Starting a new chapter in life

The girl was very happy. "Then I'll change it for you at the front desk of the hotel later."

Jingyan walked back and pulled He Zhijun: "The food here should be pretty good. You can eat here during your exams. Don't go out and eat random things. If you get an upset stomach, it will ruin your plans."

He Zhijun smiled and agreed, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

The group left the restaurant and headed towards the hotel reception. The young woman became noticeably more talkative along the way. "Our chef here is even more skilled than those at state-run restaurants. His food is famously delicious. However, our restaurant is only open to guests staying at the guesthouse or for government-organized banquets. The clientele isn't too mixed, and it's not usually too crowded."

"Due to the college entrance examination, we've had quite a few more guests staying here recently, mostly to take the exam. There's no one checking in on the third floor except for you, so it should be quiet and not too noisy. Don't worry about that."

Upon reaching the front desk, the young woman took a small bag from behind the counter, retrieved her wallet, and pulled out five two-jin (approximately 1 kg) local grain coupons from the Great Northern Wilderness, handing them to Jing Yan. Jing Yan gave her a ten-jin (approximately 5 kg) national grain coupon, and then took the local grain coupon, along with the four national grain coupons she already had, and stuffed them all into He Zhijun's hands.

"First, use the local food coupons. Once you've used them all, see how much you're short. If you're short, come find this girl and exchange them for local ones. We're just spending money anyway. She's helping us with the wake-up service, so we can do whatever we can to make things convenient for her."

He Zhijun took the grain coupons and twenty yuan and nodded: "I'll remember that."

The little girl's eyes crinkled with laughter when she heard them say that. She said goodbye to He Zhijun, waved to the girl, and went home first. "This lousy place doesn't even have a direct bus. In the time it takes to change buses, I can walk home." Although she was complaining, she still started walking home wholeheartedly.

After watching Jing Yan's figure disappear, He Zhijun checked his watch. It was still early for dinner, so he decided to go back to his room to tidy up his things. He made sure to put away his exam materials separately so he could take them with him when he left without forgetting anything. He also made sure to put away any clothes that needed to be put in the closet, as leaving them out in the open was not neat.

Just as he was about to go upstairs, he ran into his colleagues who were about to leave. They were pleasantly surprised to see him: "Old He, you're here too? Which room are you staying in? How about we study together tonight? We're staying on the second floor. Xiao Zhang has a room by himself, and the two of us are sharing a room. Let's go to Xiao Zhang's place; it's more spacious there."

He Zhijun smiled and said, "Why don't you come to my place and we can study together? I live on the third floor..."

"The third floor? The suite? Enough said, let's hurry up and take the brothers to see it. I heard the rooms there are amazing, but the price is too high, so we haven't been able to afford it and haven't been inside yet." As soon as the three of them heard it was the third floor, they immediately wanted to go check it out.

He Zhijun stopped talking after being interrupted and led the group to the third floor. As soon as they entered, they exclaimed, "This room is so nice! There's even a shower! Wow, we don't have any of that back home. After seeing the dormitory-style room on the first floor, I thought my room was pretty good, but compared to this, it's utterly inferior."

After chatting for a while, everyone finally couldn't help but exclaim, "It's so great to have a wife; we booked such a nice house in advance!"

“If you want to stay in this kind of room, that’s fine too. You can just change rooms. I heard there are three such rooms on the third floor, but only this one is occupied. The other two are still empty,” He Zhijun said.

"How much per day?" Xiao Zhang was tempted: "This room can actually accommodate three people. The bed is so big, there's enough room for everyone."

"I really don't know, why don't you go ask them?"

While the three were looking around, He Zhijun had already put his clothes into the wardrobe. The large desk was empty, which could indeed be used for studying. "You can even take a hot shower here? This must be heavenly. Why don't we go ask? Luckily, we haven't gone to sleep yet, and the beds aren't messed up. It shouldn't be impossible to change rooms."

The three of them lay on the bed and tried it out. They could actually sleep soundly. They gritted their teeth and said, "Let's go ask at the front desk."

He Zhijun didn't run downstairs; he waited inside. A little while later, the three of them, carrying their bags, followed the receptionist upstairs. They checked into the room next to He Zhijun's, put their things down, and rushed over to He Zhijun's room. Once inside, Xiao Zhang exclaimed, "Your wife is really generous to you! You know, it's only three yuan a day! If it weren't for the three of us splitting the cost, I definitely wouldn't have spent so much money to stay here."

After a while of lively conversation, seeing that it wasn't dinner time yet, everyone took out their notebooks and, whether sitting at their desks or on their beds, got into study mode. Occasionally, when they encountered something they didn't know or were unsure about, the four of them would discuss it with each other. This way of studying was really quite effective.

Around 5 p.m., He Zhijun rubbed his temples and glanced at his watch: "It's past 5 p.m., are you all hungry? Let's go to the restaurant for dinner."

"There's a restaurant here?" Xiao Zhang blurted out.

He Zhijun nodded: "Yes, the receptionist took my wife and me to see it this afternoon. The food in the restaurant should be pretty good, but we need to bring our food coupons."

The group nodded, packed up their books, and returned to their rooms. They took their money and coupons, locked the door, and went to eat dinner. The young men had big appetites; they ate four ounces of rice, one meat dish, one vegetable dish, and it cost five mao plus a jin of grain coupons. None of them had any loose grain coupons on them, so they decided to remember how many grain coupons they had used and calculate it all together later. For now, He Zhijun would pay for it in advance.

These people were all of relatively high rank, and none of them wanted to skimp on their food. They each ordered one meat dish and one vegetable dish. Everyone had different dishes, and eating together was actually quite good. He Zhijun gave them the local grain coupons instead of the four jin of grain coupons. After eating, they went back to wash up and go to sleep. There was an exam tomorrow, so no one dared to stay up all night. They had studied for a month, so one more night wouldn't make a difference. They had a good night's sleep.

The next morning, without being reminded, everyone got up one after another and went to the restaurant for breakfast. The breakfast for the four of them only used one jin of grain coupons. After He Zhijun gave the grain coupons, the cashier wrote out a receipt, meaning that there was another jin of grain coupons that could be deducted from the later meals. This operation really broadened the horizons of the group.

After eating and drinking their fill, and gathering their exam supplies and identification, the four of them headed straight to the exam hall. Returning at noon, Xiao Zhang wanted to check the answers, but the others covered his mouth, saying, "Don't worry about how well you did; don't check the answers these two days, it'll affect your mood." Disheartened, Xiao Zhang ate lunch with the others, then took a nap to prepare for the afternoon exam. And so, the two-day exam was completed. Even He Zhijun, let alone the others, felt his head was heavy from mental strain.

After the exams, everyone was like wild horses let loose, chattering and making a racket. Many people checked out of their rooms that day. Most of them didn't even take a nap on their last day. They packed their things, checked out, and left their clothes or luggage at the guesthouse front desk to save a night's room fee. The guesthouse was very accommodating and helped with the storage after marking the items. It was free, but they required that there be no valuables such as money or tickets among the stored items.

Many people left after the exam. He Zhijun and his three friends paid for three days' accommodation, so they weren't in a hurry and planned to go back the next morning. Anyway, they had already asked for leave from work. After dinner, the group got together and started... settling accounts. He Zhijun had paid for the food coupons these past few days, so they decided to settle the accounts first.

After calculating, He Zhijun had exactly eighteen jin of grain coupons, but only one jin remained, just enough for breakfast the next day. The group was too lazy to divide the money further, so they decided to split it into four and a half jin each. All three of them had a ten-jin coupon each, and they agreed that they would exchange it for smaller coupons from the logistics department when they got back to work.

After a comfortable night's sleep, the other three checked out after breakfast the next day. He Zhijun waited for Jingyan to pick him up, so he didn't check out. Around ten o'clock, Jingyan strolled to the guesthouse, went upstairs, and saw that He Zhijun had already packed everything. The couple didn't delay any longer and went downstairs to check out. After handing over the deposit slip, the clerk went in to check the room and confirmed that there were no damaged or missing items before giving her the three yuan deposit.

During a break from room checks, the receptionist told Jingyan, "Your husband's colleague initially chose a standard room, but later went to the third floor to see a suite and liked it. He asked if the three of them could stay together. Since the bed was big enough, we naturally agreed, and they moved to the third floor. Our manager was very happy when he found out. This year, two rooms on the third floor opened, which is much better than in previous years."

"Your husband gave me the four remaining grain coupons he had, sister. Thank you so much. With those coupons, my family could buy several more kilograms of grain."

Jing Yan smiled and said, "It's always good to help others, it's something we should all do."

The young woman smiled and said, "Your husband is very punctual. I didn't need to knock on the door to wake him up. The four of them always come and go together, and there's never anything wrong with them." She thought that Jingyan's offer of a wake-up service meant that she should keep an eye on things. Jingyan realized that she had misunderstood her, but she didn't explain anything. After the exam, there wouldn't be many more opportunities to come, and what others thought wasn't really that important.

After saying goodbye to her, the couple headed home: "How did you feel about the exam? Was it difficult? Did you compare answers with your colleagues?"

"I think it went pretty well. The Chinese composition topic was 'What I Have to Say to the Party,' and I think I wrote it quite well. Physics and chemistry weren't too difficult either; I answered them all. I think math is the subject I'm most confident in, as it's my strength. The last subject, politics, is also closely related to current events. The military has been paying close attention to these topics in recent years, so I'm still confident. Now I'm just waiting to estimate my scores and then fill out my college application. If my score is high enough, I'm thinking of going to university in Beijing or Shanghai. Both of these cities have universities with mechanical engineering programs."

Jing Yan thought for a moment: "Which school has a better major?"

“They’re about the same. I discussed it with Battalion Commander Gao before, and he thought they were evenly matched, so it’s up to me. Where do you want to go?” He Zhijun asked her.

“Let’s go to Shanghai then. It’s closer to Mom and Dad. They must miss you terribly since you haven’t been around all these years,” Jingyan said. But deep down, she knew that although she hadn’t paid much attention to these things in her past life, she knew that Rongqiang eventually went to work in Shanghai. Since her nephew had chosen that city, with his intelligence and vision, it must be a good choice. Besides, Beijing has sandstorms, and the climate in Shanghai is much better.

"Okay, I'll do as you say," He Zhijun said cheerfully.

"You haven't filled out your college application yet? When are you going to fill it out, where are you going, or are you going to high school again?" Jing Yan asked.

"I filled out my college application before the college entrance exam. I applied to schools in Beijing and Shanghai. If I can get into both schools, I'll listen to you and go to Shanghai. If not, I'll just have to go whichever one comes first and leave it to fate."

Jingyan glared at him: "You didn't ask me before you filled out the form, but you're asking me now. Whatever, I'll go wherever you go, so it doesn't matter how you fill it out correctly."

After spending the night at home, He Zhijun returned to his post. No matter what the future holds, he still needs to take his work seriously. Since Jingyan learned that the college entrance examination had been reinstated, she hadn't prepared much for the New Year this year. She bought half less pork than last year, and didn't buy any lamb. If she gets into college, she should be able to start school in March and leave in February. There's too much leftover stuff, and it's hard to deal with it.

Life seemed to have returned to normal, but those who had taken the college entrance examination still felt a different kind of tension. After New Year's Day, He Zhijun was still saying that they should start their holiday in late January and not return to work until after the Lantern Festival, which would be almost a month-long holiday. The couple was still thinking about how many firecrackers to buy. During that time, it snowed continuously, and Jingyan, being lazy, did not go to buy firecrackers in time.

Unexpectedly, on the day of Laba Festival, He Zhijun suddenly ran back. He didn't care about the wind and snow on his body when he entered the door. He picked up Jingyan and spun her around several times until she was dizzy before putting her down. Even this seemed unable to calm his excited mood.

Jingyan was initially confused, but seeing his expression, a thought flashed through her mind, and she blurted out, "Did you pass the exam?"

He Zhijun nodded repeatedly, carefully took out the admission notice from his clothes, and handed it to Jing Yan: "The admission notice from Shanghai has arrived. I've been admitted to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Ahhh, I really got in!"

Seeing his excitement, Jingyan also felt excited. She carefully looked at the words on the admission notice, reading them over and over again, afraid of making a mistake. It took them a while to calm down. "You're starting school on March 1st, there's not much time left. How long will it take you to hand over your work here? If it's early, how about we go back to Yangzhou for the New Year?" Jingyan asked him.

He Zhijun then realized, "I'll go back in a bit and ask Battalion Commander Gao. Once we confirm the time, we'll start preparing to move. As for whether we can make it home for the New Year, that depends on how fast we pack. It would be best if we could."