In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

Just as Zhang Yong was carrying a basin downstairs, Li Guilan bumped into Sun Jian's wife in the washroom.

Sun Jian's wife was carrying half a pound of pig's head meat and chatting enthusiastically with Sister Zhao from the second floor by the tap.

"Tell me, Sun Lei went to the teachers' college for a registration meeting yesterday, and they gave him a twelve-yuan registration subsidy and two bath tickets. College students are just different!"

"As for continuing education, I've inquired about it. Not only do they not provide it, but you also have to pay the tuition yourself. I don't know what's so great about it."

Sister Zhao responded with a soft "hmm".

Li Guilan squatted by the sink next to her, washing a bunch of celery with her head down, holding the celery in her hand and picking off the yellow leaves one by one.

She didn't say anything.

His jaw was clenched tightly.

That old woman, she speaks as if she's on cue, always bringing up the very thing she doesn't want to talk about.

Sun Jian's wife glanced at Li Guilan sideways, and seeing that she didn't react, she raised her voice again.

"And did you hear that this morning? The magpies in our yard were calling, calling several times in a row, which means that Sun Lei is lucky."

She smiled, her eyes narrowing. "Magpies are truly magical!"

Li Guilan shook the celery in the water a couple of times, then didn't reply.

If Yongzi hadn't said that one should be humble, she would have already splashed the water from the basin in that old woman's face.

Just as I was shaking the water off the celery, I heard Grandpa Chen call Zhang Yong to get the registration documents.

Li Guilan stood up, wiped her hands on her apron a couple of times, and walked towards the guard room next door. Anyway, she didn't want to listen to this old woman's nagging anymore.

……

Zhang Yong carried the basin to the door of the guardhouse and looked down.

The first document was a kraft paper envelope with the red masthead of the October magazine printed in the upper left corner, and a pink postal money order attached to the side of the envelope.

He tore open the seal and took a look.

Remittance amount: Five Hundred Yuan Only.

The postscript reads: "Special contribution fee for Comrade Zhang Yong's article 'The Ingenuity of a Great Nation,' 100 yuan per thousand words, totaling 5,000 words."

The second portion is thicker.

The envelope was off-white, with four large characters printed in gold on the front—

Beijing University.

A dark red round stamp is placed in the lower right corner.

Zhang Yong turned the envelope over; there was a sealing wax mark on the seal. He opened it and found a folded piece of stiff cardstock inside.

Admission notice.

Mechanical Engineering and Automation major at the Continuing Education College of Beijing University.

The third one is the heaviest.

It was a large parchment package wrapped in kraft paper and bound with thick hemp rope. Five stamps were affixed to it, and it was addressed to the editorial department of the "October" magazine.

Zhang Yong opened the package, and more than a dozen letters fell out.

They came in various sizes, some were ordinary white envelopes, others were official document envelopes with red borders, and some even had coal dust stuck to their corners.

The recipient field for every single email contained the same line of text—

"For Teacher Zhang Yong."

Grandpa Chen craned his neck so far that his glasses almost slipped off his nose.

"These...these were all written by your readers?"

The mailman dusted off the canvas bag and grinned.

"I've been working at the post office for eleven years, and this is the first time I've delivered so many letters from readers to one person."

That was quite a loud voice.

Near the water room, Sun Jian's wife, who had just been carrying a pig's head back, paused.

Aunt Liu on the third floor opened the window and leaned half her body out.

Sister Zhao followed Li Guilan and peeked out.

Within two minutes, seven or eight people had gathered at the entrance of the gatehouse.

Grandpa Chen slammed the remittance slip on the table, making a sound like a loudspeaker.

"Five hundred yuan! Five hundred yuan for a manuscript! For one article!"

"My goodness!" Sister Zhao nearly dropped the cucumber in her hand. "Five hundred? My husband, Lao Liu, only earns two hundred and sixty a month!"

"This will take two months!"

Aunt Liu leaned out of the third-floor window and shouted downstairs.

"What about the red booklet? What is that red booklet?"

Before Zhang Yong could speak, Grandpa Chen had already announced it for him.

"Kyoto University! Acceptance letter! Mechanical Engineering!"

He held the cardboard high, the gold lettering reflecting the sunlight.

The courtyard erupted in chaos.

"Kyoto University? That's the best in the whole country!"

"Isn't it supposed to be adult education? Adult education is also stamped with the seal of Peking University!"

"Didn't you hear the professor personally called to invite him?"

The voices rose up in a cacophony, like a pot boiling over.

Li Guilan held Sister Zhao's hand, staring blankly at the pile of letters, speechless for a long time.

She had walked over slowly because she didn't want to pay attention to Sun Jian's wife.

I never expected it to be such a joyous occasion.

"This...this is real? Am I dreaming in broad daylight?"

Zhang Yong quickly handed the admission notice to her.

"What are you saying, Mom? It's real, take it and see."

Li Guilan took the admission notice with both hands, held it, and looked at it three times.

Then she laughed.

He smiled from the corners of his mouth all the way to the corners of his eyes, until his eyes were squinted into slits.

"Okay! Okay, okay!"

She glanced back at the people gathered in the courtyard, pointed to their heads, and then went upstairs.

Less than two minutes later, she came down again.

He was holding a large enamel basin filled with neatly arranged, shiny sausages.

This is cured pork that Wei Dabiao sent over. It's been hanging on the balcony to air dry for several days, and now it's at its best.

"Come on, everyone! Try some! I made it myself!"

Li Guilan took chopsticks and put them into the hands of her neighbors one by one.

Sister Zhao and Aunt Liu each took two sticks, and Grandpa Chen took three. Everyone got one, and even the old yellow dog guarding the gate lost a piece of meat.

After going around once, there was still a little less than half a pot left.

She carried the basin and deliberately passed by Sun Jian's wife, who was still standing in the water room.

"Sister-in-law, I won't be sending these sausages to your family."

She paused for a moment, looking troubled.

"Isn't your son Sun Lei going to be a teacher? Teachers rely on their voices for a living, so he needs to take good care of it."

"I put too much salt in this sausage, it's extremely salty. Your son Sun Lei has a great throat lozenge, he might not be able to handle it."

A few people in the courtyard couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The magpie chirped twice more.

Li Guilan slapped her thigh.

"Look! That magpie's song is truly beautiful!"

Sun Jian's wife's face turned as red as the pig's head meat in her hand. This time, she couldn't utter a single word and went straight back to her room.

……

That evening, Zhang Yong was sorting through readers' letters in his bedroom.

The letter included a furnace operator from Shougang Group, a quality inspector from Tianjin Bearing Factory, an apprentice from Baoding Machine Tool Factory, and a student from Qiqihar Technical School. Attached to the letter was a hand-drawn cross-sectional diagram of the engine, with very accurate annotations.

Zhang Yong read every single letter, sorted them by region, and tied them together with rubber bands.

These letters had to be replied to one by one.

Just as I was tidying up, Grandpa Chen from the downstairs gatehouse called out again.

"Zhang Yong! Phone number! Surname Wei! He's a man!"

Zhang Yong ran downstairs in a few quick steps and grabbed the receiver.

"Feed?"

"Yong...Yongzi!" Wei Dabiao's voice was hoarse, indicating that he had just gotten out of bed.

"Uncle's awake! His blood pressure has gone down!"

"Uncle Wei! How are you feeling?"

"It's nothing, just a little fuzzy on my head!" Wei Dabiao coughed twice. "Shuyun told me everything. You fixed car number one and got your money back. Yongzi, I owe you a huge favor!"

"Please don't be shy, just focus on getting better first."

"I know my own body, no rush." ​​Wei Dabiao's voice suddenly turned serious. "What's urgent are those two cars."

Zhang Yong frowned. "What's wrong?"

"That bastard Liu Decai!" Wei Dabiao's voice suddenly rose, and he coughed several times before catching his breath.

"He went around telling everyone that I, Wei Dabiao, was going to die!"

......