Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 8 is too easy.
"Mother, if he gets hungry later, try to soothe him," the woman whispered.

"That won't do. The baby is hungry and crying a lot. I'll come find you then, and you can come out and breastfeed the baby before going back in to take the exam," the child's grandmother said, dissatisfied.

The woman nodded helplessly, silently praying that her child wouldn't cause trouble during the exam so she could concentrate on finishing it.

Inside the teaching building of the county's No. 1 High School, a staff member quickly walked out of the office carrying a watch. Seeing that it was time, he hurriedly used an iron awl to strike the semi-cylindrical iron plate hanging on the wall. This was the county high school's "bell," and the sound of the iron awl striking the iron plate was the signal for "class to begin and get out of class to end."

The signal to begin entering the examination hall has been given. Upon hearing this, the militiamen opened the gate.

"Students, comrades, you can enter the examination room now. We wish you all the best in getting into university and contributing to the modernization of our motherland. Your teachers and I are waiting for your good news!" the teacher at the door said excitedly, and the dark mass of people immediately rushed into the school.

"Next year on this day, I'll soar to the clouds, laughing at the busy scholars of the mortal world!" A thin, dark-skinned boy pushed his way to the front of the crowd, waving his satchel vigorously and shouting excitedly. Sweat beaded on his forehead and back, clearly indicating he had come from afar; the sweat hadn't yet dried.

Judging from his attire and accent, he should be an educated youth from Yanjing (Beijing).

With a loud "thud," the satchel swept through the air, its contents crashing heavily to the ground. The boy's face immediately turned a deep shade of purple, and he wailed, "My pen! Oh no! How am I going to take the exam with a broken pen?!"

The broken ink seeped out of the satchel, turning the yellow soil in front of the door black.

"If everyone keeps throwing things around like this, our country will soon have another patch of black soil. You're so young and clumsy. Come to my office right now, take my pen and ink with you." An older teacher walked over and said angrily.

Seeing that the boy hadn't reacted yet, she pulled him and ran quickly towards the office. The old teacher was quite old, with a full head of white hair, and he didn't even break a sweat when he reached the classroom.

The candidates passing by the "black soil" all shook their heads with smiles, then, as if learning from past mistakes, quickly clutched their bags. Liu Yimin glanced at the classroom where his exam was located and immediately ran up there; he could find the classroom with his eyes closed.

The college entrance examination schedule in 1978 differed from the first year. On July 20th, the exams were held in the morning for Politics and in the afternoon for History (and Physics); on the 21st, in the morning for Mathematics and in the afternoon for Geography (and Chemistry); and on the 22nd, in the morning for Chinese and in the afternoon for Foreign Language. Students applying to foreign language universities or majoring in foreign languages ​​also had to take an additional oral exam on the 23rd.

There were more than forty candidates in the examination room. Liu Yimin was in the second to last row, not the first row where he was chosen.

Both invigilators were from other schools. It was clear they were even more excited than the students. Being able to participate in invigilation was a great honor; to also be able to participate in grading would be an even greater honor.

Unfortunately, each school can only have no more than five teachers participating in the marking work. The schools do not conduct open selections, but instead directly select experienced and capable teachers to participate in the marking work.

Liu Yimin shook the table; one leg was slightly short, but it didn't matter much. The tabletop was uneven, the lacquer chipped off like the Southeast Asian archipelago, and a few lines of small characters were engraved in the upper left corner, indicating that everyone there was a student of Mr. Lu Xun.

It's a pity that the character "早" (early) wasn't carved on the desk. Just as the West cannot exist without Jerusalem, Chinese students' desks cannot be without carvings.

"Students, first of all, I congratulate you on being born in a great era. Although you are taking the college entrance examination in Ruxian County, you come from all over the country. Some are recent graduates, some are recent graduates, some are from Ruxian County, and some are from Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities. This is the college entrance examination that you have been looking forward to for a long time. This is a major decision made by the Party and the country. You must not let down the opportunity given to you by the Party and the country."

Some of you are already fathers or mothers, and of course, there are young people among you. I hope you will abide by the examination rules, and refrain from whispering or passing answers. If you are caught doing so, you will be dealt with seriously. Your future is not something to be taken lightly. Don't ruin your bright future because of momentary greed." The proctor said enthusiastically from the podium.

Liu Yimin quickly glanced through the exam paper. The structure of the political questions was similar to that of last year's Henan Province Chinese exam, except that the essay and the definition of terms were all professional terms from the political textbook.

The first question has four terms for explanation: productive forces, class, practice, and the universality of contradiction. Each term is worth four points, for a total of 16 points.

This is very challenging for most candidates, testing whether they have thoroughly understood the textbook. Liu Yimin frowned secretly; there were several short-answer questions he hadn't memorized, such as a short-answer question criticizing the "Four-Person Sticks" for promoting a metaphysical fallacy.

However, most of them were quite simple. He was a liberal arts student and had memorized the philosophical theories well when he took the college entrance examination. In addition, he had also focused on reviewing politics for a few months, so writing them out was not difficult.

Furthermore, it strictly implemented a test-taking technique that later liberal arts teachers often talked about: even if you don't know how to write, you should still write as much as possible, because if you write something right, you can get points.

By the end, Liu Yimin's hands were a little numb. He slammed them down a couple of times before continuing to write.

The answer sheet was filled with writing. I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when the staff outside knocked on the metal plate, officially ending the political exam.

The afternoon history exam was much simpler, with question types including fill-in-the-blank, short answer, and definition questions. The fill-in-the-blank questions presented historical events and asked candidates to fill in important terms, such as war events, revolutionary figures, and slogans.

For him, it was extremely easy. He had done it once and knew that most of the questions were guaranteed points.

He felt exceptionally relaxed after the first day of exams.

The next day, math and geography were still easy for him. After the exams, he found a noodle shop and treated himself to a delicious meal.

This noodle shop is one of the top state-owned noodle shops in Ru County. The noodle maker's surname is Yang. It is said that before liberation, he worked as a chef in a restaurant in the provincial capital. He became a master chef at a young age and often served as a private chef in the homes of military officers or officials.

During the liberation, by sheer coincidence, the restaurant was bombed, and his leg was scratched by a mortar shell. It wasn't a serious injury, but he would walk with a slight limp.

A few years ago, when Liu Yimin was in high school, the high school revolutionary committee invited him to give a speech at the school.

On stage, he angrily ripped off his white chef's hat and tearfully accused his classmates, shouting, "Classmates, my leg was injured by a bomb from the evil old society. It was the People's Liberation Army who dug me out from under the house."

Comrades and students! Never forget the bitterness of class conflict, always remember the blood and tears of hatred. For generations to come, never forget our roots, and forever follow the Party in the revolution!

(End of this chapter)