Chapter 22: The Science Prodigy

  Back home, the professor and "Xi Shi" had already returned to eat. Yu Songyuan unloaded the things he bought from the car and let "Xi Shi" move them into the house. The professor and "Xi Shi" both asked where the car came from? So Yu Yueyue told them about Zhou Kun and San Kuai's affair, and how they picked up the car.

  The professor said, "Having an affair with his nephew's wife, Zhou Kun is indeed a shameless and unscrupulous person. You've picked the right one, put it here first and let him come to claim it." He then went to cut watermelon and wash peaches for them to eat.

  Yu Yu said: "You're all sweaty, go die! You two roll into the river to take a bath, hurry back and eat watermelon after washing up." She then quickly went back inside to wash up, changed into clean clothes, washed the peaches, cut open the watermelon, and while waiting for them to return, started telling the professor about what happened at the fair.

  The professor smiled and said, "This little thing is really painful. It's like you and Wang Feng are his parents, and it wasn't a waste to spoil him. Alas, if only there could be another grandchild like this one to keep Xia Tong company, that would be great."

  Yu Yuexiao smiled and said: "Mom, you're at it again. Xiao Shi's letter says that the policy is becoming more and more relaxed, I guarantee that we'll get married soon and then give you a big grandson."

  At this time, Chen Lan and "Pang Duan" walked towards the smell with their dog noses, picked up the sliced watermelon and ate it. Yu Yue said: "Wait for your brother to take a bath and come back soon." The two didn't listen at all, saying that Auntie was biased. Yu Yue tapped the backs of their heads with a knife and said: "If you can catch up with your brother even halfway, I will never be biased again."

  Yu Songyuan and "Xi Shi" came back from their bath, only to see Chen Lan and "Pang Dun" already eating away. The professor handed them two pieces of melon, and the two also started eating. Yu Songyuan asked while eating, "Auntie, how many did you harvest this year?"

  Yu Yue tapped his forehead: "You've been counting all day, at least eight or ten times, don't you know how many there are?" Then he said seriously: "This year we had sixteen, and Teacher Chen's family had fifteen, but they can't be eaten. Isn't that impressive?"

  Thanks to Yuèyuè's guidance, several families' peach trees were also full of peaches and had to sell some, otherwise they wouldn't be able to finish eating them. Wang Dàduìzhǎng had already found Yuèyuè and said that the village also wanted to develop collective economy, planting peaches and watermelons, and asked Yuè Lǎoshī and Wáng Lǎoshī for help when the time came, buying seedlings from the south and serving as technical guidance, going to the big team to work.

  After finishing the big watermelon, the four of them lay down on the cool mat that Yu Yueyue had spread out in the corridor. It was breezy here, and very refreshing. Before long, everyone fell asleep.

  In the evening, Yu Songyuan pushed the bicycle to his own door according to his father's intention and told the onlookers that he had picked it up. Someone recognized it as the bike of political instructor Zhou Kun, and Yu Songyuan said, "Impossible, there are many bikes just like this one." He then announced the process of picking up the bike, naturally omitting the part about the political instructor's affair.

  Zhou Kun almost went crazy during this period, the affair with Long Gao's wife was exposed, Liu Guihua was almost beaten to disability by Long Gao, Zhou Kun had no choice but to calm down for a while. At night, he was stared at by his own wife until he was dead, his wife wanted to jump into the river and hang herself, making a big fuss, refusing to listen to reason, he could only honestly stay at home.

  Today, the county held a grand gathering, and San Kui's daughter-in-law also went. San Kui's daughter-in-law was his old lover, several years earlier than Liu Guihua. The two met at the gathering and took advantage of others not having discovered them yet, so they carried San Kui's daughter-in-law away.

  The Erdao Canal, a secluded meeting place, was one of their former secret trysting places that had never been exposed. As they reached the top of the slope, he threw away his bicycle from afar and swept the woman into his arms; like dry firewood encountering fierce flames, the two quickly entwined together.

  At last the clouds dispersed and the rain stopped, and the woman tearfully complained to Zhou Kun about San Kui's cruelty. Zhou Kun comforted her, saying, "Don't be afraid of that turtle, just wait a bit, I'll deal with him sooner or later!"

  The woman immediately said: "Let him suffer a bit, don't cripple him. If he's finished, how will I spend the rest of my life? You won't take care of me." Zhou Kun thought for a moment and agreed, saying to teach him a lesson and let her vent her anger.

  San Gui's wife was a resident of the commune, didn't study well, liked to eat and be lazy, mixed with society from an early age, had several abortions. Later, after getting older, she married someone, but because she couldn't have children, they got divorced, so she remarried San Gui.

  She had an affair with Zhou Jianguo, the secretary of the brigade, soon after her marriage. Zhou Jianguo had many women at his disposal and quickly became bored with this faded flower, so he gave her to his trusted subordinate, Zhou Kun, the political commissar of the sixth team.

  Zhou Kun was infatuated with the delicate and charming women in this town, who were skilled at playing many new tricks, and he couldn't get enough of them.

  The two of them were tired and fell asleep, but when they woke up it was already after noon. However, neither of them felt hungry, instead they strongly felt another kind of hunger. So, soon they entwined together again, shaking the earth, inseparable. Finally calming down, getting dressed, but the car was nowhere to be found. Searching everywhere didn't yield any result, so with a heavy heart and stealthily, they split up and walked back to the village.

  The next day, San Kui came to report that his bicycle had been picked up by Yu Xinhe's family's Old Three at Erdaoqu.

  Zhou Kun was so angry that he silently cursed Yu Xinhe's ancestors for eight generations. But he had to put on a smiling face to get his bike back. Zhou Kun bought two pounds of meat and, with a smile, personally went to the Yu Xinhe's house to retrieve his bicycle.

  He didn't hit the smiling face, Yu Wenfang politely declined and pushed it away, but still smiled and accepted two catties of meat, returning the bicycle to him. Although Zhou Kun thanked him profusely on the surface, in his heart, he thoroughly hated Yu Xinhe's family this time.

  A few days later, the radio suddenly broadcast: "The national unified college entrance examination, which has been suspended for many years, will be officially resumed this year." The professor and Yu Yue, Chen Laoshi, and Wang Feng listened, were silent for a while, and then suddenly stood up excitedly, hugging each other with tears of joy.

  Apart from Yu Xinhe and Yu Xinmin, everyone else was in the dark. The elderly professor, however, beamed with joy, saying to Yueyue, "Quickly, kill a chicken, everyone is coming to my house for dinner tonight."

  "Teacher Chen said, 'I have some good wine. Wang Feng, you go kill the goose too. Tonight we'll all gather at Professor's house and drink until we're drunk!'"

  The dinner was sumptuous, and after three rounds of wine, the professor explained to everyone that the college entrance examination is like the imperial examination in the past, it is a sign that the country's political life is about to return to normal. The restoration of the college entrance examination indicates that various policies will also gradually return to normal, and the correction and implementation of various policies will take place within these two or three years.

  The adults all understood, and Yu Songyuan and his three companions also heard clearly. After the excitement, everyone had a hint of reluctance to part ways.

  The professor said, "We've become one family already. The next generation is even closer than real siblings and they're growing up better than we did back then. Yu Lao Da, Yu Lao Er, you two brothers are the pillars of this family. You've taken care of everything these years, I'd like to toast you a cup."

  Yu Xinhe and Yu Xinmin hastily stood up, raised their cups in a toast, and drank. Then, they poured another cup, and Yu Xinhe said: "We also offer a toast to you and Teacher Chen, wishing Professor and Teacher Chen an early vindication of their grievances, implementation of policies, and a peaceful old age."

  From that evening on, everyone stared at the radio every day, waiting for the official announcement of the college entrance examination. From summer to autumn, until mid-October, the official news finally came: "The 1977 National Unified College Entrance Examination will be held in early December, with unified questions and unified organization by each province."

  Everyone's hanging heart finally put down.

  In 1977, the college entrance examination finally kicked off under the spotlight of the masses. This year's exam was more difficult than any other year that followed, with an unimaginable level of competition. The "old three classes" who had been delayed for many years and the examinees from all walks of life rushed into the examination room. Many young talents who were once full of vigor and ambition had their talent and fighting spirit worn away by time, and they left the examination room in despair.

  More than a month after the college entrance examination, a special guest suddenly came to Yu Yu's home.

  In the countryside in winter, there was basically nothing to do. The men gathered around the *** board, while the women sat together doing needlework. At that time, snowflakes were floating in the sky, and Yu Songyuan led his four brothers to sweep away the snow in front of every household door, then they all piled up big snowmen, wearing hats made of straw. Their eyes were made from charcoal dots, lifelike and vivid.

  After finishing the snowman, the four of them gathered around the professor's brazier, roasting frozen yams to eat while listening to the professor tell stories. The Yu family home was at the front of the village, closest to the main road, when suddenly a familiar voice came: "Excuse me, is this the Yu family's home?"

  The professor pushed aside the windbreak hanging on the door and went outside, where he saw a middle-aged man, two young men, and a beautiful young girl. All three were wearing new clothes for the New Year or visiting relatives, pushing two bicycles with gifts hung from the handlebars.

  "The teacher asked: 'Who are you?'"

  The chubby young man said: "You're Grandma, aren't you? Hello, Grandma! Yu Yueyue is my godmother, so that makes you my god-grandma. I've come to visit you."

  Yu Songyuan immediately understood what was going on, led everyone to lift the curtain and came to the door, pulled the young man's hand, and said with excitement: "Kid, you really dare to come, aren't you afraid I'll beat you up again." Then, he punched him hard in the chest. Turning his head to the professor, he said: "Grandma, this is my new little brother."

  At this moment, he saw the girl standing behind him, his face suddenly turned red. The girl said: "Brother, I've come to see you." Before she had finished speaking, Yu Songyuan turned his head and rushed out of the house with a whoosh.

  The girl's face was filled with joy, which immediately froze on her face. The professor and everyone else were also stunned.

  He didn't have time to bother with him, and hurriedly invited the guests into the house, sat down to drink tea and warm up. The professor arranged for Chen Lan to call Yu Yueyue, and Zhuang Ba told them about the fight between Yu Song and them in the county town from start to finish. Zhuang Ba also said: "Grandma, we are here to report good news, Qin Hong was admitted to university."

  Qin Hong immediately pulled out the telegram and handed it to the professor with great respect. The professor put on his reading glasses, read it carefully, then grasped Qin Hong's hand tightly, not letting go for a long time, tears streaming down his face.

  "Grandma, what's this?" Qin Hong was puzzled.

  The professor said: "Grandma is happy, good girl." Then, holding Qin Hong's father Qin Weimin's hand, he said: "You've raised a good daughter, really proud." Then, stroking Qin Hong's small face, he said: "Good girl, today grandma will make delicious food to treat you."

  Just then, Yu Yueyue returned. Seeing Qin Hong, she was overjoyed and tightly hugged her without letting go. Qin Hong handed the telegram to Yu Yueyue again, who looked at it carefully and couldn't bear to put it down, then asked Qin Hong: "How many points did you score?"