All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

Su Meng stopped and turned to look at Han Chunming, then said.

"Chunming, do you know about the upcoming resumption of the college entrance examination?"

Han Chunming glanced at Su Meng with some surprise. Was she looking for him about this?

He nodded immediately and said casually.

"I've heard about it!"

Su Meng nodded, looked at Han Chunming, and asked again.

Are you planning to participate?

Han Chunming hesitated for a moment, then glanced at Su Meng. He still couldn't figure out Su Meng's real purpose in coming to him, just to ask him this question?

However, he had nothing to hide about taking the college entrance examination, so he nodded and said.

"I have considered it!"

Seeing that Han Chunming was still acting nonchalant, Su Meng's temper flared up again, and she said somewhat anxiously.

"Why aren't you in a hurry at all? My parents said it will be decided by the end of this year at the latest. It's already September, and you're still not studying hard."

Look at yourself now, still wandering around outside all day. Everyone in the compound knows you're scavenging for scraps. Don't you feel ashamed? Haven't you thought about your future at all?

Hearing Su Meng's words, which clearly showed her disdain for the job of collecting scraps, Han Chunming became displeased and replied coldly.

"What's wrong with me collecting trash? If I don't get into university, I'll still collect trash. I'm happy and joyful collecting trash. Alright, I'm not an eyesore here anymore. I'm going home!"

After saying that, Han Chunming turned and left, ignoring Su Meng who was stomping her feet behind him.

Su Meng's attitude just now reminded Han Chunming of how Su Meng treated him when he was collecting scraps in the original novel. Sure enough, no matter what world it is, personality is something that is hard to change.

Su Meng maintained her arrogant attitude, while Cheng Jianjun remained his cunning and scheming self.

No matter how big the butterfly effect is caused by their entry into the dream, these two people's nature remains unchanged!

Su Meng's personality is probably something she'll never change.

I just hope that old sly Cheng Jianjun can change his ways, otherwise he probably won't have another chance to change.

But Cheng Jianjun wasn't as obedient as Han Chunming thought. He was sitting in a restaurant, with Cai Xiaoli sitting opposite him.

Cheng Jianjun looked at her with a sincere and kind expression, which made Cai Xiaoli blush.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Setting the Scene

Cai Xiaoli didn't expect Cheng Jianjun to contact her. Although they were both sent-down youths, they weren't particularly close.

Originally, Cai Xiaoli didn't have a particularly good impression of Cheng Jianjun. After all, when they went to the countryside, Cheng Jianjun had gotten together with a local young woman by being glib and smooth-talking.

After learning that he was going back to the city, Cheng Jianjun quickly broke up with the woman, and this story spread widely among the educated youth.

Based on this alone, the female educated youth who went to the countryside with him at the time did not have a very good impression of Cheng Jianjun, and Cai Xiaoli was naturally among them.

However, since Cheng Jianjun took the initiative to contact Cai Xiaoli last week, he has only been polite and gentlemanly, without his previous glib tongue. This made Cai Xiaoli look at Cheng Jianjun with new respect.

This was the second time the two had met.

Cheng Jianjun, still very gentlemanly, ordered the dishes, all of which were Cai Xiaoli's favorites. Seeing that all the dishes served were her favorites, Cai Xiaoli looked at Cheng Jianjun with some surprise.

She had casually mentioned a few dishes she liked when chatting with Cheng Jianjun last time, and unexpectedly, Cheng Jianjun remembered them, which gave Cai Xiaoli a strange feeling.

When it comes to pursuing women, ten Taozis can't compare to Cheng Jianjun. Just his family background alone is worth at least five Taozis.

Furthermore, Cheng Jianjun's own excellence, even his casual remarks, far surpass those of Taozi.

Cai Xiaoli and Taozi have been together for two years. Their relationship has evolved from a mentor-student dynamic to a semi-tacit romantic one. In those two years, they have only held hands three times.

Those three decisions were made by Taozi after mustering countless courage.

The way the two got along was always with Taozi silently giving, but Taozi didn't understand women's feelings. He was like a block of wood, going wherever Cai Xiaoli told him to go. This made the two feel that they were just missing a spark.

Cheng Jianjun's appearance did indeed add a different dimension to Cai Xiaoli's life.

This color is completely different from Taozi's.

However, Cai Xiaoli was clearly overthinking things. Cheng Jianjun approached her twice and even took the initiative to show his goodwill, but he never intended to have anything happen between him and Cai Xiaoli.

In the original novel, it was because Cheng Jianjun saw that Cai Xiaoli's pursuit of Han Chunming had been fruitless.

Han Chunming, however, was willing to be Su Meng's lapdog, so Cheng Jianjun decided to pursue Cai Xiaoli, hoping to make her hate Han Chunming out of love.

As a result, although Cai Xiaoli had betrayed Han Chunming, she eventually turned back when it came to the crucial moment.

In this world, Cai Xiaoli and Han Chunming have almost no connection. As for Taozi, Cheng Jianjun doesn't even know him, so naturally he has no motivation to pursue Cai Xiaoli.

His target was Su Meng and Qi Siqiao, not ordinary women like Cai Xiaoli.

The reason he visited Cai Xiaoli twice was naturally to inquire about Han Chunming's whereabouts.

Ever since learning that Han Chunming had decided to take the college entrance examination, Cheng Jianjun had been looking for a breakthrough in Han Chunming's case.

He didn't deliberately follow Han Chunming, besides, it would be easy for Han Chunming to discover that.

He knew that Han Chunming had a wider network of connections than him. From other educated youth, Cheng Jianjun learned that two years ago, Han Chunming had already approached a group of educated youth with whom he had good relationships and talked about the possibility of resuming the college entrance examination.

Upon learning of this, Cheng Jianjun's jealousy towards Han Chunming intensified. Han Chunming had always claimed to be his childhood friend and brother, but he had never informed him about the resumption of the college entrance examination.

If Han Chunming had started preparing for the college entrance exam two years ago, his chances of getting into university would have been much higher than mine.

The thought of Han Chunming getting into university while he himself might fail fueled Cheng Jianjun's burning jealousy, which was like several liters of gasoline that he couldn't extinguish.

By making inquiries, he naturally and quickly found Cai Xiaoli as a breakthrough point.

What he didn't expect was that Cai Xiaoli, as a breakthrough point, led him to discover information that surprised and delighted him.

Cai Xiaoli wasn't very wary of Cheng Jianjun. Not only were they both sent-down youths in the countryside together, but Cheng Jianjun and Han Chunming had also grown up together, so it was normal for them to talk about Han Chunming when they chatted.

From Cai Xiaoli, Cheng Jianjun learned that Han Chunming had been collecting scrap with an old man for the past two years, and also collected some antiques on the side.

The reason Han Chunming knew this was because a distant relative of Cai Xiaoli had a dragon-shaped bottle, which he purchased through Cai Xiaoli.

Cai Xiaoli had no suspicion of Cheng Jianjun, mainly because Han Chunming hadn't told her about Cheng Jianjun.

In addition, Cheng Jianjun was skilled at speaking and subtly tricked people into revealing his secrets.

Upon receiving this news, Cheng Jianjun was overjoyed. He didn't know much about antiques, but he did know that private transactions of antiques were prohibited.

Of course, it's been 77 years now, and the government's control over this area isn't particularly strict anymore.

In those days, there was no environment for private trading of antiques. Most dealers who bought and sold cultural relics had special channels, such as smuggling them overseas.

The domestic antique trading market is still almost lifeless.

The now-famous Panjiayuan, still called Panjiayao, was originally just a residential area. It wasn't until the late 1980s that a real craze for antiques swept across China.

In the 1990s, China began to liberalize the private antique trade, and various films and television shows made people aware of the value of antiques. It was then that the antique collecting craze in China truly got on track.

In the 1970s and 80s, some old items from the Ming and Qing dynasties were common items in every household in Beijing.

People weren't selling them as antiques; they were just selling old, broken metal. As long as it wasn't taken too seriously, nobody really cared. But for some precious cultural relics, if there's solid evidence, the authorities will definitely investigate.

If I catch Han Chunming making a deal and then report him, as long as the evidence is conclusive, Han Chunming is finished.

Forget about the college entrance exam, his personal freedom is probably doomed too!

Thinking of this, Cheng Jianjun was filled with excitement.

However, after the incident two years ago, Cheng Jianjun is now much more composed than before.

This time, we must handle Han Chunming decisively and cleanly, without any delays or unnecessary complications. We must also ensure that the evidence is irrefutable and that Han Chunming has no chance to recover.

Therefore, he had to make sure the plan was flawless and that there would be no room for error!

So he met with Cai Xiaoli again. This time, Cheng Jianjun was even more gentlemanly. The two had a meal and strolled in the park for an hour. Finally, Cheng Jianjun took Cai Xiaoli home before leaving.

During the four hours the two spent together, Cheng Jianjun asked Han Chunming no more than ten questions, but from those simple ten questions, Cheng Jianjun learned another piece of information.

Those were antiques collected by Han Chunming, which he rarely sold. According to Cai Xiaoli, Han Chunming once jokingly told her that he would keep these antiques for his son as family heirlooms.

Furthermore, the antiques Han Chunming collects are always offered at exceptionally high prices. Last time, for the dragon-shaped vase that her relative owned, Han Chunming ended up paying 360 yuan, while the antique shop reportedly only offered less than 100 yuan.

Cheng Jianjun noted down all this information. There was still no definite news about the date of the college entrance examination, so there was plenty of time and Cheng Jianjun was not in a hurry.

Since the goal is to bring Han Chunming to the bottom, thorough preparations are essential.

If Han Chunming were suddenly arrested on the eve of the college entrance examination, would his mother be so angry that she would vomit blood?

Cheng Jianjun was quite excited just thinking about it!

By mid-October, although the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination had not yet been officially announced, the people of Yanjing basically knew that it was a done deal.

Finally, on October 21, 1977, almost simultaneously, major newspapers published the same news on their front pages.

The National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) has been officially reinstated!

The resumption of the college entrance examination in 1977 was undoubtedly a momentous step forward for the country.

As for individuals, their own destiny will be completely changed.

The twelve graduating classes of junior and senior high school students have been eagerly anticipating the exams. Together, more than 5.7 million students rushed into the examination halls, but for these students, the time was still too short.

The exam is scheduled for early December, and it's almost November now.

From the announcement of the resumption of the college entrance examination on October 21st to the actual examination, only about forty days passed.

They have put down their books for several years, even more than ten years. Some of the candidates' sons and daughters have grown up, and there are quite a few scenes of fathers and sons taking the college entrance examination together.

When Han Chunming saw the newspaper, he wasn't too surprised. The thing he had been preparing for had finally come to pass.

He's been busy with a big project lately, and he plans to finish it and then focus on preparing for the college entrance exam.

In a somewhat remote village on the outskirts of the city, both the ragpicker and Han Chunming were.

In that village, there lived a blind old man. His house was very dilapidated, but he had several treasures hidden inside.

Those were five blue-and-white porcelain vases from the Qing Dynasty's Qianlong imperial kiln, all of them top-quality pieces, the kind that would fetch tens of millions in later generations.

Most importantly, these five blue and white porcelain vases are from the same series, which is extremely rare and clearly indicates that they were passed down from the imperial palace.

Han Chunming didn't care about the value in the future; what mattered to him were those few blue and white porcelain vases, which were indeed rare treasures. If he were to collect them in the future, they would be top-quality items.

Originally, this treasure was not discovered by Han Chunming, but by the Scrap Marquis by chance. The Scrap Marquis was naturally very envious of such a top-quality item and originally did not want to inform Han Chunming.

However, after a week of trying to persuade him, Hou still couldn't get things done and had no choice but to inform Han Chunming.