The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

The following week, Bao Ya cooked several more pots of large intestines for Xie Laidi. To her surprise, one of the things she received in return was a piece of flawed cloth.

However, Xie Laidi was still not convinced about the ingredient package and asked her about it several more times.

On several previous occasions, Bao Ya dug a hole in the yard and buried the used material bags.

After thinking about it, she decided to grind the brine with a mortar and pestle, then wrap it up. This would allow it to work better and prevent the recipe from being stolen. Xie Laidi finally gave up.

For a while afterward, many people at the meat processing plant started braising pig intestines, but the results varied greatly, and a faint stench permeated the street in the residential compound.

That morning, Bao Ya made herself a bowl of malted milk powder and grabbed a few biscuits. While eating, she thought about what she would write on the Spring Festival couplets.

She plans to write the Spring Festival couplets during this period. Yesterday, she bought another ream of red paper. She calculated that she could probably write two hundred couplets. She will use the leftover scraps to write the character "福" (fortune).

She had just finished eating and was about to cut the red paper when Liu Damei came to her house, bringing her a piece of cloth, a box of pastries, and a bag of milk candy.

"Auntie, what brings you here? And you bought so much stuff."

Bao Ya poured her a glass of water. Liu Da Mei took the glass and drank it all in one gulp.

"This is your sister thanking you. She should have come, but she's been busy moving these days and hasn't had time to come."

"Let's not talk about these trivial things. Auntie has something important to tell you. Go back to the brigade now and get your letter of introduction from Kaifeng. There's a recruitment exam at the cotton mill this afternoon. Go and give it a try. You only need a junior high school diploma to take the exam."

After finishing her water, Liu Damei hurriedly told Baoya. She had run all the way here and was exhausted.

"A job recruitment exam? What kind of job is it? Why the rush?"

Bao Ya was taken aback; she didn't realize that she would have a job recruitment exam so soon.

"It seems to be a parking attendant. It was originally an internal recruitment, but it was exposed this morning. Huiru only found out when she got to work, so she asked me to come and tell you right away."

You went back to the brigade and got a letter of introduction. Go directly to the back gate of the textile factory this afternoon and wait.

"Alright, I won't keep you any longer. Go back and get the letter of introduction."

Without waiting for Bao Ya to say anything more, he told her to go back to the brigade to get a letter of introduction, and then hurriedly left.

She never expected to have such an opportunity during the job recruitment exam.

Bao Ya thought for a moment, then took out a blank letter of introduction from the drawer, wrote it down, and put it in her pocket, preparing to try it out in the afternoon.

A junior high school diploma is enough to participate. What did she learn in junior high school? She probably does, but it's too late to find books to review now.

After lunch, Jiang Yuan rode his bicycle to take Bao Ya to the back gate of the cotton mill before going back to work.

When Bao Ya arrived, there were already more than ten people waiting there. More people continued to walk over, indicating that quite a few people knew the news today.

Bao Ya found a sunny spot and waited listlessly, looking around. Suddenly, she spotted a familiar figure.

Isn't that Lin Chuxue? Is she here for the exam too? But Lin Chuxue looks much better today than when she first met her.

Her hair was cut shorter and wasn't as dry and yellow as before. Her complexion was much rosier than before, and her clothes were new too.

The female lead is the female lead; she can turn the tide even when things start off badly.

Lin Chuxue also saw Lin Baoya standing in the distance. She felt uncomfortable, but she also had an urge to go and find her.

"Hey, who do we have here? Isn't this Lin Baoya? You're here for the exam too? Tsk, the sun really rises in the west."

With your bottom-of-the-barrel grades, you think you can get a factory job? You're dreaming!

A discordant voice rang out, drawing everyone's attention. Bao Ya touched her aggravated ear and turned to look at the speaker.

He saw three girls standing not far away. He didn't recognize the two on the sides, but he recognized the one in the middle, though they weren't close.

This person is her junior high school classmate, named Xu Shengmei. It seems that the original owner of this body never hit her, so why did she come here to cause trouble for her?

"So what if I'm at the bottom of the class? Whether I'm at the bottom for others or you're at the bottom for me, we're both showing good sportsmanship, there's no difference."

Bao Ya casually remarked that nobody here knew them anyway, so who knew if their grades were good or bad? However, the original owner's grades were indeed poor.

As soon as she finished speaking, faint laughter rang out around her.

Xu Shengmei blushed deeply at what she said, feeling that everyone regarded her and Lin Baoya as the same kind of people, and she instantly became a little defensive.

"Lin Baoya, you peasant, you poor wretch, who wants to be like you? Even if you pass the exam today, you won't pass. Just you wait and see."

Xu Shengmei's face was contorted, and she uttered the most vicious words she could think of.

"Say that again..."

Bao Ya wanted to go over and loosen her muscles, just then the back door of the textile factory opened, and a middle-aged man walked out:

"Everyone, take out your letters of introduction, line up and register your names. Those who have registered their names can enter."

Bao Ya looked back at Xu Shengmei, then at the people maintaining order. "Forget it," she thought, "we'll deal with it after the exam. Anyway, she can't run away."

When Xu Shengmei saw Lin Baoya clench her fists, her heart was in her throat. Perhaps she had forgotten Lin Baoya's temper because it had been so long since they last met.

Seeing Lin Baoya walk towards the registration area, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Entering the examination room, Bao Ya found a table and sat down. Today, she only had three exams: Chinese, Mathematics, and Politics.

The original owner of this body had forgotten everything he learned in his previous life, and it seems he wasn't very good at studying either.

Bao Ya's heart started to pound; she had been so happy that she had forgotten about this.

The first subject was politics! Lin Baoya stared at the test paper in her hand, internally screaming in despair, "Good heavens, what is this all about?"

The politics of the 1960s were different from what she had learned, and the original owner couldn't even piece together a few answers from the information in her mind.

How should she answer them? Should she talk to them about socialism with Chinese characteristics, or about socialist values?

Then, she could even imagine the scene of singing "Tears Behind Bars" while holding a cornbread in her hand.

She can't answer this test. Given her poor academic record, even if she finishes all the subjects, she might not pass. We can't take that risk.

Lin Baoya weighed the pros and cons in her mind. The advantages of going to work were that she could change her household registration, earn a salary, and have urban household registration for her children in the future. The disadvantage was the possibility of being sent to a labor camp for reform through labor.

The advantages of not working are having plenty of time to do whatever you want, and you definitely won't be sent for re-education. The disadvantages are no salary, no urban residency, and no access to government-subsidized food rations.

Household registration isn't as important after the reform and opening up. If you can't get government-subsidized grain, you can go back to the village to buy it. Your two uncles will give it to you, and it'll be much cheaper than government-subsidized grain.

As for the child's household registration, why not get a divorce first, register the child in Jiangyuan, and then remarry? Many people did that when there were housing purchase restrictions.

Forget it, she's timid. Let's leave the job opportunities to those who need them.

The main gate was locked, and she felt guilty, so she didn't dare to leave early for fear of attracting attention.

To avoid being discovered, Lin Baoya attended every exam, but submitted a blank paper for every single one.

The proctor looked at her like she was an idiot. Such a rare opportunity! If it were my own daughter acting like this, I'd beat her to death.