Traveling back to 1952, starting a comeback from a relief station

Wang Anping had no idea about the discussion taking place in the courtyard.

However, when Chen Xueru heard about his plans to take the college entrance exam, he was met with some skepticism.

"you?"

"Take the college entrance exam?"

Inside the small office.

I heard from Wang Anping that he resigned to take the college entrance exam.

Chen Xueru stared wide-eyed, her face filled with disbelief:

"Really?!"

"So you don't go to work and just loiter around at home all day, while Huai Ru goes to work early and comes home late every day to support the family, doesn't she have any complaints?"

Chen Xueru looked at Wang Anping with a bewildered expression.

Wang Anping, however, remained calm:

"It's enough that Huai Ru works and earns money at home."

"Now everyone advocates gender equality, and women can still earn money to support their families."

"Comrade Chen Xueru, your thinking is a bit outdated. What you just said was somewhat disrespectful to female comrades!"

Chen Xueru was speechless.

Xiao was a woman of wide experience who had met all sorts of people, but she had never encountered someone so shameless before.

But precisely because Wang Anping's words were so outrageous and so infuriating, Chen Xueru immediately realized that he was teasing her—this way of teasing was quite novel, making her feel both a little annoyed and incredibly interesting.

Life would be more interesting with someone like that!

This guy is really...

Why get married so early?

Even if you're going to get married, why can't you ask me first?

Chen Xueru rolled her eyes at him and snorted irritably:

"Okay, okay, I guess my thinking is outdated, and you're the most right, alright?"

"Here, this is for you."

As he spoke, he took a watch out of the drawer and handed it to Wang Anping.

Wang Anping stared at the watch pushed in front of him, momentarily stunned—the dial was gleaming, the design exquisite, and it didn't look like a domestic product.

He deliberately put on a stern face and said in a serious tone:

"You want to keep me as a sugar daddy?"

"Tsk tsk, I don't live off women."

"Pooh!"

Chen Xueru spat in annoyance, grabbed his wrist without a word, and put the watch on his wrist:

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"It's just to thank you for your help."

"If it weren't for you, would that guy in the backyard have been found out?"

"That's a real enemy intelligence chief. I heard they found a lot of weapons and a radio in his house!"

"If he had been living in my backyard before, I still feel scared just thinking about it. If he hadn't been exposed, I might not have survived."

She paused, a hint of joy appearing on her face:

"The interrogation of that person is almost over. I went to the neighborhood committee to inquire these past two days, and it seems there's a good chance of getting the house in the yard. I estimate it won't be long before it's approved."

Wang Anping raised his wrist and looked at it.

Well……

It looks really good.

Moreover, having a watch is indeed convenient.

These days, without a cell phone, it's always hard to know the exact time when you go out to run errands. He had originally been thinking of buying one himself, but now he's saved himself the trouble.

Before all the receipts start being issued, let's add as many large items as possible to the house.

If you want to buy these things again in the future, you'll need industrial vouchers.

It's very troublesome.

If anyone asks, just say it's the salary and pension left by your uncle, and no one will suspect anything.

"OK!"

Wang Anping nodded.

"Once the street authorities loosen their grip, you should quickly take over the backyard and connect the front and back yards as soon as possible. We can discuss the rest later."

He and Chen Xueru worked together quite smoothly.

They knew in their hearts that the public-private partnership was inevitable, and no one could stop this tide.

However, before the joint venture, it's not impossible to expand the fabric store's scale and calculate the cost more when assessing its value, so that Chen Xueru can lose less or even make a profit.

Therefore, he accepted the watch with a clear conscience.

Chen Xueru nodded repeatedly, her eyes filled with more admiration as she looked at Wang Anping.

She had always felt that this young man was different from others, exuding a calm and composed demeanor.

Take this incident of uncovering enemy spies, for example.

It seemed extremely dangerous, but in retrospect, it was as if Wang Anping had set up the whole scheme long ago, pressed the start button, and everything went exactly as he had planned, without the slightest deviation.

You can't go wrong listening to someone like that.

After leaving the fabric store, Wang Anping went around to the backyard for a look.

The once tidy yard was now a complete mess, turned upside down – there were piles of dirt in the yard, and the ground was full of potholes, clearly indicating that it had been thoroughly searched.

Once Chen Xueru takes over the courtyard, the work of backfilling and repairing it will naturally fall to her.

But this is all small change.

While the house is being renovated, we'll tidy up the rooms in the yard.

Moreover, after such a thorough search, the courtyard has been completely cleared of all charges, and there will be no lingering troubles in the future, so we can live here with peace of mind.

Wang Anping rode his bicycle slowly toward the library.

Upon arrival, I parked the car with my cloth bag and followed the flow of people into the library.

He took out his work ID and obtained a library card at the registration desk at the entrance.

I glanced around and saw that this library was much smaller than those in later generations.

The bookshelves were all made of wood and contained some books, mostly newspapers and magazines, so the collection didn't seem very extensive.

Wang Anping found it somewhat strange.

I don't really care, as long as I can find books to review.

He approached the woman registering the registration and politely asked:

"Excuse me, ma'am, does the library have elementary school Chinese and arithmetic textbooks?"

"This is my first time at the library, and I'm not familiar with the rules. What's the procedure for borrowing books?"

The person who registered was a woman in her thirties.

Hearing this, he looked up at him, saw that he wanted to borrow elementary school textbooks, and his face showed a bit of curiosity. He hesitated for a moment before saying:

"Elementary school textbooks are supplementary teaching materials and do not require registration for borrowing."

"Just go to the reading room over there and look for it."

"If you want to borrow other books, you have to check the card catalog first, find the book, fill out a book retrieval form, and give it to the staff at the lending desk so they can get it for you from the stacks."

She looked Wang Anping up and down.

He glanced at the cloth bag in his hand and smiled knowingly:

"Judging by your appearance, carrying a bag, borrowing elementary school textbooks, and holding a work ID, you must be taking the college entrance exam this year, right?"

Wang Anping nodded, understanding in his heart.

It seems there have been quite a few people coming to the library to prepare for exams these past few days. My sister-in-law has seen a lot of people like that, so she guessed it at a glance.

He then realized that in those days, libraries were all closed-shelf for borrowing, unlike in later years when you could go into the stacks to find books yourself. He figured that back then, books were precious, and they were kept so strict to prevent damage or loss.

After obtaining his library card, Wang Anping went straight to the reading room and found a complete set of elementary school Chinese textbooks.

Just as Sister Li said.

To facilitate the preparation of students taking the college entrance examination, the library has specially set aside a study area.

Moreover, the library usually closes in the afternoon, but this area is open in the evening for students to study—this way, students can save on kerosene or electricity bills at home, which is quite thoughtful.

There weren't many people in the exam preparation area.

Today is Saturday. Most of the senior high school students are in class, while the students in the exam hall are mostly young people who have jobs and want to improve themselves through the college entrance examination.

Wang Anping found a quiet corner to sit down and opened his textbook.