Sorry, My Beloved Is The Motherland - Chapter 17.5 - To Dedicate One's Life To The Country

He had just witnessed the villagers, for some unknown reason, brandishing their weapons and preparing to clash with the officials from the county, among whom was a soldier. He was so frightened that he didn’t dare to say a word.

Now that everyone’s overheated heads seemed to have cooled down, he weakly cleared his throat.

“Secretary Tu, Tugu Li? May I say a few words to you first?”

Everyone had a ‘What’s it to you?’ expression on their faces, and all eyes were focused on him, making the mail carrier involuntarily shrink his neck.

“At times like this, don’t just join in the excitement!”

“We can talk about it later; can’t you see they’re about to fight? You’d better get out of the way!”

“Either say it in front of everyone, or stop with the secrecy!”

Seeing that the crowd started shouting at each other again, the mail carrier, who was on the verge of tears, had no choice but to quickly pull out two pages of paper from his shoulder bag under the watchful eyes of everyone.

“This… this is sent urgently by the County Education Bureau. As soon as the snow stopped, I rushed here.”

The Secretary impatiently took the two pages of paper from the mail carrier’s hands—because the unpleasant memory from just now hadn’t faded yet—then he immediately widened his eyes.

—The kind of stare that almost pops the eyes out of their sockets.

Although the mail carrier was quite frightened by the ordeal, his voice was still very clear, enough for the surrounding villagers and the young intellectuals to hear clearly.

Everyone heard that he said the letter he delivered was from the County Education Bureau and was sent urgently.

“Could it be…”

Everyone’s hearts almost started racing at the same moment!

Immediately afterward, the Secretary let out a loud shout—

“It’s the report card! It’s the college entrance exam report card for our Tulaga banner young intellectuals!”

The crowd simultaneously made a loud ‘boom’ sound.

It was as if thousands of bees had swarmed at the same time, buzzing incessantly.

The young intellectuals, however, were all a step behind*.

T/N: 慢了半拍 (màn le bàn pāi) – slowed down half a beat (slightly out of sync or delayed)

A result that was waited for with great anticipation and effort suddenly appeared right in front of them in such an effortless manner, causing everyone to feel a sense of unreality.

After a few seconds, someone finally asked: “What did I score?”

It turns out to be Cui Guofu.

The person who cares the least about the results is the first to react.

His words finally jolted the young intellectuals, who had been in a state of shock, into action. In no time, voices asking for scores were rising and falling, and some people even sprinted to the dormitories to call the companions who hadn’t come to watch the commotion.

In the crowd, Du Qingquan stood rigidly.

His mind was blank, and his heartbeat felt like he had just run five kilometers.

He even felt fear.

The few numbers that determine one’s fate are so daunting.

His gaze scanned the crowd, subconsciously searching for a figure.

Ning Fu.

She also appeared out of the loop, with a hint of pink coloring her face that showed her surprise.

Recently, she has been like a studying machine. This slight flush of excitement has made her look like a lively person again.

But it remains still unattainable.

Du Qingquan had a premonition — even though the other youths thought Ning Fu would not pass the exam, they… might soon have to say goodbye to her.

Narrow love cannot keep a majestic eagle.

This place… is not enough for her to fully show her skills.

There is destined to be a broader and more distant expanse waiting for her ahead.

The secretary didn’t expect the scene to become so chaotic and had to shout several times before the boiling crowd calmed down a little.

“Everyone quiet! Quiet! Those who want to see the results, come to the station office, line up, and see them one by one. Did you hear me?!”

After speaking, he held the two sheets of paper as if they were a precious treasure and trotted back to the station’s office.

Before Ning Fu could come to her senses, someone grabbed her wrist and dragged her away, running at full speed!

It’s Xu Cuicui.

She was like a tank clearing the way, pushing through the crowd in front, dragging Ning Fu and closely following Secretary Tugu Li into his office.

“Here, Xiao Ning, you look first!” Tu Guli closed the door and handed the results to Ning Fu.

This report card is extracted by the county education bureau from the scores of all the examinees, and it only records the scores of the students from Tulaga banner.

As for the overall rankings, they can only be known from the county.

Ning Fu’s heart was also beating a bit faster.

Like a child carefully opening a gift, she slowly directed her gaze to the two pages of the report card.

Politics, Mathematics, Chinese, Physics and Chemistry, and English additional test.

For a total of 500 points.

Tulaga banner young intellectual, Ning Fu, Winter 1977 College Entrance Examination Score: 495.

With a score of 495, no school would reject such results!

Secretary Tugu Li and Xu Cuicui both stretched their necks to look over Ning Fu’s shoulder from behind, and Xu Cuicui kept muttering, ‘Did she pass? Did she pass?’

In the next second, Ning Fu’s action scared her half to death.

She suddenly turned around and embraced Xu Cuicui in one swift motion—

“I passed! I passed!”

Xu Cuicui was stunned.

She has never seen Ning Fu like this before.

Ning Fu has always been calm, rational, and reasonable; she often smiles gently but has never exhibited such an ‘excessively’ joyful reaction.

Even though she(Ning Fu) had a rough idea of her own score, the joy of this moment is still extremely precious.

She has not been without being a top student or achieving first place before. But in the past, these were all for other purposes, such as to attract the attention of the genius male lead, or to slap the faces of less successful female side characters.

For the sake of efficient plot advancement, she basically only does things related to the target of her strategy, while matters like exams, which are purely functional to the plot, are mostly handled by the system’s golden fingers.

What can be used to make an analogy?

It’s like taking a frozen meal out of the fridge and microwaving it for a minute versus cooking your first Michelin-level meal after graduating from a top culinary school.

The difference is this significant.

Ning Fu: To be the person involved is just very exciting.

“I passed! I passed!”

Xu Cuicui also joined her in silly laughter and shouting.

Secretary Tugu Li was stunned for a few seconds, before joining in.

T/N: This reminds me of two other famous words I happened to have read today –

“Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” – Gen. George S. Patton

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill.

Plus I’m replacing the educated youth with ‘young intellectual’, felt it was more suitable, what do you all think? Let me know about any other corrections with translation at specific places too.