Return to the 1982 Staff Compound

Chapter 47 Interlude

The invigilator then looked at the time, and one of the teachers picked up the microphone and began to explain the precautions in the examination room.

The other four teachers began to take charge of a row of candidates each, distributing the test papers in order.

There is ink and spare pens on the podium. If candidates run out of ink in their pens or have problems with their pens, they can raise their hands to make reasonable requests such as adding ink or replacing pens.

Qiu Huoming in the third row got the test paper quickly. He read it through the beginning first. The knowledge points in it were similar to the scope provided by Teacher Cheng, almost all of them were covered, but the questions were different and it was easy to make mistakes if you were not careful.

The exam time is set at 1 hour and 45 minutes, which is more than enough time.

Qiu Huoming calmed down and began to copy his name, school, age and number onto the test paper.

This is when the questions started.

Time was ticking by. Outside the examination room, the accompanying personnel of students from different schools had simply sat on the floor, and some of them began to chat with each other.

After a while, he was stopped by a teacher who came out.

The scene suddenly fell silent.

Qiu Huoming had just finished the last question and was about to check it when he heard a sobbing sound in the classroom. In the almost silent classroom, the sobbing sounded particularly clear.

He turned his head and saw Sun Zili sitting in the corner wiping his tears.

The teacher said, "Don't look at each other and don't disrupt the order of the classroom."

Perhaps it was Sun Zili who started crying, and several others followed suit.

Many of the selected candidates had never been exposed to Olympiad mathematics before. They were temporarily trained by the school and then sent to the examination hall. In addition, with the presence of reporters who came to interview them, their pressure suddenly increased.

After getting the test papers, I found out that they were different from those in the training. I reluctantly continued writing them, feeling unsure.

Qiu Huoming turned around, respected the fate of others, took a deep breath, and began to check the test papers.

The bell finally rang, and the teacher spoke, "Put down your pens, turn your test papers over and put them back where they were, and leave in an orderly manner. The results will be notified to your school via email within a week..."

Qiu Huoming took the pen, walked to the podium, bent down to find his schoolbag, and walked out the door with it on his back.

After a while, Gu Xiaoran also came out.

Teacher Cheng stared at Sun Zili, who came out last. He wanted to scold him, but in the end he just sighed, patted his shoulder and said, "It's just an exam. This is not the college entrance examination. Don't feel stressed."

Director Jiang looked at the people present with a dark face and said, "Let's go. We'll talk about it when we get back."

Qiu Huoming asked Gu Xiaoran in a low voice, "How did you do in the exam?"

Gu Xiaoran smiled sweetly, "Anyway, there are no empty questions."

"Hey, me too." Qiu Huoming was quite pleased with himself.

A young man should not be frivolous when he is young. All the achievements he has today are the result of his accumulation bit by bit in the past, and of course he should be proud of them.

Teacher Cheng accompanied Sun Zili all the way. She was a little worried that the child would get into trouble. After Sun Zili wiped away his tears, he behaved well.

It seems that he was just stimulated temporarily and it shouldn't be a big problem.

Qiu Huoming got into the car. He didn’t expect the organizer to end it so quickly. He thought there would be some activities in the afternoon. Was he going to stay in the guesthouse for the whole afternoon?

Director Jiang drove away from the University of Science and Technology and drove along the wide road towards the city center. He seemed to understand Qiu Huoming's thoughts and said, "I'll take you to climb the mountain in the afternoon. It's not easy to come out. You should combine work and rest."

Qiu Huoming was overjoyed, "Thank you Director Jiang."

Gu Xiaoran also echoed, "This can be considered a spring outing."

It's spring now, so there's nothing wrong with saying this.

Teacher Cheng looked at Qiu Huoming who was sitting in the middle. The kid's previous interview made her proud. Several teachers who stayed outside the examination room were asking him whose student he was. She was so happy.

She smiled, "Let's go back to the guesthouse and have a good lunch. We can go to the canteen to buy some food and drinks to take with us on the way. Let's just treat it as a spring outing. You've worked hard these past few days."

"Hey, thank you Teacher Cheng." When Qiu Huoming heard that he could eat and drink for free and could also take a walk, his enthusiasm immediately increased.

Before coming to the provincial capital, Qiu Jianshe asked Chen Suniang to bring him his old military water bottle, tucked inside his clothes.

Qiu Huoming disliked it because it was too big, but as he was going on a spring outing, it would be better to take it with him. After all, in this era, bottled water was only produced in Laoshan, and it was only for export, so ordinary people could not really drink it.

The kettle had a strap so it could be carried diagonally on the body, and he filled it with tea provided by the hotel.

After the meal, Teacher Cheng spent one pound of food coupons and one yuan to buy a few bags of bread. This kind of bread is not available in the small county town yet. It is not like steamed buns that become hard after a long time. It is always soft and tastes great no matter when you eat it.

Qiu Huoming also got a bag, which was the simplest butter buns in later generations.

After dozens of minutes, they arrived at the foot of the mountain.

Qiu Huoming sat in the car and looked at the mountain. A sign at the door showed the name of the mountain: Shushan.

This place is only about 10 kilometers away from the guesthouse, and at this time "Shushan" can still allow vehicles to pass directly.

The mountain in front of us is not very tall. It looks like a huge pebble lying in the southwest corner of the provincial capital. There are farmlands and several villages at the foot of the mountain.

There is a towering transmission tower on the top of the mountain, which can be seen from a distance.

The car stopped halfway up the mountain.

Director Jiang took the lead and said, "Let me tell you, this mountain is not simple. It is a volcano. I don't know how many years ago, the volcano erupted and magma accumulated. After it cooled down, it became a summer mountain."

Gu Xiaoran became interested, "So this area was once an ocean?"

Qiu Huoming carried a water bottle on his left shoulder and a school bag on his right shoulder. He followed her with a dignified manner and asked, "Aren't there a lot of fossils there?"

Walking at the end were Teacher Cheng and Sun Zili. She was a little worried about letting him follow behind, so she would rather walk slower to keep an eye on him.

In this day and age, teaching and educating people means setting an example and having a strong sense of responsibility. For most teachers, they hope that their students can become successful and become pillars of the motherland.

Director Jiang laughed. "The fossil thing is not good-looking. I have seen it at the chief's house before."

"Director Jiang, you know a lot." Qiu Huoming raised the corners of his mouth and praised him just right.

Ever since they shared the book and read it together yesterday, he has become more vivid and more humane in Qiu Huoming's mind.

Sun Zili, who was seven or eight steps away from them, curled his lips subtly when he heard his words.

After walking a few steps, he looked at Teacher Cheng obediently and asked, "Teacher, I didn't do well in the exam this time. Will it bring shame to the school..."

"Of course not, it's just a test. The college entrance examination is the key." Teacher Cheng explained patiently.

"Teacher, I heard that Mathematical Olympiad will give extra points, is that true?"

Teacher Cheng was stunned. She didn't even know this news, so how did this child know it?

"Of course not. That has nothing to do with anything. Even if it's going to add points, it won't be so limited. At least it has to be promoted widely before it can..." Teacher Cheng stopped talking suddenly.

She couldn't say any more, and asked not to speculate on policy matters.

She added, "Are these all your guesses, or did someone tell you this?"

Sun Zili looked at the tall figure in front of him without saying a word.