Return to the 1982 Staff Compound

Chapter 80 Admission Ticket

I bought some pork scraps at the market and half a pound of dried food and fried peanuts, which Qiu Jianshe loves to eat.

Halfway home, before reaching the downhill road, there was an old country man squatting at the intersection selling loquats. Each one was golden yellow and looked good. Chen Suniang loved eating fruit the most, but she had always been frugal, so she certainly wouldn't be willing to buy some for herself.

Qiu Huoming stopped his bicycle and asked, "Old comrade, how much are the loquats?"

"We grow them at home, 1 cents per pound. If they're not sweet, we won't charge you." The old man picked up the long-beam scale next to him with one hand, slid the weight, weighed the small bamboo basket in his hand, and pointed the scale to Qiu Huoming, "Take a look at this pound, little comrade. I'll make sure you give me more, not less..."

"Okay, I'll choose by myself." Qiu Huoming got out and parked the car. The little sister sat in the back seat and looked around curiously.

After choosing about two kilograms, weighing them and paying, Qiu Huoming picked up one and put it into the little sister's hand, "Try it, is it sweet?"

The old man looked at the little sister with a smile and said, "Buy more if it tastes good."

The little sister bit open the skin with her teeth, then took a bite of the flesh and immediately said, "Brother, it's sweet."

"Hey, want some more?" The wrinkles on the old man's brow spread out.

"Buy more after you finish eating." Qiu Huoming kicked away the rear support, the car slid forward, and he lifted his foot and got into the car with the front gear in a very smooth movement.

As soon as I entered the compound, I heard a loud noise, followed by the children's cheers.

The younger sister was not surprised but laughed, "Brother, the popcorn fryer is here!"

As soon as I passed the doghouse, I saw a long line of people waiting in the open space. The air was filled with fragrance and a cloud of smoke had not yet completely dissipated.

There were children queuing up, each holding an enamel basin and a small bag of rice.

The younger sister said excitedly, "Sister must be here too."

As expected, Qiu Huoming saw the eldest sister at the last position of the team. She was moving in the same way as the other children, also carrying an enamel basin and a small bag of rice in her hand, and was chatting and laughing with a little girl next to her who was about her age.

"You want to go too, right? Go ahead." Qiu Huoming propped up the car with one foot, and the younger sister immediately jumped down, taking the time to explain: "Brother, I'll accompany you and will be home soon."

Qiu Huoming looked at her jumping figure, smiled, stepped hard, and drove the car towards home.

Fried popcorn is especially popular in the county town as long as you give some rice, without paying any extra money. With a little bit of rice, you can fry a whole basin of popcorn. The freshly fried corn is fragrant and sweet, not to mention how delicious it is.

When they got home, they took the basket down and put it in the kitchen. Chen Suniang immediately walked out of the room and lowered her head to count the things in the basket.

Seeing Loquat, his eyes lit up and he asked, "How much did you buy this?"

"It's very cheap, don't ask how much it costs, just try one and see if it tastes good." Qiu Huoming walked out of the kitchen and replied with a smile.

"This child, I don't know who learned this habit of spending money lavishly." She sighed, took out a loquat, wiped it with a clean cloth, then tore open the already somewhat soft skin, bit into the flesh, and the sweetness filled her mouth.

She nodded with satisfaction. Huo Ming had chosen a good selection of fruits. She happily took out a basin, put all the remaining loquats in it, brought it to the dining table, and called out, "Old Qiu, come out and eat some fruit. Your son bought it for you."

After saying that, without waiting for his reply, she pushed open the screen door, went back to the kitchen, and took out the vegetables and rice balls that Qiu Huoming had just bought.

They were all meat dishes. She carried an empty basket and went to the vegetable garden to pick some greens. Not far away, the sound of corn stove popping could be heard again.

The egret chicken has become familiar with this place. When it is let out to find insects to eat, it obediently does not peck at the vegetables in the garden.

When it was time for dinner, he came back quite quickly and had already circled the firewood room several times.

Qiu Huoming stayed in the small room, continuing to write his long martial arts novel. Compared to later generations where he could write several words per second on a computer, now he could only write one stroke at a time on manuscript paper in an orderly manner. Not only was the speed slow, but even after finishing the fine-tuning, he had to make a separate copy to make the manuscript neat.

Qiu Huoming looked at his handwriting which was becoming more and more powerful. As he was writing, the tip of the pen suddenly broke open, and the ink spread out instantly, and his old fountain pen was scrapped.

He took out his award-winning new fountain pen, unscrewed it and let the pen barrel draw in blue-black ink. He tried to write a few words. The handwriting was clear and the ink flowed smoothly. The pen was indeed good.

I had just finished writing a whole sheet of paper when I heard the laughter of my older and younger sisters coming from outside the door.

Then came Chen Suniang's voice, "Put it in an empty tube, otherwise the gas will escape and it won't taste good..."

The eldest sister smiled and said, "Mom, grab a handful first. They are delicious. I'll give some to my brother."

The younger sister yelled in a vague voice: "I'll go and send it off..."

Qiu Huoming walked out of the small room and saw his eldest sister with a rosy face, walking towards the door with a basin of corn. The youngest sister's cheeks were already full and she was muttering as she ate.

Chen Suniang grabbed a handful and was about to put it in her mouth when she saw Qiu Huoming and immediately smiled and said, "What a good day today is. All the delicious food is gathered together."

This would probably be the most ordinary day in the future, but now, at this moment, in their eyes filled with happiness, this day was so unusual.

Qiu Huoming was infected by their happiness. He smiled and said, "Wait, I'll get a porcelain basin to hold some."

He went into the kitchen and took out a porcelain basin. The eldest sister filled it for him. The screen door was then pushed open by Qiu Jianshe. He came out holding a newspaper, "I heard you guys yelling from a distance. Give me some too."

"Come in and eat! Come in and eat! What a shame to stand at the door like that." Chen Suniang entered the living room first, rummaged around in the kitchen cabinet for a while, took out an empty tea canister, opened the lid, and placed it on the dining table. The eldest sister began to pack the popcorn in the basin into the tea canister...

-

Days passed one by one, and May 5th was a Saturday. As soon as the morning class bell rang, Teacher Huang walked in with a stack of admission tickets.

Class monitor Li Ming helped distribute them, and everyone was whispering while waiting to get their admission tickets.

After a while, Qiu Huoming also got it.

He glanced at his admission ticket and saw that the examination venue was at the No. 1 Middle School in the county.

Ding Yu came up to take a look and said, "Hey, you and I are both in No. 1 Middle School, but in different examination rooms."

Gu Xiaoran turned around and showed his admission ticket. "I'm in this school."

"Then we will disperse. Huozi, should we go to the examination room to take a look after school?" Ding Yu asked.

"Okay, I haven't been to No. 1 Middle School yet." Qiu Huoming wrote down the contents of his admission ticket.

Class three is a science class, with a total of seven subjects: Chinese, mathematics, chemistry, physics, politics, English and biology.

As soon as the admission tickets were distributed, the atmosphere in the whole class suddenly became tense. After handing out the admission tickets, Teacher Huang stayed in the classroom and cleared his throat.

"Be quiet for a moment. I'll tell you some things to prepare for the exam."

"Everyone's exam room is in a different location. Keep an eye on your admission ticket. You, Li Jun, just look at your own. Don't make a mistake and remember it as the person next to you... All candidates must enter the exam room 15 minutes in advance. If you are afraid of being late, go earlier. Don't lose your admission ticket. It is the only proof..."