In 1995, the three of them did not do well in their exams. After discussing the situation, they realised that if they wanted to go to No. 1 High School, they would have to repeat the year, plus the three years of high school, and then they might not even get into university. They might have to repeat the year again, and then four more years of university, which would be nearly ten years in total. Their family was not wealthy, so it would be safer to go to a three-year technical school and then get a job.
Although Feng Yiping and Xiao Zhijie both went on to run small businesses and Wang Changning became a 'golden collar', they were all in the middle-income group, and they all worked hard and sweated more than their peers. If they had all received higher education, would their achievements have been higher?
Of course, life is full of uncertainties. It is possible that if they had gone to university, they would have remained small employees in the same company for the rest of their lives. But things are different now. With Feng Yiping, who is so perceptive, they have gone to university, and no matter what happens, they can't possibly do any worse than before.
I'm just afraid that they won't do well in the middle school entrance exam, and their family won't let them repeat the year. So I need to say this in advance.
Feng Yiping was actually very worried about the entrance exam.
He didn't have this concept at first, but then he watched 'American Dreams in China' and Huang Xiaoming said in it that the Ministry of Education announced the 1993 college entrance rate, which was 44.1% for the entrance exam. After conversion, this means that in 1993, one out of two and a half junior high school students would definitely be able to go to high school.
Was he that bad at the beginning? He decided to find an explanation for himself.
So he did some calculations. There were only three classes in their county's No. 1 middle school, and at most, 150 students were enrolled. After the county's streamlining and mergers, there were 12 townships and three county-administered towns, which added up to 15 townships. And among these 15 townships, there are quite a few large towns, such as their town, which has merged with three townships before and after. Each town has at least one junior high school, so it is calculated as 15 junior high schools, and each middle school has three classes, so it is calculated as 150 people. In this way, the average admission rate is 6.67%.
If you count those who dropped out later, there are still some township junior high schools that don't have 150 people. If you calculate the final admission rate of 15 secondary schools at 100 people each, and then discount it, it would be 15%. Then the county's 1995 enrollment rate was far from the Ministry of Education's announced 1993 average of 44.1%!
It turned out that he had long been 'averaged' without his knowledge.
He had no idea about this figure he had calculated, and he was not sure if it was really that low. So he searched online at the time and found a news article. After 2000, the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference organised a survey and found that at a time when the college entrance examination rate had reached 80%, Guangdong's high school entrance examination rate was only 42%!
This result really surprised him, and even the construction of high schools in Guangdong was seriously lagging behind. So in the 1990s, when he was taking the high school entrance exam, the construction of high schools in the mainland provinces could only be even more lagging behind.
So, he accepted it with a clear conscience at the time, and in fact, when he took the high school entrance exam that year, the conclusion was that the rate of advancement was less than 10%. It turned out that I wasn't that bad!
It's just that times have changed. At the time, that conclusion made him happy, but now it makes him worried. Last year, there were two classes in the third year of school, with nearly 100 people, and only three got into No. 1 High School. This is understandable. The junior high school graduation rate in the three towns under the county's jurisdiction is definitely the highest.
The best middle school in the county, the County Experimental Middle School, is attended by the children of all the county authorities. If the university admission rate does not reach 60%, which parent will agree? It is estimated that the principal will not be able to hold on for long, and the school will not be able to continue. Coupled with the middle schools in the other two towns in the county, they will take up at least half of the places. For the remaining half, nearly 1,000 people from 12 middle schools will be competing, so you can see how fierce it will be.
In such a critical situation, Feng Yiping could not guarantee that he would definitely find a way out, let alone Xiao Zhijie! Therefore, he must have a backup plan and inform the parents in advance.
The main goal was achieved, and Feng Yiping slept well that night. First, he was in a good mood, and second, the hardware was good. A large bed, larger than the one at school, was spacious enough for the two of them to sleep. Moreover, Xiao Zhijie's family was indeed well-off, with a quilt under the mat. In most households in Feng Yiping's village, the mattress is still made of straw. Feng Yiping's family is no exception. The straw mattress is covered with a bamboo mat. To prevent the straw from getting lice, it is sprinkled with the pungent pesticide hexachlorobenzene. Some parts of the mat are torn, so they are patched with cloth, otherwise the bamboo strips will cut into the skin.
They didn't sleep in either, and Xiao Zhijie kept Feng Yiping company in bed for a while, so that when they got up it was still less than seven o'clock.
They washed up and the piping hot egg noodles were served. Feng Yiping's bowl had very little noodles in it, just meat and egg. You can't eat too much in the morning because you're going to the mountains later, and you won't be able to walk if you eat too much.
Xiao Jianping and his wife each carry a basket on their shoulders. Xiao Zhijie and Feng Yiping both carry long bamboo poles. They follow the winding mountain road behind the village and walk for nearly 20 minutes before they arrive at the place.
There were two persimmon trees, very old and very tall. The leaves had almost all fallen, leaving only the golden persimmons hanging from the branches. Unlike chestnuts, which can be collected by simply hitting them with a bamboo pole, persimmons must be picked one by one or in bunches.
Persimmons are different. They have to be picked off one by one or in bunches, and then smashed with a bamboo pole. If they are left on the ground, they will break, and then they can only be fed to pigs – so it is a very meticulous task.
However, the harvesting of chestnuts and persimmons is still a relatively popular activity for children, because they can eat the fruit while they are picking it. For example, Xiao Jianping climbs up the tree and clips down three ripe persimmons. Feng Yiping and Xiao Zhijie each get one, and the couple share the other.
The other persimmons are a pale yellow colour and hard, but the ripe ones are a yellowish red colour and soft. When you peel off the thin outer skin, the juice oozes out. The flesh inside is basically all juice, not astringent at all, sweet, cool, and with a natural fragrance, very delicious.
But you have to be careful when eating them, because if they get stuck to your clothes, they are very difficult to wash off. So when they were eating them, Xiao Zhijie's mother was over there saying, 'Be careful when you eat them, so they don't get stuck to your clothes and you can't wash them off.'
The two of them looked at each other and laughed, so they simply walked over to the side of the pond, "slurp, slurp" and finished eating them, wiped their mouths with their hands, and washed their hands along the way. Xiao Jianping simply grabbed a handful of soil directly from the ground and that was it.
It was Xiao Jianping who climbed up the tree and picked the persimmons from the top of the tree, one by one, and handed them to Xiao Zhijie's mother. Since Feng Yiping was taller, he held the shorter bamboo pole and walked around the tree on the ground, picking the persimmons that he could reach. Xiao Zhijie took them and put them in the basket one by one.
However, this was still a physically demanding task. The long bamboo pole was loaded with persimmons, and while one was easy to pick, a bunch of them, weighing at least a catty, was a different matter. Feng Yiping had little strength in his hands, so he and Xiao Zhijie switched places after collecting only half a small basket. Xiao Zhijie couldn't hold on for long either, so he switched places with him. Neither Xiao Jianping nor his wife took a break, and the two young comrades took four or five breaks.
When the sun was at its zenith, they finally finished.
Xiao Zhijie's mother said, 'You two have good eyes, look in the trees and see if there are any left.'
They went around the tree a few times, and Xiao Zhijie really found one, hidden under a withered yellow leaf. Feng Yiping also found one, covered by a broken off piece of branch.
Xiao Jianping was sorting the baskets, filling his own basket to the top, while Xiao Zhijie's mother's basket was much shallower.
Feng Yiping and Xiao Zhijie carried the bamboo poles first, each with a string of persimmons in their hands. A large section of the branch had been pinched off, and the persimmons were still attached. This way, they could be hung in a ventilated place at home and eaten during the New Year. Not only were they sweet and delicious, but they also cleared the fire and dissolved the grease.
Back home, the two of them cooked dinner, fed the pigs, watched some TV, and then Xiao Zhijie's parents arrived home with their load.
After dinner, they told the two of them to go to bed for a while. Xiao Zhijie's mother knew that her pickling skills were not very good, and she was afraid that Feng Yiping would not be used to it, so she took a basin and went to her sister-in-law's house to get half a basin of pickled vegetables and pickled cowpeas.
In fact, they couldn't sleep well on Sunday afternoons. They were both good children who listened to their teachers, and after lunch they wanted to go back to school. Without an alarm clock, they were afraid of oversleeping and being late for school, so they got up from bed less than half an hour after going to sleep.
In addition to two bottles of pickles, Feng Yiping also put a can of pears and a pack of biscuits in his bag. When he arrived at the village entrance, Xiao Zhijie's mother handed him a bag, saying, 'Inside are fried peanuts and lanseeds. Give some to your classmates, and the rest you can share. Eat the peanuts first, otherwise they will go stale. Every time you finish eating, tie the plastic bag tightly, otherwise the skin will fall off.'
She came over and smoothed Feng Yiping's hair. 'Tell Xiao Jie to bring back my clothes and quilts to wash for me. If they're torn, tell him to bring them back too. It's fine. If your grandfather is usually not busy, come back with Xiao Jie. You two will have company together, and he can help you with your studies.'
Feng Yiping said, "Okay, Auntie, I will. You go back now.'
Xiao Zhi Jie also said, "Mom, you go back now. Remember not to tell Dad to drink too much. We're leaving.'
When they arrived at the school, it was still a little after three o'clock, and not many people had arrived yet. Just then, Wang Changning also arrived, and Grandpa gave Feng Yiping a bag of fried soybeans. Xiao Zhijie went to buy a large bottle of soda, took out the peanut and melon seeds and fried soybeans, and put them on the table. He also opened two cans of food and decided to finish them now, so that he wouldn't have to eat in the cafeteria that night.
When Huang Jingping arrived, Xiao Zhijie politely asked her to come and sit down. At this time, girls were still very reserved, and they smiled and refused. Xiao Zhijie then went around and brought her some.
Feng Yiping and Wang Changning laughed while eating, looking at his servile manner.