Chapter Fifty-Five: The College Entrance Examination Concludes

Yang Xingwu sat quietly to the side, glancing at the hands of his three roommates and then at the nearby young poplar trees. The bark of the saplings had been battered in many places, marked with numerous red bruises.

It seemed the three had been venting for quite some time; now, as they smoked, they were calming down.

Yang Xingwu said nothing, quietly keeping them company. Li Aiguo pulled a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to Yang Xingwu, who took it and tucked it behind his ear.

After a while, Zhang Jianye stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes.

“Let’s go! We still have to take politics and biology this afternoon. Math was too difficult, but if we do well in the others, there’s still hope!”

“A journey of a hundred miles is half completed at ninety. Though the road is rough, we mustn’t give up. We’ve worked so hard and ended up like this; others must have done worse. On the way back, many classmates were saying math was hard too.

As long as everyone says it’s hard, it won’t affect us. With some effort, maybe we’ll even gain unexpected rewards!”

Seeing his three roommates looking dejected, Yang Xingwu offered words of encouragement.

After hearing this, Li Aiguo took the last drag of his cigarette, dropped it on the ground, and stomped on it fiercely.

“Damn it, now that it’s come to this, we’ve got to give it our all!”

“Right, we’re going all in. No matter how tough it gets, we have to endure. I want to see if biology this afternoon is just as hard!”

Liu Jiefang spat forcefully on the ground as he spoke.

Seeing his roommates rally, Yang Xingwu quickly stood and followed them back to the dormitory.

At the dormitory entrance, Yang Xingwu pulled the three to wash their hands.

After washing, he noticed the wounds on their hands.

“Let’s find the school nurse to apply some iodine; don’t want them to get infected, especially in this heat.”

“There’s some baijiu in the dorm; we can use that to disinfect, it should do the trick.”

After washing up, the four returned to the dorm, where Yang Xingwu cleaned the wounds with the baijiu.

Once done, they went to the cafeteria for a bite. The morning’s math exam had been so difficult that none of the three had much appetite; each only ate a bowl of cold noodles before stopping.

Seeing this, Yang Xingwu picked up eggs for all four of them and grabbed a few steamed buns to bring back, ensuring there would be food if they got hungry later.

After this ordeal, it was already 11:30 a.m. The afternoon exams would start at 2 p.m. The four lay down to rest in their dormitory. Yang Xingwu napped briefly until one o’clock, when his roommates woke him. After washing up, he headed to the exam hall.

That afternoon, the science students had two exams, and the arts students had one. After finishing politics, arts students could rest at home, while science students had a half-hour break before the biology exam.

The afternoon exams passed smoothly. Politics was purely an arts subject. Although it was a core subject now, in a few years, after reforms to the college entrance exam, it would be classified under arts.

After the politics exam, Yang Xingwu went to the restroom and then returned to prepare for biology.

Biology started at 4:30 p.m. and lasted an hour.

This biology exam was very simple, with six major questions and no additional ones, totaling 50 points.

Each term explanation was worth two points, such as “ecological balance,” “lymphatic circulation,” and “body fluid regulation.”

Two points for one term!

The last major question was worth 10 points and was even easier—a 10-point short essay asking to describe the process of digestion and absorption of food in the human body. Writing this in detail would earn full marks.

Yang Xingwu finished writing everything in just half an hour. The atmosphere in the exam hall improved considerably afterward.

Returning to the dorm, he saw his roommates in much better spirits. The buns and eggs he had left were all eaten, which comforted him greatly.

Upon seeing Yang Xingwu return, the others greeted him warmly.

After dinner, they sat in the dormitory flipping through their physics books. Tomorrow was the last day of the college entrance exams. Although the two afternoon subjects were easy, after the morning’s math ordeal, no one dared to be complacent.

On July 9th, at 8 a.m., science students took physics, while arts students took history.

In the exam hall, Yang Xingwu looked over the physics test paper. The first question was about a communications satellite China had successfully launched three months prior, asking about the angular velocity ratio of the near-Earth satellite.

The second was a straightforward balancing of a nuclear reaction equation.

Questions about ammeters, voltmeters, and wiring from junior high physics accounted for 14 points, and the questions were relatively simple.

After finishing physics, the science students felt somewhat liberated.

After all, foreign languages were tough; few scored high, and most were “mute” foreign language learners.

Many were extremely relaxed about the afternoon exam.

When Yang Xingwu returned to the dorm, his three roommates began asking about plans after the exams.

Seeing Yang Xingwu, Zhang Jianye asked,

“Xingwu, are you going home after the afternoon exam? If not, let’s have a good drink together. After the exams, we might not see each other much!”

“No problem. Shouldn’t we study English a bit more?”

“Bah, what’s the use? We’re all very patriotic; why learn that nonsense? Even if we study, we’ll still only manage sixty or seventy points!”

“Yeah! They say cramming last minute is better than nothing, but that’s foreign language—foreigners don’t recognize Buddha. Even if you cling to it, it’s useless!”

Yang Xingwu found himself momentarily speechless at their reasoning—it was flawless.

Seeing his friends so at ease, he finally felt completely reassured.

“Alright, after the exams, let’s gather in the dorm tonight! Who knows when we’ll meet again!”

“Good idea. I’ll buy two jin of baijiu this afternoon. Tonight, we won’t sleep until we’re drunk!”

“Alright!”

After agreeing, the four ate and then took another nap before heading relaxed into the last exam.

In the exam hall, Yang Xingwu stared blankly at the English test paper.

After seven subjects, the foreign language scored so stingily!

The first question had ten underlined words, asking to distinguish their pronunciation differences, worth five points—each sub-question only 0.5 points!

How miserly!

After carefully finishing the English test, Yang Xingwu saw there was an additional comprehensive fill-in-the-blank question, which was somewhat difficult. It took him a while to complete.

At 4:30 p.m., the exam bell rang. The invigilator asked the candidates to stand and began collecting the test papers.

Once the invigilator left, many students relaxed. After three days of exams, the college entrance exam was finally over.

Some were happy, some sad; some proud and fulfilled, others lost and disheartened.

Yang Xingwu observed this myriad of emotions and was momentarily transported back to when he had just finished his own college entrance exam, laughing and shouting just like them, wearing his heart on his sleeve.

Taking the bus back to school, as he stepped onto the playground, a torrential rain began to pour. He dashed back to the dormitory building and stared blankly at the gloomy sky, as if every time after the college entrance exam, a heavy rain would come to wash everything clean.

Sitting on the steps, Yang Xingwu watched the rain cascade down the eaves in countless streams, the ground pierced by myriad arrows of raindrops.

Truly a magnificent sight.