit.

Another person raised their hand to ask a question.

He immediately put down his cup and went over.

Wei Xiongtu explained the essay topic to the students, the theme of which was "Striving to Realize the Four Modernizations".

After I finished explaining the essay topic, several students asked for a translation of the classical Chinese text "The Snipe and the Clam Fight".

Qian Jin looked at the students' outstretched necks and felt that they were like snipes.

He thought about it and realized that the description was wrong; they were actually clams, and all the students were clams.

The warehouse classroom is the seabed, where more than 700 oysters are nurturing pearls. They are just waiting for the spring breeze to thaw the frozen sea so that they can go to the surface to absorb moonlight and cultivate themselves into gods.

Qian Jin couldn't call Wei Qinghuan back for dinner, so he could only bring her food later.

As they were leaving, a bicycle hurriedly rode up. The rider stopped the bike, dodged Qian Jin, and stepped through the door, excitedly shouting, "Wu Junlang, Wu Junlang, urgent telegram!"

"The college entrance exam questions for the capital have been released, and a friend sent me an urgent copy!"

Many students stood up excitedly.

Wei Xiongtu walked over quickly and said, "Give it to me, I'll copy it onto photocopy paper and print it right away. We need to make one for each person tonight."

Seeing the enthusiastic atmosphere, Qian Jin gained a new understanding of the college entrance examination.

When he got home, Wang Dong was bouncing a ping-pong ball around, while Huang Chui sat by the stove, glancing at him sideways.

Qian Jin asked in confusion, "What are you doing? Playing ping-pong?"

Wang Dong chuckled: "No, I was just teasing you."

Qian Jin was even more confused: "Are you teasing my dog ​​or is my dog ​​teasing you? It didn't go to play ping pong, you've been playing by yourself to show it."

Wang Dong was stunned.

Qian Jin said, "Alright, alright, you little rascal, you're just here to steal people's melons from their vegetable garden and make their kids miss their mothers. What are you doing here?"

"Report on Bai Dongfeng's situation!" Wang Dong called out. "How could you forget the task you assigned me?"

Qian Jin chuckled awkwardly: "Oh right, that's true."

Then he said with a straight face, "What kind of work efficiency do you have? I'd completely forgotten about this!"

I've been really busy lately, and I've forgotten some minor details.

"Alright, you're the leader, you must have a bad memory. I've roughly verified Bai Dongfeng's family situation." Wang Dong took off his cotton hat and took out a brown paper file folder from his briefcase, handing it to him.

"Bai Dongfeng's parents are both alive. Their information is in the file. There's nothing more to say. They're just two troublemakers."

"What's interesting is that his current wife is a divorcee named Sun Yulan."

"And then guess what? Sun Yulan's registered address is the same as Bai Dongfeng's, in a residential compound belonging to our factory, but that compound had long been converted into the factory's bathhouse!"

He unfolded the yellowed marriage registration form appendix, his fingertip pointing to the marriage permit issued by the factory last March.

Qian Jin knew why Wang Dong's investigation had taken so long; that kid was really wild, he'd even stolen someone else's files.

This item is not allowed to be seen by unrelated people under normal circumstances, and it is even more forbidden for private individuals to take it away.

Qian Jin asked, "What does this mean?"

Wang Dong said, "This illustrates a major event."

"This means that your grandfather's house in the workers' new village should not be registered under Bai Dongfeng's name yet, otherwise why wouldn't he register his wife's household registration address in our factory's workers' new village?"

Qian Jin shook his head: "No, Director Wei has no reason to lie to me about this."

Wang Dong explained, "What I mean is, you guessed right, he took the old man's land and property certificate and forged this certificate himself."

"Later, the old man's household registration was cancelled, and he transferred his own household registration there. However, he did not have a real land and property certificate, so he dared not transfer his wife's household registration there afterward."

"Because he was probably worried that if he produced that fake land and property certificate again, the staff would notice something was wrong. In other words, he succeeded once by luck, but he didn't dare to take the risk again!"

Qian Jin said, "Yes, that possibility exists."

Wang Dong continued, "I've investigated. Our factory allocated a house to Bai Dongfeng, right here in this old residential compound."

“The apartment you are living in now, 205, was allocated to Bai Dongfeng’s father, Bai Qinkuai, by the neighborhood committee as a long-time resident of Taishan Road.”

Qian Jin asked, "What about this old family compound?"

Wang Dong said, "Didn't I say it was renovated? His part of the house was converted into a bathhouse last June."

Qian Jin rolled his eyes: "What I mean is, Bai Dongfeng is willing to contribute his own house to your factory for renovation? What kind of compensation will the factory offer him? Shouldn't they give him a house?"

Wang Dong shook his head: "No, he showed his awareness and returned the house that the factory had allocated to him to the factory."

"Then! The factory promoted him. After your father retired due to illness last year, he took over your father's position and became our factory's warehouse supervisor."

Qian Jin nodded slowly: "Obviously, something's fishy."

“There are plenty of shady dealings out there. Look what I found: the attendance book from the workers' new village housing allocation meeting.” Wang Dong pulled out a stack of carbon paper to show him. “Isn’t that interesting?”

Qian Jin scanned through the names with their distinct handwriting and quickly discovered the problem.

It did not have his father's signature.

It even has Bai Dongfeng's signature on it!
Here comes the problem.

His father was allocated a house, but Bai Dongfeng was not.

In addition, these are carbon copies left by carbon paper. The names on them are all in blue carbon ink, and Bai Dongfeng's handwriting is also blue, but it was written with blue ink.

Wang Dong picked up the paper and showed it to him through the light.

The paper was of uniform thickness in other areas, but the area with Bai Dongfeng's signature was thin and let a little light through.

Qian Jin understood: "He used a knife to scrape off my father's original name and wrote his own name on it!"

Wang Dong nodded. Qian Jin immediately slapped Huang Chui's head: "That bastard!"

Wang Dong said, "He's not a scoundrel. He must have someone helping him. Otherwise, how could a warehouse supervisor have access to such confidential information and modify it?"

"You should know that I was able to get these documents because I gave the gloves you gave me to our section chief, and he stepped in to get them for me!"

Qian Jin smiled happily: "Okay, Wang Baowei, you've done a great job this time."

"The organization will give you another pair of leather gloves, no, two pairs, so you can wear one pair and change into another."

The information Wang Dong found is very useful now.

Although Bai Dongfeng was living in Qian Zhongguo's house and was trying to change the household registration, he had not completed all the procedures, so he had not yet settled the matter of his wife's household registration.

Qian Jin guessed that the land and property certificate for that house was still in Qian Zhongguo's name.

He needs to take action to reclaim the house as soon as possible.

We now have crucial evidence to deal with Bai Dongfeng: forged official documents.

He thought about it carefully.

If the land and property certificate is still in Qian Zhongguo's name, then he can apply for a replacement certificate and then use his inheritance rights to evict the person.

He can't get this certificate now.

The reason Bai Dongfeng could live arrogantly in that house without worrying about Qian Jin and his siblings coming to retrieve it was because Qian Zhongguo had passed away and his household registration had been cancelled.

Thus, Qian Jin lacked valid proof to reissue the certificate.

Since there is no land and property certificate and the house is already registered under Bai Dongfeng's name, his siblings cannot take the house.

How can you steal something just by talking?
Moreover, all the residents of the workers' new village of the No. 6 State-owned Cotton Mill are employees of the mill itself.

At that time, the neighbors will most likely side with Bai Dongfeng, since Bai Dongfeng is the warehouse manager and has some real power.

What about their siblings?
They were all educated youth returning to the city like migrant workers.

This explains why the residents of the No. 6 State-owned Cotton Mill offended Bai Dongfeng by not helping them.

Unfortunately, there's a bug in the money-making process.

Wei Xiangmi works for the district's housing management department!

He could use his connections to get Wei Xiangmi to help him get a new certificate, and then he could use the certificate to kick people out.

The houses in the workers' new village were allocated to the workers themselves, who had ownership rights.

Unlike the allocation of residential rights to individuals by the street, this only grants the right to reside.

Ownership can be inherited.

The right of residence is not acceptable.

The information Wang Dong brought was very useful, so Qian Jin kept it.

He also invited Wang Dong to stay for dinner at his home: "You've done me a great service. Come, sit down and wait. I'll treat you to a good meal tonight."

He originally only planned to eat pork, cabbage, vermicelli, and tofu stew, which he cooked in a big pot, but since he was hosting a dinner party, there had to be some snacks to go with the drinks.

It's very simple: just add some peanuts, pork skin jelly, and a pot of braised pork.

Naturally, all three items were ready-made products he bought from the mall.

The peanuts have already been torn open and put into a bottle; you can just pour this out and eat it.

Slice the pork skin jelly.

What he called braised pork was actually Dongpo pork, and the finished product was just packaged in a plastic bag and then put back in the pot to cook.

The December sea breeze howled outside the tenement building, but couldn't penetrate the windows covered with plastic sheeting.

Qian Jin lifted the pot lid, and the aroma of lard mixed with the sweetness of cabbage, along with the rising steam, entered Wang Dong's stomach.

Wang Dong loosened his belt and chuckled.

Tonight, my mouth is going to dominate!

Qian Jin is particular about the dishes he cooks for his wife.

The tofu he stewed was pan-fried tofu dipped in egg and then fried until golden brown. Pieces of tofu floated in the thick broth, the fat from the pork belly with skin had melted, and the glass noodles became translucent after absorbing the broth. Wang Dong's mouth watered at the sight.

Qian Jin handed him a large bottle of liquor: "I'm letting you have some fun today. The food is nothing compared to this liquor."

"Tiger bone wine!" Wang Dong's Adam's apple bobbed clearly.

He couldn't wait to pour the wine.

The liquor was poured into the enamel mug, creating beautiful bubbles and sparkling like tiny stars.

The peanuts were served on an enamel plate printed with "Labor is Glorious," and the red chili peppers and green Sichuan peppercorns glistened with oil under the light.

Wang Dong, disregarding the fact that the meal hadn't even started yet, said directly, "Captain Qian, it's just the two of us here, so I won't stand on ceremony. I have to try it first."

Qian Jin said, "Hey, why are you being so polite with me? You should have a couple of drinks first. Anyway, I can't hold my liquor and I can't keep up with your pace."

"Dajun, you have a drink with Dong Ge first."

That's just right.

Wang Dong didn't notice the process of him tearing open the packaging bag and taking out the Dongpo pork for secondary processing.

The peanut crackled as he bit into it, and Wang Dong was astonished after taking a bite: "Who invented this way of eating? Frying peanuts with chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns? It's so delicious!"

Zhang Aijun gave him a disdainful smile.

Short hair means short-sightedness; my buddy already ate this stuff a long time ago.

Qian Jin said, "I invented it myself, isn't it great?"

Wang Dong nodded vigorously: "Our mobile canteen will make a fortune in the future, Chief Qian, your cooking skills are absolutely amazing."

The trembling pork skin jelly was served again.

Brown glue and white pigskin make a perfect pairing for drinking.

The sliced ​​Dongpo pork sizzled and dripped oil in the iron pot. Qian Jin gently tapped the edge of the pot with an iron spoon, and the pieces of pork with alternating layers of fat and lean meat jumped into the coarse porcelain bowl.

When he served it, he specifically said, "The caramel coloring is made from maltose that was discarded by the brewery. You should try it; it should taste good."

The dark brown sauce coated the meat chunks, dripping down and forming small mirror-like glazes at the bottom of the bowl.

Wang Dong couldn't wait to reach for his chopsticks. The chopsticks pierced the skin of the pork, and the oil-soaked fibers burst open instantly, filling his nostrils with the aroma of scallions and ginger.

Qian Jin opened the door and called out, "Fourth son, Big Fatty, time to eat!"

This one sentence suffices.

Kids these days are all foodies.

"Back when we were sent to the countryside, we would stew frozen potatoes in soy sauce and water and eat them like braised pork." Wang Dong took a swig of baijiu, the smell of alcohol mixed with white mist spraying onto the frosty windowpane.

Qian Jin stirred the aluminum pot with an iron spoon, and the vermicelli wrapped around tofu slid into his bowl, scalding him so much that he stood up and jumped.

The door opened, and Liu Sanbing came in, exclaiming in surprise, "Uncle Dong, are you choking?"

Wang Dong said, "It's burned."

Each person received a bowl of pork, cabbage, vermicelli, and tofu stew; the rest was to be reserved for teachers Wei Qinghuan, Wei Xiongtu, and Song Zhiyuan.

The chubby girl clapped enthusiastically upon seeing it: "Uncle, Uncle, so much meat!"

Wang Dong exclaimed in admiration, "Chief Qian, where did you get all these meat tickets? Is every day like New Year's Day?"

Qian Jin sneered: "A hostage? Look what I have here, buddy!"

He quickly took out the meat voucher he had just received that day and showed it to Wang Dong.

Wang Dong was stunned: "Five hundred jin! Is the treatment at your city's supply and marketing cooperative really that good?"

Qian Jin lowered his voice and said, "Don't go around spreading rumors, because I'm getting married, and the boss gave me special permission."

Wang Dong said, "Don't worry, I definitely won't tell anyone."

Qian Jin is not at ease at all.

This guy's mouth is second only to Xu Weidong's in size; once the two of them know the news, it's practically the whole assault team knows.

But that's exactly the effect he wanted.

He needs to let his team members know why his family always has meat.

Wang Dong toasted him:

"Captain Qian, I'm so glad I followed you. Damn it, back when you first joined the team, I used to tease you. I was wrong about that, I'll punish myself."

He gulped down a mouthful of wine.

Wang Dong then said, "Chief Qian, you've really gone to great lengths to treat me well. I'm telling you this now, if I don't obey your orders, I'll be like wine in a cup!"

He gulped down another mouthful.

Wang Dong continued, "No wonder you insisted on joining the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, even looking down on the Datou Office, the No. 7 Rubber Factory, and the No. 6 State-owned Cotton Mill. It turns out the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives really does offer good benefits."

"Well then, I wish you a bright future and continuous advancement in your career. Have another bite..."

Zhang Aijun pressed down on his arm, which was about to rise again, and asked suspiciously, "Are you deliberately mixing drinks for others?"

Wang Dong laughed awkwardly, "You figured it out."

Zhang Aijun sneered.

I'm quite cunning, you think you can fool me? It's like a camel trying to get into a chicken coop—no way!

After a few rounds of drinks, fine water droplets formed on the surface of the pork skin jelly.

Wang Dong picked up a piece with the tip of his chopsticks. As the gelatinous substance melted on his tongue, the salty freshness of sea salt and the spicy aroma of cinnamon unfolded in succession.

This made him beam with joy.

The five little ones are focused on making the stew.

The cabbage stalks simmered in the pot until they became translucent, absorbing the rich aroma of pork.

Qian Jin scooped up a spoonful and poured it over the rice, instantly turning the rice grains a dark brown color.

He poured it for the chubby girl, making her cheeks puff up like a little hamster.

After they finished eating, the Wei siblings still didn't return.

Qian Jin saw Wang Dong off and waited for a while longer, but Wei Qinghuan still hadn't returned. Fearing the food would get cold, he reheated it, wrapped it in a cotton blanket, and took the throat lozenges to the study room.

The power lines to the study room in the warehouse were not the same as the main power line to his house, so there was no power to the study room at this time.

At this hour, more than 400 of the 700+ candles were still lit, twinkling in the air, with smoke swirling around them.

The students' eyes shone brightly behind the candlelight, like pairs of sparks that refused to go out.

"Teachers, take a break first. You should have a hot meal first!" Qian Jin forcibly pulled them over.

When pulling Wei Xiongtu and Song Zhiyuan, he grabbed their wrists; when pulling Wei Qinghuan, he gently put his arm around her waist.

The lunchbox was opened.

The three, whose stomachs were already empty, began to swallow.

In addition to cabbage, pork stew with vermicelli and tofu, the aluminum lunchbox also contained a piece of braised pork.

Wei Qinghuan quietly gave the braised pork and stewed pork to a thin girl.

Qian Jin pretended not to see it.

There were many draft papers scattered on the ground. He picked them up and saw that several broken tables had been pieced together to make a bed. A boy wearing a cotton-padded work jacket was curled up on it, his frostbitten fingers still clutching a pencil.

Qian Jin asked Wei Qinghuan in a low voice, "Why are there still people sleeping?"

Wei Qinghuan sighed softly: "He was an educated youth who went to the countryside and never returned to the city, the eldest of the three 'old three classes'."

"He's not good at networking. Of the 21 educated youths who went to the countryside with him, 12 have already returned to the city, and of the remaining 9, 7 are married and one is working at the local commune clinic. So he's the only one who's fallen behind."

"So he had to get into university before he could come back, so he worked incredibly hard, studying day and night. When he was tired, he would lie down on the table and sleep for a while. When his back hurt from sleeping, he wanted to sleep on the floor. How could he sleep on the floor like that? I found some tables and made a bed for him."

Qian Jin asked, "Are there many students like this?"

Wei Xiongtu pointed to the fertilizer bags in the corner, and the burlap sacks printed with the words "Shengli Fertilizer Plant" were unfolded and laid out as mattresses: "There must be dozens of them. We'll leave these to sleep on tonight."

"They were all educated youth sent to the countryside. It was too much trouble for them to come back and forth. This time, they were able to come by taking the commune's tractor."

Wei Xiongtu chewed on the tofu and mumbled, "A few dozen won't do. There are many people staying here tonight, and even more tomorrow night. They all want to cram before the exam."

Qian Jin shook his head: "This is absolutely unacceptable. Machines need maintenance, and people need to conserve their energy."

“They need to get a good rest. I don’t care how they study during the day, but they must go back to sleep at night.”

"Anyone who has a family or relatives in the city must go back to sleep. If they really don't, then put together a table for them to use as a bed. They absolutely must rest!"

One of the prepared candidates looked up and said with a wry smile, "It's no use, Principal Qian, we can't sleep."

"I can't sleep either, I'm so excited! The college entrance exam is coming up soon, it's time for a final battle!" others chimed in.

Some people expressed their concerns:
"I read a report in the Youth Daily that, according to preliminary statistics, as many as 500 million people applied for the exam this year, but only about 20 will be admitted in the end. Alas, only four out of a hundred candidates will be admitted to university!"

"How can anyone sleep with news like this?"

A young woman sighed and said, "I took out the sleeping pills my grandma used to prescribe; I need to take them tomorrow night."

Qian Jin was shocked: "No, you can't take sleeping pills!"

"Sleeping pills can make you fall asleep, but they can easily cause a hangover the next day, causing dizziness, drowsiness, and discomfort. This can easily lead to confusion and memory loss, directly affecting your exam performance."

"I have a solution. I'll go to the hospital and get you some medicine. Just wait here."

He first distributed the medicine he had brought for the three teachers to them, saying, "Take this."

Wei Qinghuan's medication was Ganju Bingmei tablets, while the other two used compound herbal lozenges.

Both can clear heat and detoxify, and relieve swelling and pain in the throat, but they taste different.

Qian Jin went back and bought oryzanol and vitamin B1 tablets from the online store.

Both of these medications are now available.

He had read in the newspaper that oryzanol was domestically produced in 1971, and vitamin tablets were produced even earlier.

However, people are unaware that oryzanol has nerve-soothing or central sedative effects, and its medicinal value in this regard has not yet been developed.

These two medications, when used together, can improve sleep quality without side effects; however, their hypnotic effect is not as good as that of sleeping pills.

So Qian Jin paired it with melatonin, something unheard of at the time.

Back in the study room, he distributed three nights' worth of medication to the students: "Take this medicine before going to sleep. Also, I'll be giving you a lecture tonight. This lecture is called—"

meditation!

He wrote two large characters on the blackboard.

"With meditation and medication, you'll definitely be able to sleep soundly!"

"Once you get to the exam hall, you'll definitely perform very well. I have a good eye for talent. Although the college entrance exam acceptance rate is only about 4%, our study room is a prime location with expert guidance, so our acceptance rate is at least 50%!"

(End of this chapter)