The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

"You didn't know? That makes sense! Shi'an is just too honest!"

What kind of newspaper did the postman deliver again?

Seeing Li Zhankui's reaction, Tian Fusheng understood perfectly; he really couldn't remember what the newspaper was called.

"Sample report!"

Li Zhankui offered a reminder.

"Oh! Yes, it's the sample copy. If Shih-an hadn't been away from home and given me the newspaper, I wouldn't have known!"

Just last week! Shi'an wrote two articles for the newspaper, one about Longxu Ditch, and the other about using vinegar to remove alkali from teapots and thermos flasks. Let me tell you, this method is really effective…”

Seeing that Li Zhankui was unaware of the situation, Tian Fusheng immediately began to describe it vividly.

"Are they titled 'A New Look for Dragon Beard Ditch' and 'Cleverly Removing Scale with Vinegar'?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhankui immediately thought of the two articles. He had read both of them. When he saw that the corresponding author's name was Zhao Shi'an, he thought it was quite a coincidence that a student who had just transferred to his class had the same name. At that time, he just thought that the two people had the same name, but he did not expect that they were the same person.

"Yes, yes, that's the name! The teacher has such a good memory!"

Upon hearing this, Tian Fusheng looked at Li Zhankui with great respect. He couldn't even remember his own name, but he never expected that Teacher Li would remember it so clearly.

"Teacher, please come inside and rest!"

Zhao Shi'an poured the brown sugar water, and seeing that the teacher was still chatting outside, he put the bowl on the table, came out, and invited the teacher into the house.

"Yes, yes, yes! Teacher Li, come inside quickly, come inside quickly!"

Zhao Youtian and Zhao Youliang quickly extended an invitation as well.

"Alright, alright! Brother, let's go inside and chat. I thought today was just a regular home visit, but I never expected that there was a great writer hidden in our class!"

Shi'an, you really kept this a secret from your teacher for a long time!

When I saw the newspaper, I thought it was a coincidence, but I never imagined it was all written by you.

Li Zhankui held Zhao Youtian's hand and patted Zhao Shi'an's shoulder. He had come today to persuade the parents, but after entering the courtyard and seeing the dilapidated mud-brick house and Zhao Youtian's patched clothes, he even thought about how to continue to help Zhao Shi'an get financial support!

After listening to his neighbor's words, he realized that he had greatly underestimated the boy in front of him. Within a few days, the boy had published two articles. "The New Look of Longxu Ditch" could be said to have benefited from the policy, but the popular science article "Using Vinegar to Remove Scale" was very practical.

The method of using vinegar to remove limescale is known to anyone who has gone to high school, but few people would think to submit it to a newspaper, which shows how ingenious it is!

"Teacher, I just wanted to give it a try, and I didn't expect to succeed. I've studied Liu Shaotang's articles before, but I never quite grasped the essence..."

Zhao Shian briefly mentioned his past writing experience, stating that he was influenced by the "prodigy writer" Liu Shaotang.

"I see, so your hard work has paid off! Haha!"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhankui suddenly realized that he had naturally heard of Liu Shaotang's name. "Green Branches and Leaves" was published in the Youth Daily and became the top choice for students. At that time, many students in the school were also influenced by him and submitted articles to the newspaper. During that period, it was said that "papers in the capital were in high demand." Unfortunately, most people gave up after submitting articles a few times without any results. He did not expect that Zhao Shi'an would persist for so long and actually succeed.

Seeing Zhao Shi'an's resilience, Li Zhankui valued him even more.

"Teacher, would you like some water?"

After entering the room and taking a seat, Zhao Shi'an handed over the brewed brown sugar tea with both hands.

"Okay! Alright!"

Li Zhankui looked at the dark brown water in the bowl, smiled, took it, and drank it in large gulps.

Before his home visit, he made a point of consulting with Hu Chengzhi, Zhao Shi'an's former homeroom teacher, to learn more about the family's situation.

"So sweet!"

Li Zhankui put down the water he had drunk most of, then looked at the somewhat embarrassed Zhao Youtian and Zhao Youliang, and said with a smile:

"Brother, don't be nervous! I came here today to talk to you about Shi'an. He's a senior in high school now, you know?"

"We know, we know! The eldest son just told us. My wife and I don't know many words, but the child is willing to learn, so we support him. Luckily, the government has good policies; the child's education is free, and they even give him money..."

Zhao Youtian nodded vigorously upon hearing this. Despite his eldest son's promising future and the fact that every teacher who came to visit praised the child, he was still intimidated by the teachers every time he saw them.

"Brother, you're so lucky! Shi'an is a very promising student."

I just transferred to senior year last Tuesday, and I took the exams on Friday and Saturday. I ranked fourth in my class and tenth in the grade!

He's already this good after skipping a grade; once he gets used to it, his grades will definitely improve even more.

Today is April 6th. The college entrance examinations in the past two years both started on August 15th. There are still more than four months until the exams! Studying hard doesn't necessarily mean you can't get into Tsinghua or Peking University!

What do these two schools mean? I'm sure you both know without me explaining, right?

Li Zhankui looked at Zhao Youtian and Zhao Youliang with a smile. The names of the four famous schools in Beiping were known to everyone from high-ranking officials to ordinary people who made a living in the capital.

"Really? Shi'an can really get into Tsinghua or Peking University? Teacher Li, I'm uneducated, don't try to fool me!"

Upon hearing Li Zhankui's words, Zhao Youtian and Zhao Youliang's eyes widened in surprise. Of course, they knew about Tsinghua and Peking Universities. Besides these two universities, Yenching University and Fu Jen Catholic University were also very famous. Recently, they heard that these two schools had been abolished.

These four universities were known as the "Four Famous Universities of Beiping" by the people of Beijing. When they were hauling goods, they even said that if Shi'an could get into such a university, he would definitely become a high-ranking official and eat meat and white flour buns every day...

I thought it was just wishful thinking, but Teacher Li actually said that his eldest son could pass the exam? If his eldest son really passes the exam, wouldn't his family's ancestral graves be emitting auspicious smoke?

"Haha! Bro! I get what you mean! Do you think Tsinghua and Peking University are particularly difficult to get into? Under normal circumstances, they are indeed like that! But Shi'an's genius is far more amazing than you imagine!"

Of the original four prestigious schools in Beiping, only two remain. As long as Shi'an can settle down, study hard, eat and drink well, and work diligently, he still has a good chance!

Seeing Zhao Youtian's reaction, Li Zhankui understood and immediately reassured him. If he was still a little unsure before the home visit, his confidence increased considerably after learning about Zhao Shi'an's identity as a writer.

He had seen Zhao Shi'an's grades. His Russian and Chinese scores were low, especially Russian, which was only 46 points. He would find a Russian teacher to give Zhao Shi'an extra help and try to raise his score to over 60. His Chinese score was also a bit low, but since he was a writer, he would have a great advantage in the college entrance examination if he wrote well. Just improving these two subjects would raise his overall score by several tens of points.

With further improvement in other subjects, admission to the top four universities will surely be within reach.

As Zhao Shi'an listened to the conversation between his teacher and father, he felt a moment of disorientation and secretly thought to himself that no matter the era, one can't avoid Tsinghua and Peking University!

At present, there is no distinction between key and non-key universities, let alone 211 and 985 universities and the later Double First-Class universities.

He never expected that the teacher would bring up one of the "Four Famous Schools" from the Republic of China era during the home visit. The key point is that these four famous schools were quite well-known in Beijing, so much so that even people in Longxugou knew about them. They were practically household names!

Although there is no distinction between key and non-key universities, the admission scores of these four universities are in a class of their own nationwide.

Until two years ago, a major reorganization of university departments in China took place, and Fu Jen Catholic University and Yenching University were completely abolished.

The main body of Fu Jen Catholic University was merged into Beijing Normal University, and the school became a campus of Beijing Normal University; some departments were transferred to Peking University, Renmin University of China, and Central University of Finance and Economics.

Most of Yenching University's arts and sciences departments were merged into Peking University, while its engineering departments were merged into Tsinghua University. Even the Yenching Garden, which had been used for more than 20 years, became Peking University's campus.

It also includes the magnificent red palace gate—the West Gate—donated by all the graduates of Yenching University, as well as the "Yitahu Map".

Today, only two of the four prestigious universities remain. Peking University and Tsinghua University, which have merged with Yenching University, have become even stronger and more famous than before.

But his target wasn't either of those two universities. If it were Tsinghua or Peking University before liberation, it wouldn't matter which one he went to, since both of them had agricultural colleges.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the agricultural colleges of these two universities, along with the North China Agricultural College, were merged into Beijing Agricultural University, which was his goal for the college entrance examination!