Chapter 18

While waiting for the exam papers to be handed out, I remembered chatting with Shasha some time ago.

She said: “You’ve been working hard these three years. You haven’t let yourself down, and you haven’t let me down either. Just relax and take the exam.”

“I’ll always support you.”

It was only later that I found out.

During my exam days, she even went to the temple and burned incense for two days.

After the exams, while waiting for the results, many people talked to me about it.

My two aunts said, “Your parents paid for your brother to attend Third Tier, and their hair is almost all white.”

“You at least need to get into Second Tier to go to college.”

“If it’s Third Tier or vocational college, don’t waste your parents’ money.”

My eldest aunt said:

“With the teaching quality at No. 2 Middle School, what good university could you get into?

“Your cousin’s classmates from No. 2 Middle School all went to vocational colleges.

“These three years of studying were just to help you grow up a bit. Otherwise, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl going out to work isn’t safe.”

On the day the results came out, the village happened to be building a water channel, and the women were still gossiping.

“Three years wasted. If she’d gone to work, she could’ve earned enough for a whole floor of a house.”

“Honghua’s brain must have water in it, supporting a girl like this is just throwing money away!”

Aunt Zhao was even more vicious.

“Which kind-hearted fool paid for her to go to No. 2 Middle School? That money is definitely down the drain.

“If she can get into a decent university, I’ll change my surname to hers tomorrow!”

…

Three years have passed since the high school entrance exam, and many new houses have been built in the village, with several families even installing landlines.

But my family has only gotten poorer.

I was still squatting at the Village Party Secretary’s doorstep, listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall.

Each tick echoed in my heart.

Twelve o’clock.

It was time to finish work.

The Village Party Secretary urged, “Quick, quick, it’s time, make the call.”

After several attempts, the line was always busy.

Finally, I got through and entered my exam admission number.

Aunt Zhao passed by with a hoe on her shoulder, shouting loudly, “Xiaoxia, did you get over four hundred?”

On the other end of the phone, a mechanical female voice began to announce my score.