Lin Nianhe spent an entire night helping Sie Yufei translate the manual.
Sie Yufei lay on the edge of the kang table fiddling with the camera, cleaning the already spotless device with deerskin until it remained spotless.
The equipment was ordered with the help of Shen Hongzun. Due to their advertising for Lan Brand Headwear, the Shen Family had close connections with a film company in Xiangjiang, and since Shen Hongzun was specifically in charge of this area of business, requesting them to purchase a set of equipment was merely a matter of asking.
Sie Yufei held his treasured equipment, not allowing anyone to touch it, not even Niuwa.
After enduring two kicks from Lin Nianhe, he finally let Niuwa come within three steps to take a look.
After researching for three days and basically understanding all the functions, he just happened to receive a remittance of two hundred yuan.
"Xiao He, I am going to the Forest," he declared.
Sie Yufei packed his belongings, taking only one set of underwear and all his equipment, and set off on his journey confidently.
Lin Nianhe, afraid that he would die out there, threw an envelope containing one thousand yuan into the train window before departure, dropping it right into Sie Yufei’s arms.
It was the very same one thousand yuan he had given her a few days ago, even the envelope hadn’t been changed.
Sie Yufei glanced at the envelope and leaned out to wave at Lin Nianhe, "Wait for me to come back and buy you candy!"
Lin Nianhe smiled and waved back, "See you in Beijing."
Not long after Sie Yufei left, the first university admission notice arrived.
She had applied to Jilin University in a neighboring province, a shorter distance away, so it arrived quickly.
The first admission letter attracted special attention; villagers gathered around the table at Ten Miles Team, afraid to touch it and possibly soil it, they could only watch from a distance.
"Quick, keep it safe. Don’t let it get lost and have someone else pick it up and use your name to attend university," Wang Hong returned the admission notice to Wang Xue, then asked, "Has Dongzi received his yet?"
Wang Dong and Wang Xue had both applied to Jilin University. Now that Wang Xue’s admission notice had arrived, Wang Dong’s had not...
Wang Xue lightly nodded, her brows slightly furrowed, "Nianhe said it might have been delayed on the way. He scored higher than me, it shouldn’t be possible that he wasn’t admitted."
"It might also be..."
Wang Hong frowned, somewhat worried.
In front of the Educated Youth Corps, Wang Dong, with his small bamboo pole, sat in the snowy wind, staring anxiously toward the direction of the village entrance, hoping, just hoping, for Zhou Xu to arrive.
And Zhou Xu did arrive.
But still, he did not bring Wang Dong’s admission notice.
"Zhang Jianguo, Li Aimin, here are your notices!"
They were both educated youth who were sent to the countryside in the same batch as Lin Nianhe and usually quiet, almost unnoticed. Both were from Liao Province and had applied to the university in Fengtian.
Wang Dong began to panic.
Notices from even farther places than Jilin University had arrived; could it be possible that he really wasn’t admitted?
Amidst the laughter, Wang Dong grabbed Zhou Xu, "Brother Zhou, please help. Could my admission notice have fallen into some corner? Please help me look for it, I beg you!"
Zhou Xu nodded seriously, "I already searched this morning, nothing. But don’t worry, I heard they send out admission notices in batches. Maybe yours is in the next batch. Don’t worry, as soon as it arrives, I’ll bring it right over. Even if it’s late, I’ll call you."
Zhou Xu could understand Wang Dong’s feelings—his sister also took the entrance exams, applying to the medical college, and now she’s constantly anxious, almost wanting to follow him to and from work, lying in wait at the post office for the admission letter.
Wang Dong was somewhat comforted and let go of Zhou Xu’s hand.
After two more days, the admission letters for Yu Xiangqin, Zhao Cuixia, and Wang Xixi also arrived; they had all applied to universities in Liao Province. Zhao Cuixia was admitted with the minimum score, becoming what Lin Nianhe called "the luckiest one."
Wang Dong was almost going mad.
He also started pulling his hair.
He Aimin braved the wind and snow on his bicycle to reach Ten Miles Team.
He didn’t look for Li Dahe, but went straight to the Educated Youth Corps.
"Wang Dong? Wang Dong?"
His face turned somewhat blue from the severe cold.
They had already lain down for the night; hearing the noise, Wang Dong quickly crawled out of bed, threw on his clothes, and came out with a flashlight.
"Uncle He? What brings you here?"
Wang Dong immediately invited him inside: "Come in and warm up."
He Aimin’s sudden visit stirred everyone up at the Educated Youth Corps.
Three people from the back courtyard ran over with sunflower seeds in their hands.
He Aimin didn’t beat around the bush; he pulled out an admission notice, still warm, from his coat and placed it on the table: "That... I’ve come to deliver your notice."
"Ah?" Wang Dong was flustered, "Why are you the one delivering it?"
He Aimin felt somewhat ashamed, wiped his face, unable to hide his embarrassment: "Someone from our team, a little bastard, couldn’t wait for the postman to deliver it and fetched it himself from the post office... cough, his name is also Wang Dong..."
Before opening the letter, he really did take the wrong one; after opening it, he really didn’t want to return it.
He Aimin said, "Today, Zhou Xu came to deliver the letters, and I saw there was one for him, then I realized something was wrong, so I hurried over to bring it to you."
He Aimin was quite embarrassed; after all, it was someone from his own team who made the mess, and he couldn’t bear to think how anxious Wang Dong had been these past days.
Retrieving Wang Dong’s admission notice wasn’t easy; Wang Dong of Nine-Miles Team was also an educated youth. He Aimin first tried to resolve it gently, but eventually had his son snatch it by force.
Fortunately, he guessed right and truly found this admission notice that didn’t belong to Nine-Miles Team, or he would’ve been in big trouble.
"Cough, strictly speaking, I should bring him here to apologize to you, but right now, he’s still making a fuss..." As He Aimin spoke, he started to stand up, intending to apologize for that youngster to Wang Dong.
Wang Dong stopped him: "Uncle, let me kowtow to you!"
Wang Dong’s face cracked into a silly smile, saying: "If I saw a Peking University admission notice with my name on it, I wouldn’t want to return it either!"
He Aimin paused for a moment, then laughed: "You deserve to get into a good university, kid."
He didn’t stay for long, letting the young man go to sleep early while he hurried back to deal with the mess.
At the Educated Youth Corps, however, no one felt like sleeping; Wang Dong held the admission notice, not caring whether it had been opened by someone else, and joyfully bounced around on the kang bed.
With the thrill of seeing his name on a prestigious list and recovering what was lost, he was overjoyed.
Several more admission notices arrived, one for each of the other male educated youths; they got into various places, the furthest being Xinjiang Province.
Zhou Chujiang also made a trip, bringing his Nan University admission notice and two bottles of wine, intending to treat everyone to a meal.
Though Zhou Chujiang was not an educated youth, he had been teaching here since the village school was established and was considered an elder.
"Come on, I’m in good spirits today; let me compose a poem!"
Zhou Chujiang had just started when Zhou Xu’s voice from outside interrupted him.
"Brother Cheng! Sister Lin! Earthquake Feng! Wang Shumei! Wen Lan! Sun Guanghui! Miao Hongqi!"
"Your admission notices have arrived!"